GB2137878A - Warm-air hand drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An installation having a plurality, for example eight, hand drying apparatus 7 comprises a generally circular casing around the periphery of which the apparatus are distributed whereby more efficient use of available space is achieved without inconvenience to individual users. The installation casing may be supported centrally by a floor-mounted pedestal, or alternatively suspended from a ceiling. Each hand drying apparatus may have a respective air heater, or alternatively they may share a common heater, for example, a radiator 10 supplied with heated water from tank 27, within the casing. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Warm-Air Hand Drying Apparatus This invention relates to warm-air drying apparatus for drying hands or other parts of the body of the kind comprising means for producing a flow of air, heating means for heating the air forming said flow of air, and an air outlet through which the flow of heated air is discharged on to the hands of the user and, in particular, to installations comprising a plurality of such drying apparatus.

In our co-pending Patent Application No.

8304439, there is described and claimed warmair hand drying apparatus which is characterised in that said means for producing the flow of air comprises an air moving device operabie by compressed gas (preferably air), and in that control means are provided operable by a user, to control the supply of compressed gas to the air moving device. In this Application, it is proposed that the heating means may comprise either an electrical heating element, or a heat exchanger through which, for example, hot water is circulated. Alternatively, in accordance with warm-air drying apparatus described and claimed in our co-pending Patent Application No.

8304440, for an installation comprising a number of such apparatus, the air flow may be effected by suitable means, such as a fan, or an air moving device as referred to above, and the heating means may comprise a heat exchanger, to and through which heat is circulated from an appropriate common source (e.g. a hot water boiler).

In both applications, the apparatus described is particularly suitable for use in an installation comprising a number of such apparatus, e.g. such as would be required for a washroom of a factory, office, civic centre, or similar.

An object of the present invention is to provide a shape and arrangement for installations having a number of warm-air drying apparatus of the kind referred to hereinbefore so that efficient use is made of the washroom space. According to the present invention, an installation comprising a plurality of warm-air hand drying apparatus comprises a generally circular casing around the periphery of which the plurality of said apparatus are disposed, each being associated with heating means.

It will be appreciated that, in accordance with the invention, a significant number, e.g. six, handdrying apparatus can be arranged close together in a circular array, with sufficient space around the apparatus for them to be fully used without inconvenience to the individual users.

Preferably, the casing is supported centrally, either from the floor by support means, for example a pedestal, or suspended from the ceiling.

In accordance with the invention a preassembled installation can be readily installed in a washroom, or similar, thereby providing a drying facility which need not take up any wall space and which makes efficient use of floor area.

Further advantages are as follows:- i) installation costs can be minimised by using a pre-assembled installation, ii) where the heating means for all the apparatus is from a common source as disclosed in our co-pending Patent Application No. 8304440, the installation can be quite compact, iii) where each apparatus incorporates an air moving device as disclosed in our co pending Application No. 8304439, fed from a common pressure fluid source, the dimensions of each hand drying station can be minimised and the installation made particularly compact, iv) because of the degree of standardisation introduced, production control is facilitated, v) servicing is relatively straightforward and simple, particularly where common sources are used for an installation.

In order that the invention will be readily appreciated, and further features thereof made apparent, various embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the general position adopted by a person using hand drying apparatus, Figure 2 is a view of the approximated block area taken up by the user position shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a representation using the block plan area of Figure 2 of a conventional installation with eight hand drying apparatus arranged linearly in back-to-back pairs, Figure 4 is a representation similar to Figure 3 of a first embodiment of an installation according to the invention with eight hand drying apparatus, Figure 5 is a second embodiment according to the invention with six hand-drying apparatus, Figure 6 is a general view of a third embodiment comprising a pedestal installation with six apparatus, Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of the installation of Figure 6, Figures 7a and 7b are fragmentary views of two different operating modes of each apparatus, Figure 8 is a sectional elevation of a fourth embodiment, similar to Figure 6 but with a common heating system, and Figure 9 is a general view of the common heating system of Figure 8.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, the general position adopted by a user of hand-drying apparatus is shown in plan, and this can be represented approximately in terms of area occupied by the block plan area 1 shown in Figure 2. For a reason of average size, dimension a) is approx. 2 ft., b) Ift. and c) 1 ft.

Referring now to Figure 3, an efficient conventional installation is shown in which eight apparatus 2 are arranged linearly in back-to-back relationship. Wasted areas are referenced 3. For a typical installation, the dimensions of all the apparatus would take up a floor area of approx.

12 sq.ft. However, assuming full usage of the apparatus, the users would take up individual floor areas 1 on either side of the installation as shown, to such an extent that dimension "d" would be approx. 8 ft. and "e" approx. 53 fit. Thus, a total floor area of 44 sq.ft. would be needed, giving an area of 5- sq.ft./apparatus.

Referring to Figure 4, in accordance with the invention, an installation comprising eight apparatus 2 is shown, wherein the eight apparatus are arranged in a circular array. An approximate floor area taken up by this array and thus the installation, would be 7.1 sq.ft. and with full usage, the total floor area taken up would be 38.5 sq.ft, thus giving an area of 4.8 sq.ft./apparatus. Thus, a significant saving in floor space can be achieved, mainly due to the fact that the positions naturally adopted by the users utilise the profile of the block plan area 1 more efficiently. In other words, comparing the arrangements of Figures 3 and 4, the wasted areas 3 are less with Figure 4.

A preferred installation would provide six apparatus in circular array as shown in Figure 5.

For this the total floor area taken up would be 26 sq.ft., giving a particularly efficient space utilisation area of 4.3 sq.ft./apparatus.

The warm-air drying installation can be made up of the appropriate number of individual apparatus each having a casing which is appropriately shaped with angled side-walls so that they can be closely fitted together in sidewall-by-side wall relationship into a circular array, the individual casings combining to define a generally circular casing of the installation, with the apparatus evenly distributed around its periphery.

Preferably, however, as shown in Figure 6 and 7, the installation is provided as a console unit comprising a pedestal 4 supporting a generally circular dome 5 providing therein the required number of drying apparatus (in this embodiment, six). Each drying apparatus is provided by a planar face 6, on which is rotatably mounted a domeshaped nozzle 7, the passage of which is maintained in alignment with a fan or other suitable means for producing an air flow, in this embodiment the flow passage of an air moving device 9, which may be as described in our copending Patent Application No. 8304439, and which is mounted on the internal wall surface of the face 6. Preferably, the pedestal and dome are moulded from high density plastics, or glass reinforced plastics (GRP).An electric heating element 10 is supported in front of each air moving device 9, whereby, when the apparatus is operated by a push-button 11, foot-operated switch, or the like, as shown by the arrows, ambient air is drawn through an inlet opening 1 2 in the pedestal 4, through an appropriate opening 1 3 in the pedestal 4, inverted, cup-shaped, circular support bracket 14 to pass over the element 10 and through the air moving device 6 to produce a heated air stream.The support bracket 1 4 conveniently supports a control box 1 5 which houses the electronic timers, solenoid valves etc., requried for the complete installation, the eiectric (and pneumatic) power sources for which are conveniently fed thereto via a central conduit 1 6. As shown in Figures 7(a) and 7(b), the dome-shaped nozzle 7 is rotable basically between a downward-flow hand drying position (Fig. 7a) to an upward-flow face drying position (Fig. 7b). Apart from the compactness of the console unit described above, it will be readily appreciated that access for servicing of all six apparatus units can be readily carried out by removing the upper cover part of the dome 5.

In an alternative construction, the dome 5 can be suspended from a suitable support arrangement which is fixed to the ceiling of the washroom. Such a construction will provide similar advantages of space utilisation as discussed above, and also facilitate floor cleaning of the washroom.

Referring now to Figures 8 and 9, this embodiment is somewhat similar to that described above with reference to Figures 6 and 7, but with eight hand-drying stations provided by the nozzles 7, and like parts have the same reference numerals. In this embodiment, a single heating element in the form of a flat radiator 10 is mounted in a horizontal attitude centrally beneath the dome 5. Each outlet nozzle 7 is associated with an enclosed space 20 defined by walls 21, each space being in communication via a oneway flap valve 22 with the central area of the dome immediately above the radiator 10. Just below the radiator, at the upper end of the pedestal 4, there is provided a circular air entry passage 12 faced with a wire-mesh grill 23.As with the embodiment of Figures 6 and 7, each nozzle 7 has an associated air-mover 9, to each of which a pneumatic iine 24 extends from the control box 15, which is mounted in the bottom of the pedestal 4. This pedestal provides a floor 25 to provide an enclosed space which is lined internally with heat insulation 26. Referring also to Figure 9, within this space is located a storage tank 27 for hot water, which is heated by an electric heater element of appropriate rating (e.g.

3 Kw). Mains water 28 is fed as requried to the tank 27 via a header tank 29 (which has an overflow 29a) located just beneath the dome 5 and the hot water is pumped through a heating circuit including the radiator 10 by a pump 30.

Thus, in use, a hand dryer station provided by a nozzle 7 is operated by a foot switch 11 to cause compressed air to feed the appropriate air mover 9 and, if necessary, to energise the pump 30 to circuiate hot water through the radiator. When not in use, it will be appreciated that due to convection within the heating system, the radiator will retain some heat, which is available immediately upon operation of a station by a user.

Claims (14)

1. An installation comprising a plurality of warm-air hand drying apparatus wherein the installation comprises a generally circular casing around the periphery of which the plurality of said apparatus are disposed, each being associated with heating'means.

2. An installation according to Claim 1, wherein said circular casing is supported centrally.

3. An installation according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, including support means for supporting said casing on a floor.

4. An installation according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said casing is adapted to be suspended from a ceiling.

5. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying apparatus includes means for producing an air flow.

6. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of said plurality of hand drying apparatus is associated with individual and respective air heating means.

7. An installation according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein said plurality of hand drying apparatus are associated with a common air heating means.

8. An installation according to Claim 6, wherein said common air heating means comprises a radiator supplied with heated water.

9. An installation according to Claim 8 and Claim 3, wherein a source of heated water for said radiator is contained within said support means.

10. An installation according to any one of Claims 7 to 9, wherein said common air heating means is arranged centrally within said circular casing whereby air supplied to each hand drying apparatus when in use passes over said radiator.

1 An installation according to Claim 10, wherein each hand drying apparatus has associated therewith one-way valve means through which air heated by said radiator is supplied to the apparatus in use.

12. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an air inlet is provided in the base of said circular casing.

13. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying apparatus includes an outlet nozzle through which warm air is discharged and which is rotatable so as to vary the direction of the flow of warm air.

14. An installation substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figure 4, or Figure 5, or Figures 6, 7, 7a and 7b, or Figures 8 and 9.

14. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying apparatus has associated therewith user-operable switching means for operating the hand drying apparatus.

1 5. An installation substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figure 4, or Figure 5, or Figures 6, 7, 7a and 7b, or Figures 8 and 9.

New Claims or Amendments to Claims Filed on 25.5.84.

Superseded Claims 1-1 5.

New or Amended Claims:

1. An installation comprising a plurality of warm-air hand drying apparatus wherein the installation comprises a generally circular casing around the periphery of which the plurality of said apparatus are disposed, each being associated with heating means, and wherein circular casing is supported centrally.

2. An installation according to Claim 1 including support means for supporting said casing on a floor.

3. An installation according to Claim 1, wherein said casing is adapted to be suspended from a ceiling.

4. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying apparatus includes means for producing an air flow.

5. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of said plurality of hand drying apparatus is associated with individual and respective air heating means.

6. An installation according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein said plurality of hand drying apparatus are associated with a common air heating means.

7. An installation according to Claim 5, wherein said common air heating means comprises a radiator supplied with heated water.

8. An installation according to Claim 7 and Claim 2, wherein a source of heated water for said radiator is contained within said support means.

9. An installation according to any one of Claims 6 to 8, wherein said common air heating means is arranged centrally within said circular casing whereby air supplied to each hand drying apparatus when in use passes over said radiator.

10. An installation according to Claim 9, wherein each hand drying apparatus has associated therewith one-way valve means through which air heated by said radiator is supplied to the apparatus in use.

11. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an air inlet is provided in the base of said circular casing.

1 2. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying apparatus includes an outlet nozzle through which warm air is discharged and which is rotatable so as to vary the direction of the flow of warm air.

13. An installation according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each hand drying appparatus has associated therewith user operable switching means for operating the hand drying apparatus.