GB2497798A - Body Dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a powered body dryer comprising a blower 1, and a conduit system comprising a plurality of ducts 3a, 3b, 3c. The ducts are arranged in an array extending from the blower, wherein each duct has one or more outlet nozzles/vents 4a, 4b, 4c to direct air transverse to the axis of the duct, so the air is directed towards the torso of the user. The system may comprise a heater 2 having one or more ceramic elements to heat the air. The dryer may be housed in a casing or cabinet mounted to the wall. The dryer may comprise a regulator (8 figure 1) to allow a user to adjust the airflow rate and or temperature. The system may also comprise a thermostat to regulate the temperature. The system may comprise an overhead proximity sensor (10 figure 1) to detect the presence of a user. The dryer may be a modular self-contained unit.

Description

Body Diver

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns improvements in and relating to powered whole body dryers such as may be installed in shower cubicles or over baths to dry the user's body in situ after taking a bath or shower, for example.

Background of the Invention

The most common form of powered body drying system for use in the domestic bathroom is an intra-red heater or reflector heater, normally installed at a remote position such as in the ceiling at a safe enough distance away from the bath taps and shower head so as to avoid risk of electrical shocks. These heaters rely on radiant heat transmission and are generally of limited effectiveness in drying an individual, though providing comforting warmth and being invaluable to the elderly and infirm to prevent catching a chill when the shower is turned off.

More effective systems for drying the body involve the use of hot air blowers that are positioned over the bath or shower. One recently proposed powered body dryer system, disclosed in GB 2417680B uses an overhead heater and fan fitted in the void above the ceiling and having a single short duct to deliver heat to the user's body vertically down through the ceiling to blow generally down over the bath or shower. To manage power efficiently it has a switching system to re-direct electric power from the electric shower to the powered dryer on demand.

Another similar hot air powered body drying system disclosed in US20070039199 also has a heater and fan and can duct heated air down through a single duct and vent in the shower room ceiling and has the option to serve as an extractor fan too.

Body dryer systems of the same general type as the above-referenced systems are available commercially in the UK from a number of suppliers and have achieved some level of commercial success but are not ideal. Their drying action is indirectly convective and is inefficient and can be relatively ineffectual for bodily drying.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved body drying system that addresses these problems of the existing body drying systems.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a powered body drying system comprising: a blower; and a conduit system comprising a plurality of ducts arranged in an array, each duct extending vertically in use and each duct having one or more outlet nozzles and serving to direct air at least towards the torso of the user. Preferably the system comprises a heater to heat the air that it emits.

Preferably there are a plurality of nozzles on each duct! pipe serially therealong and suitably at substantially regularly spaced intervals. The nozzles on each duct! pipe may be spaced at differing angular orientations! radial directions around the pipe and preferably along each series they alternate in their angular orientation.

The nozzles may be simple apertures but preferably are each shaped to direct a jet of heated air towards the user.

In a preferred embodiment the conduit system comprises two or more substantially mutually parallel ducts!pipes. These preferably merge at one end into a single common in-feed pipe. They may also merge at the other end into a single common outflow pipe, which may in one embodiment be a transverse! horizontal pipe with nozzles to emit air.

Preferably there are at least three substantially mutually parallel ducts!pipes and suitably one is a substantially central primary feed pipe and which has linking laterally extending ducts to teed the heated air to the substantially parallel duct/pipe to each side thereof.

Preferably the blower comprises a centrifugal fan. Preferably the blower has a regulator to allow user adjustment of the rate of airflow and where it heats the air the system preferably further has a regulator to allow user adjustment of the temperature of the air. The system preferably has thermostat means to feedback regulate the temperature of the air to a set level.

A secondary heating means may be incorporated into the system if desired and suitably may comprise a radiative heating element such as a black heat element.

Such a black heat element is suitably comprised of one or more low resistance thick wires that do not glow red in use. The secondary heating means is preferably located on the apparatus above the duct array. Alternatively the secondary heating means may be located adjacent to the duct array.

Preferably the system comprises a proximity sensor to detect the presence of a user and coupled to control means configured to operate the system when the user is determined to be present. This may automatically turn off the operation of the blower (and heater if present) when the user moves away. The proximity sensor may be an infra-red transmitter/sensor. Light, contact and capacitive proximity sensors may be used in addition or alternative to infra-red sensors.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be more particularly described, solely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the body drying system showing the controls (but with the heater and blower, that suitably are mounted behind the wall, not shown); Figure 2 is a perspective view of a variant of the first embodiment body drying system showing the heater and blower and conduit system (but with the controls omitted for clarity); Figure 3 is a detail view of one of nine delivery nozzles of the Figure 2 body drying system; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment body of the drying system that is self-contained, showing the outer casing with compartment for the heater and blower and eight drying nozzles; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the Figure 4 drying system with casing removed, showing the heater, blower and ducting; Figure 6 is a front elevation view corresponding to Figure 5; Figure 7 is a detail perspective view of the heater and blower of the Figure 4 drying system, showing the four outlet ports to the ducting; and Figure 8 is a detail perspective view corresponding to Figure 7, showing the heater and blower and with the heater casing omitted to show the array of serially and parallel arranged ceramic heating plates within the heater.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the illustrated body dryer firstly comprises a centrifugal fan blower 1 to draw air into the system. This feeds the air at pressure into and through a heater chamber 2, heated by a resistance coil or other suitable heating means. From the heater chamber 2, the system ducts the inducted, pressured and heated air into a conduit system 3 comprising a plurality of pipes 3a, 3b, 3c arranged in a mutually parallel array, each pipe 3a, 3b, 3c extending vertically in use.

Each of the vertical pipes 3a, 3b, 3c has three outlet nozzles! vents 4a, 4b, 4c serially therealong at substantially regularly spaced intervals and serving to direct air transverse to the axis of the duct so that the heated drying air is blown by the system towards the torso, legs and arms of a user. The three substantially mutually parallel ducts! pipes 3a, 3b, 3c comprise a substantially central primary feed pipe 3a that receives the hot air blown from the heater chamber 2 via an in-feed pipe arrangement 6. The array 3 has linking laterally extending ducts!pipes 5a, 5b to feed the heated air to the substantially parallel vertical pipe 3b, 3c to each side thereof.

In the version shown in Figure 1 the nozzles! vents 4 on each pipe 3a, 3, 3c are spaced at differing angular orientations! radial directions around the pipe 3a, 3b.

In the Figure 1 version the pipes 3a, 3b, 3c merge at one end into a single common in-feed pipe 3d and also merge at the other end into a single common outflow pipe 3e, which is a transverse! horizontal pipe 3e with nozzles 4 to emit air.

In either version of the array 3 the system has a temperature gauge! regulator 8 overlying the heater 2 to allow user adjustment of the temperature of the heated air. A user-controlled regulator might also be provided to determine! adjust the rate of airflow. Adjacent the heater 2 there is a push-button control switch 9 to turn the system on. Furthermore, as illustrated in Figure 1 the system comprises an overhead proximity sensor 10 to detect the presence of a user in place and coupled by wiring 7 to control means at the heater 2/ blower 1 configured to operate the system when the user is determined to be present.

In addition to the heater 2 for hot air heating, the system may also have a secondary heating means that comprises a black heat radiative heating element and which might, for example, be installed in the overhead area above the array 3 adjacent the proximity sensor 10 (but suitably with thermal screening of the latter if the proximity sensor is infra-red). The auxiliary! drying device! "black heat" (radiant heat) device, is suitably provided on the body dryer as an optional auxiliary feature to assist in the drying. The heat energy from this latter device heats the body by radiation rather than convection -it heats the body directly not by heating the surrounding air, and the heat travels in straight lines, making it more effective.

In an example installation of the system the motor for the air intake can be mounted by the side of the shower or bath with the power point being water proofed and sealed. The pipe-work! conduit system that the inducted air will travel through is suitably mounted to the wall of the shower! bath. The inducted air is heated by a heater, alongside the air induction motor and fan, attached and sealed to the wall outside the showerl bath. The heated inducted air will then be blown through the pipe-work! conduits to be delivered! emitted through outlet vents! nozzles that are suitably sealed to the wall! tiling in the shower cubicle or surrounding the bath. This flow of heated air is emitted through the vents! nozzles transverse to the pipe array directly! substantially horizontally against the user's body including their torso and arms and legs and will then dry their body off rapidly and efficiently.

The air intake is preferably installed so that it is configured to draw air from outside the bathroom, to supply drier air. However, for simpler installation it may instead be installed so that it is configured to draw air from within the bathroom, avoiding the need for creating a passage through the bathroom wall.

A master operating switch to control supply of operating power to the system is suitably located below the motor wired to it, but may be provided internally to the unit or externally and near or remote from it. A proximity sensor to automate operation in use is preferably sited inside the shower cubicle and may be housed in a housing mounted on the wall! tiles of the bath! shower. The proximity sensor is suitably mounted above the user. A temperature gauge, preferably with digital measurement and! or display, is suitably provided on the system to regulate the raising and lowering of the temperature of the air. A timer, suitably with a user operable adjustment means, may be provided to limit the duration of the operation of the heater and! or blower to limit energy consumption and! or may serve to provide a defined period of operationfrom start-up or following triggering of the proximity sensor.

The body! housing of the system is suitably of a robust, heat tolerant and water resistant material. It is preferably of a plastics material or of a composite such as GRP and the conduit system suitably comprises plastics pipes-e.g. of High Density Polyethylene like the plastics pipes nowadays used for domestic water supply. A foam layer, preferably of plastics foam, or layer of fibres suitably surrounds! ensleeves the walls of the conduit system! pipes for insulation to ensure that the heat is delivered to the target areas.

The system will swiftly and economically dry off the user after they have used the shower or bath. It provides an efficient and effective way of drying the user and without them needing to step out of the shower and spend the time and effort using a towel in the cold. They simply stand beneath the sensor adjacent the body dryer's outlet nozzles and let the system do the job for them.

The system can be configured as an off the shelf system to be retro-fitted in any existing shower or bathroom, or custom built to suit any area that requires it and the dryer system can also be included built into new shower systems or baths at their manufacture or prior to their delivery.

Turning to Figures 4 to 8, these show a second embodiment of the invention configured as a self-contained wall mounting body drying unit. This comprises a tall stainless steel cabinet 10 that reaches from at or near floor level to at or near ceiling level and has four pairs of outlet nozzles 4a-d arrayed at four tier levels up the height of the unit and with the topmost tier of nozzles 4d located in a head section ba of the cabinet that is enlarged to hold the heater 2 and centrifugal fan blower 1' and which has a downwardly sloping front face lOb. The topmost tier of nozzles 4d in the downwardly sloping front face lOb of the head section ba of the cabinet 10 are thus oriented facing at an angle downwardly to blow forwardly and down over the user in use, while the other lower tiers of nozzles 4a-4c blow forwardly.

The lower tiers of nozzles 4a-c are configured to direct the heated air directly forwardly! substantially horizontally at the user but are on rotating duct sections to allow for adjustment of the orientation of each nozzle laterally more to the left or right of the user by turning of the section bearing the nozzle through a number of degrees clockwise or anti-clockwise. This adjustability may be made even more flexible through use of universal! ball type coupling of the nozzle to its duct if desired so that the nozzle can be tilted to a range of angles in the vertical plane as well as the horizontal plane. The ducting 3 of the unit is in a vertical array of pairs of vertically extending ducts 3 with an upper torso pair of ducts 3 and a lower body! legs drying lower pair of ducts 3.

As shown in greater detail in Figure 7 and, especially, Figure 8 but applicable to any embodiment of the invention, the heater 2 of the system suitably has a set of ceramic elements 12 that are heated, eg each by an electrical wire such as an induction or resistance coil, and in turn transfer heat to the air passing through the chamber of the heater 2'. These ceramic elements 12 are arranged in an array in series and in parallel and are very efficient and enhance economy and safety, not being prone to overheating.

The arrangement of the system is efficient, effective and also flexible. If the user requires it the system can be configured to accommodate or incorporate seating adjacent the dispensing nozzles for user convenience. The design and configuration of the system allows close coupling of the fan and heater to the delivery array such as in the self-contained wall-mounting or floor standing cabinet of the Figures 4 to 8 embodiment or separation of the fan! heater module(s) from the delivery array!nozzles so that the system is better suited for use in the wet environment of a shower cubicle, wet-room or bath-side. The lengthy! extended ducting from the fan! heater module(s) to the outlet nozzles, and which can run for a short distance of say 50 cm to a longer distance of one or two or more metres, allows the outlet nozzles to be at or adjacent the wet area while the electrically powered elements are kept safely away from the wet area, but not needing to be ceiling mounted. The electrical supply for the heater and blower can be drawn from the electrical plug socket circuit of the room, eg bathroom, in which the system is installed.

Claims (1)

1. <claim-text>Claims 1. A powered body drying system comprising: a blower; and a conduit system comprising a plurality of ducts arranged in an array extending from the blower and each duct having one or more outlet nozzles! vents and serving to direct air transverse to the axis of the duct so that drying air is blown by the system at least directed towards the torso of a user in use.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. A body dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the array extends substantially vertically in use.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. A body dryer as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the system comprises a heater to heat the air that the drying system emits.</claim-text> <claim-text>4 A body dryer as claimed in claim 3, wherein the heater comprises one or more ceramic elements that transfer the heat to the air in use.</claim-text> <claim-text>A body dryer as claimed in claim 4, wherein the heater comprises a plurality of ceramic elements arranged in an array.</claim-text> <claim-text>6 A body dryer as claimed in claim 5, wherein the ceramic elements array has the ceramic elements in parallel and in series.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system has a plurality of nozzles! vents on each duct! pipe serially therealong.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. A body dryer as claimed in claim 7, wherein the nozzles! vents are located at substantially regularly spaced intervals along each duct! pipe.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. A body dryer as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the nozzles! vents on each duct! pipe are spaced at differing angular orientations! radial directions around the pipe.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the conduit system comprises two or more substantially mutually parallel ducts/pipes.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the mutually parallel ducts/pipes merge at one end into a single common in-feed pipe or into the heater.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the dryer is housed in a casing or cabinet that is mounted to a wall in use.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the dryer is configured with an upright in use housing which has an upright length that corresponds to a users body to direct drying air at the users body and has a head part that directs air at a downward angle toward the user.</claim-text> <claim-text>14. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding ctaim, wherein one or more nozzles of the dryer is/ are configured to be adjustable in direction.</claim-text> <claim-text>15. A body dryer as claimed in claim 16, wherein the one or more nozzles of the dryer is/ are adapted to swivel around the axis of the corresponding duct to adjust orientation of the emitted airflow.</claim-text> <claim-text>16. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein there are at least three substantially mutually parallel ducts/pipes.</claim-text> <claim-text>17. A body dryer as claimed in claim 16, wherein one of the at least three substantially mutually parallel ducts/ pipes is a substantially central primary feed pipe and which has linking laterally extending ducts to feed the heated air to the substantially parallel duct/pipe to each side thereof.</claim-text> <claim-text>18. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the blower comprises a centrifugal fan.</claim-text> <claim-text>19. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system has a regulator to allow user adjustment of the rate of airflow.</claim-text> <claim-text>20. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system has a regulator to allow user adjustment of the temperature of the air. L1</claim-text> <claim-text>21. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system has thermostat means to feedback regulate the temperature of the air to a set level.</claim-text> <claim-text>22. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system has secondary heating means that comprises a black heat radiative heating element.</claim-text> <claim-text>23. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system comprises a proximity sensor to detect the presence of a user and coupled to control means configured to operate the system when the user is determined to be present.</claim-text> <claim-text>24. A body dryer as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the system is modular having a module with the plurality of outlet nozzles/ vents and a module with the blower or heater/blower and a selection of one or more conduits to selectively couple the modules functionally together intimately or at a distance from each other, whereby the dryer can be configured as a substantially compact! self-contained unit or with the nozzles remote from the blower or heater/blower.</claim-text> <claim-text>25. A body dryer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.</claim-text>