JP2000024362A - Washing apparatus for fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a washing apparatus for fabrics by which partial washing of clothings can be effectively performed without injuring health even when one has no professional knowledge. SOLUTION: This washing apparatus is provided with an ultrasonic wave generating means and a vibration horn 23 for amplifying ultrasonic vibration and washes an article 5 to be washed by making it approach very closely to the apex part of the horn fed with a washing liq. or bringing it into contact with the apex part of the horn. In this case, a slit part 4 into which a part to be washed is inserted and washed is provided in the neighborhood of the apex part of the horn of a guard part 3 formed so as to surround the vibration horn 23.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a home or business cleaning apparatus utilizing an ultrasonic cleaning action.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ultrasonic vibrator is adhered to a lower surface or a side surface of a cleaning tank to apply ultrasonic vibration to the cleaning liquid filled in the cleaning tank, and cavitation is generated in the cleaning liquid by pressure fluctuation due to transmission of compressional waves of ultrasonic waves. Uses a vibration horn to amplify ultrasonic vibrations when cleaning an object to be cleaned that has been generated and immersed in the cleaning liquid or when a partly stronger cleaning power is required, and converges from the horn to the object to be cleaned in the cleaning liquid. A method of irradiating a high energy density ultrasonic wave to generate strong cavitation for cleaning is used.

However, since the size of the cleaning tank is limited, it is impossible to wash an object to be cleaned whose overall size is larger than that of the cleaning tank even if the contaminated portion is partial, and the cleaning tank is limited. Since there are many unrealistic cleaning objects to be cleaned by these methods like the outer wall of a structure without using an outer wall of a structure, a portable type using an ultrasonic horn as disclosed in JP-A-6-218337. Ultrasonic cleaners have been proposed.

FIG. 5 shows an overall configuration diagram of a conventional portable ultrasonic cleaning machine proposed.

A conventional portable ultrasonic cleaner has a configuration in which a hose 24 to be supplied communicates with a horn 23 and is connected to the horn 23 from a vibrator 21 via a cone 22.
When the vibrator 21 is driven, the tip of the horn 23 resonates and the vibration amplitude is amplified, and a powerful ultrasonic wave is emitted from the tip of the horn 23 and the inside of the horn 23 is supplied from tap water or the like by a hose 24. A plurality of cleaning liquid jet ports are provided, and when the cleaning liquid is brought close to the object to be cleaned, the spouting liquid is filled between the tip of the horn portion 23 and the object to be cleaned, and strong cavitation is generated. Is exhibited.

Therefore, according to this, a cleaning tank which has been required conventionally becomes unnecessary, and an object to be cleaned can be irradiated and cleaned with ultrasonic waves from an arbitrary direction. The object to be cleaned can be cleaned, and it is considered to be very suitable for partially cleaning dirt.

[0007] In addition, when partial washing of clothes or the like (collars, sleeve stains, stain stains) such as clothes is considered as an object to be washed, a soft and easily gas-retaining material such as clothes is generally used. Ultrasonic cleaning in the cleaning tank easily attenuated and reflected ultrasonic waves, which prevented effective transmission of ultrasonic energy and reduced cleaning performance. A powerful ultrasonic wave directly focused on the part can be irradiated at a short distance or in direct contact, so that it is possible to perform very effective cleaning without attenuation of the ultrasonic wave, and it is easy to have a suitable configuration for this. It can be imagined.

[0008]

Although it is considered that it is very effective to use the ultrasonic horn supplied as described above in direct contact with or in contact with clothing for partial cleaning, it is very effective. The tip has a high energy density (tens of W
/ Cm ² ) ultrasonic vibration. When performing partial washing, for example, assuming a case where the hand of the washer is held with the right hand and the left hand is placed under the object to be washed to clean the object, Although it depends on the thickness, especially in the case of a thin cleaning object, there is a very high possibility that powerful ultrasonic waves are transmitted through the cleaning object and applied to the human hand. (Burn) and tissue destruction.

It is known that irradiation of such a powerful ultrasonic wave every day for a certain period of time without any specific damage may cause bone damage, and a high cleaning effect can be expected. However, there is a major problem in that ordinary people who do not understand the special knowledge and dangers of ultrasound are extremely vulnerable to handling and have health problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned problems and to provide an apparatus for cleaning cloths and the like which can effectively perform partial cleaning of clothes and the like without losing health without specialized knowledge.

[0011]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cloth cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, wherein a guard portion surrounding a horn portion is formed, and an object to be cleaned is inserted near a horn tip of the guard portion. The slit is provided, and the slit width is limited to a size that does not allow the hand to enter at least immediately before the horn, so ultrasonic waves are not directly irradiated on the human body, and ultrasonic waves are effectively applied only to clothing Irradiation cleaning.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a cloth cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic views showing an embodiment of a cloth cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIGS. 1 and 2, it is connected to an ultrasonic vibrator 21 to transmit vibration. Cone 22 and horn 2 for amplifying its vibration amplitude
3 and a water supply pipe 10 for supplying a cleaning liquid to the horn 23 and a cleaning liquid supply guide 12 for uniformly flowing the cleaning liquid down the side of the horn. Object 5
The slit portion 4 for inserting and cleaning the upper portion 4a and the lower portion guide 4b for supporting the object 5 to be cleaned on the same plane, and discharging the cleaning liquid immediately below the horn 23 of the lower guide 4b. And a through-hole 6 communicating with a drain port 7 for performing the above operation.

Next, the operation of the apparatus for cleaning clothes of the present invention will be described step by step.

First, when the ultrasonic vibrator 21 receives a drive signal from an oscillator (not shown), the vibrator vibrates at its resonance frequency.
, The vibration amplitude of the vibrator is amplified, and the tip of the horn 23 vibrates at an amplitude several times to several tens times or more depending on the material and shape of the horn. At this time, the vibration energy from the vibrator is converged by the horn 23, the energy density at the tip of the horn 23 is very high, and easily reaches a strong power density of several tens of W / cm ² or more. is there.

At the same time, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the cleaning liquid supply guide 12 from tap water or pressurized supply means such as a pump via the water supply pipe 10, and the cleaning liquid is supplied to the tip of the horn 23. As shown in FIG. 2, both ends are bent in a U-shape, and have substantially the same length as the side length of the horn 23. The distance (gap) from the horn 23 is adjusted so that the water supply pipe 10 The flow of the cleaning liquid that flows down in a point manner can be made to uniformly flow down along the horn 23, and a uniform flow can be provided at low cost without forming a complicated flow path inside the horn 23,
The device is devised so as to prevent non-uniform cleaning performance due to uneven liquid supply.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the water supply pipe 10 and the cleaning liquid supply guide 12 are provided on the left and right so as to provide a more uniform liquid supply. However, either one of them can supply liquid without any problem.

The cleaning liquid which has uniformly flowed down from the side wall of the horn 23 is strongly vibrated at the tip of the horn 23, generates a capillary surface wave, is atomized, accelerated, and flows downward.

Next, the slit portion 4 provided in the guard portion 3 will be described.

The upper guide 4a of the slit portion 4 is a horn 2
The cleaning object 5 is disposed so as to be flush with or slightly above the tip of the horn 23, and the object 5 to be washed slightly contacts the tip of the horn 23, and the cleaning liquid flowing down is retained. It is adjusted so that ultrasonic vibrations can be directly transmitted to the object 5.

The gap with the lower guide 4b is limited to about 10 mm in the vicinity of the horn 23 in order to prevent the hand from directly contacting the tip of the horn 23. However, if it is not easy to insert the object to be cleaned. In consideration of poor usability, the R portion is formed so that the gap is temporarily large near the guard portion 3.

Therefore, when it is difficult to insert the object to be cleaned easily, the radius may be increased so that a predetermined gap is formed in at least a part near the horn 23.
However, since the person to be washed may be a child, it is preferable to set the minimum dimension of the slit portion 4 to be slightly smaller.

Further, the lower guide 4b is provided with a through hole 6 which is directly below the horn 23 and communicates with the drain port 7 and has an area larger than the projected area of the lower end surface of the horn 23, thereby quickly discharging dirty washing waste liquid. In addition, the formation of standing waves due to the reflection of ultrasonic waves is avoided, and cavitation noise during non-cleaning is prevented.

In the present embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the upper end and the lower end is changed in the through-hole 6 in order to prevent the hand from entering the tip of the horn 23 from the drain port 7 by mistake. Although the reduced portion is limited to about 10 mm in the width direction such that the hand cannot enter, at least a portion between the upper end portion and the lower end portion may be limited in width, and is not limited thereto.

However, if a finger enters the horn 23 to the immediate vicinity, a relatively strong ultrasonic wave is emitted.
It is considered safer and preferable to provide a width limit below about 3 cm.

[0026] In addition, several tens of
In the relatively low frequency range of kHz, the vibration waves are not concentrated in the form of a beam like the high frequency band, so the ultrasonic vibration due to the excitation of the liquid is not transmitted to the liquid that flows continuously at high intensity and is discharged. There is no problem if you touch the cleaning solution.

Next, a cleaning method will be described.

When the part to be cleaned 5 such as clothing is inserted into the slit of the cleaning device A and moved to the left and right, the positional relationship is such that the tip of the horn 23 is slightly contacted. Strong cavitation is generated on the outer surface or inside the fibers of the washed material that has been kept wet, and the cleaning effect is obtained, and the vibration of several tens kHz with amplified amplitude is directly transmitted to clothing, and the physical vibration mechanical force The dirt is very effectively removed by the synergistic effect that is given, and is quickly discharged from the drain port 7 through the through-hole 6. Since the cleaning power can be visually confirmed, it is sufficient to determine whether to stop or continue depending on the cleaning condition.

If the minimum dimension of the slit portion 4 is set to a clearance of, for example, 10 mm where no hand can enter, a collar of a cutter shirt, which is often subjected to partial washing,
Sleeves, socks, shirts, underwear, etc. can be easily inserted and washed, so that there is no inconvenience.

FIG. 4 shows the results of a cloth cleaning test performed by the present cleaning apparatus.

In this experiment, based on the amount of water supplied from the water supply pipe 10 on the horizontal axis, the cleaning degree (%) was measured using an artificially stained cloth (simulated collar stain) as a test cloth based on JIS electric washing machine C9606 cleaning test. This is the result obtained. The cleaning degree (%) was calculated by the reflectance method using the following equation.

Degree of washing (%) = (Reflectance after washing−Reflectance before washing) / (Reflectance of original cloth−Reflectance before washing) × 100 As an experimental condition, the frequency of ultrasonic wave is 150 at 28 kHz.
The washing liquid was used for washing for 3 seconds after applying a standard amount of a commercially available liquid detergent for partial washing to a contaminated cloth in advance using tap water adjusted to 25 ° C.

According to the results, according to the washing apparatus of the present invention, if the degree of washing is 40 to 50% obtained by ordinary washing in a washing machine, the same level is reached with no water supply or only 0.1 l / min water supply. When the amount of water supplied was increased, a cleaning degree of more than 70% was obtained in only 3 seconds, and it is clear that a remarkable cleaning effect was exerted on cloths.

Although it is considered that there is a slight difference depending on the type of cloth, the degree of cleaning tends not to increase at a water supply flow rate of about 1 l / min. It is very economical because it consumes very little water.

After the washing, it is more efficient to integrate the washing machine 5 with a home washing machine or a vanity stand because of the necessity of a rinsing step for removing the detergent remaining on the article 5 to be washed.

[0036]

Since the cloth cleaning apparatus of the present invention has the above-described configuration, it is possible to obtain a strong cleaning effect without irradiating the human body with ultrasonic waves. Anyone can easily and safely perform a partial wash of the stubborn parts such as collars, sleeves, socks, stains, etc., which could not be completely washed out and were manually washed separately, without having to mess with your hands. It can be performed.

In addition, the tip of the horn is in a state where the contact resistance is reduced by the ultrasonic vibration, and the horn can be moved smoothly even when the garment is moved from side to side, and the frictional damage of the cloth is reduced. A remarkable effect is obtained in that the cloth can be cleaned with less damage to the cloth without wrinkling as compared with the damage to cloth which has been conventionally cleaned by rubbing with a hand fir or a brush.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional overall configuration view showing an embodiment of a cloth cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall schematic front view showing an embodiment of the cloth cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a cleaning liquid supply guide of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a cleaning test result by the cloth cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an overall configuration diagram showing a conventional ultrasonic cleaning apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 Guard part 4 Slit part 4a Upper guide 4b Lower guide 5 Object to be cleaned 6 Through hole 7 Drain port 10 Water supply pipe 12 Cleaning liquid supply guide 21 Ultrasonic vibrator 22 Cone 23 Horn

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3B116 AA46 AB13 BB22 BB83 3B155 AA02 BA09 BB02 BB08 CA11 CB42 FA09 FA15 3B201 AA46 BB83

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning horn comprising an ultrasonic generating means and a vibration horn for amplifying ultrasonic vibrations, wherein the cleaning horn is provided with an object to be cleaned brought into close proximity or in contact with a tip of the horn to which the cleaning liquid is supplied. A slit portion for inserting and cleaning a portion to be cleaned in the vicinity of a tip of a horn of a guard portion formed so as to surround the cloth. 2. The cloth cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a slit width of the slit portion is formed such that a gap is temporarily increased near the guard portion. 3. The apparatus for cleaning cloths according to claim 1, wherein the slit width of the slit portion is a gap of about 10 mm at which a human hand does not enter at a minimum dimension portion. 4. The cloth cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slit portion is provided with a through hole communicating with a drain port immediately below the vibration horn. 5. The slit according to claim 1, wherein the slit has at least a portion between the upper end and the lower end, and a portion having a width of about 10 mm or less which is smaller than a hand of a person. A cloth cleaning apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 6. The cloth cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising one or more cleaning liquid supply guides for supplying the cleaning liquid supplied to the tip of the vibration horn along the vibration horn from above the vibration horn.