JP2000070182A - Plate-shaped heating unit for electric toilet seat - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plate-shaped heating unit at a low cost which can be used as a heater for an electrical toilet seat, wherein a cord-shaped heater arranged in a simple wiring pattern is used to uniformly heat a toilet seat body. SOLUTION: A plate-shaped heating unit 1 is mounted to the rear side of a toilet seat body to heat it to a predetermined temperature. The heating unit 1 is comprised of a metal foil sheet 2 formed into a shape nearly identical with the plane shape of the toilet seat body and a cord-shaped heater 4 which is disposed along the periphery of the sheet 2 and has a watt density of 15 W/m or more. Thermal insulating holes 5 are formed inside the heater 4 of the sheet 2 to intercept the conduction of heat generated from the heater 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a planar heating element suitable as a heater for heating a toilet seat having a heating function (hereinafter referred to as "electric toilet seat"), and more particularly to a simple wiring pattern. The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of satisfactorily heating a toilet seat body with a uniform temperature distribution by using an arranged cord-shaped heater.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, seats having a heating function have been frequently used as toilet seats for Western-style toilets. As an example of this type of electric toilet seat, there is, for example, a configuration as shown in FIG. First, reference numeral 15 denotes a toilet seat body which is injection-molded in a horseshoe shape in advance using a synthetic resin such as ABS resin (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin) or PP resin (polypropylene resin).
A sheet heating element 11 as a heater for heating is mounted with an adhesive (not shown).

[0003] The sheet heating element 11 is made of an aluminum foil in which a cord-shaped heater 14 in which an insulator made of a vinyl chloride resin or the like is extrusion-coated on the outermost layer is previously punched into a shape substantially the same as the planar shape of the toilet seat body. After being disposed in a meandering shape over substantially the entire surface of the metal foil sheet 12 having excellent thermal conductivity, the metal foil sheet 12 is bonded and fixed by heat welding or the like. Heat to a predetermined temperature. A toilet seat back lid 16 is injection-molded with a synthetic resin similarly to the toilet seat body 15, and is joined to the bottom of the toilet seat body 15 by means such as heat welding or bonding.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional sheet heating element for an electric toilet seat has the following problems. First, since the wiring pattern of the cord-shaped heater is complicated, there is a disadvantage that the work efficiency at the time of arranging work is very poor and the productivity is low. This problem is caused by the fact that the heat resistance of the insulator constituting the cord-shaped heater is low, and the watt density cannot be designed to be large. In other words, in general, inexpensive vinyl chloride resin is generally used as the insulator of the cord-shaped heater used for this kind of application, but the vinyl chloride resin has a heat resistance. At most 100
° C, and the watt density that can be designed is up to 10 W /
m, so that the overall length is at least 4-5
m. Therefore, if such a long cord-like heater is to be arranged within a limited range, the wiring pattern is necessarily complicated.

To solve such problems, for example, silicone rubber having a heat resistance of 180 ° C. or higher, heat resistance
As a countermeasure, it is conceivable as a countermeasure to use a high-watt-density cord-shaped heater having an insulator made of a fluororesin or the like having a temperature of 00 ° C. or higher to shorten its entire length and simplify the wiring pattern. As the wiring pattern, for example, it is conceivable that the wiring pattern is a simple pattern that is arranged along the periphery of the metal foil sheet formed in a horseshoe shape.

However, when such a planar heating element having a simple pattern is mounted on a toilet seat main body and used for actual use, even if a metal foil sheet functioning as a heat equalizer is provided, the toilet seat is not provided. Another problem occurs that the surface temperature distribution of the main body varies.

Actually, the inventors of the present invention mounted the planar heating element having the above-mentioned configuration on the back surface of the toilet seat body 15 as shown in FIG. The surface temperature of the portion indicated by the middle symbol A) increases, and the toilet seat body 1
The surface temperature of the peripheral portion of No. 5 (the portion indicated by reference symbols B and C in the figure) tended to be low. Such a phenomenon is particularly remarkable when the thickness of the toilet seat body 15 is not uniform and both end portions are formed thicker than the central portion. Since the inner peripheral portion of the toilet seat body 15 (the portion indicated by the symbol C in the figure) is the portion that comes into contact with the human skin most, if the surface temperature of this portion is low, the toilet seat user will feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, if the temperature of the central portion of the toilet seat body 15 is unnecessarily high, the user of the toilet seat may suffer a low-temperature burn, which is dangerous.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above points, and its object is to provide a cord-like arrangement provided in a simple wiring pattern regardless of the shape, size, thickness, etc. of the toilet seat body. An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive sheet heating element suitable for use as a heater for heating an electric toilet seat, which can heat a toilet seat body with a uniform temperature distribution using a heater.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a planar heating element for an electric toilet seat according to the present invention is mounted on the back of a toilet seat body and heats the toilet seat body to a predetermined temperature. The planar heating element comprises: a metal foil sheet formed in a shape substantially equal to the planar shape of the toilet seat main body; and a watt density of 15 W provided along a peripheral portion of the metal foil sheet.
/ M or more, and a heat insulating hole for blocking conduction of heat generated from the cord heater is provided inside a portion of the metal foil sheet where the cord heater is provided. It is characterized by being formed.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The cord-like heater used in the present invention may be of any type as long as it has a structure in which an insulation coating is provided on the periphery of a heater wire and can be designed to have a watt density of 15 W / m or more. . In the case of a cord-shaped heater having a watt density of less than 15 W / m, a length of about 4 to 5 m is required to obtain a desired calorific value. It becomes difficult to obtain a planar heating element having a complicated wiring pattern.

[0011] As a heater wire constituting the cord-shaped heater, for example, a nickel chrome alloy wire, an iron chrome alloy wire,
Heaters made of metal resistance wires such as copper-nickel alloy wires and stainless steel wires as they are, or those metal resistance wires made of a fiber material such as polyester fiber, glass fiber, alumina fiber, aromatic polyamide fiber, wholly aromatic polyester fiber, etc. A core or a core wound on a heater core provided with an elastic coating such as silicone rubber on the periphery of the above-mentioned fiber material can be used. Either type may be used, but if a metal resistance wire spirally wound on a heater core is used, a high wattage can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the type and winding pitch of the metal resistance wire. A cord-shaped heater having a high density can be easily obtained.

The insulating coating may be formed by a known method by appropriately selecting a known insulating material in consideration of a desired heating temperature of a cord-shaped heater, a watt density, and the like. Examples of the insulating material include an electrical insulating composition such as cross-linked polyethylene, silicone rubber, fluorine rubber, and fluorine resin, and a fiber material such as glass fiber, alumina fiber, silica fiber, and alumina / silica fiber. When an electrical insulating composition is used as the insulating material, it may be formed by extrusion, and when a fiber material is used, it may be formed by braiding or weaving. When the above-described heater wire has a configuration in which a metal resistance wire is spirally wound on a heater core, a known separator may be interposed between the heater wire and the insulating coating. The applicant has disclosed Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-17274.
The nonwoven fabric separator proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2 is particularly suitable, and can greatly improve strip workability at the time of terminal processing.

[0013] In the present invention, the cord-shaped heater having the above-described configuration is formed into a shape substantially equal to the planar shape of the toilet seat body (for example,
A sheet heating element is disposed along the peripheral edge (inner peripheral edge and outer peripheral edge) of the metal foil sheet formed in a horseshoe shape. At this time, a cord-shaped heater of the metal foil sheet is disposed. It is necessary to form a heat-insulating hole for blocking conduction of heat generated from the cord-shaped heater inside the portion. In the present invention, by forming the heat insulating holes, the heat of the cord-shaped heater transmitted through the metal foil sheet is appropriately cut off, and the surface temperature distribution of the toilet seat body is arbitrarily adjusted. Therefore, the shape, size, number, and the like of the heat insulating holes are not particularly limited, and may be appropriately designed so as to have a desired temperature distribution. As a method of forming the heat insulating hole, for example, it is conceivable to set a plurality of superposed metal foil sheets in a press with a cutter or the like, and simultaneously form them when punching and forming into a shape substantially equal to the planar shape of the toilet seat body. .

When arranging the cord-shaped heater on the metal foil sheet, a patent owned by the applicant, Japanese Patent No. 143606, is used.
No. 4 (Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-44394), as disclosed in the title of "Method of Manufacturing Heating Plate", a cord-shaped heater is formed by using an adhesive tape between a metal foil sheet and an adhesive tape. It is desirable to sandwich it. By doing so, the wiring pattern of the cord-shaped heater can be favorably held.

Further, at this time, when the insulating coating material of the cord-shaped heater is made of a fluororesin, it is disclosed in the utility model owned by the applicant, Utility Model Registration No. 2537931, and the name of the device "planar heating element". As described above, it is desirable that the surface of the insulating coating be subjected to an etching treatment in advance. By doing so, even a fluorine-resin-coated cord-shaped heater having a property of hardly adhering to another substance can be reliably sandwiched between the metal foil sheet and the adhesive tape, and the wiring pattern can be favorably held. .

[0016]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment is an example in which the planar heating element according to the present invention is applied to a heater for heating an electric toilet seat shaped like a horseshoe.

Example 1 First, a copper-nickel alloy wire having an outer diameter of 0.1 mm was spirally wound as a metal resistance wire at a pitch of 0.8 mm on a heater core made of a glass fiber bundle having an outer diameter of 0.35 mm. Extrusion coating of silicone rubber as an insulating coating with a wall thickness of 0.6 mm was performed on the resulting heater wire, followed by crosslinking by a known method to obtain a cord-shaped heater having a finish outer diameter of 1.7 mm and a watt density of 23 W / m. .

Next, the cord-shaped heater 2.1m was made into a metal foil sheet made of an aluminum foil having a thickness of 0.04 mm using the method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 1436064 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-44394). 1.9 mm (including the thickness of the cord-shaped heater) as shown in FIG. 1, sandwiched between a 0.1 mm-thick acrylic double-sided adhesive tape having release paper on one side. A heating element 1 was prepared. Here, reference numeral 2 denotes a metal foil sheet, and reference numeral 3 denotes a double-sided adhesive tape having release paper 3a on one side, and these are punched in a horseshoe shape in advance according to the shape of the toilet seat body. A cord-like heater 4 arranged in a predetermined wiring pattern is sandwiched between these. In this embodiment, the metal foil sheet 2
A simple wiring pattern only to be arranged along the peripheral portion of the wiring. Reference numeral 5 denotes a heat insulating hole formed inside a portion of the metal foil sheet 2 where the cord-shaped heater 4 is provided.
In this embodiment, two substantially elliptical holes are formed symmetrically.

Comparative Example 1 The above-described Example 1 was repeated except that no heat insulating hole was formed in the metal foil sheet.
A sheet heating element was manufactured by the same materials and by the same procedure.

Here, the two types of planar heating elements obtained in this manner are mounted on the back surface of an ABS resin toilet seat body formed in a horseshoe shape in advance, respectively, and are energized to generate heat. The surface temperature was measured. Fig. 3
And three points A, B and C shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3B, the shape of the toilet seat main body is formed thicker at both ends than at the center.

As a result, the surface temperature of the toilet seat body equipped with the sheet heating element according to the present embodiment was almost the same as that of 42 ° C. at point A and 40 ° C. at points B and C. The surface temperature of the toilet seat body on which the planar heating element is mounted is 50.
At 5 ° C., point B and point C were 25 ° C., indicating an extreme temperature difference.

As shown in FIG. 1, the planar heating element according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which a heat insulating hole 5 is formed inside a portion of the metal foil sheet 2 where the cord-shaped heater 4 is provided. is there. Therefore, the heat generated from the cord-shaped heater 4 is not transmitted much to the central portion (symbol A) of the toilet seat main body 15, but is accumulated in the peripheral portions (symbols B and C) of the toilet seat main body 15, and the surface temperature distribution Seems to be uniform.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. First, in the above-described embodiment, the cord-shaped heater is a silicone rubber insulating-coated cord-shaped heater. Alternatively, a crosslinked polyethylene insulating-coated cord-shaped heater, a fluororesin-coated cord-shaped heater, or the like may be used. . If the watt density is 15 W / m or more,
Any of them can be applied to the present invention. In the above embodiment, two substantially elliptical heat-insulating holes are formed symmetrically inside the portion where the cord-shaped heater of the metal foil sheet is provided, but the shape of the heat-insulating holes is not limited to this. However, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, it is conceivable to form four substantially elliptical heat-insulating holes left and right symmetrically. These heat insulating holes may be appropriately designed so that the surface temperature of the toilet seat body has a desired temperature distribution.

[0024]

As described in detail above, the planar heating element of the present invention is obtained by simply disposing a cord-shaped heater having a specific watt density in a simple wiring pattern on a metal foil sheet in which heat insulating holes are formed. Although the configuration is simple, the toilet seat body can be favorably heated with a uniform temperature distribution regardless of the shape, size, thickness, etc. of the toilet seat body. Since the wiring pattern of the cord-shaped heater is extremely simplified, the arrangement work becomes easy, and the productivity is remarkably improved. This enables a significant cost reduction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B are diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a top view of a sheet heating element for an electric toilet seat, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view taken along line II of FIG.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views showing a conventional example, in which FIG. 2A is a top view of an electric toilet seat to which a planar heating element is mounted, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

3A is a top view of an electric toilet seat on which a sheet heating element is mounted, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and is a top view of a sheet heating element for an electric toilet seat.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Planar heating element 2 ... Metal foil sheet 3 ... Acrylic double-sided adhesive tape 3a ... Release paper 4 ... Cord heater 5 ... Heat insulation hole

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2D037 AD09 3K034 AA02 AA12 AA13 BA05 BA08 BA10 BA12 BA16 BB02 BB13 BC03 BC12 BC29 FA03 FA04 FA05 GA04 GA08 HA04 HA10

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A planar heating element mounted on a back surface of a toilet seat body and heating the toilet seat body to a predetermined temperature, wherein the planar heating element is formed in a shape substantially equal to a planar shape of the toilet seat body. And a cord-shaped heater having a watt density of 15 W / m or more disposed along the periphery of the metal foil sheet, and the cord-shaped heater of the metal foil sheet is disposed. A heat generating hole for an electric toilet seat, wherein a heat insulating hole for blocking conduction of heat generated from the cord-shaped heater is formed inside the portion formed.