JP2005066031A - Toilet seat apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide toilet seat apparatus which is allowed to have a caring function and a convenient cleaning function. <P>SOLUTION: In the apparatus, a driving device 10 for vertically moving a toilet seat box 2 has: a step motor; a speed changer 12 connected with the step motor on an input side; a pinion 14 connected to the output side of the speed changer 12; and a rack 16 with which the pinion is meshed. The speed changer 12 is fixed to the front base plate 2a of a toilet seat box 2. The rack 16 is fixed to a frame 18 erected from a rear base plate 8 arranged on a a western style toilet bowl body 1. With the speed changer 12, the output torque of the driving device 10 can be amplified to a torque capable of pushing up the toilet seat box 2 together with a human body mounted thereon against a load of the human body even when the human body is seated on the toilet seat 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a toilet seating facility that supports a toilet seat so as to be movable up and down.

  The toilet seat installed on the upper surface of the Western-style toilet is attached to the Western-style toilet so as to be able to rotate in the vertical direction via a case member such as a toilet seat box or a tank cover.

  Dirt such as urine is infiltrated between the case member and the upper surface of the Western-style toilet, and is likely to cause odor. In view of this, a toilet seating facility has been developed in which the case member can be moved up and down with respect to the western-style toilet by means of a guide member, and the case member is raised when the western-style toilet is cleaned (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-28619).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-239549 discloses a toilet seat lifting / lowering device in which a toilet seat is moved up and down by a drive device so that even a person with disabilities can easily sit and stand on the toilet seat. It is described in the publication.
JP-A-9-28619 JP 11-239549 A

  According to the toilet seat support lifting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-28619, it is possible to carefully clean the upper surface of the rear part of the Western-style toilet by raising the tank cover, but when a person is sitting on the toilet seat It does not have an assistance function to raise the toilet seat together with the human body.

  The toilet seat lifting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-239549 has such an assisting function, but does not have a cleaning convenience function of raising the case member and cleaning the upper surface of the Western style toilet bowl under the case member. .

  An object of the present invention is to provide a toilet seating facility having such an assistance function and a cleaning convenience function.

  The toilet seating facility of the present invention is installed on the upper surface of the rear part of a Western-style toilet, and at least the front part is a case member that is a liftable body that can be raised and lowered, and the toilet seat that is attached to the lifter body so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction And a toilet seating facility having a drive device for raising and lowering the lifting body, the drive device can raise the lifting body against the seating load even when a seating load is applied to the toilet seat. It is characterized by this.

  Such a toilet seating facility of the present invention can easily clean the upper surface of the western part of the toilet bowl by raising the elevating body. In addition, since the lifting body can be raised while a person is sitting on the toilet seat, even a person with reduced mobility can easily stand up, and similarly, the sitting body can be moved by raising the lifting body. Can also be performed easily.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the toilet seat is configured such that when the lift body is raised, the front end side of the toilet seat is brought into contact with the front upper surface of the Western-style toilet and the rear end side of the toilet seat is raised together with the lift body. Thereby, since the toilet seat has a double-supported structure in which the front portion and the rear portion are supported when the elevator is raised, the load applied to the toilet seat pivot support portion is reduced to about half, for example.

  In the present invention, the drive device is preferably configured to stop the lifting body at an arbitrary position and to hold the lifting body at this stop position even when a seating load is applied to the toilet seat. This makes it possible to change the height of the toilet seat according to the height (especially the length of the legs) and to perform the sitting and standing operations more easily.

  In this invention, it is preferable that the drive device can change the raising / lowering speed of a raising / lowering body. Thus, the toilet seat occupant can be slowly pushed up or down, and the lifting body can be raised and lowered quickly during cleaning.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the drive device includes a motor and a push-up mechanism that pushes up the lifting body by the motor. When a step motor is employed as this motor, the elevating speed of the elevating body can be controlled by controlling the pulse rate and the number of pulses. In addition, the lifting body can be stopped at an arbitrary height by using the stop torque of the step motor.

  In this case, seating detection means for detecting seating on the toilet seat is provided, and control means for controlling to reduce the motor rotation speed when seating is detected and to increase the motor rotation speed when seating is not detected. It is good also as a structure provided.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a toilet seating facility having both a cleaning convenience function for facilitating cleaning of the rear upper surface of a Western-style toilet and an assisting function for facilitating standing and seating operations on the toilet seat.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are side views of a Western-style toilet equipped with a toilet seating device according to an embodiment of the present invention when the toilet seat is standing and when the toilet seat is lying down. Fig. 4B shows a state where the toilet seat box is raised. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the Western-style toilet, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a drive device for raising and lowering the toilet seat box.

  A toilet seat box 2 as a case member is installed on a rear upper surface of a porcelain western-style toilet body 1 so as to be able to move up and down, and a toilet seat 4 and a toilet lid 6 are attached to the toilet seat box 2 so as to be rotatable in a tilting direction. .

  In this embodiment, the toilet seat box 2 has an outer shell formed of a front base plate 2a that can be raised and lowered and a cover 2b made of a bottomless box-like synthetic resin that is attached to the front base plate 2a. The front base plate 2a and the cover 2b constitute a lifting body that can float. The front base plate 2a is disposed on the front side of the bottom of the cover 2b. Although not shown, the front base plate 2a is provided with a hot water washing nozzle and a motor-driven hot water switching valve device for washing the human body with warm water. The bottom surface of the front base plate 2a is provided with illumination for illuminating the lower region S when the toilet seat box 2 is lifted. Although LED is suitable as this illumination, it is not limited to this.

  Although not shown, on the front base plate 2a, there are an electric opening / closing unit for opening and closing the toilet seat 4 and the toilet lid 6, a hot air fan for blowing hot air toward the human body and drying it, and a toilet bowl A deodorizing fan and a deodorizing cartridge for deodorizing by sucking air containing odor from the air are provided. The cover 2b is provided with a human body detection sensor for detecting the approach of the human body to the toilet body 1 and the seating on the toilet seat 4.

  A rear base plate 8 is provided on the upper surface of the rearmost part of the toilet body 1 so that the rear side of the cover 2b is covered from above. A motor-driven drive device 10 is installed on the rear base plate 8 to push up or lower the toilet seat box 2. In this embodiment, the driving device 10 is provided on each of the left and right sides of the rear base plate 8. Further, although not shown, the rear base plate 8 includes a hot water tank with a heater for supplying hot water to the hot water cleaning nozzle, a room heating fan including a heater and an electric fan, a power supply board, and a control circuit for controlling each device. A valve unit and the like for supplying water to the substrate, the toilet bowl, and the trap part are provided.

  The drive device 10 includes a step motor (not shown), a transmission 12 connected to the input side of the step motor, a pinion 14 connected to the output side of the transmission 12, and the pinion 14 meshed with each other. And a rack 16. The transmission 12 is fixed to the front base plate 2a. A frame 18 of the driving device 10 is erected from the rear base plate 8, and a rack 16 is fixed to the frame 18 so as to extend in the vertical direction. The frame 18 is provided with a pair of guide rails (not shown) extending in the vertical direction, and a slider (not shown) provided on the front base plate 2a is movable along the guide rails. Has been. When the step motor rotates forward or reverse, the front base plate 2a is raised or lowered.

  The transmission 12 includes a planetary gear mechanism that amplifies the output torque by decelerating the rotational speed of the output side drive shaft relative to the rotational speed of the input side step motor drive shaft. Although not shown, the planetary gear mechanism includes a ring gear having internal teeth, a sun gear disposed concentrically with the ring gear inside the ring gear, and between the ring gear and the sun gear. It is composed of a plurality of planetary gears that are arranged and meshed with each other and pivotally supported by a carrier arm that rotates coaxially with the sun gear. A drive shaft of a step motor is connected to the carrier arm, and a pinion 14 is connected to the sun gear. By this planetary gear mechanism, the rotational torque of the step motor is greatly amplified and output to the pinion 14.

  This planetary gear mechanism can amplify the rotational torque of the step motor to a size that can push up the toilet seat box 2 together with the human body against the load from the human body even when the human body is seated on the toilet seat 4. It can be done.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rack 16 has a curvature near the front end of the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1 (the portion where the front end of the toilet seat 4 abuts when the toilet seat 4 is in a lying posture). It is curved in a substantially arc shape so as to be the center. The guide rail is also curved in a substantially arc shape so that the vicinity of the front end of the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1 is the center of curvature and the same radius of curvature as the rack 16.

  Accordingly, when the toilet seat box 2 is lifted from the state of FIG. 2 (a) in which the toilet seat box 2 is lowered and the toilet seat 4 is in a posture lying on the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1, As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the toilet seat box 2 rises so that the rear end side of the toilet seat 4 is lifted while the front end of the toilet seat 4 is in contact with the vicinity of the front end of the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1. .

  This drive device 10 is operated by a remote controller attached to the wall surface of the toilet room. This remote control is provided with a toilet seat box raising switch for operating the driving device 10 so that the toilet seat box 2 is raised, and a toilet seat box lowering switch for operating the driving device 10 so that the toilet seat box 2 is lowered. It has been. In addition, you may provide the raising / lowering stop switch for enabling the toilet seat box 2 to be stopped in arbitrary positions. Signals from the toilet seat box raising switch and the toilet seat box lowering switch are input to a drive device control circuit provided on the control circuit board.

  This drive device control circuit continues the operation of the drive device 10 to raise the toilet seat box 2 while the toilet seat box raising switch is operated. A limit switch is provided at the upper end of the guide rail, and when the toilet seat box 2 is raised to the ascending limit, the operation of the driving device 10 is automatically terminated by this limit switch. In addition, when the operation of the toilet seat box raising switch is stopped before the toilet seat box 2 is raised to the upper limit, or when the lifting / lowering stop switch is pressed, the driving device control circuit immediately operates the driving device 10. And the toilet seat box 2 is stopped at the midway position.

  When the toilet seat box lowering switch is operated while the toilet seat box 2 is raised, the drive device control circuit operates the drive device 10 to lower the toilet seat box 2 while the toilet seat box lowering switch is operated. Continue. A limit switch is also provided at the lower end of the guide rail, and when the toilet seat box 2 is lowered to the lowering limit, the operation of the driving device 10 is automatically terminated by this limit switch. In addition, when the operation of the toilet seat box lowering switch is stopped before the toilet seat box 2 is lowered to the lower limit, or when the lifting / lowering stop switch is pressed, the drive device control circuit immediately operates the drive device 10. The toilet seat box 2 is stopped at the midway down position.

  When the driving device 10 stops in the middle of the vertical movement of the toilet seat box 2, the toilet seat box 2 is fixed at the stop position by the stop torque of the step motor. This stop torque is large enough to hold the toilet seat box 2 at the stop height even when a person is sitting on the toilet seat 4. Accordingly, the toilet seat box 2 can be held at an arbitrary height while a person is sitting on the toilet seat 4.

  When the driving device 10 is operated, the driving device control circuit controls the pulse rate or the number of pulses input to the step motor, so that the human body detection sensor detects the seating of the human body on the toilet seat 4. Sometimes, the rotational speed of the step motor is reduced, and when the human body detection sensor does not detect the seating of the human body on the toilet seat 4, the rotational speed of the step motor is increased. Thereby, when a person is sitting on the toilet seat 4, the toilet seat box 2 is slowly raised or lowered, and when no person is sitting on the toilet seat 4 during cleaning or the like, the toilet seat box 2 is quickly raised or lowered. It becomes like this.

  In the toilet seating device configured as described above, the toilet seat box 2 is raised by operating the toilet seat box raising switch to raise the toilet seat box 2 and the rear part of the western-style toilet body 1 as shown in FIG. Since the space S is generated between the upper surface and the upper surface, the rear upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1 can be easily cleaned.

  Further, in this toilet seating device, the toilet seat box 2 can be raised together with the human body even while a person is sitting on the toilet seat 4, so that the person sitting on the toilet seat 4 can easily perform the standing operation. Further, by raising the toilet seat box 2 before sitting on the toilet seat 4, a seating operation can be easily performed.

  In this embodiment, as described above, the toilet seat box 2 is lowered from the state shown in FIG. 2 (a) in which the toilet seat 4 is lowered and the toilet seat 4 is lying on the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1. When raised, the rear end side of the toilet seat 4 is lifted while the front end side of the toilet seat 4 is in contact with the vicinity of the front end portion of the upper surface of the western-style toilet body 1 as shown in FIG. 2 (b). The toilet seat box 2 rises. Thus, when the toilet seat box 2 is in the raised state, the toilet seat 4 has a double-sided structure in which the front end side is supported by the Western-style toilet body 1 and the rear end side is supported by the toilet seat box 2, so that the seating load is reduced. The load that is distributed and applied to the pivot of the toilet seat 4 is significantly reduced.

  In this embodiment, as described above, the driving device control circuit operates the driving device 10 only while the toilet seat box raising switch or the toilet seat box lowering switch is operated, and the operation of these switches is stopped. The toilet seat box 2 can be stopped at an arbitrary position by pressing the lifting / lowering stop switch during the lift after pressing the lift switch. In this stop position, the toilet seat box 2 is firmly held by the stop torque of the step motor even if a seating load is applied to the toilet seat 4. For this reason, it is possible to change the height of the toilet seat 4 according to the height of the person sitting on the toilet seat 4 and to perform the sitting and standing operations more easily.

  In addition, said embodiment shows an example of this invention and this invention is not limited to the form of illustration.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the case member is a toilet seat box, but may be a tank cover. The shape and size of the toilet seat box and tank cover are not particularly limited. The toilet seat box and the tank cover may be moved up and down only at the front part, and may be moved up and down including the rear part from the front part.

It is a side view at the time of toilet seat standup of a Western style toilet bowl provided with the toilet bowl seating device concerning an embodiment. It is a side view at the time of toilet seat lying down of the western style toilet bowl of FIG. It is a perspective view of the western style toilet bowl of FIG. It is a perspective view of the drive device for raising / lowering a toilet seat box.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Toilet body 2 Toilet seat box 2a Front base plate 2b Case 3 Toilet seat 4 Toilet lid 10 Drive device 12 Transmission 14 Pinion 16 Rack 18 Frame

Claims (7)

A case member that is installed on the rear upper surface of the Western-style toilet, and at least the front part is a lifting body that can be raised and lowered,
A toilet seat attached to the lifting body so as to be vertically rotatable;
In a toilet seating facility having a drive device for raising and lowering the lifting body,
The toilet seating facility characterized in that the driving device can raise the lifting body against the seating load even when a seating load is applied to the toilet seat.   The toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein the toilet seat has a front end of the toilet seat in contact with a front upper surface of the Western-style toilet when the elevator is raised, and a rear end of the toilet seat is raised together with the elevator. .   3. The drive device according to claim 1, wherein the driving device can stop the lifting body at an arbitrary position and can hold the lifting body at the stop position even when a seating load is applied to the toilet seat. Toilet seating equipment.   4. The toilet seating facility according to claim 1, wherein the driving device is capable of changing a lifting speed of the lifting body. 5.   5. The toilet seating facility according to claim 4, wherein the driving device includes a motor and a push-up mechanism that pushes up the lifting body by the motor.   6. The toilet seating facility according to claim 5, wherein the motor is a step motor. In Claim 5 or 6, seating detection means for detecting seating on the toilet seat is provided,
A toilet seating facility is provided with control means for controlling to reduce the motor rotation speed when seating is detected and to increase the motor rotation speed when seating is not detected.

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