JP2005305031A - Sterilizing apparatus for hand and finger - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sterilizing apparatus which allows washed hands and fingers to be swept off water, dried, and sterilized with ultraviolet rays simultaneously so that convenience in drying and sterilization may be improved while ultraviolet rays may be emitted and drying air may be blown only during their necessary time to save energy. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises a flash lamp 18 for emitting a pulse of light such as ultraviolet rays, a hand/finger insertion space 12, and a compressed air to jet toward the hand/finger insertion space, wherein the flash lamp emits the pulse of light toward the hand/finger insertion space. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a hand sterilization apparatus that drains and dries after hand washing, and particularly relates to a hand sterilization apparatus that combines drying and sterilization.

  Hand washing with a toilet, washroom, etc., followed by draining of the fingers and drying include hand wiping with a paper towel and drying by spraying with warm air. Further, in medical sites or sites handling fresh food products, sterilization may be required when washing hands.

  Conventionally, as a hand sterilization apparatus capable of hand sterilization, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1. In FIG.

  A finger insertion groove 2 is provided adjacent to the case body 1 and the case body 1, and an irradiation port 3 is formed on a surface of the case body 1 that is adjacent to the finger insertion groove 2. A sterilizing lamp 4 and a blower 5 are provided in the case body 1, the sterilizing lamp 4 is disposed to face the irradiation port 3, and an intake port 6 is provided in the vicinity of the blower 5 of the case body 1. ing.

  When a finger is inserted into the finger insertion groove 2, the finger is irradiated and sterilized by ultraviolet rays emitted from the germicidal lamp 4 through the irradiation port 3. Further, the air sucked from the intake port 6 and sent out from the blower 5 is blown out from the irradiation port 3 so that it passes around the sterilizing lamp 4 and is sterilized by ultraviolet rays.

  Thus, the hand is sterilized and the room air is circulated through the case body 1 so that the room air is sterilized.

  In the conventional hand sterilization apparatus described above, the fingers are sterilized by ultraviolet rays for the main purpose of sterilization, but the blower 5 circulates air in order to sterilize indoor air. There is no drying. For this reason, after hand washing, draining with a paper towel or the like, wiping the hand, and then sterilizing the finger with the finger sterilizer.

  For this reason, it becomes complicated to dry and sterilize the fingers. Further, as a characteristic of the germicidal lamp 4, since ultraviolet rays are not emitted for a while (approximately 5 to 10 minutes) after lighting, the germicidal lamp 4 cannot be turned on and immediately sterilized. Accordingly, the germicidal lamp 4 is always lit, which is wasteful.

JP-A-8-107924

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention makes it possible to simultaneously drain and dry hands after hand washing and sterilize fingers with ultraviolet rays, improve the convenience of drying and sterilization, and need to irradiate ultraviolet rays and spray drying air. It is done only at certain times to save energy.

  The present invention relates to a finger sterilization apparatus including a flash lamp that emits pulsed light including ultraviolet rays.

  The present invention also relates to a hand sterilization apparatus comprising a finger insertion space and compressed air discharged toward the finger insertion space, wherein the flash lamp emits pulsed light toward the finger insertion space. .

  The present invention further includes a finger insertion sensor for detecting that a finger has been inserted into the finger insertion space, and the compressed air is blown out, and the pulsed light irradiation by the flash lamp is based on the detection result of the finger insertion sensor. The present invention relates to a hand sterilization apparatus to be performed.

  Furthermore, the present invention relates to a finger sterilization apparatus in which the maximum irradiation time of the pulsed light of the flash lamp is set independently of the compressed air blowing time.

  According to the present invention, since the flash lamp that emits pulsed light including ultraviolet rays is provided, sterilization by ultraviolet rays can be performed, and since pulsed light is used, light can be emitted instantaneously without warming up time, and when necessary. Since only light is emitted, energy saving can be achieved.

  Further, according to the present invention, it is provided with a finger insertion space and compressed air discharged toward the finger insertion space, and the flash lamp emits pulsed light toward the finger insertion space. Can be sterilized and dried at the same time.

  According to the present invention, it is further provided with a finger insertion sensor that detects that a finger has been inserted into the finger insertion space, and the compressed air is blown out, and the pulsed light irradiation by the flash lamp is detected by the finger insertion sensor. This is economical because it is driven only when a finger is actually inserted.

  According to the present invention, the maximum irradiation time of the pulsed light from the flash lamp is set independently of the compressed air blowing time, so that it is possible to avoid exposing the fingers to ultraviolet rays more than necessary. Exhibits excellent effects such as.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 3 show an example of a hand sterilizer according to the present invention.

  In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a case of a finger sterilizer, and the case 11 is formed with a space for inserting a finger. For example, a finger insertion groove 12 having an upper opening is formed in the upper portion of the case 11. An ultraviolet irradiation port 13 is formed in each side wall of the finger insertion groove 12, and the ultraviolet irradiation port 13 is a slit port extending in the horizontal direction, and above and below the ultraviolet irradiation port 13 the ultraviolet irradiation port. The air blowing holes 14 and 15 are formed along the line 13 at a required pitch. A finger insertion sensor 24 such as an optical sensor for detecting the insertion of a finger is provided at the center of the upper end of both side walls of the finger insertion groove 12 or at a required location.

  Air nozzle pipes 16 and 17 are provided inside the case 11 so as to face the air blowing hole 14 and the air blowing hole 15, and the air nozzle pipe 16 is provided in the air blowing hole 14, and the air nozzle pipe 17 is provided in the above-described case. Each communicates with the air blowing hole 15. A flash lamp 18 is provided in parallel with the ultraviolet irradiation port 13, and a reflecting mirror 19 is disposed on the opposite side of the flash lamp 18 from the ultraviolet irradiation port 13.

  The flash lamp 18 is a xenon lamp (hereinafter referred to as a flash lamp) that emits pulsed light with high light intensity, and is used as an ultraviolet light source, and emits pulsed light including ultraviolet light. FIG. 5 shows the wavelength characteristics emitted by the flash lamp.

  It is known that a wavelength in the vicinity of about 270 nm is effective for the sterilization action of ultraviolet rays. As can be seen from the wavelength characteristics of FIG. 5, the pulsed light emitted from the flash lamp 18 is used for sterilization. It contains sufficient ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of about 270 nm.

  A drainage tank 21 is provided at the bottom of the case 11, and the drainage tank 21 and the bottom surface of the finger insertion groove 12 are communicated with each other by a water distribution pipe 22. A drain pipe (not shown) is connected to the drainage tank 21. The drain pipe is provided with an open / close valve (not shown).

  An air compressor 23 and a control device 25 are provided inside the case 11, and the air compressor 23, the air nozzle pipe 16, and the air nozzle pipe 17 are communicated with each other by an air pipe 27.

  The control device 25 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the detection signal 35 from the finger insertion sensor 24 is input to the control unit 31 and the detection signal 35 is input to the control unit 31, the drive unit 32 of the flash lamp 18 and the drive of the air compressor 23 are driven. Drive control signals 36 and 37 are sent to the unit 33, respectively.

The drive unit 32 receives the drive control signal 36 and causes the flash lamp 18 to emit light with a required light emission time (number of light emission pulses), light intensity, and a required frequency. For example, a flash lamp is caused to emit light for about 5 seconds with a light pulse of 0.004 J / cm ² / flash (irradiation energy on the finger surface) and 20 Hz.

  The drive unit 33 is configured to drive the air compressor 23 when the drive control signal 37 is input. The control unit 31 includes a timer 34. When the detection signal 35 is input, the control unit 31 outputs the drive control signal 36 and the drive control signal 37 for a required time. Is determined by the timer setting 38.

  The operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

  When a finger is inserted into the finger insertion groove 12, the finger insertion sensor 24 senses the finger and sends the detection signal 35 to the control unit 31. The control unit 31 outputs the drive control signal 36 to the drive unit 32 and the drive control signal 37 to the drive unit 33 to drive the flash lamp 18 and the air compressor 23.

  The flash lamp 18 emits pulsed light, and the pulsed light irradiates the finger through the ultraviolet irradiation port 13, and compressed air is discharged from the air nozzle pipe 16 and the air nozzle pipe 17, and the air blowing hole 14. , 15 is applied to fingers. Thus, the fingers are blown with compressed air, blown away with water, dried, and simultaneously sterilized with pulsed light.

  Since the flash lamp 18 emits pulsed light, no warm-up time is required, and pulsed light can be irradiated in real time in response to detection by the finger insertion sensor 24. The reflecting mirror 19 reflects the pulsed light irradiated in the reflection direction with the ultraviolet irradiation port 13, and the pulsed light emitted from the flash lamp 18 is irradiated to the fingers without waste.

  In addition, after hand washing, the fingers are dried and sterilized without touching other things, so that they are clean without being contaminated with bacteria or the like before they reach the hand sterilizer after hand washing.

  When the timer 34 detects that the set time has elapsed, the control unit 31 stops outputting the drive control signal 36 and the drive control signal 37, emits the flash lamp 18, and compresses air from the air nozzle tubes 16 and 17. Is stopped.

  The timer 34 can be omitted if the control unit 31 sends a signal to the drive units 32 and 33 while the detection signal 35 from the finger insertion sensor 24 is input to the control unit 31.

  The water that has been drained and dropped is stored in the drainage tank 21 through the water distribution pipe 22. The water accumulated in the drain tank 21 can be observed from the outside, and when the water accumulated in the drain tank 21 reaches a predetermined level, water is drained by a drain pipe (not shown). The drain tank 21 may be detachable, and the water accumulated after the drain tank 21 is removed may be discarded.

  Moreover, in the finger sterilization apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to omit the blowing of compressed air and use it as a sterilization apparatus. Further, a heater may be provided inside the air nozzle tube 16 and the air nozzle tube 17 so as to blow hot air.

  Furthermore, when the ambient temperature of the hand sterilizer changes due to seasonal changes or the like, the drying time due to the blowing of compressed air changes. Or the drying time varies depending on individual differences. On the other hand, since the sterilizing effect of ultraviolet rays is not affected by temperature, the maximum light emission time is set so that the light emission time of the flash lamp 18 is limited to a predetermined time regardless of the finger detection state of the finger insertion sensor 24. It may be left. By limiting the maximum light emission time (or the maximum number of light emission pulses) of the flash lamp 18, it is possible to avoid that the fingers are irradiated with ultraviolet rays more than necessary.

  FIG. 6 shows the sterilization effect of the flash lamp 18 by the irradiation of ultraviolet rays, and shows the sterilization of water as an example.

<Experiment 1>
1) Culture and preparation of test bacteria The test strains are Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas diminuta, Bacillus pumilus (spore), and Aspergillus niger (spore). Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas diminuta are grown in a medium such as SCD medium, diluted with sterilized water, and adjusted to obtain a bacterial solution having a bacterial count of 1 × 10 ⁵ / ml. The spore or spore solution is prepared as follows.

a) Preparation of the spore solution of Bacillus pumilus was carried out at 35 ° C. for 7 days in an agar medium, and then the spores on the medium were collected with physiological saline, treated with glass beads, filtered with nylon mesh, and subjected to 80 ° C. for 20 minutes. After heat treatment and centrifugation to collect about 1.0 × 10 ¹⁰ CFU / ml of stock solution, suspend in sterile water and store at 4 ° C. Further dilute the spore solution with sterile water About 1.0 × 10 ⁴ CFU / ml of the bacterial solution is obtained.

b) Aspergillus niger spores were prepared by culturing for 7 days at 25 ° C. on PDA agar medium, collecting spores on the medium with 0.1% Tween 80 aqueous solution, boiling vigorously for about 30 minutes, and filtering with nylon mesh. After centrifuging and suspending in sterilized water so that the number of bacteria in the stock solution is about 1.0 × 10 ⁷ CFU / ml, it is further diluted with sterilized water and adjusted to about 1.0 × 10 ⁴ CFU / ml Get the fungal fluid.

2) Irradiation method and irradiation conditions The sample solution was prepared by aseptically placing the bacterial solution (6 ml in principle) into an autoclaved petri dish (in principle, an inner diameter of 27 mm), adjusting the water depth to 11 mm, and immediately using the flash lamp 18 Irradiate. Here, the sample solution is arranged immediately below the flash lamp 18 so that the distance from the flash lamp 18 to the water surface is 15 mm. Irradiate.

3) Bacterial count measurement method After irradiation, 0.1 ml of the sample solution was applied to an agar plate, cultured at a predetermined temperature for 24 h to 48 h, and colony count was performed. For the sample whose colony count is likely to be too large to be counted, the above operation was performed after the sample solution was diluted 10 times. The results are shown in FIG.

  As a result, when E. coli is irradiated with 2 flashes (pulses) for 1 ml of liquid (the amount of energy input to the flash lamp 18 is 0.67 J / ml with respect to the amount of bacterial liquid), 44% of that is 4 times. The flash (1.33 J / ml) was sterilized by 85%, and the eight flashes (2.67 J / ml) were sterilized by over 99.99%. Although the effect of other bacteria was weaker than that of Escherichia coli, a bactericidal effect of 99.8% or more was recognized by strengthening irradiation. The spores of Aspergillus niger, a mold, were particularly resistant, but could be sterilized to 99% by further increasing the input energy. Aspergillus niger spores did not decrease the bactericidal effect as long as the input energy per volume was secured even when the liquid volume was increased to 16.9 ml.

  Therefore, if attention is paid to Escherichia coli, which is regarded as a hygienic index, the condition for sterilizing 50% to 99.99% (the amount of input energy of the flash lamp 18 with respect to the amount of the bacterial solution) is 0.7 J / ml to 2. 7 J / ml. Moreover, 99.99% or more could be sterilized by irradiation of 11.0 J / ml even against highly resistant Bacillus bacteria such as drugs. That is, water can be sterilized accurately by giving an input energy of 0.7 J / ml to 11.0 J / ml. Here, it was found that when the irradiation energy was less than 0.7 J / ml, it could not be sterilized sufficiently, and when it was larger than 11.0 J / ml, there was a lot of wasted energy.

  The flash lamp is configured to generate an irradiation energy of 0.01 J / ml to 10 J / ml per irradiation, and the flash lamp has a frequency of 1 Hz to 100 Hz and a light emission time of 1.0 μS to 1.0 mS. When configured with an output range of 0.2 W to 500 W, water can be appropriately sterilized by flash light including ultraviolet light from a flash lamp. Further, since the flash lamp can be appropriately used as necessary, the life of the flash lamp can be further extended, the electric consumption can be surely suppressed, and the running cost can be further reduced.

It is an external view which shows embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the control apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the action | operation in embodiment of this invention. It is a diagram which shows the wavelength characteristic of the pulsed light which the flash lamp used for embodiment of this invention emits. It is a figure which shows the bactericidal effect of this flash lamp. It is a perspective view which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Case 12 Finger insertion groove 13 Ultraviolet irradiation port 14,15 Air blowing hole 16,17 Air nozzle pipe 18 Flash lamp 19 Reflector 21 Drain tank 23 Air compressor 24 Finger insertion sensor 25 Control apparatus

Claims (4)

  A hand sterilization apparatus comprising a flash lamp that emits pulsed light including ultraviolet rays.   The finger sterilizer according to claim 1, further comprising a finger insertion space and compressed air discharged toward the finger insertion space, wherein the flash lamp emits pulsed light toward the finger insertion space.   3. A finger insertion sensor that detects that a finger has been inserted into the finger insertion space, wherein the compressed air is blown out and pulsed light irradiation by the flash lamp is performed based on a detection result of the finger insertion sensor. Hand sterilization equipment.   4. The finger sterilization apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a maximum irradiation time of the pulsed light of the flash lamp is set independently of a blowing time of the compressed air.

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