JP2008043724A - Heated toilet seat - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heated toilet seat of which power consumption is reduced for high energy-saving and which keeps safe even if having a trouble. <P>SOLUTION: The heated toilet seat includes a toilet seat 22, a linear exothermic body 28 provided on an inner face of the backside of the toilet seat, a human body sensor 24 to sense a user coming in the toilet, a temperature sensor 34 to sense the temperature of the toilet seat 22, and a control part 35 to control the amount of electric current applied to the linear exothermic body 30. A dense area part 37 is provided in a setting pattern of the linear exothermic body 28 and a temperature reaction type safety device 37 is provided at dense area part 37, thereby abnormal increase in temperature of a seat surface 26 is detected to interrupt a circuit. Thus, the heated toilet seat which can be warmed up in a short time and is safe is obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a toilet seat having a heating function, and more particularly to a heated toilet seat that can be heated to an optimum temperature in a short time until a user is seated.

In this type of conventional heated toilet seat, as shown in FIG. 10, the heating means 2 is disposed on the back surface of the metal toilet seat 1, and the toilet seat is heated to a predetermined temperature in a short time to save energy. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). In other words, in this type of heated toilet seat, the heating means 2 has to make the toilet seat a suitable temperature quickly in a short period of time until it is energized and seated immediately before the user sits on the toilet seat for power saving. Toilet seat 1 is used. Therefore, with a heated toilet seat that puts the buttocks directly and raises the temperature in a short time, if any abnormal situation occurs, it will immediately exceed the appropriate temperature and become hot, causing discomfort to the user and even exceeding the discomfort. If the temperature rises, the user may have to get up from the toilet seat.
JP 2003-79539 A

  However, in the conventional configuration, there is no description about the safety against an excessive temperature due to a failure or the like, and there is a problem that the safety is jeopardized by the excessive temperature.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a heated toilet seat that can be used safely and comfortably by making it possible to quickly detect an excessive temperature rise in the toilet seat even when the temperature control of the toilet seat becomes impossible due to some abnormality. .

  In order to solve the conventional problems, the heating toilet seat of the present invention has a configuration in which a dense region portion is provided in the arrangement pattern of the linear heating elements, and a temperature-responsive safety device is provided in the dense region portion. With this configuration, the response speed of the safety device can be further increased.

  The heated toilet seat of the present invention can quickly detect an overtemperature caused by some abnormality by increasing the temperature response speed of the safety device. Therefore, the heated toilet seat can be used safely and comfortably.

  In the first invention, a dense region portion is provided in the arrangement pattern of the linear heating elements, and a temperature reaction type safety device is provided in the dense region portion. As a result, the heat generated by the linear heating element can be received efficiently with less heat dissipation loss, so the temperature response speed of the safety device can be increased, and overheating caused by any abnormality can be detected quickly. can do. Therefore, the heated toilet seat can be used safely and comfortably.

  In a second aspect of the invention, particularly in the first aspect of the invention, the linear heating element is arranged so that the dense region of the linear heating element has substantially the same shape as the temperature detection part of the safety device. Thereby, temperature can be efficiently transmitted to a safety device. Therefore, the heat generated in the dense region of the linear heating element can be efficiently transferred to the thermostat, causing a hot spot on the seating surface opposite to the dense region, causing discomfort when sitting. This makes it possible to use a heated toilet seat safely and comfortably.

  In the third invention, in particular, in any one of the first and second inventions, a heat insulating material is provided between the dense region portion of the linear heating element and the seating surface. As a result, the amount of heat generated in the dense region increases, and hot spots can be prevented from occurring in the toilet seat temperature. Therefore, the user can use the heated toilet seat comfortably.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in particular, in any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, the dense region portion has a configuration in which a linear heating element is disposed in a spiral shape. As a result, the dense region can be easily formed, the temperature response speed of the safety device can be increased, and an overtemperature caused by some abnormality can be detected quickly. Therefore, the heated toilet seat can be used safely and comfortably.

  According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in particular, in any one of the first to fourth aspects of the invention, the dense region portion has a configuration in which linear heating elements are disposed in a meandering manner. As a result, the dense region can be easily formed, the temperature response speed of the safety device can be increased, and an overtemperature caused by some abnormality can be detected quickly. Therefore, the heated toilet seat can be used safely and comfortably.

  In a sixth aspect of the invention, in particular, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the dense region portion is disposed in the vicinity of the outer portion behind the seating surface. This increases the amount of heat generated in the dense area, and even if hot spots occur in the temperature distribution on the seating surface, the hot spot is near the outer part behind the seating surface, preventing discomfort during seating. it can.

  In the seventh aspect of the invention, in particular, in any one of the first to sixth aspects of the invention, the safety device is a thermostat. Thereby, when an abnormality occurs, the thermostat can be used to safely stop the device, and the user can use it safely and safely.

  In an eighth aspect of the invention, in particular, in any one of the first to seventh aspects, the seating surface is made of aluminum. Thereby, it is possible to quickly heat the seating surface by using aluminum having excellent heat conduction. Therefore, it is possible to provide a heated toilet seat with excellent energy saving performance.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a heating toilet seat according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view, FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a heating element unit composed of a linear heating element, and FIG. It is sectional drawing of a seating surface.

  1 to 4, a main body 21 is attached to a toilet bowl 20, and a toilet seat 22 and a toilet lid 23 are rotatably provided on the main body 21. Further, a human body detection sensor 24 for detecting the presence or absence of a human body in the toilet space by infrared rays is provided on the sleeve portion of the main body 21. The toilet seat 22 includes a toilet seat base 25 made of a synthetic resin and a metal seating surface 26 made of aluminum, and is formed by joining two members at their inner and outer peripheral edges.

A heating element unit 27 is disposed on the back surface of the seating surface 26. The heating element unit 27 has a linear heating element 30 (diameter about 0.5 mm) in which the outer surface of the heater wire 28 (diameter about 0.25 mm) is covered with a fluororesin 29 so as to fit in the toilet seat shape, The upper and lower surfaces of the linear heating element 30 are bonded with two aluminum foils 31. Instead of the aluminum foil 31, a metal foil such as a copper foil having good heat conduction may be used. Insulation and heat resistance of the linear heating element 30 are ensured by the fluororesin 29. Here, silicon rubber may be used in place of the fluororesin 29, and other materials may be used as long as insulation and heat resistance can be secured. The degree of insulation and heat resistance varies depending on the required performance of the heated toilet seat. On the back side of the seating surface 26, an alumite layer 32 is formed by alumite treatment to further improve the insulation performance. Instead of forming the alumite layer 32, there is no problem even if a method of attaching a film of polyimide, PET or the like to improve the insulation performance is not a problem. Thus, a heating toilet seat can be used safely and safely by providing a double insulating layer. A surface decorative layer 33 painted for the appearance effect is formed on the surface of the aluminum serving as the seating surface 26.

  Further, the surface decorative layer 33 applied to the outer surface of the seating surface 26 can be dyed. However, if at least the outer surface of the seating surface 26 is coated, not only the anticorrosive effect but also a metal toilet seat such as aluminum can be used. However, it is possible to wipe off the cold feeling as seen, and for example, it is possible to produce a soft image or a high-class image by pearl coating such as pearls. Since a metal and aluminum press (drawing) product is used for the seating surface 26 of the toilet seat 22, the thermal conductivity is as high as about 200 W / (m · K). Heat can be transferred to the outer surface, that is, the surface decorative layer 33. And since it is aluminum with high heat conductivity, the soaking | uniform-heating effect which makes temperature distribution more uniform is acquired. Further, the required strength can be ensured even if the plate thickness is reduced by work hardening by pressing (drawing) aluminum. For example, in the case of resin, a thickness of about 3 mm is required from the viewpoint of strength, but in the case of a drawn product of an aluminum plate, half of 1.5 mm or less is sufficient. As the thickness is reduced, the heat capacity can be reduced, so that the amount of heat and time required for temperature increase can be reduced. As a result of the experiment, it was concluded that the aluminum plate thickness is preferably 0.8 to 1.2 mm in terms of strength and heating time.

  Further, a thermistor 34 as a temperature detection sensor is attached to the back surface of the seating surface 26 in order to detect the temperature of the seating surface 26. Signals from the thermistor 34 are transmitted to the control unit 35, and based on these signals, the energization to the linear heating element 30 is controlled so that the temperature of the seating surface 26 as a warming surface becomes a predetermined temperature. It has become. When detecting that a person has entered the toilet, the human body detection sensor 24 starts heating the seating surface 26 and transmits a signal to the control unit 35 so as to open the toilet lid 23. In addition, a seating detection sensor 36 that detects the seating on the toilet seat 22 by infrared rays is provided at the center of the main body 21. For example, in a heated toilet seat having a hot water cleaning function, the cleaning function operates only when a seating of a person is detected.

  With the above-described configuration, when the user enters the toilet, the human body detection sensor 24 detects the entry, the signal is sent to the control unit 35, and the control unit 35 starts energizing the linear heating element 30. To do. Based on the temperature signal of the thermistor 34 immediately before the start of energization, the control unit 35 performs an operation so that the seating surface 26 of the toilet seat 22 has an appropriate temperature, and controls the energization of the linear heating element 30.

Here, when the aluminum plate thickness is 1.0 mm and 1200 W is applied to the linear heating element 30, the temperature rising rate of the seating surface 26 is about 2.5 K / s. Also, as a result of the survey, the average time required for the user to sit after opening the toilet door is 10 seconds, and if the temperature of the seating surface 26 is 29 ° C. or higher, the user feels cold and uncomfortable. No results were obtained. In other words, even if the temperature of the toilet in the winter season is 5 ° C., if the temperature of the toilet seat is raised at the same time as entering the room, the temperature of the seating surface 26 becomes 30 ° C. 10 seconds after entering the room. The temperature can be raised to a temperature that does not feel cold. By using aluminum having good heat conduction for the seating surface 26, it is possible to heat the user in a short time until the user is seated on the toilet seat 22, and therefore, when the user is not entering the room, the linear shape is obtained. There is no need to energize the heating element 30, so that energy is saved and the seating surface 26 can be heated uniformly, so that it can be used comfortably. In addition, when seated, the seating surface 26 is heated to a temperature at which it does not cool, so that it can be used comfortably without feeling cold. It is also possible to use stainless steel for the seating surface 26 instead of aluminum. Since stainless steel is stronger than aluminum, the thickness of stainless steel can be reduced, so the heat capacity can be reduced and heating can be done in a shorter time.
Furthermore, a heated toilet seat with excellent energy saving can be realized.

  Next, when the user is seated on the toilet seat 22, the energization amount to the linear heating element 30 is reduced to zero or the temperature of the seating surface 26 does not rise excessively by the signal of the seating detection sensor 36 so that the temperature becomes appropriate. The temperature of the seating surface 26 is kept warm. Thus, it can be used comfortably because it is kept at an appropriate temperature while sitting.

  Since the heated toilet seat is seated with the skin directly in contact with the seating surface 26, sufficient consideration is required for safety. In a normal use state, it can be used safely and comfortably as described above, but in the unlikely event that a malfunction occurs in the control unit 35 such as a microcomputer (not shown) due to some abnormality, the energization control to the linear heating element 30 is performed. When it becomes impossible to do so, it is necessary to ensure that the safety device operates as soon as possible. In the present embodiment, a dense region portion 37 is provided in the arrangement pattern of the linear heating elements 30, and a thermostat 38 is attached to the dense region portion 37. Therefore, since the temperature response speed of the thermostat 38 can be increased, the energization circuit of the linear heating element 30 can be shut off earlier before the temperature of the seating surface 26 rises to a dangerous state at the time of abnormality. Can be used safely.

  Hereinafter, the above-described contents will be described in detail. FIG. 5 is a result of measuring the detected temperature of the thermostat 38 and the surface temperature of the seating surface 26 when the linear heating element 30 is energized on the assumption that the control unit 35 has failed. In FIG. 5, curves (A) and (A ′) are the surface temperature of the seating surface 26, and curves (B) and (B ′) are the detected temperatures of the thermostat 38. When energization of the linear heating element 30 is started, the surface temperature of the seating surface 26 reaches the toilet seat maximum set temperature (T1) at time t1. Normally, when (T1) is reached, energization is stopped by a command from the control unit 35. However, if any abnormality occurs, the energization is continued as it is. When the OFF operation temperature of the thermostat 38 is set to (T3), the surface temperature of the seating surface 26 is equal to or higher than the toilet seat maximum set temperature (T1), and it can be reliably determined that the temperature is abnormally high (T2). At this time, the thermostat 38 operates to cut off the energization to the linear heating element 30. At this time, the overheating continues for (t2-t1) seconds. Here, it is very difficult to set the OFF operation temperature of the thermostat 38 to the crossing 0 in consideration of manufacturing and cost, and the tolerance is generally ± 2 ° C. That is, when the tolerance is taken into consideration, the OFF operating temperature of the thermostat 38 is (T3) to (T3 + 4). If the OFF operating temperature is (T3 + 4), the curves of the temperature of the seating surface 26 and the detected temperature of the thermostat 38 are (A ′) and (B ′), and the thermostat 38 operates at time t3 and the circuit is shut off. . In this case, the overheating is continued for (t3-t1) seconds. That is, when the variation in the OFF operation temperature of the thermostat 38 is taken into consideration, the time for overheating is the shortest (t2-t1) seconds and the longest is (t3-t1) seconds. In consideration of safety, the circuit must be shut off as quickly as possible when the temperature rises excessively. Therefore, by increasing the slope of the curve (B), that is, by increasing the temperature response speed of the thermostat 38, the time (t3-t1) can be shortened, and before the temperature of the seating surface 26 increases excessively. In addition, the energization circuit to the linear heating element 30 can be cut off, and it can be used safely and safely even in the event of an emergency.

  In this way, by minimizing heat loss when receiving heat from the dense region portion to the thermostat 38 and increasing the temperature increase rate, it is possible to quickly reach the OFF operation temperature and sufficiently reliably increase the response speed. . In addition, a configuration may be adopted in which the temperature rise gradient is detected by detecting the heat receiving temperature in this manner, and the energization interruption to the linear heating element 30 is performed at an early timing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a linear heating element 30 having a spiral shape is disposed so that the attachment portion of the thermostat 38 faces the temperature sensing surface, and the circular temperature sensing portion of the thermostat 38 (FIG. Since the heat generated in the dense region portion 37 is efficiently transferred to the thermostat 38 by providing the dense region portion 37 with substantially the same shape as that (not shown), the seating surface 26 facing the dense region portion 37 is provided.
It is possible to prevent an extreme hot spot from being generated and to cause discomfort when sitting.

  If the temperature sensing part of the thermostat 38 is a square, the rectangular dense region part 37 may be formed by meandering the linear heating element 30 as shown in FIG. 7, for example.

  Further, in order to prevent the discomfort felt when sitting due to an increase in the amount of heat generated in the dense region 37 and the occurrence of hot spots in the temperature distribution of the seating surface 26, as shown in FIG. By providing a heat insulating material 39 between the region portion 37 and the seating surface 26, that is, by making thermal contact with the heater wire via the heating element side insulating layer on the seating surface, the temperature of the seating surface 26 facing the dense region portion 37 becomes ambient. It is possible to prevent the temperature from becoming higher. Therefore, the heating toilet seat which can be used comfortably for a user can be provided.

  In the present embodiment, the thermostat 38 is used as a safety device. However, the safety device is not necessarily the thermostat 38, and a thermal fuse may be used. There is no problem using anything.

  FIG. 9 shows a case where a thermal fuse is used as the safety device. Here, the dense region portion can be formed by arranging the linear heating element 30 around the thermal fuse 40 in a spiral shape. By doing so, the temperature responsiveness of the thermal fuse 40 can be increased, so that an overtemperature caused by some abnormality can be detected quickly, and the heated toilet seat can be used safely. It is desirable to arrange the gaps between the linear heating elements 28 in the dense region with an appropriate gap, since the covering material, the adhesive member for pasting, and the like are not thermally destroyed at the time of heat generation.

  As described above, the heating toilet seat of the present invention can quickly detect a temperature change by attaching a safety device to a portion where the linear heating elements are densely arranged, and a heating toilet seat that can be used safely is obtained. The present invention can be applied as a heating technique for a device on which a user is seated.

The schematic block diagram of the heating toilet seat in embodiment of this invention The perspective view of the heating toilet seat in the embodiment Schematic configuration diagram of a heating element unit comprising a linear heating element in the same embodiment Sectional view of the seating surface in the same embodiment Temperature rise characteristic diagram of heating toilet seat in the same embodiment Schematic diagram of dense region in the same embodiment Schematic diagram of dense region in the same embodiment Sectional drawing of the seating surface in the heating toilet seat in the embodiment The figure explaining other embodiment of this invention Sectional view of the main part of a conventional heated toilet seat

Explanation of symbols

22 Toilet Seat 24 Human Body Detection Sensor 26 Seating Surface 30 Linear Heating Element 34 Thermistor (Temperature Detection Sensor)
35 Control part 37 Dense area part 38 Thermostat (safety device)
39 Insulation

Claims (8)

A toilet seat in which at least a part of a seating surface that a human body comes into contact with when sitting is made of metal, a linear heating element disposed on the inner surface on the back side of the seating surface, and a human body detection that detects that a user has entered the toilet A sensor, a temperature detection sensor for detecting the temperature of the seating surface, a control unit for controlling an energization amount to the linear heating element, and a temperature-responsive safety device for preventing an overtemperature of the seating surface. And the linear heating element has a dense region portion in an arrangement pattern, and the safety device is provided in the dense region portion. The heating toilet seat according to claim 1, wherein the linear heating element is arranged so that the dense region of the linear heating element has substantially the same shape as the temperature detection part of the safety device. The heating toilet seat according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a heat insulating material is provided between the dense region of the linear heating element and the seating surface. The heating toilet seat according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the dense heating portion is provided with the linear heating element in a spiral shape. The heating toilet seat according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the dense heating portion is provided with the linear heating element in a meandering manner. The heating toilet seat according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the dense region portion is disposed in the vicinity of the outer portion behind the seating surface. The heating toilet seat according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the safety device is a thermostat. The heating toilet seat according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the seating surface is made of aluminum.

Images