JP2012157422A - Automatic hand washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic hand washing machine which can be widely used from heavy stain to light stain by selection of rotary brushes, and is safe and easy to handle.SOLUTION: The automatic hand washing machine 1 includes: a pair of rotary brushes 12, 13 which rotate inversely, each other, in which the shafts are provided with a space in a horizontal direction; a motor 11 for rotatively driving the rotary brushes 12, 13; a detergent supply part 30 for supplying detergent towards the rotary brushes 12, 13; a detergent supply part 40 for supplying cleaning water toward the rotary brushes 12, 13; and a control part 50 for controlling the entire motion. A third rotary brush 14 for cleaning finger tips can be provided. The respective rotary brushes 12 to 14 are axially supported by inserting both ends of the shaft center into an opponent side supporting part. The rotary brushes 12 to 14 can be easily detached and attached by removing one of opponent side supporting parts in the axial direction of the rotary brushes 12 to 14.

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic hand washing apparatus capable of automatically washing away dirt on a human hand without contact.

  When washing dirty hands after manual work or the like, it is convenient to have a device that can automatically wash the dirty hands without operating a faucet or the like. An automatic faucet device is commonly seen, which is configured so that when a person puts his / her hand in a washing basin, the sensor senses the hand and automatically opens the water supply valve to allow water to flow into the hand. Yes. This is convenient when you want to wash your hands that are slightly soiled with dust, etc. with water only, but this is not sufficient when you wash your hands with oil, for example. It is necessary to wash it manually with a detergent. In particular, after working such as machining or machine repair, oil stains may infiltrate into the nails, and it can be said that it is not sufficient to simply introduce an automatic water faucet device.

  In order to cope with such severe dirt, an automatic hand washing apparatus has been proposed in the prior art (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The automatic hand washing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a pair of cylindrical brushes that are urged by a return spring and are rotated in the same direction by a driving force of a motor. By inserting a hand between the brushes, the hand is washed by the action of the rotation of the brush and the detergent and water poured from above. The user simply puts his hand between the brushes, and then the machine starts cleaning. However, such devices disclosed in the prior art still have room for improvement.

  First, the pair of brushes are configured to rotate in the same direction so that the inserted hand is not drawn into the apparatus or pushed outward. That is, the brush on one side of the hand that has been put out rotates in the direction to pull the hand into the device, and the brush on the other side rotates in the direction to push the hand out of the device, thereby causing the direction of the force acting on the hand by the brush. Is balanced. For this reason, since one of the brushes is rotated toward the near side after rubbing the hand, the water and the detergent attached to the brush at this time are scattered toward the near side. In particular, in the disclosed device, the rotation axis of the cylindrical brush is set in the vertical direction (longitudinal direction), so that the user puts the hand vertically from the front side to the front, and the scattered drops are There is a problem that it is shaken directly toward the front of the user. In addition, since the pair of brushes are urged in the opposite direction and the spacing between the brushes is adjusted by the force of the spring according to the thickness of the inserted hand, for example, a hand soiled with machine oil, etc. Even if it is suitable for washing heavy dirt, the pressure on the hand with the brush and the washing load with the brush are too strong when washing away light dirt such as handling food. Particularly in the case of use by women, there is a problem that the skin of the hand becomes rough due to this high load, and there is a problem that it is not used much other than for a specific purpose such as heavy dirt cleaning as described above.

JP-A-11-32934

  As described above, the present invention solves the problems of the automatic faucet device and the automatic hand-washing device in the above-mentioned prior art, so that not only heavy contamination by machine operators, but also mild contamination by children, women, elderly people, etc. The purpose is to provide an automatic handwashing device that can be used widely in factories, schools, hospitals, various nursing care facilities, etc., and that is safe and easy to handle.

  The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems by rotating a pair of rotating brushes in opposite directions on a horizontal axis and making the rotating brush easily replaceable as necessary. Includes the following:

  That is, one aspect of the present invention is an automatic hand-washing device that automatically cleans the hand that has been put out, and rotates in the reverse direction with respect to each other arranged in parallel with an interval in the horizontal direction. A pair of rotating brushes, a motor for rotationally driving the rotating brush, a detergent supplying unit for supplying detergent toward the rotating brush, a detergent supplying unit for supplying cleaning water toward the rotating brush, and the whole And a control unit that controls the operation of the control unit. Under the control of the control unit, a hand inserted between the pair of rotating brushes is detected and the back of the hand and the palm are automatically cleaned by the corresponding rotating brushes. The present invention relates to an automatic hand-washing apparatus configured to do this. The detergent supply unit can be handled as an option, and an automatic hand washing apparatus can be configured only by supplying cleaning water.

  The toe of the hand inserted between the pair of rotating brushes may further include a third rotating brush that is disposed in parallel with the pair of rotating brush axes and is driven to rotate by a motor.

  The motor may be composed of a plurality of motors that individually rotate and drive each rotary brush, or the motor is a single motor and the rotational driving force of the single motor is transmitted to each rotary brush. A transmission mechanism may be further provided. The transmission mechanism can be any one of gear transmission, chain transmission, and belt transmission.

  The rotating brush is configured to be pivotally supported by inserting both ends of the shaft center into the mating support portion, and a male or female power transmission shape is formed at one end of the shaft center facing the mating support portion on the driving side. The mating support part that supports the other end of the shaft center is configured to be removable in the axial direction of the rotating brush, and the rotating brush can be detached by removing the mating support part that supports the other end. Can be configured. At this time, a female or male power transmission shape corresponding to the male or female power transmission shape provided on the rotating brush is provided on the counterpart support portion on the driving side.

  The automatic hand washing apparatus may further include one or both of a changeover switch for using only washing water without using a detergent and a selection switch for selecting one of a plurality of detergents.

  By implementing the present invention, it is possible to provide an easy-to-use automatic hand-washing apparatus with a simple structure not only in factories but also in general households, schools and hospitals, various nursing homes, and cooking workshops.

It is the perspective view which notched a part which shows the automatic hand-washing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the hand-washing operation | movement of the automatic hand-washing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the rotating brush used for the automatic hand-washing apparatus shown in FIG.

  An automatic faucet device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an automatic hand-washing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. In FIG. 1, the automatic hand-washing apparatus 1 is comprised from the hand-washing part 10, the detergent supply part 30, the washing water supply part 40, and the control part 50 which controls the whole operation | movement, These whole structures are the housing | casing 2. It is housed compactly inside. The housing 2 includes a lid 3 that can be opened and closed upward (half open in the figure for display purposes), and the lid 3 is provided with an opening 4. The opening 4 is dimensioned so that both hands of the user can be inserted simultaneously from above. The automatic water rinsing apparatus 1 is partitioned in a watertight state into two parts, a left side (back side) and a right side (front side) in the figure by a partition plate 5 shown in FIG. This prevents moisture in the cleaning section from entering the machine component section on the left.

  First, the hand-washing unit 10 includes a rotation driving motor 11, and in this embodiment, first, second, and third three rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14, and gears 12 a corresponding to the rotating brushes, 13a, 14a, a pinion gear 16 for transmitting the rotation of the motor 11 to the gears 12a, 13a, 14a, and an idle gear 17. The specification of the motor 11 is not particularly limited, but in the present embodiment, a 24V DC motor that can obtain a driving force necessary and sufficient for safety is used. A pinion gear 16 is attached to the drive shaft of the motor 11, and the pinion gear 16 meshes with the gear 12 a of the first rotating brush 12 and the idle gear 17. The idle gear 17 meshes with the gears 13 a and 14 a of the remaining two rotary brushes 13 and 14. The direction of rotation of the motor 11 and other gears is configured as indicated by arrows in the drawing so that the hand inserted between the first and second rotating brushes 12 and 13 is pulled into the apparatus. ing. Note that the brush (brush material) portions of the rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14 are displayed only on a part of the rotating brush 12 in FIG. This will be described later.

  FIG. 2 shows an outline of the hand-washing unit 10 according to the above configuration during a hand-washing operation. A human hand is inserted from above between the first rotating brush 12 and the second rotating brush 13 through the opening 4 provided in the lid 3 and inserted to a depth where the fingertip touches the third rotating brush. The When a hand is inserted between the first and second rotating brushes 12 and 13, the sensor 51 (see FIG. 1) senses this, and the motor 11 is rotated under the control of the control unit 50 that receives the signal. Receiving the rotational driving force of the motor 11, each of the rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing to wash the hand. At this time, the first rotating brush 12 is specialized and arranged to efficiently clean the back of the hand, the second rotating brush 13 to clean the palm (palm), and the third rotating brush to efficiently clean the toe. For this purpose, each of the rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14 can be referred to as a "back cleaning brush 12", a "palm cleaning brush 13", and a "toe cleaning brush 14", respectively. is there. In this invention, since the washing | cleaning site | part of each rotary brush 12,13,14 is specialized in this way, there exists an effect peculiar to this invention which is mentioned later. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the back cleaning brush 12 is arranged slightly higher in the horizontal direction than the palm cleaning brush 13 so that the user can easily insert the hand.

  As indicated by arrows on each of the rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14 in FIG. 2, the back cleaning brush 12 and the palm cleaning brush 13 rotate in opposite directions, and in the illustrated example, the inserted hand is a device. Each is rotating in the direction of pulling in. By doing in this way, since each rotary brush after rubbing a hand repels toward the inside of an apparatus, it is preferable that a detergent, water, etc. are avoided splashing outside. However, it is also possible to rotate the rotating brushes 12 and 13 in the direction in which the hand is pushed out of the apparatus by reversing the rotation of the motor 11 as necessary. In any case, the rotation directions of the rotary brushes 12 and 13 are opposite to each other. Even if the rotating brushes 12 and 13 rotate in the direction of pulling in the hand, as shown in Patent Document 1, the rotating brush is not biased by a spring so that the hand is sandwiched from both sides, and further appropriate driving is performed. By using a force DC motor, there is not enough driving force to actually draw a hand. Accordingly, the “drawing direction” referred to here is merely an expression indicating the direction of rotation, and does not mean that the hand is actually drawn. If it is still likely to be pulled in, the rotation can be easily stopped by firmly grasping the cleaning brush 13 with the palm of the hand.

  Next, the toe cleaning brush 14 rotates clockwise in FIG. 2, and the tip of the brush approaches the toe by slightly bending the fingertip at this time. The effect of washing can be obtained. The degree of hooking of the toe on the rotating brush 14 can be freely adjusted by the user himself, depending on the insertion fee of the hand, the bending of the finger, and the like. If necessary, the rotation direction of the rotating brush 14 may be reversed, and the brush may be directed toward the toe with the fingertip extended. In this case, the gear 14a of the rotating brush 14 can be directly meshed with the pinion gear 16 shown in FIG. 1, or another idle gear can be added between the idle gear 17 and the gear 14a. .

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the rotating brush 12. The same can be applied to the other rotating brushes 13 and 14. The rotating brush 12 illustrated in the figure is composed of a cylindrical shaft 21 and a brush material 22 embedded in the outer periphery of the cylindrical shaft 21. In the figure, a part of the brush material 22 is displayed, and other parts that are repeated are omitted. In the present embodiment, Delrin is used for the cylindrical shaft 21, and nylon having an outer diameter of 0.2 mm and a length of 40 mm is used for the brush material 22. Dozens of brush materials 22 are bundled and embedded in one place, and the bundle is radially arranged so as to be in a line parallel to the axis at a position obtained by dividing the bundle into six equal parts in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical shaft 21. Between the rows of bundles adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction, the bundles are arranged in a staggered manner with the positions shifted alternately by a half pitch in the axial direction. Between the bundles in the axial direction, they are arranged at intervals of about 25 mm. The palm cleaning brush 13 on the opposite side is similarly configured, and the axial centers of the rotary brushes 12 and 13 are adjusted so that the distance between the tips of both brush materials 22 is +5 mm to −5 mm. . A negative interval means that the tips of both brush materials 22 are in contact with each other on the locus, but the above-mentioned bundle of brush materials 22 is staggered and is divided into six equal parts in the circumferential direction. Since they are arranged, actual contact can be avoided by adjusting the axial position and rotation angle of both.

  Both ends of the cylindrical shaft 21 are thin and form an axis of the cylindrical shaft. At least one end in the axial direction is formed with a male part 24 capable of transmitting a rotational driving force. The male part 24 is inserted into a female part (not shown) provided at the center of the driving gear 12a on the other side, and the other end of the shaft center 23 is supported on the wall of the housing 2 via a bearing. By inserting into a hole provided in the shaft support that does not, the rotational angle positions of the rotary brushes 12 and 13 are determined and supported. In FIG. 3, the male part 24 is a hexagonal head, but this is suitable for matching the arrangement of the brush material 23 in six circumferential directions, but is not limited to this, and other polygonal shapes. Any shape that can transmit power, such as “☆”, “+”, and “−”, can be used. Further, the male part and the female part can be interchanged so that the axial center 23 is a female part and the gear 12a side is a male part.

  The specifications of the rotating brush 12 are merely examples, and the material, length, arrangement of the brush material, and the like can be arbitrarily set according to desired cleaning conditions. Each rotary brush 12, 13, 14 can be easily detached from the driving gear by opening a window 6 (shown in FIG. 1) that can be removed from the outside provided on the wall of the housing 2. Depending on the configuration, it can be replaced. In the above example, the back cleaning brush 12 and the palm cleaning brush 13 are assumed to have the same specifications. Can be adjusted appropriately. Generally, if the material is the same, the shorter the length, the larger the diameter, and the higher the density of the bundle, the harder the brush. In the automatic hand washing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the cleaning brushes 12, 13, and 14 each specify a part of a person's hand to be cleaned, and therefore an optimal brush according to the part of the hand. It has features that can be selected. This produces a unique effect that cannot be obtained with an apparatus of the type in which the left and right hands are inserted vertically as shown in Patent Document 1, for example.

  The interval between the back of the hand cleaning brush 12 and the palm cleaning brush 13 is also an example, and differs depending on the specifications of the rotary brushes 12 and 13 so as to be a preferable arrangement for cleaning the back of the hand and the palm at the same time. Can be. For example, when the user himself wants to strongly wash the palm side, the user can cope with it by pressing the hand against the palm cleaning brush 13 side, and therefore the above-mentioned interval is only a guide.

  The specification of the toe cleaning brush 14 is preferably a hard material for the purpose of cleaning the inside of the nail. For example, a thick and short brush material 22 having an outer diameter of about 0.3 mm and a length of about 20 mm is used. You can choose. In addition, since the toe cleaning brush 14 is arranged alone, it is also possible to freely form a brush material 22 embedded in a scrubbing shape without a staggered arrangement. In addition, it is also free to treat the toe cleaning brush 14 as an option, and to configure an automatic hand washing apparatus only with the back of the hand cleaning brush 12 and the palm cleaning brush 13.

  Returning to FIG. 1, other elements of the automatic hand washing apparatus 1 will be described. First, the detergent supply unit 30 includes a detergent tank 31, a discharge pipe 32, a pump 33 that pumps the detergent, and a pipe 34 that connects the detergent. The detergent tank 31 is mounted on the housing 2, and a new detergent can be replenished after the detergent is used. An appropriate detergent can be selected depending on the cause of the contamination. For example, a detergent containing ethanol or a surfactant (for example, polyoxyethylene lauryl ether) is preferable for oil stains, but is not particularly limited thereto. A pair of discharge pipes 32 are arranged with their axial directions parallel to each other at positions facing the pair of rotating brushes 12 and 13 (for convenience of display, only a part of the discharge pipe 32 on the front side is shown in FIG. is doing). In the discharge pipe 32, an appropriate number of discharge ports (5 in the illustrated example) are opened toward the corresponding rotating brushes 12 and 13, respectively, with an interval in the axial direction. The detergent supply unit 30 is particularly effective in cleaning oil stains and the like. However, depending on the stain, there is a case where the detergent is unnecessary and the cleaning can be performed only with the washing water. Therefore, the detergent supply unit 30 may be handled as an option, and the automatic hand washing apparatus may be configured so as to perform cleaning with only the rotating brush and the cleaning water without including the detergent supply unit 30.

  Next, the washing water supply unit 40 includes a water supply pipe 41 connected to a water source such as a water supply, an automatic water faucet device 42, and a discharge pipe 32 that is a common element with the detergent supply unit 30 in this embodiment. It is configured. As the automatic faucet device 42, for example, a solenoid valve that opens and closes according to a command from the control unit 50 described later can be used. In a state where the automatic water faucet device 42 is opened, water flowing from the water supply pipe 41 is introduced into the discharge pipe 32, and water is discharged toward the rotary brushes 12 and 13 from the plurality of discharge ports described above. It is free to use hot water for washing by connecting to a hot water source instead of water supply.

  The control unit 50 includes a sensor 51 and a timer (not shown), and performs sequential control of operations of the hand washing unit 10, the detergent supply unit 30, and the washing water supply unit 40 in response to a detection signal from the sensor 51. The sensor 51 uses a motion sensor with a sensing distance of 300 mm attached to the lid 3 in the present embodiment, but the position where the sensor is attached and the specification of the sensor can be selected according to the purpose.

  The control procedure in the control unit 50 and the operation of the automatic hand washing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment configured as described above are as follows. When the user faces the automatic hand washing apparatus 1 and inserts both hands (may be one hand) from the opening 4 opened in the lid 3 of the housing 2, the sensor 51 detects this and detects it to the control unit 50. Send a signal. In response to this, the controller 50 drives the motor 11 to rotate the three rotating brushes 12, 13, and 14. At the same time, the pump 33 of the cleaning supply unit 30 is driven, the detergent is supplied from the detergent tank 31 to the discharge pipe 32, and the detergent is discharged toward the rotating brushes 12 and 13. This discharge time is set in advance in the timer of the control unit 50. In addition, since the water used at the time of the previous cleaning operation remains in the discharge pipe 32 at the start of discharge, this water is discharged at the beginning of discharge, and then the detergent is discharged. Therefore, moderately diluted detergent is supplied to the rotating brushes 12 and 13 that rotate while rubbing their hands. However, it is also free to control so that the washing water is discharged before supplying the detergent.

  In this state, after removing dirt using a detergent for a preset time, the control unit 50 then issues a command to the automatic faucet device 42 of the cleaning water supply unit 40 to open the valve, and from the water supply pipe 41 Water is supplied to the discharge pipe 32. In order to prevent water from flowing back into the detergent tank 31 due to the water pressure at this time, a check valve (not shown) is provided in the pipe 34. After the user rinses the detergent with the supplied water and pulls his hand at an appropriate timing when the hand washing is completed, the sensor 51 detects this and transmits a detection signal to the control unit 50. Is stopped and the initial state is restored. In this state, the discharge pipe 32 is filled only with water. The supply of water can be stopped when the user pulls the hand in this way, but it can also be automatically stopped when the time set in advance in the timer has passed if necessary. The dirty water after washing that has fallen into the housing 2 is discharged from the discharge port 7 provided in the lower part to the nearest drain receiving port.

  If the user who has once pulled the hand is concerned about the remainder of the detergent, it is possible to insert the hand into the automatic hand-washing apparatus 1 again for cleaning, but at this time, the detergent is discharged again. It is inconvenient. In order to avoid this, the housing 2 can be provided with a changeover switch (not shown), and a cycle in which the detergent discharging step is omitted from the above operation may be operated by switching to “water washing”. Naturally, a signal from the changeover switch is transmitted to the control unit 50, and control is performed so that the detergent discharge in the above operation is removed. Alternatively, the user can pull only one of the inserted hands to check the dirt or detergent, and continue the rotation of the water supply and the rotating brushes 12, 13 and 14 with the other hand inserted. it can.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of the automatic hand-washing apparatus based on this invention has been described, it is possible to add various changes with respect to this apparatus. As described above, the specifications of the brush can be changed according to the purpose of use, and the toe cleaning brush 14 can be treated as an option. In the above-described example, each rotary brush is driven via a gear using one motor. However, the driving force may be transmitted using a chain or a belt, or a motor is attached to each rotary brush individually. It may be. The type of cleaning liquid is arbitrary, but the detergent tank can be attached and removed so that the detergent tank can be replaced, or multiple detergent tanks can be attached to the chassis and switched with one of the switches. You can also. Further, in the above-described example, the discharge pipe 32 is shared by the detergent and the washing water, but independent discharge pipes may be provided. The discharge pipe 32 may be provided only on either the back of the hand cleaning brush 12 side or the palm cleaning brush 13 side. Alternatively, an additional discharge pipe 32 directed to the toe cleaning brush 14 may be additionally provided.

  The automatic hand-washing apparatus according to the present invention is useful in factories, kitchens, schools, nursing-related facilities, general households, and the like, and can be widely used in various industrial fields in which the apparatus is manufactured, sold, and used.

1. 1. automatic hand-washing device; 2. housing; Lid, 4. 4. opening, Partition plate, 6. Window, 7. Drain port, 10. 10. hand wash section, Motor, 12. 12. Rotating brush (back of hand cleaning brush), Rotating brush (palm washing brush), 14. Rotating brush (toe cleaning brush), 12a, 13a, 14a. Gear, 16. Pinion gear, 17. Idle gear, 21. Cylindrical shaft, 22. Brush material, 23. Axis, 30. Detergent supply section, 31. Detergent tank, 32. Discharge pipe, 33. Pump, 34. Piping, 40. Washing water supply section, 41. Supply pipe, 42. Automatic faucet device, 50. Control unit, 51. Sensor.

Claims (7)

An automatic hand-washing device that automatically cleans the hand that has been presented,
A pair of rotating brushes that rotate in opposite directions and arranged in parallel with an interval in the horizontal direction;
A motor for rotationally driving each rotary brush;
A detergent supply section for supplying cleaning water toward at least one of the rotating brushes;
It consists of a control unit that controls the overall operation,
An automatic hand-washing apparatus configured to detect a hand inserted between the pair of rotating brushes and automatically wash the back and palm of the hand with the corresponding rotating brushes under the control of the control unit.   A third rotating brush arranged further in parallel with the shaft of the pair of rotating brushes at a position of a toe of a hand inserted between the pair of rotating brushes and driven to rotate by a motor is further included. The automatic hand-washing apparatus of 1.   The automatic hand-washing apparatus of Claim 1 or Claim 2 which further provided the detergent supply part which supplies a detergent toward at least any one of the said rotating brush. The motor is composed of a plurality of motors for individually rotating the rotary brushes;
Alternatively, the motor comprises a single motor, and further includes a transmission mechanism that transmits the rotational driving force of the single motor to each rotary brush.
The automatic hand-washing apparatus of Claim 1 or Claim 2 which is either.   The automatic hand-washing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the transmission mechanism is any one of gear transmission, chain transmission, and belt transmission. The rotating brush is pivotally supported by inserting both ends of the shaft center into the respective support portions,
A male or female power transmission shape is provided at one end of the shaft center facing the support portion on the drive side,
The support part that supports the other end of the shaft center is configured to be removable in the axial direction of the rotating brush,
The automatic hand-washing apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1-5 which comprised the said rotation brush so that attachment or detachment was possible by removing the support part which supports the said other end. 6. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising one or both of a changeover switch for washing with only washing water without using a detergent and a selection switch for selecting one of a plurality of detergents. The automatic water washing apparatus as described.

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