JP2022187275A - Hand drier - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a hand drier capable of solving problems for example, water stuck to the hand and may include bacteria or virus adhered thereto, is dropped on a floor or wash stand, and unless a user moves, it is impossible to remove water stuck to the hand of the user, and capable of removing bacteria or virus, sterilizing them, and preventing diffusion of the bacteria or virus.SOLUTION: A hand drier with a sterilization LED comprises: a main body 1; a blowing nozzle 4; a blow generator 3; a control part 16; a hand washing liquid nozzle 20; a water nozzle 21; and a shutter 22. The hand drier further comprises: a hand insertion space 2 comprising, an air blowing opening which has the blowing nozzle 4, a hand insertion hole 14 for hand insertion, and an exhaust air/drain water opening which has a water/air discharge pipe 13 for exhaustion and water drainage; a large air tank 8 for storing air blown from the blowing nozzle 4; a deep ultraviolet LED 7a sterilizing air discharged from the hand insertion space 2; and a circulation pipe 19 coupled to the hand insertion space 2 and the large air tank 8, for forming an air circulation structure.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to hand dryers.

In general, hand dryers are devices that only have the function of removing water from hands and drying them. Blowing air onto the hand in an open space causes the problem of spreading the bacteria over a wide area, which makes it difficult to use without worry. In addition, hand dryers with disinfection and sterilization functions are sometimes used, but the reality is that they are not sufficiently effective against highly infectious target viruses such as the new coronavirus. Moreover, even in this case, since air is blown to the hand in the open state, there remains the problem of scattering germs over a wide area in the same manner as described above. In addition, in conventional general hand dryers, the faucet with tap water for washing hands and the place where the soap solution is placed are usually located about 4 to 5 steps away, and the soap solution and tap water are not available. After washing your hands with a hand dryer, there is the problem of dropping the water on your hands, which may still have bacteria and viruses on it, onto the floor or the washbasin. There was annoyance that the attached water could not be removed.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-193708 JP 2018-187233 A

In the case of Patent Document 1, even if a UV-LED that emits long-wavelength ultraviolet rays such as UVA is used, a self-cleaning mechanism that utilizes the strong oxidizing power of OH radicals can more reliably clean the wetted surface. Provide a water-handling article that can be sterilized and cleaned by irradiating ultraviolet rays from an ultraviolet light source such as the UV-LED disposed behind the ultraviolet-transmitting member to excite the photocatalyst-containing layer, and the exposed surface thereof OH radicals are generated on the surface to perform cleaning and sterilization.In this case, instead of removing the water from hand washing and using it to dry, it is sterilized by soaking the hands in water and eventually drying. In addition, in the case of Patent Document 2, a water-handling article capable of sterilizing and cleaning the wetted surface by a self-cleaning mechanism that utilizes the strong oxidizing power of OH radicals without using a photocatalyst is proposed. In this case, ultraviolet rays are irradiated from the back side of a specific region, and the transmitted ultraviolet rays are irradiated to the bacteria cleaning solution adhering to both the regions. Since it is not a sterilization method, there is also a problem that bacteria adhere during drying.
In addition, in both Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the equipment does not include a function of washing hands and does not include a function of removing water from hands. only includes the function of sterilizing and cleaning wetted surfaces.

The object of the present invention was made in view of the above, and there is a problem of dropping water on the hands, which may have bacteria or viruses, on the floor or the washbasin. To provide a hand dryer capable of removing, sterilizing, and preventing diffusion of bacteria and viruses while eliminating the troublesomeness that water on the hands cannot be removed without cleaning.

The above object is a hand dryer comprising a main body, a blow nozzle, a blow generator, a power supply unit as a drive source, and a control unit,
a hand insertion space having an exhaust port and a drain port;
an opening for inserting a hand into the hand insertion space;
a nozzle for delivering soap solution to the hand insertion space;
Having a nozzle for delivering water to the hand insertion space,
a hand dryer in which air blown out from the blow nozzle flows into the hand insertion space;
achieved by

According to the present invention, after washing hands with soap solution and water in the device, air sterilized by the sterilizing LED can be applied to the hands to remove the water on the hands and dry them. It is possible to provide a hand dryer that is effective in removing, sterilizing and anti-spreading.

1 is a side cross-sectional view of a germicidal LED hand dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a front view of a hand dryer with LED for germicidal use according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the function of the hand dryer with LED for sterilization according to the embodiment of the present invention;

A hand dryer with an LED for sterilization according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. In addition, in all the drawings below, the dimensions and ratios of the respective constituent elements are appropriately changed in order to facilitate understanding.

As an example, the photoelectric sensor 18 detects the approach of the hand, the shutter 22 is automatically opened, and the hand is inserted into the hand insertion space 2 . Next, a certain amount of soap solution is jetted out from the hand-washing liquid nozzle 20, hits the hands and rubs the hands together to remove bacteria and stains on the hands, and after a timer is set for a predetermined time, a certain amount of the soap solution is discharged from the water nozzle 21. After rinsing the soap bubbles on the hands with the spray of water, the process automatically proceeds to the next step of removing the water on the hands. The hand washing liquid nozzle 20 is connected to a soap liquid tank (not shown). The water nozzle 21 is connected to an open/close switching valve (not shown) and a water pipe. Soapy water is supplied from a soapy water tank using a motor (not shown), but may be supplied via an open/close switching valve (not shown) using the water pressure of a water pipe.
After the soap solution and water are sent out, the air in the large air tank 8 is sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED 7a attached to the inside of the tank, and the air in the air tank is sent to the small air tank 9 by the blower drive unit 3. Air is pumped. Furthermore, between the pipe 5 route to the blow nozzle 4, there is an air tank small 9 in which the air sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED 7b similarly attached inside is collected. The air blows out in the sealed hand insertion space 2, and the hand with the water adhered to it after washing the hands put into the hand insertion space 2 from the hand insertion port 14 is vigorously hit to blow off the water on the hand. The water exits from the lower water/air discharge port 13 and is stored in the water treatment unit 6. The water treatment unit 6 is also equipped with a deep ultraviolet LED 7c to sterilize the water. On the other hand, the discharged air that may be contaminated with bacteria is connected from the circulation pipe 19 to the large air tank 8 and returned. A manual valve 12 is used to adjust the flow rate in the middle of the piping. A photoelectric sensor 18 detects that the hand has left the hand insertion space 2, and a shutter 22 provided at the hand insertion opening 14 automatically closes. By circulating the used air in the hand insertion space 2 again to the large air tank 8 within the set time, it is sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a and 7b, and by repeating this circulation each time, the air sterilization effect is improved. It is possible to increase it more and more, and at the same time, it is safe by not letting air that may be contaminated with bacteria be released to the outside. Furthermore, fresh air can also flow into the large air tank 8 at a constant rate from the air intake 10 through the filter 11 . Alternatively, the deep ultraviolet LED 7d is also installed in the hand insertion space 2, but when the hand is inserted, if the hand is directly irradiated with the LED for sterilization, the safety of the skin etc. cannot be guaranteed. After moving out of the room, the shutter of the insertion port is closed and all the LEDs including the LED in the hand insertion space are illuminated in the circulation path inside the device, so that the degree of air sterilization can be increased within the set time. In addition, as another function, immediately inside the hand insertion opening 14, there is an air gap for preventing the air in the hand insertion space 2 from flowing out to the outside from the gap formed between the hand and the hand insertion opening 14. A curtain 15 is provided. Further, as described above, when a hand approaches the hand insertion opening 14, the approaching hand blocks the optical axis of the photoelectric sensor 18, automatically opening the shutter 22, and when the hand is inserted, the insertion of the hand is detected. Upon detection, the hand dryer device is activated and begins disinfection and circulation operations. Furthermore, a transparent window 17 is provided on the front so that the hand inserted into the hand insertion space can be seen so that the user can use the device with peace of mind.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the present embodiment includes a main body 1, a hand insertion space 2, a blow drive unit 3, a blow nozzle 4, and a pipe 5 connecting between the blow drive unit and the blow nozzle. , a water treatment unit 6 for collecting and treating drained water, a large air tank 8 and a small air tank 9, deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a, 7b, 7c arranged in the water treatment unit 6, an air intake 10, , filter 11, manual valve 12, water/air discharge pipe 13, hand insertion port 14, air curtain 15, control unit 16, transparent window 17, photoelectric sensor 18, circulation pipe 19, drive source It has a power source (not shown), a soapy water nozzle 20, a soapy liquid tank (not shown), a water nozzle 21, and a shutter 22. In an embodiment, a deep UV LED 7d (not shown) may be mounted in the hand insertion space 2. Moreover, it is preferable to use LEDs having a peak wavelength of 250 nm to 350 nm for the deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a, 7b, and 7c.

In addition, of the air and water collected by touching the hands, the air is returned to the air tank again, and in the air tank, it is sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED, and circulating has the effect of increasing the degree of sterilization. At the same time, it also has the effect of preventing air containing bacteria from being released and not spreading. Moreover, the water once stored in the water treatment unit and sufficiently sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED is put into a safe state and discharged to the drainage channel. Most of the hand dryers currently installed in toilets in public facilities and hotel buildings blow air on the hands in an open space, causing the problem of spreading the bacteria on the hands over a wide area. , is an invention that leads to a solution to the problem of suspension of use.
The invention according to this embodiment relates to a hand dryer that has the function of removing water on hands after washing hands with liquid soap and tap water in this device, and it is a conventional hand dryer that only dries hands. In addition to the function, it relates to a device that has a hand washing function with a liquid soap nozzle and a water nozzle in the same device and a sterilization function that has a sterilization effect against highly infectious bacteria such as virus bacteria.
Instead of the soap solution, sodium hypochlorite, ethanol, isopropanol, glutaral, phthalal, formalin, povidone iodine, tincture of iodine, phenol, benzalkonium chloride, benzethonium chloride, Hand wash liquids such as alkyldiaminoethylglycine hydrochloride, chlorhexidine gluconate, peracetic acid, oxidol, acrinol hydrate, and the like may also be used. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the hand washing liquid may be sprayed from the hand washing liquid nozzle 20 without the water nozzle.
The invention according to this embodiment was invented as a device that can solve the above-described problems at once. In other words, in the same device, the three functions of hand washing with soap solution, rinsing with water, and drying by applying air sterilized by an LED that has the function of sterilizing the new coronavirus are realized in the same device. By doing so, it is possible to safely wash and dry hands without scattering germs around the equipment, even against highly contagious germs, and it is easy without the need to move to another place. The hand dryer with a hand-washing function of this embodiment is used particularly in hospitals, nursing homes, food companies, etc., in addition to general public facilities.

In the industrial daily life, the present invention is widely installed near toilets in homes, public facilities, schools, hotels, etc., and wash hands with soap solution and water in this device, and wash hands after washing hands. It can be used as a hand dryer that can kill virus bacteria while removing .

Reference Signs List 1 main body 2 hand insertion space 3 air blow drive unit 4 air blow nozzle 5 piping 6 water treatment unit 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d deep ultraviolet LED
8 Large air tank
9 small air tank 10 air intake 11 filter 12 manual valve 13 water/air discharge pipe 14 hand insertion port 15 air curtain 16 control unit 17 transparent window 18 photoelectric sensor 19 circulation pipe 20 liquid nozzle for washing hands 21 water nozzle 22 shutter

Claims (3)

A hand dryer composed of a main body, a blow nozzle, a blow generator, a power supply unit as a drive source, and a control unit,
a hand insertion space having an exhaust port and a drain port;
an opening for inserting a hand into the hand insertion space;
a nozzle for delivering hand washing liquid to the hand insertion space;
Having a nozzle for delivering water to the hand insertion space,
A hand dryer, wherein the air sent from the air blow nozzle flows into the hand insertion space. It has an air tank with LEDs inside that sterilize viruses and bacteria,
The air sent out from the blow nozzle is supplied from the air tank,
2. The hand dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air outlet and the air tank are connected to form a closed loop circulation structure. 3. The hand dryer according to claim 2, wherein the LED is a deep UV emitting LED.

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