JP2023037666A - hand dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a hand dryer having a sterilization function and at the same time, having a sterilization and air cleaning function of peripheral air when being not used as a hand dryer.SOLUTION: A hand dryer with sterilization LED is composed of a body 1, a blowing nozzle 4, a blow generator 3, a power supply part and a control part 16. The hand dryer with a sterilization LED includes: a hand insertion space 2 which has an air blowing opening disposed with the blowing nozzle 4, a hand insertion port 14 to insert the hand thereinto, and an exhaust and drain opening disposed with a water and air discharge tube 13 for exhausting and draining; a large air tank 8 for storing air blown from the blowing nozzle 4; deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a, 7b, 7c for sterilizing air discharged from the hand insertion space 2; and a circulation tube 19, an air intake port 10, a highly accurate filter 11, automatic switching valves 12a, 12b, and a clean air blowing port 20 connected to the hand insertion space 2 and the large air tank 8, and forming a circulation structure of air.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a hand dryer that removes water from hands after washing hands with tap water or the like. The present invention relates to a device having functions of sterilizing and inactivating germs and, when not used as a hand dryer, having both functions of sterilizing the air around the device and cleaning the air.

Generally, a hand dryer is a device that has the function of removing water from the hands and drying them, and is expected to promote hygiene after hand washing. However, it is not effective in preventing infections such as the new coronavirus. There is a problem of scattering, and it contains issues that cannot be used safely. In addition, hand dryers with disinfection and sterilization functions may be used in some cases, but this is for general bacteria, and against highly infectious viruses such as the new coronavirus. not sufficiently effective. Even in this case, since air is blown to the hand while the hand is open, there remains the problem of spreading bacteria together with the air and water over a wide area around the hand, as described above. Recently, air purifiers with a virus sterilization function that are used in offices and living rooms have also begun to be used, but this function is a single function that sterilizes and purifies the air in the room where the device is placed. It is a function.

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

In the case of Patent Document 1, even when a UV-LED that emits long-wavelength ultraviolet rays such as UVA is used, the self-cleaning mechanism that utilizes the strong oxidizing power of OH radicals more reliably cleans the wetted surface. To provide a water-handling article that can be sterilized and washed. Ultraviolet light is emitted from an ultraviolet light source such as the UV-LED disposed behind the ultraviolet-transmitting member to excite the photocatalyst-containing layer and generate OH radicals on the exposed surface to perform cleaning and sterilization.
In this case, the hands are sterilized by soaking the hands in water rather than being used when the water used for washing is removed and dried, and in the end, sterilization is not performed during drying.
Further, in the case of Patent Document 2, a water-handling article is provided that can sterilize and clean the wetted surface by a self-cleaning mechanism that utilizes the strong oxidizing power of OH radicals without using a photocatalyst.
In the case of this patent, ultraviolet rays are irradiated from the back surface of a specific region, and the transmitted ultraviolet rays are irradiated to the bacterial cleaning solution adhering to both the regions. However, since it is not sterilized when drying the hands as described above, there is also the problem that bacteria adhere during drying.

The object of the present invention was made in view of the above, and there is a possibility that virus bacteria etc. may still be attached to hands after washing with water in the drying stage after washing with water. When removing water from the hands, the deep UV LED is irradiated to the air in the air tank in advance to completely kill the bacteria. It has a function as a hand dryer to remove water and germs from the hands at the same time by blowing air from the dryer. At the same time, to provide a hand dryer having a function of sterilizing virus bacteria contained in the air around where the device is installed and cleaning the air when it is not used as a hand dryer. In addition, in the case of conventional hand dryers, the hand dryer is completely stopped when there is no user as a hand dryer. The hand dryer of the present invention is a hand dryer that operates even when the user of the hand dryer does not come and exhibits an incidental function capable of sterilizing and cleaning the air. So far, in addition to the function of removing water from the hands, the function of sterilizing and inactivating the highly infectious viral bacteria of the present invention and the air sterilization of the surroundings where the equipment is installed as an incidental function There was no hand dryer with cleaning function.

For the above purpose, for example, against bacteria that are easy to infect, such as the new coronavirus, after washing hands with water, while removing the water on the hands, the function to surely kill and inactivate virus bacteria etc. It is to provide a hand dryer with Furthermore, to provide a hand dryer having additional functions of sterilizing virus bacteria contained in the air around where the equipment is installed and cleaning the air while there is no one using the hand dryer. is. Therefore, while priority is given to using it as a hand dryer to remove water on hands after washing hands, it also has the function of sterilizing and purifying the air in the room where the device is placed when there is no user. is.
As an example, 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 pressure-fed by the air blow driving unit 3. Between the pipes 5 to 4, there is a small air tank 9 in which the air sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED 7b, which is also installed inside, is collected. Sterilized air that has passed through the small air tank 9 is blown out from the blower nozzle 4 into the sealed space 2, and a photoelectric sensor 18 senses the approach of the user's hand into the sealed space 2 to open and close. The air hits the water-adhered hands after washing the hands put in from the hand insertion opening 14 opened by the opening/closing door drive parts 22a and 22b of the doors 21a and 21b, and blows off the water on the hands. After hitting the hand, the air blown out from the blowing nozzle is discharged from the lower water and air outlet 13, separated into water and air by the cyclone 23. 6 is also equipped with a deep ultraviolet LED 7c to sterilize water. On the other hand, the discharged air that may still be contaminated with bacteria is connected from the circulation pipe 19 to the large air tank 8 and returned. An automatic switching valve 12 is provided in the middle of the pipe so that the channel can be switched.
By circulating this used air again to the large air tank 8, it is sterilized again by the deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a and 7b, and by repeating this air circulation and sterilization, the sterilization effect of the air can be further enhanced. At the same time, it is safe because air that may be contaminated with bacteria is not released to the outside.
An air curtain 15 is provided immediately inside the hand insertion port 14 to prevent the air in the closed space from flowing out of the gap formed between the hand and the hand insertion port. is inserted into the hand insertion opening 14, the inserted hand blocks the optical axis of the photoelectric sensor 18, thereby detecting that the hand has been inserted. It is supposed to start. After using the hand dryer, when the hand is put out from the hand insertion opening 14, the photoelectric sensor is turned off. All the LEDs inside, including the LEDs in the closed space, irradiate the air while the circulation path continues to maintain the operating state, thereby sterilizing the air inside the device.
Subsequently, when the user of the hand dryer does not come, the automatic switching valve 12a works and the flow path is automatically switched, and the air around the equipment passes through the air intake 10, the high-precision filter 11, and the air tank. It is designed so that it can flow into Dai 8. In this large air tank 8, a deep ultraviolet LED 7a capable of sterilizing or inactivating highly contagious viral bacteria is attached to irradiate the air. After that, it enters the air tank small 9 via the air blower drive unit 3, sterilizes and inactivates the air again by the deep ultraviolet LED 7b, passes through the automatic switching valve 12b, 20 and the clean air outlet, and the equipment Sterilized clean air is blown out to the outside. In this way, when the hand dryer is not used as a hand dryer, it has the effect of facilitating the effective use of the equipment by exhibiting the function of sterilizing and purifying the air around the equipment. The reason why the hand inserted in the closed space is not sterilized by directly irradiating it with the deep ultraviolet LED is that the safety is not guaranteed if the light of the deep ultraviolet LED directly irradiates the human skin. be. Furthermore, a transparent window 17 is provided on the front so that a hand inserted into the closed space can be seen so that the user can use the device with peace of mind.

According to the present invention, for example, a short-wave deep ultraviolet LED that can kill up to 99.9% of bacteria against a highly infectious new coronavirus is placed in an air tank just before applying it to the hand for a certain period of time. To provide a hand dryer having a function capable of simultaneously removing water and bacteria from hands by sterilizing the air by irradiating it and blowing the air from a nozzle to the hands placed in a closed space. can do.
In addition, among the air and water collected by touching the hands, the air is returned to the air tank again, and the air sterilized by the deep ultraviolet LED is circulated in the air tank, which 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.
In addition, as an additional function, when there is no one using it as a hand dryer, the air around the equipment is taken in through a high-precision filter inside the equipment, and it is incorporated in the large and small air tanks. To provide a hand dryer having an air sterilization and cleaning function of irradiating the air with light from a deep ultraviolet LED to sterilize virus bacteria contained in the air and blowing out the cleaned air to the outside of a device. Most of the hand dryers currently installed in toilets in public facilities, hotels, etc., blow air vigorously on the hands in an open space, causing the bacteria on the hands to scatter over a wide area. It is an invention that will lead to a solution to the problem of suspension of use for feared reasons.

1 is a side view of a hand dryer with LED for germicidal use according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a front view of a hand dryer with LED for sterilization according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. Side functional explanatory view of a hand dryer with an LED for sterilization according to an embodiment of the present invention Side functional explanatory view of a hand dryer with an LED for sterilization according to an embodiment of the present invention

A hand dryer with sterilization and air cleaning functions according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.
In addition, in all the drawings below, the dimensions and ratios of the respective constituent elements are shown to be appropriately different in order to facilitate understanding.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the present embodiment includes a main body 1, a hand insertion space 2, a blower drive unit 3, a blower nozzle 4,
A pipe 5 connecting between the air blow drive unit and the air blow nozzle, a water treatment unit 6 for collecting and treating drained water, a large air tank 8 and a small air tank 9, and arranged in the water treatment unit 6 Deep ultraviolet LEDs 7a, 7b, 7c, air intake 10, high-precision filter 11, automatic switching valves 12a, 12b, water/air discharge pipe 13, hand insertion port 14, air curtain 15, control unit 16 , a transparent window 17, a photoelectric sensor 18, a circulation pipe 19, a clean air outlet 20, open/close doors 21a and 21b, open/close door drive units 22a and 22b, and a cyclone 23.

In the industrial daily life, the present invention is widely installed near toilets in public facilities, schools, hotels, hospitals, companies, convenience stores, etc., and kills virus bacteria while removing water from hands after washing hands. It can be used as a hand dryer that can remove air by using the air, and can be used as an air sterilization and cleaning device when not in use as a hand dryer, and can be used as a device with high operating efficiency.

1 Main body 2 Closed space 3 Air blow driving unit 4 Air blow nozzle 5 Piping 6 Water treatment unit 7a, 7b. 7c, Deep UV LED
8 Large air tank 9 Small air tank 10 Air intake 11 High-precision filters 12a, 12b Automatic switching valve 13 Water/air discharge pipe 14 Manual insertion port 15 Air curtain 16 Control unit 17 Transparent window 18 Photoelectric sensor 19 Circulation pipe 20 Clean air Air outlets 21a, 21b Open/close doors 22a, 22b Open/close door driving unit 23 Cyclone

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 blower nozzle provided at the air blowing opening, a hand insertion opening for inserting a hand, an opening/closing door for the hand insertion opening, an opening/closing door driving section, and an air/water discharge pipe for exhaust and drainage are provided. a manual insertion space having an exhaust drainage opening, an air tank in which LEDs are arranged to sterilize the air stored inside just before it is blown out from the blowing nozzle, and an air tank connected to the exhaust drainage to separate air and water. a cyclone, a circulation pipe connected to the air tank to form a circulation structure, and a circulation pipe connected to the hand insertion space and the air tank to form an air circulation structure, and are connected to the outside of the equipment. An air supply unit formed by an air intake for taking in air and a filter, and an air blowing unit for discharging the air sterilized and cleaned by the LED arranged in the air tank to the outside of the device through a circulation pipe. , a hand dryer comprising automatic switching valves on an air intake side and an air blowing side incorporated in the circulation structure. 2. The hand dryer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LED is provided in the hand insertion space. 3. The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein the LED is provided in the air tank and emits deep ultraviolet light having a short wavelength.

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