JP3475747B2 - Hand drying equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hand dryer for sanitarily and quickly drying wet hands after washing. 2. Description of the Related Art In order to maintain hands in a sanitary condition, it is necessary to perform not only hand washing treatment but also drying treatment after washing in a sanitary manner. For example, a hand drying device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 23939/1990 is used. The conventional hand drying apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned publication includes a blowing unit including an induction motor and blades rotated by the induction motor, and a heating unit using an electric heater. The blowing means forms an air flow to be blown out to the hand drying section by the rotation of the sirocco-type blades, and the electric heater heats the air flow formed by the blowing means to make the air flow blown out to the hand drying section hot air. [0003] In the hand drying apparatus having the above-described structure, hands can be dried hygienically by holding a wet hand over a hand drying section from which hot air is blowing. That is, the moisture of the hand that has hit the hot air evaporates due to the heat and is removed from the hand. However, this type of method is a method of evaporating with heat, instead of blowing off moisture by lowering the wind speed and raising the hot air to a high temperature, and it takes a long time for the drying process,
It is cumbersome to use. Such a problem is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-63-154138 and JP-A-5-293055, which use a kinetic energy of an air stream to blow off moisture attached to a hand without using evaporation. This has been solved by the development of a hand drying device. This type is configured so that a high-speed air flow having high kinetic energy is ejected by a nozzle near an insertion port of a processing chamber through which a hand can be inserted and withdrawn, from the insertion port to a hand held over the processing chamber. When a wet hand is inserted into the processing chamber from the insertion port, a high-speed air flow is blown out from the nozzle, and when the hand is pulled out from the insertion port, moisture attached to the hand is blown off from the hand in a very short time without contact with anything other than the air flow Drying is performed hygienically. [0005] In the above-mentioned conventional hand drying apparatus of the type in which the moisture attached to the hand is blown off by a high-speed air flow, there is a problem that water splashes on the floor or the user during the drying process. was there. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hand drying apparatus which is easy to use and can prevent water from splashing back. In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a bottomed processing space through which a hand can be inserted and removed from an insertion opening opened forward, and the processing space is inserted. A hand dryer configured to blow a working airflow generated by a high-pressure air generator against a hand inserted into a processing space near a mouth and to wipe off moisture attached to the hand by kinetic energy of the working airflow. The working space is made to blow downward from above in the vicinity of the insertion opening into the processing space, and the bottom surface of the processing space is constituted by an upper surface of a water receiving portion which protrudes forward. A means is provided on the outer periphery of the upper surface of the upper surface so as to surround a water splash prevention edge having an inward upward slope protruding from the upper surface. Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 6 show a hand drying apparatus according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the hand drying apparatus includes an upper high-pressure air generator 1 and a lower water receiver 2, and a processing space 3 is provided between the high-pressure air generator 1 and the water receiver 2. It can be attached to a wall surface of a washroom or the like at the back via an attachment plate. The high-pressure air generator 1 is configured by incorporating a blower 7 including a motor 5 and a turbo fan 6 rotated by a casing 4 having a box-shaped container structure. The blower 7 is housed in a blower case 8 with the suction side on the back side and the exhaust side on the front side. The suction side of the blower 7 communicates with the upper end of a vertically extending ventilation path 9 defined on the back side of the high-pressure air generator 1. The ventilation path 9 has a lower end opening downward as a connection port 10. This connection port 10
, A second air filter 11 is fixed by a welding dowel as shown in FIG. An air outlet is formed at the front lower portion of the blower case 8 on the exhaust side of the blower 7, and the air outlet nozzle 12 converts the high-pressure air generated by the blower 7 into a high-speed air flow as a working air flow. Is installed.
The jet outlet 13 of the air flow jet nozzle 12 is formed of a row of slits or small holes that open downward in a laterally arcuate shape in the front part of the lower surface of the casing 4, and 5 ° to 30 ° behind the processing space 3. At a diagonally downward angle.
A heater 14 that raises the temperature of the high-pressure air passing therethrough is installed between the air outlet of the blower case 8 and the airflow jet nozzle 12. A light-emitting element and a light-receiving element constituting the hand-sensing sensor 15 are mounted side by side near the ejection port 13 on the lower surface of the high-pressure air generating section 1. Is configured to be detected. A circuit board 16 is provided above the blower case 8.
Are covered with a sheet metal cover 17 and incorporated. The back side of the sheet metal cover 17 is open, and the radiation fins 18 mounted on the circuit board 16 are arranged facing the open portion. Near the open portion of the sheet metal cover 17, there is a joining portion 19 between the rear side and the front side of the casing 4, and the eave-shaped waterproof member 35 straddling the joining portion 19 inside and covering the opening portion with a gap from the outside. Are attached (see FIG. 2). The waterproof member 35 prevents water from entering the circuit board 16 even if water enters from the joint 19, so that waterproof measures such as applying silicone or packing to the joint 19 of the casing 4 are unnecessary. become. Note that the waterproof member 35 may be integrated with the back member 36 of the high-pressure air generator 1. The water receiving part 2 has a substantially L-shaped base having a tank receiver 21 projecting forward at a lower part of the back structure 20, a drain tank 22 removably received by the tank receiver 21 of the base. , And the upper end of the rear structure 20 is connected to the connection port 10 of the ventilation path 9 of the high-pressure air generating unit 1 by a screw. The inside of the back structure 20 of the water receiving section 2 is configured as a ventilation path 23 communicating vertically, and a series of ventilation paths 9 and 23 are connected to the connection port 10 of the high-pressure air generation section 1.
Are formed. The lower end of the air passage 23 of the water receiving portion 2 is opened as a suction port 24, and a detachable first air filter 25 is mounted. The first air filter 25 has substantially the same performance as the second air filter 11 fixed to the connection port 10 of the high-pressure air generation unit 1, and removes dust contained in air sucked from the suction port 24. Remove. The drain tank 22 is a container body having an open upper surface, and a locking piece 26 having a projection on the upper part protrudes from the back surface thereof. A retaining spring (not shown) provided on the inner side of the upper portion is attached to the tank receiver 21 by engaging with a projection of the locking piece 26. The projection of the locking piece 26 and the pressing spring may be configured by a locking device called a latch and strike. A peripheral portion 27 having a gentle upward gradient with an overhang amount of 5 mm to 15 mm is formed integrally with the periphery of the open portion on the upper surface of the drain tank 22, and the open portion communicates with the inside of the drain tank 22 inside thereof. The lid is closed by a detachable tank cover 29 having a drain port 28 which is closed. The tank cover 29 is provided with a gradient for flowing water down the drain port 28. As shown in FIG. 3, the drain tank 22 in the mounted state is set so that the center of gravity G in the full state is located behind the tank support portion 30 at the front end of the tank receiver 21. Accordingly, the drain tank 22 is stable even when the tank is full, and the configuration of a holding spring or the like for supporting the drain tank 22 can be omitted or simplified. The processing space 3 is defined by a lower surface of the high-pressure air generator 1, a back structure 20 of the water receiver 2, and a tank cover 29 mounted on an upper surface of the drain tank 22. It is a large space that serves as a bottom surface, and is configured to be easy to use as an open space where a hand can be freely inserted and a front surface that serves as a large opening 31 into which a hand is to be inserted and free hands on both sides following the front surface. The working airflow from the high-pressure air generator 1 is ejected from the high-pressure air generator 1 obliquely from the front to the back from the processing space 3 from the top to the bottom. This hand drying apparatus is usually mounted on a wall surface of a washroom or the like at a height where the processing space 3 is located at the position of the hand naturally extended when a person faces. When the wet hand is inserted into the processing space 3 from the insertion opening 31 of the hand drying device attached as described above, the hand detection sensor 15 detects the presence of the hand, the blower 7 and the heater 14 operate, and the warm air is activated. An air current is blown into the processing space 3. Moisture adhering to the hand that has been inserted into the processing space 3 is blown toward the back of the processing space 3 by the working airflow formed in the vicinity of the insertion port 31 and received by the upper surface of the tank cover 29, and eventually the drain port 28 and is stored in the drain tank 22. At this time, since the upper surface of the tank cover 29 is surrounded by the rim 27 protruding like an eave of the drain tank 22, splashing of water to the surroundings is prevented, and the floor and the clothes of the user are not wetted. Absent. The wet hands are thus quickly dried. If the hand whose drying process is completed is pulled out of the processing space 3, the absence of the hand is detected by the hand detection sensor 15,
The blower 7 and the heater 14 are stopped, and the hand dryer enters a standby state. The air supply to the blower 7 is performed from a suction port 24 below the water receiving section 2, and the air sucked from the suction port 24 is cleaned and cleaned by a first air filter 25. After passing through the second air filter 11 through the ventilation path 23 of the water receiving section 2, the air reaches the ventilation path 9 of the high-pressure air generation section 1, is sucked into the blower 7, is pressurized, and is exhausted to the blower case 8. The high-pressure air exhausted to the blower case 8 is heated by the heater 14 when it exits from the outlet of the blower case 8, converted into a high-speed airflow as an operating airflow by the airflow ejection nozzle 12, and is blown into the processing space 3. . Since the working airflow blown into the processing space 3 has an angle of 5 degrees to 30 degrees behind the processing space 3, the moisture of the hands is blown off toward the back side of the processing space 3, which also results in this. Spattering of water from the insertion port 31 to the outside is avoided. In this hand drying apparatus, even if the first air filter 25 has been forgotten to be attached during cleaning or has been removed due to mischief, the second air filter 11 remains in the first air filter 25.
And an appropriate operating state that does not cause a failure can be maintained. The second air filter 11 is not necessarily removed because it is housed inside even if it is not necessarily fixed, but usually the second air filter 25 functions because the first air filter 25 functions. Since the number of maintenance operations of the filter 11 is small, the filter 11 may be fixed as in this embodiment. If the overhang amount of the edge portion 27 shown in this embodiment is too large, not only the area of the upper surface receiving water becomes small, but also water droplets adhere to the edge portion 27 itself, and It is not preferable because it will be transmitted and leaked,
If it is too short, the water cannot be prevented from bouncing off. 5 in this sense
An overhang of from mm to 15 mm is suitable. Further, the peripheral portion 27 may be provided not on the drain tank 22 but on the tank cover 29 side. In the drain tank 22, a large amount of water does not accumulate simply because the water blown away from the hand is collected. Therefore, as shown in FIG. Container 32
Or if the water-absorbing polymer 33 is provided in the drain tank 22 as shown in FIG. 5, the drain can be discarded together with the simple container 32 or the entire water-absorbing polymer 33 and the clean state can be easily maintained. Maintenance work such as cleaning of the drain tank 22 can be omitted, and the drain tank 2
It becomes possible to make 2 a simple shelf structure or a dish-shaped container. Also, as shown in FIG.
By arranging the sheet-like member 34 having water absorbency or the sheet-like member 34a having water permeability on the upper surface, water adhering to this surface can be reliably retained. Furthermore, the appearance can be maintained for a long time by appropriately replacing it with a new one. As shown in the drawing, the sheet-like members 34 and 34a have a size that extends to the back structure 20 of the water receiving portion 2, so that the water retention effect or the appearance can be more reliably maintained. As is clear from the above description of the embodiment, according to the present invention, a hand drying apparatus which has a large processing space, is easy to use, and can avoid splashing of water can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a hand drying device according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the hand drying device according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a drain tank and a tank receiver of the hand dryer according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a front sectional view showing another drain tank of the hand drying device according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a front sectional view showing another drain tank of the hand dryer according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part showing another embodiment of the hand drying device of the embodiment. [Description of Signs] 1 High-pressure air generator, 2 Water receiver, 3 Processing space, 7 Blower, 22 Drain tank, 27
Rim, 29 tank cover, 31 insertion opening, 3
4 sheet member, 34a sheet member.

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Tomohiko Horii 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (56) References JP-A-5-300847 (JP, A) JP-A-62-111031 ( JP, A) JP-A-6-209879 (JP, A) JP-A-6-38901 (JP, A) JP-A-10-99235 (JP, A) JP-A-11-18999 (JP, A) Hei 5-79390 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A47K 10/48

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] There is a bottomed processing space through which a hand can be pulled out and inserted from an insertion opening opened forward, and inserted into the processing space in the vicinity of the insertion opening of the processing space. A hand drying device configured to blow a working airflow generated by a high-pressure air generating unit against a hand to be wiped off moisture attached to the hand by kinetic energy of the working airflow, In the vicinity of the insertion port, the working air flow is blown downward from above, and the bottom surface of the processing space is constituted by an upper surface of a water receiving portion which protrudes forward, and an upper surface of the water receiving portion is formed. A hand drying device provided on the outer periphery so as to surround an edge portion for preventing water splash having an inward upward slope protruding from the upper surface.