JP3994643B2 - Hand dryer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hand-drying device used in a washroom, a toilet, a kitchen, or the like in order to dry hands wet with water.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, instead of wiping a wet hand with water or the like using a towel or handkerchief, a hand-drying device that dries the hand hygienically by holding the hand over the blown warm air has been put into practical use. For example, what can be used as a hair dryer has been developed. In these, an air flow is generated by rotating an air blowing means made of sirocco type blades by an induction motor, and the air flow is heated by a heating means made of an electric heater, and hot air is blown out to a manual insertion portion. Basically, in order to evaporate and dry the moisture of the wet hands with heat, it takes about 20 seconds to 1 minute to complete the drying, which is inconvenient.
[0003]
An improved version has been developed. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the air flow blown from the high-pressure air flow generator 61 through the upper blowing nozzle 62 and the lower blowing nozzle 63 is simultaneously applied to both sides of the hand. It sprays as a high-speed jet, blows away the moisture of the hand inserted from the hand insertion part 3, and dries it. As a winter measure, an external heating device 64 is also provided.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, as in the above-mentioned conventional example, the type that feeds wind from the top to the bottom is compact, but there is a problem that water droplets scatter down. On the other hand, the hand drying device that blows away moisture by a high-speed jet has a problem that it is difficult to take a compact configuration because it uses a large electric blower.
[0005]
When trying to make the fan compact by rotating the fan at a high speed, there was a problem that the temperature of the motor would rise. There is also a problem that the noise is loud because the jet is high speed.
[0006]
In such a type of hand dryer, it is necessary to make the storage part of the electric blower large so that it can come into sufficient contact with the outside air.
[0007]
In winter, the outside air to be sucked is cold and the jet that blows on the hand is also cold, so that there is a problem that a means for heating the air must be provided separately so as not to give a cold wind feeling.
[0008]
Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems, and even a small blower is provided with a flow path for cooling the motor inside the electric blower case so as to cool the temperature of the electric blower. The purpose is to be able to take out the air.
[0009]
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hand dryer that can supply a warm jet without providing a separate heating means by circulating air to increase the air temperature.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention includes an electric blower that is arranged in a main body forming an outer shell and blows an air flow, a drying chamber that dries a hand inserted from an upper surface opening portion of the main body, and an inner surface of the drying chamber. Equipped with an ejection hole that ejects the air flow blown from the blower, and an air chamber that communicates the blower side of the electric blower and the ejection hole. The electric blower is separated into a high-pressure part that has a fan and a low-pressure part that has a motor. It is housed in an electric blower case with a partition part, the high pressure part is used for hand drying, and the low pressure part passes through the inside of the motor for cooling the motor with a part of the air flow formed by the fan It is like that. Therefore, since an air flow is created in the electric blower case, the motor is cooled, and the electric blower case can be made compact.
[0011]
As another configuration, an air intake port disposed below the inner surface of the drying chamber and a circulation channel that communicates the air intake port and the air intake side of the electric blower are provided in order to collect the air flow ejected from the ejection hole. Similarly, in the case of the so-called circulating flow method, the electric blower is housed in an electric blower case having a partition portion so as to be separated into a high pressure portion provided with a fan and a low pressure portion provided with a motor. The low pressure part is used for cooling the motor, and a part of the air flow formed by the fan is used for cooling the motor through the inside of the motor. And the cooling air escapes from the lower part or the back surface of the electric blower case.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, air that is efficiently injected can be supplied from the high-pressure portion of the electric blower through the air chamber through the air chamber, and the motor can be supplied to the low-pressure portion by allowing air to escape from the high-pressure portion. The electric blower can be made compact and can be configured so that the durability does not deteriorate.
[0013]
In the case of other configurations, the air flow sucked from the intake port and passed through the circulation flow path passes through the suction side of the electric blower and is ejected from the high-pressure portion of the electric blower through the air chamber to be efficiently injected. The air can be supplied to the low pressure part, and the motor can be cooled by letting the air escape from the high pressure part, so that the electric blower can be made compact and the durability can be kept from falling. . On the other hand, the air temperature of the circulating flow rises, and the temperature of the air flow used for drying rises, so that the drying capacity increases. Furthermore, since the cooling air is released from the lower part, the noise can be reduced.
[0014]
【Example】
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the overall configuration of the hand dryer of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view thereof, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG.
[0015]
In the following description, the configuration of a hand drying device that circulates air to dry hands will be described.
[0016]
Reference numeral 1 denotes an electric blower that blows an air flow. 2 is a main body, 3 is a hand insertion part (open part) in which the upper surface of the drying chamber 4 for drying the hands is opened, and a jet for ejecting an air flow blown by the electric blower 1 to the inlet part (upper inner surface) 4a of the drying chamber The hole 5 has an intake port 6 for recovering the air flow ejected from the ejection hole 5 in the back part (below the inner surface) 4b.
[0017]
7 is an air blower for supplying air to the electric blower 1 and the electric blower 1 below the drying chamber 4, and a flow path on the left side of the electric blower 1 is for circulating air from the intake port 6 to the electric blower 1. The circulation flow path 8 extends downward from the intake port 6 and includes a recovery part 8a including both air and water droplets, a circulation part 8b from the recovery part 8a to the electric blower 1, and an air flow path 7 In addition, a water droplet collection port 10 for collecting water droplets from the collection unit 8a to the drain tank 9 is provided.
[0018]
Reference numeral 11 denotes an electric blower case that houses the electric blower 1. The interior is separated into a fan 14 in the high pressure section 13 and a motor 16 in the low pressure section 15 by the partitioning section 12, and from the air flow path 7 to the center of the fan 14. Air is sucked and blown circumferentially.
[0019]
A part of the air flow of the blast releases air from the inside of the fan 14 to the motor 16. Reference numeral 17 denotes a fan inlet sound absorbing material, 18 denotes a sound absorbing material provided inside the high pressure portion 13 of the electric blower case 11, 19 denotes an electric blower outlet, and 20 denotes a rib provided to the electric blower outlet 19 of the electric blower case 11. is there.
[0020]
Next, the configuration will be described along the flow of air after exiting the electric blower 1 with reference to the cross-sectional view of FIG. Reference numeral 21 denotes an air chamber, which is a front air chamber 21a and a rear air chamber 21b, which communicate with each other. The air chamber 21 occupies almost the entire lateral width in the main body 2 and ensures a sufficiently wide cross-sectional area (about 10 times or more than the ejection hole 5). Air enters the air chamber inlet 22 through the electric blower outlet 19. The electric blower outlet 19 and the air chamber inlet 22 are configured not to leak by the seal member 23 and the rib 20. The air that has entered from the air chamber suction port 22 passes through the inside and goes to the nozzle unit 25 provided in the blower port 24. The nozzle unit 25 is inserted into a nozzle unit opening 26 provided above the drying chamber 4.
[0021]
A slit-shaped nozzle 27 corresponds to the front air chamber 21a, and a round hole nozzle 28 corresponds to the rear air chamber 21b. The slit nozzle 27 is located on the user side, corresponds to the palm of the hand, and the round hole nozzle 28 is configured to hit the back of the hand on the back side.
[0022]
FIG. 4 is an exploded schematic view of each main part, and the configuration will be described based on this figure.
[0023]
A flow path through which the circulating flow mounted on the drain tank 9 passes is constituted by an inner box 29 provided in the drain tank 9 (specific configuration of the circulating flow path).
[0024]
A filter 30 is provided at a portion of the inner box 29 that enters the electric blower 1 side. Reference numeral 54 denotes a drain opening for dropping water droplets into the drain tank 9. The drain tank 9 is detachable from the main body 2, and each of the inner box body 29 and the filter 30 is separable.
[0025]
Next, the drying chamber 4 is integrally formed to have a substantially U-shaped cross section, and two side plates 31 are provided at the side opening portion. The side plate 31 has a fixing flange 32 on the lower side, and is screwed to the back portion 4 b of the drying chamber 4 at the concave portion 33. Further, in the vicinity of the upper side plate, the floating prevention portion 34 catches the corner portion 35 of the nozzle unit 25.
[0026]
Reference numeral 36 denotes a splattering prevention portion provided on the upper side of the side plate 31 and has a protrusion on the inside. The side plate 31 is made of a light transmitting body (semi-transparent, including a skeleton) that can be daylighted, and the outer side is textured. The shape is gently rounded outward. Reference numeral 37 denotes a sensor (hand detection means), which includes a light emitting section 38, a light receiving section 39, and a signal line 41 going to the control means 40. Reference numeral 42 denotes a sensor cover.
[0027]
Reference numeral 43 denotes a display unit, which is described here as a triangular power lamp. The display unit 43 may display an operation state.
[0028]
A power switch 44 is covered with a waterproof cover 45 and is provided on a side portion 47 of the front case 46. The front case 46 has an upper part 48 and a side part 47, and a curved surface is formed between the front part 49 and the upper part 48 and the side part 47. Is invisible. A part of the upper portion 48 and the side portion 47 of the front case 46 is adapted to be fitted into the drying chamber 4 and is provided with a protruding portion 50 for fixing inside. Further, the front case 46 has a fixing portion 52 that is fixed to the bottom plate 51, and is fixed to the bottom plate 51 and the back surface with screws.
[0029]
The main body 2 can also be operated by being placed on the table 53, in which case the drain tank 9 can be removed.
[0030]
Further, the front case 46, the drying chamber 4, the drain tank 9, the side plate 31, the sensor cover 42, the filter 30, and the inner box 29, which are configured as the appearance, are formed of polypropylene resin.
[0031]
Reference numeral 54 denotes an air flow blown from the fan 14 used for drying, and 55 and 56 denote air flows flowing through the motor 16 of the low-pressure unit 15.
[0032]
Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
[0033]
When the hand is inserted into the drying chamber 4 by keeping the power SW 44 in the ON state, the sensor 37 detects the hand and drives the electric blower 1. Then, the air flow sucked from the air inlet 6 passes through the circulation flow path 8 and the air flow path 7 and is sucked into the high pressure portion 13 of the electric blower 1, and the air is drawn from the center of the fan 14 through the splash of the fan in a circumferential shape. Exhale (indicated by arrow 54). Since the suction portion of the fan 14 of the electric blower case 11 has a negative pressure, the electric blower case 11 is sucked to the electric blower case 11 via the fan inlet sound absorbing material 17, and the air flow does not leak from the high pressure portion 13. .
[0034]
On the other hand, a part of air flows from the fan 14 to the motor 16 to the motor 16 in the low pressure part 15 (indicated by an arrow 55), and the motor 16 is cooled. The air used for cooling is discharged to the lower side or rear side of the electric blower case 11 (indicated by an arrow 556) and goes out of the main body 2.
[0035]
The sound absorbing material 18 in the electric blower case 11 is stretched so as to oppose the fan on the inner periphery of the high pressure portion. Therefore, sound generated from the fan rotating at high speed in the electric blower case 11 is absorbed to a considerable extent here.
[0036]
The air discharged from the electric blower 1 is guided to the nozzle unit 25 having the ejection holes 5 through both the front air chambers 21a and the rear air chambers 21b of the air chamber 21. In the front air chamber 21a and the rear air chamber 21b, since the cross-sectional area is sufficiently wide as compared with the ejection hole 5 as described above, the air chamber 21a and the rear air chamber 21b are almost uniformly compressed and eject a stable high-speed jet from the ejection hole 5. be able to. The ejection holes 5 are provided facing each other so that jets of both the palm and the back of the hand are sprayed at the same time. The ejection direction is the back direction of the drying chamber 4, that is, the downward direction in the figure (the direction of the inserted finger of the hand: The hand is tilted slightly (5-10 °). The front air chamber 21a hits the palm and the back of the hand by the slit nozzle 27 and the rear air chamber 21b by the round hole nozzle 28, respectively.
[0037]
Since the palm of your hand is rubbed and washed with both hands when a drop of water is applied, a lot of water is attached. On the other hand, a lot of water does not adhere to the back of the hand, but water droplets adhere to the wrinkles of the hand.
[0038]
Accordingly, a large amount of air is ejected from the slit-like nozzle to the palm, and water droplets at the wrinkled portion of the hand are blown off spot-likely by the round hole nozzle on the back of the hand.
[0039]
Here, the area of the slit-shaped nozzle configured to be in the palm of the hand is set to be twice or more that of the round hole nozzle. Therefore, a lot of airflow hits the palm. However, if the area of the slit-shaped nozzle is not less than 10 times the area of the round hole nozzle, the air ejected from the round hole nozzle is too small to sufficiently dry the back of the hand.
[0040]
Further, the space between the longitudinal center positions of the slit-shaped nozzles of 10 mm to 50 mm is closed, and air is ejected only to the hand portion without ejecting useless air between both hands.
[0041]
As a result, since the place where the air volume at the center is the largest is not emitted, it is possible to prevent the buzzing sound caused by the collision of the airflows coming out from both nozzles.
[0042]
Thereafter, the air flow is sucked into the intake port 6. The air flow passes through the circulation flow path 8, passes through the electric blower 1, and is blown again as an air flow from the ejection side air passage 12. The blown air flow is heated by repeatedly passing through the electric blower 1 and repeatedly compressed in the air chamber 21, and warm air is supplied from the ejection holes 5 without providing any additional heating means. Can do.
[0043]
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the water droplets sucked into the intake port 6 together with the air flow are accelerated downward along the air flow in the recovery portion 8a of the circulation flow path 8, and are bent at the bent portion to the circulation portion 8b. Then, it is dropped and separated at the position of the water droplet collection port 10 by inertia and collected in the drain tank 9. The filter 30 mainly prevents dust from flowing into the electric blower 1.
[0044]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the air flow blown by the electric blower 1 is operated while cooling the motor in addition to the air flow exiting the fan and suppressing the heating of the motor. Therefore, the electric blower 1 is sufficiently small and compact, and the entire main body can be compact.
[0045]
In the above embodiment, the case where the air flow circulates while passing through the electric blower 1 has been described. However, air may be supplied from the outside without circulating the air flow. A separate heating means may be provided so that warm air is ejected. Even in this case, if the nozzle configuration is the same, the air flow is ejected from the slit nozzle 27 and the round hole nozzle 28 in accordance with the characteristics of the palm and the back of the hand, so that it can be dried very efficiently. Therefore, the electric blower 1 is small and compact enough, and therefore the entire main body can be compact.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the air blown from the high-pressure portion of the electric blower through the air chamber and ejected from the ejection hole can be efficiently supplied, and the low-pressure portion can be supplied with air from the high-pressure portion. By letting it escape, the motor can be cooled, the electric blower can be made compact, and the durability can be configured not to drop.
[0047]
In the case of other configurations, the air flow sucked from the intake port and passed through the circulation flow path passes through the suction side of the electric blower and is ejected from the high-pressure portion of the electric blower through the air chamber to be efficiently injected. The air can be supplied to the low pressure part, and the motor can be cooled by letting the air escape from the high pressure part, so that the electric blower can be made compact and the durability can be kept from falling. . On the other hand, the air temperature of the circulating flow rises, and the temperature of the air flow used for drying rises, so that the drying capacity increases.
Furthermore, since the cooling air is released from the lower part, the noise can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a hand dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view showing the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. The perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the detachable component in an Example. FIG. 5 The vertical side view which shows the structure of the conventional hand-drying apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric blower 4 Drying chamber 5 Ejection hole 6 Intake port 8 Circulation flow path 11 Electric blower case 12 Partition part 13 High pressure part 14 Fan 15 Low pressure part 16 Motor 21 Air chamber

Claims (3)

  An electric blower that is arranged in a main body that forms an outer shell and blows an air flow, a drying chamber that dries a hand inserted from the upper surface opening portion of the main body, and an inner surface of the drying chamber that is arranged on the inner surface of the drying chamber. A blow hole for blowing the blown air flow, an air chamber communicating with the blow side of the electric blower and the blow hole, and the electric blower is separated into a high pressure portion provided with a fan and a low pressure portion provided with a motor. The high-pressure part is used for hand drying, and the low-pressure part uses a part of the air flow formed by the fan to cool the motor through the inside of the motor. The hand dryer characterized by having performed.   An electric blower that is arranged in a main body that forms an outer shell and blows an air flow, a drying chamber that dries a hand inserted from the upper surface opening portion of the main body, and an inner surface of the drying chamber that is arranged on the inner surface of the drying chamber. An ejection hole for ejecting the blown air flow, an intake port disposed below the inner surface of the drying chamber to collect the air flow ejected from the ejection hole, and the intake port and the suction side of the electric blower communicate with each other It has a circulation flow path, an air chamber communicating with the blower side of the electric blower and the ejection hole, and the electric blower has a partition part so as to be separated into a high pressure part provided with a fan and a low pressure part provided with a motor. Housed in an electric blower case, the high-pressure part is used for hand drying, and the low-pressure part is part of the air flow formed by the fan for cooling the motor through the inside of the motor. apparatus. The hand-drying device according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the cooling air escapes from a lower portion or a back surface of the electric blower case .

Images