JP6221052B2 - Hand dryer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hand-drying device for washing hands in a bathroom or a toilet and drying wet hands.

  Conventional hand dryers often use a heater for the purpose of raising the temperature of the drying air in order to shorten the drying time of the hand, and there are the following methods for detecting abnormality of the heater (for example, patents) Reference 1).

  The configuration will be described below with reference to FIG. Motor 105 for generating dry air, heater 106 for raising the temperature of the dry air, motor drive circuit 103 for driving them, heater drive circuit 104, temperature sensor 101 for detecting the temperature of the dry air, motor drive The microcomputer 105 includes a microcomputer 102 that controls the motor 105 and the heater 106 through the circuit 103 and the heater driving circuit 104 and determines the temperature of the drying air from the output of the temperature sensor 101.

  If the output value from the temperature sensor 101 is below a certain threshold value during operation of the apparatus, it is determined that either or both of the motor 105 and the heater 106 are abnormal, and the motor 105 and the heater 106 are transmitted. Is to stop energization.

JP-A 63-197499

  In such a conventional drying apparatus, it is necessary to actually measure the temperature of the drying air in order to determine whether the motor or the heater is abnormal, and a dedicated temperature sensor is required. For this reason, there is a problem that the entire apparatus is large and expensive.

  The present invention solves the conventional problems as described above, and has a structure in which dry air is passed through a manually inserted sensing portion using a semiconductor, and the semiconductor portion is heated with dry air. The output of the heated semiconductor changes depending on the temperature characteristics, and a change in the temperature of the drying air can be detected using the change in the output. Thereby, the operation state of the heater can be known, a dedicated temperature detection function for detecting the abnormality of the heater is unnecessary, and a simple and inexpensive hand dryer can be provided.

A hand-drying device provided with a drying chamber for inserting a hand into the main body and drying, a blower for sending air to the drying chamber, and an air passage through which the air is fed into the drying chamber, for detecting hand insertion The light emitting means and the light receiving means are provided to face the manual insertion port of the drying chamber, and a heater for heating the wind passing through the air passage is provided in the air passage, and the light emitting means is provided in the air passage. A heater judging means provided downstream of the heater for detecting the output voltage of the light receiving means and judging the operation status of the heater; the heater judging means is based on the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is OFF; The voltage is stored, and the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is ON is compared with the reference voltage. When the output voltage exceeds the reference voltage, the heater is determined to be normal, and the output voltage is the reference voltage. If the voltage is below Over data is obtained by and determines that it is abnormal.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to detect an abnormality of a heater that warms dry air without using a dedicated temperature detection function.

The figure which shows the structure of Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the electric circuit structure of Embodiment 1 of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process of Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which shows the structure which arranged the filter of Embodiment 1 of this invention The figure which shows the structure which has arrange | positioned the baffle plate of Embodiment 1 of this invention. Simplified diagram showing conventional configuration

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand drying apparatus having a main body provided with a drying chamber for inserting and drying a hand, a blower for sending air into the drying chamber, and an air passage for passing the air fed into the drying chamber. In the drying apparatus, a light emitting means and a light receiving means for detecting insertion of a hand are provided to face a hand insertion port of the drying chamber, and a heater for heating the wind passing through the air path is provided in the air path. The light receiving means is provided in the air passage and on the downstream side of the heater, and is provided with a heater judging means for detecting the output voltage of the light emitting means and judging the operation status of the heater.

The heater determining means stores the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is OFF as a reference voltage, compares the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is ON with the reference voltage, and the output voltage is the reference voltage. When the output voltage exceeds the reference voltage, the heater is determined to be normal, and when the output voltage is equal to or lower than the reference voltage, the heater is determined to be abnormal .

  With this configuration, it is possible to detect an abnormality of the heater that warms the drying air without using a dedicated temperature detection function.

  Further, a plurality of combinations of the light emitting means and the light receiving means are provided, and abnormality of the heater is determined based on the output of the light receiving means that has not detected the hand during the hand drying operation.

  With this configuration, there is an effect that the abnormality of the heater can be determined during the hand drying operation.

  In addition, after removing the hand, a delay operation is performed in which the heater and the blower are operated for a predetermined time, and the heater determination unit performs abnormality determination of the heater during the delay operation.

  With this configuration, there is an effect that it is possible to determine the abnormality of the heater during the delay operation.

  Further, a filter is inserted between the heater and the light emitting means.

  This removes dust and the like mixed in the dry air.

  Therefore, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from adhering to the light emitting means, and to improve the reliability of the light emitting means and extend the life.

  In addition, a rectifying plate for rectifying the drying air is added to the drying air passage.

  Thus, the route through which the drying air passes is separated, and a filter is installed in the route through the light emitting means.

  Therefore, there is an effect that the entire drying air path is not covered with the filter, and the pressure loss of the drying air path is reduced to ensure the amount of drying air.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
As shown in FIG. 1, the hand drying apparatus according to the present embodiment warms the drying chamber 1 that inserts a hand from the top surface and dries, the blower 2 that sends wind to the drying chamber 1, and the wind that feeds the drying chamber 1. A heater 3 is provided.

  In the upper part of the drying chamber 1, the LED 4 and the LED 5 as light emitting means used for detecting insertion / extraction of the hand into the drying chamber 1 are arranged with a photodiode 6 and a photodiode 7 as light receiving means facing each other. To do.

  At the upper part of the drying chamber 1, there is provided a blow-out port 11 for blowing dry air warmed by the heater 3, and the blow-out port 11 communicates with the heater 3 through an air passage 12.

  That is, the air path 12 sends the dry hot air warmed by the heater 3 to the outlet 11. The LEDs 4 and 5 are arranged on the downstream side of the heater 3 in the air passage 12.

  Moreover, the microcomputer 8 is provided in the inside of the hand dryer. The microcomputer 8 includes an LED drive unit 15 that drives the LEDs 4 and 5, a blower drive unit 16 that drives the blower 2, a heater drive unit 17 that drives the heater 3, and a heater determination unit 18 (heater determination unit) that determines abnormality of the heater 3. )have. The heater determination unit 18 monitors the output voltages of the photodiodes 6 and 7, determines whether to insert / remove the hand into / from the drying chamber 1 according to the output change of the photodiodes 6, 7, and determines whether there is an abnormality in the heater 3. to decide. Depending on the hand insertion / extraction judgment result, the blower driving means turns on / off the blower 2 and the heater driving means turns on / off the heater 3.

  Further, a memory 9 is connected to the microcomputer 8. The heater determination unit stores the output voltage of the photodiode 6 when the blower 2 and the heater 3 are OFF as the reference voltage α and the output voltage of the photodiode 7 as the reference voltage β in the memory 9.

  Further, the control circuit 10 is constituted by a microcomputer 8 and a memory 9.

  The basic operation of the hand-drying apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration will be described first.

  When a current is passed through the LEDs 4 and 5 to emit light, the photodiodes 6 and 7 receive the light from each LED and output a voltage.

  Each LED is driven with a pulse current at intervals of several tens of msec in order to extend the service life.

  Next, when a hand is inserted into the drying chamber 1, the light of the LED 4 or the LED 5, or both lights are blocked by the hand and do not reach the photodiode 6 and the photodiode 7. Using this, the insertion / extraction of the hand to / from the drying chamber 1 is determined.

  Specifically, a hand is inserted into the drying chamber 1 when the output voltage of any one of the photodiodes 6 or 7 becomes 0 V even though the microcomputers 8 drive the respective LEDs 4 and 5. The microcomputer 8 determines that the Here, the output voltage of the photodiodes 6 and 7 is set to “0 V” when the output voltage is small enough to be judged to be zero with respect to the output voltage when the light of the LEDs 4 and 5 is received. That is, it is not limited that the hand is inserted into the drying chamber 1 when the output voltage of the photodiode 6 or 7 becomes a complete 0V.

  The microcomputer 8 operates the blower 2 and the heater 3 immediately after determining that the hand has been inserted.

  The air sent from the blower 2 is warmed by the heater 3, passes through the air passage 12 as dry hot air, and is blown out from the outlet 11. The hand can be dried by applying the dry warm air to the hand.

  Immediately after it is determined that the hand is inserted, while the output voltage of either the photodiode 6 or 7 is 0 V, the microcomputer 8 determines that the hand is inserted in the drying chamber 1, and the blower 2 and heater 3 is continued and the supply of the dry hot air to the drying chamber 1 is continued.

  After it is determined that the hand has been inserted, it is determined that the hand has been removed from the drying chamber 1 when the output voltage of both the photodiode 6 and the photodiode 7 has returned from 0 V, and the blower 2 and the heater 3 are delayed from this point. To start. Note that when the output voltage returns from 0 V, the output voltage of the photodiode 6 (photodiode 7) is close to the reference voltage α (reference voltage β) or higher than the reference voltage α (reference voltage β). The time when a large output is detected.

  The delayed operation is to continuously operate the blower 2 and the heater 3 for a predetermined time after removing the hand in order to ensure the dry finish of the hand. Since the power consumption increases if the time for this delayed operation is too long, the time is often set to about 1 to 3 seconds.

  A series of hand-drying operations are completed by the end of the delayed operation.

  By the way, when the heater 3 stops operating due to some abnormality, the hot air is not generated, so that the user often feels uncomfortable particularly in a cold district. Therefore, it is necessary to reliably detect the abnormality of the heater 3.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the abnormality detection of the heater 3 is performed using the LEDs 4 and 5 and the photodiodes 6 and 7 which are used for the judgment of hand insertion / extraction.

  The LEDs 4 and 5 are optical semiconductors, and the optical semiconductor has a property that a forward voltage drop Vf (hereinafter referred to as a forward voltage) at a semiconductor junction decreases as the ambient temperature increases. In the present embodiment, the operating state of the heater 3 is confirmed using this property.

  That is, by heating the LEDs 4 and 5 with the dry warm air heated by the heater 3 to change the forward voltage of the LEDs 4 and 5, and confirming the change in the output voltage of the photodiodes 6 and 7 corresponding to the LEDs 4 and 5. The operation status of the heater 3 is confirmed.

  Below, the structure as the characteristic is demonstrated.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, the wind generated by the blower 2 that is driven when a hand is inserted into the drying chamber 1 is warmed by passing through the heater 3, and then passes through the air passage 12 from the outlet 11. It is sent to the drying chamber 1.

  Next, the operation of the circuit of the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described. The control circuit 10 includes a microcomputer 8 and a memory 9 as shown in FIG.

  When the drying air heated by the heater 3 passes through the LED 4 and the LED 5, the respective LEDs 4 and 5 are heated and the forward voltage decreases. At this time, since the current flowing through the LEDs 4 and 5 increases, the light of the LEDs 4 and 5 becomes strong.

  The output voltage of the photodiode 6 (or the photodiode 7) increases or decreases depending on the intensity of received light. That is, when the light of the LED 4 (or LED 5) becomes strong, the output voltage of the photodiode 6 (or photodiode 7) increases. Using this, abnormality detection of the heater 3 is performed.

  Below, the abnormality determination of the heater 3 is demonstrated concretely using FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for determining abnormality of the heater 3.

  In the main flow (not shown), the hand dryer first drives the LEDs 4 and 5 when the power is turned on. At this time, the blower 2 and the heater 3 are in an OFF state. The photodiodes 6 and 7 receive the light from the LEDs 4 and 5 and output a voltage according to the amount of received light. At this time (that is, when the light of the LEDs 4 and 5 is received when the blower 2 and the heater 3 are OFF), the output voltage of the photodiode 6 is set as the reference voltage α and the output voltage of the photodiode 7 is set as the reference voltage β. Remember.

  The reference voltage α and the reference voltage β change according to the ambient temperature of the hand dryer. Therefore, it is updated each time the blower 2 and the heater 3 are OFF to cope with changes in the ambient temperature.

  The update timing is a time during which the LED 4 or 5 heated by hand drying can be sufficiently cooled, that is, 30 seconds to 1 minute after the blower 2 and the heater 3 are stopped after operation.

  Next, when a hand is detected in the drying chamber 1, the blower 2 and the heater 3 are driven. And while the hand is detected, the operation of the blower 2 and the heater 3 is continued. When the hand is no longer detected, the operation of the blower 2 and the heater 3 is shifted to a delay operation that continues for a predetermined time. When the delayed operation is completed, the blower 2 and the heater 3 are stopped, and the hand dryer is in a standby state.

  Here, the abnormality determination process will be described in detail.

  When the blower 2 and the heater 3 start operation, the heater determination unit 18 starts an abnormality determination process (S1). Then, the output voltage of the photodiode 6 or 7 is compared with the reference voltage α or β (S2). When the output voltage of the photodiode 6 or 7 exceeds the reference voltage α or β, the process proceeds to S3, where the heater 3 is determined to be normal, and the abnormality determination process is terminated.

  If the output voltage of the photodiode 6 is equal to or lower than the reference voltage α and the output voltage of the photodiode 7 is equal to or lower than the reference voltage β in S2, the process proceeds to S5. In S5, it is confirmed whether the heater 3 and the blower 2 are in operation. If in operation, the process of comparing the output voltage of the photodiode 6 or 7 with the reference voltage α or β is repeated again in S2.

  In S5, when it is confirmed that the heater 3 and the blower 2 are stopped, the process proceeds to S6, where the heater 3 is determined to be abnormal, and the abnormality determination process is terminated.

  When it is determined that the heater 3 is abnormal, the microcomputer 8 turns on an abnormality display for informing the user that the heater is abnormal, such as an inspection LED.

  In addition, regarding the use of the hand dryer when the heater 3 is abnormal, the use of the device can be stopped or continued. However, the air can be blown and the function of hand drying is not lost. It is better to use it.

  Here, one of the light from the LEDs 4 and 5 may be irregularly blocked by the movement of the hand, or the light from both the LEDs 4 and 5 may be completely blocked by the hand. Therefore, it is not always possible to detect the output of the photodiodes 6 and 7 while the hand is being detected, and it is difficult to reliably determine the abnormality of the heater 3.

  Therefore, for example, when only the photodiode 6 (or the photodiode 7) detects the insertion of the hand and the output voltage becomes 0 V, the other photodiode 7 (or the photodiode 6) that does not detect the insertion of the hand. Check the output voltage. When the output voltage of the photodiode 7 (or photodiode 6) is larger than the reference voltage β (or reference voltage α), it is determined that the heater 3 is operating normally.

  That is, during the hand drying operation, it is always monitored whether the photodiode 6 is higher than the reference voltage α and whether the output voltage of the photodiode 7 is higher than the reference voltage β. When the voltage exceeds the reference voltage, it is determined that the heater 3 is normal.

  Thereby, even if the light of either LED4 or LED5 is blocked by hand, it can be determined that the heater 3 is normal.

  On the other hand, when both the LEDs 4 and 5 are blocked, it is possible to make an abnormality determination during the delayed operation after the hand is removed from the drying chamber 1. That is, since the blower 2 and the heater 3 perform the delayed operation after removing the hand from the drying chamber 1, the output voltage of the photodiodes 6 and 7 can be reliably detected. Therefore, it is possible to reliably determine whether the heater 3 is normal or abnormal.

  Therefore, during the delay operation, the normal determination of the heater 3 during the hand drying operation is continued, and if the output voltages of the photodiode 6 and the photodiode 7 do not exceed the respective reference voltages by the end of the delay operation, the heater 3 Is determined to be abnormal.

  It should be noted that the abnormality determination of the heater 3 is completed when the heater 3 can be determined to be normal from the time of hand detection or when the delay operation is completed.

  Here, the case where there are two combinations of LEDs and photodiodes has been described. However, when there is only one combination of LEDs and photodiodes, the normal operation of the heater 3 cannot be determined during the hand drying operation, so that the delay operation is performed. Sometimes, the abnormality determination of the heater 3 may be performed.

  In addition, when there are three or more combinations of LEDs and photodiodes, the normal judgment during the hand drying operation is merely an increase in the number of photodiodes to be monitored, and the processing described above can be applied as it is.

  Therefore, the present invention can be applied regardless of the number of combinations of LEDs and photodiodes.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, you may insert the filter 13 between the heater 3 and each LED.

  An AC brush motor capable of high-speed rotation is often used in an apparatus that requires a high air volume instantaneously, such as a hand dryer. Since the AC brush motor generates brush powder due to wear of the brush, the brush powder is mixed into the dry hot air. By removing this with the filter 13, it is possible to prevent adhesion of foreign matter to each LED, increase the reliability of the entire device, and extend the life.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 5, you may add the baffle plate 14 to an air path.

  In FIG. 4, the filter 13 is added so as to cover the entire surface of the air path 12, so that the filter becomes a pressure loss with respect to the dry hot air, leading to a decrease in the amount of dry hot air and an increase in power consumption.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a rectifying plate 14 for separating the path of the dry hot air is added, and the filter 13 is installed only for the dry air flowing to the LED, thereby reducing the pressure loss of the air path 12 and reducing the drying temperature. The amount of wind can be secured and the increase in power consumption can be prevented.

  The present invention can be applied to a drying apparatus that blows off water droplets using a high wind speed and dries hands.

1 Drying chamber 2 Blower 3 Heater 4 LED
5 LED
6 Photodiode 7 Photodiode 8 Microcomputer 9 Memory 10 Control circuit 11 Air outlet 12 Air passage 13 Filter 14 Current plate 15 LED drive unit 16 Blower drive unit 17 Heater drive unit 18 Heater judgment unit

Claims (5)

A drying room where a hand is inserted into the main body and dried;
A blower that sends air into the drying chamber;
A hand-drying device provided with an air passage through which air is fed into the drying chamber;
A light emitting means and a light receiving means for detecting hand insertion are provided facing the hand insertion port of the drying chamber,
In the air passage, a heater for heating the wind passing through the air passage is provided,
The light emitting means is provided in the air path and downstream of the heater,
A heater determining means for detecting the output voltage of the light receiving means and determining the operation status of the heater is provided, the heater determining means stores the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is OFF as a reference voltage,
Compare the output voltage of the light receiving means when the heater is ON and the reference voltage,
When the output voltage exceeds the reference voltage, the heater is determined to be normal,
A hand dryer that determines that the heater is abnormal when the output voltage is equal to or lower than the reference voltage .   The hand drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of combinations of the light emitting means and the light receiving means are provided, and an abnormality of the heater is determined based on an output of the light receiving means that does not detect a hand during a hand drying operation. After removing the hand, perform a delayed operation to operate the heater and the blower for a predetermined time,
The hand dryer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heater determining means makes a heater abnormality determination during the delayed operation.   The hand dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a filter is inserted between the light emitting means and the heater installed in the air passage. The hand drying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the air flow in the air path is separated into a drying air for the light emitting means and a drying air for drying the hands.

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