JP7072834B2 - Hair dryers and cartridges attached to hair dryers - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a hair dryer and a cartridge attached to the hair dryer.

A hair dryer that puts a beauty component such as collagen on an air stream and dissipates it onto the hair is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2015-19854

Beauty ingredients such as collagen are supplied to the hair dryer by a replaceable cartridge or the like, but it is difficult for the user to judge the consumption of the beauty ingredients held in the cartridge from the attenuation of the effect appearing on the hair, and the cartridge. It is also difficult to visually recognize the cosmetological ingredients retained in the hair. That is, it was difficult to determine when to replace the cartridge.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and provides a hair dryer and a cartridge as a holding member, which allows a user to easily determine when to replace a cartridge for holding a beauty ingredient.

The hair dryer according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a fan that generates an air flow from an suction port to an air outlet, an atomizer that imparts atomized droplets to the air flow, and a liquid contained in the air flow. The mounting part for mounting the cartridge that holds the beauty component for discharging the drops into the air flow and the power storage element for managing the remaining amount of the beauty component, and the storage capacity of the power storage element according to the use of the cartridge. It includes a consumption circuit that consumes, and a presentation unit that detects a voltage drop of the power storage element and indicates when to replace the cartridge. The cartridge according to the second aspect of the present invention is replaceably attached to the hair dryer according to the first aspect.

According to the present invention, the user can easily determine when to replace the cartridge holding the beauty ingredient, so that the effect of the beauty ingredient on the hair can be continuously enjoyed.

It is an overall perspective view of the hair dryer which concerns on this embodiment. It is a partially enlarged view which shows the state of mounting a cartridge. It is a figure which shows the state of the central cross section of a housing schematically. It is an overall perspective view of a cartridge. It is a system block diagram of a hair dryer. It is an overall perspective view of the hair dryer in another embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention, but the invention according to the claims is not limited to the following embodiments. Moreover, not all of the configurations described in the embodiments are indispensable as means for solving the problem.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment. The hair dryer 100 mainly includes a main body unit 110 that generates hot air and cold air, and a grip unit 180 that the user grips. The hair dryer 100 generates heat and air flow by, for example, electric power supplied from a household AC power source.

In the main body unit 110, the housing 116, which is a housing, surrounds the outer circumference to form a cylindrical shape, and the outside air is taken in from the suction port 111, which is the opening on one end side, and is adjusted from the air outlet 112, which is the opening on the other end side. Blow out the air flow. The outlet 112 is divided into two, and is composed of a first outlet 113 that blows out a relatively large amount of air flow and a second outlet 114 that discharges less air flow than the first outlet. .. In the following description, the suction port 111 side is referred to as an upstream side, and the outlet 112 side is referred to as a downstream side.

The body unit 110 has an end that connects to the grip unit 180. A toggle type mode switch 115 is provided in the vicinity of the end portion. The mode switch 115 functions as a switching unit for switching between a beauty mode in which the beauty component is released into the blown air flow and a non-beauty mode in which the beauty component is not released. The user operates the mode switch 115 to switch to the desired mode.

One end of the grip unit 180 is rotatably connected to the main body unit 110, and the user makes the grip unit 180 stand upright with respect to the main body unit 110 during use and folds the grip unit 180 in parallel during accommodation. The grip unit 180 has an on / off switch 181 near the center of the grip portion. The user can slide the on / off switch 181 to any of the three positions. Each position is an off position, one is a cold air position that cuts off the energization of the heater described later and sends out cold air, and one is a hot air position that energizes the heating wire and sends out hot air.

When the user operates the mode switch 115 to switch to the beauty mode, the air flow mixed with the beauty component is discharged from the second outlet 114. The beauty component is adsorbed and held on the cartridge 150 as a beauty component holding member. The cartridge 150 is replaceably attached to the main body unit 110. That is, the cartridge 150 that has exhausted the beauty component is replaced with a new cartridge 150. Thereby, the hair dryer 100 can continuously maintain the emission of the beauty component.

The indicator 120 is an LED indicating the replacement time of the cartridge 150, and is provided in the vicinity of the mode switch 115. In this embodiment, the LED is used as the indicator 120, but other light emitting elements or display elements may be used. If the indicator 120 does not light even when the mode switch 115 is switched to the beauty mode, the user can recognize that it is time to replace the cartridge 150.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view showing how the main body unit 110 mounts the cartridge 150. An opening is provided in a part of the housing 116, and the opening is covered with a storage lid 117 during normal use. The storage lid 117 is pivotally mounted on the housing 116 by a hinge provided on one end side, and the user lifts the other end side of the storage lid 117 to open the opening when the cartridge 150 is replaced.

A mounting portion 118 is provided at the back of the opening, and the user can mount the cartridge 150 on the mounting portion 118. If the cartridge 150 is attached and the storage lid 117 is closed, the user can activate the beauty mode of the hair dryer 100. The cartridge 150 has a cartridge terminal 150a on the upper surface facing the storage lid 117 when mounted on the mounting portion 118. The storage lid 117 has a storage lid terminal 117a that comes into contact with the cartridge terminal 150a of the cartridge 150 that is stored when closed. The accommodating lid terminal 117a is, for example, a spring pin connector. The mode switch 115 may be provided with a lock mechanism so that the mode switch 115 cannot be switched to the beauty mode when the cartridge 150 is not attached.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the central cross section of the housing 116 cut in a cross section parallel to the xz plane shown in the coordinate system of FIG. 1. The figure shows only the main components. Specifically, it represents a heater 121, a motor 122, a fan 123, an atomizing device 130 arranged in the housing 116, and a cartridge 150 mounted on the mounting portion 118.

The fan 123 is rotated by a motor 122 to take in outside air from the suction port 111 and generate an air flow toward the air outlet 112. The motor 122 is, for example, a DC motor, and functions as a blower together with the fan 123. The heater 121 generates heat when energized, heats the air flow generated by the fan 123, and converts it into warm air. The heater 121 is, for example, a heating wire, and is fixed so as to be located in the hollow portion of the housing 116 by being wound around an insulating plate or the like.

The internal space of the housing 116 is divided into two by an inner wall 119 so that the outside air taken in from the suction port 111 is split into two on the downstream side of the fan 123. That is, the air flow generated by the fan 123 is divided into an air flow B0 toward the first outlet 113 and an air flow B1 toward the second outlet 114 by the inner wall 119. The heater 121 is arranged in the flow path of the air flow B0 so as to heat the air flow B0. Therefore, if the user sets the on / off switch 181 to the warm air position, the energized heater 121 mainly warms the air flow B0.

The atomizing device 130 is arranged in the flow path of the air flow B1. The atomizing device 130 is a device that condenses the moisture contained in the surrounding air, atomizes (atomics) the condensed moisture, and imparts it to the air flow B1. When water is condensed while the fan 123 is rotating, the water contained in the air flow B1 is condensed. That is, the atomizing device 130 is a device that condenses moisture in the air to generate mist (atomized droplets), and in the present embodiment, droplets having a diameter of 10 to several hundred nanometers are produced. Generate.

The atomizing device 130 mainly includes a Pelche element 131, a cooling plate 132, a heat radiation fin 133, and a discharge electrode 134. A conductive cooling plate 132 is attached to the endothermic surface side of the Pelche element 131, and the cooling plate 132 is cooled by the Pelche element 131. The dew condensation surface, which is the surface of the cooling plate 132 on the side that comes into contact with the air flow, condenses moisture contained in the air, and droplets adhere to it. That is, the cooling plate 132 functions as a dew condensation portion in cooperation with the Pelche element 131.

A heat dissipation fin 133 for heat dissipation is attached to the heat generation surface side of the Pelche element 131. The heat released from the heat radiating fin 133 rides on a part of the air flow B1 and is discharged to the outside from the second outlet 114.

The discharge electrode 134 is connected to an electrode circuit described later, and is arranged at a predetermined amount apart from the cooling plate 132 so that discharge is generated using the cooling plate 132 as a ground electrode. When a high-pressure negative pulse is applied to the discharge electrode 134, a discharge occurs between the tip of the discharge electrode 134 and the cooling plate 132, and the dew condensation water condensing on the dew condensation surface of the cooling plate 132 is caused by Rayleigh splitting. It becomes a mist charged with negative ions and scatters. That is, the atomizing device 130 applies a mist (electrostatic atomized droplets) charged with negative ions to the air flow B1.

The dew condensation portion of the atomizing device 130 does not have to be directly arranged in the flow path of the air flow B1. If the dew condensation water dewed on the dew condensation surface is turned into mist by electric discharge and the mist is attracted to the air flow B1, it can be arranged in a place not directly exposed to the air flow B1. If the dew condensation surface is not directly exposed to the air flow B1, it is possible to generate relatively large dew condensation water, and it is easy to control the size of the mist generated by the electric discharge.

The cartridge 150 is mounted on a mounting portion 118 provided on the downstream side of the atomizing device 130. When the mist charged with negative ions passes through the inside of the cartridge 150, the beauty component adsorbed and held by the cartridge 150 elutes into the mist, and the air flow B1 discharged from the second outlet 114 appropriately absorbs the beauty component. Reach the user's hair in the included state.

As shown in the figure, since the inner wall 119 is interposed between the atomizer 130 and the heater 121 and is isolated from each other, the heat generated by the heater 121 is unlikely to reach the dew condensation portion of the atomizer 130. .. Therefore, the dew condensation portion can condense more water. Further, the inner wall 119 is preferably formed of a material having high heat insulating properties so as to further block the heat of the heater 121. Alternatively, a heat insulating sheet that blocks heat transfer may be attached to the surface of the inner wall 119.

FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view of the cartridge 150. As described above, the cartridge 150 is a beauty component holding member that adsorbs and holds beauty components. The cosmetological component that is adsorbed and retained is released into the air flow B1 using the mist generated by the atomizing device 130 as a medium. Examples of the cosmetological ingredient include proteins, mucopolysaccharides, collagen, elastin, keratin, vitamins and the like as having moisturizing properties. As the beauty ingredient, those other than those described above can be arbitrarily selected and used, but collagen is used as the beauty ingredient from the viewpoint of improving the moisturizing property of hair and the like to recover the pain of the cuticle. It is preferable to include.

Further, metal fine particles can also be adopted as a beauty component, for example, by supporting them on collagen or the like. Examples of metals that can be beauty ingredients include gold, silver, copper, platinum, zinc, and titanium. Such metal fine particles can adhere to hair and cause antibacterial action and antioxidant action. In particular, platinum fine particles are known to have an extremely high antioxidant effect, and should be adopted as a beauty ingredient.

The cartridge 150 is composed of a main body portion 151 and a battery portion 153. The main body portion 151 has a function of adsorbing and holding the beauty component and releasing the beauty component to the air flow B1. The main body portion 151 has a plurality of through holes 152 provided. It is preferable that a porous material is used for the main body portion 151, for example, a ceramic sintered body. Since the voids of the porous material can be used as a space for adsorbing and holding the beauty component, the main body 151 can hold a large amount of the beauty component as compared with the case where the porous material is not used.

The plurality of through holes 152 are provided along the air flow B1 when the cartridge 150 is mounted on the mounting portion 118. In other words, the mounting portion 118 is defined to have a housing shape so that the cartridge 150 is mounted so that the through hole 152 is oriented along the air flow B1. Therefore, at least a part of the air flow B1 passes through the inside of the through hole 152.

When the air flow B1 containing the mist generated by the atomizer 130 passes through the through hole 152, the beauty component penetrates the beauty component so that the mist contacts the inner surface of the through hole 152 and dissolves the beauty component. It is adsorbed on the inner surface of the hole with a certain thickness. When the beauty component adsorbed and held on the inner surface of the through hole 152 is consumed by the use of the hair dryer 100 and the beauty component exuded from the voids of the porous material is exhausted, the cartridge 150 reaches the replacement time.

The battery unit 153 functions as an accommodating unit for accommodating the battery 154 for managing the remaining amount of the beauty component adsorbed and held by the main body unit 151. The battery 154 is an example of a power storage element, for example, a button battery. The power storage element may be another element such as a capacitor as long as it can store a certain amount of electric power. The batteries 154 housed in the battery unit 153 are selected to have a battery capacity within a predetermined range in the initial state. Both poles of the battery 154 are electrically connected to separate cartridge terminals 150a. The remaining amount management of beauty ingredients will be described later.

When the cartridge 150 is mounted on the mounting portion 118, the battery portion 153 is located on the housing 116 side opposite to the heater 121 with respect to the main body portion 151. Therefore, the battery 154 is not easily affected by the heat from the heater 121 and can maintain a stable output. Further, since the cartridge terminal 150a is provided on the upper surface facing the accommodating lid 117 and the accommodating terminal lid 117a is provided on the accommodating lid 117, these terminals are also less susceptible to the heat from the heater 121.

FIG. 5 is a system configuration diagram of the hair dryer 100. In the hair dryer 100, the entire electric system is controlled by, for example, a control unit 190 which is a microprocessor. The switch state of the on / off switch 181 and the switch state of the mode switch 115 are electrically detected and transmitted to the control unit 190. The control unit 190 controls each circuit according to these switch states. The control targets are mainly the heater circuit 191 and the motor circuit 192, the Pelche circuit 193, the electrode circuit 194, the consumption circuit 195, and the presentation circuit 196.

The heater circuit 191 is a circuit that energizes the heater 121 to maintain a constant heat generation state. The control unit 190 controls the heater circuit 191 to function when the on / off switch 181 is in the warm air position. The motor circuit 192 is a circuit that energizes the motor 122 to rotate the fan 123 at a constant rotation speed. The control unit 190 controls the motor circuit 192 to function when the on / off switch 181 is in the cold air position or the hot air position.

The Pelche circuit 193 is a circuit that drives the Pelche element 131 to transfer heat from the endothermic surface to the heat generating surface. The control unit 190 controls the Pelche circuit 193 to function when the mode switch 115 is set to the beauty mode. The electrode circuit 194 is a circuit in which a high-voltage negative pulse is applied to the discharge electrode 134 to periodically generate a discharge between the discharge electrode 134 and the cooling plate 132. The control unit 190 controls the electrode circuit 194 to function when the mode switch 115 is set to the beauty mode.

The consumption circuit 195 is a circuit that consumes the battery capacity of the battery 154 according to the use of the cartridge 150. The consumption circuit 195 is connected to the battery 154 via the accommodating lid terminal 117a. The consumption circuit 195 includes, for example, a resistor that connects the battery electrode to the resistor when the mode switch 115 is turned on and disconnects it when the mode switch 115 is turned off. By such a consumption circuit 195, the battery capacity of the battery 154 is consumed in conjunction with the use of the cartridge 150.

As described above, the battery 154 has a predetermined range of battery capacity in the initial state at the start of use of the cartridge 150. Therefore, if the timing when it should be determined that the beauty component adsorbed and held by the cartridge 150 is exhausted and the timing when the battery capacity becomes less than a certain amount match, the cartridge even if the remaining amount of the beauty component cannot be directly detected. You can grasp the replacement time of 150. In the present embodiment, the battery capacity in the initial state of the battery 154 and the power consumption linked to the use of the beauty mode are adjusted so that these timings are substantially matched. These battery capacities and power consumption are predetermined by experiments and simulations.

The presentation circuit 196 is a circuit that detects a voltage drop of the battery 154 and presents a replacement time of the cartridge 150. That is, in the present embodiment, the timing at which the battery capacity of the battery 154 becomes less than a certain amount is more easily detected by the voltage drop of the battery 154. The presentation circuit 196 functions with the mode switch 115 turned on and includes an LED which is an indicator 120. Further, the presentation circuit 196 is a detection circuit that detects whether the output voltage of the battery 154 is lower than the set voltage, and a cutoff circuit that cuts off the supply of power that turns on the indicator 120 when the detection circuit detects that the output voltage is lower than the set voltage. And include.

That is, the indicator 120 turns on when the output voltage of the battery 154 is equal to or higher than the set voltage and turns off when the output voltage of the battery 154 is lower than the set voltage during the execution of the beauty mode. Therefore, the user can recognize that it is time to replace the cartridge 150 if the indicator 120 does not turn on even if the mode switch 115 is switched to the beauty mode or the indicator 120 turns off while the beauty mode is being used.

The LED, which is the indicator 120, may be used as an element that consumes the battery capacity in the consumption circuit 195. In this case, the power supply of the power supply circuit of the presentation circuit 196 is not a household AC power supply but a battery 154, and a part of the presentation circuit 196 functions as a consumption circuit 195.

In this way, if a battery 154 having a constant initial battery capacity is incorporated in the newly installed cartridge 150 and the battery capacity is consumed in conjunction with the use of the beauty mode, the cartridge is monitored by monitoring the output voltage of the battery 154. The life of 150 can be grasped. Therefore, the user can more reliably determine the replacement time of the cartridge 150 as compared with the case where the reduction of the beauty component mixed in the air flow is sensuously determined from the effect appearing on the hair.

When the hair dryer 100 has a function of adjusting the release amount of the beauty component, the consumption circuit 195 may adjust the consumption amount of the battery capacity according to the release amount. The control unit 190 can adjust the amount of the beauty component released by adjusting at least one of the strength of the air flow generated by the fan 123 and the appropriate amount of the liquid generated by the atomizing device 130. Therefore, if the consumption amount of the battery capacity is changed according to the adjustment of the control unit 190, the consumption circuit 195 associates the remaining capacity of the battery 154 with the amount of the beauty component adsorbed and held by the main body unit 151 with a higher correlation. be able to. That is, the presentation of the replacement time by the presentation circuit 196 more accurately reflects the exhaustion of the beauty component.

Next, a modification of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is an overall perspective view of the hair dryer 101 in the modified example, and shows a partially enlarged mode panel 200 that functions as a presentation portion. The hair dryer 101 differs from the hair dryer 100 in that it includes a mode panel 200 instead of the indicator 120. Since the other elements are the same as those of the hair dryer 100, the corresponding elements are numbered in the same manner and the description thereof will be omitted.

The mode panel 200 is a display panel provided on the side surface of the housing 116, and for example, a liquid crystal panel is used. The mode panel 200 is included as part of the presentation circuit 196 to indicate to the user when it is time to replace the cartridge 150. Specifically, the mode panel 200 displays an indicator 210 composed of four segments. If all four indicators 210 are shaded, it indicates that the remaining amount of the beauty component is sufficient, and then as the beauty component is consumed, the indicators 210 change to the white frame state one by one. When all the indicators 210 are in the white frame state, the indicators 210 are blinked to indicate that it is time to replace the cartridge 150. When such a mode panel 200 is adopted, the detection circuit of the presentation circuit 196 compares the output voltage of the battery 154 with respect to the set voltage of three stages.

Further, if the beauty mode is being executed, the mode panel 200 displays the mode sign 211 together with the indicator 210 to indicate to the user to that effect. In the non-beauty mode, the indicator 210 and the mode sign 211 are not displayed.

In the display mode according to such a modification, the user can recognize the consumption amount of the beauty ingredient step by step, so that it is easy to take measures such as preparing the cartridge 150 in advance. The mode panel 200 can also be used as a display unit for displaying other information. For example, it is possible to display the on / off of warm air and the strength of the fan.

With the above configuration, the hair dryers 100 and 101 according to the present embodiment can supply beauty ingredients to the hair and scalp of the user to be used. Therefore, damage to the hair such as peeling of the cuticle on the surface of the hair can be repaired more effectively, and further, moisturizing of the hair can be performed more effectively. In particular, since the hair dryer 100 can supply mist and beauty ingredients to the hair each time the user uses it, the cuticle can be further tightened by continuing to use it, and damage due to brushing, heating by warm air, etc. can be caused. It can be suppressed and the hair can be kept in a more moisturizing state.

In addition, it is possible to suppress the generation of sebum on the scalp and keep the pores clean. Furthermore, fading when hair coloring is performed can be suppressed, and it can be expected that the dyed hair color will be maintained for a long period of time. Further, since the hair dryer 100 can also supply negative ions to the hair and the scalp, the cuticle of the hair can be further tightened, and higher moisturizing property can be maintained. Moreover, since the cartridge 150 can be replaced at an appropriate time, the effect on the hair can be continuously enjoyed, and the cartridge 150 is not discarded with the beauty component remaining.

In the hair dryers 100 and 101 according to the present embodiment described above, a negative pulse is applied to the discharge electrode 134 to generate negative ions, but a positive pulse may be applied to generate positive ions. When a positive pulse is applied to generate an electric discharge, a mist charged with positive ions is generated. In this case, the positive ions reach the user's hair, and the antibacterial effect of the positive ions can be expected. Further, negative ions and positive ions may be sequentially generated by changing the polarity of the pulse applied to the discharge electrode 134. Further, a plurality of discharge electrodes 134 may be provided to generate positive ions and negative ions at the same time.

100, 101 Hair dryer, 110 main unit, 111 suction port, 112 outlet, 113 first outlet, 114 second outlet, 115 mode switch, 116 housing, 117 storage lid, 117a storage lid terminal, 118 mounting part, 119 Inner wall, 120 indicator, 121 heater, 122 motor, 123 fan, 130 atomizer, 131 Pelche element, 132 cooling plate, 133 heat dissipation fin, 134 discharge electrode, 150 cartridge, 150a cartridge terminal, 151 main body, 152 through hole , 153 Battery, 154 Battery, 180 Grip Unit, 181 On / Off Switch, 190 Control, 191 Heater Circuit, 192 Motor Circuit, 193 Pelche Circuit, 194 Electrode Circuit, 195 Consumption Circuit, 196 Presentation Circuit, 200 Mode Panel, 210 Indicator , 211 mode sign

Claims (6)

A fan that creates an air flow from the suction port to the air outlet,
An atomizer that imparts atomized droplets to the air flow, and
A mounting portion for mounting a cartridge that holds a beauty component for discharging the droplets contained in the air flow into the air flow as a medium and a storage element for managing the remaining amount of the beauty component.
A consumption circuit that consumes the storage capacity of the power storage element according to the use of the cartridge, and
A presentation unit that detects the voltage drop of the power storage element and indicates the replacement time of the cartridge .
The amount of air flow generated by the fan and the amount of droplets generated by the atomizer are small.
With a control unit that changes the amount of the cosmetological ingredient released by controlling at least one of them.
Equipped with
The consumption circuit is a hair dryer that changes the consumption amount of the storage capacity based on the control by the control unit . The hair dryer according to claim 1, wherein the consumption circuit includes a light emitting element that lights up when the cartridge is used. The hair dryer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the consumption circuit includes a resistance element that is energized when the cartridge is used. Equipped with a heater to heat the air flow
The hair dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the mounting portion mounts the cartridge so that the power storage element is located on the exterior side opposite to the heater side. The mounting portion has a lid portion that covers the cartridge after mounting the cartridge.
The hair dryer according to claim 4 , wherein the lid portion has a connection terminal connecting the power storage element and the consumption circuit. A cartridge to be attached to the hair dryer according to any one of claims 1 to 5 .

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