JP7117206B2 - Water discharge device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a water discharging device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a water discharger in which a water discharge port member having a water discharge port is detachably held on the distal end side of a water discharge pipe extending from the base end side toward the distal end side. A water supply hose for supplying water to the spout member is accommodated inside the spout pipe.

The water supply hose slides along a guide member attached to the inside of the water discharge pipe, and is put in and taken out from the opening of the water discharge pipe. The guide member is elongated in the direction in which the discharge pipe extends, and the distal end portion of the guide member is provided with a flange that widens so as to approach the inner peripheral surface of the discharge pipe (for example, disclosed in Patent Document 1 below). By providing the flange, it is possible to prevent the water supply hose from being caught on the end of the guide member.

JP 2010-133131 A

However, in the configuration as described above, when removing the guide member from the discharge pipe, a special tool is inserted from the opening of the discharge pipe into a slight gap between the flange of the guide member and the inner peripheral surface of the discharge pipe and pulled. There was a problem that it was necessary to hang it and the work was not easy. For example, when replacing a part such as a sensor attached inside the discharge pipe, it is necessary to remove the guide member from the discharge pipe, so an improvement has been desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been completed based on the circumstances as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a water discharging apparatus in which a guide member can be easily removed.

A water discharger of the present invention is a water discharger comprising a water discharge pipe extending from a proximal end toward a distal end, and a water discharge port member detachably held at the distal end of the water discharge pipe and having a water discharge port. a water supply hose that is movable in the extending direction of the water discharge pipe for supplying water to the water discharge port member; and a guide member on which the water supply hose slides are housed inside the water discharge pipe, is provided with a flange that widens so as to approach the inner peripheral surface of the water discharge pipe, and the flange is formed with an insertion portion into which a tool can be freely inserted from the tip side.

According to the present invention, since the tool can be inserted into the insertion portion of the flange from the distal end side of the water discharge pipe and hooked, the guide member can be easily removed.

Sectional drawing which shows the water discharging apparatus in Example 1 Perspective view showing a water discharge pipe The perspective view which shows a tip side guide member Enlarged side view showing the tip of the tip side guide member holding the sensor unit Cross-sectional view showing the flange and water discharge pipe when viewed from the tip side FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the tip side guide member and the water discharge pipe, and is a cross-sectional view corresponding to the cross section at the AA position in FIG. 5 The perspective view which shows the front-end|tip side guide member in Example 2. Cross-sectional view showing the flange and water discharge pipe when viewed from the tip side

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown below.
In the water discharging device of the present invention, the guide member has a guide body elongated in the direction in which the water supply hose extends, the flange has a curved portion connected to the guide body in a curved shape, and the insertion A portion may be formed in a region of the collar portion excluding the curved portion. Here, if the water supply hose comes into contact with the insertion portion, there is a risk that the slidability will deteriorate or that a sliding noise will be generated. However, according to the structure of the present invention, the water supply hose slides along the curved portion, and the insertion portion is not formed in the curved portion. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of motion noise.

Further, the water discharging device of the present invention is a water discharging device that includes a sensor that detects whether or not there is an object to be detected in a detection area, and that discharges and stops water based on detection by the sensor, wherein the sensor The guide member is held on the side opposite to the side on which the water supply hose slides, the flange has a sensor-side flange standing on the sensor side, and the insertion portion is provided on the sensor-side flange. It may be the one that is provided. According to such a configuration, when water enters the side on which the sensor is arranged, it can be drained from the insertion portion of the sensor-side flange, so the insertion portion can be used for drainage.

<Example 1>
A first embodiment embodying the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a kitchen hose retractable automatic faucet will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the water discharging device M in this embodiment has a water discharge pipe 10 extending from the proximal side to the distal side, and a water discharge port 11, which is detachably held at the distal end side of the water discharge pipe 10. and a spout member 12 . The water discharging device M is installed, for example, on a counter near the kitchen sink. 1 (the distal end side of the discharge pipe 10) is defined as the distal end side, and the right side (the proximal end side of the discharge pipe 10) is defined as the proximal end side. In addition, the upper side of FIG. 1 will be described as the upper side, and the lower side will be described as the lower side.

As shown in FIG. 1, the water discharge pipe 10 has a so-called gooseneck shape in which the intermediate portion is curved to form an inverted U shape, and the distal end extends obliquely downward. The water discharge pipe 10 is formed by bending a metal pipe. A circular hole 59 is formed through the lower surface of the distal end of the discharge pipe 10 .

The proximal end of the water discharge pipe 10 is fixed to the faucet main body 22 as shown in FIG. The faucet main body 22 is provided with a mixing valve (not shown) and a handle portion 16 for operating the mixing valve. The handle portion 16 adjusts the mixing ratio of cold water and hot water by turning it left and right, and adjusts the flow rate of spouting water by turning it up and down.

A window portion 13 in which a sensor 31 is fitted is opened in the upper surface of the discharge pipe 10 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the window portion 13 has a long shape in the extending direction of the water discharge pipe 10 and is formed at a position on the tip side from the upper end of the water discharge pipe 10 .

As shown in FIG. 1, a member holding portion 14 that detachably holds the spout member 12 is provided at the tip portion of the water discharge pipe 10 (on the front end side of the window portion 13). The member holding portion 14 has a cylindrical shape. A water supply hose 18 is put in and taken out from an opening 15 inside the member holding portion 14 . The member holding portion 14 is fixed to the discharge pipe 10 with a fixing member 14A such as a screw.

The spout member 12 is detachably attached to the distal end portion (member holding portion 14) of the spout pipe 10. As shown in FIG. The spout member 12 has a switching operation portion 17 for switching the water spouted from the spout 11 between shower spout and straight spout. The switching operation portion 17 has a cylindrical shape as a whole, and a knob portion 17A protrudes from the outer peripheral surface. By rotating the position of the knob 17A about the axis of the switching operation portion 17 by a predetermined angle, the shower water is switched to the straight water.

Inside the water discharge pipe 10, a water supply hose 18 for supplying water to the water discharge port member 12, a guide member 40 on which the water supply hose 18 slides, and a sensor unit 30 are housed.
The water supply hose 18 is made of flexible metal and has one end connected to the spout member 12 and the other end connected to a water supply path (not shown) extending from the mixing valve. The water supply hose 18 is housed inside the discharge pipe 10 so as to be movable by a predetermined length in the axial direction of the discharge pipe 10 . Water flowing through the water supply hose 18 is spouted from the spout 11 of the spout member 12 .

The sensor unit 30 includes a sensor 31, a sensor holder 32 holding the sensor 31, and a plurality of wires 33 connected to the sensor 31, as shown in FIG. The sensor unit 30 is attached inside the discharge pipe 10 .

The sensor 31 is arranged on the upper surface of the discharge pipe 10 while being exposed upward from the window portion 13 of the discharge pipe 10 . The sensor 31 detects whether or not there is an object to be detected, such as a user's hand, in a detection area obliquely forward and upward, and outputs a signal indicating the detection result of the object to be detected to the control unit.

Based on the output signal from the sensor 31 , the controller opens and closes an electromagnetic valve provided in a water supply passage (not shown) communicating with the upstream side of the water supply hose 18 to switch whether or not water is supplied from the water outlet 11 . When the object to be detected is detected within the detection area, the control unit continues to supply water from the spout 11 even if the object to be detected is no longer detected, and the object to be detected is detected again within the detection area. , the water supply from the spout 11 is stopped.

The sensor holder 32 is shaped like a thin plate and is curved along the upper surface of the discharge pipe 10 .
An electric wire 33 passes through the water discharge pipe 10 and is connected to a control unit for controlling the sensor 31 at the bottom of the counter and to a power source to transmit a signal based on detection and to supply power to the sensor 31 . The electric wire 33 has an electric wire 33A on the sensor 31 side and an electric wire 33B on the control unit side or the power supply side, and these electric wires 33A and 33B are connected through a connector 34. FIG. The wires 33B on the base end side of the connector 34 are surrounded by an exterior member 35 and bundled with a binding band 36, as shown in FIG.

The guide member 40 has a guide body 41 elongated in the extending direction of the water supply hose 18 . The guide main body 41 has a guide upper surface 41A arranged on the side closer to the upper surface in the internal space of the discharge pipe 10 . The upper guide surface 41A also serves as a partition member that separates the electric component housing portion 21 that houses electric components such as the sensor 31 from the hose housing portion 19 that houses the water supply hose 18 . The electrical component housing portion 21 is formed on one surface side (outside of the curved shape) of the guide upper surface 41A, and the hose housing portion 19 is formed on the other surface side of the guide upper surface 41A (inside of the curved shape). The sensor unit 30 and the water supply hose 18 are separated from each other by the upper guide surface 41A and prevented from coming into contact with each other. The hose accommodating portion 19 communicates with the opening 15 of the member holding portion 14 .

A stepped portion 42 for locking the sensor unit 30 from the tip side is provided on the surface of the guide upper surface 41A on which the sensor unit 30 is held (hereinafter referred to as the surface 56). As shown in FIG. 1, the stepped portion 42 rises in a direction perpendicular to the surface 56 of the upper guide surface 41A. The binding band 36 of the sensor unit 30 is locked to the stepped portion 42 from the tip side. As a result, the sensor unit 30 is positioned with respect to the axial direction of the discharge pipe 10, and displacement toward the base end side is restricted. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the connector 34 from being pulled toward the proximal end of the discharge pipe 10 and being disconnected, and the electric wire 33 from being pulled toward the proximal end of the discharge pipe 10 and being disconnected.

A slope portion 43 is provided on the surface of the guide upper surface 41A on which the water supply hose 18 slides (hereinafter referred to as a back surface 58). As shown in FIG. 1, the slope portion 43 has an inclined surface 63 gently inclined from the stepped portion 42 toward the base end side. Thereby, since the water supply hose 18 moves along the slope portion 43, sliding noise can be suppressed.

The guide member 40 is divided into a distal end side and a proximal end side of the discharge pipe 10 . A guide upper surface 41A of a guide member 40 (hereinafter referred to as a distal side guide member 40A) disposed on the distal side of the discharge pipe 10, and a guide member 40 disposed on the proximal side of the discharge pipe 10 (hereinafter referred to as a proximal side). The upper guide surface 41A of the guide member 40B) is connected by a connecting member 44 so that the surface 56 is smoothly continuous.

The proximal guide member 40B holds the connector 34 and the electric wire 33. As shown in FIG. The connector 34 and the electric wire 33 are placed on the surface 56 of the proximal guide member 40B. The stepped portion 42 and the slope portion 43 are provided on the proximal side guide member 40B. A pair of holding pieces 48 for holding the electric wire 33 are provided on the surface 56 of the base end guide member 40B.

The tip side guide member 40A holds the sensor holder 32 . The sensor holder 32 is placed on the surface 56 of the distal guide member 40A.
As shown in FIG. 3, the guide main body 41 of the distal end guide member 40A has a guide side surface 45 hanging down from a position closer to one side in the width direction of the guide top surface 41A, and a guide top surface 41A extending from the lower end of the guide side surface 45. and a guide lower surface 46 extending so as to face each other. The space below the guide upper surface 41A is narrower on one side than the guide side surface 45 and wider on the other side, and the space on the wider side serves as the hose accommodating portion 19 .

As shown in FIG. 5, the lower end of the guide side surface 45 abuts on the inner peripheral surface 10A of the discharge pipe 10 and supports the guide upper surface 41A. The guide lower surface 46 extends from the lower end of the guide side surface 45 only toward the hose housing portion 19 . The guide lower surface 46 has an arc shape along the inner peripheral surface 10A of the discharge pipe 10 . The hose accommodating portion 19 is surrounded by a guide upper surface 41A, a guide side surface 45, a guide lower surface 46, and the inner peripheral surface 10A of the discharge pipe 10. As shown in FIG. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6 , a relief portion 52 is formed at the tip of the guide lower surface 46 so as to avoid the hole 59 of the water discharge pipe 10 .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 , a collar portion 51 is provided at the distal end of the distal guide member 40A and widens so as to approach the inner peripheral surface 10A of the discharge pipe 10 . The flange portion 51 is provided on the guide upper surface 41A and the guide side surface 45 . The flange portion 51 is continuously formed over the entire leading edge of the guide upper surface 41A and the leading edge of the guide side surface 45 without a break. The flange portion 51 stands so as to block the space between the guide upper surface 41A and the guide side surface 45 and the discharge pipe 10 . The flange portion 51 has a body flange portion 54 provided on the guide upper surface 41A and a side flange portion 55 provided on the guide side surface 45 .

The outer peripheral surface (rising end surface) of the flange portion 51 has a curved shape along the inner peripheral surface 10A of the water discharge pipe 10, and has a proximal surface 51A arranged in close proximity to the inner peripheral surface 10A of the water discharge pipe 10. (See Figure 5). The clearance between the proximal surface 51A of the flange portion 51 and the inner peripheral surface 10A of the water discharge pipe 10 is set to a clearance so small that a general-purpose tool such as needle nose pliers cannot enter.

As shown in FIG. 4, the flange 51 stands substantially perpendicular to the axis 10L of the discharge pipe 10. As shown in FIG. The flange portion 51 has a curved portion 53 that is curved and connected to the guide upper surface 41A and the guide side surface 45, and a flange main body 64 standing on the outer peripheral side from the curved portion 53. As shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the body collar portion 54 is close to the tip surface 32A of the sensor holder 32. As shown in FIG. The body collar portion 54 and the tip surface 32A of the sensor holder 32 are substantially parallel to each other.

As shown in FIG. 5, the outer peripheral surface (rising end surface) of the main body collar portion 54 is provided with a straight surface 57 substantially parallel to the upper surface of the guide upper surface 41A. Between the straight surface 57 and the inner peripheral surface 10A of the discharge pipe 10, an elongated gap 57A is formed in the lateral direction (horizontal direction). Although the gap 57A is larger than the gap between the proximal surface 51A of the flange 51 and the inner peripheral surface 10A of the water discharge pipe 10, it is a narrow gap that makes it difficult to insert a general-purpose tool.

As shown in FIG. 5, the brim 51 is formed with an insertion portion 61 into which a tool can be freely inserted from the tip side. The insertion portion 61 is provided on the side flange portion 55 . When viewed from the front, the insertion portion 61 has a rectangular shape elongated in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. The insertion portion 61 is formed at a position of the side flange portion 55 corresponding to the linear portion of the guide side surface 45 . That is, the insertion portion 61 corresponds to a linear portion of the guide side surface 45 excluding the curved upper end portion connected to the upper guide surface 41A and the curved lower end portion connected to the lower guide surface 46 .

The insertion portion 61 is a notch that is open to the outer peripheral side of the collar portion 51 . The proximity surface 51A of the collar portion 51 is divided by the insertion portion 61 formed thereon. In other words, the proximal surface 51A of the flange portion 51 continues to the upper and lower ends of the insertion portion 61 on the open side.

As shown in FIG. 6, the insertion portion 61 is formed in a region of the collar portion 51 excluding the curved portion 53 . The insertion portion 61 is cut from the proximal surface 51A of the collar portion 51 toward the curved portion 53 and is formed up to the boundary position between the collar body 64 and the curved portion 53 .

Next, an example of work for removing the guide member 40 in the water discharger M of the present embodiment will be described.
First, the spout member 12 is removed from the spout pipe 10 . Along with this, the water supply hose 18 is pulled out from the opening 15 of the member holding portion 14 .
Next, the member holding portion 14 is removed. By removing the fixing member 14A, the member holding portion 14 is removed from the discharge pipe 10 .

Next, the guide member 40 is removed. A general-purpose tool such as needle nose pliers is inserted into the water discharge pipe 10 through the opening of the water discharge pipe 10 opened by removing the water discharge port member 12 . A tool is inserted into the insertion portion 61 to clamp the tip of the guide side surface 45, or a tool is inserted into the insertion portion 61 and hooked to the side flange portion 55 to pull out the tip side guide member 40A. Then, the base end guide member 40B connected to the distal end guide member 40A and the sensor unit 30 held by the distal end guide member 40A and the base end guide member 40B can be pulled out.
Thus, the operation of removing the guide member 40 is completed.

Next, the operation and effects of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.
The water discharger M of this embodiment includes a water discharge pipe 10 extending from the proximal end toward the distal end, a water discharge port member 12 having a water discharge port 11 and detachably held at the distal end of the water discharge pipe 10, It has Inside the water discharge pipe 10, a water supply hose 18 for supplying water to the water discharge port member 12 and a guide member 40 on which the water supply hose 18 slides are housed. At the tip end of the guide member 40, there is provided a flange 51 that widens so as to approach the inner peripheral surface 10A of the water discharge pipe 10, and the flange 51 has an inserting portion into which a tool can be freely inserted from the tip side. 61 are formed. According to this configuration, since a tool can be inserted into the insertion portion 61 of the flange portion 51 from the distal end side of the water discharge pipe 10 and hooked, the work of removing the guide member 40 can be easily performed.

Further, the guide member 40 has a guide body 41 that is long in the extending direction of the water supply hose 18, the collar portion 51 has a curved portion 53 that is curved and connected to the guide body 41, and the insertion portion 61 It is formed in a region of the collar portion 51 excluding the curved portion 53 . Here, when the water supply hose 18 contacts the insertion portion 61, there is a possibility that the slidability may be deteriorated or a sliding noise may be generated. However, according to this embodiment, the water supply hose 18 slides along the curved portion 53, and the insertion portion 61 is not formed in the curved portion 53, so the slidability of the water supply hose 18 can be improved. Also, the generation of sliding noise can be suppressed.

<Example 2>
Next, a water discharging device according to a second embodiment embodying the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG.
The water discharging device of this embodiment differs from that of Embodiment 1 in that an insertion portion 81 is provided in a main body collar portion (sensor-side collar portion) 54 . In addition, the same code|symbol is attached|subjected to the structure similar to Example 1, and the overlapping description is abbreviate|omitted.

The water discharging device according to the present embodiment has a water discharge pipe 10 extending from the proximal side toward the distal end side and a water discharge port 11, and is detachably held at the distal end side of the water discharge pipe 10, as in the first embodiment. and a spout member 12 . Inside the water discharge pipe 10, similarly to the first embodiment, a water supply hose 18 for supplying water to the water discharge port member 12 and a guide member 40 on which the water supply hose 18 slides are accommodated. As in the first embodiment, the guide member 40 has a distal guide member 40A and a proximal guide member 40B. A collar portion 51 is provided that widens to approach. The flange portion 51 has a body flange portion 54 provided on the guide upper surface 41A and a side flange portion 55 provided on the guide side surface 45, as in the first embodiment. The brim portion 51 is formed with an insertion portion 81 into which a tool can be freely inserted from the tip side, as in the first embodiment.

The insertion portion 81 is provided in the body collar portion 54 . As shown in FIG. 8, the insertion portion 81 has a rectangular shape slightly elongated in the vertical direction when viewed from the front. The insertion portion 81 is formed at a position of the main body collar portion 54 corresponding to the linear portion of the upper guide surface 41A. That is, the insertion portion 81 corresponds to a linear portion of the upper guide surface 41A excluding the curved portion at the left end that is connected to the guide side surface 45A. The insertion portion 81 is a notch that is open to the outer peripheral side of the collar portion 51 , and the straight surface 57 of the main body collar portion 54 is divided by the insertion portion 81 being formed. In other words, the straight surface 57 of the main body collar portion 54 continues to both ends in the width direction on the open side of the insertion portion 81 .

As described above, in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, a tool can be inserted into the insertion portion 81 of the flange portion 51 from the distal end side of the water discharge pipe 10 and hooked. It can be done easily. In addition, since the insertion part 81 is provided in the main body collar part 54, if water enters the side where the sensor 31 is arranged, it can be drained from the insertion part 81, and the insertion part 81 can be used for drainage. can.

<Other Examples>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments explained by the above description and drawings, and the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to an automatic faucet was exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a faucet other than an automatic faucet.
(2) In the above embodiment, the specific shape of the distal end guide member 40A was exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this. The shape can be changed arbitrarily.
(3) In the above embodiment, the guide member 40 is divided into a distal end side and a proximal end side. It may be one part that is not divided into three parts, or it may be divided into three or more parts.
(4) In the above embodiment, the electric component is the sensor unit 30, but the electric component is not limited to this and may be another electric component (for example, an LED unit, etc.).
(5) In the above embodiment, the water discharge pipe 10 has a so-called gooseneck shape. may be
(6) In the above embodiment, the insertion portion 61 (81) is a notch that is open on the outer peripheral side of the collar portion 51, but is not limited to this. It may be a through hole penetrating through the brim portion in the form of an opening.
(7) Although only one insertion portion 61 (81) is formed in the above embodiment, two or more insertion portions may be provided.
(8) In the above embodiment, the upper guide surface 41A of the guide body 41 also serves as a partition member for partitioning between the electric component housing portion 21 and the hose housing portion 19. It is not necessary to also serve as

M... Water discharge device 10... Water discharge pipe 10A... Inner peripheral surface of water discharge pipe 11... Water discharge port 12... Water discharge port member 18... Water supply hose 31... Sensor 40... Guide member 41... Guide body 51... Collar 53... Curved portion 54... Body flange (sensor side flange)
61, 81... Insertion part

Claims (3)

a discharge pipe extending from the proximal side toward the distal side;
a spout member detachably held on the tip side of the spout pipe and having a spout;
A water discharge device comprising
A water supply hose that is movable in an extending direction of the water discharge pipe for supplying water to the water discharge port member and a guide member on which the water supply hose slides are housed inside the water discharge pipe,
A collar part is provided at the end of the guide member on the tip side, and widens so as to approach the inner peripheral surface of the water discharge pipe,
A water discharging device, wherein an insertion portion into which a tool can be freely inserted from the tip side is formed in the brim portion. The guide member has a guide body elongated in the direction in which the water supply hose extends,
The collar has a curved portion that forms a curved shape and is connected to the guide body,
The water discharging device according to claim 1, wherein the insertion portion is formed in a region of the flange portion excluding the curved portion. A water discharging device that includes a sensor that detects whether or not there is an object to be detected in a detection area, and that discharges and stops water based on detection by the sensor,
the sensor is held on the opposite side of the guide member from the side on which the water supply hose slides;
The flange has a sensor-side flange standing on the sensor side,
The water discharging device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the insertion portion is provided in the sensor-side flange portion.

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