JPH05245006A - Tooth-brush containing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sterilize tooth-brushes, and keep the tooth-brushes always clean and sanitary without deterioration and generation of peroxide, by using a far infrared ray generating device. CONSTITUTION:A far infrared ray generating device 4 for sterilizing tooth- brushes 2 with far infrared rays is set. A tooth-brush containing device 1 consists of a tooth-brush containing section 3 for putting the tooth-brushes 2 in, and the far infrared ray generating device 4 set in the tooth-brush containing section 3, and on the tooth-brush containing section 3, the lower section of a front cover 5 is turned on a hinge 6. For the far infrared ray generating device 4, the ceramic heater of zirconium oxide system is used. On the ceramic heater, initial resistance values in rated voltage 85-115V are set to be 5-50OMEGA, and insulation resistance is set to be 1X10<8>OMEGAcm or more, and the far infrared ray generating device 4 is provided with a temperature sensor 7, and it is desirable that a temperature regulator for sensing informations and controlling a temperature is set. Besides, when a timer 8 for setting the irradiating time of the far infrared rays is set, then the irradiating time can be regulated, and the tooth-brushes 2 can be used for a long time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toothbrush, and more particularly to a toothbrush accommodating device used for sterilizing a toothbrush after brushing teeth by far infrared rays.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Toothbrushes are used for scraping off dirt, tartar and dirt attached to the oral cavity, eliminating bad breath, and improving hygiene of teeth and oral cavity. , After its use, it is washed by hand and stored.

However, since many brush bristles are planted on the head of the toothbrush, it is extremely difficult to remove dirt between the bristles, tartar, and dirt such as food even if the toothbrush is washed while rubbing by hand. To remain.

Therefore, while the cleaned toothbrush is stored and stored in a toothbrush storage portion or a toothbrush storage case in a washroom, various bacteria adhering to the toothbrush or bacteria in the air adhere to the toothbrush. However, since these miscellaneous bacteria proliferate using residues such as the above-mentioned food waste as a nutrient source, there is a problem that the toothbrush becomes extremely unsanitary.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, the following has been proposed. That is, as an automatic toothbrush cleaner, a toothbrush cleaning section for cleaning the toothbrush, a toothbrush drying section for drying the toothbrush cleaned by the cleaning section, a toothbrush sterilizing section for sterilizing the toothbrush, a toothbrush holding means for holding the toothbrush, It has been proposed to provide a toothbrush moving means for sequentially moving the toothbrush held by the holding means (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-50228). In this case, ultraviolet rays are used to sterilize the toothbrush.

As a toothbrush case, there has been proposed a toothbrush case having at least a germicidal lamp having a function of sterilizing and / or sterilizing a toothbrush after use (Actual Kaihei 2).
No. 4429). In this case, ultraviolet rays are used to sterilize or sterilize the toothbrush, as in the above case.

[0007]

Both of the above and those described above use ultraviolet rays to sterilize or sterilize toothbrushes, but ultraviolet rays deteriorate the strength of toothbrushes, especially brush hairs, and cause color change. Cause.

[0008] In particular, when ultraviolet rays are radiated to dirt such as food remaining on the toothbrush, peroxide is easily generated due to the action of ozone or ultraviolet rays generated, and in general, peroxide causes carcinogenesis. It is said that the toothbrush is effective, and brushing teeth with this toothbrush is not always preferable for the living body.

Further, as described in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 4429/1990, ultraviolet rays are extremely harmful to the living body. Therefore, when the toothbrush is taken in and out, the germicidal lamp is used to protect the body from ultraviolet rays. It is necessary to switch off the (ultraviolet irradiation lamp), but since toothbrush users have a wide range from old people to children, always switch on the germicidal lamp (ultraviolet irradiation lamp) when putting in and taking out the toothbrush. There is no guarantee that it can be broken, and in this respect, a serious problem arises.

The present invention has been completed in view of the above technical problems. By using far infrared rays, not only an effective sterilization or sterilization effect is realized, but also the toothbrush is not deteriorated. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide an extremely hygienic toothbrush storage device that does not generate peroxides.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the toothbrush storage device of the present invention is characterized by comprising a far infrared ray generator for sterilizing or sterilizing the toothbrush with far infrared rays. ..

The present invention will be described in detail below. The present invention comprises a toothbrush accommodating portion for accommodating a toothbrush, and a far-infrared ray generator provided in the toothbrush accommodating portion.

The toothbrush accommodating portion used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a structure capable of accommodating a toothbrush, and specifically, synthetic resin, wood, metal,
Among them, those formed of ceramics and the like are preferable, and among these, those provided with a metal reflection plate such as aluminum so that far infrared rays are intensively irradiated to the bristles of the toothbrush are preferable.

As the toothbrush accommodating portion, concretely, for example, the one separately incorporated in various units such as a wash unit and a bath unit may be used.

The far-infrared ray generator used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it has a built-in heating wire and generates far-infrared rays having a wavelength of several μm to 1000 μm mainly by the heat generated by the heating wire. Not a thing, but especially
It is useful that the far-infrared ray generator is for sterilizing and drying after using the toothbrush.

In this case, in order to effectively realize the sterilization effect by far infrared rays and the drying effect by far infrared rays, the temperature in the vicinity of the toothbrush is adjusted to about 40 to 200 ° C, particularly about 45 to 85 ° C. Is desirable.

In this case, when the toothbrush is wet, the temperature of the toothbrush itself is less than 60 ° C even if the temperature in the vicinity of the toothbrush reaches 100 ° C or higher, and therefore the toothbrush is not deformed.

Further, in the present invention, a humidity sensor is provided in the toothbrush accommodating device, and while detecting the indoor humidity with this humidity sensor, the temperature in the vicinity of the toothbrush, for example, 200
The temperature may be lowered stepwise such as ℃, 150 ℃, 100 ℃, 50 ℃, and when the humidity in the toothbrush storage device becomes equilibrium, it may be determined that the drying and sterilization is completed. ..

The shape of the far-infrared ray generator is not particularly limited, and various shapes such as a rod shape, a plate shape, a disk shape, and a spindle shape can be used. The optimum one may be arbitrarily selected and used depending on the shape.

Further, the far-infrared ray generator is formed of a ceramic heater which emits far-infrared rays, and the ceramic heater has an initial resistance value of 5 to 40 Ω at a rated voltage of 85 to 115 V and an insulation resistance of 1 × 10 ⁸ Ωcm or more. Is desirable because it can use a household AC power source.

This ceramic heater may be provided in a movable form, that is, in order to improve the sterilizing or sterilizing effect of the toothbrush, it may be detachably provided so that far infrared rays can always be irradiated to a required position of the toothbrush. Alternatively, the ceramic heater may be fixedly provided in the toothbrush housing.

As the constituent material of the ceramic, for example, aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, titanium oxide, etc., alone or in combination, or cobalt,
Examples include a mixture of oxides of manganese, iron, aluminum, nickel and the like.

In the present invention, the far infrared rays radiated from the ceramic heater sterilize or sterilize the toothbrush after use and dry it by the far infrared rays to make it extremely hygienic.

In this case, since the far infrared rays not only hurt the toothbrush but also are gentle to the human body, even if the toothbrush storage device is opened or the toothbrush is taken in and out while the far infrared rays are being irradiated. There is no problem at all.

In the present invention, it is desirable to provide a temperature sensor on the far-infrared ray generator and to provide a temperature adjusting device for controlling the temperature by sensing information from the temperature sensor. As the temperature adjusting device, A slow-moving or fast-moving thermostat is preferable because it is inexpensive.

Further, in the present invention, it is advantageous that the far infrared ray generator can be provided with a timer for setting the time for radiating the far infrared ray so that the irradiation time of the far infrared ray can be adjusted.

[0027]

The toothbrush accommodating device of the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, and a considerable amount of far infrared rays is emitted from the far infrared ray generator. Surprisingly, the far infrared rays are not sterilized or sterilized as described later. In addition to having a very strong sterilizing effect and extremely high permeability, it is absorbed by low molecular weight substances such as water adhering to the toothbrush to cause thermal vibration, and in order to rapidly transmit this vibration to the brush hair, This has the effect of heating and drying the toothbrush in a short time.

[0028]

EXAMPLES The present invention will now be described in detail based on examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toothbrush storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a toothbrush storage device. This toothbrush storage device 1 has a toothbrush storage part 3 for storing a toothbrush 2 and far infrared rays attached to the toothbrush storage part 3. The toothbrush accommodating portion 3 is composed of a generator 4, and the front lid 5 of the toothbrush accommodating portion 3 is opened downward by a butterfly plate 6.

As the toothbrush storage unit 3, the toothbrush 2 is used.
The structure is not particularly limited as long as it has a structure capable of accommodating the above, but in this case, an example in which the washing unit is independently incorporated is illustrated.

Further, the far-infrared ray generator 4 used in the present invention
For this, a zirconium oxide-based ceramic heater is used which has a built-in heating wire (not shown) and generates far infrared rays having a wavelength of several μm to 1000 μm mainly by the heat generated by the heating wire.

As shown in FIG. 1, the far-infrared ray generator 4 is formed in a rectangular plate shape in plan view, and the toothbrush 2 is used.
It is configured so that far infrared rays are irradiated to the entire surface.

Further, a zirconium oxide type ceramic heater is used for the far infrared ray generator 4, and this ceramic heater has an initial resistance value of 20 Ω at a rated voltage of 85 to 115 V and an insulation resistance of 1 × 10 ⁸ Ωcm or more. Things are used.

This ceramic heater is fixedly provided in the toothbrush housing 3.

In the present invention, the far-infrared rays emitted from the ceramic heater sterilize or sterilize the toothbrush 2 which has been washed with water after use, and is dried by the far-infrared rays so that it becomes extremely hygienic.

In this case, the far infrared rays not only hurt the toothbrush 2 but also are gentle to the human body. Therefore, when the far infrared rays are radiated, the toothbrush storage device 1 is opened and the toothbrush 2 is taken in and out. But there is no problem at all.

Further, in the present invention, it is desirable to provide a temperature sensor 7 on the far infrared ray generator 4 and to provide a temperature control device for controlling the temperature by sensing the information from the temperature sensor 7. For this reason, a fast-acting thermostat is preferable because it is inexpensive.

In this case, the temperature in the vicinity of the toothbrush 2 is 65
The temperature is adjusted by the temperature sensor 7 so that the temperature becomes about ° C.

Further, in the present invention, the far infrared ray generator 4
A far-infrared irradiation time can be adjusted by attaching a timer 8 for setting a far-infrared irradiation time, which is advantageous because the toothbrush 2 can be used for a long time.

Using the toothbrush accommodating apparatus 1 described above, the following experiments were conducted using a toothbrush 2 which was used and then irradiated with far infrared rays for 150 minutes, and a toothbrush 2 which was used and left as it was. ..

That is, the brush bristles are taken out from each of these toothbrushes 2, and the bristles are planted in an agar medium, and then the temperature is set to 3
When the state of colony generation after 48 hours at 7.5 ° C. was examined, no colony generation was observed with the toothbrush storage device 1, but after the toothbrush 2 was used, it was left as it was. All colonies were observed. Note that this experiment was carried out for 5 samples for each sample.

[0042]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, by using far infrared rays for the toothbrush having the above-mentioned constitution, not only effective sterilization or sterilization can be performed, but also the toothbrush is not deteriorated and peroxide is also generated. It has the effect of keeping the toothbrush clean and keeping it extremely hygienic without the generation.

[0043]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toothbrush storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof.

[0044]

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Toothbrush storage device 2 Toothbrush 3 Toothbrush storage part 4 Far-infrared ray generation tool 5 Front lid 6 Butterfly board 7 Temperature sensor 8 Timer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A toothbrush storage device comprising a far infrared ray generator for sterilizing or sterilizing a toothbrush with far infrared rays. 2. The toothbrush storage device according to claim 1, wherein the far-infrared ray generator is for sterilizing or sterilizing and drying the toothbrush after use. 3. The far-infrared ray generator is formed of a ceramic heater that emits far-infrared rays, and the ceramic heater has an initial resistance value of 5 to 5 at a rated voltage of 85 to 115V.
The toothbrush storage device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the resistance is 0 Ω and the insulation resistance is 1 × 10 ⁸ Ωcm or more. 4. A temperature sensor is attached to the far infrared ray generating tool,
4. The toothbrush storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature adjusting device that senses and controls the temperature from the temperature sensor. 5. The toothbrush storage device according to claim 1, wherein the far-infrared ray generator is provided with a timer for setting a time for irradiating the far-infrared ray.