JPH06277261A - Vapor generator for simplified vapor bath - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply convert and use a bathtub as a vapor bath by constituting the vapor generator attached to the bathtub so that an impeller for generating vapor by receiving and diffusing hot water dropped and supplied is installed, and the generated vapor is supplied to the bathtub. CONSTITUTION:This vapor generator is used in a state hooked to an edge of a bathtub, supplies hot water heated by a bath boiler to a hot water supply port 10, and dripped down from this hot water supply pot 10. When this hot water hits against a blade 30 of an impeller 3 of the upper side, the impeller 3 of the upper side is rotated, and simultaneously, the impeller 3 of the lower side is subjected to reverse rotation through a transfer mechanism D1. Subsequently, by these impellers 3, hot water diffused and vapor is generated, and this vapor is supplied into a bathtub closed by a bath boiler, through a vapor supply part 2 by a ventilation fan 4 rotated through a transfer mechanism D2 by a rotation of the impeller 3. The vaporized remaining hot water passes through an overflow tube 11a and a drain port 11 and is subjected to reflux to the bath boiler.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steam generator for a simple steam bath using a domestic bathtub.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed for using a domestic bathtub as a simple steam bath (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 56-26).
140 gazette, Jitsukai 62-42829 gazette etc.). However, these are those that heat water with a heater to generate steam, or blow air into water to generate steam, which requires a large amount of energy for operation and complicates the structure. Have problems such as.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is a simple steam bath steam generator capable of generating a sufficient amount of steam for a steam bath with less energy consumption. Is intended to provide.

[0004]

A steam generator for a simple steam bath according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is rotated in a main body of the apparatus provided integrally with or separately from the bathtub, and the hot water is heated. Is provided with an impeller that generates steam by diffusing the steam with blades, and a steam supply unit that supplies the generated steam into the bathtub is provided at the upper part of the apparatus main body.

The impeller is preferably adapted to receive the hot water supplied by dropping and rotate. Further, it is preferable that a plurality of the above-mentioned impellers are arranged vertically on the path of dropping the hot water, and that each impeller is interlocked via a transmission mechanism. It is preferable that a blower fan that sends steam to the steam supply unit is provided above the inside of the apparatus body, or the impeller also serves as a blower fan that sends steam to the steam supply unit.

When the apparatus main body is provided separately from the bathtub, the steam supply section is preferably formed in a shape hooked on the edge of the bathtub so as to also serve as a fixture for attaching the apparatus main body to the bathtub. On the other hand, when the device body is provided integrally with the bathtub, it is preferable to provide a storage space for winding and storing the bath lid on the upper part of the device body.

[0007]

In the steam generator for a simple steam bath according to the present invention having the above-described structure, steam is generated only by diffusing hot water from the outside, for example, from a water heater for a bathtub with the blades of a rotating impeller. Therefore, the steam generator for the simple steam bath of the present invention has a simple structure of the device as compared with the conventional heater type and air blowing type, and does not require a large amount of energy like those devices, It is possible to generate a sufficient amount of steam for a steam bath.

When the impeller is designed to receive the hot water supplied by being dropped, it does not require power to rotate the impeller, so that the structure of the device can be further simplified and consumed. You can save energy. If a plurality of impellers are arranged vertically on the hot water drop path and the impellers are interlocked via the transmission mechanism, the falling hot water can be diffused more efficiently and the steam generation efficiency can be improved. It can be further improved.

If a blower fan is provided above the inside of the apparatus main body, the generated steam can be efficiently supplied into the bath through the steam supply section. Blower fan may be provided independently,
Further, an impeller near the steam supply unit may also be used as a blower fan. When the device body is separate from the bathtub, if the steam supply unit also has a shape that doubles as a fixture to the bathtub of the device body and is hooked to the edge of the bathtub, the device can be installed without any other fixture or the like. Can be easily attached to and detached from the bathtub.

On the other hand, when the apparatus main body is integrated with the bathtub, if an accommodation space for winding and storing the bath lid is provided above the apparatus main body, the entire apparatus becomes more compact without wasting space.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing embodiments. First, the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described. As shown in these figures, the steam generator S of the embodiment is
A box-shaped device body 1 separate from the bathtub B is provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, a hot water supply port 10 for connecting a hose H1 for supplying hot water from the faucet J or the like is formed on the upper surface of the apparatus body 1, and an excess water is provided on the lower surface of the apparatus body 1. A drain port 11 for discharging hot water is formed. Hot water supply port 1
0 and the drain port 11 are formed at positions offset from each other in order to prevent hot water from passing through the inside of the device. Drain 1
1, an upper end of the overflow pipe 11a is projected to a predetermined height below the main body 1 of the apparatus, and during operation, a hot water storage surface W (one-dot chain line in the figure) set by the upper end of the overflow pipe 11a. Hot water is stored in the lower part of the main body 1 of the apparatus. In addition, the device body 1 at the base of the overflow pipe 11a
A small hole 11b is formed near the bottom surface of the tank to automate the drainage when the device is stopped and selectively drain the cold water at the bottom to prevent the temperature of the hot water from decreasing. Has been done.

A steam supply unit 2 for supplying the steam generated in the apparatus body 1 into the bath B is provided at the upper end of one side surface of the apparatus body 1. This steam supply unit 2
Is formed in an inverted L shape as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3,
The recess formed between the main body 1 of the apparatus and the edge B1 of the bathtub B is
The dimensions are set so as to be slightly wider than the thickness of the device, and as shown in these figures, the device also serves as a fixture for hooking the device body 1 to the bath B by hooking it on the edge B1 of the bath B.

An impeller 3 for diffusing the hot water supplied from the hot water supply port 10 to generate steam is provided inside the apparatus main body 1.
Two blades are vertically rotatably supported with respect to the apparatus main body 1 in a state where the blades 30 are seen directly below the hot water supply port 10. Each impeller 3 has a shaft 31 with its shaft end supported by bearings b provided on the inner surfaces of the apparatus body 1 facing each other.

The shafts 31 of the two upper and lower impellers 3 mesh with each other to rotate the two impellers 3 in opposite directions, thereby forming gears G5 and G6 constituting a transmission mechanism D1.
Is attached. The upper impeller 3 of the two impellers 3 impregnates the hot water dropped from the hot water supply port 10 with the impeller 3
When it is received and rotated at 0, the rotational force is transmitted to the lower impeller 3 via the transmission mechanism D1, and the lower impeller 3 is rotated in the reverse direction.

On the shaft 31 of the upper impeller 3, a gear G1 forming a transmission mechanism D2 for transmitting the generated rotational force to a blower fan 4 described later is attached.
Further, the lower impeller 3 is provided with the overflow pipe 11
It is arranged at a position where a part of the blades 30 can be immersed in the hot water storage surface W set by a, and at the time of rotation, the hot water stored up to the hot water storage surface W is agitated to promote the generation of steam. .

The upper and lower impellers 3 do not necessarily have to be linked by the transmission mechanism D1, but the hot water inlet 10
Most of the hot water dripped from is diffused by the upper impeller 3, so that the lower impeller 3 may not rotate sufficiently if they are not interlocked. Therefore, it is desirable that the upper and lower impellers 3 are interlocked by the transmission mechanism D1 as shown in the illustrated embodiment.

The upper and lower impellers 3 interlocked by the transmission mechanism D1 may be rotated in the same direction, but when they are interlocked so as to rotate in opposite directions as in the illustrated embodiment, the upper impeller 3 is rotated. The hot water diffused in is the blade 3 of the lower impeller 3
When it is 0, it is blown away, which has the advantage that the vaporization of hot water is further promoted. The blower fan 4 is, as shown in FIG.
The blades 40 face each other and are rotatably supported by the apparatus main body 1. The blower fan 4 includes a shaft 41 having a blade 40 attached to one end thereof and a suspension fitting t1 with a bearing.
By being hung in the device body 1, the device body 1 is rotatably arranged at the predetermined position in the device body 1. At the other end of the shaft 41 of the blower fan 4, the impeller 3
A gear G2 that constitutes a transmission mechanism D2 for transmitting the rotational force from is attached.

The rotational force from the impeller 3 constitutes a transmission mechanism D2 having a gear G3 meshing with the gear G1 of the impeller 3 at the lower end and a gear G4 meshing with the gear G2 of the blower fan 4 at the upper end. It is transmitted to the blower fan 4 via the transmission shaft 5 that rotates. The transmission shaft 5 is suspended in the device body 1 by a suspension fitting t2 with a bearing, and the device body 1 is suspended.
It is rotatably arranged at a predetermined position inside.

When the position of the impeller 3 is close to the inlet 20 of the steam supply section 2, the impeller 3 can also serve as a blower fan. In that case, the blower fan may be omitted. In these drawings, reference numeral 12 is an apron that prevents water droplets and the like that have not been vaporized when the hot water is diffused by the impeller 3 from jumping into the steam supply unit 2 from the inlet 20.

In order to use the steam generator S of this embodiment having the above-mentioned parts, first, as shown in FIG. 3, the steam supply part 2 is hooked on the edge B1 of the bath B to set the apparatus main body 1. Next, the faucet J and the hot water supply port 10 are connected by the hose H1, and the tip of the hose H2 connected to the drain port 11 is inserted into the drain port B2 of the bath. Next, when the hot water supply is started by twisting the currant of the faucet J, the hot water supply port 1 passes through the hose H1.
The hot water supplied to the apparatus main body 1 from 0 is the hot water supply port 10
When dripping from the upper impeller 3, the upper impeller 3 starts to rotate, and the rotational force is transmitted to the lower impeller 3 via the transmission mechanism D1. Then, the lower impeller 3 starts reverse rotation with respect to the upper impeller 3. The hot water is diffused by both impellers 3 and steam generation is started. Also impeller 3
Is also transmitted to the blower fan 4 via the transmission mechanism D2, and the blower fan 4 starts rotating.

The remaining hot water, which is partly diffused and vaporized by rotating the impeller 3, is partly drained from the drain port 11 through the small holes 11b of the overflow pipe 11a. However, in the apparatus body 1, hot water larger than the amount of water drained by the small holes 11b is supplied from the hot water supply port 10,
Most of the hot water is stored in the lower part of the device body 1. The amount of hot water stored is set by the amount of protrusion of the overflow pipe 11a as described above, and hot water beyond that amount is drained from the drain port 11 through the overflow pipe 11a. Further, among the hot water stored in the lower part of the apparatus main body 1, the cold hot water that sinks to the bottom is drained from the drain port 11 through the small holes 11b. That is, a fixed amount of uncooled hot water is always stored in the lower portion of the apparatus body 1 during operation. The stored hot water serves to maintain the temperature inside the apparatus body 1, and is agitated by the lower impeller 3 to further generate steam and heat.

The generated steam is forcibly supplied from the steam supply unit 2 into the bathtub B by the blower fan 4. As described above, in the steam generator S of the present embodiment, when the apparatus body 1 is set on the edge B1 of the bathtub B of the bath and the predetermined piping is completed, the currant of the faucet J is twisted to supply hot water to the apparatus body 1. The steam is automatically generated just by starting it, and the steam is automatically supplied from the steam supply unit 2 into the bathtub B. Then, the user enters the bathtub B, puts only his / her head on the bath lid from above. All that is required is to cover it and seal the bathtub B. If the bath lid has a notch or a hole through which the head of the user can pass, the airtightness of the bathtub B can be further improved.

Next, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B will be described. As shown in these figures, the steam generator S of this embodiment is
Is an integral type that is built into the bathtub B. That is, a recess B4 is formed next to a bathtub B2 made of reinforced plastic or the like via a partition B3, and the thin apparatus main body 1 is fitted into the recess B4.

A bath lid accommodating portion 13 for accommodating a bath lid B5 covering the bathtub B2 is formed on the upper portion of the apparatus body 1 by processing a thin plate constituting the apparatus body 1 into a U-shaped cross section. . The bath lid B5 has one end fixed to a rotary shaft B6 attached to the bath lid housing portion 13, and when not normally used, as shown by a solid line in FIG. Wrapped around B6,
It is accommodated in the bath lid accommodating portion 13. This bath lid B5
When it is used to cover the bathtub B2, it can be pulled out from the bath lid accommodating portion 13 as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure.

At the center of the upper side of the apparatus main body 1 in the width direction on the bathtub B2 side of the bath lid accommodating portion 13, the generated steam is fed with the bathtub B2.
The steam supply unit 2 for supplying the inside is formed so as to get over the upper edge of the partition B3, and the hot water supply port 10 is formed on the side opposite to the side of the bathtub B2. A hot water supply pipe H3 connected to a faucet J for supplying hot water to a bathtub B2 is inserted through the hot water supply port 10. The faucet J is equipped with a switching lever J1, and the bathtub B2 and the steam generator S are operated by operating the switching lever J1.
The hot water supply can be switched to any of the above.

At the bottom of the apparatus body 1, an upper end thereof is projected to a predetermined height below the apparatus body 1, and a small hole 11b is formed at the root of the apparatus body 1 at a position near the bottom surface of the apparatus body 1. An overflow pipe 11a forming the port 11 is arranged. The overflow pipe 11a is directly connected to the drainage pipe B7 from the bathtub B2. An impeller 3 and a blower fan 4 are arranged at predetermined positions inside the apparatus body 1.

That is, in the impeller 3, the shaft end of the shaft 31 is rotatably supported by bearings b provided on the inner surfaces of the apparatus main body 1 facing each other, and the impeller 3 rotates around the shaft 31. The three blades 30 fixed to the upper and lower sides of the hot water supply pipe H3 are vertically arranged in a state of being viewed directly under the tip of the hot water supply pipe H3. The shaft 31 of each impeller 3 is provided with a transmission mechanism D3 including three gears G7 to G9, which mesh with each other to interlock and rotate the respective impellers 3 in the forward-reverse-positive direction. .

The rotation of the uppermost impeller 3 of the three impellers 3 is transmitted to the blower fan 4 via the transmission mechanism D2 such as the transmission shaft 5 as in the previous embodiment. Further, the lowermost impeller 3 is arranged at a position where a part of the blades 30 can be immersed in the hot water storage surface W set by the overflow pipe 11a, and at the time of rotation, the hot water stored up to the hot water storage surface W is agitated. And acts to promote the generation of steam.

In the steam generator S of this embodiment, which is composed of the above-mentioned components, as in the previous embodiment, the steam is automatically generated only by twisting the currant of the faucet J to start hot water supply to the apparatus main body 1. Since it is generated and is automatically supplied from the steam supply unit 2 into the bathtub B, the user then enters the bathtub B as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure, puts out only the head and the bath lid B5 from above.
All that is required is to cover the bathtub B2 and seal it.

It is desirable from the standpoint of the airtightness of the bathtub B that the bath lid B2 is also formed with a notch or a hole through which the head of the user passes. The configuration of the steam generator for the simple steam bath of the present invention is not limited to the two embodiments described above. For example, in the above-described two embodiments, the impeller 3 of the impeller 3 receives hot water to rotate the impeller 3, and the rotational force is transmitted via the transmission mechanism D2, whereby the blower fan 4 is operated. Although they are rotated, both of them can be rotated individually by a motor or the like.

Overflow pipe 1 constituting drainage port 11
1a is not a fixed type, and as shown in FIG. 5, it may be vertically expandable and contractable in order to adjust the height of the hot water storage surface.
In the case of the figure, an outer tube 11c fixed to the apparatus main body 1 and an inner tube 11d slidably inserted into the outer tube 11c constitute an overflow tube 11a so that it can be expanded and contracted vertically. However, the expansion / contraction method is not limited to this.

The drainage port 11 is not limited to an overflow pipe, but may be a system in which a fixed amount of hot water is stored by plugging. In addition, various design changes can be made without changing the gist of the present invention.

[0034]

As described above in detail, according to the steam generator for the simple steam bath of the present invention, the steam is generated only by diffusing the hot water with the blades of the rotating impeller without using a heater or the like. it can. Therefore, the steam generator for the simple steam bath of the present invention has a simple structure of the device as compared with the conventional heater type and air blowing type, and does not require a large amount of energy like those devices, It has an excellent effect of being able to generate a sufficient amount of steam for a steam bath.

If the impeller is rotated by receiving the hot water supplied by dropping, no power is required to rotate the impeller, so that the structure of the device can be further simplified and energy consumption can be reduced. Can be reduced. If a plurality of impellers are arranged vertically on the hot water drop path and the impellers are interlocked via the transmission mechanism, the falling hot water can be diffused more efficiently and the steam generation efficiency can be improved. It can be further improved.

If a blower fan is provided above the inside of the apparatus main body, the generated steam can be efficiently supplied into the bathtub through the steam supply section. Blower fan may be provided independently,
Further, an impeller near the steam supply unit may also be used as a blower fan. Furthermore, when the device body is separate from the bathtub, if the steam supply part also serves as a fixture to the bathtub of the device body and is shaped to be hooked on the edge of the bathtub, another fixture or the like is not required. Instead, there is an advantage that the device can be easily attached to and detached from the bathtub.

On the other hand, when the apparatus main body is integrated with the bathtub, there is an advantage that the space is not wasted when a storage space for winding and storing the bath lid is provided above the apparatus main body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of a steam generator separate from a bath as an embodiment of a steam generator for a simple steam bath of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the steam generator of the above embodiment from another direction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which the steam generator of the above-described embodiment is attached to a bath.

4 (a) and (b) are sectional views showing the internal structure of a steam generator integrated with a bath as another embodiment of the steam generator for a simple steam bath of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of an overflow pipe forming a drainage port.

[Explanation of symbols]

 S Steam generator 1 Device main body 2 Steam supply part 3 Impeller B Bathtub

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An impeller for generating steam by receiving and diffusing hot water that has been dropped and supplied is provided in an apparatus body provided integrally with or separately from a bathtub, and
A steam generator for a simple steam bath, characterized in that a steam supply unit for supplying the generated steam into a bath is provided on an upper part of the apparatus body. 2. The steam generator for a simple steam bath according to claim 1, wherein the impeller is rotated by receiving the hot water supplied by dropping. 3. The simple steam bath according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of impellers are vertically arranged on a path for dropping the hot water, and the impellers are interlocked via a transmission mechanism. Steam generator. 4. The blower fan for sending steam to the steam supply unit is provided above the inside of the apparatus main body, or the impeller also serves as a blower fan for sending steam to the steam supply unit. Steam generator for simple steam bath. 5. The apparatus main body is provided separately from the bath tub, and the steam supply section is formed in a shape to be hooked on the edge of the bath tub, and also serves as an attachment for attaching the apparatus main body to the bath tub. The steam generator for the simple steam bath described. 6. The simple steam bath according to claim 1, wherein the device body is provided integrally with the bathtub, and a storage space for winding and storing the bath lid is provided on an upper part of the device body. Steam generator.