JPH07119988A - Infrared heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit uniform heating of a heating object having some range (from the foot to the knee of human body, the whole of the lower half of human body or a plurality of human bodies, for example). CONSTITUTION:The far-infrared heater 1 of this invention is constituted of a bar type infrared lamp 2 as the radiating source of infrared rays and a square Fresnel panel 3, provided before the far infrared lamp 2. The Fresnel panel 3 is constituted of concave lenses 3a, 3a,..., refracting far infrared rays toward the peripheral side of the heater and arranged at the central part of the same, and convex lenses 3b, 3b,..., refracting the far infrared rays R toward the central side of the heater and arranged at the peripheral part of the same, whereby radiation beams (far-infrared beams) of the central part (whereat the intensity of radiation is high substantially) are dispersed to the outside periphery and the radidation beams (far-infrared beams) of the peripheral part (whereat the intensity of radiation is low substantially) are collected toward the central side thereby projecting the whole range of a preset heating object uniformly substantially.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an infrared heating device which directly radiates infrared rays when a power source is turned on to directly heat a human body or the like. Suitable for corridors, toilets, etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Infrared rays are generally called "heat rays" because they propagate in the air as electromagnetic waves having a wavelength of 0.75 to 100 [mu] m and cause the molecules of a radiated body to resonate and vibrate to generate heat. Especially, the far-infrared ray having a wavelength of 3 μm to 30 μm is easily absorbed by the human body because its frequency matches the natural frequency of the organic molecules that make up the human body and the water molecules contained in the human body, from the surface of the skin to the upper layer of the dermis. In addition to causing the molecules of to uniformly resonate and vibrate at about the same time, the resulting heat is immediately sensed by the Ruffini bodies (neuron receptors that sense warmth) distributed in the upper layer of the dermis, and It is said that it warms from the core and gives people a warm and comfortable feeling.

Focusing on such a thermal action exhibited by infrared rays, various infrared heating devices have been conventionally developed.
In the infrared heating device, there is an infrared lamp heater having excellent thermal responsiveness. This kind of infrared lamp heater
As described in Japanese Patent Application No. 5-79388 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-36914, an infrared lamp that emits infrared rays from a Joule-heated filament (tungsten wire) and various directions from this infrared lamp. It is roughly configured by a reflecting mirror for focusing the emitted infrared rays to a range of the object to be heated by a reflecting action and emitting the focused infrared rays. In this type of reflecting mirror, the shape of the reflecting surface is determined by emitting infrared rays as a parallel radiation flux or a diverging radiation flux. For example, in the lamp heater described in Japanese Patent Application No. 5-79388, a parabolic surface is used. A parallel radiation flux is obtained using a mirror, while the lamp heater described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-36914 uses a plane mirror, a concave mirror or an ellipsoidal mirror to obtain a divergent radiation flux.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional infrared lamp heater using a parabolic mirror (hereinafter referred to as the former lamp heater), as described above, infrared rays are emitted as a parallel radiation flux. As a result, it has the advantage that it can be heated uniformly regardless of the distance to a heated object that has a limited spread below the opening area of the reflector, but it does not cover the opening area of the reflector. The object has the disadvantage that all of them cannot be heated at the same time regardless of the distance. Therefore, the former lamp heater is suitable as a means for uniformly heating a narrow and limited object such as the foot of the human body, but from the foot of the human body to around the knees, or the entire lower half of the human body, or more than one human body. It is unsuitable as a means of warming a wide object.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned conventional infrared lamp heater using a plane mirror or the like (hereinafter referred to as the latter lamp heater), since the infrared rays are emitted as a divergent radiation flux as described above, the reflecting mirror. It is possible to simultaneously heat all of the objects to be heated having a spread larger than the opening area of the above. However, as shown in FIG. 11, the latter divergent radiation flux emitted from the lamp heater has a light distribution characteristic in which the irradiance is high in the central part of the irradiation surface and the irradiance tends to decrease toward the peripheral part. Therefore, there is a difference in heating effect between the central part and the peripheral part to be heated, and therefore,
Even with the latter lamp heater, it is difficult to uniformly heat the central portion and the peripheral portion of the object to be heated with the spread.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and uniformly applies a heated object (for example, from the feet to the knees of the human body, or the entire lower half of the human body, or a plurality of human bodies) to a wide range. It is intended to provide an infrared heating device that can be heated.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an infrared heating device according to claim 1 is provided with an infrared radiating means for radiating infrared rays when a power source is turned on, and in front of the infrared radiating means. It is characterized in that it comprises an optical panel member for irradiating the infrared radiation emitted from the infrared radiation means to the heated object having a spread substantially uniformly.

Further, the infrared heating device according to claim 2 is
The optical panel member according to claim 1 is characterized in that a Fresnel lens composed of several line-shaped, ring-shaped or arc-shaped lenses is used.

Further, the infrared heating device according to claim 3 is
As the optical panel member according to the first aspect, a louver panel in which strip-shaped reflecting plates are assembled in parallel or in a grid pattern is used.

[0010]

In the structure of the present invention, the infrared radiating means causes infrared rays to enter the optical panel member as a divergent radiation flux. The optical panel member changes the path of incident infrared rays by refraction or reflection to make the irradiance of infrared rays substantially uniform with respect to a heated object having a spread. Specifically, by using a refractive or reflective optical panel member, the central radiation flux (which originally has high irradiance) is scattered around the outside, or the periphery (which originally has low irradiance) The infrared irradiance is made substantially uniform by gathering the radiation fluxes of the parts inward. In order to make the irradiance of infrared rays more uniform, the radiation flux in the central portion may be scattered around the outside and the radiation flux in the peripheral portion may be gathered inside.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the present invention, there is a wide range of objects to be heated (for example, from the feet of the human body to the knees, or the entire lower half of the human body, or a plurality of human bodies).
Can be heated efficiently and uniformly. Further, since the flatness of the irradiance and the uniform heating effect of the radiant heating are achieved by using the flat optical panel member, the device can be made thin, which is suitable for installation in a narrow toilet or the like. Will be things.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of a far-infrared heating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal configuration of the far-infrared heating device, and FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view as seen from the direction of arrow AA in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a far-infrared emission state during operation of the far-infrared heating device, and FIG.
Is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the far-infrared heating device, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an installation example of the far-infrared heating device. First, the mechanical configuration will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the far-infrared heating device 1 of this example
Is a rod-shaped far-infrared lamp 2 as a far-infrared radiation source.
And the far infrared rays radiated from the far infrared lamp 2 provided in front of the far infrared lamp 2 by refraction.
A rectangular Fresnel lens (hereinafter, referred to as Fresnel panel) 3 for substantially focusing and emitting in a preset heating region, the far infrared lamp 2 and the Fresnel panel 3
And a box-shaped housing 4 for housing

The far infrared lamp 2 is, as shown in FIG.
A rod-shaped near-infrared lamp that emits near-infrared peak is used as a prototype, and the quartz bulb 5 surface of the near-infrared lamp is coated with far-infrared emitting ceramics 6 to a film thickness of about 100 μm. Visible rays and near infrared rays that are thermally radiated from the heated coiled filament (tungsten wire) 7 are once absorbed by the far infrared radiating ceramics 6, and the far infrared radiating ceramics 6 are heated to 550 ° C to 650 ° C. The far-infrared emitting ceramics 6 is configured to emit far-infrared peaks. Here, as the near-infrared lamp used as the prototype of the far-infrared lamp 2, for example, a near-infrared halogen lamp filled with a halogen gas such as iodine or chlorine, a near-infrared xenon lamp filled with xenon gas, or the like is suitable. is there. The far-infrared lamp 2 has electrode portions on both end portions, and these electrode portions are provided on the substrate 4 of the housing 4.
It is attached to the housing 4 by being fitted to the pair of support insulators 8 and 8 fixed to a.

The Fresnel panel 3 is formed of transparent glass or a hard synthetic resin plate or the like, and has several line-shaped concave lenses 3a, 3a, ... And convex lenses 3b, 3
b, ... Are mixed and have an anamorphic refractive optical system configuration. As shown in FIG. 4, the concave lenses 3a, 3
are formed in the central portion (longitudinal direction in the drawing) of the Fresnel panel 3 and along the longitudinal direction as having a concave refracting surface on the outer surface side (the exit side of the far infrared rays R). Has a function of refracting to the peripheral side to spread divergence. Further, the convex lenses 3b, 3b, ... Having a convex refracting surface on the outer surface side are formed in the peripheral portion of the Fresnel panel 3 and along the longitudinal direction to refract the far infrared rays R toward the central portion side. It has the function of reducing the divergence, making it parallel, or converging it.

In this way, the concave lenses 3a, 3a, ... For refracting the far infrared rays R are arranged in the central portion, and the convex lenses 3b, 3b, ... For refracting the far infrared rays R in the central portion are arranged in the peripheral portion. By doing so, the central radiation flux (far infrared radiation), which is originally high in irradiance, is scattered around the outside, and the peripheral radiation flux (far infrared radiation) (where originally low irradiance) is in the central portion side. The entire range of the preset heating target is irradiated substantially uniformly.

Next, the electrical construction will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the far-infrared heating device 1 of this example includes a far-infrared lamp 2, a human body detection sensor 9,
The amplifier circuit 10, a control circuit 11, and a drive circuit 12 are roughly configured. The human body detection sensor 9 includes, for example, a pyroelectric infrared sensor, detects infrared rays (body heat) emitted from a human body that has entered the detection range, and generates a detection signal L. The generated detection signal L is input to the control circuit 11 after being amplified by the amplification circuit 10 with a predetermined amplification degree. The control circuit 11 is composed of a CPU, a memory, etc.,
Based on the output from the human body detection sensor 9, the drive circuit 12
To control. The drive circuit 12 turns on / off the power supply to the far infrared lamp 2 based on the control signal supplied from the control circuit 11.

Next, the operation of the far-infrared heating device of this example installed in the toilet will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, two far infrared heating devices 1, 1
However, in a state in which each housing 3 is buried in the side wall 13 at a site close to the floor of the side walls 13 facing each other in the toilet, and when a person uses the toilet bowl 14, from the feet to the knees. The far infrared rays R can be intensively applied to the human body part of the above. The human body detection sensor 9 is a far infrared ray R emitted from the far infrared lamp 2.
In order not to cause a malfunction due to the detection of the, the side wall 13 is installed at a predetermined portion (for example, a portion corresponding to the waist height of an adult) away from the far infrared lamp 2. In this example, a case where a single human body detection sensor 9 is shared by two far infrared heating devices 1 and 1 will be described. However, as shown in FIG. 5, each far infrared heating device 1 is a dedicated human body detection sensor. You may make it have 9.

In this state, when a person enters the toilet,
The human body detection sensor 9 detects infrared rays (body heat) emitted from the human body that has entered the detection range, and generates and outputs a detection signal L. This detection signal L is input to the control circuit 11 after being amplified by the amplification circuit 10 of each infrared heating device 1 with a predetermined amplification degree. Upon receiving the supply of the detection signal L, the control circuit 11 determines whether or not the supplied detection signal L is generated by a malfunction of the human body detection sensor 9, and if it is determined that the malfunction does not occur, the heating start signal is generated. S is sent to the drive circuit 12. When the drive circuit 12 receives the heating start signal S from the control circuit 11, the drive circuit 12 turns on the power supply (AC voltage of 100 V) to the far infrared lamp 2. From this, the far-infrared lamp 2 rises at a predetermined speed, and the person
During use, the far infrared rays R are intensively and uniformly radiated to the part of the human body from the feet to the knees. Therefore, the part of the human body from the feet to the knees is evenly heated, and the person can be immersed in the thermal comfort.

The emission of the far infrared ray R is continued as long as the human body detection sensor 9 detects the infrared rays emitted from the human body (that is, as long as the person is in the toilet). At this time,
When a person leaves the toilet, the human body detection sensor 9 stops detecting infrared rays (body heat) radiated from the human body.
The non-detection signal H is generated and output. This non-detection signal H
Is amplified by the amplification circuit 10 at a predetermined amplification degree and then input to the control circuit 11. When the control circuit 11 receives the supply of the non-detection signal H, the control circuit 11 determines whether or not the supplied non-detection signal H is generated by a malfunction of the human body detection sensor 9, and if it is determined that the malfunction does not occur, the heating is performed. The stop signal E is sent to the drive circuit 12. When the driving circuit 12 receives the heating stop signal E from the control circuit 11, the driving circuit 12 shuts off the power supply to the far-infrared lamp 2 to stop heating.

According to the configuration of this example, the object to be heated which is wider than the opening area of the far-infrared heating device 1 (the area of the Fresnel panel 3) (for example, from the feet of the human body to the knees or the entire lower half of the human body). , And even multiple human bodies)
Can be heated efficiently and uniformly. Further, since a flat Fresnel panel is used, the device can be made thin, which is suitable for installation in a small toilet or the like.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of a far infrared heating device 15 which is a modification of the first embodiment.
In FIG. 5, the concave refracting surface of the linear lens concave lens 16a and the convex refracting surface of the convex lens 16b which form the Fresnel panel 16 are provided on the inner surface side (the incident side of the far infrared ray R).
Even with such a configuration, the same effect as that of the above-described first embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 8 shows an external structure of a far-infrared heating device 17 which is another modification of the first embodiment. In the far-infrared heating device 17, the Fresnel panel 18 is arranged at the central portion in the longitudinal direction. Some line-shaped concave lenses 18
a, 18a, ..., Convex lenses 18b, 18b, .., and some arcuate band-shaped lenses 1 arranged in the peripheral portion in the longitudinal direction.
8c, 18c, ... The Fresnel panel 3 in the first embodiment is effective when the far-infrared lamp 2 is extremely long and the first-order approximation is established.
When the far-infrared lamp is short and the first-order approximation is not established, by applying the configuration of FIG. 8, even irradiance can be obtained even in the longitudinal direction of the far-infrared heating device 17.

Second Embodiment FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a far infrared heating device 19 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The far-infrared heating device 19 of this example differs from the far-infrared heating device 1 (FIG. 3) of the first embodiment in that, as shown in FIG. 7, a semi-cylindrical concave mirror 20 is provided immediately behind the far-infrared lamp 2. It is the point that is equipped with. The concave mirror 20 is a concave body made of aluminum, stainless steel, or the like, the inner surface of which is gold-plated or chrome-plated. According to the configuration of the second embodiment, the far infrared rays emitted to the rear of the far infrared lamp 2 can also be effectively used, so that the heating efficiency can be further improved.
Incidentally. As a modified example of the second embodiment, gold plating or chrome plating is applied to the outer surface of the rear portion of the quartz bulb 5,
The quartz bulb 5 may be directly provided with a reflecting mirror. In this way, the primary radiation source and the secondary radiation source (reflection source) can be treated as the same, so that the Fresnel panel 3 can be designed much more easily.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a far-infrared heating device 21 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The far infrared heating device 21 of this example is the far infrared heating device 1 of the first embodiment.
The difference from (FIG. 3) is that the louver panel 22 is used instead of the Fresnel panel 3 to obtain a uniform irradiation surface for a desired heating target. The louver panel 22 is made up of parallel reflection plates 22a, 22a, ... Obtained by applying gold plating or chrome plating to a strip-shaped plate material made of aluminum, stainless steel, or the like. The reflection plates 22a, 22a ,. The pitch and angle are adjusted so that the far infrared rays R emitted from the far infrared lamp 2 can irradiate the preset whole range of the heating target substantially uniformly. That is, the reflector 22a arranged at the center is
Part of the central radiation flux (far infrared radiation), which is originally high in irradiance, is reflected and scattered around, while the reflector 22a arranged in the peripheral portion is (ordinarily low in irradiance). A part of the radiation flux (far-infrared ray flux) in the peripheral part is reflected by the central part side to gather together. In this way, the far-infrared rays R are irradiated almost uniformly over the entire range of the object to be heated.

As a modification of the third embodiment, a louver panel in which strip-shaped reflectors are assembled in a grid pattern may be used if necessary. If necessary, a louver panel may be used in which band-shaped translucent plates that reflect a predetermined amount of far infrared rays and transmit a predetermined amount are assembled in parallel or in a grid pattern.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific structure is not limited to this embodiment, and there are design changes and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. Also included in the present invention. For example, although the rod-shaped far-infrared lamp is used in the above-described embodiment, a spherical far-infrared lamp may be appropriately used instead of this. Also, in the above embodiment,
Although a far infrared lamp is used, a near infrared lamp may be used.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the central radiation flux (far-infrared flux) is scattered around the outside, while
The case has been described in which the irradiance distribution on the surface to be heated is smoothed by gathering the radiation flux (far-infrared flux) in the peripheral portion to the central portion, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, in the central portion. It is possible to remarkably smooth the irradiance distribution on the surface to be heated only by scattering only the radiant flux (far infrared ray flux) of the above into the outer periphery. Similarly, smoothing the irradiance distribution on the surface to be heated can be achieved to some extent by gathering only the radiation flux (far-infrared flux) in the peripheral portion to the central portion.

[0028]

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, since the irradiance of infrared rays with respect to a heated object having a spread can be made substantially uniform, a heated object having a spread (for example, It is possible to efficiently and uniformly heat the human body from the feet to around the knees, or the entire lower half of the human body, and more than one human body). Further, since the flatness of the irradiance and the uniform heating effect of the radiant heating are achieved by using the flat optical panel member, the device can be made thin, which is suitable for installation in a narrow toilet or the like. Will be things.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a far infrared heating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal configuration of the far-infrared heating device.

3 is a vertical sectional view as seen from the direction of arrow AA in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of emitting far infrared rays during operation of the far infrared heating device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the far-infrared heating device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an installation example of the far-infrared heating device.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a far-infrared heating device which is a modified example of the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the outer appearance of a far-infrared heating device which is another modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a far-infrared heating device which is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a far-infrared heating device which is a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a light distribution characteristic diagram provided for explaining a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 15, 17, 19, 21 Far-infrared heating device (infrared heating device) 2 Far-infrared lamp (infrared radiation means) 3, 16, 18 Fresnel panel (optical panel member) 3a, 16a, 18a Line-shaped concave lens (Fresnel Panel part) 3b, 16b, 16b Line-shaped convex lens (Fresnel panel part) 18c Arc-shaped lens (Fresnel panel component) 22 Louver panel 22a Reflector (louver panel member) R Infrared

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An infrared radiating means for radiating infrared rays when power is turned on, and infrared rays radiated from the infrared radiating means provided in front of the infrared radiating means are substantially uniform with respect to a heated object having a spread. An infrared heating device comprising: an optical panel member for irradiating an infrared ray. 2. The infrared heating device according to claim 1, wherein the optical panel member is a Fresnel lens configured by several linear, annular, or arcuate lenses. 3. The infrared heating device according to claim 1, wherein the optical panel member is a louver panel in which strip-shaped reflectors are assembled in parallel or in a grid pattern.