JPH08322898A - Bathing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To urgently release a door lock mechanism and to open the door of a door opening/closing type bathtub main body even when hot water is present in the inside of a bathtub. CONSTITUTION: A bather mounted on a wheelchair is transferred together with the wheelchair and positioned at the inner prescribed position of a door opening/ closing type bathtub for which the door of a side part is opened and the bather is turned to a bathing state by filling the inside of the door opening/closing type bathtub with the hot water after closing the door. A lock mechanism 22 for keeping the door in a closed state is interposed between the door and the door opening/closing type bathtub main body and the lock state is maintained for the lock mechanism as long as the hot water is present inside the door opening/closing type bathtub main body. An emergency lock release means 50 for short-circuiting a hydraulic passage is attached to the lock mechanism.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bathing apparatus combining a wheelchair and an open / close tub, which is capable of bathing a physically handicapped person or an elderly person in a sitting position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ordinary bath tub has a box shape with an open top, and a bather must straddle the side wall to enter the bath tub. For this reason, the following bathing apparatus combining a wheelchair and a door opening / closing bathtub has been developed so that people with physical disabilities can easily take a bath.

That is, a bather is placed on a wheelchair, and the wheelchair on which the bather is placed is intruded through the opening of the door opening / closing bathtub with the side door opened, and is positioned at a predetermined position inside the door opening / closing bathtub. . Thereafter, the bath is a bathing device that closes the door, closes the opening of the door opening / closing bathtub body in a watertight state, and fills the inside of the bathtub body with hot water to bring a bather on a wheelchair into a bathing position in a sitting position. .

[0004]

However, this type of door opening / closing bath apparatus has the following problems.
That is, when hot water exists inside the bathtub and a caregiver or a bather accidentally opens the door of the bathtub body, the hot water inside is discharged into one machine, and the hot water is wasted. Another problem is that hot water overflows into the bathroom, causing trouble to other bathers.

Therefore, in order to deal with such a problem, the present inventors have provided a lock mechanism for keeping the door closed between the door and the door opening / closing bathtub body, and the door opening / closing bathtub body has a lock mechanism. A sensor to detect whether hot water is present inside is provided,
When a door is locked by the lock mechanism and a sensor detects that there is no hot water in the door opening and closing bathtub body, a control device for releasing the lock mechanism is provided.

However, in the bathing device newly devised in this way, hot water is present inside the bathtub when it is urgent to take out a bather from the bathtub body because of feeling sick during bathing. As long as it is not possible to unlock the lock mechanism, this means that the door cannot be opened, and there is no choice but to lift the bather from above the body of the bathtub, which causes a great deal of effort for the caregiver. I understand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and even when hot water is present inside the bathtub, the door lock mechanism can be urgently released to open the door of the door opening / closing type bathtub body. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bathing device capable of performing the above.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention according to claim 1, a bather placed on a wheelchair is transferred together with the wheelchair, and a door opening / closing bathtub with a side door opened. A bathing device for placing the bather in a bathing state by filling the inside of the door opening / closing bathtub with hot water after the door is closed at a predetermined position inside the door opening / closing bathtub A lock mechanism that keeps the door closed is provided between the main body and the body, and a sensor that detects whether hot water is present inside the main body of the openable / closed bathtub is used to close the door. When locked in the state, the sensor is provided with a control device that releases the lock mechanism only when the sensor detects that there is no hot water in the door opening / closing bathtub body, and the lock mechanism has an emergency unlocking means. Is attached And butterflies.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the lock mechanism uses a double-acting fluid pressure cylinder as a drive source, and the emergency lock releasing means applies fluid to the double-acting fluid pressure cylinder. It is characterized in that it is constituted by a valve which is interposed between the supply side flow passage for supplying and the return side flow passage for collecting the fluid from the fluid pressure cylinder and short-circuits these both flow passages.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the valve forming the emergency unlocking means is configured to be manually switched.

[0011]

In the bathing apparatus of the present invention, the door is closed with the wheelchair inside, and the closed state of the door is maintained by the lock mechanism. Then, in this state, hot water is filled in the door opening / closing bath. When the hot water is filled, the sensor detects that fact. As described above, while the sensor detects that hot water is present in the bathtub, the lock mechanism continuously locks the door in the closed state via the control device. Therefore, even if a caregiver or a bather accidentally turns on the switch that opens the door, the door will not open as long as there is hot water in the bathtub, and There is no risk of spillage.

On the other hand, when it is desired to make the bather take a bath in an emergency such as feeling sick during bathing, the lock mechanism for holding the door in the closed state and the locked state can be released by the emergency lock releasing means. Therefore, even when there is hot water in the bathtub body, the door can be opened urgently.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a bathing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the bathing apparatus.

As shown in these figures, the bathing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a wheelchair 1 on which a bather is placed, and a bather placed on the wheelchair 1 while the bather is placed on the wheelchair 1. By satisfying the above condition, the open / close door-type bathtub 2 makes the bather enter the bathing state.

The wheelchair 1 has a base 1 with casters 10a.
0, a support rod 11 erected on the pedestal 10, and a chair portion 12 supported by an upper portion of the support rod 11. Rollers 12a are attached to lower portions of both sides of the chair portion 12, and the front portion of the chair portion 12 is attached. The portion is provided with a footrest 13 which is rotatable and is locked at a predetermined upper angle position.

The door opening / closing bathtub 2 is a door opening / closing bathtub body 2 having an opening on the front surface (the left side in FIG. 1 is the front surface).
It consists of 0 and a door 21. The door 21 is a door opening / closing bathtub body 2
A lock mechanism 22 for holding the door 21 in a closed state between the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 and the door opening / closing bathtub body 20.
Are provided (see FIG. 3).

The lock mechanism 22 detects whether or not hot water is present inside the door opening / closing bath body 20 once the door 21 is locked in the closed state, and is a sensor provided under the bath body 20. Based on a signal from 18, a control device (not shown) controls to keep the door 21 locked in a closed state as long as hot water is present inside the door opening / closing bath body 20.

The lock mechanism 22 includes two locking members 22a, 22a provided at a predetermined interval above and below the door 21, and
It is composed of a link mechanism 22b that connects the two locking members 22a, 22a and a drive cylinder 22c that operates the link mechanism 22b.

The upper and lower engaging members 22a are formed in a plate shape having hook portions 22aa at their tips, and the substantially central portion thereof is the inner frame 20 of the door opening / closing bath body 20.
It is rotatably provided in the vertical direction by being pin-supported by b, and when it is rotated clockwise in FIG. 3, the hook portion 22aa is locked to the locked tool 22d fixed to the door 21 side. Then, the door 21 is locked in the closed state.

The upper and lower locking members 22a are connected by connecting the rear ends of the locking members 22a by a link bar 22ba which is a component of the link mechanism 22b.
22a is rotated at the same time. further,
Lever part 22 formed integrally with the lower locking tool 22a
The rod portion 22ca of the drive cylinder 22c is pin-connected to e. The drive cylinder 22c is a bracket 2 that extends from the inner frame 20b of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20.
It is supported by 0c. The drive cylinder 22c is
Although the hydraulic pressure is used as the drive source in the illustrated example, the drive source is not limited to this, and another fluid such as air may be used.

Reference numeral 23 is a limit switch. When the limit switch 23 detects that the door 21 is closed via the operator 23a provided on the door 21, a drive signal is sent to the drive cylinder 22c via a control device (not shown) based on the detection signal. As a result, the drive cylinder 22c is shortened, and the lock mechanism 2 is released.
2 is locked.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 24 is a cylinder for opening the door 21. As shown in FIG. 3, since the door 21 is provided with the hinge portion obliquely inclined, the door 21 is opened when it is opened.
Is applied. Therefore, the driving force of the cylinder 24 is utilized to reduce the trouble of opening the link mechanism 25.
The structure is such that the door 21 can be opened via.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bottom portion 26 of the door opening / closing type bath body 20 is located above the casters 10a of the wheelchair 1 and at a location corresponding to the support rod 11 of the wheelchair 1. Has been done. As shown in FIG. 2, a cutout 27 is provided in the bottom portion 26 so as to extend inward from an opening 20 a of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 which is a mating surface with the door 21. The notch 27 allows the support rod 11 to enter when the wheelchair 1 is placed in a predetermined position inside the door opening / closing bathtub 2. Therefore, the width dimension of the notch 27 is larger than the diameter of the support rod 11. Is also set to a slightly larger value.

The bottom portion 26 has a pair of bottom seal members 28 for sandwiching the support rod 11 from the left and right sides to seal the notches 27 when the wheelchair 1 is placed at a predetermined position inside the door opening / closing bath body 20. 28 is provided so as to be movable in the left-right direction. By operating the cylinder 29, the bottom seal members 28, 28 are pushed and moved in the left-right direction. A plurality of cylinders 29 (two in the figure) are provided for each of the left and right bottom seal members 28.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the door 21 includes a door body 30 and a seal plate 32 which is provided so as to approach and separate from the door body 30 via a cylinder 31. Consists of. As described above, the door body 30 has one side hinged to the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 and the other side engaged with the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 by the lock mechanism 22. In addition, the seal plate 32 is provided with a seal member 32a that strongly abuts the edge of the opening 20a of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 to seal the portion.

The door opening / closing bath 2 includes a tank 35 for storing hot water in the door opening / closing bath 2 and a hot water supply / discharging means 36 for putting hot water in and out of the door opening / closing bath 2 and the tank 35. It is attached. In the hot water supply / drainage means 36, the three-way valves 37, 38 are controlled by a control means (not shown), whereby when the hot water is returned from the door opening / closing bath body 20 to the tank 35, the hot water is broken lines in FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 5, when the water is supplied from the water supply / exhaust port of the door opening / closing bath body 20 to the tank 35 through a predetermined flow path, and conversely, when the water is supplied from the tank 35 to the door opening / closing bath body 20, As shown by the solid line in the figure, it reaches the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 through a predetermined flow path.

Between the wheelchair 1 and the door opening / closing bathtub 2, there is a lock mechanism (not shown) for restricting the movement of the wheelchair 1 when the wheelchair 1 is placed at a predetermined position inside the door opening / closing bathtub 2. It is provided.

FIG. 6 shows the cylinder 3 in which the seal plate 32 having the door 21 is pressed against the main body 20 of the openable / closable door.
1. The cylinder 29 that operates the bottom seal member 28 that seals the bottom of the door opening / closing bathtub body 30, the drive cylinder 22c that locks or unlocks the door 21 and the door 21 that is opened. It is a figure which shows the hydraulic system which respectively operates the said cylinder 24. In the figure, reference numeral 40 is a hydraulic pump, 41 is the cylinder 3
1 is a control unit for operating the cylinder 29,
A large number of solenoid valves 41a, 41b ... Are built in the control unit 41. Reference numeral 42 is a control unit for operating the cylinder 22c and the cylinder 24, and the control unit 42 has a large number of solenoid valves 42a, 42b ,.

For example, the case of extending the cylinder 31 to press the seal plate 32 toward the opening side of the door opening / closing bath body 20 will be described. The solenoid valve 41 of the control unit 41 will be described.
energize the solenoids b, 41c, and these solenoid valves 41
Switch between b and 41c. As a result, the hydraulic pump 40
The pressure oil discharged from the flow passage 43 has a flow passage 43 in which a filter 43a is interposed, a flow passage 44 in which an electromagnetic valve 41c and a flow rate adjusting valve 44a are interposed, and a branch flow passage 45 branched from the tip of the flow passage 44. And is supplied to the pressure chamber on the head side of each cylinder 31. As a result, the cylinder 31 is extended and the seal plate 32 is pressed against the opening side of the door opening / closing bath body 20.

When the cylinder 31 is extended as described above, the oil overflowing from the pressure chamber on the rod side of the cylinder 31 branches off into the branch flow passages 46, the branch flow passages 46 are gathered, and the filter 47a is interposed. Flow path 47, flow path 48 in which electromagnetic valve 41b is interposed, and flow path 4 connected to flow path 48
9 to reach the oil sump 40a. On the other hand, when the cylinder 31 is shortened, the solenoid valves 41a, 4a of the controller 41 are
The solenoid of 1d is energized, and those solenoid valves 41b, 41
Switch c. Similarly, when operating the other cylinders 29, 22c, 24, those cylinders 29, 22c,
This is performed by switching the solenoid valves corresponding to 24.

The cylinder 24 is used only when the door 21 is opened. The door 21 is arranged so as to be inclined as described above, and no large force is required when closing the door,
In addition, the manual method is adopted in consideration of safety.

Reference numeral 50 in FIG. 6 denotes a manual valve for emergency lock release, which is used for releasing the lock by the lock mechanism 22 in an emergency and for releasing the seal by the seal plate 32. When the manual valve 50 is switched, the flow passage 44 connected to the head side pressure chamber of the cylinder 31 and the flow passage 47 connected to the rod side pressure chamber are connected to release the pressing force of the seal plate 32 by the cylinder 31. To be done. Further, a flow path 51 connected to the head side pressure chamber of the cylinder 22c and a flow path 52 connected to the rod side pressure chamber.
Is also communicated, and the locked state of the lock mechanism 22 by the cylinder 22c is released.

Reference numeral 60 in FIG. 6 is a check valve for avoiding a negative pressure in the head side pressure chamber 24a of the cylinder 24 when the door 21 is opened manually, and the door 2
When closing 1, the head side pressure chamber 24a of the cylinder 24
It is for avoiding that the pressure oil existing in 2) directly returns to the oil sump 40a without passing through the solenoid valve 42f.

7 to 9 are views showing a concrete structure of the manual valve 50 for releasing the emergency lock. In the figure, 61 is a rod in which a handle 61a provided at the tip is covered by a cap 20b that closes the opening of the cover of the bath body 20, and the base end of the rod 61 supports eccentric cams 63a, 63a via a link 62. Is connected to the shaft 63.
Reference numeral 64 denotes a valve body, and a plurality of push rods 65 engaging with the eccentric cam 63a are attached to the valve body 64 in parallel with each other and movably in the axial direction. Is urged to move to.

As shown in FIG. 9, the tip of the push rod 65 faces the ball-shaped valve body 66 which is biased in the closing direction by the spring 66a.
When 5 is pushed against the spring 65a, the valve body 66 is pushed down against the spring 66a to open the flow path 67 in which the valve body 66 is interposed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the communication passage 68a connected to the flow passage 44 and the communication passage 68b connected to the flow passage 47 are communicated with each other, and the communication passage 68c connected to the flow passage 51 is connected to the communication passage 68c. The communication passage 68d connected to the passage 52 is communicated. Further, the communication passages 68a, 68b, 68c, 68d are provided in the oil sump 40.
It is also communicated with the communication passage 69 connected to a.

Next, the operation of the bathing device having the above structure will be described. When bathing a bather with the bathing apparatus described above, first, the bather is placed on the wheelchair 1, and the footrest 13 is pulled up diagonally and locked,
In this state, the door 21 is inserted into the openable-closed bathtub 2 in which the door 21 has been opened in advance. At this time, the support rod 11 of the wheelchair 1
Is aligned with the notch 27 in the bottom 26 of the door open / close bathtub 2, so that there is no obstacle to the entry of the wheelchair 1 into the door open / close bathtub 2.

As described above, when the door 21 is opened and the bather is allowed to enter the openable-closed bathtub 2 together with the wheelchair 1, hot water is stored in the tank 35 in advance.

When the wheelchair 1 is pushed into the door opening / closing bathtub 2 to a predetermined position, the cylinders 29, ... Provided at the bottom of the bottom 26 of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 are driven based on the drive signal from the control device. The pair of bottom seal members 28, 28 are moved so as to be close to each other by being extended while being synchronized, and the support rod 11 of the wheelchair 1 is sandwiched from both sides. This seals the notch 27 of the bottom 26 of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20.

Then, when a switch for closing the door (not shown) is turned on, the door 21 is closed by manually shortening the cylinder 24. When the door 21 is closed, the operator 23a fixed to the door 21 moves the limit switch 23
Switch on. Based on this, a drive signal is issued from a control device (not shown), and the drive cylinder 22c, which is normally in the extended state, is shortened, and along with this, the lock mechanism 2
2 is locked. That is, the door 21 is locked in the closed state.

After that, the cylinders 31, ... Incorporated in the door 21 are extended in synchronization with each other, and the seal portion inside the door 21 is pressed against the opening edge of the main body 20 of the openable / closable door, and the door is closed. Opening 20a of the openable bath body 20
Seal.

In this state, hot water is filled inside the door opening / closing bath body 20. That is, when a hot water supply switch (not shown) is turned on, the hot water supply / discharge means 36 is supplied based on a signal from the control device.
The three-way valves 37 and 38 are switched to appropriate positions and the pump is operated to supply the hot water stored in the tank 35 into the openable-closed bath body 20. As a result, the bather can be put in a bathing state in a sitting posture.

As described above, when the bathtub body 20 for opening and closing the door is filled with hot water, the sensor 18 detects the fact, and as long as the sensor 18 detects that the hot water is filled. In the above, since the interlock works and the lock mechanism 22 is still held, even if a caregiver, a bather, or the like accidentally turns on the switch for opening the door, the door 21 does not open and the door opening / closing bathtub The hot water in 20 does not flow out.

When the bather takes a bath, each member of the bathing device may be operated in the opposite manner to the above. That is,
After the hot water in the openable / closed bathtub body 20 is returned to the tank 35 by the hot water supply / discharge means 36, a switch for opening a door (not shown) is turned on. Then, first, each of the cylinders 31, ... Incorporated in the door 21 is shortened in synchronization with each other, and the seal portion 32a inside the door 21 is separated from the opening edge of the door opening / closing bath body 20. , The seal of the opening portion 20a of the bath door body 20 for opening and closing the door is released. Subsequently, based on the drive signal issued from the control device, the cylinder 22c is extended and the lock mechanism 22 is released,
After that, the cylinder 24 is extended based on the signal from the control device, and the door 21 is automatically opened. Then, based on the drive signal issued from the control device, each cylinder 29 provided at the bottom of the bottom portion 26 of the door opening / closing bathtub body 20 ,.
Are synchronized and shortened, and the pair of bottom seal members 2
Wheelchair 1 is moved by moving 8 and 28 away from each other.
The sealed state in which the support rod 11 is sandwiched from both sides is released. Then, the wheelchair 1 may be pulled out to the front and pulled out from the door opening / closing bathtub body 20.

In the above bathing condition, when the bather feels uncomfortable, such as when the bather feels uncomfortable, the cap 20b is removed, the handle 61a is grasped, and the rod 61 is pulled forward. Then, the eccentric cam 63 a rotates via the link 62 and presses each push rod 65. As a result, the tip of the push rod 65 pushes down the valve element 66 against the spring 66a to open the flow path 67. As a result, the communication passages 68c and 68d communicate with each other, the cylinder 22c becomes free, and the pausing tool 22a is manually lifted to release the lock mechanism 22. At the same time, the communication passages 68a and 68b are also communicated, the cylinder 31 becomes free, and the seal of the door 21 is released. After that, the caregiver can manually open the door 21 and pull out the bather from the opening 20a of the bath body 20 in which the bather inside is opened. Although the lock mechanism 22 for keeping the door 21 in the closed state uses hydraulic pressure as the drive source in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. Good. In this case, the emergency lock releasing means is configured to short-circuit the air pipe.

[0045]

According to the invention described in claim 1, even if a caregiver or a bather accidentally turns on the switch for opening the door, as long as hot water is present in the bathtub, the door is opened. Does not open and the hot water in the open / close door tub does not flow out to the outside. Therefore, the hot water in the tub body is discharged carelessly, and the hot water is wasted, or the hot water overflows into the bathroom. It is possible to prevent problems such as inconvenience to bathers. In addition, when it is desired to take the bather out of the bath body urgently such as when feeling sick during bathing, the lock mechanism can be released by the emergency lock releasing means, and hot water is present in the bath body as described above. Even in the case, the door can be opened, and the bathing work in an emergency by the caregiver can be easily performed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the emergency unlocking means is constituted by a mechanical valve, there are less failures and the like as compared with the case where electricity or the like is used, and in particular, the bathroom is often humid. It is suitable.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the valve constituting the emergency unlocking means is manually switched, high reliability and high safety can be secured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a bathing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the bath apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view illustrating a lock mechanism of a door of the bath apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing an arrangement of cylinders for opening a door in the bath apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view showing an upper structure of a door in the bath apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a hydraulic system diagram for operating each cylinder of the bathing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a manual valve for emergency unlocking.

8 is a view on arrow X in FIG. 7. FIG.

9 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the Y portion of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Wheelchair 2 Door opening / closing bathtub 10 Pedestal 11 Support rod 12 Chair part 20 Door opening / closing bathtub body 21 Door 22 Lock mechanism 22a Locking tool 22b Link mechanism 22ba Link bar 22c Drive cylinder 22d Locked tool 24 Cylinder 26 Bottom 27 Notch 28 Bottom Sealing Member 29 Cylinder 30 Door Main Body 31 Cylinder 35 Tank 36 Hot Water Supply Means 50 Manual Valve for Emergency Lock Release 61 Rod 62 Link 63a Eccentric Cam 66 Valve Body

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A bather placed on a wheelchair is transported together with the wheelchair, the side door is positioned at a predetermined position inside the openable door tub, and after closing the door, the door openable tub is closed. A bathing device for putting the bather in a bathing state by filling the inside of the bath with a lock mechanism for keeping the door closed between the door and the door opening and closing bath body, and opening and closing the door. The bathtub body is provided with a sensor for detecting whether hot water is present inside, and when the lock mechanism locks the door in the closed state, hot water is present in the door openable bathtub body by the sensor. A bathing device comprising a control device for releasing the lock mechanism only when it is detected that the lock mechanism is not present, and emergency lock releasing means is attached to the lock mechanism. 2. The bathing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lock mechanism uses a double-acting fluid pressure cylinder as a drive source, and the emergency unlock means is the double-acting fluid pressure cylinder. 1. A bathing device comprising a valve provided between a supply side flow path for supplying fluid to a return side flow path for collecting fluid from a fluid pressure cylinder and short-circuiting these flow paths. 3. The bathing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the valve that constitutes the emergency unlocking means is configured to be manually switched.