JPH0919387A - Opening/closing mechanism for toilet seat/toilet cover - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize an ultrasonic motor as a driving source for a mechanism for opening/closing a toilet seat/toilet cover fitted onto a toilet bowl. SOLUTION: Pivots 1a and 2a of a toilet cover 1 and a toilet seat 2 and the rotary shafts of ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 are coaxially connected by joints 5 and 6. Corresponding to a switch operation due to a user or human body detection due to a sensor, the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 are started, the toilet cover 1 or the toilet seat 2 is opened up, after the end of use, the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 are turned backward, and the toilet cover 1 or the toilet seat 2 is closed down. Thus, since the ultrasonic motors are miniaturized and torque is large, a complicated gear mechanism is unnecessitated, structure is simplified and an integration space is reduced as well. Since there is no electromagnetic induced noise, no adverse influence is exerted upon electric parts. Since an operating sound is low, it is quiet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mechanism for automatically opening and closing a toilet seat / toilet lid attached to a toilet bowl,
An ultrasonic motor is used as the drive source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A Western style toilet is equipped with a toilet seat and, if desired, a toilet lid. Both the toilet seat and the toilet lid are configured to be rotatable by a pivot.

[0003]

When the toilet lid is closed, the user needs to open it. In addition, the toilet seat must be opened at the same time for men's small use. However, the operation of opening the toilet seat / toilet lid is not always easy for persons with injured hands or handicaps, as well as for infants and elderly. In particular, since the heated toilet seat is heavy, if it is accidentally removed during the opening operation or the closing operation, it may collide with the toilet bowl vigorously and damage the toilet seat or the toilet bowl.

Therefore, there has been proposed a mechanism for automatically opening and closing the toilet seat / toilet lid by a user's switch device or by detecting a human body using a sensor. However, since the conventional opening / closing mechanism is composed of a combination of an electromagnetic motor and a reduction gear, there is a restriction that a relatively wide assembling space is required.

Further, when electric equipment such as a hot water washing device is installed, electromagnetic induction noise generated from the electromagnetic motor may adversely affect the electric equipment. Moreover,
Electromagnetic motors have the disadvantage that the operating noise is noisy.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a toilet seat / toilet lid opening / closing mechanism created in view of the above problems of the conventional mechanism, and is characterized in that an ultrasonic motor is used as a driving source for opening / closing. Have. There are two types of ultrasonic motors, a rotary type in which the movable part is a rotary shaft and a linear type in which the movable part is a linear drive shaft. When the former rotary type is used, the rotary shaft of the rotary ultrasonic motor is connected to the pivot of the toilet seat and / or the toilet lid attached to the toilet.

When the latter linear type is used, the pinion is mounted on the pivot of the toilet seat and / or the toilet lid, and the linear drive shaft of the linear ultrasonic motor is connected to the rack that meshes with the pinion.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An ultrasonic motor has the characteristics that it has good responsiveness, delicate control can be performed easily, and high torque can be obtained at low speed. Therefore, when connecting the rotary shaft of the rotary ultrasonic motor to the pivot shaft of the toilet seat / toilet lid, it is not necessary to interpose a complicated gear mechanism between the pivot shaft of the toilet seat / toilet lid and the rotary shaft of the ultrasonic motor. , The mechanism is simple and the space for assembly is small.

On the other hand, even when the linear type ultrasonic motor is used, it is only necessary to interpose the rack and pinion structure between the pivot shafts of the toilet seat / lid and the linear drive shaft of the ultrasonic motor. Therefore, the opening / closing mechanism for the toilet seat / toilet lid can be constructed with a simple structure.

Since the ultrasonic motor does not generate a magnetic field, it does not cause a disturbance due to electromagnetic induction noise in surrounding electric parts, and has an advantage that it does not generate noise because the operation noise is very small.

[0011]

【Example】

[First Embodiment] First, an opening / closing mechanism for a toilet seat / toilet lid using a rotary ultrasonic motor will be described. The toilet seat / toilet lid opening / closing mechanism according to the present invention is incorporated in, for example, a case 20 that accommodates a warm water washing device S as shown in FIG. As shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 2B, in this embodiment, the pivot 1a of the toilet lid 1 and the pivot 2a of the toilet seat 2 are passed through the case 20 of the hot water washing device S, and the joints 5,
6, the rotary shafts 3a, 4 of the ultrasonic motors 3, 4
It is directly connected to a.

The opening / closing mechanism constructed as described above drives the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 to open the toilet lid 1 and toilet seat 2 at the start of use, and reverses the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 after use. Rotate in the direction to close the toilet lid 1 and toilet seat 2 and lower them. Regarding the opening and closing of the toilet lid 1, in addition to the switch operation by the user, a human body detection sensor is arranged and the ultrasonic motor 3 is automatically activated when the user approaches or leaves to open or close the toilet lid 1. May be set to be executed.
Here, the human body detection sensor 3 is not limited in its type such as an infrared sensor, a pyroelectric sensor, and an ultrasonic sensor.

[Second Embodiment] Since the ultrasonic motor has a large torque, it is possible to directly connect the rotating shaft coaxially with the pivots of the toilet seat / toilet lid as in the first embodiment. The minimum required number of gears may be interposed. FIG.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the pivot 1a of the toilet lid 1 and the pivot 2 of the toilet seat 2
Gears 7 and 8 are attached to each a, and pinion portions 3b and 4b that mesh with the gears 7 and 8 are formed at the tips of the rotary shafts 3a and 4a of the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4, respectively.

Although not shown, ultrasonic motors 3, 4
While attaching the worm to the rotating shafts 3a and 4a of the
Alternatively, a worm wheel may be attached to the pivots 1a and 2a of the toilet seat 2 to form an opening / closing mechanism for the toilet seat / toilet lid by a worm gear mechanism.

The opening / closing mechanism according to the present embodiment can amplify the torque of the ultrasonic motors 3 and 4 and transmit the torque to the pivots 1a and 2a of the toilet seat / toilet lid with the above-described structure. Further downsizing of 3 and 4 can be achieved.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 3 shows an opening / closing mechanism for a toilet seat / toilet lid constructed by using a linear ultrasonic motor. In this embodiment, the racks 11, 1 are attached to the linear drive shafts 9a, 10a of the linear ultrasonic motors 9, 10.
2 is fixed, and the pivots 1a and 2 of the toilet lid 1 and the toilet seat 2 are fixed.
The pinions 13 and 14 were attached to a.

Linear drive shaft 9 of ultrasonic motors 9 and 10
When a and 10a are driven, the rack 11 and
12 moves in a linear direction, which causes the pinion 13,
Rotational force is applied to 14, and the toilet lid 1 and toilet seat 2 are opened and closed.

Other Embodiments The embodiments of the present invention can be applied in various ways other than those described above. For example, the opening / closing mechanism according to the present invention may be applied only to the toilet lid, or may be applied only to the toilet seat when the toilet lid is omitted.

When the toilet bowl is equipped with a hot water washing device and the toilet seat / lid is attached to the case containing the hot water washing device,
The opening / closing mechanism according to the present invention may be housed in the above case. However, when the hot water washing device is not installed in the toilet bowl,
It is desirable to attach the toilet lid to the function box and store the opening / closing mechanism in the function box.

Further, in the structure in which a gear is interposed when a rotary ultrasonic motor is used and in the rack-and-pinion mechanism when a linear ultrasonic motor is used, the respective gear ratios are motor torque and It is set to be optimal according to the weight of the toilet seat / toilet lid, etc.

In addition, the present invention does not prevent appropriate modification according to the embodiment.

[0022]

The opening / closing mechanism of the toilet seat / toilet lid according to the present invention is
Since the ultrasonic motor with large torque is used as the drive source, a complicated gear mechanism is not required. Therefore, the structure can be simplified and cost reduction can be expected. Moreover, since the ultrasonic motor is small, it does not require a large installation space and has the advantage of being easy to assemble.

Further, since the ultrasonic motor does not generate a magnetic field, there is no fear of causing damage to surrounding electric equipment due to electromagnetic induction noise.

Further, since the ultrasonic motor produces a very low operating noise, it is possible to quietly open and close the toilet seat / lid.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 shows a first embodiment of an opening / closing mechanism for a toilet seat / toilet lid according to the present invention, FIG. 1 (A) is a perspective view showing the appearance of a hot water washing device, and FIG. 1 (B) is a main part of the mechanism. It is a perspective view which shows notionally.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the toilet seat / toilet lid opening / closing mechanism according to the present invention, and is a perspective view conceptually showing a main part of the mechanism.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the toilet seat / toilet lid opening / closing mechanism according to the present invention, and is a side view conceptually showing a main part of the mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Toilet lid 1a Axis 2 Toilet seat 2a Axis 3 Rotational ultrasonic motor 3a Rotational shaft 3 Rotational ultrasonic motor 4a Rotational shaft 5 Coupling device 6 Coupling device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A toilet seat / toilet lid opening / closing mechanism, wherein a rotary shaft of a rotary ultrasonic motor is connected to a pivot of a toilet seat and / or a toilet lid attached to a toilet bowl. 2. A toilet seat characterized in that a pinion is mounted on a pivot of a toilet seat and / or a toilet lid attached to a toilet bowl, and a linear drive shaft of a linear ultrasonic motor is connected to a rack that meshes with the pinion. Opening and closing mechanism of the toilet lid.