JPH1071101A - Hand dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten time for drying by blowing strong warm air without damaging heat efficiency at a hand dryer. SOLUTION: This device has an air blowing means 4, heating means 5, bypass conduit 9 which are parallelly installed on the blowing side of this air blowing means 4, and air blowing nozzle 6 for gathering and blowing out the air passed through these heating means 5 and the bypass conduit 6 and this air blowing nozzle 6 is made into sharp reduced nozzle. Thus, time for drying hands can be remarkably shortened by blowing strong jet warm air without lowering heating efficiency at the heating means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hand drying apparatus for washing hands in a washroom or a toilet and drying wet hands with warm air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a hand dryer of this type does not use a handkerchief or towel after using a toilet or washing dirty hands, and does not wet a pocket storing a handkerchief. An air-type hand drying device for drying hands has been put to practical use.

This hand drying device has a built-in blowing means and a heating means, starts operation when a hand detection means detects an outstretched hand, and dries the surface of a wet hand with warm air. It is.

[0004]

In such a conventional hand drying apparatus, it takes about 30 minutes to completely dry the hands.
Since it takes time from one second to one minute, if the air volume is increased to shorten the time, there is a problem that the heating means becomes unsafe when overheated. There is a problem in that the air flow increases and the PTC heater becomes in a supercooled state, and the heat generation efficiency of the PTC heater deteriorates. Therefore, there is a demand for a hand-drying device that maintains the safety of the heat generating means even when drying in a short time and improves the heat generating efficiency.

Further, in order to keep the temperature of the hot air blown out at a constant level, it is necessary to simultaneously control the air volume of the air blowing means and the heat generation amount of the heat generating means. It is required to keep the temperature.

In addition, since the current flowing through the circuit of the control circuit for controlling the blowing means and the heat generating means increases, there is a problem that the ambient temperature of the control circuit exceeds the allowable temperature range in a closed case. As a solution to this, it is conceivable to add a small fan motor for cooling. However, since the device becomes large, a compact and effective heat radiation measure is required.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and can reduce the drying time, keep the hot air temperature constant by simple control, and reduce the atmospheric temperature of the control circuit. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hand dryer that can be effectively lowered.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a hand dryer according to the present invention comprises: a blowing means; a heating means and a bypass air path provided in parallel on a blowing side of the blowing means;
It has an air blowing nozzle that collects and blows out the air that has passed through the heat generating means and the bypass air path. The blowing air blowing nozzle is a rapidly reducing nozzle, and can reduce the drying time significantly. A drying device can be obtained.

Another means is PTC as a heating means.
The blower temperature is controlled by controlling the air volume of the blowing means by using a heater, so that a hand drying apparatus which does not need to control the heating means can be obtained.

Further, another means has a control means for controlling the blowing means and the heat generating means, and a preliminary air outlet provided in the air blowing means, and air is blown from the preliminary air outlet to the control means. In addition, since a part of the air sent from the air blower is discharged from the preliminary outlet and sent out to the controller, a hand dryer capable of effectively lowering the ambient temperature of the control circuit can be obtained.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is directed to a blowing means, a heating means and a bypass air path which are provided in parallel on the blowing side of the blowing means, and collects and blows out the wind which has passed through the heating means and the bypass air path. It has a blow-off nozzle, and this blow-off nozzle is a rapidly reducing nozzle. The air flowing in the heating element housing frame flows through the heating element and the bypass air path in a well-balanced manner, and then mixes again. Then, it has the effect of blowing out strong wind from the blow-off nozzle.

When the amount of air passing through the heating element changes due to the intensity of the air flow of the air blowing means, a heat amount approximately proportional to the air volume can be obtained due to the temperature characteristics of the PTC heater. The temperature of the hot air sent from the outlet nozzle is not greatly reduced, and an appropriate amount of hot air is obtained. Conversely, when the amount of air sent decreases, the amount of heat generated by the heating element also decreases, and the air is sent out from the air outlet nozzle. The hot air temperature does not greatly increase, and has an effect that an appropriate hot air can be obtained.

[0013] Further, there is provided a control means for controlling the blowing means and the heat generating means, and a preliminary outlet provided in the blowing means, wherein air is blown from the preliminary blowing port to the control means. Since a part of the blown air is discharged from the preliminary outlet and sent to the control means, it has an effect of removing hot air generated by the control means and lowering the ambient temperature.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0015]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) As shown in FIG. 1, a main body 1 is composed of a front case 2 and a water receiving portion 3 protruding from a lower portion, and a blowing means 4 and a heat generating means 5 are provided in the front case 2.
The blowing nozzle 6 is provided to face the water receiver 3. A detector 7 for detecting a hand is provided in the vicinity of the blowing nozzle 6. The control means 8 controls the driving of the air blowing means 4 and the heat generating means 5 in response to the detection signal of the detector 7.

The main body 1 includes a mounting fixture 10 such as a screw 1
At 1, it is attached and fixed to the wall of a washroom or the like. Inside the main body 1, there is provided a blower 12 b which is rotationally driven by a motor 12 a as a blowing means 4.
PTC as the heat generating means 5 between the
The heaters 5a and 5b are provided. PTC heater 5a,
Heating element storage frame 1 provided with bypass air passage 9 in parallel with 5b
3 is provided, and on the downstream side, an air blowing nozzle 6 is provided in communication. The blower blowing nozzle 6 blows out jet warm air from the blower blower nozzle 6 in a rapidly reducing shape in which the outlet is narrowed down so that the hot air blown through the heating element housing frame 13 is vigorously discharged at a speed of 80 m / sec or more. This can shorten the drying time. An intake passage 15 having an intake port 14 below is formed on the rear side of the main body 1, and serves as an air intake portion of the blower 4.

At the lower end of the front case 2, a water receiving portion 3 is provided so as to project therefrom, and is formed integrally with the main body 1 so as to have a space under which the hand can be inserted below the blowing nozzle 6. The water receiving portion 3 is formed in a dish shape and can receive water droplets.

A detector 7 for detecting the presence of a hand is disposed in the vicinity of the blow-off nozzle 6 below the front case 2. In order to reduce noise generated from the main body 1, a sound absorbing material 16 is provided around the blower 4.

In the above configuration, first, the blowing nozzle 6
When a hand is inserted below the air conditioner, the hand is detected and its detection output is turned on, and the blowing means 4 and the heat generating means 5 are operated via the control means 8 to blow hot air from the blowing nozzle 6. . Next, when the hand is dried and the hand is removed from below the blow-off nozzle 6, the detection output of the detector 7 is turned off, and the operation stops.

The heating element housing frame 13 includes PTC heaters 5a,
b to form a bypass air passage 9 and
From the PTC heaters 5 a and 5 b and the wind passing through the bypass air passage 9. Thereby, the amount of wind passing through the PTC heaters 5a and 5b is
The number is smaller than when the bypass air passage 9 is not formed, and the heat generation efficiency of the PTC heater is improved. Furthermore, PT
The warm air passing through the C heaters 5a and 5b and the bypass air passage 9
After the air that has passed through is blown again in the blow-off nozzle 6, the hot air is blown from the reduced opening to the surface of the hand, and the wet hand is dried efficiently and in a short time. Can be.

Although the water receiving portion 3 is shown as being formed integrally with the front case 2, the water receiving portion 3 formed separately from the front case 2 is provided with a space below the blowing nozzle 6. It may be arranged at a location.

(Embodiment 2) As shown in FIG. 1, PTC heaters 5a and 5b are provided as heat generating means 5. Further, an air volume changeover switch 17 for switching the air volume of the air blowing means 4 to two levels of high and low is provided.

In the above configuration, when the amount of air passing through the heat generating means 5 changes due to the strength of the air volume of the blowing means 4, P
Due to the temperature characteristics of the TC heaters 5a and 5b, the amount of heat generated is approximately proportional to the amount of air flow. Therefore, even if the amount of air blows, the temperature of the air passing through the heat generating means 5 does not decrease. By mixing, an appropriate warm air can be obtained from the blow-off nozzle 6.

Conversely, when the amount of air blows decreases, the amount of heat generated by the heat generating means 5 also decreases, and the temperature of the wind passing through the heat generating means 5 does not increase. A suitable warm air can be obtained from the nozzle 6.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the amount of air blown and the temperature of air blown out. Curve A shows the temperature characteristics when the PTC heater of the present invention is used as the heating means, and curve B shows the conventional resistance wire heating element used as the heating means. It is a temperature characteristic when it is. As is clear from FIG. 2, when the PTC heater is used as the heating means,
It can be seen that, within the normal use range, the blowing temperature does not change much even if the blowing amount increases or decreases.

Further, since the bypass air passage is provided in parallel with the heat generating means of the PTC heater, it is possible to obtain hot air having a temperature suitable for hand drying by mixing with the air blow at the room temperature.

Therefore, only by switching the air volume of the blowing means 4 in multiple stages, without controlling the heat generating means 5,
It is possible to control the temperature of the hot air blown from the blow-off nozzle 6.

(Embodiment 3) As shown in FIG.
And a blower housing 1 in which the blower 4 is disposed.
8 and a preliminary outlet 19 on the side wall of the blower housing 18.
The preliminary air outlet 19 is connected to an air guide tube 20. Further, a ventilation window 21 is formed in the upper part of the intake passage 15, and the storage space 22 of the control means 8 is connected to the intake passage 1.
5 is connected.

In the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 3, the air sucked from the intake port 14 by the operation of the air blowing means 4 passes through the air blowing means 4 and mostly passes through the heat generating means 5 or the bypass air passage 9. The air is blown from the blow-off nozzle 6, but a part is blown from the preliminary blow-out port 19 provided on the side wall of the blower housing 18 to the control means 8 through the air guide tube 20, and the storage space 22 and Cooling the control means 8;
The air is blown into the intake passage 15 through the ventilation window 21.

In this flow operation, since the pressure of the blower housing 18 is the highest, and then the storage space 22 and the intake passage 15 decrease in this order, the flow of air from the high-pressure portion to the low-pressure portion naturally increases. Is what happens.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above embodiment, the hand drying apparatus of the present invention has a heat generating means and a bypass air path in a heat generating element housing frame so that the heat generating efficiency of the heat generating means is not reduced. A powerful jet of hot air can be sent, greatly reducing hand drying time.

Further, by using a PTC heater as the heat generating means, the blowout temperature can be controlled only by the intensity of the air volume of the air blowing means, and the control means can have a simple configuration.

In addition, since a part of the wind blown from the blower is discharged from the preliminary outlet by the positive pressure and blown to the controller, the heat is radiated without adding a small fan motor for cooling. Thus, the temperature of the atmosphere of the control means can be reduced compactly and effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a hand drying device according to Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an air volume-temperature characteristic diagram of a heating unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 4 blower means 5 heat generator 5a PTC heater 5b PTC heater 6 blower blowout nozzle 8 control means 9 bypass airflow path 19 preliminary outlet

Claims (3)

[Claims] An air blowing means, a heat generating means and a bypass air path provided in parallel on the blowing side of the air blowing means, and a blowing air blowing nozzle for collecting and blowing the air passing through the heat generating means and the bypass air path. A hand drying device in which the blow-off nozzle is a rapidly reducing nozzle. 2. A PTC heater is used as a heat generating means,
2. The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein the blowing temperature is controlled by controlling the air volume of the blowing means. 3. A control means for controlling an air blowing means and a heat generating means, and a preliminary air outlet provided in said air blowing means, wherein air is blown from said auxiliary air outlet to said control means. A hand drying device as described.