JPH1147032A - Hand drying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent large operation noise from occurring at the time of putting- out a hand to a blow port by increasing a voltage to be applied to a motor- driven blower step by step when it is recognized that the hand is inserted into a drying room by means of a sensor signal and slowly starting the operation of the motor-driven blower. SOLUTION: An injecting hole for injecting the blow air stream of the motor- driven blower 1 from a circulation flow path to the drying room 4 at high speed is provided in an opening part where the hand is inserted on the front surface of the drying room 4. The high-speed air stream is injected to the drying room 4 and, after that, returned from an inhale port in the depth of the drying room 5 to the motor-driven blower 1 through the circulation flow path at an inhale side. A sensor is constituted of light emitting elements 12a and light receiving elements 13a provided in the drying room 4. The slow start means of a control means 20 applies the gradually increased voltage to the motor- driven blower 1 when the sensor detects that the hand is inserted to the drying room 4 and a normal operation means adopts the voltage to be applied to the motor-driven blower 1 at the point of time when the operation of the slow start means is ended as a prescribed voltage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toilet and a toilet
The present invention relates to a hand drying device used in a kitchen or the like, which is used to dry hands after washing hands with water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, a hand drying apparatus has been put into practical use in which hands are dried by holding hands over the blown hot air instead of wiping hands wet with water or the like with a towel or handkerchief. . For example, those that can also be used as hair dryers, those that are configured to prevent water droplets from scattering, those that have additional functions such as sterilization by ultraviolet rays, those that circulate blast air, and those that use blast fan blades as heating elements Some of them have been developed to improve the heating efficiency.

[0003]

In the conventional hot-air hand drying apparatus, the blower starts to operate at the same time as the hand is inserted into the air outlet, generating a very loud operating sound and giving the user a sense of fear. Has the problem of giving

[0004]

According to the present invention, when the control means recognizes that a hand has been inserted into the drying chamber by a signal from the sensor, the voltage applied to the electric blower is increased stepwise, and It is a hand drying device that starts operation slowly.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that when the control means recognizes that a hand has been inserted into the drying chamber by a sensor arranged in the drying chamber, the control means steps the voltage applied to the electric blower. The hand drying apparatus is capable of gradually increasing the operating noise by gradually starting the drying operation and gradually increasing the operation sound.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, after the control means receives a signal from the sensor and recognizes that there is no hand in the drying chamber and stops the operation of the electric blower, the drying chamber is again returned within a predetermined time. When it is recognized that the hand is inserted into the hand blower, the electric blower is driven at a predetermined voltage from the beginning to dry the hand at high speed.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a front view of the configuration of the hand drying apparatus according to the present embodiment as viewed from the hand insertion port side, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the cross section in A.

An electric blower 1 for blowing air, a drying chamber 4 for inserting wet hands, a hand inserted into the drying chamber 4, and a hand drawn out of the drying chamber 4 are provided in the housing 10. And a control means 20 for controlling the electric blower 1 based on the output of the sensor. The front of the drying chamber 4 is an opening into which a hand is inserted. The opening is provided with a blowout hole 5 for blowing out the airflow of the electric blower 1 from the circulation flow path 8 into the drying chamber 4 at a high speed. As shown by arrows in FIGS. 2 and 3, the high-speed airflow spouted from the spouting hole 5 is spouted into the drying chamber 5 and then dried.
From the intake port 9 provided at the back of the electric blower 1 through the circulation channel 8 on the intake side. That is, the airflow blown by the electric blower 1 is equal to the electric blower 1 and the drying chamber 4.
It circulates between and. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sensor includes a light-emitting element 12a and a light-receiving element 13a provided to face the opening of the drying chamber 4.
And a set of a light emitting element 12b and a light receiving element 13b provided to face the back of the drying chamber 4. In this embodiment, two light emitting elements 12a and light receiving elements 13a and two light emitting elements 12b and light receiving elements 13b are provided. However, the number is not particularly limited to two. The light emitting element 12a / light receiving element 13a and the light emitting element 12b / light receiving element 13b are embedded in the wall of the drying chamber 4 so as not to hinder the user's manual insertion operation.

The control means 20 has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, slow start means 2
3. Normal operation means 24 and restart means 25 are provided. When the sensor generates an ON signal for detecting the hand inserted into the drying chamber 4, the slow start means 23 receives the signal and supplies the electric blower 1 with the stepwise increasing voltages V 1 and V 2 as shown in FIG. Apply V3, V4, and V5. In addition, the normal operation unit 24 sets the voltage V applied to the electric blower 1 to a predetermined voltage when the operation of the slow start unit 23 ends. In addition, the restart means 25 determines that the light emitting element 12b light receiving element 13b provided at the back of the drying chamber 4 and the light emitting element 12a light receiving element 13a provided at the opening of the drying chamber 4 once have no hands. The operation is performed when an ON signal is received again from the light emitting element 12a and the light receiving element 13a provided in the opening of the drying chamber 4 within 5 seconds after the generation of the OFF signal shown in FIG. That is, the restart means 25 starts the electric blower 1 at the predetermined voltage V from the beginning.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.
When the user inserts his wet hand through the opening of the drying chamber 4,
A sensor composed of a set of a light emitting element 12a and a light receiving element 13a arranged to face the opening of the drying chamber 4 and a light emitting element 12b and light receiving element 13b provided to face the back of the drying chamber 4 Operate. That is, the light emitting element 12
a) The light emitted from the light emitting element 12b is blocked by the hand and does not reach the light receiving elements 13a and 13b. In this state, the light receiving elements 13a and 13b transmit an ON signal for detecting the presence of the hand to the control means 20. Slow start means 23 constituting control means 20
Is to slow start the electric blower 1 upon receiving this signal. That is, as shown in FIG.
The voltage applied to the electric blower 1 is increased stepwise as V1 to V5. For this reason, the rotation speed of the electric blower 1 gradually increases, and the generated operation sound is initially small and gradually increases. At this time, the rotation speed of the electric blower 1 is controlled by the applied voltages V1 to V
Even if 5 increases stepwise, it increases continuously. When the operation of the slow start means 23 ends, the normal operation means 24 starts operating and the electric blower 1
Is maintained at a predetermined voltage V. For this reason, the electric blower 1 rotates at a predetermined rotation speed,
A high-speed airflow is ejected from the ejection hole 5 to the hand inserted in the inside. Therefore, water droplets adhering to the hand are peeled off at high speed, and the hand dries in a short time. When the user feels the end of drying and pulls his hands out of the drying chamber 4,
The light receiving elements 13a and 13b transmit an off signal that does not detect the presence of the hand to the control unit 20. Control means 20
When this signal is received, the drive of the electric blower 1 is stopped.

In this case, the rotation speed of the electric blower 1 is slow immediately after the start of drying by the slow start means 23,
Therefore, the speed of the airflow ejected from the ejection hole 5 is also low. However, since the water droplets attached to the hands in the initial stage of drying are relatively large and can be sufficiently separated from the hands even with a low-speed jet, the use of the slow start means 23 increases the overall drying time. Is not something.

[0012] It is assumed that the user notices that the timing of removing his / her hand from the drying chamber 4 is too early, and his / her hand is dried again using the apparatus of this embodiment. In this case, the timing of inserting the hand again into the drying chamber 4 is within 5 seconds in most cases after the hand is first extracted from the drying chamber 4. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 receives the signal from the sensor, recognizes that there is no hand in the drying chamber, and stops the operation of the electric blower 1 within 5 seconds.
When the ON signal a is received, the restart means 25 is operated. That is, the electric blower 1 is started at a predetermined voltage V from the beginning and rotates at a predetermined rotation speed. Therefore, the airflow spouted from the spouting holes 5 is also high in speed from the beginning, and water droplets adhering to the hand are separated in a short time. At this time, naturally, the rotating operation sound of the electric blower 1 is loud from the beginning, but the user does not feel the operating sound so loud because it is the second use.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the control means 20 recognizes that the hand has been inserted into the drying chamber 4 by the signal of the sensor, the voltage applied to the electric blower 1 is increased stepwise. Thus, the operation of the electric blower 1 is slowly started. For this reason, the operation sound generated by the electric blower 1 also gradually increases, and does not give a sense of fear to the user.

If the user notices insufficient drying and inserts his / her hand again into the apparatus, the control means 20 drives the electric blower 1 from the beginning at a predetermined voltage to dry the hand at a high speed. It is a drying device.

[0015]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric blower for blowing air, a drying chamber for drying inserted hands,
An ejection hole for ejecting airflow from an electric blower disposed on the inner surface of the drying chamber, a sensor for detecting that a hand has been inserted into the drying chamber, and control means for controlling the electric blower, wherein the control means is a sensor The voltage applied to the electric blower is increased stepwise based on the output of, as a configuration for driving at a predetermined voltage thereafter, the voltage applied to the electric blower is increased stepwise, and the operation of the electric blower is slowly started, It is intended to realize a hand dryer capable of gradually increasing operation noise.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric blower for blowing air, a drying chamber for drying an inserted hand, and a blowout hole for blowing out blast airflow of the electric blower disposed on the inner surface of the drying chamber. A sensor disposed at the back of the drying chamber and at the entrance of the drying chamber for detecting the presence of a hand; and control means for controlling the electric blower, wherein the control means receives a signal from the sensor and moves the hand into the drying chamber. After recognizing that the electric fan does not exist and stopping the operation of the electric blower, when recognizing that the hand has been inserted again into the drying chamber within a predetermined time, the electric blower is driven at a predetermined voltage from the beginning. It realizes a hand-drying device capable of high-speed drying.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of a hand drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, as viewed from a hand insertion side.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a section taken along line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an AA section in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the slow start means.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 electric blower 4 drying chamber 5 ejection hole 12 a light emitting element 12 b light emitting element 13 a light receiving element 13 b light receiving element 20 control means 23 slow start means 24 normal operation means 25 restart means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shuji Abe 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Pref. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electric blower for blowing air, a drying chamber for drying inserted hands, an ejection hole for blowing out a blast airflow of the electric blower disposed on an inner surface of the drying chamber, and a hand inserted into the drying chamber. And a control unit for controlling the electric blower, wherein the control unit gradually increases the voltage applied to the electric blower based on the output of the sensor,
Thereafter, a hand drying device driven at a predetermined voltage. 2. An electric blower for blowing air, a drying chamber for drying inserted hands, a blowout hole for blowing out a blast airflow of the electric blower disposed on an inner surface of the drying chamber, an inner side of the drying chamber and a drying chamber. And a control means for controlling the electric blower, wherein the control means receives a signal from the sensor and recognizes that no hand is present in the drying chamber. A hand drying device that drives the electric blower at a predetermined voltage from the beginning when the operation of the electric blower is stopped and it is recognized that a hand has been inserted into the drying chamber again within a predetermined time.