JPS6142605Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to improving the thermal efficiency of hot air bath equipment. In other words, conventional hot air baths have a chamber that can be sealed with wood, synthetic resin, or other material that is difficult to pass through heat and air.
A hollow body such as a box or bag is made, and a heat source such as a stove is placed inside to heat the body using natural heat convection and radiation, so the heat is unevenly distributed upwards, and the temperature around the bather is low and gradually decreases as the temperature goes down. The temperature was so low that it required tens of times more thermal energy than the amount of heat that effectively acts on the human body, and bathers also had many health problems, as their heads and the air they breathed became stuffy due to the heat.

Therefore, recently, heat source devices have been developed that use circulating heating or heated air blowers that involve forced flow of indoor air to circulate heated air and average the temperature distribution, and the thermal efficiency for bathers has improved considerably. It has come to be.

However, experiments have shown that by intensively heating the skin covering the lumbar and dorsal vertebrae, which have a thin layer of subcutaneous fat that is a poor conductor of heat, as well as both sides of the ribcage and abdomen, along with the lower limbs, heat can be absorbed into the body. It has been discovered that the degree of transmission of heat is extremely high, which greatly promotes metabolism and sweating in various parts of the body, so it is not possible to use a hot air bath system simply by using a circulation or blowing system to average out the hot air in the hot air bath. It is becoming difficult to evaluate the functions as satisfactory.

In other words, for effective heating, it is necessary to administer the largest possible amount of heating energy to the area from the back to the waist and then to both sides of the trunk in a reliable manner, and to reduce the resulting increase in metabolic activity in the body. The value of hot air bath devices has come to be determined by the quality of the creation of conditions to facilitate the self-sustaining effect of dissipating excess internal heat, which is a product of heat exchange, through sweat and evaporation.
The simplest and most effective method is to actively send heated air from the back to the lumbar area and the sides of the trunk, and after contacting these areas, allow the air to flow around the bather's body. This effectively transmits the thermal energy of the heated air and also promotes sweat evaporation. If the evaporation of this sweat water is poor, you will feel uncomfortable, like during the rainy season, and it will affect your physical condition. On the other hand, if the evaporation is good, the autonomic function of body temperature regulation will be smooth, increasing the feeling of pleasure and making your physical condition more comfortable. It is extremely important to do so.
Up until now, there have been ideas for forced circulation heating systems in which a portion of the heated air simply flows upward behind or to the sides of the bather, but in this case the hot air flow is parallel to the skin surface. Therefore, the thin layer of air that is formed in close contact with the skin surface due to fluid friction becomes a large resistance to heat conduction (the thermal conductivity of air is extremely low), making active heating as described above impossible and extremely unsatisfactory. However, other circulating heating methods were even less efficient.

However, the present invention uses a simple mechanism to create multiple streams of hot air stepwise in the direction of the lower extremities of a seated bather, as well as the lumbar vertebrae and other parts of the back. In order to ensure that the heated air contacts the skin surface at almost a right angle or an angle close to it, it prevents the formation of a thin layer of air that acts as a resistance to heat conduction and directs the heated air directly to the skin surface. In addition, it flows from the back of the body along the roundness of the trunk to the side of the body, heating that area as well, further heating the lower limbs, and then merging with the downward flow of hot air that rises. Since the air flows around the entire body, it provides effective heat to the whole body, and the warm, low-humidity air that moves along the entire surface of the skin provides the best conditions for the evaporation of sweat water. In other words, it nearly completely satisfies the above-mentioned essential conditions for a hot air bath device.

Examples thereof will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the overall appearance of the hot air bath including a partially broken section, and FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross section of the back wall and seat portion including the portion facing the back of the bather.

That is, a seat plate 2 is installed in a hot air bath which is a sealable hollow body made up of a back wall body 1 for the back of the bather, a bottom part 3, an outer peripheral member 4, an entrance door 5, and other members.
will be established. An electric fan 1 is installed in the lower part of the seat.
3. An electrical heating and delivery type heat source mechanism is provided, which includes an electrical heating section 14 and a main hot air flow path 15 connected to its hot air port 14a. This main hot air flow path 1
Reference numeral 5 denotes a seat downward air passage 8 formed between the seat plate 2 and the lower plate 7 and a substantially vertical surface facing the back of the bather of the back wall, which is located near the shoulders of the seated bather. Air supply openings 9 and 1 with guides are provided up to the vicinity of the seat surface, that is, in the range A shown in the figure.
0 and 11 and an upper air passage 20 built into the back wall for sending air upwardly.

As the fan rotates, air flows in from the suction port 6 near the bottom plate 3 as shown by arrow A, is heated in the heating section 14, and is forced into the main hot air flow path 15 through the hot air port 14a, and flows downward from the seat into the lower air flow path 8. The air flow above the seat is divided into two air streams with the upper air flow path 20, and hot air is sent into the bathroom from below and above the seat, respectively. Among these, the upward air flow flows upward through the upper air passage 20 having a central axis 22, is further divided by guides 17, 18, and 21, and then flows from the air supply openings 9, 10, 11 to the central axis 20 as shown in the figure.
The water flows out in a plurality of stepwise flows as shown by arrows C, D, and E, with central axes forming angles α ₁ , α ₂ , and α _{3 ,} respectively.

In other words, the air supplied below the seat becomes flow arrow B and flows to the lower limbs of the seated bather, but of the air supplied above the seat, flow C flows to the lumbar region of the seated bather.
Flow 2 is directed to the lower part of the back vertebrae, and flow 0 is directed to the middle and upper part of the back vertebrae, as shown by chain lines, so that the angle α ₁ with respect to the central axis of the upper air flow path is approximately 130. degrees, α ₂ is approximately 100 degrees, α
₃ is sent out as a flow of about 90 degrees, effectively heats those parts by eliminating the formation of a thin layer of air caused by fluid friction that causes heat transfer resistance, and further heats the body from the back. The hot air flows along the curvature of the bather to the side of the body and heats it up, then joins with the hot air from the flow that rises from below and spreads it along the entire body surface of the seated bather. It forms a fluid layer and effectively heats each part of the body, while promoting the evaporation of water sweating from various parts of the body surface through the flow of warm, low-humidity air, smoothing the autonomous action of body temperature regulation and greatly increasing the feeling of pleasure. be.

The feeling of use can be further improved by adjusting the air flow distribution member 12 shown in the figure to distribute the air above and below the seat.

Incidentally, in a normal hot air bathroom, all the air inside the sealed hollow body is preheated to a corresponding temperature (for example, 70℃ or higher) and the bather enters the bath, so a large amount of air is required to preheat the entire air. This method consumes thermal energy and takes time, which has the disadvantage of increasing heat loss through hot air from the walls of the bathroom, etc.

However, if the circulation uses a hot air blowing method, and if the hot air is divided into multiple streams as in the present invention and sent to heat the lumbar and dorsal areas in particular, and then the sides of the body, there will be less resistance than in areas where the bather feels heat. Because the hot air is quickly conducted into the body, if the average temperature of the air in the entire bathroom is warmed to a degree slightly higher than room temperature, the air sent out from the heating mechanism through the air flow path will
The bather can easily start bathing by reaching the appropriate temperature of around 80°C and heating the main parts of the bather.This can be achieved in an extremely short time from the start of electrical heating, and it is effective in terms of thermal efficiency and pleasure as mentioned above. In addition, the time and energy required for preheating are minimal, and the fact that there is no need to forcibly heat the entire indoor air minimizes the loss of indoor heat to the outside, which is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the room walls. The energy saving effect can be further improved.

In the illustrated embodiment, the back wall itself is provided with an upper air passage and a guided air supply opening, since the bather does not have a backrest attached to the seat and the bather leans his or her back directly against the back wall. However, if a seat with a backrest is provided, an upper air passage and a guided air supply opening are provided between the back wall and the backrest plate member facing the back wall. Both have exactly the same principle and effect, and within the scope of the present invention, they can be considered collectively as the same thing, that is, a back member for leaning back.

As described in detail above, the present invention maximizes the hot air bath effect using a simple device and provides an economical tool, and is extremely valuable in terms of health management of the nation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall external perspective view including a partially broken part of a hot air bath according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the main parts of the hot air bath, such as the back wall and the seat. The symbols used for each part are as follows: 1... Rear wall, 2... Stool board, 3... Bottom, 4... Outer peripheral member, 5... Entrance/exit door, 6... Inlet, 7... Stool. Lower plate, 8...Seat lower air flow path, 9,1
0, 11...Air supply opening, 12...Air flow branching member, 13...Electric fan, 14...Electric heating section, 14a...Hot air port, 15...Main hot air flow path, 17, 18 , 21...Guide, 19...Electric control board, 20...Upper air passage built into the back wall, 22...Upper air passage center axis.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A hollow body comprising a hermetically sealed or nearly hermetically sealed chamber, box, bag, etc. whose periphery is made of a heat insulating or low air permeable material, and a back wall that can serve as a backrest, or a seat with a backrest, and said hollow body. In a hot air bath device that is combined with an electric heating and delivery type heat source mechanism that is installed below a seat inside the body and sends heated air into the hollow body in both the upper and lower directions of the seat, The back wall body or backrest member that supports the seated bather has a built-in vertical air flow path in a portion below the stem that corresponds to the shoulder area of a seated bather of a typical physique, and the seated bather has a built-in part of the air flow path. An air supply opening with a guide is provided on the substantially vertical surface facing the seat, and all of the heated air flowing upward from the seat in the heated air sent out from the heat source mechanism is passed through the air supply opening into the hollow body. A hot air bath device characterized in that hot air is sent out as a stream of hot air with a central axis forming an angle of about 90 to 150 degrees with respect to the central axis of the air flow path toward a space occupied or to be occupied by a seated bather. .