KR20080022229A - Drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides drying apparatus (10) having a casing (12), a cavity (30) formed in the casing (12) for receiving an object, a fan (40) located in the casing (12) and capable of creating an airflow, and at least one slot-like opening (60, 62) communicating with the fan (40) and arranged in the casing (12) so as to direct an airflow transversely across the cavity (30). According to the invention, the slot-like opening (60, 62) is formed between opposing walls (54a, 54b, 56a, 56b) which approach one another at an angle of between 10‹and 20‹. In another aspect of the invention, two slot-like openings (60, 62) are provided and a ducting (90) providing communication between the fan (40) and the slot-like openings (60, 62) has a first cross-section in the vicinity of the fan (40) whose dimensions are similar in all directions and a slot-like cross-section in the vicinity of the openings (60, 62), the transition between the said cross-sections being gradual and smooth. ® KIPO & WIPO 2008

Description

Drying Unit {DRYING APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to a drying apparatus that uses a narrow jet of high speed, high pressure to dry an object comprising a part of the human body. The invention relates, in particular, not exclusively, to a hand dryer in which an air jet is injected through a slotted opening in the casing.

It is known to dry hands using air jets. Hand dryers that spray one or more air jets through slotted openings are illustrated in GB 2249026A, JP 2002034835A, and JP 2002-306370A. In practice, however, it is very difficult to obtain a uniformly distributed airflow of a force high enough to dry the user's hand efficiently in a short time. The prior art did not implement this.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drying apparatus for injecting an air jet through a slotted opening, which, in use, can dry an object in a shorter time than in the prior art. Another object of the present invention is to provide a hand dryer which can dry a user's hand in a short time compared with the prior art. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hand dryer with improved drying efficiency over the prior art.

A drying apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a casing, a cavity formed in the casing to receive an object, a blower located in the casing and capable of generating airflow, and in communication with the blower and across the cavity One or more slotted openings arranged to move, wherein the slotted openings are formed between opposing walls adjacent to each other at an angle of 10 ° to 20 °.

In a preferred embodiment, the angle between the walls of the slotted opening is substantially 14 °. This angle has been found to have the advantage that the force of the airflow injected through the slotted openings is considerably increased compared to prior art devices. This increases the efficiency of the dryer by the fact that more water is released from the object while the airflow exits the slotted openings.

A drying apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is a casing, a cavity formed in the casing to receive an object, a blower located in the casing and capable of generating airflow, and in communication with the blower, across the cavity And two opposing slot-like openings arranged to move, the conduit having a first cross-section similar in dimension in all directions near the blower and a slotted cross-section near the opening, between the cross-sections. Transition is gentle and smooth.

Preferably, the overall cross sectional area of the conduit is substantially constant between the blower and the point just upstream of the slotted opening. This minimizes losses inside the conduit and improves the efficiency of the blower.

1 is a side view of a hand dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hand dryer of FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a side cross-sectional view of the hand dryer of FIG. 1.

4 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of the upper end of the air conduit forming part of the hand dryer of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic side cross-sectional view of a slotted opening located in the front wall of the cavity of the hand dryer of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional side view of a slotted opening located in the rear wall of the cavity of the hand dryer of FIG. 1;

7 is a perspective view showing the duct forming part of the hand dryer of FIG. 1 separately from the other parts of the apparatus.

8A is a plan view of a cavity inlet of a hand dryer according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8B is a front view of the slotted opening located in the rear wall of the cavity of the hand dryer of FIG. 8A.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention in the form of a hand dryer.

1 and 2, the illustrated hand dryer 10 includes an outer casing 12 having a front wall 14, a rear wall 16, an upper surface 18, and side surfaces 20, 22. do. The back wall 16 may be provided with a fixing device (not shown) for securing the hand dryer 10 to the wall or other structure prior to use. Electrical connections (not shown) are provided at the rear wall or elsewhere in casing 12. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cavity 30 is formed in the upper portion of the casing 12. The cavity 30 is open at its upper end, where it is defined by the upper part of the front wall 14 and the front part of the upper surface 18. The space between the upper portion of the front wall 14 and the front portion of the upper surface 18 forms a cavity entrance 32 wide enough to allow the user's hand to enter the cavity 30. The cavity 30 is also opened to the side of the hand dryer 10 by proper shaping of the side walls 20, 22.

The cavity 30 has a front wall 34 and a rear wall 36 that define the cavity 30 with respect to the front and the rear, respectively. At the lowest end of the cavity 30 is located a drain 38 in communication with a reservoir (not shown) located in the lower portion of the casing 12. The purpose of the drain and reservoir will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, a motor (not shown) is located inside the casing 12, and a blower 40 driven by the motor is also located inside the casing 12. The motor is connected with the electrical connection and controlled by the controller 41. The inlet 42 of the blower 40 is in communication with an air inlet 44 formed in the casing 12. In the air passage connecting the air inlet 44 to the blower inlet 42, a filter 46 is positioned to prevent any debris that may damage the motor or the blower 40 from entering. The outlet of the blower 40 is in communication with the air ducts 50, 52 located inside the casing 12. The front air duct 50 is mainly located between the front wall 14 of the casing 12 and the front wall 34 of the cavity 30, and the rear air duct 52 is mainly the rear wall of the casing 12. It is located between the 16 and the rear wall 36 of the cavity 30.

The air ducts 50, 52 direct air from the blower 40 to a pair of opposing slotted openings 60, 62 located in the front wall 34 and the back wall 36 of the cavity 30, respectively. It is arranged to induce. Slotted openings 60, 62 are disposed at the top of the cavity 30 near the cavity inlet 32. The slotted openings 60, 62 are each configured such that airflow moves approximately across the cavity inlet 32 toward both walls of the cavity 30. Slotted openings 60, 62 are vertically offset and sloped toward the lowest end of cavity 30.

4 shows the upper end of the air ducts 50, 52 and the slotted openings 60, 62 in more detail. As shown, the walls 54a and 54b of the air duct 50 converge to form a slotted opening 60, and the walls 56a and 56b of the air duct 52 are also slotted openings 62. Converge to form As shown in more detail in FIGS. 5 and 6, FIG. 5 shows that the slotted opening 60 has a width of W1, and FIG. 6 shows that the slotted opening 62 has a width of W2. The width W1 of the slotted opening 60 is smaller than the width W2 of the slotted opening 62. The width W1 is 0.3 mm and the width W2 is 0.4 mm.

Each pair of walls 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b is arranged such that each wall approaches each other as it approaches the slotted openings 60, 62. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, assuming that an imaginary axis 70 lies between each pair of walls, each wall 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b for each axis 70. It is placed at an angle of substantially 7 °. Thus, the angle formed between each pair of walls 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b is substantially 14 °. This angle can be varied to various angles, but has been found to be preferred. An angle of 10 ° to 20 ° can be used.

A sensor 64 is located in the front wall 34 and the rear wall 36 of the cavity 30 just below the slotted openings 60, 62. These sensors 64 are arranged to detect whether the user's hand is inserted into the cavity 30 through the cavity inlet 32 and to signal the motor when the user's hand is inserted into the cavity 30. . As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the walls 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b of the ducts 50, 52 are slightly more than the surfaces of the front wall 34 and the rear wall 36 of the cavity 30. It protrudes. The walls 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b of the ducts 50, 52 protrude inwards, thereby reducing the tendency of the user's hand to be sucked into either wall 34, 36 of the cavity, thereby reducing the hand dryer 10 ) Can be used more easily. By placing the sensor 64 directly below the walls 54a, 54b, 56a, 56b protruding into the ducts 50, 52, the risk of contaminating the sensor 64 and degrading its operability is also reduced.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shape of the cavity inlet 32 is substantially straight with the front edge 32a and extends transversely across the width of the hand dryer 10. However, the rear edge 32b consists of two bends 33 approximately following the shape of the pair of hands as the user inserts the pair of hands downwardly through the cavity inlet 32 toward the cavity 30. It has a shape. The rear edge 32b of the cavity inlet 32 is substantially symmetrical with respect to the center line of the hand dryer 10. This shape and dimension of the front edge 32a and the rear edge 32b of the cavity inlet 32 is such that the user's hand is inserted into the cavity 30 through the cavity inlet 32. This is to make the distance from the point closest to the slot-like opening substantially uniform.

The air ducts 50, 52 form part of the conduit 90 that lies between the blower 40 and the slotted openings 60, 62. 7 is a perspective view of conduit 90.

The conduit 90 lies adjacent to the blower 40 and includes a scroll 92 for receiving the airflow generated by the blower 40. The scroll 92 communicates with the first chamber 94 having a substantially square cross section, which may be approximately circular. This allows the cross section of the chamber 94 to have substantially the same dimensions in both directions. Immediately downstream of the chamber 94 is a Y-junction 96, and downstream of the Y-shaped branch are air ducts 50, 52. As described above, the air ducts 50, 52 extend toward the upper end of the casing 12, and the front air duct 50 is the front wall 14 of the casing 12 and the front wall 34 of the cavity 30. ), And the rear duct 52 is located between the rear wall 16 of the casing 12 and the rear wall 36 of the cavity 30. The air ducts 50, 52 communicate with the slotted openings 60, 62 at the upper end of the cavity 30.

The conduit 90 smoothly and gently changes its cross-sectional area from the approximately square (or circular) of the chamber 94 to the slot shape of the opening. Immediately downstream of the chamber 94, the conduit is divided into air ducts 50, 52, the cross-sectional area at its upstream end being still substantially square, ie substantially similar in width and depth of cross section. However, the cross section changes gently as it moves away from the chamber 94, so that the width of each duct 50, 52 increases as its depth decreases. All changes are smooth and gentle to minimize frictional losses.

At the point immediately upstream 98 of each of the slotted openings 60, 62, the cross-sectional area of each of the air ducts 50, 52 is reduced such that the speed of airflow moving towards the slotted openings 60, 62 is significantly increased. To start. However, between the chamber 94 and the point 98 in each air duct 50, 52, the overall cross sectional area of the conduit (ie, the overall cross sectional area of the air ducts 50, 52) remains substantially constant.

The above-described hand dryer 10 is operated as follows. The user's hand first enters the cavity 30 through the cavity inlet 32, and the sensor 64 senses the user's hand and signals the motor to drive the blower 64. Blower 40 is actuated to allow air to flow through air inlet 44 at a rate of about 20 to 40 liters per second, preferably at least 25 to 27 liters per second, more preferably 31 to 35 liters per second. 10) flows into. Air passes through filter 46 and goes to blower 40 along blower inlet 42. The airflow leaving the blower 40 is divided into two separate airflows, one of which goes to the slotted opening 60 along the front air duct 50 and the other of the airflow along the rear air duct 52. Go to the slotted opening 62.

Airflow is injected from the slotted openings 60, 62 in the form of a very thin, high speed, high pressure air layer. When the air flow leaves the slotted openings 60 and 62, the pressure of air is 15 kPa, preferably about 20 to 23 kPa. Further, the speed of the air flow leaving the slot-shaped openings 60 and 62 is 80 kPa, preferably 100 or 150 kPa or more, and more preferably about 180 kPa. Since the size of the slotted opening 62 located at the end of the rear duct 52 is larger than the size of the slotted opening 60 located at the end of the front duct 50, the air injected from the duct 52 The amount is greater than the amount of air injected from the duct 50. For this reason, a larger amount of air is provided for drying the back of a user's hand, which is preferable.

During use, two thin, high velocity, high pressure air layers are injected into the cavity 30 completely through the cavity inlet 32 and then sprayed onto the surface of the user's hand, which is withdrawn from the cavity 32. As the user's hand enters and exits with respect to the cavity 30, the thin air layer blows out the water present in the user's hand. This is realized reliably and efficiently because the force of air leaving the slotted openings 60, 62 is high and the airflow is distributed along the length of each of the slotted openings 60, 62.

Each thin air layer is directed towards the wall of the cavity 30 away from the slotted openings 60, 62 through which the thin air layer passes. Because the slotted openings 60, 62 also slope toward the lowest end of the cavity 30, the jetted airflow is directed toward the cavity 30. This reduces the risk of the user feeling turbulent movement outside of the casing, ie on the face of the user.

Only a small number of "passes" of the hand dryers described above can be considered to dry the user's hands satisfactorily (where "passes" are hand-held to the cavity at a rate that the average user can afford). A single pass is considered to have a duration of less than 3 seconds.) The force obtained by the airflow is most of the surface of the user's hand that has been washed in one pass. It is enough to remove the water.

Water removed by the air stream is recovered inside the cavity 30. Each air flow loses power rapidly when passing through the user's hand, and water drops fall to the lower end of the cavity 30 by gravity and air flows through the cavity inlet 32 or the open side of the cavity 30. Exit 30). However, water is recovered by the drain 38 and goes to a reservoir (not shown) for disposal. The reservoir can be emptied manually as needed. Alternatively, the hand dryer 10 may be provided with some form of water dispersion system, including, for example, a heater that evaporates the recovered water into the atmosphere. Means for dispersing the recovered water are not included in the present invention.

In alternative embodiments, the slotted openings 60, 62 may be arranged such that the sprayed thin air layers move along planes that are substantially parallel to each other. This minimizes the amount of turbulence present inside the cavity 30 while the drying device is in use.

In other alternative embodiments shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the slotted openings are not constant in width across the length L of the cavity of the hand dryer. 8A is a plan view of a cavity inlet of length L. FIG. The dashed line represents the position and shape of the user's hand as the user's hand is inserted into the cavity 30 between the front edge 32a and the rear edge 32b. The arrow 80 shown in FIG. 8A indicates the direction of airflow ejected from the slotted openings 60, 62 located at the edges 32a, 32b of the cavity inlet 32. In this embodiment, the bend 33 of the rear edge 32b is symmetrical about the centerline AA of the cavity inlet 32, and the center portion of the rear edge 32b is at the front edge 32a at the centerline than at a position spaced from the centerline. Is closer to). The minimum distance d between the front edge 32a and the rear edge 32b occurs at the center line. The maximum distance D between the front edge 32a and the rear edge 32b occurs at the midpoint of each bend. 8B shows the shape of a slotted opening located in the rear wall of the cavity.

Preferably, the width of the slotted opening of the rear wall changes gently and extends toward the midpoint of the opening at the centerline A-A of the cavity inlet 32.

In this alternative embodiment, the change in the width of the opening is achieved by changing the distance of the upper wall from the lower wall of the slotted opening to a curved shape, preferably to a smoothly curved shape. More preferably, the curvature is symmetrical about the center line A-A of the cavity inlet 32. Preferably, the maximum width R of the opening occurs at center line A-A and is 0.7 mm.

Preferably, the width r is constant in the F and G regions, and the width change region (region E in FIGS. 8A and 8B) comprises at least half of the total length L of the cavity inlet, most preferably in the middle half. It includes. Preferably r is 0.4 mm.

In the region E of the hand dryer, the width of the slotted openings 62 is greater than the width of the slotted openings 62 in the regions F and G. As the size of the slotted openings 62 is increased, the amount of air 80 injected from the rear duct 52 increases to dry the back of the user's hand so that the thumb and forefinger areas are preferably dried. The force gained by the increased amount of air and airflow in zone E is sufficient to remove most of the water present on the back of the user's hand after washing in a single pass.

The invention is not intended to be limited to the details of the foregoing embodiments. Those skilled in the art should understand that changes and modifications to the above-described embodiments do not depart from the scope of the present invention. For example, the shape of the cavity 30 and its inlet 32 may vary within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

A casing, a cavity formed in the casing to receive an object, a blower located within the casing and capable of generating airflow, and one or more slotted openings in communication with the blower and arranged to move the airflow across the cavity and, The slotted openings are formed between opposing walls adjacent to each other at an angle of 10 ° to 20 °, Drying device. The method of claim 1, And the opposing walls are adjacent to each other at an angle of substantially 14 °. A casing, a cavity formed in the casing to receive an object, a blower located within the casing and capable of generating airflow, and two opposing, communicating with the blower through conduits and arranged to move the airflow across the cavity Including a slotted opening, The conduit has a first cross section similar in dimension to all directions in the vicinity of the blower and a slotted cross section in the vicinity of the opening, wherein the transition between the cross sections is smooth and smooth, Drying device. The method of claim 3, Wherein the overall cross-sectional area of the conduit is substantially constant between the blower and the point immediately upstream of the slotted opening. The method according to claim 3 or 4, And the conduit branches into two separate air flow paths downstream of the blower. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, The width | variety of the said slot type opening is a drying apparatus of 0.5 mm or less. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, And the blower is capable of injecting airflow at a speed of 80 kPa or more through the slotted opening. The method of claim 7, wherein And the blower is capable of injecting airflow at a speed of 100 kPa or more through the slotted opening. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, And the blower is capable of injecting airflow at a pressure of 8 kPa or more through the slotted opening. The method of claim 9, And the blower is capable of injecting airflow at a pressure of 12 kPa or more through the slotted opening. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, The drying apparatus is a hand dryer.

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