WO2000049987A1

WO2000049987A1 - Single or double sauna cabin fed with hot water from the domestic water system

Info

Publication number: WO2000049987A1
Application number: PCT/IB2000/000174
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giacomo Baiguini
Original assignee: Polirim S.R.L.
Priority date: 1999-02-23
Filing date: 2000-02-17
Publication date: 2000-08-31
Also published as: EP1154748B1; AU2456900A; DE60024586D1; EP1154748A1; IT1309473B1; DE60024586T2; ITBG990009A1; ES2251962T3

Abstract

This single or double sauna cabin has the peculiarity of adopting a thermostat which regulates the mixing of cold water from the domestic water system with hot water from the traditional supply system of sanitary fittings at a preset safety temperature of about 55 °C. This thermostat serves a two-way cock with sequential selection and manual control in order to spray thermostated hot water, first, to two nozzle sets simultaneously, during a preparatory heating phase of the empty cabin, and then to one set only aiming at maintaining the temperature degree and steam content previously set.

Description

DESCRIPTION SINGLE OR DOUBLE SAUNA CABIN FED WITH HOT

WATER FROM THE DOMESTIC WATER SYSTEM.

TECHNICAL FI ELD This invention concerns a single or double sauna cabin

using hot water from the domestic water system.

BACKGROUND ART

It is known that the word "sauna" refers not only to the typical Finnish sauna characterised by high temperatures (about 80° C) and low humidity (about 20%), but to any environment with moderately hot temperatures (about 40° C) and high humidity (up to 100%) . In other words here "sauna" means a physical environment si milar to thermal baths or Turkish baths. This is an environment offering a

comfortable relaxing sensation produced by a moderately

hot environment saturated with humidity. This kind of environment is increasingly in demand both in luxurious hotels wanting to offer their customers ever more

exclusive and refined facilities and by private users. The

financial wellbeing of ever wider bands of society has

tended to transform the old bath room into a sophisticated

space offering a comfortable and relaxing interlude in which to unwind after a stressful day's work. This has led

to the production of cabins offering the consumer the comfort and pleasures of a "sauna" in the intimate and private atmosphere of his own home. As these sauna cabins are closed spaces, they are most easily bui lt inside

existing shower boxes and the original objective was to

find a way of using the shower boxes for the introduction of warmth, and in particular warm steam. For this reason,

"shower-sauna" cabins are available on the market based

on two basic designs, the first of which consists of nozzles spraying very hot water (about 80° C) against areas at the bottom of the cabin. This favours water nebulisation and thus saturates the upper part of the cabin with steam generated by the spontaneous rise of vapour which is known to be lighter than surrounding atmosphere.

However this design has two drawbacks, the first of which is its high energy consumption due to the high

temperature of the water used that causes a higher heat

exchange with the cabin walls and a drainage of very hot water in the waste system . The second drawback comes

from the fact that the high temperature of the water may

accidentally scald the user's legs, even though the system is designed to avoid this. The second design used to

generate steam inside the shower box consists in bringing

steam directly inside it through a special boiler, but again this has an important drawback. Firstly, the generation of

steam requires high electric power (up to 5 KW) to ensure that the sauna cabin is ready for use in a reasonably short time. Secondly, although the steam expansion at nozzle outlet implies a considerable reduction of temperature,

there remains the risk of accidental scalding. The best

known solution offered to reduce the above risks involves electronic adjustment for a more precise temperature control of flows, but the advantage so offered is offset by

the disadvantage of higher costs and, above all , by electric circulation in an environment which, being in contact with water, requires severe and expensive safety

measures that in any case may be compromised even with normal use. The scope of this invention is to define a single or double sauna cabin able to adopt very safe

criteria for the heating and the inner generation of steam, that protects against both electrocution and accidental scalds. Another scope is to define a cabin, as above, able

to grant a high cost saving. A further scope is to define a cabin that can reach the optimal desired temperature and

humidity parameters in short time. Another scope is to

define a cabin, as above, requiring no steam generators going beyond the intrinsic capacity of the domestic water

system.

DISCLOSU RE OF I NVENTION

These and other scopes wi ll be seen to have been achieved by reading the detailed description which

follows. This illustrates a single or double sauna cabin having the peculiarity of adopting a thermostat which

regulates the mixing of cold water with hot water from the traditional supply system of sanitary fittings at a pre-set

safety temperature of about 55° C. This thermostat serves a two-way cock with sequential selection and manual

control in order to spray thermostated hot water, first, to two nozzle sets during a preparatory heating phase of the empty cabin and then to one set aimed at maintaining the temperature degree and steam content at the level previously set. The spraying action of thermostated hot water jets is directed towards the upper surfaces of the cabin to allow water to run over the inner wal ls of the cabin when running down in a suitable quantity and adequately distributed to transfer its heat until the ambient temperature is reached before water is

discharged into the traditional waste pipes.

BRI EF DESCRI PTION OF DRAWINGS

As an example, the invention is i llustrated by, but is not

limited to, the enclosed drawings, in which: - Fig. 1 shows, in side-view, the interior of a sauna cabin

and the position of water jets heating the cabin; - Fig. 2 shows, in side view, the interior of the sauna

cabin, as above, indicating only the position of water jets designed to maintain the desired high temperature and degree of humidity, reproducing the profile of a user sitting inside it;

- Fig. 3 shows the plan view of the interior of the sauna

cabin, as above, indicating the direction of the water jets designed to maintain the desired high temperature and

degree of humidity when the user is sitting inside the cabin;

- Fig. 4 shows a plumping pipe run required for the above. BEST MODE FOR CARRI NG OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to the above mentioned Figures 1 ,2,3 the cabin interior, which is usually constructed from thermoformed six-millimetre thick acrylic laminated

plastic, has several functional protrusions forming a seat 1 , a number of brackets 2, aesthetic trims 3, baffles 4,

stiffening ribs or bosses 5 containing the technological equipment on the back. The shapes shown are merely i llustrative; they serve to express the presence of the

elements in question that can therefore take on the most

various functions according to the possible aesthetic-

design variations of the cabin. Their common scope

however consists in that they avoid the formation of

depressions where water may stagnate and allow frontal 6 and back 7 water jets to continuously cover as large a

surface as possible with minimum slow down. This allows the hot water running slowly down the surfaces to easi ly transfer its heat so that it can pour from the usual drainage pipes at a temperature that is as near as

possible to the ambient temperature. Figure 1 shows that

water hits the cabin walls in the upper area. This cabin heating phase uses water at a temperature of about 55° C at a pressure of 1 .5 bar with a flow rate of about 7 litres

per minute. Because of this, and due to the poor thermal conductivity of the laminated plastic surfaces and of the glass making up the cabin, the temperature reaches the desired value of about 45° C in less than two minutes. At this point the user manually opens a cock that closes the spraying nozzles in the back inner parts of the cabin, leaving the three jets toward the frontal zone 8 free to spray. Fig. 3 shows the position of said frontal zone 8 and also the sitting position of a user 9. This figure clearly

shows that water H is turned toward zones that are far from the user, even though it is not at a scalding

temperature, thus offering the user the maximum safety

and allowing him to physical ly and mentally relax. With reference to the piping diagram in figure 4, the realisation

mode of the invention can be seen. Hot water comes in

through a pipe 1 0 at a temperature of about 60°. This hot water can be produced in many usual ways: centralised installation, electric boiler or flame boiler. Said hot water

reaches a thermostat 1 1 adjustable in a range of temperatures between 37 and 55° C. A pipe 12 is connected to this thermostat and is supplied by the

domestic cold water system at a temperature of about 15°

C. This thermostat 1 1 is equipped with an outlet pipe 1 3 with water at the set temperature, for instance 50° C. This pipe joins a two-way 15 and 16 manual deviator 14. Way

15 flows into a set of about four nozzles 1 7 creating the water jets 7; way 16 flows into another set of about three nozzles 18 generating the front water jets 6. The two pipes 1 5 and 16 are connected each other through a oneway no-return valve 19 that allows the jets from nozzles 17 to add to those from nozzle 18, but does not allow jets from nozzles 18 to add to those from nozzles 17 , since the two pipes 15 and 16 are selectively used for thermostated

water passage through the manual deviator 14 and can

therefore be operated separately.

Claims

CLAI MS

1 ) Single or double sauna cabin characterised in that it finds its use parameters, in terms of temperature and

humidity, in the use of jets of moderately hot water (50° C) hitting its upper surfaces and then running down the walls in order to heat them and release stream.

2) Single or double sauna cabin, as above, characterised by the fact of using the above mentioned moderately hot water in two different rapid heating phases and the maintenance of the desired conditions, these two phases differing in the use either of all the spraying nozzles or of one single set of them.

3) Single or double cabin, as above, characterised by the fact of adopting a thermostat that regulates the mixing of cold water from the domestic water system with hot water

from the traditional supply system of sanitary fittings at a

pre-set safety temperature of about 55° C, this thermostat operating a two-way cock with sequential selection and

manual control , in order to spray thermostated hot water,

first, to two nozzles set simultaneously, during a preparation heating phase of the empty cabin and then to

one set only with a capacity able to maintain the

temperature and steam content previously reached, the spraying action of thermostated hot water jets being

directed toward the upper surfaces to allow water to run down the inner walls of the cabin in a quantity and distribution allowing the transfer of its heat until the ambient temperature is reached before water is

discharged in the traditional waste pipes. 4) Cabin, as above, characterised by the use of a thermostat which serves a two-way cock supplying

specific nozzle sets, where the relevant pipes are

connected each other with a one-way valve ( 19).