WO2013073129A1

WO2013073129A1 - Hand drying device

Info

Publication number: WO2013073129A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/007091
Authority: WO
Inventors: 幸司新崎; 孝古山
Original assignee: パナソニック株式会社
Priority date: 2011-11-17
Filing date: 2012-11-06
Publication date: 2013-05-23
Also published as: JP2013103111A; CN103945747A; KR20140093680A; JP5909633B2; CN103945747B

Abstract

A drying chamber (3) of a hand drying device (50) comprises an insertion aperture (1), nozzles (4), and a drain aperture (8). A drain cup (9) which traps water droplets (23) is disposed on the bottom part of a main body (7), and a drain water path (10) which connects the drain cup (9) to the drain aperture (8) is disposed along a front face cover (11) which covers the front face of the main body (7). When the front face cover (11) is removed, the drain water path (10) and a power supply switch (12) are exposed simultaneously.

Description

Hand dryer

The present invention relates to a hand dryer.

Conventional hand dryers have been used in bathrooms, toilets, kitchens, etc. to dry wet hands by washing. And the side panel for the maintenance for confirming a drain water channel was provided in the side of the drying room of the hand dryer. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional hand dryer, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a drying chamber of the hand dryer. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the conventional hand drying apparatus 100 includes a blower (not shown) inside, and blows out high-pressure air sent from the blower into a drying chamber 103 provided above. Then, the high pressure air blows off water droplets attached to the hand 102 inserted into the drying chamber 103.

The drying chamber 103 is provided with a nozzle 104 that opens the insertion port 101 toward the upper outside and sends high-pressure air to the inner wall surface. The hand 102 is inserted into and removed from the insertion chamber 101 into the drying chamber 103. High-pressure air sent from the blower sends high-pressure air from the nozzle 104 via a discharge air passage (not shown). And the outer shell of the hand dryer 100 main body is covered with the outer shell panel 107 and formed in a box shape. A side cover 109 for makeup is provided on the side of the main body of the hand dryer 100 so as to cover the outer shell panel 107. The nozzles 104 are provided on the front surface (front side when viewed from the user) and the back surface (back side when viewed from the user) of the drying chamber 103.

Further, the drying chamber 103 has a ventilation opening 108 formed on the side surface, an inclined surface that forms a downward slope from the center to the left and right at the bottom, and a drain port 110 provided at an end thereof. The drain water channel 112 communicates the drain port 110 of the drying chamber 103 and the drain cup 111 provided near the bottom surface of the main body of the hand dryer 100. The drain water channel 112 is provided in a space between the outer shell panel 107 and the side cover 109. The drain water channel 112 can be confirmed from the side surface by removing the side cover 109 during maintenance. The air flow in the drying chamber 103 is discharged to the outside through the vent opening 108 so that the air flow blown out from the nozzle 104 does not blow back from the insertion port 101 of the drying chamber 103.

In such a conventional hand drying apparatus 100, the discharged airflow flows along the hand 102 and collides with the bottom surface of the drying chamber 103. Further, the internal air flows toward the ventilation opening 108 provided on the side surface of the drying chamber 103. That is, since air flows from the bottom surface to the side surface, the drain water channel 112 is necessary at a position along both side surfaces which are the end portions of the bottom surface. Therefore, the maintenance has been performed with the side cover 109 removed.

As described above, the conventional hand drying apparatus 100 has the side cover 109 for maintenance provided on the side surface of the drying chamber 103, and therefore has a problem that maintenance cannot be performed when the installation space is small. Moreover, there was a problem that there are many cleaning parts and maintenance is not easy.

International Publication No. 2005/110176

The hand drying apparatus of the present invention sends high pressure air of 0.5 kPa to 15 kPa from a blower provided inside the main body, blows out high pressure air to the drying chamber through the discharge air passage, and inserts it into the drying chamber. Blow off the water droplets attached to the hand to dry it. The drying chamber includes an insertion port that opens toward the outside of the drying chamber and inserts and removes a hand, a nozzle that is provided on the inner wall surface and blows high-pressure air toward the drying chamber, and a drain port that is provided on the bottom surface. Yes. Also, a drain cup for collecting water droplets is provided at the bottom of the main body, and a drain water channel that connects the drain cup and the drain outlet is provided along a front cover that covers the front surface of the main body. When the front cover is removed, the drain water channel and the power switch are exposed at the same time.

Such a hand dryer has a maintenance space on the front side where the user stands. Therefore, the installation space is small, and the maintenance of the hand dryer can be performed even in a place where the indoor wall, the washstand, etc. are close to the side surface of the hand dryer.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the hand dryer according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the hand dryer. FIG. 3 is a front view of the hand dryer according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the hand dryer. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a drying chamber of the hand dryer. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional hand dryer. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a drying chamber of the hand dryer.

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

(Embodiment 1)
1 is a front view of a hand dryer according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the hand dryer. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the hand drying apparatus 50 inserts the hand 2 into the drying chamber 3 from the insertion port 1, and the water droplets 23 attached to the wet hand 2 are blown off to dry the hand 2. The hand dryer 50 is attached to the indoor wall 26 such as a toilet. Here, the insertion slot 1 is provided in the upper part of the box-shaped main body 7.

A blower 6 for sending 0.5 to 15 kPa of high-pressure air 22 from the nozzle 4 through the discharge air passage 5 is built in the lower part of the main body 7 of the hand dryer 50. Thus, the blower 6 provided inside the main body 7 is a centrifugal blower in which a turbo impeller is mounted on the rotating shaft of the electric motor. The drying chamber 3 opens toward the outside 24 of the drying chamber 3, and is provided with an insertion port 1 through which the hand 2 is inserted and removed. Further, on the inner wall surface 3 a of the drying chamber 3, nozzles 4 that blow high-pressure air 22 toward the drying chamber 3 are provided on two opposing surfaces.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the drying chamber 3 has the insertion port 1 side (that is, the upper part) inclined forward to the user 27 side (that is, the front side) when viewed from the side. The bottom surface 3 b of the drying chamber 3 is inclined, and a drain port 8 is provided at the bottom of the drying chamber 3. A drain port 8 provided on the bottom surface 3 b of the drying chamber 3 and a drain cup 9 for collecting water droplets 23 provided on the bottom 7 a of the main body 7 are communicated by a drain water channel 10.

The drain water channel 10 is bent from the drain port 8 toward the front surface 7 b of the main body 7 and is provided along the front cover 11. The front cover 11 covers the front surface 7b of the main body 7, and is attached to the main body 7 during normal use. When performing maintenance or the like inside the main body 7, the front cover 11 is removed and the inside is exposed. As apparent from FIG. 2, the front cover 11 is provided on the user 27 side, that is, on the front side. The drain water channel 10 is resin-molded.

Further, the drain water channel 10 has a “groove” shape in which the front cover 11 side is opened. The open part of the drain water channel 10 is closed when the front cover 11 is attached. That is, the front cover 11 constitutes the wall surface 10 a of the drain water channel 10. As a result, when the front cover 11 is opened, the inside of the drain water channel 10 is exposed, so that maintenance is facilitated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the power switch 12 of the hand dryer 50 is provided adjacent to the drain water channel 10. The power switch 12 is exposed together with the drain water channel 10 when the front cover 11 is removed. When only the front cover 11 is removed, the power connection terminal block 31 is not exposed and is housed in a terminal block cover (not shown). In FIG. 1, for convenience, the power connection terminal block 31 is exposed.

Further, the drain outlet 8 is arranged closer to the left or right (left side in FIG. 1) than the center 3c of the drying chamber 3 when viewed from the front side, and the drying chamber 3 is left-right asymmetric. The blower 6 is arranged so as to be shifted from the center 3c of the drying chamber 3 in the direction opposite to the drain port 8 (right side in FIG. 1) when viewed from the front side. The distance L1 between the center position of the blower 6 and the center 3c is larger than the width dimension L2 of the drain water channel 10 when viewed from the front side. With this configuration, the drain water channel 10 and the blower 6 can be arranged compactly without interference. In addition, in FIG. 1, the discharge air path 5 is also shifted and arrange | positioned from the center 3c similarly to the air blower 6, and the air from the air blower 6 flows smoothly.

2, the air inlet of the blower 6 is provided on the back side of the main body 7 of the hand dryer 50. And the suction air path 20 to the suction inlet of the air blower 6 is formed in the back side of the main body 7, and sucks the air of the lower part of the main body 7. FIG. A filter 21 is provided at the end of the suction air passage 20. The suction air passage 20 prevents the dust 28 and drain water in the outside air from being sucked.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user 27 inserts the hand 2 from the insertion port 1 toward the drying chamber 3 in order to dry the wet hand 2 by washing or the like. The human sensor 25 provided in the vicinity of the insertion port 1 reacts to operate the blower 6, and the high pressure air 22 is blown out from the nozzle 4. The water droplets 23 blown off from the hand 2 become drain water and pass through the drain water channel 10 and are collected in the drain cup 9. During the maintenance, the front cover 11 is removed. Maintenance is performed from the front side facing the indoor wall 26. When the front cover 11 is removed, the inside of the drain water channel 10 is exposed and the dirt inside is cleaned. That is, even if there is a washstand or the like on the side surface of the hand dryer 50, maintenance can be easily performed without getting in the way.

The drain water channel 10 is curved from the drain port 8 toward the front surface 7 b and is provided along the front cover 11. Therefore, the groove | channel of the drain water channel 10 becomes shallow, and even the dirt of the back of the drain water channel 10 can be confirmed easily.

In addition, the drain water channel 10 and the drain port 8 are good to be located in the part close | similar to the right-and-left center of the drying chamber 3 instead of the side surface of the drying chamber 3. Compared with the case where the drainage port 8 is provided at the side surface side end of the drying chamber 3, the gradient becomes larger and the drainage becomes smoother. Moreover, if it makes the same gradient, the internal space of the drying chamber 3 will become large, and the space which inserts the hand 2 will become large. As shown in FIG. 1, when the front cover 11 is removed, the power switch 12 is exposed.

Since the power switch 12 is provided inside the front cover 11 as described above, the power circuit is easily cut off when the front cover 11 is removed. That is, when one panel is removed at the time of work, the power supply is easily cut off, and maintenance such as cleaning can be performed. Furthermore, power connection work is also possible.

(Embodiment 2)
In the second embodiment of the present invention, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, detailed description thereof will be omitted, and only different points will be described.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the hand dryer according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the hand dryer. FIG. 3 shows a state where the front cover 11 shown in FIG. 1 at the bottom of the hand dryer 51 is removed. Moreover, the cross-sectional position of FIG. 4 is a position which divides the drain water channel 10 into 2 in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the front cover 11 is removed, the drain water channel 10 is exposed at the left end as viewed from the front. A switch unit 16 is provided adjacent to the drain water channel 10.

A partition rib 17 is provided between the drain water channel 10 and the switch unit 16 including the power switch 12. As shown in FIG. 4, the partition ribs 17 are formed so that the tops thereof are in contact with the back surface 11 a of the front cover 11. Therefore, when the front cover 11 is attached to the main body 7, the partition rib 17 completely separates the drain water channel 10 and the switch portion 16 as shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly, drain water does not enter the switch unit 16 side.

The switch unit 16 is provided with a power switch 12 of the hand dryer 51 main body, a switch for energizing a heater provided therein, a switch for determining the amount of air blown from the blower 6, and the like. Operation control of the hand dryer 51 is performed according to the state of these switches.

When the front cover 11 is removed, the terminal block cover 30 is exposed. The terminal block cover 30 is removed, and the external power supply is connected to a power supply terminal block (not shown) housed inside.

As shown in FIG. 4, the drying chamber 3 has a shape inclined forward with the insertion port 1 brought close to the front surface 7 b side. The nozzle 4 a provided on the back side is provided on a protrusion 18 protruding from the back side of the drying chamber 3. The nozzle 4a is opposed to the nozzle 4b provided on the front surface 7b side. The bottom surface 3b of the drying chamber 3 is provided with a gradient that descends toward the front surface 7b, and a drain port 8 is provided at the front end. That is, the drainage port 8 is provided on the front surface 7 b side of the bottom surface 3 b of the drying chamber 3. As a result, the bottom surface 3b of the drying chamber 3 and the drain water channel 10 are directly connected in the vertical direction and are easily drained.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the drying chamber of the hand dryer according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the drainage port 8 is provided in the side edge part (right end in FIG. 5) of the bottom face 3b. As shown in FIG. 4, the drain water channel 10 has a shape behind the groove curved from the drain port 8 toward the front surface 7 b (illustrated as a drain water channel back 10 b). A drain cup 9 is disposed at the lower end of the drain water channel 10.

The drying chamber 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a view in which the drying chamber 3 is divided into two in the vertical direction substantially parallel to the back surface of the main body 7, and the inner wall surface 3a on the front surface 7b side is viewed from the back surface side. The nozzles 4b are arranged in two upper and lower rows, and the high-pressure air 22 hits the tip portion and the palm portion of the hand to be inserted.

The bottom surface 3b of the drying chamber 3 is provided with a gradient that descends to the right side (left side when viewed from the front) in FIG. A drain port 8 is provided at the end of the bottom surface 3 b of the drying chamber 3.

The drying chamber 3 has no opening on the surface other than the insertion port 1. That is, the inner wall surface 3 a is closed with respect to the outside 24. The nozzle 4 a shown in FIG. 4 is directed downward by the protrusion 18. That is, the high-pressure air 22 blown out from the nozzle 4 a hits the inserted hand 2 and then flows to the bottom surface 3 b side of the drying chamber 3. Due to the flow of the high-pressure air 22, the water droplets 23 blown off from the hand 2 are efficiently carried to the drain port 8 provided on the bottom surface 3b. A part of the high-pressure air 22 that has collided with the bottom surface 3 b flows from the drain port 8 to the drain cup 9, but most of the high-pressure air 22 is discharged from the insertion port 1 side along the back and side surfaces of the drying chamber 3.

In the second embodiment, the drain port 8 is close to the side surface of the drying chamber 3, but it is not necessary to be completely close to the side surface and may be provided on the center 3c side.

The hand drying device of the present invention can be used for equipment drying equipment using a nozzle structure in addition to the purpose of hand drying, and can also be applied to industrial drying applications where it is necessary to dry an object in a short time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insertion port 2 Hand 3 Drying chamber 3a Inner wall surface 3b Bottom

surface 3c Center

4,4a, 4b Nozzle 5 Discharge air channel 6 Blower 7 Main body 7a Bottom part 7b Front surface 8 Drain port 9 Drain cup 10 Drain water channel 10a (Drain water channel) Wall surface 10b Drain water channel depth 11 Front cover 11a Back surface 12 Power switch 16 Switch part 17 Partition rib 18 Projection part 20 Suction air path 21 Filter 22 High pressure air 23 Water drop 24 External 25 Human sensor 26 Indoor wall 27 User 28 Dust 30 Terminal block cover 31 Power

supply terminal block

50, 51 Hand dryer

Claims

High pressure air of 0.5 kPa to 15 kPa is sent from a blower provided inside the main body, and the high pressure air is blown out into the drying chamber through the discharge air passage, so that water droplets attached to wet hands inserted into the drying chamber are discharged. A hand drying device that blows away and dries the hand,
The drying chamber is opened toward the outside of the drying chamber and the insertion port for inserting and removing the hand;
A nozzle that is provided on an inner wall surface and blows out the high-pressure air toward the drying chamber;
With a drain outlet provided on the bottom,
A drain cup for storing the water droplets is provided at the bottom of the main body,
A drain water channel that communicates the drain cup and the drain port is provided along a front cover that covers the front surface of the main body,
The drainage channel and the power switch are exposed simultaneously when the front cover is removed.
The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein the front cover constitutes a wall surface of the drain water channel.
2. The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein the drain port is provided on the front side.
The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein a partition rib is provided between the drain water channel and the switch unit including the power switch, and the partition rib contacts the back surface of the front cover.
The hand dryer according to claim 1, wherein the inner wall surface is closed with respect to the outside.