EP1121042A1

EP1121042A1 - Bathroom unit

Info

Publication number: EP1121042A1
Application number: EP99959207A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Silvia Bader
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: HASLER, JESSICA
Priority date: 1998-10-12
Filing date: 1999-09-30
Publication date: 2001-08-08
Anticipated expiration: 2019-09-30
Also published as: EP1121042B1; DE19846941C2; WO2000021423A1; DE19982032D2; ATE296567T1; DE19846941A1; AU1647900A; US6408457B1; DE59912121D1; EP1121042B8

Abstract

What is described is a bathroom unit, in particular in the form of a shower unit (2), comprising a shower tub (12) and a shower unit wall provided with a door (18). A heating device (26), for instance in the form of a rung radiator (28), extends over at least a partial section of the shower unit wall. The shower unit wall may comprise in the region of the heating device (26) an additional door (20) which opens to the interior of the shower unit. The doors (18, 20) preferably are sliding doors.

Description

description

WET CELL

The invention relates to a wet room, in particular a shower cubicle, according to the preamble of claim 1.

Wet cells in the form of shower cubicles are known. They usually consist of a base that receives the shower tray and a shower cubicle wall, by means of which the shower cubicle can be closed to the outside in a splash-proof manner. The shower cubicle wall has a door, which is usually designed as a sliding door. Such shower cubicles are available in a variety of different layouts, for example square, rectangular, triangular, polygonal, circular sector (e.g. semicircular or quarter-circular) or round.

The present invention has set itself the task of a wet room, i.e. in particular shower cabin, so that their use value is improved.

To achieve this object, the present invention proposes, according to claim 1, that a heating device extends at least over a portion of the shower cubicle wall. As an alternative to or preferably in addition to the heating device located in the bathroom, for example in the form of a radiator, a heating device is thus present in the subject of the present invention at least over a partial section of the shower cubicle wall. This heating device is thus able not only to keep the room at a comfortable temperature in which the shower cubicle is located, but also specifically and specifically the interior of the shower cubicle itself. This increases the "feel-good effect" in and thus the practical value of a shower cubicle according to the invention essential. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

According to a preferred embodiment, the heating device is arranged outside the shower cubicle wall. The interior of the shower cubicle is thus indirectly heated through the shower cubicle wall or the heating device heats the immediately adjacent shower cubicle wall, which in turn then radiates heat into the interior of the shower cubicle. In addition to a large and uniform heat emission, this results in particular in the advantages that the heating device is protected from splash water and thus limescale and dirt and there is no danger that a showering person can burn himself on the heating device if it is operated at correspondingly high temperatures becomes.

If the shower cubicle wall in the area of the heating device has an additional door that opens towards the interior of the shower cubicle, there is the advantage that, when the door is open, the heating device can radiate directly into the shower cubicle interior, so that an increased heat emission is possible. Furthermore, one or more towels can be hung behind this door and thus directly in front of the heating device, which are kept splash-proof when the door is closed and during the showering process and are preheated by the heating device. After showering, the additional door can then be opened and the preheated or preheated towels can be removed and you can still dry yourself inside the shower cubicle so that no dripping water can get out of the shower cubicle. The heating device also enables the interior of the shower cabin to dry quickly.

The shape of the heating device is preferably adapted to the shape of the shower cubicle wall, whereby in a particularly space-saving and aesthetically appealing manner probably the shower cubicle wall and the heating device are curved in an arc. This is especially the case if the shower cubicle has the outline of a quarter circle, i.e. is intended for corner installation.

A so-called rung heater is particularly advantageously suitable as the heating device. Such rungs radiators are not only visually appealing, but also offer the advantages that they are easy to keep clean and can be hung directly with one or more towels.

The doors, i.e. the access door for the shower cubicle and also the additional door, which covers the heating device towards the interior of the shower cubicle, are preferably sliding doors, since such sliding doors are easy to operate, quickly create large access or access openings and seal reliably.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the heating device can be connected to the circuit of an existing central heating. The hot water can be fed in either via the inlet and outlet connections arranged on the wall or via inlet and outlet connections which run in the base of the shower tray and protrude upwards from here.

The heating device can just as well be an electric radiator which delivers the necessary heating energy either directly or via a heating medium circuit (oil or the like).

If the supply and discharge connections for the heating device, i.e. e.g. supply and return for hot water or oil radiators or supply cables for an electric radiator, are routed through the base of the shower tray, there is the advantage that no wall connections are provided for the heating device or installed subsequently Need to become. The The wet cell is set up and connected as a unit, with all inflows and outflows and connections for the heating element being supplied via the base. This is particularly advantageous in the case of bathroom renovations, since no pipes have to be laid in the wall, that is to say an existing tile cladding, for example, does not have to be removed and therefore generally has to be destroyed.

If the sliding doors have at least one driver on their outer edges facing the end walls of the shower cubicle, with which all the sliding doors can be pushed back and forth in one go between the two end walls, the maximum entry or opening width can be obtained quickly, even then if the entire sliding door has three or more wings.

If the heating device can be swung away from the adjacent shower cubicle wall, then this shower cubicle wall is easily accessible when needed, e.g. for cleaning purposes.

Further details, aspects and advantages of the present invention result from the following description of an embodiment with reference to the drawing.

It shows:

1 is a perspective, simplified representation of a wet room according to the invention in the form of a shower cubicle installed in a corner;

FIG. 2 shows a likewise simplified top view of the wet cell from FIG. 1;

3A to 3C in plan view three different operating states or positions of a modification of the wet room according to the invention or its sliding doors; and 4A to 4C in plan view three different operating states or positions of another embodiment of the wet room according to the invention or its sliding doors in the case of a three-leaf sliding door.

Identical or corresponding parts or elements are provided with the same reference symbols in the individual figures of the drawing.

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of a wet room according to the invention in the form of a shower cubicle 2, which in the illustrated embodiment has the outline of a quarter circle and is installed in a corner 4 between two walls 6 and 8. The shower cabin 2 has a base 10 in a known manner, in which a shower tray 12 with a drain 14 is embedded. The shower head with the hose, the mixer tap etc. are not shown in the drawing for the sake of simplicity.

A guide 16 is arranged or formed on the upper horizontal surface of the base 10. The guide 16 serves in a known manner for receiving and slidingly guiding a door 18, through which the interior of the shower cabin 2 can be walked and which, in the closed state, bears against the wall 6 with a sealing lip or the like, and the interior of the shower cabin 2 is splash-proof to the outside completes. In its longitudinal or sliding direction, the door 18 extends somewhat further than half of the quarter-circle arc defined by the shower tray 12 or the base 10, i.e. over about 50 ° or a little more.

According to one possible embodiment, the wall 18 is adjoined by a wall 20 which covers the remaining opening which is not closed by the door 18. 2 with door 18 closed between door 18 and WO 00/21423. «. PCT / DE99 / 03294

the wall 20 has an overlap or overlap area 22, by which it is ensured that when the door 18 is closed the entire shower cubicle 2 is splash-proof. A handle 24 is provided for opening and closing the door 18.

According to the present invention, a heating device 26 is arranged in the region of the wall 20. 1 and 2, the heating device 26 can extend essentially over the entire height and the entire width of the wall 20. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the heating device 26 is a rung heating element 28, which consists of a plurality of rungs 30 which run essentially horizontally and which are arranged between two essentially vertical feeders 32 and 34. The heating device 26 can be connected, for example, to the circuit of an already existing central heating, this connection being made in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1 via two wall-side inlets and outlets 36 and 38. The inlets and outlets 36 and 38 run out of the wall 8. These inlets and outlets can also be led out of the base 10, the connection then being made at the lower ends of the two feeders 32 and 34.

In another embodiment, the heating device 26 can be an electric heating element that generates the necessary heating energy either directly or indirectly via a corresponding heating medium, for example an oil or the like.

The interior of the shower cabin 2 is heated through the wall 20 by means of the heating device 26, so that the interior of the shower cabin 2 is always kept at a comfortable temperature. Of course, the heating device also serves as an additional or only heating device for the room in which the shower cubicle 2 is located, i.e. for the bathroom, a shower room etc.

According to a further embodiment, the wall 20 is not stationary, but in the form of an additional door that can be moved along the guide 16 by means of a handle 40. 2, the door 18 can thus be moved clockwise along the guide 16 by means of the handle 24 in order to gain access to the interior of the shower cubicle 2. If the door 18 is moved counterclockwise, it is locked. The handle 20 can be used to open the door 20 counterclockwise in FIG. 2 until it hits the wall 6 with its right end in FIG. 2, the two doors 18 and 20 then overlapping one another. In this position of the door 20, the heater 26 or the heater 28 can directly, i.e. Radiate into the interior of the shower cubicle 2 without the door 20 in between. When the shower cubicle is not in use, it can be heated up directly and thus effectively. Furthermore, in particular if the heating device 26 is in the form of the rung heating element 28, one or more towels can be hung over the individual rungs 30. When the door 20 is closed as shown in FIG. 2, these towels are thus protected from splashing water and are preheated. When the showering process has ended, the door 18 remains closed and the door 20 is opened on the handle 40 in order to receive direct heat radiation into the interior of the shower cubicle 2, which is perceived as very pleasant when the body is still wet. Furthermore, the towel preheated via the heating device 26 can then be removed from the heating device 26, so that the preheated towel can still be used to dry inside the shower cubicle 2.

FIGS. 3A to 3C show the embodiment just described with two movable sliding doors 18 and 20. It should be noted that in FIGS. 3A to 3C (and 4A to 4C), to be described below, the heating device 26 or the heating element 28 is arranged offset with respect to the illustration in FIG. 1, ie it or it adjoins the wall 6. Furthermore, the guide or the guides 16 on the part of the base 10 are not shown in FIGS. 3A to 4C.

3A shows the entry and exit position into the shower cabin 2 or out of it. The two sliding doors 18 and 20 are pushed in front of the heating element 18 and clear an entrance 40.

3B shows the shower position in which the sliding door 18 remains in its sealing contact with the wall 6 and the sliding door 20 is pushed in the direction of the wall 8 and is in a sealing contact with it. The side edges of the doors 18 and 20 facing away from the walls 6 and 8 form the overlap area 22. In this position of the doors 18 and 20, the shower cubicle 2 is sealed against splashing water and the heating device 26 is also protected from splashing water by the sliding door 18 .

3C shows a position for drying off after showering within the shower cabin 2. For this purpose, the sliding door 18 is moved in the direction of the wall 8, i.e. both sliding doors 18 and 20 are now in front of the entrance 42 and a preheated towel can be removed from the inside from the heating device 26, the heating device 26 simultaneously being able to give off heat unhindered into the interior of the cabin 2.

To release the entry 42, the sliding doors 18 and 20 are then brought back into the position according to FIG. 3A, whereby they are either moved individually (the position according to FIG. 3B being obtained as an intermediate position) or they are moved together. Such a common movement of all sliding doors is particularly advantageous if the shower cubicle 2 is not closed to the outside by a double-leaf door consisting of the two sliding doors 18 and 20, as in the case of FIGS. 1 to 3C, but by a three-leaf or multi-leaf door Door, as shown in Figures 4A to 4C.

Figures 4A to 4C show the construction of a three-leaf door consisting of three individual sliding doors 44, 46 and 48. The representation of Fig. 4A corresponds to the representation of Fig. 3A, i.e. 4A, the sliding doors 44, 46 and 48 release the entry 42. Figure 4B corresponds to the representation of Figure 3B, i.e. the shower position is shown, in which the sliding doors 44, 46 and 48 close the entire shower cubicle 2 from the outside in a splash-proof manner and overlap in two overlapping areas 22 and 22 '. Fig. 4C corresponds to the representation of Fig. 3C, i.e. the position for drying, in which the heating device 26 is accessible from the inside of the shower cubicle 2, so that a towel which is hung and preheated thereon is accessible.

As can best be seen from FIG. 4B, the sliding door 44 has a driver 50 on its edge adjacent to the wall 6, and analogously to this, the sliding door 48 has a further driver 52 on its edge adjacent to the wall 8. The drivers 50 and 52 can extend in the form of a strip over the entire height of the sliding doors 44 and 48, or only over a certain height, for example 20 cm or more. The width of the drivers 50 and 52 is chosen in accordance with FIGS. 4A and 4C so that with overlapping sliding doors 44, 46 and 48 the end sections of the drivers 50 and 52 radially (based on the closure 14. The "door package" formed by the sliding doors ) protrude outwards and inwards. The drivers 50 and 52 thus serve both as handle elements for gripping and moving the sliding doors 44 and 48, and also as actual drivers, with which the “door package” can be brought in one go from the position according to FIG. 4A to the position according to FIG. 4C. If such drivers are present in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, the sliding doors 18 and 20 can be moved from the position shown in FIG. 3A to the position shown in FIG. 3C in one go.

To move the sliding doors 44, 46, 48 from the position according to FIG. 4A to the position according to FIG. 4C, only the edge of the driver 50 protruding into the interior of the shower cubicle 2 has to be gripped and in FIG. 4A against the direction of the arrow there in Be moved in the direction of the wall 8. The sliding doors 46 and 48 bear against the driver 50 and are thus moved together with this and the sliding door 44 into the position according to FIG. 4C. The same applies to the movement from the position according to FIG. 4C to that according to FIG. 4A: the driver 52 is gripped from the inside and moved in the direction of the wall 6 against the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4C, so that the sliding doors 44 and 46 together with the sliding door 48 are brought back into the position according to FIG. 4A. These displacement movements are also possible from the outside, since the drivers 50 and 52 also protrude beyond the door package. To move the door from the position shown in FIG. 4A to the position shown in FIG. 4B, the driver 52 is gripped and moved in the direction of the wall 8; between the sliding doors 44, 46 and 48 connecting means are provided in a known manner, which ensure that such movement of the sliding door 48 causes a corresponding entraining movement of the sliding door 46 until the doors 44, 46, 48 in the position shown in FIG. 4B have reached position shown with the two overlap regions 22 and 22 '.

FIGS. 4A to 4C furthermore show the possibility of the inlets and outlets for the heating device 26 or the Arrange radiator 28 in the base 10. Instead of feeding hot water, for example, via a flow and return on the side of the wall 8, as shown in FIG. 1, the heating device 26 is supplied via two base-side connections or connection bushings 54 and 56. As best shown in FIG. 4A - see two further connections 58 and 60 provided in the base 10, the shower cabin 2 itself, as well as with regard to the arrangement of the heating device 26 or the radiator 28, can be installed as desired. The unneeded pair of connections or connection bushings, ie either the pair 58 and 60 in the illustration according to FIGS. 4A to 4C or the connection pair 54 and 56, if the heating device 26 is connected to the connections 58 and 60, can be provided by suitable covering devices , so lid, stopper or the like are closed.

The arrangement of the heating device 26, particularly in the position of the sliding doors according to FIGS. 3C and 4C, results in a faster drying of the interior of the shower cabin 2. As already mentioned, a further advantage is that one or more towels can be preheated by means of the heating device 26 which are then easily accessible from the inside of the shower cubicle in the position of the sliding doors according to FIGS. 3C and 4C.

It is understood that the exemplary embodiments just described and shown in the drawing are to be regarded as purely exemplary. A large number of modifications and variations are conceivable within the scope of the present invention without departing from the subject matter of the present invention as defined in the following claims and their equivalents.

For example, the floor plan of the base 10 or the tub 12 is not limited to the quarter circle shape shown. They are also square, rectangular, triangular, circular sector-shaped (for example semicircular or quarter-circular) or round plan shapes are conceivable, in which case the shapes of the door 18 and the wall 20 or the doors 18 and 20 are to be adapted accordingly.

Furthermore, the door 20 does not have to be displaceable in its entirety analogously to the door 18 along the guide 16; rather, it is equally conceivable that the wall 20 is designed to be stationary.

In particular, if the connections of the heating device are configured on the wall, as shown in FIG. 1, the possibility can be created to design the heating device to be foldable away from the adjacent wall or sliding door. In the area of the connections 36 and 38, suitable liquid-tight but pivotable connecting elements would then have to be provided. In particular, if the wall 20 is stationary, the possibility of pivoting the heating device away, for example in the form of the rung heating element 28, makes it easier to reach the outer surface of this wall 20 for cleaning purposes.

The individual panes of the sliding doors can of course be of any design, i.e. transparent, translucent, completely transparent, mirrored, colored, structured etc.

Instead of the formation of four connections 54, 56, 58 and 60, it may also be sufficient to provide only three such connections, with the connections 54 and 60 then being in the 0 ° position and the 90.degree. Position, and the third connection in the middle in a 45 "position. This central connection then serves either with the connection at the 0 ° position or the connection at the 90 ° position as an inlet or outlet for the heating device or the radiator. In other words, the heating WO 00/21423 _ <| 3 _ PCT / DE99 / 03294

body then extends essentially over an arc length of 45 °. With this configuration, the shower cabin 2 or the radiator 28 can be installed as desired.

Is used only one sliding door in connection with only a fixed wall, said stationary wall is then to lie in front of the radiator _ς may optionally contain a minor in this fixed wall are formed by a flap or the like sealed opening through which access to a on the Radiator hanging towel from the inside of the shower cabin 2 is possible.

Furthermore, the subject of the present invention is applicable not only to permanently installed shower cubicles, but also to so-called shower partitions, by means of which a bathtub can be converted into a makeshift shower cubicle. Instead of a rung heater, a plate radiator is also conceivable, although in practice a rung heater should be preferred solely from the optical point of view.

Claims

Expectations

1. Wet room, in particular shower cubicle (2), with a shower tray (12) and a shower cubicle wall provided with a door (18), characterized in that a heating device (26) extends at least along a portion of the shower cubicle wall.

2. Wet room according to claim 1, characterized in that the heating device (26) is arranged outside the shower cubicle wall.

3. Wet room according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the shower cubicle wall in the area of the heating device (26) has an additional door (20) opening towards the shower cubicle interior.

4. Wet room according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the shower cubicle wall and the heating device (26) are curved in an arc.

5. Wet cell according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the heating device (26) is a rung heater (28).

6. wet room according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the doors (18, 20) are sliding doors.

7. wet cell according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the heating device (26) is connected to the central heating circuit.

8. wet cell according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the heating device (26) is an electric radiator.

9. wet room according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the inlet and outlet connections for the heating device through the base of the shower tray (12) are guided.

10. A wet room according to claim 6, characterized in that the sliding doors have at least one driver on their outer edges facing the end walls of the shower cubicle, with which all the sliding doors can be pushed back and forth in a train between the two end walls in their open state.

11. Wet room according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the heating device can be pivoted away from the adjacent shower cubicle wall.