FR2785792A1 - Solar powered sauna bath has metal frame with cellular air filled enclosure having faces to catch sunlight - Google Patents

Abstract

The solar powered sauna bath has a metal frame (1) closed by two translucent doors (3) at each end to conserve heat. It has two faces (9,10) which are presented simultaneously to the sun when high or low on the horizon. The enclosure is entirely covered with a cellular material with air filled polymer cells.

Description

 The present invention relates to a cabin intended to be used as a sauna, the heating means of which is the sun. It uses the greenhouse effect for this, with two access doors. It is entirely made with translucent honeycomb panels in polycarbonate or other material. It can be used in summer as in winter when the sun is present.

 The sauna described below is individual, but an extrapolation could make it a sauna for several people, therefore family, the dimensions of the individual sauna are such that it can be placed in a balcony, a terrace on the ground or on the roof, or any other suitable place. it must be relatively narrow, for example the width of a person's bed, ie 90 centimeters wide by 2 meters long, the orientation of which allows maximum capture of solar thermal energy.

The family sauna being only an extrapolation of an individual sauna, we will not describe it. However, the relationship "solar collection surface, sauna volume" must be respected. It is intended to be used in a garden, at the edges of a swimming pool, or any other suitable place.

They must both be designed for use all year round, at the
provided that they are used on sunny days and exposed so as to capture the
better the sun, that is to say the closer to the full South for the Northern hemisphere
The traditional saunas most often made of wood, and most often family,
that have been around for centuries, all use "supplied" thermal energy, once
wood, now mostly electric, but also fossil such as coal or
derivatives, fuel oil or gas, none to our knowledge uses renewable energy
like the sun, although the greenhouse effect has been known for a very long time.

The use of electrical energy, the most practical, requires having at its disposal a very significant energy possibility, around 1 kwh per M3 of sauna
for infrequent use, on average two to three hours per week per
person.

To use wood as fuel, it must be available, and
especially use it near its source, that is to say in fort or nearby, knowing that it produces carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, both toxic.

As for fossil fuels, for how long will we be able to dispose of it, and under what conditions of use, pollution, and price ^ ....

Leaving aside the space taken up by a traditional sauna in a house or apartment, because the price is inchifFable; .... the purchase price and then the user fees, a sauna very quickly becomes a luxury, and is therefore reserved for a
wealthy elite.

The sauna can be considered more medically because by eliminating toxins and
waste from the kidneys, liver and other organs, to which must be added
increased blood supply near the surface of the skin, while facilitating the work of the heart, it is anti-stress by allowing relaxation and relaxation, it also participates in delaying the appearance of wrinkles on the skin.

All this can only make a better life for those who use it.

Its democratization can only take place if the purchase price of a sauna becomes
very affordable, its free energy, and not very greedy on the surface.

The invention aims to remedy these drawbacks by proposing an individual sauna which is heated by the sun, produced so as to take up the least possible space, with the lowest possible cost, and free and non-polluting energy.

To this end, the individual sauna according to the invention consists of a frame
dismountable square steel to reduce the port costs It is made of tube
25 x 25 x 1.5 mm, it is composed of a set of two symmetrical pieces,
the assembly is carried out by welding, five holes are drilled in the five angles of
so as to receive five square tubes of the same section, using ten 8 mm screws with an Allen key head. At each end of these five square tubes, a
length of 1,950 mm, are force-fitted plastic end caps all fitted with a
8 mm diameter threaded metal insert.

Once all these operations have been completed, the two symmetrical chassis as well as the
five tubes, are painted with baked paint. An envelope entirely in
polycarbonate or other material, but preferably cellular, that is to say comprising
an outer face treated with UV protection, and an inner face, both parallel. The
parallel faces being joined by walls perpendicular to the two faces
parallel, the entire honeycomb plate being obtained by extrusion in a
and easily found in the trade. The polyearbonate face which receives
advantageously a coating for interrupting ultraviolet rays, defines the surface
exterior of the sauna walls. The cells are filled with air, a peculiarity which
allows the passage of solar rays, but thus makes this space thermally insulating
since the two ends of these cells are filled with silicone for about 15 to
20 mm, which prevents any displacement of this air. To be able to use the sauna all
in the year, it was provided with two faces 9 and 10 which are not identical. The surface of the
side 9 is composed of 25% placed horizontally, 50% at 45 degrees, and 25% at the
vertical, this face 9 is planned for the spring, summer, autumn period, from mid
February to mid November. The surface of face 10 is 100% vertical, in order to better
capture the radiation of the sun when it is lowest on the horizon, this face 10 is scheduled for the winter period, early November to mid February. The solar collection surface, in square meters is greater than the number of cubic meters of the sauna, and this,
whatever side 9 or 10 is exposed to the sun, which ensures when the sun is
present, a heater allowing to easily reach the 43 to 45 C required by the
human body to ensure proper sweating. There are a number of sauna doors
of two, one at each end, and made symmetrically, so that the two
sides 9 and 10 can be presented in the sun while maintaining the same access to the sauna and
also to be able to be opened in great heat, creating an air passage
outside. They are each equipped with an interior and exterior wooden handle, as well
than three permanent magnets; it's three magnets with the main objective of
being able to keep open a more or less significant ventilation space, depending on the outside temperature and the air renewal needs, the two doors can very easily be opened at more than 90 degrees. The magnets also ensure that the doors are completely closed. The hinge of these doors being produced by cutting five cells side by side, only on the inside, next to the point of attachment of the door on the frame.

The background as well! on face 10 have the same dimensions, in order to facilitate standardization. They are fixed to the chassis using 24 expandable plastic blind rivets; these rivets have the particularity of being assembled by simple pressure of the thumb. Face 9, is mounted in the same way it has! has the particularity of covering the entire surface in one piece, although it is originally rigid; but at the place where it covers the two angles at 45 degrees, and so as to make it flexible, it undergoes an ablation of material on its inner face; ablation of material which was carried out on 8 cells at each angle so that the plate in these places can bend 180 degrees on the tubes of 25 x 25, which greatly facilitates the problems of packaging and transport, always suitable for large areas. It is fixed to the chassis using 40 rivets. The doors are supplied fixed on each frame, on which they are also fixed with six rivets each. The hinge is made by removing material from 5 cells as for side 9. A handle for opening and closing the door is fixed to the center of the cut at 45 degrees
In order not to deprive people who do not have a sun corner of the sauna, we have studied as an option, a type of electric heater which could allow reaching the desired temperature for taking a sauna. This radiator must imperatively be of Radiant type for bathroom and very well insulated, and not a convector which would send all the heat upwards, while the radiant diffuses its heat everywhere. It must have a minimum power of l, kW 500, and be equipped with a thermostat allowing the temperature to rise in the sauna to a minimum of up to 50 C. It is strongly advised against using this electrified sauna elsewhere than in a room or other place where the temperature is below 15 C, for obvious energy savings.

The invention will be clearly understood on reading the additional description which follows
and with reference to the appended drawings which form part of the description, and in which:
- Figure 1 is a black and white photo directly reproduced from the sauna
solar finished and in working order;
FIG. 2 is a drawing of the frame or chassis mounted of the sauna;
FIG. 3 is a drawing of the face 9, that which must be presented in the sun from mid-February to mid-November, in order to obtain an optimum yield.

FIG. 4 is a drawing of the face 10, that which must be presented to the sun
from mid-November to mid-February, in order to obtain the optimum yield taking into account
the position of the sun in the sky relative to the horizon line.

 FIG. 5 is a drawing of the bottom of the sauna, which isolates the sauna from the ground, preferably with a thin foam rubber mat on which it must be placed. It is identical to side 10 for reasons of standardization.

FIG. 6 is a drawing of a door, knowing that the two doors are
symmetrical to each other.

-Figure 7 represents the silicone injected into the ends of cells
FIG. 8 represents a rivet during three different assembly phases
FIG. 1 is represented by a digital photo reproduced by a computer,
the overall dimensions are as described, ie 900 X 2,000 mJm on the ground and 900
m / m in height, we can see the frame 1 of the chassis, the tubes forming the chassis 2, a
door 3 with its handle 4, its three permanent magnets 5, the face 9, the silicone 13
sealing the end of the cells over a length of 15 to 20 m / m
Figure 2 shows the complete chassis, painted with baked powder paint.

We see the welded frames 1, the five identical tubes 2, described above The location where the ten screws of diameter 8 m / m head bet 8, are fixed in order to produce the box on which the faces 9 and 10, the bottom 11, the two symmetrical doors 3
FIG. 3 represents the face 9, we can notice the cutouts of the inner face of certain cells 12, as well as the silicone which was injected into each cell which remained intact 13. This silicone was injected into the cells at each end, to
prevent water or water vapor from entering these cells constituting the polycarbonate sheets, and also to avoid the circulation of air. Not only the cutting of the inner face of the cells 12 avoids building the face 9 into three rigid elements and above all ensuring sealing, but also it allows the cell having only one side, to bend and even wrap around a tube 2 this in order to reduce the dimensions, once the face 9 folded 180 degrees around at least two of the tubes 2. Forty rivets 14 expandable and blind plastic; it's rivets 14 have the particularity of being assembled by simple pressure of the thumb; they fix the face 9 to the chassis.

 Figure 4 shows the face 10; this face is perpendicular to the bottom 11, they are identical in all respects for reasons of standardization. As on face 9, silicone 13 was injected over 15 to 20 m / m, for the same reasons, but over the entire width since no cut is made on this face.

FIG. S represents the bottom 11, this bottom is produced in the same way as the face
the two faces are strictly identical, are made with the same templates. Silicone 13 is also injected into all the cells, and always for the same reasons.

FIG. 6 represents one of the two doors, knowing that they have the same dimensions, but during cutting, the face receiving the protection against ultraviolet determines whether the door will be on the right or on the left of face 9. The two doors are fixed in the same way on
frame 1, with expandable and blind rivets 14. Two cutouts 15 of $ 2 m / m at 45 degrees are made in each of the doors 3 on the side of the face 10, these cutouts are used to pass the screws 8 used for fixing tubes 2. At the base of these cutouts 15, five cells are hollowed out from the inside 12, these hollowed cells are used to build! a hinge of the doors 3, hinge which makes it possible to open the doors 3 between 110 and 135 degrees, which is more than sufficient to allow the passage of a person even quite opulent. Three permanent magnets 5 with a pullout force of approximately 10 kg constitute the closing system, but also for adjusting this closing of the two doors 3. The permanent magnets 5, never work for tearing, but for sliding. which allows you to adjust at will the opening of the two doors, up to a few millimeters, which is enough to ensure good ventilation, or to avoid! has risen too high inside the sauna.

 FIG. 7 represents the injection of silicone 13 into the alveoli that have not been amputated from their inner face, the silicone 13 not being injected into the amputated alveoli, since the latter would partially cancel the flexibility of the amputated alveoli.

FIG. 8 represents the drawing of a rivet 14, during three different phases
mounting.

Claims (7)

 1) Cockpit almost completely translucent to let solar thermal energy through, characterized in that it has a metal frame (1) and that it is closed by two doors, (3) one at each end, so as to preserve thermal energy, and that the two doors (3) are translucent, that the metal frame (1) has two different faces (9) and (10) which can be presented simultaneously to the sun depending on whether it is high or low on the horizon, that the interior of the passenger compartment rises in temperature so that it is possible to be used in a sauna, that the passenger compartment is entirely covered with a cellular material, thermally insulating, for example in polycarbonate, due to the fact that the cells are filled with air, statically blocked, that the passenger compartment is small enough to land on a balcony, behind a bay window, on a terrace, that the solar collection surface is greater in square meters the number of cubic meters of the sauna, regardless of the side (9 or 10) presented to the sun, that more than 80% of the solar energy received on the ground passes through the translucent material, and is thus found to heat the cabin, which provides when the sun is present, heating to easily reach the 43 to 4> C required by the human body to ensure adequate sweating.  2) Cockpit according to claim 1, characterized in that the cells at their end, are closed with silicone (13), thus making air circulation impossible, which makes the air contained in the cells insulating.  3) Cockpit according to claim 1, characterized in that its dimensions are those of a single bed, ie 900 X 2.000 mm on the ground and 900 mm high, so that it can land on a balcony standardized.  4) Cockpit characterized according to claim 1, in that the two doors (3) are symmetrical, so that, whatever the face (9) or (10) which is exposed to the sun, the entrance will always be on the same side.  5) Cockpit according to claims 1 and 4, characterized in that the two doors can be opened or closed by letting in air at will, either for the supply of oxygen, or to limit the heat in the sauna, each have three permanent magnets (5) working at sliding, therefore adjustable, and not tapped, on the square tubes (2) forming the frame (1).  6) Sauna according to any one of claims 1 to 5 characterized in that  the doors (3) include hinges, and the face (9) of 4S folds; the doors and the folds being produced by removing the interior material of several cells side by side (12), this so that the doors can open easily at more than 90, and that the folds can follow the angles at 45 at the places of folding, more material than necessary folding having been removed in order to give a small permanent ventilation inside, and also to be able to fold the plates to 180 to reduce the dimensions of the packaging, allowing the face ( 9) to be in one piece instead of three.  7) Sauna according to any one of claims 1 iL 6 characterized in that it comprises an electric heating, preferably radiant, and insulated as for a bathroom, having a power of 1.5 kw, the thermostat reaches at least 50 C, allowing in the event of impossibility of exposure to the sun to obtain the temperature essential for good sweating.