JP2003293405A - Hand washing water faucet with light - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hand washing water faucet with a light, enabling hand washing without hindrance without lighting a main illuminating light for illuminating the entire room by partially illuminating a discharged water flow and the inner surface of a hand washing bowl brightly in the darkness, and having high design effect. <P>SOLUTION: This hand washing water faucet has a light emitting part 54 for illumination, and the light emitting part 54 is positioned outside the discharged water flow to radiate illuminating light from the outside toward the discharged water flow. The flare of illuminating light has a width larger than that of the discharged water flow, and the half or more of the radiated light falls inside the hand washing bowl 28. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
Specifically, it relates to a hand-washed faucet with illumination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional hand-washing faucets have been required to turn on an illumination lamp for illuminating the entire room when, for example, waking up in the middle of the night to wash hands or wash the face. However, in this case, there is an inconvenience that the user suddenly becomes bright and feels dazzling and uncomfortable and awakes.

Therefore, it is conceivable to provide a handwash faucet with an illumination function in addition to the main illumination lamp. Various types of faucets have been proposed in the past for providing a faucet with an illumination function. As one of them, there has been proposed one that irradiates illumination light only from the inside of the water outlet to the water discharge flow (for example, JP-A-2-286).
987). Further, as the irradiation light is emitted from the outside to the water discharge flow, the light emitting portion is positioned outside the water discharge port, and the illumination light is irradiated sideways to the water discharge flow from the water discharge port, and only the water discharge flow is irradiated. A device constructed in this way is also proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-336710).

[0004]

However, in the former case, the illumination light does not leak out of the discharge flow due to the relationship between the refractive indices of air and water. Therefore, although the discharge flow can be made to shine, the washbasin remains dark. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to see at hand and it is difficult to wash the hands without turning on the main lighting at night.

On the other hand, even when the light emitting portion is arranged outside the spouting stream as in the latter case, the basin remains dark even if the spouting stream shines and is easy to understand by only illuminating the spouting stream. Therefore, even in this case, there is a problem that it is difficult to wash the hands when performing the actions such as hand washing in the dark at night.

[0006]

The hand-held faucet with illumination of the present invention has been devised to solve such a problem. Thus, the invention according to claim 1 has a light emitting portion for illumination, and the light emitting portion is located outside the water discharge stream and illuminates the illumination light from the outside toward the water discharge stream. In addition, the spread of the illumination light is wider than the width of the discharged water flow, and at least half or more of the irradiated light is contained inside the hand washing bowl.

A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the light emitting portion is provided with directivity so that at least half or more of the irradiated light can be contained in the hand washing bowl.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first and second aspects, the light emitting unit irradiates the illumination light from the side opposite to the faucet user with respect to the water discharge flow. It is characterized by being.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any one of the first to third aspects, the light emitting portion is provided on the water discharge portion and on the base side of the water discharge port.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the light emitting portion is composed of an LED.

[0011]

As described above, in the handwash faucet with illumination according to the present invention, the light emitting portion is located outside the spouting stream, the illumination light is emitted from the outside toward the spouting water, and the spread of the illumination light is spouted. It has a spread of more than the width of the water stream, and at least half of the irradiated light is set to fit inside the hand-washing bowl.According to the present invention, there is little leakage of illumination light to the outside of the hand-washing bowl, or Since there is no leakage, the discharge flow and the inner surface of the handwash bowl can be effectively raised by the illumination light from the light emitting portion from the surrounding darkness, and the design effect of the light can enhance the beauty of the discharge stream and the handwash bowl.

Further, according to the present invention, when the user puts his / her hand inside the washbasin to wash his / her hand, the hand can be brightly illuminated by the illumination light, and at the same time, the discharge water flow can be clearly recognized by the illumination light. Therefore, even in the dark, the hand washing can be performed well in the illumination light. Similarly, when performing an act such as washing the face, since the face can be illuminated with the illumination light, the washing action can be favorably performed.

According to the present invention, by giving the light emitting portion directivity, it is possible to store more than half of the emitted illumination light in the hand washing bowl (claim 2). By doing so, it is possible to easily and intensively illuminate the inside of the hand washing bowl with the illumination light.

In the present invention, the illumination light from the light emitting portion may be applied to the water discharge flow from the side opposite to the faucet user (claim 3). If you do this,
Since the illumination light strikes the spouting stream from the back side opposite to the faucet user, the spouting stream can be illuminated more beautifully and the design effect by the light can be further enhanced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the light emitting portion is provided on the water discharge portion and on the root side of the water discharge portion with respect to the water discharge port. In this case, the tip of the water discharge portion can be made compact in shape.
In addition, there is an advantage that the visibility of the position of the water discharge port, that is, the water discharge position is high.

In the present invention, the light emitting portion may be configured by an LED (light emitting diode). Thus, the light emitting unit can be easily attached to a desired position around the water discharge port with a simple structure.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a cabinet, which is a pair of side plates 12, 12, a top plate 14, a bottom plate 16, and FIG.
A front door 20 having a handle 18 shown in FIG. 2 is provided, and a storage space 22 is formed inside them. Here, the bottom plate 16 is provided at a position above the floor 24 of the room by a predetermined distance. A panel 26 is provided so as to stand upright from the top surface of the top plate 14.

On the upper surface of the top plate 14, a hand washing bowl 28 is installed in the front part of the panel 26. This hand wash bowl 2
A drainage pipe 30 extends downward from a drainage port at the bottom of 8.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, reference numeral 32 is an automatic hand washing faucet of this embodiment, which is a water discharge part 34 attached to the panel 26.
And a main body portion 36 attached to the side plate 12 inside the cabinet 10, and a solenoid valve 38 disposed below the bottom plate 16 of the cabinet 10 and connected to the water source pipe.

The main body 36 has a box 40,
The substrate is housed inside. On this board, a DC power supply circuit for stepping down commercial power to convert it into a DC power supply, and a water discharger 34
And a control circuit for controlling water discharge from the. That is, the box 40 of the main body portion 36 is configured as a power box and a control box.

A power cord 41 extends from the main body portion 36, and an insertion plug at the tip thereof is inserted and connected to an outlet 42 provided on a wall as shown in FIG. In this example, a dry battery is housed inside the box 40 of the main body 36, and the battery is used as a power source for the automatic hand washing faucet 3
It can also be arranged to activate the two.

Electrical wirings 44 and 46 extend downward and upward from the main body portion 36, and are connected to the solenoid valve 38 and the water discharge portion 34, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1, a water supply pipe 48 extends upward from the solenoid valve 38 and its tip is connected to the water discharge part 34, so that the water supplied from the water supply source pipe is supplied to the water supply pipe 48. It is designed to be led to the water discharger 34 through.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the water discharge part 34 projects laterally from the panel 26, and a water discharge port 50 is provided downward at a position near the front end thereof. Further, a human body detection sensor 52 for detecting a hand, a face or the like that has been extended is provided in a front portion of the water outlet 50, and a light emitting portion 54 configured by an LED is provided in a rear portion of the water outlet 50. The light emitting unit 54 emits light at an angle α (here, α = 50).
Orientation is given so that it becomes a spread of °).

The light emitting portion 54 irradiates the downward spouting stream from the spouting port 50 from the rear side, and the whole of the radiated light enters the hand washing bowl 28 as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. The mounting position and the orientation are determined so that it fits.

In the case of the illuminated automatic hand-washing faucet of this embodiment, when the user puts his / her hand into the hand-washing pot 28 to wash his / her hand, the human body detection sensor 52 detects this and the control of the control circuit in the main body 36 is performed. First, the light emitting portion 54 emits light downward, and after a slight delay, the water is discharged from the water discharge port 50 by the opening operation of the solenoid valve 38.

At this time, the illumination light emitted from the light emitting portion 54 illuminates the spouted water from the rear side and also illuminates the inner surface of the hand washing bowl 28 brightly. A faucet user can clearly see the discharge flow under the lighting, and a brightly illuminated handwash bowl 2
8 Inside, it is possible to wash hands under the light of illumination light. At this time, since the hand is illuminated brightly by the light emitted from the light emitting unit 54 toward the inner surface of the hand washing bowl 28, the degree of dirt removal of the hand can be clearly understood, and the hand washing action can be favorably performed.

When the user of the faucet finishes the hand washing and pulls his hand back from the hand washing bowl 28, the human body detecting sensor 52
Is not detected by the human body, the electromagnetic valve 38 is closed, and the water discharge from the water discharge port 50 is stopped. Then, after a slight delay, the light emission from the light emitting unit 54 stops, and the illumination of the inner surface of the hand washing bowl 28 stops.

In this example, water discharge and illumination may be performed simultaneously based on the human body detection by the human body detection sensor 52, and after the human body is no longer detected, the water discharge and the illumination are stopped at the same time. You may do it.

In the illuminated automatic hand-washing faucet of this example, the discharge flow and the inner surface of the hand-washing pot 28 are raised from the surrounding darkness by the illumination light from the light emitting portion 54 in the darkness, and the light is used for the design effect. Water flow and washbasin 2
The aesthetics of 8 can be enhanced.

Moreover, in this embodiment, the light emitting portion 54 is provided with directivity and its mounting position and orientation are determined so that all the light emitted from the light emitting portion 54 is contained in the hand washing bowl 28. Since there is no leakage of light to the outside of 28, the inner surface of the hand washing bowl 28 can be more effectively lifted up from the dark surroundings, and the design effect by light can be further enhanced.

In addition, in this example, in addition to the water discharge flow being clearly visible by irradiation of illumination light, the inner surface of the hand washing bowl 28 and the hands and face etc. that are extended there are brightly illuminated by the illumination light, so even in the dark. It is possible to properly wash hands and wash the face.

Further, in this example, since the light emitting portion 54 is located at the rear of the water outlet 50 and irradiates the discharge water with illumination light from the rear side, the discharge water can be illuminated more beautifully. Further, since the light emitting portion 54 is provided on the rear side of the water discharge port 50, the tip end portion of the water discharge portion 34 can be configured in a compact shape, and the position of the water discharge port 50,
That is, there is an advantage that the visibility of the water discharge position can be increased.

Further, in this example, since the light emitting portion 54 is composed of the LED, the light emitting portion 54 can be easily attached to a desired position around the water outlet 50 with a simple structure.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but this is merely an example. For example, the present invention can of course be applied to a manual faucet, and the light emitting portion 54 can be arranged in front of the spout 50, or part of the illumination light from the light emitting portion 54 can be provided in some cases. It can be installed so as to leak to the outside of the hand washing bowl 28. Further, in the above example, the light emitting unit is provided in the water discharge unit, but it is also possible to provide the light emitting unit at a position away from the water discharge unit, and the present invention has various modifications within a range not departing from the gist thereof. It is configurable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing an automatic hand-washing faucet with lighting according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a hand-washing pot and a cabinet.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing the automatic hand-washing faucet with illumination of the embodiment, together with a hand-washing pot and a cabinet.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a water discharge part and its peripheral part of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the water discharger according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

28 hand wash bowl 32 Automatic Hand Wash Faucet 34 Water discharge part 50 spout 54 Light emitting part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A light emitting part for illumination is provided, the light emitting part is located outside the spouted water stream, and the illumination light is emitted from the outer side toward the spouted water stream. A lighted hand-washing faucet characterized in that the spread of light is wider than the width of the spouted water, and that at least half of the irradiated light is contained inside the hand-washing pot. 2. The handwash faucet with illumination according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting portion has directivity so that at least half or more of the irradiated light can be contained in the handwash bowl. 3. The light emitting unit according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit irradiates the illumination light from the side opposite to the faucet user with respect to the water discharge flow. Illuminated handwash faucet. 4. The handwash faucet with illumination according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the light emitting unit is provided in the water discharge unit and closer to the root side than the water discharge port. 5. The handwash faucet with illumination according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the light emitting portion is formed of an LED.