JPH06197846A - Hand dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time required for drying and to enhance quick drying properties by temporarily stopping first stage hot air control which is carried out over a given period of time after the detection of hands, and performing second stage hot air control at the detection of hands within that stopping period to provide hot air of lower temperature than that for the first stage. CONSTITUTION:A fan driven and rotated by a fan motor 5 is provided in an upper position inside a space surrounded by the base cover 3 and front cover 4 of a hand drier 1 mounted to the wall surface 2 of a toilet room, and a heater 7 and a hand sensor 8 for detecting hands stretched are disposed in respective lower positions inside the space. A control circuit 9, the center of which is a microcomputer for controlling driving of the fan motor 5 and the heater 7, is mounted on a printed substrate 10. When hands are stretched the amount of electricity transmitted to the heater is controlled to a maximum over the period of standard drying time T1. Next, if the hands are detected even after hot air has been stopped for a period of time (t) sufficient to announce the end of the standard drying time, hot air of lower temperature than before is fed to continue drying the hands.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is installed in a toilet or the like,
The present invention relates to a band dryer used for hand drying after hand washing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In public toilets, etc., a hand detection sensor detects when a wet hand is put out after washing the hand, and the fan is rotated and the heater is energized to blow hot air from the outlet. A band dryer configured to dry hands quickly is installed.

In this type of hand dryer, hot air of a considerably high temperature is blown out from the outlet in order to dry the wet hand after washing the hand as quickly as possible. Is comfortable, but when dryness progresses and the amount of water adhering to the hands decreases, the hot air feels hot, causing a problem of discomfort. In order to solve this problem, the conventional hand dryer is
Control is performed such that the amount of heat generated by the heater is reduced stepwise or linearly.

[0004]

However, in the case of the control in which the heat generation amount of the heater is reduced stepwise or linearly, the time required for drying becomes long and the quick drying property is not good. Therefore, there is a problem that the waiting time becomes long when used by many people. Further, when the drying operation that has been once ended is to be restarted, the drying operation is restarted with hot air at a high temperature, so that it feels hot and causes a great deal of discomfort.

[0005]

A hand dryer according to the present invention detects an outstretched hand with a hand detection sensor,
In a hand dryer configured to blow hot air by rotating a fan and energizing a heater, the first-stage hot air control for a predetermined period after hand detection is temporarily stopped, and hand detection within this stop period is performed. Therefore, the control means for performing the warm air control in the second stage which is lower in temperature than the first stage is provided.

[0006]

[Function] The user's hand is detected and the heater and fan are turned on.
In the case of N / OFF control, a wet hand is dried by the warm air control in the first stage for a predetermined time which is a standard drying time after hand detection. Then, after the lapse of the first step, the heater is once turned off to shift to the stop mode. The user once recognizes the completion of the drying operation of the hand dryer by this stop mode. On the other hand, when it is determined that the hand has not been dried yet and the hand is still held up, the heater is turned on with a lower heating value than in the first stage.
The N operation is performed, and the second stage warm air control is performed, and the warm air is dried with a warm air that does not feel hot. The above operation is performed by the control means.

[0007]

Embodiments of the hand dryer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an overall configuration of a hand dryer 1 installed in a toilet or the like to dry water after hand washing. Figure 1
As shown in, a fan 6 that is rotationally driven by a fan motor 5 is provided at an upper position of the space surrounded by the base cover 3 and the front cover 4 of the hand dryer 1 attached to the wall surface 2 of the toilet room. A heater 7 and a hand detection sensor 8 for detecting an outstretched hand are provided at the lower position. A control circuit 9 having a microcomputer as a center for controlling the drive of the fan motor 5 and the heater 7 is mounted on the printed board 10.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, the hand detection sensor 8 is connected to the input side of the control circuit 9, and the fan motor 5 and the heater 7 are connected to the output side through an interface circuit (not shown). An example of a control procedure of the fan motor 5 and the heater 7 executed by the control circuit 9 is shown in FIG.
It is shown in the flowchart. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the passage of time of the energization amount of the heater 7 in this embodiment.

In the flow chart shown in FIG. 4, 3
Hot air control by one control mode is prepared. Steps 11, 12, and 13 are control mode execution procedures, and this control mode is the first-step hot air control mode for controlling at high temperature. Dry time T
_The heater energization amount is controlled to be maximum for ₁ hour (for example, 20 seconds) (corresponding to the area A in FIG. 3).

Steps 14, 15, and 16 show the procedure for executing the control mode for stopping the hot air, and as shown in FIG. 3, the time is sufficient to let the user recognize the end of the standard drying time. In this mode, the hot air is stopped for t time (for example, 3 seconds). In this example, the heater 7 is stopped from being energized, but the fan motor 5 is driven to send the cool air. In this way, when the warm air is stopped for t hours in step 16, the user often thinks that the temporary drying is completed and releases the hand. Then, in this case, since the hand is not detected in the next step 17,
The state where the warm air is stopped is returned to the initial step of step 11.

On the other hand, if the user determines that the first-stage drying is not sufficient, he / she holds his / her hand even after the first-stage warm air is stopped. The hand detection is continued at 17 and the control mode of step 18 is executed (corresponding to the region B portion starting from T ₂ in FIG. 3).

The control mode is a second-stage warm air control mode in which warm air at a temperature lower than that of the first-stage warm air is used to control the heater energization amount in order to eliminate a hot feeling just before the completion of drying. It is suppressed to about half of A and hot air having a temperature lower than that in the first stage is supplied. Then, as long as the hand is detected in step 19, the control mode of step 18 is executed, and when the user releases the hand and the hand is no longer detected, the control mode is terminated and step 1
Return to the initial step of 1.

In the above embodiment, the control mode maintains a constant heater energization amount as shown in FIG. 3, but, for example, a temperature sensor is added to the environment where hot air is blown out. The temperature may be measured, and the control mode or the heater energization amount may be appropriately controlled depending on the ambient temperature.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, the time required for drying can be shortened, the quick-drying property can be improved, and the waiting time can be shortened when many people use it. Further, when the drying operation that has been once ended is tried to be continued again, warm air having a lower temperature than before is emitted, so that there is no feeling of heat and discomfort is eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of a hand dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control system of the hand dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the passage of time of the amount of electricity supplied to the heater in the hand dryer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the hand dryer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Hand dryer 5 ... Fan motor 6 ... Fan 7 ... Heater 8 ... Hand detection sensor 9 ... Control circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hand dryer configured to detect an outstretched hand with a hand detection sensor, blow a warm air by rotating a fan and energizing a heater, for a predetermined period after the hand detection. A hand dryer characterized in that control means for temporarily stopping the first-stage hot air control and performing a second-stage hot air control at a temperature lower than the first stage by hand detection during this stop period is provided.