Hand drying

Abstract

An arrangement incorporates a sink and a hand dryer which extends over the sink. The hand dryer is of the type which uses an air-knife mechanically to wipe the water from the user's hands. The hand dryer comprising two elongate air-knife discharge outletseach outlet discharging a respective air-knife forwardly onto a hand of the userthe air-knife outlets being arranged side-by-side over the basin of the sink. Each air-knife outlet extends along a part of the hand dryer which is swept back at an angle such that the inboard end the air-knife outlet is in front of the outboard end of the air-knife outlet.

Claims

1. An arrangement comprising a sink and a hand dryer which extends over the sink and a water faucet which extends over the sink, the hand dryer configured to use an air-knife mechanically to wipe the water from the user's hands, the hand dryer comprising two elongate air-knife discharge outletseach outlet discharging a respective air-knife forwards onto a hand of the userthe air-knife discharge outlets are provided on a fixture in the form of a spout and are connected through the spout to an air supply, and the air-knife discharge outlets are arranged side-by-side over the basin of the sink, each air-knife outlet being arranged on an angle such that the inboard end the air-knife outlet is in front of the outboard end of the air-knife outlet.

2. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the outlets additionally extend downwardly at an anhedral angle so that the inboard end of each air-knife discharge outlet is above the outboard end of the air-knife discharge outlet.

3. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein each air-knife discharge outlet comprises an elongate discharge aperture or elongate line of discharge apertures.

4. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein each air-knife discharge outlet comprises an elongate air slot or plurality of elongate air slots.

5. The arrangement of claim 4, wherein the width of the slot(s) is less than 2 mm.

6. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein each air-knife discharge outlet is at least 80 mm long.

7. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the water faucet has a water delivery nozzle positioned in-between the two air-knife discharge outlets.

8. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein the water delivery nozzle and air-knife discharge outlets are provided on a single fixture that can be fitted next to the basin of the sink, the water delivery nozzle and air-knife discharge outlets each being provided on a projecting part of the fixture.

9. The arrangement of claim 7, wherein the water delivery nozzle and the air-knife discharge outlets are provided on a common projecting part of the fixture in the form of a spout.

10. The arrangement of claim 9, wherein the water delivery nozzle is connected through the spout to a water supply.

11. The arrangement of claim 1, wherein the air-knife discharge outlets are provided on branch ducts that branch off from a main air supply duct inside the spout, each air-knife discharge outlet extending along a sidewall of the respective branch duct.

12. The arrangement of claim 11, wherein the branch ducts are swept back at said angle relative to the spout.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments of the invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIGS. 1 and 2 are simplified perspective views of conventional air-knife hand dryers;

(3) FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an arrangement in accordance with the invention, comprising a sink and a fixture fitted next to the basin of the sink;

(4) FIG. 4 is a front view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 3;

(5) FIG. 5 is a section along A-A in FIG. 4;

(6) FIG. 6 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 3;

(7) FIG. 7 is a front view of the fixture shown in FIG. 3, illustrating use of the fixture to dry the hands;

(8) FIG. 8 is a front view of an alternative arrangement in accordance with the invention;

(9) FIG. 9 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 8; and

(10) FIG. 10 is a plan view of an alternative arrangement in accordance with the invention, in which the air-knife outlets are provided on separate fixtures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(11) FIGS. 3-6 show an arrangement comprising a fixture 1 in combination with a sink 3.

(12) The sink 3 itself may be conventional. A Belfast-type sink is shown, though other types of sink may alternatively be used. The sink 3 has a standard drain-hole 3a, in this case positioned towards the rear wall of the basin 3b of the sink 3.

(13) The fixture 1 is fitted next to the basin 3b of the sink 3 using a locknut 5 underneath the sink 3 which engages with an externally threaded, hollow fixing stud 7 to clamp the fixture 1 in place (the fixture 1 may alternatively be fitted adjacent the sink rather than to the sink itself, according to the style of sink).

(14) The fixture 1 has a tubular construction comprising a vertical, tubular trunk 9 which sits next to the basin 3b of the sink 3 and a projecting part, in the form of a spout 11, which projects horizontally from the trunk 9, out over the basin 3b of the sink 3. The fixture 1 is formed from metal: for example from conventional rolled steel tubing sections which are then welded together.

(15) A downward facing water nozzle 13 is provided at the end of the spout 11. On demand, water for washing is supplied through the water nozzle 13 from a main supply line (not shown), via a water supply pipe 15 which runs through the trunk 9 and the spout 11.

(16) The fixture 1 is configured for hands-free operation to supply water, using a conventional sensor and control loop which automatically opens a stop valve in the supply line, in response to detection of a user's hands in a washing position. Alternatively, the fixture may be configured for manual operation to supply water.

(17) In accordance with the invention, the fixture 1 incorporates a hand dryer of the type which uses an air-knife mechanically to wipe the water from a user's hand. Two air-knives are discharged in use: a first air-knife 17c, which is discharged through an air-knife outlet 17 on the left hand side of the spout and a second air-knife 19c, which is discharged through an air-knife outlet 19 on the right hand side of the spout. Each air-knife outlet 17, 19 takes the form of a narrow elongate slotless than 2 mm wideon a respective tubular branch duct 21 extending laterally from the spout 11.

(18) The branch ducts 21 branch off from a main air duct 23 which runs through the spout 11 and the trunk 9. This air duct 23 is connected to the positive pressure (output) side of a motor-driven fan 25 via a flexible hose 27 which fluidly connects to the inside of the trunk 9 via the hollow fixing stud 7 (if the water supply pipe 15 runs through the fixing stud 7effectively within the air supply linethen adequate provision will need to be made to route the pipe 15 to the exterior of the air supply line, for connection to the water supply line).

(19) On demand, the fan 25 drives airflow through the air-knife outlets 17, 19 to generate the respective air-knives. The exit airspeed at the air-knife outlets 17, 19 exceeds 80 m/s, and is preferably above 150 m/s. This provides in each case a well-defined air-knife for effective drying of the hands.

(20) The hand dryer is configured for hands-free operation using a conventional sensor and control loop, which automatically switches on the fan 25 in response to detection of a user's hands in a drying position (which should be distinguishable from the aforementioned washing positionwhich automatically activates the water supply). Alternatively, the hand dryer may be configured for manual operation.

(21) To commence the hand-drying operation, a user presents his (or her) wet left-handpalm openin front of the air-knife outlet 17 on the left hand side of the spout and similarly presents his wet right handpalm openin front of the air-knife outlet 19 on the right hand of the spout 11. The sensor and control loop then operates to activate the fan 25, which forces air under high pressure through the discharge apertures 17, 19: directing high-momentum airflow forwards onto the user's hands. The hands are dried one side at a time: first, the user passes his hands up and down in front of the air-knife outlets with the back of the hand facing the air-knife outlets (referred to below as the standard pass). This is shown in FIG. 7. Thenafter turning over the handsthe user passes his (or her) hands up and down in front of the air-knife outlets with the palms facing the air-knife outlets (referred to below as the reverse pass). The standard pass and reverse pass may each be repeated, as required, and carried out in any order.

(22) The branch ducts 21 are swept back at a sweep angle, shown in FIG. 6such that the inboard end 17a, 19a of the air-knife outlets is in front of the respective outboard end 17b, 19b of the air-knife outlets. This improves user comfortparticularly during the reverse pass because it reduces the degree to which the user must supinate his hands and forearms in order to present the palm square-on to the air-knife outlets. The angle is in this case 22.5 degrees. A preferred range for is 10-50 degrees.

(23) The branch ducts also extend downwards at an anhedral angle, shown in FIG. 4such that the inboard end 17a, 19a of the air-knife outlets 17, 19 is above the respective outboard end 17b, 19b of the air-knife outlets. This also provides an ergonomic advantage in use, increasing user comfort particularly during the reverse pass. The angle is in this case 14 degrees. A preferred range for is 5 -25 degrees.

(24) Arranging the air-knife outlets so that they extend downwards at an anhedral angle is not an essential element of the invention. FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrates a neutral configuration of a fixture 10, in which the branch ducts 210 extend horizontally from the spout 11. Here, the sweep angle, (FIG. 9) nevertheless aids user comfort in the manner described above. The air-knife outlets 170, 190 in this case take the form of respective elongate rows of shorter slots, rather than a single elongate slotanalogous to the Mitsubishi arrangement of slots in FIG. 2.

(25) In the previous arrangements, a single fixture 1, 10 is provided which incorporates both the functions of a water faucet and a hand dryer. FIG. 10 shows an arrangement in which the air-knife outlets 1700, 1900 are instead located side by side on separate fixtures 100a, 100b fitted next to the basin 3b of the sink 3. The fixtures 100a, 100b are spaced apart from one another, so that the air-knife outlets 1700, 1900 are not positioned immediately side-by-side. This is in order to accommodate a separate, conventional water faucet 29 mounted centrally above the drain-hole in the sink basin 3b.