RU2727535C2 - Dryer for drying hair with system of air intake channels, having optimized acoustic characteristics - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electrical engineering.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to hair dryer (1) comprising an air circulation chamber (3) having inlet zone (4) and outlet area (5), an air circulation system (6) comprising electric motor (8) and impeller (7), made in circulation chamber with possibility of external air suction through inlet zone and supply of this air in direction from top downstream into outlet zone. Fen contains at least two blades (11), located in the inlet zone, wherein these blades are located relative to each other and relative to the inlet zone so as to form air inlet channels, directed to the impeller and overlapping the sight lines directed inside the circulation chamber. In one embodiment, said blades are tulip-shaped.EFFECT: invention provides improved acoustic characteristics of a hair dryer.15 cl, 8 dwg

Description

The technical field to which the invention relates

The present invention relates to the field of hair dryers for hair care by drying. The technical problem to be solved is, above all, the optimization of the drying characteristics as well as the user experience.

State of the art

Traditionally, hair dryers have an air intake area, an air circulation chamber, an air outlet area, an air circulation system and a heating element. The air circulation system and heating element are built into the circulation chamber. The air circulation system contains an electric motor that drives an impeller to draw in outside air through the intake area. The circulation system also includes a rectifier equipped with blades adapted to direct the air blown out of the impeller. Then, the blown and guided air flow enters the outlet of the circulation chamber, passing through the heating element. The more or less highly heated air is then blown out through the outlet zone to effect drying of the hair.

There is a Japanese patent published under the number JPH 02252404, which discloses blades located in the intake area to direct the intake air towards the impeller, thereby limiting the head loss, which helps to increase the velocity of the exhaust air and thus improves the drying and feel user. However, the acoustic performance of this design is still poor. In fact, the design of such a hair dryer, and more generally of all existing hair dryers, does not reduce the noise caused in particular by the rotation of the electric motor.

Disclosure of the essence of the invention

The technical problem solved by the present invention also consists in directing the intake air towards the impeller in order to limit the head loss, as well as to eliminate the disadvantage of the noise generated by hair dryers such as those described in JPH 02252404.

To this end, the hair dryer according to the invention comprises an air circulation chamber having an inlet zone and an outlet zone. The hair dryer also contains an air circulation system containing electric motors and an impeller located in the circulation chamber for sucking in external air through the inlet zone and supplying this air in a downstream direction to the said outlet zone. This air circulation system also comprises a rectifier having blades adapted to direct the air blown out of the impeller. In addition, a heating element is disposed in the circulation chamber at the outlet of the rectifier, said heating element allowing more or less intense heating of the circulated air as it passes around said heating element before exiting through the outlet zone.

It is noteworthy that the hair dryer in accordance with the invention contains at least two blades located in the inlet zone. These blades are positioned relative to each other and in relation to the inlet zone in such a way as to form air inlet channels through which the air sucked in by the impeller enters the circulation chamber. These air inlets are directed towards the impeller, which allows air to be directed towards the impeller, reducing head loss. In addition, these at least two blades are made in such a way as to overlap the lines of sight directed towards the inner part of the circulation chamber, as if forming a wall overlapping the zone of the entrance to the circulation chamber. Thus, the intake air is directed to the impeller, and the sound waves arising from the rotation of the electric motor propagate in the channels, reflecting from the blades forming the specified overlapping wall, which ensures the attenuation of the sound waves when they exit the channels and, thus, reduces the noise level.

The lines of sight directed towards the inside of the circulation chamber mean lines parallel to the longitudinal axis of the circulation chamber, in the direction of which the user can look to try to see the inside of the circulation chamber from the back of the hair dryer.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer in accordance with the invention, each of the blades is tulip-shaped, open upstream. Said blades are inserted into each other with gaps between them, so as to form the indicated channels directed towards the impeller. In addition, the blades are made in such a way as to overlap the inlet zone, while they are located sequentially one after the other, with at least partial overlap with respect to each other, providing overlapping of the lines of sight directed towards the inside of the circulation chamber. This tulip-like shape ensures that the entire inlet area is closed off by forming the said overlapping wall without compromising the cross-section of the existing channels. In addition, this tulip-like shape helps to draw in air from the outside, from the sides of the hair dryer.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the hair dryer comprises two to ten tulip-shaped elements. Preferably, the hair dryer contains two or four tulip-shaped elements.

In one embodiment of a hair dryer according to the invention, the hair dryer comprises a cover (or casing) connected to a circulation chamber in the inlet area. This cover contains the specified at least two vanes. This design makes it easier to separate the circulation chamber and cover (or casing) with blades. In a preferred embodiment, a removable locking means is provided between the circulation chamber and the lid to permit removal of the lid. This makes it easier to access the interior of the circulation chamber to access the air circulation system, for example, for impeller replacement or any other maintenance operation. This also allows you to replace the casing with another.

In one embodiment of a hair dryer in accordance with the invention, the lid comprises tabs for holding the shoulder blades together. This makes it easier to place the blades at the same distance from each other.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer in accordance with the invention, the hair dryer comprises a duct system formed in the inlet zone to remove to the outside the air displaced around the circumference of the impeller in the circulation chamber. Indeed, there is a large pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the impeller. Therefore, due to the installation gap between the parts, it is necessary to leave a space between the inner wall of the circulation chamber and the outer contour of the impeller. As a result, there is a space around the circumference of the circle in which the pressure is balanced, and part of the air is pushed back by the impeller instead of being sucked in and then blown out. Thus, the duct system ensures that this air pushed out by the impeller is removed to the outside without allowing it to remain in the circulation chamber. The advantage is the elimination of turbulence and disturbance of the air flow sucked in and directed through the vanes.

In one embodiment of a hair dryer in accordance with the invention, the channel system comprises a circular channel located in the inlet region and adjacent to the inner wall of the circulation chamber. This circular shape allows expelled air to escape around the entire inner perimeter of the circulation chamber in the intake area. In this case, it is also possible to provide several channels evenly distributed around the entire perimeter in the inlet zone, without departing from the scope of the invention.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the duct system comprises means for reducing the velocity of the outwardly expelled air. This reduction in speed avoids the formation of turbulent currents outside the inlet zone of the hair dryer, which can prevent proper entry of air into the channels formed by the blades.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer in accordance with the invention, the channel system comprises noise reduction means. It also improves the acoustic performance of the hair dryer.

In a preferred embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, the channel system consists of a circular channel, this channel having a zigzag shape in longitudinal section. The advantage of such a zigzag shape is that it is both the air velocity reduction means and the noise reduction means mentioned above.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer in accordance with the invention, the hair dryer comprises the above cap (or casing) containing any of its features. In addition, this cover contains, in addition to the blades, a channel system. This design simplifies the separate design of the circulation chamber and cover with the duct system and vanes.

In one embodiment of the hair dryer according to the invention, at least the aforementioned two blades and the duct system are designed so that the air expelled by the said duct system is sucked in again by the impeller through the air inlet ducts. In a preferred embodiment, the tulip shape of the blades and the zigzag shape of the channel are designed to provide such an effect.

Brief Description of Drawings

The present invention will be better understood on reading the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

in fig. 1 is a perspective cross-sectional view of a hair dryer in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

in fig. 2 is an enlarged partial view of the rear of the hair dryer of FIG. 1;

in fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a cover (or casing), in particular containing blades;

in fig. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3;

in fig. 5 shows a front view of a variant of the cover;

in fig. 6 is an enlarged partial view of the rear of an embodiment of the hair dryer including the cap of FIG. five;

in fig. 7 is an enlarged, partial side view of the back of a hair dryer in accordance with an alternative embodiment;

in fig. 8 is a top plan view of the back of the hair dryer shown in FIG. 7.

Implementation of the invention

In the following description, the same reference numbers are used to describe similar features in accordance with various embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hair dryer 1 comprises a body 2 which has a more or less cylindrical shape allowing the formation of a circulation chamber 3, this chamber having a longitudinal axis X. The circulation chamber 3 comprises an inlet zone 4 and an outlet zone 5. In this circulation chamber 3 circulation system 6, said system sucking in air from the environment through the inlet zone, and then moving this air along the entire length of the circulation chamber 3, so that the air is then blown out of the hair dryer 1 through the outlet zone 5. The circulation system 6 contains an impeller 7 located near the inlet zone 4, an electric motor 8, providing rotation of the impeller 7, and a rectifier 9 located at the outlet of the impeller 7 and providing direction of the air leaving the impeller 7. The hair dryer 1 also contains a heating element 10 located at the outlet of the rectifier 9 and providing heating of air in the outlet part of the circulation chamber 3 before it is released blowing through the outlet zone 5. The hair dryer 1 also contains means for adjusting and controlling the electric motor 8 and the heating element 10 (not shown), allowing you to individually change the rotation speed of the electric motor 8 and the heating temperature of the heating element 10, from the off position to the full power position. Typically, all hair dryers have these features, so they will not be detailed in the following description.

According to a first aspect, the invention relates to a means for guiding the air sucked in by the impeller 7 into the inlet zone 4. This means of guiding is designed in order to reduce the head loss and noise level arising in particular as a result of the operation of the electric motor 8, the rotation of the impeller 7 and air circulating in the circulation chamber 3.

As shown in particular in FIG. 1-3 and 6-8, these means are blades 11 located on the cover 12 (or casing), which is connected to the inlet area 4 of the circulation chamber 3. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4, there are four blades 11a-11d on the cover 12. However, it is also possible to install a different number of blades, preferably from two to ten blades. For example, in FIG. 5 and 6, only two blades 11a, 11b are located on the cover 12, and in FIG. 7 and 8, there are six blades 11a-11f on the cover 12.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-3, each of the blades 11a-11d has the shape of a tulip open on the upstream side of the hair dryer 1. In addition, these blades 11a-11d are equally spaced from each other to form three channels 13a between said blades and 11a-11d -13s. The cover 12 comprises a central channel 14, the wall 14a of which has a zigzag shape, as shown in FIG. 2-3. A fourth vane 11d is further formed relative to this wall 14a so as to form a channel 13d, as shown in these FIGS. 2-3. In addition, the four vanes 11a-11d are positioned relative to each other with successive partial overlap, while maintaining the presence of three channels 13a-13c. Likewise, the fourth vane 11d and the wall 14a are positioned so that the vane 11d partially overlaps the wall 14a while maintaining a fourth channel 13 d. The above-described partial overlaps make it possible to completely close the central channel 14 located in the inlet region 4 of the circulation chamber 3, as if an overlapping wall were located in front of this inlet region 4, as shown in FIG. 4. This makes it possible to overlap the lines of sight directed towards the inside of the circulation chamber 3. An advantage of this design is that sound waves generated, in particular, by the electric motor 8, the rotation of the impeller 7 and the circulating air flow, exit through the channels 13a-13d, reflecting from the blades 11a-11d and from the wall 14a, which attenuates these sound waves. In addition, an advantage of the tulip-shaped blades 11a-11d is that they allow the intake air to be directed in a linear flow through the channels 13a-13d to the impeller 7, thereby limiting the head loss.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6 has features comparable to those of the embodiment of FIG. 1-4, with only two blades 11a, 11b forming a channel 13b therebetween, the second blade 11b forming a channel 13c with the wall 14a of the central channel 14.

In addition, the first tulip-like element 11a is configured to define an axial channel 13a as shown in FIG. 6. This axial bore 13a is closed by a plug 22 (not shown in FIG. 6) located at the entrance to the axial bore 13a. This embodiment also makes it possible to visually close the access to the central channel 14 of the lid 12 and thus to the inlet region 4 of the circulation chamber 3, as shown in FIG. 5, despite the presence of channels 13a-13c. Thus, the lines of sight directed towards the inside of the circulation chamber 3 are blocked, which ensures attenuation of sound waves reflected from the blades 11a, 11b and from the wall 14a and coming out through the channels 13b-13c. As can be seen in FIG. 5 and 6, the axial channel 13a, located in the center of the first blade Pa, allows, when removing the plug 22, to maintain access to the circulation chamber 3, in particular for carrying out repair operations on the hub of the impeller 7. Preferably, the section of this axial channel 13a should be reduced or even eliminated in favor of installing a first vane 11a comparable to the first vane of FIG. 1-4.

A second aspect of the invention relates to the provision in the inlet region 4 of a duct system 15 adapted to remove to the outside air displaced around the circumference of the impeller 7 in the circulation chamber 3. As shown in FIG. 2 and 6, the ends 16 of the blades 17 of the impeller 7, forming a circular contour of the said impeller 7, are located at a distance from the inner wall Behind the circulation chamber 3, based on considerations of the assembly of these parts. This results in a circular gap 18 between the impeller 7 and the inner wall 3a, as shown in FIG. 2 and 6, with pressure balancing occurring in said circumferential clearance. A part of the intake air is then pushed back by the impeller 7 instead of being blown out to the outlet of the circulation chamber 3 due to the large pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the impeller 7. Thus, the channel system 15 ensures that the air expelled by the impeller 7 is removed to the outside, preventing it from remaining in the circulation chamber 3 at the inlet to the impeller. An advantage is the elimination of the generation of the forced air in the inlet zone 4 of turbulent flows, which could create inconveniences by disrupting the flow of air sucked in and directed through the blades 1la-11b or 1 la-11d.

Such a channel system 15 is advantageously formed on the cover 12 due to the presence of an outlet 19 located around the central channel 14. This outlet 19 is located around the circumference of the inlet zone 4, close to the circumferential space 18, as shown in FIG. 2 and 6 for two embodiments of the hair dryer 1. Thus, the air pushed out by the impeller 7 is removed to the outside through this outlet duct 19 instead of creating turbulent flows in the circulation chamber 3 at the inlet of the impeller 7, thus avoiding disruption of the normal air flow sucked in by channels 13a-13b or 13a-13d.

The inner wall 19a of the outlet 19 is formed by the wall 14a of the central passage 14 and thus has a zigzag shape as described above. The outer wall 19b of the outlet 19 also has a zigzag shape which is more pronounced in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6 than in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4, as seen in these figures. In both cases, the shapes of the inner wall 19a and the outer wall 19b impart a zigzag shape to the outlet duct 19, the advantage of which is the ability to reduce the velocity of the expelled air discharged outside the outlet duct 19. This avoids disturbing the intake of external air through ducts 13a-13c and 13- 13d. This zigzag shape of the outlet 19 also makes it possible to overlap the line of sight directed into the circulation chamber 3, as shown in FIG. 4 and 5 for both embodiments, in a manner similar to that produced by the configuration of the blades 11a-11b or 11a-11d. In this way, the outlet 19 also makes it possible to reduce the noise level by causing the waves to be reflected from the inner walls 19a and the outer walls 19b of the said duct.

The tulip shape of the blades 11a-11b or 11a-11d provides channels 13a-13c or 13a-13d, the inlet ends of which are directed laterally from the hair dryer 1, and not along its longitudinal axis X, as shown in particular in FIG. 2-6. This allows outside air to be drawn in from the sides of the hair dryer 1. In addition, the zigzag shape of the outlet 19 allows the exhaust air to be pushed out to the sides, close to the inlet ends of the ducts 13a-13c or 13a-13d. The advantage of this arrangement is to allow re-suction of this exhaust air, the flow rate of which was previously reduced during its removal.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6, the cover 12 comprises three retaining lugs 20a, 20b, 20c located between the blades 11a, 11b and the wall 14a of the central channel 14 to keep the blades 11a, 11b at equal distances from each other. These holding tabs 20a, 20b, 20c are equidistantly spaced around the cover 12 as shown in FIG. 5. Such holding tabs can also be provided between the blades 11a-11d and the wall 14a of the central channel 14 in the embodiment of FIG. 1-4.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4, between the inner wall 19a and the outer wall 19b on the cover 12 there are connecting points 21a, 21b, for example three or four, as shown in FIG. 2, to maintain the position of these elements relative to each other. Such connecting points may be provided in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6. Such connecting points can also be provided between the blades 11a-11d and the wall 14a in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4, and even between the blades 11a, 11b and the wall 14a, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6.

As shown in particular in FIG. 2 and 6, the inlet end 2a of the housing 2 of the hair dryer 1 and the outlet end 12a of the lid 12 are adapted to detachably connect said lid 12, for example, to access the impeller 7. It can be envisaged to insert the outlet end 12a of the lid 12 into the inlet end 2a of the housing 2 or even retaining lugs (not shown) for snapping the outlet end 12a onto the inlet end 2a.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 7 and 8 contains features comparable to those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4, but with six blades 11a-11f defining five channels 13a-13f therebetween.

As with the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6, the first tulip-shaped element 11a is configured to create an axial channel 13a, facing the hub of the impeller 7, closed at the entrance to the channel 13a by means of a plug 22.

However, unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 1-3 and the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and 6, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 and 8, the last vane 11f contacts the wall 14a, eliminating the presence of the channel system 15 in the inlet zone 4.

For this purpose, in this embodiment, the wall 14a runs perpendicular to the longitudinal axis X and reaches the wall of the last blade 11f.

Thus, the last vane 11f only facilitates the passage of air through the sixth duct 13f formed between this last vane 11f and the fifth vane 13e.

In this embodiment, the vanes 11a-11f have a particular arrangement in which a plurality of vanes 11a-11e extend from different transverse planes.

Thus, the first blade 13a extends from a transverse plane farther from the impeller than the transverse plane from which the second blade 13b extends.

Likewise, the second vane 13b extends from a transverse plane farther from the impeller than the transverse plane from which the third vane 13c extends, and so on to the fifth vane 11e.

Only the fifth vane 11e and the sixth vane 11f extend from the same transverse plane.

This arrangement allows the formation of a zone 23 of a certain volume, located opposite the impeller hub.

The presence of this zone 23 improves the characteristics of the impeller.

Indeed, the presence of this zone 23 promotes the circulation of the air entering opposite the impeller hub. Thus, this air can easily reach the useful area of the impeller closer to the outer edge without bumping into the impeller hub.

Other variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, it would be possible to provide a cover 12 containing only blades 11a-11b or 11a-11d and a central channel 14, in which case the outlet channel 19 will be made directly in the housing 2 at the level of the inlet zone 4 of the circulation chamber 3.

Claims (15)

1. Hair dryer (1) for hair, containing a chamber (3) air circulation, having an inlet zone (4) and an outlet zone (5), an air circulation system (6) containing an electric motor (8) and an impeller (7) located in said circulation chamber with the possibility of sucking in external air through said inlet zone and transferring this air from top to bottom in the direction of flow into said outlet zone, characterized in that it contains at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) located near the inlet zone, and these blades are located relative to each other and in relation to the inlet zone so as to form air inlet channels (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d) directed towards the impeller and overlap lines of sight parallel to the longitudinal axis of the circulation chamber towards the interior the specified circulation chamber. 2. A hair dryer (1) according to claim 1, wherein each of the blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) is tulip-shaped, open in an upstream direction, said blades inserted into each other with gaps between them, so as to form the said channels (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d), while the said blades are arranged so as to overlap the inlet zone (4) and sequentially, at least partially, overlap each other, providing overlapping lines of sight towards the inner part of the camera (3) circulation. 3. A hair dryer (1) according to claim 2, comprising from two to ten tulip-shaped elements (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d). 4. A hair dryer (1) according to claim 3, comprising two or four tulip-shaped elements (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d). 5. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 1 - 4, comprising a cover (or casing) (12) connected to the circulation chamber (3) in the inlet zone (4), and the said cover (12) contains the specified at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) ... 6. A hair dryer (1) according to claim 5, wherein a removable locking means is provided between the circulation chamber (3) and the lid (12) for allowing the lid to be removed. 7. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 5 or 6, characterized in that the cover (12) comprises holding tabs (20a, 20b, 20c) for holding the blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) together. 8. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 1 - 4, containing a system (15) of channels, made in the inlet zone (4) for removing outside the air displaced along the perimeter (16) of the impeller (7) in the circulation chamber (3). 9. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 5 - 7, containing a system (15) of channels, made in the inlet zone (4) to remove outside the air displaced along the perimeter (16) of the impeller (7) in the circulation chamber (3). 10. Hair dryer (1) according to claim 9, characterized in that the channel system (15) comprises a circular channel (19) located in the inlet zone (4) and adjacent to the inner wall (3a) of the chamber (3 ) circulation. 11. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 9 or 10, characterized in that the channel system (15) comprises means for reducing the velocity of the air pushed out to the outside. 12. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 9-11, characterized in that the channel system (15) contains means for reducing the noise level. 13. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 9 - 12, characterized in that the channel system (15) consists of a circular channel (19), said channel having a zigzag shape in longitudinal section. 14. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 9 - 13, characterized in that the cover (12) contains a system (15) of channels. 15. Hair dryer (1) for hair according to any one of paragraphs. 8 - 14, characterized in that at least two blades (11a, 11b, 11c, 11d) and the channel system (15) are made in such a way that the air pushed out by the specified channel system is again sucked by the impeller (7) through the air inlet channels ( 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d).

Images