JP7619137B2 - Mobile Facility - Google Patents

Description

This specification discloses a mobile facility that can be moved to a desired location.

Demand for facilities such as toilets, changing rooms, shower rooms, rest areas, etc. changes significantly depending on the season, whether there is an event, etc. Mobile facilities that can be moved to a desired location have been proposed in the past to flexibly respond to such changes in demand. For example, mobile toilets have been proposed in the past to flexibly respond to changes in toilet demand. Patent Document 1 discloses a container-type mobile toilet that can be towed by a towing vehicle. This mobile toilet has a box body, front legs provided at the front of the box body, and rollers provided at the rear of the box body. With such a mobile toilet, the position of the toilet can be changed relatively freely depending on toilet demand.

Utility Model Registration No. 3203572

However, the mobile toilet in Patent Document 1 only has rollers at the rear of the vehicle. Therefore, when moving the mobile toilet in Patent Document 1, the box body must be tilted upward at the front and towed by a towing vehicle. In other words, it was difficult to move the mobile toilet in Patent Document 1 by hand. Therefore, even if a problem arose with the installation position of the mobile toilet in Patent Document 1 after installation was completed and the towing vehicle had left, the installation position could not be changed. Furthermore, in many cases, the towing vehicle is not maneuverable, and there is a certain amount of play between the towing vehicle and the mobile toilet, so it was difficult to fine-tune the position of the mobile toilet even by driving the towing vehicle.

Therefore, this specification discloses a mobile facility whose installation location can be easily changed.

The mobile facility disclosed in this specification is characterized in that it comprises a box body, front wheels provided on the left and right sides of the front lower part of the box body, rear wheels provided on the left and right sides of the rear lower part of the box body, and a steering mechanism that changes the angle of a steering wheel, which is one of the front wheels and the rear wheels, in response to the operation of an operator, and the other of the front wheels and the rear wheels has a smaller diameter than the steering wheel.

According to the mobile facility disclosed in this specification, a steering mechanism for steering the steering wheels is provided, so that the mobile facility can be easily moved to a desired position. In addition, by making the wheels not used for steering smaller in diameter than the steering wheels, a large floor space can be secured for the interior space.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a portable toilet. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a steering mechanism. FIG.

The mobile facility will now be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a side view of a mobile toilet 10, which is a type of mobile facility, and Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in Figure 1. In each figure, "Up", "Fr", and "Rh" indicate the upper side, the front side, and the right side, respectively.

The mobile toilet 10 can be towed by a towing vehicle, or mounted on the bed of a truck, or the mobile toilet 10 can be manually pushed and pulled to change its location. The mobile toilet 10 has a box-like body 12 with a toilet unit mounted therein. The box 12 is a substantially rectangular shape with a longer front-rear dimension than its width dimension. A door opening 14 (see FIG. 2) is provided in the center of the front-rear direction on the left side of the box 12, and the door opening 14 is covered by a door 16 so as to be freely opened and closed. In this example, the door 16 is a double-opening sliding door that opens to both the left and right, but the door 16 may be of another type, such as a swing door, a flip-up door, or a folding door, as long as it can cover the door opening 14 so as to be freely opened and closed. However, as described later, the mobile toilet 10 in this example is intended for use with a wheelchair. Therefore, it is desirable for the door 16 to be of a type that does not obstruct the entry of a wheelchair.

The interior space of the box 12 is divided by two partition walls 22, 23 into a toilet space 24, a water supply and drainage equipment room 26, and an electrical equipment room 28. The front partition wall 22 and the rear partition wall 23 are provided taking into consideration their positional relationship with the wheel arches. That is, the wheel arches 19 of the front wheels 18 protrude upward from the floor surface of the toilet space 24. Therefore, the part of the floor panel that overlaps with the wheel arches 19 is raised upward. The front partition wall 22 is a wall that stands upward from the floor panel at a position rearward of the raised part. The part forward of the front partition wall 22 becomes the water supply and drainage equipment room 26, and the part rearward becomes the toilet space 24. Therefore, there is no protrusion caused by the wheel arches 19 on the floor surface of the toilet space 24.

Similarly, the wheel arch (not shown) of the rear wheel 20 also protrudes upward from the floor surface of the toilet space 24. Therefore, the part of the floor panel that overlaps with the wheel arch of the rear wheel 20 is raised upward. The rear partition wall 23 is a wall with a generally L-shaped cross section that stands up from the floor panel at a position forward of the raised part and then extends toward the rear end face of the box body 12. From another perspective, the rear partition wall 23 is a wall that surrounds the rear corner of the internal space of the box body 12. The space behind and below the rear partition wall 23 functions as the electrical equipment room 28, and the space in front and above the rear partition wall 23 becomes the toilet space 24. Therefore, there is no protrusion on the floor surface of the toilet space 24 due to the wheel arch of the rear wheel 20.

The toilet space 24 is provided with a toilet body 30 and washbasin counters 32a and 32b. The washbasin counter 32a is a washbasin counter for wheelchairs. The washbasin counter 32a is fixed to the side of the box body 12 at a position higher than the handrails of the wheelchair, and there is a space between the bottom of the washbasin counter 32a and the floor of the toilet space 24. Wheelchair users can easily use the washbasin counter 32a by inserting their knees into the space between the washbasin counter 32a and the floor. The washbasin counter 32b is a washbasin counter for standing people. The washbasin counter 32b is fixed to the side of the box body 12 at a position slightly higher than the washbasin counter 32a.

As described above, the mobile toilet 10 of this example is also intended for use with a wheelchair. Therefore, the floor surface of the toilet space 24 is ensured to be large enough to allow a wheelchair to turn around. The floor surface means a surface that is connected without any steps at the lower end of the toilet space 24. The circle C in FIG. 2 indicates the turning space C required for a typical wheelchair to turn. As is clear from FIG. 2, this example ensures that the floor surface required for a wheelchair to turn can be secured. In FIG. 2, the turning space C overlaps in part with the washbasin counter 32a, but as described above, the washbasin counter 32a is installed away from the floor surface, so the underside of the washbasin counter 32a can also be used as a floor surface for a wheelchair to run on.

The electrical equipment room 28 houses electrical equipment 39, such as a battery and a power distribution control panel. The battery supplies power to lighting and a pump 38 (described below). The power distribution control panel distributes and supplies power from the battery to various devices as needed.

The water supply and drainage equipment room 26 is further divided into upper and lower sections by an intermediate plate 25. A wastewater tank 36 for storing wastewater and a purified water tank (not visible in Figures 1 and 2) for storing purified water are arranged side by side in the width direction above the intermediate plate 25. A pump 38 (see Figure 2) for pumping water is installed below the intermediate plate 25. The pump 38, wastewater tank 36, purified water tank, toilet body 30, washbasin counters 32a, 32b, etc. constitute a toilet unit that provides the toilet function.

Furthermore, a steering wheel 42 (see FIG. 2) that is operated when changing the angle of the front wheels 18 is provided below the intermediate plate 25, but this will be described later. Although not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an opening and closing door that allows access to the water supply and drainage equipment room 26 is provided on the front bulkhead 22 or the outer wall of the box body 12. The operator can enter the water supply and drainage equipment room 26 through the opening and closing door and operate the steering wheel 42.

Next, we will explain the steering mechanism 40 provided in the mobile toilet 10. In this example, the mobile toilet 10 has front wheels 18 and rear wheels 20. With this configuration, the mobile toilet 10 can be moved even in situations where there is no towing vehicle, and the mobile toilet 10 can be set up in an appropriate location.

That is, conventional mobile toilets 10 are only designed to be towed by a towing vehicle, and may only have rear wheels 20 and no front wheels 18. In this case, it goes without saying that the mobile toilet 10 cannot be moved when there is no towing vehicle. However, it is usually difficult for a towing vehicle to finely adjust the position of the towed vehicle (i.e., the mobile toilet 10). In addition, since towing vehicles are relatively large, they have difficulty entering narrow spaces. As a result, it is difficult to install the mobile toilet 10 in a narrow space using only the towing vehicle. Furthermore, after the mobile toilet 10 is installed, the installation position cannot be changed after the towing vehicle has left.

Therefore, in this example, the mobile toilet 10 is provided with front wheels 18 in addition to rear wheels 20, so that the mobile toilet 10 can be moved not only by being towed by a towing vehicle, but also by being pushed by hand. With this configuration, the installation position of the mobile toilet 10 can be freely changed, improving the convenience of the mobile toilet 10.

However, when the portable toilet 10 is being pushed by hand, it is difficult to change the direction of travel of the portable toilet 10 as desired. Therefore, in order to make it easier to change the direction of travel of the portable toilet 10 even when it is being pushed by hand, this example is provided with a steering mechanism 40 that changes the angle of the front wheels 18 for steering.

Figure 3 is an image diagram showing the configuration of the steering mechanism 40. The steering mechanism 40 changes the angle of the front wheels 18 (i.e., the steering wheels) in response to the operation of the operator. In the example of Figure 3, the steering shaft 44 rotates in response to the rotation of the steering wheel 42. A steering gear box 46 is provided at the tip of the steering shaft 44, and the rotational motion of the steering shaft 44 is converted into left and right linear motion of the tire rod 48. The left and right linear motion of the tire rod 48 is transmitted to the knuckle arm 50, changing the direction of the front wheels 18 and, ultimately, the traveling direction of the mobile toilet 10. The knuckle arm 50 constitutes an Ackermann mechanism that makes the turning angle of the inner wheel larger than the turning angle of the outer wheel so that the trajectories of the left and right front wheels 18 are concentric.

The configuration of the steering mechanism 40 described here is one example, and other mechanisms may be used as long as the angle of the front wheels 18 can be changed in response to the operation of the operator. For example, a torque sensor may be provided to detect the torque of the steering wheel 42, and a power steering mechanism may be employed in which a motor applies a driving force to the steering shaft 44 according to the detected torque. In any case, the provision of the steering mechanism 40 makes it easier to change the position of the mobile toilet 10 as desired, even when it is pushed by hand.

Next, the configuration of the rear wheels 20 will be described. Figure 4 is a front view of the rear wheels 20. As shown in Figure 4, in this example, a total of four rear wheels 20 are provided, two on each end of the tire rod 60. These four rear wheels 20 are directly attached to the tire rod 60, and their angles relative to the tire rod 60 do not change. In addition, as is clear from Figure 1, the rear wheels 20 have a smaller diameter than the front wheels 18. The reason for this configuration will be explained.

If the rear wheels 20 are made the same diameter as the front wheels 18, the wheel arches of the rear wheels 20 will also be large. If the wheel arches protruding above the floor surface of the toilet space 24 are large, the floor surface of the toilet space 24 will be correspondingly small. As a result, the floor surface size required for turning the wheelchair cannot be secured, or the entire box body 12 will become larger in order to secure the floor surface size. For this reason, the rear wheels 20 that are not used for steering are made smaller in diameter than the front wheels 18. This reduces the wheel arch formed at the rear of the vehicle, and a larger floor surface can be secured. On the other hand, small diameter wheels tend to have a smaller load capacity than large diameter wheels. Therefore, in this example, a total of four small diameter rear wheels 20 are provided, two on each side, to ensure load capacity.

As is clear from the above description, in this example, the mobile toilet 10 can be easily moved to a desired position by providing a steering mechanism 40 for steering the front wheels 18. In addition, a larger floor size can be secured by making the rear wheels 20, which are not used for steering, smaller in diameter than the front wheels 18. In the above description, the steering mechanism 40 is provided on the front wheels 18, but this may be reversed. That is, the steering mechanism 40 may be provided on the rear wheels 20, and the front wheels 18 may be smaller in diameter than the rear wheels 20. In this case, a water supply and drainage equipment room 26 may be provided at the rear of the box body 12, and an electrical equipment room 28 may be provided at the front of the box body 12. In addition, in the above description, a toilet has been given as an example of a facility, but the technology disclosed in this specification may be applied to other facilities, such as shower rooms, changing rooms, rest areas, karaoke rooms, etc., as long as they are facilities where people enter and exit.

10 Mobile toilet, 12 Box body, 14 Door opening, 16 Door, 18 Front wheel, 19 Wheel arch, 20 Rear wheel, 22 Front bulkhead, 23 Rear bulkhead, 24 Toilet space, 25 Intermediate plate, 26 Water supply and drainage equipment room, 28 Electrical equipment room, 30 Toilet body, 32a, 32b Washbasin counter, 36 Wastewater tank, 38 Pump, 39 Electrical equipment, 40 Steering mechanism, 42 Steering wheel, 44 Steering shaft, 46 Steering gear box, 48, 60 Tire rod, 50 Knuckle arm, C Turning space.

Claims (2)

A box body and
Front wheels provided on the left and right sides of the front lower portion of the box body;
Rear wheels provided on the left and right sides of the rear lower portion of the box body;
a steering mechanism that changes the angle of the steering wheels, which are the front wheels , in response to an operation by an operator;
A toilet body disposed inside the box;
The rear wheels have a smaller diameter than the steering wheels,
No power source for driving the front wheels and the rear wheels is provided,
The box body is divided into a water supply and drainage equipment room located forward of the front bulkhead, an electrical equipment room located rearward of the rear bulkhead, and a toilet space located between the front bulkhead and the rear bulkhead,
There is no protrusion due to the wheel arches of the front and rear wheels in the toilet space;
A mobile facility characterized by The mobile facility according to claim 1,
The water supply and drainage equipment room is further divided into upper and lower parts by an intermediate plate,
A wastewater tank and a purified water tank are disposed above the intermediate plate.
A steering wheel of the steering mechanism is disposed below the intermediate plate.
A mobile facility characterized by

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