JPH0452129B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] 【Technical field】

The present invention relates to a shower device installed in a bathroom or the like, and more particularly to a shower device whose shower head can be moved by water pressure.

[Background Art] Showers are increasingly being used as a convenient means of bathing, mainly by small families and single people, because they are easy to prepare for bathing, and they save water and energy.
In addition, due to social needs for health promotion, the skin stimulation and thermal effects of the spray pressure of showers are attracting attention. In other words, showering not only has a thermal effect, but also stimulates the skin due to the spray pressure, and this stimulation increases blood volume, which improves the health and beauty of the circulatory system, respiratory system, autonomic nervous system, etc. It is attracting attention because it can activate various functions that are deeply related to each other, and is effective for relaxing the mind and body, relieving fatigue, and improving beauty. Against this background, shower devices have been proposed that are designed to provide more effective stimulation effects. An example is shown in Figure 20 and 2.
Shown in Figure 1. A slider 3 is connected to a piston 30 disposed in a cylinder 3 with a wire 32 stretched between a pair of pulleys 31, 31, and a shower head 1 is attached to this wire 32.
3 is installed. Both ends of the cylinder 3 are connected to two alternately switched ports of the four-way valve 2, and the other two ports of the four-way valve 2 are connected to a water supply pipe 6 and a water distribution pipe 7, respectively. There is. The switching operation of the four-way valve 2 is performed by a jump-type reversing mechanism 4 using water pressure and a reversing spring 44 in order to avoid electric shock troubles.
I try to do it with This reversing mechanism 4 includes a rack 40 that engages with the slider 33 via stoppers 49, a gear 41 that meshes with the rack 40, and a play within a predetermined angle provided between the gear 41 and the four-way valve 2. and a link 43 which is rotatably supported at one end and connected to the gear 41 at the other end. It has become a common thing. Now, when the four-way valve 2 is in the state shown in FIG. 20, water is supplied to the upper end of the cylinder 3, causing the piston 30 to descend, and in conjunction with this, the shower head 1 provided on the slider 33 moves upward. The water in the lower part of the cylinder 3 is drained into the drain pipe 7 through the four-way valve 2. When the slider 33 engages with the stopper 49 and begins to move the rack 40 upward, the gear 41 begins to rotate while compressing the link 43 against the reversing spring 44. At the beginning of the rotation of the gear 41, the rotation is not transmitted to the four-way valve 2 due to the play in the engaging portion 42, but when the rotation of the gear 41 progresses and the link 43 is allowed to extend, the reversing spring 44 is biased. At the same time as the gear 41 rapidly rotates, the four-way valve 2 is switched through the engaging portion 42. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 21, water is provided below the cylinder 3, causing the piston 30 to rise and lower the shower head 1. When the slider 33 engages with the lower stopper 49, the reversing mechanism 4 operates in the opposite direction, returning the four-way valve 2 to the state shown in FIG. stoppa 4
The mounting position of shower head 9 is variable, so that the reversal height of the shower head 1 in the moving direction can be changed. In addition, in this device, the water supplied to the cylinder 3 through the four-way valve 2 is hot water, and the shower head 1 is connected to the drain pipe 7 connected to the four-way valve 2.
or by connecting a warm water circulation and reuse system, the water used to move the shower head 1 up and down can be used effectively, resulting in overall water and energy savings. It has become a thing. As mentioned above, in this shower device,
The four-way valve 2 is switched using the differential pressure of water applied to both sides of the piston 30 in the cylinder 3, and the shower head 1 provided on the slider 33 is repeatedly moved up and down, but it has the following problems. have. That is, the reversing spring 44 needs to have a spring force sufficient to rotate the four-way valve 2, but since the rotational resistance of the four-way valve 2 is extremely large, the reversing spring 44
The spring force is also quite large, and therefore, the water pressure that compresses the reversing spring 44 via the piston 30, slider 33, rack 40, etc. at the beginning of the switching operation is made considerably higher than the pressure of city water. In addition to requiring a separate pressurizing pump, the amount of water required to drive the system was large. Furthermore, unless a member is used that can withstand the large impact when the reversing spring 44 is restored, problems will arise in terms of durability and reliability during long-term use, which inevitably increases costs. There is.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to provide a shower device that can switch a four-way valve for changing the direction of movement of a shower head with low water pressure and a small amount of water. It is in.

[Disclosure of the invention]

Therefore, in the specific invention, the shower head is reciprocated by switching the water supply to the cylinder for moving the shower head using a four-way valve, and the switching operation of the four-way valve is reversed using water pressure and a reversing spring. A mechanical shower device is characterized in that the four-way valve is provided with a short-circuit part that shorts the water supply side flow path and the discharge side flow path in the middle of switching between the water supply side flow path and the discharge side flow path. By switching the flow path on the discharge side and short-circuiting it in the middle, the differential pressure generated inside the four-way valve is reduced, and the force required to switch the four-way valve is reduced. In addition to the above points, the four-way valve has a feature in that the four-way valve is equipped with a stopper that throttles the water supply side port in the middle of switching, so that the stopper prevents an increase in differential pressure due to water supply pressure. This is what I did. The present invention will be described in detail below based on illustrated embodiments. The only difference from the conventional example described above is the structure of the four-way valve 2, and since the basic configuration and piping are the same as the conventional example, only the four-way valve 2 will be described. Now, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the four-way valve 2 includes a base 20 in which four ports P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ , and P ₄ are provided at equal intervals, and a base 20 that is rotatable on the base 20. It consists _of a rotor ₂₁ which is said to _{be 3} are connected to both ends of the cylinder 3, respectively. Further, the rotor 21 connected to the gear 41 via the engaging portion 42 and the shaft 23 is provided with two flow paths 25 and 26. Of the pair of channels 25 and 26 provided in the rotor 21 of the four-way valve 2, the channel 25 is a port.
Connect either P ₂ or P ₃ to port P ₁ ,
The flow path 26 communicates one of the ports P ₁ and P ₂ with the port P _4. When one of the ports P ₂ and P ₃ communicates with the port P ₁ , the other communicates with the port P 4. It has become connected to ₄ . Here, both flow paths 25 and 26 are shaped as arcuate spaces with the same radius, and both flow paths 25 and 26 are shaped as circular arc spaces with the same radius.
A partition wall is provided between ports 26 and 26, and the thickness of this partition wall is made smaller than the diameter of ports P ₂ and P ₃ to form short circuit portions 28 and 28. When rotating the rotor 21 to reverse the moving direction of the shower head 1, as shown in _FIG .
A point _in time occurs when the short-circuit parts 28, 28, which are the partition walls, pass through P3, but at this time, the ports _P2 , _P3
so that both channels 25 and 26 are short-circuited through
In other words, port P ₁ for water supply and port P ₄ for discharge.
By this, the reversing spring 44 for rotating the rotor 21 of the four-way valve 2 via the gear 41 and the engaging portion 42
This eliminates the need for a large spring force. That is, in order to rotate the rotor 21 by the reversing spring 44, a spring force must be applied to the reversing spring 44 to overcome the rotational resistance of the rotor 21. In order to make this possible, it is necessary to lower the rotational resistance of the rotor 21. On the other hand, the rotational resistance of the rotor 21 is composed of sliding resistance and fluid resistance caused by switching the flow, but since the sliding resistance is sufficiently small compared to the fluid resistance, the dominant fluid resistance is must be reduced. This liquid resistance is influenced by the pressure difference between the pressure in the flow path 25 to which the water supply pressure is applied and the pressure in the flow path 26 through which the waste water passes. Further, the reversing spring 44 is the fourth
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 7, when the rotor 21 is rotated by the spring force, the point in time when the internal pressure difference of the four-way valve 2 becomes the largest is passed. A short-circuit portion 28 provided in the rotor 21 connects a pair of ports P ₂ , which would normally be connected to the cylinder 3.
At the point when the above differential pressure reaches the maximum due to P ₃ being closed, both ports P ₁ and P ₄
This prevents the pressure difference inside the four-way valve 2 from increasing due to a short circuit between the four-way valves 2 and 2, thereby lowering the rotational resistance of the rotor 21. Even if the spring force of the reversing spring 44 is small, the rotor 21 can be rotated. is possible. Since the spring force required for the reversing spring 44 can be reduced, the force required for the compression process of the reversing spring 44 at the initial stage of the switching operation of the four-way valve 2 can also be small, and the reversing mechanism 4 can be lowered. It can be operated by water pressure. Note that the maximum value of the differential pressure generated inside the four-way valve 2 depends on the cross-sectional area of the short-circuit path when both flow paths 25 and 26 are short-circuited by the short-circuit portion 28, as shown in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, the rotational resistance is also lowered by increasing the cross-sectional area. In the above embodiment, the short circuit part 28 is configured using the two ports P ₂ and P ₃ connected to the cylinder 3, but as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, when the four-way valve 2 is switched, Only, boat P ₁ ,
Short circuit part 2 as an independent flow path communicating between P ₄
Of course, 8 may be provided. Still other embodiments are shown in FIGS. 12 to 19. This is because the four-way valve 2 is provided with a short-circuit portion 28 having the same structure as the first embodiment, and at the same time, this short-circuit portion 28 is provided in the four-way valve 2.
The rotor 21 is provided with a stopper 27 that closes the port _P1 to which the water supply pipe 6 is connected when the flow paths 25 and 26 are short-circuited. From port P ₁ to channel 2
Since the stopper 28 prevents new water from flowing into the four-way valve 5, the differential pressure inside the four-way valve 2 is further reduced, and the rotational resistance of the rotor 21 is further reduced. The maximum value of the differential pressure that occurs inside the four-way valve 2 is the time when port _P1 is closed, that is, the first
As shown in FIG. 8, it depends on the width l of the stopper 27, and accordingly, as shown in FIG. 19, the rotational resistance becomes lower as the width l of the stopper 27 is increased. In addition, in this case, when the direction of movement of the shower head 1 is reversed by switching the four-way valve 2, the flow rate sent to the cylinder 3 is reduced, so that the water saving effect is increased.

【Effect of the invention】

As described above, in the specific invention, when the shower head is reciprocated by switching the water supply to the cylinder with a four-way valve to obtain skin irritation over a wide range, the water supply side flow path and the discharge side Since the short-circuit part short-circuits the flow path of the shower head, the spring force required for the reversing spring in the reversing mechanism that switches the four-way valve according to the movement of the shower head is small, and as a result, low water pressure The four-way valve can be switched with a small amount of water, and can be operated using only the water pressure of city water without the need for a separate pressure pump, resulting in significant cost reductions. In addition to the above points, in the combined invention, when the four-way valve switches, the reversing spring in the reversing mechanism is used to prevent the closing part from increasing the differential pressure due to water supply pressure being applied to the water supply side. The spring force required for this can be further reduced, and water-saving effects can also be expected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of a four-way valve according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the same four-way valve, and Figures 4 to 7 are illustrations of the reversing mechanism and the operation of the four-way valve. FIGS. 8 and 9 are characteristic diagrams related to the cross-sectional area of the short-circuit path, FIGS. 10 and 11 are cross-sectional views and longitudinal cross-sectional views of other embodiments, and FIGS. Figures 14 and 13 are cross-sectional views of a four-way valve in another embodiment, Figures 14 to 17 are cross-sectional views showing the reversing mechanism and the operation of the four-way valve, and Figures 18 and 19 are the same as above. 20 and 21 are schematic front views showing conventional examples, in which 1 is a shower head, 2 is a four-way valve,
3 is a cylinder, 4 is a reversing mechanism, 27 is a closure part,
28 is a short circuit portion, and 44 is a reversal spring.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A reciprocating mechanism that reciprocates the shower head by switching the supply of water to a cylinder for moving the shower head using a four-way valve, and uses water pressure and a reversing spring to perform the switching operation of the four-way valve. 1. A shower device for use in a four-way valve, characterized in that the four-way valve is provided with a short-circuit portion that short-circuits the water supply side flow path and the discharge side flow path in the middle of switching. 2. A shower device in which the shower head is reciprocated by switching the supply of water to a cylinder for moving the shower head using a four-way valve, and the switching operation of the four-way valve is performed by a reversing mechanism using water pressure and a reversing spring, The four-way valve is equipped with a short-circuit part that shorts the water supply side flow path and the discharge side flow path in the four-way valve during switching, and a closing part that narrows the water supply side port in the four-way valve during switching. A shower device characterized by: