JPH0577429B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an incubator, and is particularly suitable for use as an incubator for protecting and raising premature infants such as physically immature premature infants. be.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, incubators are used to protect and raise physically immature premature infants, such as preterm infants, in an optimal environment that is cut off from outside air.

The general structure of such an incubator is that a bed for a premature baby is placed on a pedestal, and the bed is covered with a transparent hood made of acrylic resin or the like to isolate it from the outside air. The temperature and humidity of the air inside the nursery room are controlled to their optimum conditions. For example, the air inside the nursery room is drawn into an air supply path provided at the bottom of the nursery room, and if necessary, this air is mixed with fresh air from outside, and the mixed air is heated to an appropriate temperature. After the water is humidified, it is circulated inside the nursery room. For this purpose, in the air supply path, from the upstream side, there is an air merging chamber for mixing the air drawn from the nursery room with fresh air from outside, and the air mixed in this air merging chamber is heated to an appropriate temperature. An air heating chamber for heating the air and a humidity adjusting section for adjusting the humidity of the air heated in the air heating chamber are provided, respectively.

The humidity adjustment section includes a dry passage for circulating the air heated in the air heating chamber into the nursery room without humidifying it, and a bottom section for adding moisture to the air and then circulating it inside the nursery room. A wet passageway containing water is provided in each case.

In the case of a conventional incubator, the dry passage and the wet passage are provided in parallel along the direction of air flow, and each communicates with the heating chamber. Then, the air heated in the heating chamber is passed through the dry passage side and circulated directly into the nursery room, or the air is passed through the wet passage side to absorb moisture and then circulated into the nursery room, or a part of the air is passed through the dry passage side and the rest is The part can be circulated into the nursery room through the wet passageway side.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In conventional incubators, a dry passage and a wet passage are formed in parallel at the bottom of the nursery room, and water for humidification is directly poured into the wet passage to form a water tank. For this reason, when cleaning the aquarium, it is necessary to remove the hood, bed, or partition plate that separates the nursery room from the air supply path, making cleaning work very troublesome. This was a major drawback in terms of hygiene management of incubators.

Furthermore, in conventional incubators, the contact between air and water in the wet passage was poor, and sufficient humidification could not be achieved in some cases. That is, the conventional wet passage was connected directly to the air heating chamber as described above, and the air from the air heating chamber flowed into the wet passage from the lateral direction. Since water is contained in the bottom of this wet passage, the air inlet is naturally formed above the water level. The air inlet is thus formed above the water surface level, and the air from the air heating chamber flows into the wet passage from the lateral direction, that is, from the direction along the water surface level, and continues to flow in the lateral direction. As the train was heading towards the exit side, the following problems occurred.

In other words, most of the air that flows into the interior from the air inlet passes through the space above the water surface,
Only a small portion of the air that flows into the interior comes into good contact with water. For this reason, the heat held by the inflowing air could not sufficiently warm the water, and therefore the amount of moisture evaporating from the water surface was small, making it impossible for the inflowing air to absorb sufficient moisture. .

Therefore, a plurality of baffle plates have been disposed within the wet passage, and the inflowing air has been passed between the baffle plates from the upstream side to the downstream side. In this way, it is possible to lengthen the air flow path above the water surface and create turbulence in the air flow, which increases the number of mechanisms for contact between air and water, and can be heated to a certain extent, and the generated moisture can be easily absorbed. However, with this configuration, air resistance increases when passing through the wet passage.
There was a problem in that it became difficult for air to flow through this wet passage, and the amount of humidified air supplied into the nursery room was reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to increase the degree of freedom in designing the position and shape of the humidification tank, and therefore the tank can be configured to be easy to clean. It is an object of the present invention to provide an incubator that is easy to use and allows suitable humidity control without unexpectedly reducing the amount of humidified air supplied into a nursery room.

[Means for solving problems]

In the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, for example, there is a nursery room 2 for accommodating physically immature infants such as premature infants, and a temperature and humidity control room 2. For example, an air supply channel 3 formed under the nursery room 2 to supply controlled air.
are provided respectively.

A dry passage 60 and a wet passage 61 are formed in the air supply passage 3, and these passages 6
0 and 61 are separated from each other by a partition wall 63. The dry passage 60 communicates with the nursery room 2 through a first opening 100, and the wet passage 61 communicates with the nursery room 2 through a second opening 101.

An opening 65 is formed in the wall surface of the dry passage 60 substantially along the air flow direction, and between this opening 65 and an opening 66 provided in the wet passage 61, the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 are connected to each other. A communication path 62 is formed to allow communication between the two. Water 64 for humidification is placed in this communication path 62.

A throttle means 102 made of, for example, a slide plate is disposed in the first opening 100 to adjust the flow rate of air passing therethrough. By operating this throttle means 102, the proportion of humidified air supplied into the nursery room 2, that is, the humidity, can be adjusted.

[Effect]

In FIG. 1, the entire amount of air sent from the upstream side of the air supply path 3 first flows into the dry path 60 side. When the air flowing into the dry passage 60 does not absorb moisture, the throttle means 102 disposed in the first opening 100 is fully opened. In this way, the entire amount of the air is supplied into the nursery room 2 through the first opening 100 provided on the dry passage 60 side.

When humidifying the entire amount of air, the throttle means 102 is fully closed. In this way, the air enters the communication path 62 through the opening 65,
It flows through the communication passage 62 to the wet passage 61 side. Since water 64 for humidifying the airflow is contained in the communication path 62, the airflow absorbs moisture when passing through the communication path 62. That is, it is humidified. The thus humidified air flows into the nursery room 2 through the second opening 101 provided in the wet passageway 61.

By adjusting the opening degree of the throttle means 102 between fully open and fully closed, only a part of the air supplied into the nursery room 2 can pass through the communication passage 62 to the wet passage 61 side, and the air Only the flow area can be humidified. By changing the proportion of air to be humidified, the humidity within the nursery room 2 can be controlled.

〔Example〕

Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the entire incubator 1.
A nursery room 2 is provided above it. As shown in FIG.
It is formed to house the baby while being isolated from the outside air, and is formed by covering a bed 5 on which the infant 4 is placed with a hood 6 made of transparent acrylic resin.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hood 6 is formed in the shape of a box with an open bottom, and is rotatably attached to the incubator main body 1a via a hinge portion 37. And if necessary, this hinge part 3
Rotate the hood 6 upward about the center of rotation at 7,
Nursery room 2 can be opened wide.
Moreover, if necessary, the entire hood 6 can be easily removed from the main body 1a of the nursery room.

A relatively large rectangular opening 8 is provided on the front surface of the hood 6 for taking in and taking out the baby 4, and a door 9 is attached to this opening 8 for taking in and taking out the baby. Most of the treatments for the baby 4 are performed by opening small circular doors 12a and 12b provided on the baby body loading/unloading door 9 and inserting a hand into the opening.

When the hood 6 is closed, the nursery room 2 is substantially completely cut off from the outside air, as shown in FIG. The air inside nursery room 2 is
The air is circulated through an air supply path 3 provided below the air supply path 3, and its temperature and humidity are controlled within this air supply path 3. For this purpose, a fan 34 for circulating air, a heater 36 for heating the air, and a humidity adjustment section 32 for adjusting the humidity of the air are provided in the air supply path 3. .

The nursery room 2 and the air supply path 3 are separated by a partition plate 2.
3, air is introduced into the nursery room 2 from the air supply path 3 through the air inlet 24 and air outlet 25 provided in the partition plate 23. Air is led out into the air supply path 3 from the air supply path 3 .

As shown in FIG. 1, the downstream side 2 of the air supply path 3
The humidity adjustment section 32 provided in the dry passage 6
0 and a wet passage 61 are provided together. The dry passage 60 communicates with the nursery room 2 through a first opening 100 provided in its left end wall. The wet passageway 61 also communicates with the nursery room 2 through a second opening 101 provided in its left end wall. The dry passage 60 and wet passage 61 are separated by a partition wall 63.
The dry passage 60 communicates with the upstream part 27 side of the air supply passage 3, and the air sent from this upstream part 27 side can directly flow into the dry passage 60. The passage 61 does not communicate with the upstream section 27 side, and air cannot directly flow into the wet passage 61 from the upstream section 27 side.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a communication passage 62 is formed below the position where the dry passage 60 and wet passage 61 are formed to communicate with each other. ing. Water 64 for humidification is placed in this communication passage 62, and the upper space of the communication passage 62 forms a humidification passage 67. An air flow outlet 65 for causing air to flow into the communication passage 62 is provided in the dry passage 6.
0, and an air flow inlet 66 which serves as an outlet from the communication passage 62 is formed in the wet passage 61.

At this time, it is important that the air flow outlet 65 provided in the dry passage 60 is formed on a wall surface substantially along the air flow direction within the dry passage 60. With this configuration, the opening 100 between the dry passage 60 and the nursery room 2 is opened by operating the humidity adjusting plate 102a, which is a restricting means to be described later.
When the airflow is fully opened, the entire amount of airflow passes through the dry passage 60 without flowing into the communication passage 62. Therefore, relatively low-humidity air that is not humidified at all is supplied into the nursery room 2.

On the other hand, when the open area of the opening 100 is reduced by operating the humidity adjustment plate 102a, the flow resistance of the airflow increases, so that a portion of the airflow flows into the communication path 62. and communication path 6
The air flowing into the nursery room 2 is humidified in the communication passage 62, flows into the wet passage 61, and is supplied into the nursery room 2 through the opening 101 between the wet passage 61 and the nursery room 2. Therefore, in this case, a mixed flow of unhumidified air from the dry passage 60 and humidified air from the wet passage 61 is supplied into the nursery room 2.

Furthermore, when the opening 100 between the dry passage 60 and the nursery room 2 is completely closed by the humidity adjustment plate 102a, all of the air that has flowed into the dry passage 60 flows into the communication passage 62. It is then humidified in this communication passage 62 and supplied into the nursery room 2 from the wet passage 61. In this case, the humidity inside the nursery room 2 will be the highest.

As described above, the unhumidified air passing through the dry passage 60 and the communication passage 62 and the wet passage 6
The mixing ratio of the humidified air passing through the opening 1 between the dry passage 60 and the nursery room 2 is mainly adjusted to
The humidity in the nursery room 2 is controlled by changing it with the humidity adjustment plate 102a provided in the nursery room 2.

In this embodiment, the communication passage 62 between the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 is connected to the incubator main body 1a.
It can be attached and detached in a pull-out type. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, a box-shaped recess 69 is provided on the front side of the incubator main body 1a, and the humidifying water tank unit 68 is inserted into this recess 69 to be attached.

As shown in Fig. 4, the humidifying water tank unit 6
8 is constructed by detachably attaching an upper lid 82 to the upper opening surface of an aquarium main body 81 formed in an elongated box shape. This attachment/detachment is performed by providing a fitting protrusion 91 protruding from the lower surface of the upper lid 82 and fitting the fitting protrusion 91 into the opening surface of the water tank body 81.

An air flow inlet 83 and an air flow outlet 84 are formed in the upper lid 82, respectively. The air flow inlet 83 of the upper lid 82 is formed in the dry passage 60 of the incubator main body 1a when the humidifying water tank unit 68 is inserted into the recess 69 to the end position, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. Air flow outlet 65
It is formed in such a position and size that it communicates exactly with the Also, the air flow outlet 84 of the humidifying water tank unit 68 is positioned and sized so as to communicate with the air flow inlet 66 formed in the wet passage 61 at this time.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the incubator body 1a
Between the recess 69 and the humidifying water tank unit 68,
A guide means is provided which allows the humidifying water tank unit 68 to be moved upward when the unit 68 is attached. That is, as clearly shown in FIG. 4, on the bottom surface 69a of the recess 69, there are push-up protrusions 85 and 86 on the front and rear sides, respectively, when viewed from the entrance side.
is formed. As shown in the figure, the rear push-up protrusion 86 is formed over the entire width of the bottom surface 69a of the recess 69, and has a tapered surface 86a on the front side.
is provided. On the other hand, the front push-up protrusion 8
5 is formed as a plateau-like protrusion provided only at the center position in the width direction of the bottom surface 69a of the recess 69, and its front side is also formed into a tapered surface 85a.

On the other hand, on the outer surface of the bottom plate 81a of the aquarium main body 81, as shown in FIG. Water tank body 81
a pair of rising protrusions 87 that can be moved to an upper position as shown by arrow 80 in FIG.
Similarly, at the insertion end position, a pair of riding-up projections 88 are formed respectively, which can ride up on the pushing-up projections 86 on the rear side of the recess 69 to move the water tank main body 81 to the upper position. Fifth
As shown in the drawings and FIG. 6, the run-up protrusion 87 is protruded in the shape of a relatively narrow rail, and its distal end is formed into a tapered surface 87a. On the other hand, the riding protrusion 88 also protrudes in the shape of a rail on the outside of the riding protrusion 87, and its tip end is also formed into a tapered surface 88a.

As shown in FIG. 6, this humidifying water tank unit 6
8 into the recess 69, the outer protrusion 88 is first inserted into the recess 69, but this outer protrusion 88 is provided with a wide width as shown in FIG. Therefore, these protrusions 88
However, it does not ride on the pushing-up protrusion 85 on the near side inside the recess 69. Therefore, at the initial stage of insertion of the humidifying water tank unit 68, the unit 68
simply moves in the horizontal direction.

In this operation of inserting the humidifying water tank unit 68, as shown in FIG. 6
8 is positioned in the left and right direction.

In this way, by making the left and right sliding surfaces of the humidifying water tank unit 68 the side surfaces of the flange 81b and the bottom sliding surface the rail-shaped protrusions 88 and 87, the contact area with the inner surface of the recess 69 is reduced. Therefore, the friction is reduced so that the sliding movement can be performed smoothly.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the humidifying water tank unit 68 is pushed in to a certain extent, the rising projection 88 provided on the bottom surface of the water tank body 81 comes into contact with the pushing-up projection 86 of the recess 69. And almost at the same time,
A riding-up protrusion 87 provided on the inside of the bottom of the water tank body 81 comes into contact with a pushing-up protrusion 85 on the front side of the recess 69. In this state, humidifying water tank unit 6
When 8 is further pushed horizontally, each protrusion 85 to 8
By the action of the tapered surfaces 85a to 88a provided at the bottom of the unit 68, the rising protrusion 87,
88 rides on the push-up protrusions 85 and 86 in the recess 69, respectively, and the humidifying water tank unit 68 is guided upward and moved.

In this example, a packing member 90 made of an elastic material such as synthetic rubber is attached around each of the air flow inlet 83 and air flow outlet 84 provided in the upper lid 82 of the humidifying water tank unit 68. Therefore, when the humidifying water tank unit 68 moves upward, these packing members 90 are pressed against the surrounding portions of the air flow outlet 65 and the air flow introduction port 66 on the side of the incubator main body 1a. The corresponding openings 65 and 83 and 66 and 84 communicate with the outside in an airtight manner.

In this example, as described above, by simply pushing the humidifying water tank unit 68 into the recess 69 of the incubator main body 1a, the humidifying water tank unit 68 is automatically moved upward in the final stage of the mounting operation. As a result, the air flow inlet 83 and air flow outlet 84 provided in this humidifying water tank unit 68
are crimped to an air flow outlet 65 and an air flow inlet 66 on the side of the incubator main body 1a, respectively.
Therefore, air does not leak out from between these communication ports or enter from the outside. Therefore, problems such as the air supplied to the nursery room 2 leaking outside and reducing the amount of air supplied do not occur, and it is also possible to prevent dust, bacteria, etc. from entering from the outside.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of mounting pieces 92 are erected on the bottom surface of the water tank body 81 of the humidifying water tank unit 68, and humidifying fins 93 are placed on these mounting pieces 92. The humidifying fins 93 are made of a material with excellent thermal conductivity, for example, a metal such as aluminum, and a plurality of humidifying fins 93 are formed parallel to each other at predetermined intervals on the integrally molded substrate part 94. .

These humidifying fins 93 have the function of humidifying the humidifying water 64 contained in the aquarium main body 81. That is, for example, if enough humidifying water is placed in the water tank body 81 so that the upper surface of the substrate section 94 is just submerged, almost all of the surface area of the humidifying fin 93 will be exposed above the water surface. Become. Therefore, the air flowing into the humidifying water tank unit 68 from the air flow inlet 83 comes into good contact with the surfaces of these humidifying fins 93, and the humidifying fins 93 are heated by the heat generated by the air. That is, the air gives heat to the humidifying fin 93. Since these humidifying fins 93 are made of aluminum with excellent thermal conductivity as described above, they transfer the heat given by the air to the substrate section 94 submerged in the humidifying water 64. Communicate well. That is, by heating the humidifying fins 93 protruding above the water surface, the portion of the substrate portion 94 submerged below the water surface is also heated. When the substrate section 94 is heated in this manner, it efficiently raises the temperature of the humidifying water 64. That is, since the substrate portion 94 is submerged in water, its entire peripheral surface is in contact with the humidifying water 64, and the contact area is large. Therefore, heat exchange can be performed well, and the humidifying water 64 can be heated well. When the humidifying water 64 is heated in this manner, moisture evaporates from the water surface. Therefore, the humidity in the upper space of the communication passage 62, that is, the humidification passage 67 (see FIG. 3) increases, and the air flow can be humidified well.

Furthermore, if the humidifying fins 93 are covered with a humidifying pad 96 as shown in FIG. 4, the airflow can be humidified even more effectively. Humidifying pad 96
is made of a porous member such as gauze with excellent water absorbency, and can suck up and retain water 64 by capillary action. Therefore, the air passing through the humidifying passage 67 can also absorb moisture from the humidifying pad 96, and the contact area thereof increases, so that sufficient moisture can be absorbed.

According to the configuration of this example, the communication path 62
Since the humidifying performance of the air passing through the interior can be greatly improved, the humidifying fin 9
3 can be arranged along the air flow direction. Therefore, since air can flow smoothly, there is no problem that the amount of air that is circulated and supplied into the nursery room 2 during humidification is reduced.

Furthermore, in this example, the humidifying water tank unit 68
An air flow inlet 83 is formed to face the water surface inside this unit 68. Therefore, since the air introduced from the air flow inlet 83 hits the water surface at a substantially right angle, it makes good contact with the water inside the unit 68, making it easier to warm this water and absorb moisture.

In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which a removable top lid 82 was provided on the top surface of the water tank body 81. In this case, cleaning the inside of the humidifying water tank unit 68
This can be done easily by removing the top cover 82.
This is extremely advantageous in terms of hygiene management. However, the entire humidifying water tank unit 68 may be formed integrally without providing the upper lid 82. In this case, the dirty humidifying water tank unit 68 can be replaced with a new one.

Further, in the above embodiment, the air flow inlet 83 and the air flow outlet 84 are separately formed in the upper lid 82 of the humidifying water tank unit 68, and these are independently connected to the dry passage 60 of the incubator main body 1a. An example is shown in which the air flow outlet 65 and the air flow introduction port 66 formed in the wet passage 61 are connected to each other. However, it is not necessary to configure it in this way; for example, the air flow outlet 65 on the side of the incubator body 1a may be provided on the upper surface of the water tank body 81.
It is also possible to form one opening that can communicate with both the air flow introduction port 66 and the air flow introduction port 66.

Further, as a guide means for moving the humidifying water tank unit 68 upward as the humidifying water tank unit 68 is attached,
In addition to the protrusion having a tapered surface as in the above embodiment, other means may be used, such as protruding a guide pin on the side surface of the humidifying water tank unit 68 and forming a guide groove on the side surface of the recess 69. You can also.

In this embodiment, a communication passage 62 is provided between the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 of the humidity adjusting section 32, and a removable humidifying water tank unit 68 is provided within the communication passage 62. Therefore, unlike the case where the entire wet passageway is attached and detached together with the water tank portion, the attachment and detachment portion can be configured compactly. That is, the humidifying wet passage provided in the incubator is largely influenced by the design of the incubator body, and its mounting position, shape, etc. are considerably limited. For this reason, if you try to attach or detach the entire wet passageway, the detachable part will become large and inconvenient to handle, or you will have to open an area relatively close to the nursery room, which is undesirable from a sanitary management perspective. There are many problems, such as:

In contrast, in this embodiment, a communication passage is provided between the dry passage and the wet passage, and the humidifying water tank unit can be attached to and removed from the communication passage, which can be configured relatively freely. Therefore, the attachment/detachment part can be made small and can be configured to be attached/detached at a location quite far away from the nursery room.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 7,
The configuration of the outlet section of the humidity adjustment section 32 will be explained.

1 and 7, reference numeral 102 indicates the outlet opening (first opening) 100 of the dry passage 60 and the outlet opening (second opening) of the wet passage 61 of the humidity adjusting section 32.
an aperture) 101,
In this embodiment, the aperture means 102 is
A slide-type humidity adjusting plate 102a integrally formed astride these openings 100, 101 is disposed.

This humidity adjustment plate 102a is located at the arrow 11 in FIG.
1, the first opening 100 side or the second
By sliding it toward the opening 101 side,
The humidity in the air supplied into the nursery room 2 can be adjusted. That is, this humidity adjusting plate 102a has a vertical portion 10 as shown in FIG.
3 and a horizontal portion 104, which has a substantially L-shaped cross section. An opening 103a having substantially the same size as the first opening 100 and the second opening 101 is formed in the center of the vertical portion 103. Since the humidity adjustment plate 102a is formed in this way, when it is slid toward the dry passage 60 side and the opening 103a is completely communicated with the first opening 100, the second opening 101 is completely closed. be able to. Moreover, on the contrary, the humidity adjustment plate 102a
Slide it toward the wet passage side and open the opening 103.
When a is completely communicated with the second opening 101, the first opening 100 can be completely closed. Then, the humidity adjusting plate 102a is placed at an intermediate position between the dry passage side and the wet passage side, and the opening 103
When a is partially communicated with each of the first opening 100 and the second opening 101, the first opening 100 and the second opening 101 can be respectively opened by the area of communication. And each opening 10
The humidity of the air supplied into the nursery room 2 is controlled by changing the ratio of unhumidified air and humidified air passing through the nursery room 2.

The sliding operation of the humidity adjustment plate 102 is performed by the first
As shown in the figure, the inner tip of the rotary lever 106, which is disposed through the hood 6, is connected to the humidity adjusting plate 1.
Engagement protrusion 107 (seventh
This can be done by engaging the engaging protrusion 107 (see figure) and sliding the engaging protrusion 107 in the left-right direction.

In this embodiment, a humidity adjusting plate 102a that can selectively narrow down both the first opening 100 and the second opening 101 is provided as the narrowing means 102. However, the throttling means 102
It may be arranged only in the first opening 100, which is the outlet of the. In this example, this is
As is clear from FIG. 1, this is because air flows through the dry passage 60 much more easily than in the passage consisting of the communication passage 62 and the wet passage 61. That is, if the first opening 100, which is the outlet of the dry passage 60, is fully open, even if the second opening 101, which is the outlet of the temporary wet passage 61, is fully opened, the air flow will not flow through the communication passage. 62, but the entire amount flows through the dry passage 60 and flows into the nursery room 2 through the opening 100. The rate of air flowing into the communication path 62 is determined by the degree of constriction of the opening 100.

Depending on the structure of the dry passage and the wet passage, there may be cases where, contrary to the above, it is sufficient to provide the throttling means only at the second opening 101, which is the exit opening of the wet passage.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in this embodiment, a mixing chamber 105 is provided between the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 of the humidity adjustment section 32 and the nursery room 2.
has been established. This mixing chamber 105 communicates with the dry passage 60 via the first opening 100, and the second
It communicates with the wet passageway 61 through an opening 101 in the opening 101 . It also communicates with the nursery room 2 through a third opening, that is, an air inlet 24 formed on a partition plate 23 for partitioning the nursery room 2 and the air supply path 3 . Since the third opening 25 is formed in a position not facing the first and second openings 100 and 101, the air supplied to the nursery room 2 can be sufficiently mixed in the mixing chamber 105. I can do it.

That is, for example, by setting the humidity adjusting plate 102a at an intermediate position between the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61, both unhumidified and relatively low-humidity dry air and humidified air are supplied from the humidity adjusting section 32. When the air is sent out, these dry air and humidified air can be sufficiently mixed by once receiving them into the mixing chamber 105. Therefore, since the humidity of the air sent into the nursery room 2 can be made uniform, the humidity distribution inside the nursery room 2 can be averaged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, an auxiliary outlet 108 is formed in the vicinity of the third opening 25 of the partition plate 23, and an auxiliary outlet cover is provided over the auxiliary outlet 108. 110 is installed. This blowout auxiliary port 108 is located above both the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61.
It is formed across 0 and 61. For this purpose,
The dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 are in direct communication with the nursery room 2 via the auxiliary outlet 108. However, the seventh
As clearly shown in the figure, a horizontal portion 104 of the humidity adjustment plate 102a is located, and the communication state thereof is controlled by an opening 104a provided in this horizontal portion 104. Therefore, the state of communication between the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 and the inside of the nursery room 2 is adjusted by sliding the humidity adjusting plate 102a. This is the first opening 10 described above.
The operation is the same as that for the opening 0 and the second opening 101.

As shown in FIG. 1, the auxiliary port cover 110 is opened only on the surface facing the third opening 25 side. For this reason, all the air flowing into the nursery room 2 through this auxiliary outlet 108 is directed toward the third opening 25 and merges with the air sent into the nursery room 2 from the third opening 25. , flowing into nursery room 2. The air sent into the nursery room 2 from the third opening 25 flows upward, while the air sent from the auxiliary outlet 108 joins from the direction perpendicular to the air flow. For this reason, these combined air forms, for example, a spiral turbulent flow and circulates within the nursery room 2. Therefore, when both dry air and humidified air are sent into the nursery room 2, these airs can be mixed well, and the humidity in the air to be sent can be further averaged.

The mixing chamber 25 provided between the humidity adjustment section 32 and the nursery room 2 has the function of equalizing the humidity of the air sent into the nursery room 2 as described above, and also controls the humidity of the air inside the nursery room 2. It also has the effect of stabilizing the flow. That is, by changing the type of air sent out from the humidity adjustment section 32 (dry air, humidified air, or both), the flow velocity of the air passing through the first and second openings changes. Therefore, the air blowing position from these openings fluctuates. However, as mentioned above, the humidity adjustment section 3
If such a mixing chamber 25 is provided between the nursery room 2 and the nursery room 2, the air blowing position to the nursery room 2 can always be kept constant. For this purpose, nursery room 2
It is possible to stabilize the air flow inside the
It is possible to stabilize the environment for protecting and growing the baby body 4 housed therein. In addition, since the air flow inside the nursery room 2 is stable in this way, the temperature and humidity inside the nursery room 2 can be stably measured, which has the advantage of being able to perform stable temperature control, etc. There is also.

The air supplied in the nursery room 2 as described above is sent from the upstream portion 27 side of the air supply path 3 as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, an air merging chamber 30, a heating chamber 31, and a humidity adjustment chamber are arranged in order from the upstream section 27 side to the downstream section 28 side in the air conditioning tank 26, which is the casing of the air supply path 3. Part 3
2 are provided respectively.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air merging chamber 30 is constructed by disposing a circulation fan 34 inside the room, and the inner wall surface 30 of the air merging chamber 30
A through hole 35 is formed in a for taking fresh air from outside into the inside. An air filter (not shown) is attached to the through hole 35 so that dust, bacteria, etc. contained in the air can be filtered out. Also, if necessary,
By connecting an oxygen cylinder or the like to this through hole 32, oxygen can be supplied into the nursery room 2.

The circulation fan 34 is located inside the air merging chamber 30.
This is for drawing in the air inside the nursery room 2 and fresh air from outside, and sending out the drawn air to the air heating means 31 side. To explain this specifically, first, the air in the air merging chamber 30 is sent to the heating means 31 side by driving the circulation fan 34 .
For this reason, the pressure inside the air merging chamber 30 becomes negative. Due to this negative pressure, the air in the nursery room 2 is sucked into the air merging room 30 from the air outlet 25 formed at one end of the partition plate 23, and
Fresh air from the outside is sucked in through the through hole 35 and mixed. This mixed air is then sent to the air heating chamber 31 side by the circulation fan 34 as described above.

The air heating chamber 31 is provided to heat the air sent from the air merging chamber 30 side to a predetermined temperature, and a heater 36 for heating the air is installed here.
is installed. This heater 36 is controlled by a control section 40 provided on the front surface of the incubator main body 1a. This control section 40 is supplied with detection data from the sensor unit 38 shown in FIG.

Next, this sensor unit 38 will be briefly explained.

As shown in FIG. 8, the sensor unit 38 is
Inside the elongated box-shaped casing 46, there is a temperature sensor 4.
1. A wall temperature sensor 42 and a humidity sensor 45 are integrated. This sensor unit 38
is adapted to be attached to one side 6a of the hood 6 surrounding the nursery room 2, and this side 6a
A temperature sensor 41 and a humidity sensor 45 are each inserted into the nursery room 2 through an opening 43 provided in the nursery room 2 . At this time, the wall temperature sensor 42
Wall temperature detection hole 4 provided in the rear wall 6b of the hood 6
4 to detect the temperature of this wall portion 6b.

A water bottle 53 is attached to the casing 46 of the sensor unit 38, and gauze or the like inserted into the water bottle 53 is wrapped around the humidity sensor 45 to detect humidity as is well known.

Each data detected by each sensor of this sensor 38 is sent to the control section 40, and this control section 4
0 display panel. Based on these data, the heater 36 for heating the air is
Or, the humidity adjustment plate 102a of the humidity adjustment section 32
etc. are adjusted manually or automatically.

As shown in FIG. 1, a hood 6 that surrounds the nursery room 2 has an opening 8 formed in the front surface thereof, and a door 9 for taking the baby in and out. This door 9 for taking in and taking out the baby body has a hinge 11
It is designed to be able to fall outward using a and 11b as fulcrums. In addition, in this way, the door 9
The bed 5 (see Fig. 2) can be pulled out in the state where it is tilted outward. Further, small doors 12a, 12b are arranged on the door 9, and these small doors 12a, 12b
can be opened left and right about hinges 14a and 14b by removing locking tools 13a and 13b, respectively. If it becomes necessary to insert your hand into the nursery room 2, open these small doors 12.
A, 12b are opened and the hand can be inserted through the opening.

The example shown in FIG. 1 is a type of incubator called a double wall to improve heat retention in a nursery room, and a transparent panel 15 called a front panel is arranged inside a door 9 for taking in and taking out a baby. It is set up. In this embodiment, the panel 15 is placed in the ninth
It is attached to the inside of the door 9 as shown in the figure. That is, engagement levers 16 for locking the baby body loading/unloading door 9 in the closed position are provided on the door 9.
7, it is rotatably mounted on the door 9. Then, the female threaded portion 18 is attached to the support pin 17.
On the other hand, above the left and right sides of the panel 15, an engaging pin 21 is provided with a male threaded portion 20 that is screwed into the female threaded portion 18.
The upper part of the panel 15 is fixed to the upper part of the door 9 for taking in and taking out the baby by screwing the female screw part 18 into the female screw part 18. On the other hand, the lower part of the panel 15 is inserted into a locking groove 22 provided at the lower part of the door 9 and fixed therein.

When the panel 15 is attached to the inside of the baby body loading/unloading door 9 at the engagement lever 16 in this manner, the number of parts for attachment can be reduced and the attachment can be done smoothly and neatly.

In addition, in FIG. 9, there is a female threaded portion 18 on the support pin 17 side.
Although an example is shown in which a male threaded portion 20 is formed on the engaging pin 21 side, a male threaded portion may be formed on the support pin side, and a female threaded portion may be formed on the engaging pin 21 side.

In the above embodiment, an air flow outlet 65 and an air flow inlet 66 are formed on the bottom of each of the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61, and a recess 69 is formed below these passages 60, 61. A humidifying water tank unit 68 is attached thereto.
However, depending on the arrangement of the dry passage and the wet passage of the air supply passage, the humidifying water tank unit may be provided at other positions. For example, if the incubator has a dry air supply path and a wet air path stacked one above the other, the humidifying water tank unit may be configured to be detachable from the sides of these paths using appropriate attachment means. can.

In the above embodiment, the communication passage 62 for communicating the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 of the temperature adjustment section 32 was configured to be detachable from the incubator main body 1a. According to the technical idea of the present invention, the communication passage 62 is connected to the incubator main body 1.
It may be formed integrally with a.

Alternatively, the dry passage 60 and the wet passage 61 may be directly communicated with the nursery room 2 without providing the mixing chamber 105.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention provides a communication passage that can communicate between the dry passage and the wet passage of the air supply passage for supplying air into the nursery room,
Since this communication passage is filled with water for humidifying the air flow to form a water tank, the degree of freedom in design of the position and shape of the water tank can be increased. For this reason, it becomes easy to form the water tank in a place where it is easy to clean it, or to form it in a shape that is easy to clean, and it is possible to construct the water tank so that cleaning work can be easily performed.

Further, the air flowing into the communication passage can be configured to be able to come into good contact with the humidifying water contained therein, to sufficiently heat this water and to activate moisture evaporation. It's easy. Because of this, the air passing through can sufficiently absorb moisture, so there is no need to make the flow path particularly long. Therefore, problems such as a decrease in the amount of humidified air supplied into the nursery room during humidification do not occur.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the entire incubator according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a top sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 1. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the humidifying tank unit, FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the humidifying tank unit, FIG. 6 is a sectional view for explaining the operation of inserting the humidifying tank unit, and FIG. The figure is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the humidity adjustment plate, Figure 8 is a perspective view of the sensor unit, and Figure 9 is a perspective view of the sensor unit.
The figure is a sectional view for explaining the mounting state of the front panel. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...incubator, 2...nursery room, 3...air flow passage, 25...
Third opening, 60...Dry passage, 61...Wet passage, 62...Communication passage, 64...Water for humidification, 100...First opening, 101...Second opening, 102... Squeezing means 102a is a humidity adjusting plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A nursery room for accommodating a baby's body and an air supply path for supplying temperature- and humidity-controlled air into the nursery room, the air supply path has a dry passage and a wet passage separated from each other by a partition, the dry passage communicating with the nursery room through a first opening, and the wet passage communicating with the nursery room through a second opening. It also communicates with the dry passage through a communication passage opened in a wall surface substantially along the direction of air flow in the dry passage, and a water tank for humidifying the air flow is provided in the communication passage. An incubator characterized in that at least the first opening is provided with a restricting means for controlling the flow rate of air passing through the opening. 2. The air supply path is provided at a lower part of the nursery room, and an air outlet for circulating air in the nursery room opens at an upstream part of the air supply path from the dry passage. The air led out from the nursery room through the air outlet is mixed with air introduced from outside the incubator as needed in the upstream part, and is supplied to the dry passage, and the air flow is controlled. The incubator according to claim 1, characterized in that a heating means for heating is provided in the upstream portion.