Hair care appliance

Abstract

A hair care appliance includes an air inlet, an air outlet, an airflow generator for generating an airflow from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a curved surface adjacent the air outlet and downstream of the air outlet. The hair care appliance is configured such that airflow emitted from the air outlet creates a first force that draws hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes hair away from the curved surface. The curved surface is located between the air outlet and the air inlet, the air inlet is configured to receive an airflow emitted from the air outlet, and the hair care appliance is configured to generate a suction force at the air inlet to attract hair toward the curved surface.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to hair care appliances and accessories for hair care appliances. Background Art

[0002] Hair care appliances are commonly used for drying and styling hair. Where hair care appliances are used to style hair to create a smooth look, the presence of shorter, broken or individual hairs protruding from the main body of hair, sometimes referred to as flyaways, may detract from the desired smooth look. Summary of the invention

[0003] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hair care appliance, comprising: an air inlet, an air outlet, an air flow generator for generating an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a curved surface adjacent to the air outlet and located downstream of the air outlet, wherein: the hair care appliance is configured so that the air flow emitted from the air outlet generates a first force that attracts hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface; the curved surface is located between the air outlet and the air inlet; the air inlet is configured to receive the air flow emitted from the air outlet; and the hair care appliance is configured to generate suction at the air inlet to attract the hair toward the curved surface.

[0004] Providing a curved surface adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet can create a negative pressure area near the curved surface, which attracts the hair toward the curved surface, and due to the second force, the airflow interaction with the hair also pushes the shorter hair away from the curved surface. This may cause the shorter hair (e.g., broken hair) to be pushed through the longer hair, for example, through the longer hair towards the side of the hair facing the user's head, so that the longer hair is located above the shorter hair, thereby providing a smooth appearance. The air emitted from the air outlet passes over the curved surface to generate the first and second forces.

[0005] In order to generate sufficient pressure differential to draw the hair toward the curved surface, a relatively high air velocity is generally required at the air outlet. However, providing the air inlet at the end of the curved surface opposite the air outlet can help enhance the negative pressure area by generating suction at the air inlet to draw the hair toward the curved surface and recirculate the air through the hair care appliance.

[0006] The suction force generated by the air flow generator at the air inlet draws the hair towards the air inlet and the curved surface, supplementing the first force generated by the air flow emitted from the air outlet. As a result, the smooth finish described above has a lower air flow velocity at the air outlet than in a hair care appliance where the air inlet is located elsewhere. Therefore, less power may be required to power the air flow generator to produce a relatively smooth finish, so that a smaller air flow generator may be used. In turn, a smaller air flow generator may be required. This is particularly beneficial for battery-powered portable hair care appliances.

[0007] The curved surface may comprise a Coanda surface, such as a convex surface along which an airflow attaches due to the Coanda effect in use.

[0008] The curved surface may be substantially smooth and uninterrupted in form. This may enable hair to wrap around the curved surface during use. This may help prevent flyaway hair and / or static electricity from forming during use of the hair care appliance, which may provide a smoother finish. For example, the curved surface may be free of protrusions, such as bristles.

[0009] The air outlet may be configured to emit airflow tangentially to the curved surface. This may help increase the distance along the curved surface along which the hair remains attached to the curved surface, thereby enhancing the negative pressure area and thus enhancing the smoothing performance of the hair care appliance.

[0010] The curved surface may subtend an angle in the range of 60 to 150 degrees from the air outlet to the air inlet. Such an arc length may effectively generate an airflow along the curved surface that generates a first force that attracts the hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface. The first force may decrease as the distance between the air outlet and the air inlet increases.

[0011] The curved surface may subtend an angle of about 90 degrees from the air outlet to the air inlet. Such an arc length may be particularly effective in generating an airflow along the curved surface that generates a first force that attracts the hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface to tidy the hair to provide a smooth finish.

[0012] The curved surface may have a radius of curvature in the range of 20 mm to 100 mm. Such a radius of curvature may be particularly effective in generating an airflow along the curved surface that generates a first force that attracts the hair towards the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface. The curved surface may comprise a substantially constant radius of curvature.

[0013] The cross-sectional area of ​​the air inlet may be in the range of 1.5 to 3 times the cross-sectional area of ​​the air outlet. This may provide a particularly efficient arrangement, allowing lower air flow velocities at the air outlet whilst still providing an acceptably smooth finish.

[0014] The air outlet may comprise a fixed air outlet and the air inlet may comprise a fixed air inlet. For example, an air outlet and / or an air inlet of fixed cross-sectional area, length and / or width. This may ensure that for an airflow of a given flow rate generated by the airflow generator, the airflow characteristics of the hair care appliance are constant, thereby ensuring that an airflow is generated along the curved surface, which airflow generates a first force that attracts the hair towards the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface. This may also provide a simpler hair care appliance with fewer moving parts compared to a hair care appliance with a variable air outlet or air inlet, thereby reducing the risk of failure.

[0015] The width of the air inlet and air outlet may correspond to the width of the curved surface. This may maximize the amount of hair that can be smoothed for a given overall size of the hair care appliance. This may also provide a relatively constant force across the width of the curved surface, which may provide more repeatable hair smoothing. The width of the air outlet and / or air inlet may be in the range of 45-70 mm.

[0016] The air outlet may be defined in a housing surrounding the curved surface. The air outlet may be upright from the air inlet. The base of the outlet may be flush with the curved surface.

[0017] The air inlet may comprise a plurality of holes disposed in the curved surface. Airflow from the air outlet across the curved surface may thereby be drawn into the air inlet. Providing a plurality of holes may help maintain inlet airflow velocity. That is, a single hole having a relatively large area has a lower inlet velocity, whereas a plurality of holes distributed over an equal relatively large area has a smaller total area than a single hole, resulting in a greater inlet velocity at each hole and therefore greater suction for a given flow rate. Providing a plurality of holes, as opposed to a single larger hole, may also help prevent hair from flowing through the air inlet towards the airflow generator, while still allowing sufficient airflow to be drawn into the air inlet.

[0018] The holes may be distributed across the width of the curved surface. This may also provide a relatively constant suction force across the width of the curved surface.

[0019] The hair care appliance may comprise a filter located between the air inlet and the air flow generator.

[0020] The curved surface may extend beyond the air inlet. This may help to draw the hair towards the curved surface over a greater arc length, which may improve the gliding properties of the hair care appliance.

[0021] The radius of curvature of the area of ​​the curved surface beyond the air inlet may be different from the radius of curvature of the area of ​​the curved surface between the air outlet and the air inlet. The radius of curvature may be tailored to determine the behavior of styled hair during use of the hair care appliance. For example, the radius of curvature of the area beyond the air inlet may determine where along the curved surface the airflow separates from the curved surface.

[0022] The hair care appliance may include a pair of guide walls for guiding the airflow along the curved surface, the pair of guide walls being located on opposite sides of the curved surface and standing upright from the curved surface. By providing a pair of guide walls extending outwardly from the curved surface, it is possible to inhibit ambient air from impacting the negative pressure area generated by the airflow flowing along the curved surface in use, and may result in an increased attraction of the hair towards the curved surface, thereby providing better smoothing performance compared to, for example, a similar arrangement without the use of guide walls.

[0023] The distance between the guide walls can correspond substantially to the length of the air outlet and / or the air inlet.

[0024] The height of the guide wall may decrease in a direction away from the air outlet. By decreasing the height of the guide wall in a direction away from the air outlet, less material is required to form the guide wall compared to, for example, a guide wall of constant height. The pair of guide walls may include a height that gradually decreases in a direction away from the air outlet, for example such that there is no step change in height.

[0025] The airflow generator is configured to generate airflow at a flow rate in the range of 3 L / s to 10 L / s. Such airflow rates may be particularly effective in generating airflow along a curved surface, the airflow generating a first force sufficient to attract relatively long hair toward the first surface while also generating a second force that pushes relatively short hair away from the curved surface.

[0026] The air flow generator may be configured to generate air flow at a flow rate in the range of 4 L / s to 7 L / s.

[0027] The air flow generator may draw power in the range of 30 W to 90 W. This may allow the hair care appliance to be powered by batteries rather than mains power.

[0028] The airflow generator may include a radial or mixed flow impeller. Such an impeller may increase the pressure in the airflow generator so that the airflow generator may be operated at a lower rotational speed than an airflow generator that does not include a radial or mixed flow impeller to provide the same airflow output. Emitting airflow in a radial direction from the airflow generator may change the direction of the airflow without requiring additional ducts between the airflow generator and the air inlet and air outlet, which may allow for a more compact arrangement.

[0029] The hair care appliance may comprise a battery for powering the air flow generator. The hair care appliance may thus be portable, so that hair may be styled without the need for an electrical socket. Hair may be styled using the hair care appliance without being connected to mains electricity. The hair care appliance may thus be used on the go.

[0030] The battery may include a lithium-ion battery. The lithium-ion battery may provide a suitably sized solution to power the airflow generator. With the lithium-ion battery, the hair care appliance may be charged with a common USB-C mobile phone charger, thereby making charging convenient, such as when traveling. For example, the battery may include a 18650 battery cell or a 21700 battery cell.

[0031] The hair care appliance may include a handle unit and an attachment releasably attached to the handle unit, the attachment including an air inlet, an air outlet, an air flow generator, and a curved surface.Providing a removable attachment may allow a user to selectively provide the functionality of the attachment described herein.

[0032] The battery may be contained in the handle unit.

[0033] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an attachment for a hair care appliance, the attachment comprising: an air inlet; an air outlet; an air flow generator for generating an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet; and a curved surface adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet, wherein: the attachment is configured so that the air flow emitted from the air outlet generates a first force that attracts hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes hair away from the curved surface; the curved surface is between the air outlet and the air inlet; and the air inlet is configured to receive the air flow emitted from the air outlet.

[0034] Where appropriate, optional features of various aspects of the invention may be equally applicable to other aspects of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a hair care appliance according to an example;

[0036] Figure 2 is shown by Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the force generated by the airflow of the hair care appliance;

[0037] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A front view of a head unit of a hair care appliance;

[0038] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 A schematic cross-sectional side view of a head unit of ; and

[0039] Figure 5is a schematic diagram illustrating a second hair care appliance according to an example. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] exist Figure 1 A hair care appliance according to the present invention is schematically shown in FIG. 1 and generally indicated at 10. The hair care appliance 10 includes a handle 12 and a styling body 100 attached to the handle 12. In this example, the styling body 100 is fixedly attached to the handle 12, and the hair care appliance 10 is a one-piece unit. In other examples, the styling body 100 is releasably attached to the handle 12 and can thus be selectively attached to the handle 12, such as Figure 1 The double-headed arrow between the middle handle 12 and the figure body 100 is schematically shown.

[0041] The molding body 100 includes a housing 110 defining an inner chamber 111 of the molding body 100, an air inlet 102, an air outlet 104, a curved surface 108, and a pair of guide walls 120 provided on opposite edges of the curved surface 108. The airflow generator 106 is accommodated in the inner chamber 111 and generates an airflow at a flow rate of about 6 L / s. The airflow generator 106 includes a radial impeller.

[0042] A first rectangular slot in the housing 110 defines the air outlet 104. The radial impeller is in fluid communication with an outlet duct 114 that extends internally within the housing 110 from the outlet of the air flow generator 106 to the air outlet 104. The air outlet 104 is upstanding from the curved surface 108, and the first rectangular slot is defined by the curved surface 108, the guide wall 120, and the upper wall 105 of the housing 110.

[0043] A second rectangular slot in the housing defines the air inlet 102. An inlet duct 112 extends internally within the housing 110 from the air inlet 102 to the entrance of the air flow generator 106. A filter 113 is located in the inlet duct 112.

[0044] The curved surface 108 is located on the outer surface of the housing 110 adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet 104. The curved surface 108 extends from the air outlet 104 toward and beyond the air inlet 102. In this example, the second rectangular slot defining the air inlet 102 is a slot in the curved surface 108.

[0045] The curved surface 108 subtends an angle of about 80 degrees from the air outlet 104 to the air inlet 102 and has a radius of curvature of about 40 mm. The curved surface 108 extends beyond the air inlet 102, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 As best shown, a region 109 of the curved surface 108 beyond the air inlet 102 is flat.

[0046] The air outlet 104 and the air inlet 102 extend across the width W of the curved surface 108 (eg, Figure 3 The air outlet 104 and the air inlet 102 each have a fixed cross-sectional area, length and width. The cross-sectional area of ​​the air inlet 102 is approximately twice the cross-sectional area of ​​the air outlet 104.

[0047] Three ribs 103 extend across the width of the air inlet 102. In other examples, the air inlet 102 may additionally or alternatively include a mesh or other suitable air permeable barrier.

[0048] The pair of guide walls 120 are used to guide airflow along the curved surface 108. The guide walls 120 are upright from the curved surface 108. The height of the guide walls 120 decreases along the curved surface 108. Adjacent to the air outlet 104, the height of the guide walls 120 is greater than the height of the air outlet 104. Adjacent to the air inlet 102, the guide walls 120 have a height tending to zero.

[0049] Although not shown in this example, in other examples, a heater for heating the airflow generated by the airflow generator 106 is located in the interior chamber 111 .

[0050] The handle 12 includes a lithium ion battery 16 (in Figure 1 The tubular housing 14 (shown in phantom to indicate that the battery 16 is housed within the housing 14) and a control unit (not shown). A user interface 18 is located on an outer surface of the housing 14 and is operable by a user to cause the control unit to control the hair care appliance 10.

[0051] The user interface 18 is used to turn the hair care appliance 10 on and off, select a flow rate (e.g., high, medium, and low), and select an air flow temperature (e.g., hot, medium, or cold in examples where the hair care appliance includes a heater). Figure 1 In the example shown, the user interface comprises buttons, but other forms of user interface 18 are also contemplated, such as one or more switches, a dial, or a touch screen.

[0052] The control unit is responsible for controlling the airflow generator 106 in response to input from the user interface 18. For example, in response to input from the user interface 18, the control module can control the power or speed of the airflow generator 106 to adjust the airflow rate of the airflow. The airflow generator 106 draws about 80W of power from the battery 16.

[0053] In response to user input at the user interface 18 to activate the airflow generator 106, the airflow generated by the airflow generator 106 is emitted from the air outlet 104, across the curved surface 108 and drawn into the air inlet 102. The airflow is thus recirculated through and around the shaping body 100, as shown in FIG. Figure 4As shown by the dotted arrow in .

[0054] Providing a curved surface 108 adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet 104 may cause the airflow to adhere to the curved surface 108 via the Coanda effect. Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the interaction of forces shown and Figure 4 As shown in the cross-sectional side view, when the hair bundle 1 is brought into proximity with the styling body 100, the long hair 2 in the hair bundle is attracted to the curved surface 108 by the force F_PULL and at least partially entangled on the curved surface 108 due to the negative pressure area generated by the airflow on the curved surface 108. However, the pressure gradient on the hair bundle 1 also causes a force F_PUSH, which causes some of the airflow to pass directly through the hair bundle 1. Due to the position of this force relative to the curved surface 108 and the rest of the hair bundle 1, the shorter hair 3 is only loosely held at this point compared to the longer hair 3 that is held in place on the curved surface 108. The shorter hair 3 passes through the hair bundle 1 and blows toward the user's head, while the longer hair 2 remains in place on the outside of the hair bundle 1, i.e., the portion of the hair bundle 1 facing away from the user's head. This provides a smooth finish to the hair after interaction with the hair care appliance 10.

[0055] In order to generate sufficient forces F_PULL, F_PUSH to effectively style the hair to provide a smooth finish, a relatively high airflow velocity, and therefore a relatively large power, is required at the air outlet 104. In order to increase the force F_PULL toward the curved surface without increasing the airflow velocity at the air outlet 104, the curved surface 108 is located between the air outlet 104 and the air inlet 102, and the air inlet 104 is configured to receive the airflow emitted from the air outlet 104 after the airflow has passed through the curved surface 108.

[0056] The suction force generated by the air flow generator 106 at the air inlet 102 draws the hair bundle 1 toward the air inlet 102. Thus, compared with an appliance where the air inlet is located elsewhere, the longer hair 2 is kept on the curved surface 108 over a longer distance, such as Figure 4 Thus, the styling body 100 can provide enhanced gliding performance for the same power input, or can be operated at a lower power input to provide comparable gliding performance.

[0057] As described above, the pair of guide walls 120 extend along opposite edges of the curved surface 108. This effectively creates an airflow channel, with the pair of guide walls 120 acting as the walls of the channel and the curved surface 108 acting as the bed of the channel. The guide walls 120 inhibit the ambient air from interacting with the airflow flowing along the curved surface 108 during use, which can maintain the negative pressure area generated by the airflow flowing along the curved surface 108.

[0058] The flat region 109 of the curved surface 108 helps to separate longer hairs from the styling body 100 downstream of the air inlet 102 and the guide wall 120 .

[0059] Although in the embodiments described herein, the hair care appliance comprises a handle and a styling body, embodiments are also contemplated in which the handle is omitted and the battery 16, control unit and user interface 18 are included in the styling body, such as Figure 5 1. The hair care appliance 20 shown in FIG. 1. In such an embodiment, the user grasps the outer surface of the housing 110 to perform hair styling operations rather than grasping the handle.

[0060] Although described herein as including batteries, in other embodiments the hair care appliance may be mains powered.

Claims

1. A hair care device comprising: An air inlet, an air outlet, an air flow generator for generating an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet, and a curved surface adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet, wherein: The hair care appliance is configured so that the airflow emitted from the air outlet generates a first force that attracts the hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface; The curved surface is located between the air outlet and the air inlet; The air inlet is configured to receive the air flow emitted from the air outlet; and The hair care appliance is configured to generate suction at the air inlet to draw hair towards the curved surface.

2. The hair care device according to claim 1, wherein: The suction force generated by the air flow generator at the air inlet draws the hair toward the air inlet and the curved surface.

3. The hair care device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The curved surface subtends an angle in a range of 60 to 150 degrees from the air outlet to the air inlet.

4. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The curved surface subtends an angle of approximately 90 degrees from the air outlet to the air inlet.

5. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The curvature radius of the curved surface is in the range of 20 mm to 100 mm.

6. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The cross-sectional area of ​​the air inlet is in the range of 1.5 to 3 times the cross-sectional area of ​​the air outlet.

7. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: Widths of the air inlet and the air outlet correspond to a width of the curved surface.

8. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The air inlet includes a plurality of holes disposed in the curved surface.

9. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The curved surface extends beyond the air inlet.

10. The hair care device according to claim 9, wherein: A radius of curvature of a region of the curved surface beyond the air inlet is different from a radius of curvature of a region of the curved surface between the air outlet and the air inlet.

11. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a pair of guide walls for directing airflow along the curved surface, the pair of guide walls being located on opposite sides of and upstanding from the curved surface.

12. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The airflow generator is configured to generate an airflow at a flow rate in a range of 3 L / s to 10 L / s.

13. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein: The airflow generator comprises a radial flow impeller or a mixed flow impeller.

14. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a battery for powering the airflow generator.

15. A hair care appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising a handle unit and an attachment releasably attachable to the handle unit, the attachment comprising the air inlet, air outlet, air flow generator and curved surface.

16. A hair care appliance as claimed in claim 15 when dependent on claim 14, wherein: The battery is contained in the handle unit.

17. An attachment for a hair care appliance, the attachment comprising: Air inlet; Air outlet; an air flow generator for generating an air flow from the air inlet to the air outlet; as well as a curved surface adjacent to and downstream of the air outlet, wherein: The attachment is configured so that the airflow emitted from the air outlet generates a first force that attracts the hair toward the curved surface and a second force that pushes the hair away from the curved surface; The curved surface is located between the air outlet and the air inlet; and The air inlet is configured to receive the air flow emitted from the air outlet.

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