Water discharge device, lighting unit

Abstract

To provide a technique that can guide more light to the outside of a discharge port without obstructing a water flow even if a flow passage in a spout is narrow.SOLUTION: A water discharge device 1 to be applied to a bathtub comprises a spout 2 for discharging hot water from a discharge port 25 of a flow passage 20, and an illuminating unit 5 attached between the spout 2 and a hose 10. The illuminating unit 5 comprises a water passage pipe 4 arranged between the hose 10 and the flow passage 20, and a light irradiation part 3 for irradiating the hot water in the flow passage 20 with light. The light irradiation part 3 comprises an LED 31, and a light guide body 32 for guiding the light from the LED 31. The light guide body 32 consists of a plurality of optical fibers 37, and light emitting surfaces 37b that are end surfaces of the respective optical fibers 37 are arranged near the discharge port 25 in the flow passage 20.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a water discharge device and a lighting unit applied to the water discharge device. [Background technology]

[0002] The applicant of the present application has proposed an invention of a water discharger 501 shown in Fig. 6 (see Patent Document 1). This water discharger 501 is applied to a bathtub 510, and its main function is to discharge hot and cold water toward the neck and shoulders of a bather whose back is in contact with a wall surface 509b of a bathtub main body 509.

[0003] The water discharge device 501 includes a spout 502 that discharges hot and cold water from a water outlet 521 of a flow path 520, an air bubble generator 504 that mixes air bubbles into the hot and cold water in the flow path 520, and a light irradiator 503 built into the spout 502. The light irradiator 503 includes a light source 531 and a light guide 532 that guides light from the light source 531. The light emission surface of the light guide 532 is disposed in front of the water outlet 521 within the flow path 520. The light irradiator 503 irradiates light onto the hot and cold water in the flow path 520 in front of the water outlet 521 and also irradiates light toward the water outlet 521.

[0004] In the water discharge device 501, when hot and cold water is discharged from the water discharge port 521 with the light source 531 and the air bubble generator 504 turned on, the light guided through the discharged water is reflected and diffused on the bubble surfaces, and the water itself appears to be glowing. Also, when hot and cold water is discharged from the water discharge port 521 with the light source 531 turned on and the air bubble generator 504 turned off, the light is totally reflected repeatedly in the discharged water until it reaches the water surface of the bathtub body 509, and is diffusely reflected on this water surface, making the water surface appear to be glowing.

[0005] In this way, in addition to its main function of warming the bather's neck and shoulders, the water-discharging device 501 also has a water flow light-guiding function that guides light into the water that is discharged, allowing a variety of light effects to be created, such as making the water itself emitted from the water outlet 521 glow to show its rippling, or making the water surface where the water reaches glow to show its rippling. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-162973 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In a water discharge device equipped with a water flow light guide function, it is desirable to place a light guide near the water outlet in order to guide as much light as possible out of the water outlet. However, when the flow path inside the spout is narrow, there is a problem that placing a light guide near the water outlet obstructs the water flow.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technology that can guide more light outside the spout without impeding the water flow, even when the flow path inside the spout is narrow. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The water discharge device of the present invention has a flow path through which water flows, and is equipped with a spout that discharges water from a water discharge port that is an outlet opening of the flow path, and a light irradiating unit that irradiates light onto the water in the flow path, the light irradiating unit having a light source and a light guide that guides light from the light source, Multiple linear bodies are used It is composed of Each linear body is The light emitting surface, which is the end surface, is disposed within the flow path. The plurality of linear bodies are bundled together at their light source side portions, and are arranged in a row at their light emission surface side portions at intervals from each other. It is characterized by the above. The water-discharging device of the present invention has a flow path through which water flows, a spout that discharges water from a water outlet that is the outlet opening of the flow path, and a light irradiation unit that irradiates light onto the water in the flow path, the light irradiation unit having a light source and a light guide that guides light from the light source, the light guide being constructed using a plurality of linear bodies, each of which has its end face, which is a light exit surface, positioned within the flow path, each linear body being provided with a full-color LED as the light source, and the light emission color can be selected for each of the full-color LEDs.

[0010] The lighting unit of the present invention constitutes the above-mentioned water-discharging device, and comprises a water channel pipe arranged between the flow path of the spout and a piping that supplies water to the flow path, and the light irradiation section, and is characterized in that the light guide extends from inside the water channel pipe toward the flow path, and its end face, which is the light emission surface, is arranged within the flow path. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, even if the flow path inside the spout is narrow, more light can be guided outside the spout without impeding the water flow. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of a water discharge device equipped with an illumination unit according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a front view of the water discharger of FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the light guide of FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional water discharge device.

[0013] A "water discharger" equipped with a "lighting unit" according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs.

[0014] The water discharge device 1 shown in Figures 1 to 3 is applied to a bathtub. The bathtub is equipped with a bathtub body that stores hot and cold water, a water discharge device 1 that discharges hot and cold water into the bathtub body, a hose 10 (not limited to a hose, but any piping such as a pipe will do) that sucks in the hot and cold water in the bathtub body and sends it to the water discharge device 1, and a pump.

[0015] The water-discharging device 1 has a flow path 20 (shown in Figure 3) through which hot and cold water flows, and is equipped with a spout 2 that discharges hot and cold water from a water outlet 25 which is the outlet opening of the flow path 20, a lighting unit 5 attached between the spout 2 and the hose 10, a fixing member 6 that fixes the lighting unit 5 to the spout 2, a bubble generator (not shown) that mixes air bubbles into the hot and cold water in the flow path 20, a control unit that controls these, and an operation unit (attached to the wall of the bathroom, etc.) that inputs instructions to the control unit.

[0016] As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the flow path 20 has an ascending section 21 that extends vertically and extends above the top surface of the bathtub body, a large flow path section 22 that is continuous with the ascending section 21 and extends horizontally toward the inside of the bathtub body, a small flow path section 24 that is located downstream of the large flow path section 22 and extends horizontally in a straight line to the spout 25 and has a narrower flow path than the large flow path section 22, and an intermediate section 23 that is located between the large flow path section 22 and the small flow path section 24 and has a gradually narrower flow path as it goes from the large flow path section 22 to the small flow path section 24.

[0017] The water outlet 25 is formed as a slit extending in the width direction of the bathtub body. The water outlet 25 is located above the upper surface of the bathtub body. The rising section 21 has a circular flow path cross section, but the large flow path section 22, the intermediate section 23, and the small flow path section 24 have a rectangular flow path cross section (a rectangle with the long side extending in the longitudinal direction of the water outlet 25).

[0018] In this example, hot and cold water in the bathtub body is sent to the flow path 20 of the spout 2 via a pump (not shown), a hose 10, and a waterway pipe 4 (described later). The hot and cold water rises in the rising section 21, spreads left and right (in the longitudinal direction of the water outlet 25) in the large flow path section 22, passes through the middle section 23, and when passing through the small flow path section 24, the flow speed increases and the momentum becomes stronger, and the water is discharged from the water outlet 25 in a substantially horizontal direction toward the inside of the bathtub body. That is, the spout 2 in this example is designed to discharge hot and cold water toward the neck and shoulders of the bather when the bather places his / her back against the wall of the bathtub body. W in FIG. 3 represents hot and cold water discharged from the water outlet 25.

[0019] The lighting unit 5 includes a water channel pipe 4 disposed between the hose 10 and the flow path 20, and a light emitting section 3 that irradiates the hot and cold water in the flow path 20 with light.

[0020] The water conduit 4 is made of white resin. The water conduit 4 integrally includes a water conduit flow path 40 that connects the hose 10 and the flow path 20, and a light guide attachment portion 41 provided inside the water conduit flow path 40.

[0021] The light irradiation unit 3 has a substrate 30, an LED (corresponding to a light source) 31 mounted on the substrate 30, a heat sink 33, a fan 34, an LED case 35 that houses these, a light guide 32 that guides light from the LED 31, and an O-ring 36.

[0022] The LED case 35 is disposed outside the water channel 40 and fixed to the water channel 4. The light guide 32 is attached to the light guide attachment portion 41 so that its light incident surface 37a faces the LED 31. The O-ring 36 provides waterproofing between the light guide attachment portion 41 and the light guide 32.

[0023] As shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the light guide 32 of this example is configured by using a plurality of optical fibers (corresponding to a flexible linear body) 37. The portions of the optical fibers 37 on the light incident surface 37a side are bundled and inserted into a cylindrical light guide attachment part 41 and attached to the light guide attachment part 41. The middle part of each optical fiber 37 is disposed in the rising part 21 and the large flow path part 22, and is bent at approximately 90 degrees. The light exit surface 37b, which is the end face of each optical fiber 37, is disposed in the middle part 23. In addition, the portions of the optical fibers 37 on the light exit surface 37b side are disposed at intervals from each other in the longitudinal direction of the water outlet 25. This allows the light from the LED 31 to be irradiated at a wide angle in the longitudinal direction of the water outlet 25.

[0024] Such light emitting section 3 emits light onto the hot and cold water at intermediate section 23, and also emits light towards water outlet 25. This light is guided through the hot and cold water and guided to the outside of water outlet 25. Note that dashed dotted line L in Fig. 3 shows an example of the path of light emitted from LED 31.

[0025] In the water discharge device 1, like the conventional water discharge device 501 (see FIG. 6), when hot and cold water is discharged from the water outlet 25 with the LED 31 and the bubble generator turned on, the light guided through the discharged water is reflected and diffused on the bubble surfaces, and the water itself appears to be glowing. Also, when hot and cold water is discharged from the water outlet 25 with the LED 31 turned on and the bubble generator turned off, the light is totally reflected repeatedly in the discharged water until it reaches the water surface of the bathtub body, and is diffusely reflected on this water surface, making the water surface appear to be glowing. When the hot and cold water comes into contact with an object such as a human body rather than the water surface, the contact object is brightly illuminated.

[0026] Since such a water discharger 1 uses the light guide 32 composed of the small-diameter and deformable optical fiber 37, the light emission surface 37b can be arranged near the water outlet 25 without obstructing the water flow even in a narrow flow path 20, and therefore more light can be guided to the outside of the water outlet 25. Furthermore, since the water discharger 1 uses the above-mentioned lighting unit 5, the water discharger 1 can be given a water flow light guide function without affecting the size and shape of the spout 2. That is, the spout 2 of the water discharger 1 can be made smaller and simpler than the spout 502 of the water discharger 501 of the conventional example, and the design freedom is high. Furthermore, the above-mentioned lighting unit 5 can be retrofitted to an existing water discharger that does not have a water flow light guide function consisting of the spout 2 and the hose 10, and in this way, the water flow light guide function can be easily added.

[0027] In the above-described embodiment, the light guide is composed of a plurality of optical fibers, but in the present invention, it is sufficient that the light guide is composed of a flexible linear body, and the number of linear bodies may be one. In addition, when the light guide is composed of a plurality of linear bodies, a full-color LED may be provided for each linear body, and the color of light guided by each linear body may be changed by making the light emission color of each LED different.

[0028] In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the water discharge device is applied to a bathtub, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to apply it to a water faucet in a washroom, kitchen, etc.

[0029] In the above-described embodiment, the water discharge device is provided with a bubble generator. However, the bubble generator is not an essential component of the present invention, and the water discharge device does not necessarily have to be provided.

[0030] The above-described embodiment is merely a representative example of the present invention. In other words, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is possible. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 1. Water discharge device 2 Spout 3. Light irradiation unit 4 Waterway 5 Lighting Unit 10 Hose (piping) 20 Flow Path 25 Water outlet 31 LED (light source) 32 Light guide 37 Optical fiber (linear body)

Claims

1. A spout has a flow path through which water flows and spouts water from a water outlet that is an outlet opening of the flow path; A light irradiation unit that irradiates light onto the water in the flow path, The light irradiation unit includes a light source and a light guide that guides light from the light source. the light guide is configured using a plurality of linear bodies, and each linear body has a light exit surface, which is an end surface of the linear body, disposed within the flow path; The plurality of linear bodies are bundled together at their portions on the light source side, and are arranged in a row at their portions on the light exit surface side with gaps between them. A water discharge device characterized by the above.

2. A full-color LED is provided as the light source for each linear body, The light emission color can be selected for each full-color LED. The water discharge device according to claim 1 .

3. A spout has a flow path through which water flows and spouts water from a water outlet that is an outlet opening of the flow path; A light irradiation unit that irradiates light onto the water in the flow path, The light irradiation unit includes a light source and a light guide that guides light from the light source. the light guide is configured using a plurality of linear bodies, and each linear body has a light exit surface, which is an end surface of the linear body, disposed within the flow path; A full-color LED is provided as the light source for each linear body, The light emission color can be selected for each full-color LED. A water discharge device characterized by the above.

4. The linear body has flexibility. The water discharge device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A lighting unit constituting the water discharge device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, A water channel pipe disposed between the flow path of the spout and a pipe for supplying water to the flow path; and the light irradiation unit, The light guide extends from inside the water pipe to the flow path, and a light exit surface, which is an end surface of the light guide, is disposed within the flow path. A lighting unit characterized by:

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