Body-Temperature-Adaptive Dryer with Pre-Warm Mode to Reduce Burn Risk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional dryers for human bodies, infants, and pets often cause discomfort or burns due to temperature differences between the dryer's air and the body's temperature, especially for sensitive skin, and communication challenges make it difficult to ensure safe and effective drying.
Innovation Solution
A dryer with a controller that adjusts the drying temperature based on the body temperature of the target, using a pre-warm mode to maintain a temperature closer to the body temperature and incorporating a distance sensor to optimize air temperature settings, ensuring comfortable and safe drying.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the dryer uses high temperature air for efficient drying, then drying speed is improved, but the risk of burns and discomfort to the drying target increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dryer performs a pre-warm mode before actual drying, where the air temperature is gradually increased to a level closer to the drying target's body temperature. This preliminary action allows the target to acclimate to the warmth, reducing thermal shock and discomfort when full-power drying begins, thus enabling higher drying temperatures without increasing burn risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The dryer dynamically adjusts air temperature based on real-time feedback from temperature sensors that monitor the drying target's body temperature. The control unit modulates heater power to maintain an optimal temperature differential, allowing high drying temperatures when appropriate while preventing burns by reducing temperature when the target's body temperature rises or when distance decreases.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the dryer maintains a low temperature close to body temperature to minimize discomfort, then safety and comfort are improved, but drying efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The dryer operates in periodic cycles alternating between pre-warm mode and drying mode. During pre-warm mode, temperature is kept low to minimize discomfort. During drying mode, temperature is increased for efficient drying. This periodic alternation allows the system to achieve both comfort and efficiency by timing high-temperature exposure to periods when the target is already acclimated.
Solution Approach 2:
The pre-warm mode serves as a preparatory phase that raises the drying target's body temperature gradually before high-temperature drying begins. This preliminary warming reduces the thermal gradient between dryer air and target skin, minimizing discomfort during the subsequent high-temperature drying phase while maintaining drying efficiency.
3Productivity
If the dryer uses fixed high temperature for drying, then drying effectiveness is improved, but the adaptability to different targets and distances is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The dryer incorporates temperature sensors that continuously monitor the drying target's body temperature and feed this information back to the control unit. Based on this feedback, the controller dynamically adjusts heater power to maintain optimal drying temperature. This feedback mechanism enables the dryer to adapt to different targets (infants, pets, adults) and different distances automatically, maintaining drying effectiveness without fixed temperature settings.
Solution Approach 2:
The dryer changes operating parameters (air temperature, heater power) based on detected conditions including target type, distance, and body temperature. The system selects from multiple temperature profiles and adjusts parameters in real-time to optimize drying effectiveness for each specific situation, rather than using a single fixed temperature setting.
4Productivity
If the dryer rapidly increases temperature to achieve efficient drying, then productivity is improved, but the stimulus to the drying target increases causing fright or evasion
Solution Approach 1:
The pre-warm mode gradually increases temperature over an extended period before full drying begins. This slow, preliminary temperature increase allows the drying target to acclimate to warmth progressively, minimizing thermal shock and fright responses. When full-power drying subsequently begins, the target is already adapted to the warmth, reducing应激 reactions while maintaining high drying efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The dryer minimizes temperature-related stress and discomfort by maintaining a suitable drying temperature close to the body temperature and adjusting based on distance, providing a safe and effective drying process for sensitive targets like infants and pets.
Implementation Method 1
a temperature sensor that detects a body temperature of the drying target
Implementation Method 2
a distance sensor configured to detect the distance between the dryer and the drying target
Implementation Method 3
The controller controls a heater so that the dryer operates at a pre-warm temperature higher than the body temperature and lower than the reference temperature
Implementation Method 4
A dryer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a fan configured to blow air
Data Source
AI summary
A dryer includes a fan configured to input and blow air, a heater configured to heat the blown air, an external temperature sensor configured to detect a body temperature of a drying target, an air temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the heated air, and a controller configured to enter a pre-warm mode when the body temperature is lower than a reference temperature, and to control the heater so that drying is performed at a pre-warm temperature higher than the body temperature and lower than the reference temperature in the pre-warm mode.