Hand drying apparatus

Abstract

A hand drying apparatus in the present invention includes a housing, a blower provided inside the housing, and a nozzle part for ejecting air delivered from the blower, out of the housing such that the ejected air is in a shape of a sector of a circle, the nozzle part being provided at one of left and right side parts of the housing when viewed from a user facing the housing.

1 . A hand drying apparatus comprising:
 a housing;   a blower provided inside the housing; and   a nozzle part to eject air delivered from the blower, out of the housing such that the ejected air fans out, the nozzle part being provided at one of left and right side parts of the housing when viewed from a user facing the housing.   
     
     
         2 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the nozzle part ejects the air in a shape of a fan downwardly in a range defined between a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. 
     
     
         3 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the nozzle part ejects the air in the shape of the fan in a range from 0° to 60° inclusive when the horizontal direction is defined as providing 0° and the vertical direction is defined as providing 90°. 
     
     
         4 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein the nozzle part ejects the air in the shape of the fan in a range from 0° to 30° inclusive when the horizontal direction is defined as providing 0° and the vertical direction is defined as providing 90°. 
     
     
         5 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the nozzle part includes an air outlet that is an opening through which an inside of the housing communicates with an outside of the housing, and   the air outlet includes a substantially arc-shaped portion between an uppermost edge of the air outlet and a lowermost edge of the air outlet, the arc-shaped portion being convex in an outward direction of the housing, relative to a straight line interconnecting the uppermost edge and the lowermost edge.   
     
     
         6 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the air outlet has a shorter length extending from the uppermost edge to the lowermost edge than a widthwise length of a hand of a user. 
     
     
         7 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the air outlet is close to a front of the housing as the air outlet extends downward, the front of the housing being near the user when viewed from the user facing the housing. 
     
     
         8 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the air outlet is flush with an external surface of the housing. 
     
     
         9 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 5 , wherein the air outlet has a greater opening width at an upper part of the air outlet than an opening width at a lower part of the air outlet. 
     
     
         10 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 a hand detection means to detect an insertion of an user's hand into an outside space of the housing, toward which space the nozzle part ejects the air, wherein   the hand detection means is provided in front of the nozzle part in the housing, the front being near the user when viewed from the user facing the housing.   
     
     
         11 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing is in a shape of a cylinder, a prism, a semicylinder, a polyhedron other than the prism, a sphere, or a hemisphere. 
     
     
         12 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing is in a shape of a vertically extending pillar and the nozzle part is provided at a lower part of the housing. 
     
     
         13 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing includes the nozzle part at each of the left and right side parts of the housing. 
     
     
         14 . The hand drying apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing is disposed above a washstand including a washbowl.