There has been a known toilet seat device having a heating function in order to prevent a user from unpleasant feeling when the user sits on a cold toilet seat (for example, see Patent Document 1). FIG. 39 is a notched top plan view illustrating a part of a warm toilet seat according to Patent Document 1, and FIG. 40 is a sectional view taken along the line J-J in FIG. 39.
As shown in FIGS. 39 and 40, a warm toilet seat 900 has an upper casing 926 and a lower casing 927 made from synthetic resins. The upper casing 926 and the lower casing 927 are joined to each other. Inside the upper casing 926 and the lower casing 927, a radiation reflection plate 929, a lamp heater 930, a thermostat 931, a thermal fuse 932, and a thermistor 33 are provided.
The radiation reflection plate 929 is formed so as to coincide with a shape of the lower casing 927. The lamp heater 930 is disposed on the radiation reflection plate 929. Thermostat 931 and thermal fuse 932 are mounted on the radiation reflection plate 929 with a predetermined part of lamp heater 930 interposed therebetween.
As shown in FIG. 40, thermistor 933 is mounted on a place that is an inner side of the upper casing 926 and faces to the lamp heater 930.
In this warm toilet seat 900, an infrared sensor not shown in the drawings detects user's entry into a room. Accordingly, the lamp heater 930 is driven on the basis of a detection signal of the infrared sensor. Therefore, radiation energy from the lamp heater 930 is directly given to the upper casing 926 or indirectly given through the radiation reflection plate 929 to the upper casing 926, and thus the upper casing 926 radiates heat.
According to the warm toilet seat 900 of Patent Document 1 with such a configuration, it is not necessary to constantly drive the lamp heater 930, and thus it is possible to save energy.
In such a kind of warm toilet seat, which is another example, a seating section 2103 of a toilet seat 2102 having a cavity section 2101 formed therein is made from transparent polypropylene resin as shown in FIG. 41, whereby a radiated heat absorption layer 2104 is formed on a surface of the seating section 2103, and a lamp heater 2105 is formed on the cavity section 2101. The radiated heat from the lamp heater 2105 is transmitted through the seating section 2103 made from the transparent polypropylene resin, is converted to thermal energy in the radiated heat absorption layer 2104 on the surface thereof, and rise temperature of the seating section 2103. The heat is generated in the radiated heat absorption layer 2104 that is used to be in contact with the hips, and thus it is possible to warm the hips in a short time as compared with a thermal conduction heating type that employs a code heater and the like in the toilet seat 2102. In addition, a temperature control is performed by a thermostat 2106 that is disposed near the lamp heater 2105, and the temperature control prevents danger caused by abnormal heating by using a thermal fuse 2107.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-14598
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-210230