OUTER CASE FOR HOT WATER UNIT, AND HOT WATER UNIT PROVIDED THEREWITH

Abstract

This outer case (C) for a hot water unit, configured using a metal plate (30a), is provided with a paint layer (30b) which is provided to cover the front surface and/or back surface of the metal plate (30a), an inkjet printing layer (4) which is laminated on the paint layer (30b) and which shows text, symbols, figures and/or patterns, and a clear layer (5) which covers the inkjet printing layer (4). By means of this configuration, the outer case (C) can be produced with high productivity and at a low cost, and with excellent design and resistance properties.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a hot water unit in which a hot water device for generating hot water or storing hot water, such as a hot water supply device or a cogeneration system, is accommodated in an outer case, and the outer case.

BACKGROUND ART

As a specific example of a hot water unit configured as a hot water supply device, there is an example in which a hot water device, which heats water using combustion gas generated by a burner, is accommodated in an outer case (for example, see Patent Literatures 1 to 3). The outer case for the hot water unit is generally manufactured by pressing a colored steel plate having a front surface of a single color.

In such a hot water unit, for example, in addition to displaying text or symbols representing a manufacturer name, a type, an ability or the like of the hot water unit on the outer case, in some cases, a wide range of the surface of the outer case needs to be covered with a color different from a ground color of the surface of the colored steel plate. In this case, in the related art, after forming component parts of the outer case (an outer case main body and a cover body) by press molding, the component parts are painted by a spray method.

However, in the above-mentioned related art, there is the following room for improvement.

When the spray-type painting means of the related art is used, masking of an unpainted portion and color matching of the paint are troublesome. In addition, work of spraying paint using a spray gun (an air gun) is also troublesome and requires skill. Therefore, workability and productivity are poor. Furthermore, since the paint is sprayed onto the masking portion, much paint is wasted. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the outer case and the manufacturing cost of the hot water unit increase. As the pattern to be painted becomes more complicated and the number of colors increases, such defects become remarkable. According to some spray methods, it is also difficult to express detailed patterns.

In the related art, a transfer type coating means has also been appropriately adopted. However, according to the coating means of this transfer method, a transfer plate is required, which leads to a high cost. Moreover, it is not suitable for painting a large area.

On the other hand, the paint applied to the outer case is easily damaged by influences of wind and rain or sunlight including ultraviolet rays, and contamination and fading are likely to occur.

CITATION LIST

Patent Literature

• [Patent Literature 1]

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-32029

• [Patent Literature 2]

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-294867

• [Patent Literature 3]

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2014-40950

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Technical Problem

An objective of the present invention is to provide an outer case for a hot water unit capable of appropriately solving the above-mentioned problems, and a hot water unit provided with the outer case.

Solution to Problem

In order to solve the above problems, the following technical measures are taken in the present invention.

An outer case for a hot water unit provided in a first aspect of the present invention is an outer case for a hot water unit configured using a metal plate, which includes a paint layer provided to cover at least one of a front surface and a back surface of the metal plate; an inkjet printing layer which is laminated on the paint layer and represents at least one of text, symbols, figures or a pattern; and a clear layer which covers the inkjet printing layer.

Preferably, the clear layer contains an ultraviolet absorber.

Preferably, the outer case includes an outer case main body having an opening on at least one surface, and a cover body attached to the outer case main body to close the opening, and at least one of the outer case main body and the cover body has a configuration in which the paint layer, the inkjet printing layer, and the clear layer are provided on the outer surface of the metal plate.

Preferably, the metal plate is provided with a drawing portion, and in a portion of the drawing portion in which a plate thickness of the metal plate is thinner than that of another portion, a thickness of the inkjet printing layer is also thinner than that of the other portion.

Preferably, the metal plate is provided with a burring hole into which a burring portion protrudes on the peripheral portion, a first inkjet printing layer provided in a peripheral portion of the burring hole and a second inkjet printing layer provided in the burring portion to be connected to the first inkjet printing layer are included as the inkjet printing layer, and the first and second inkjet printing layers are covered serially by the clear layer.

Preferably, at least some component parts of the outer case are pressed products, and a positioning mark for pressing of the component parts is provided as the inkjet printing layer.

A hot water unit provided in a second aspect of the present invention includes the outer case for the hot water unit provided in the first aspect of the present invention.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a side view representing an example of a hot water unit according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of an outer case (a state in which an internal hot water device is omitted) of the hot water unit shown in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a side view of a state in which a clear layer is omitted in FIG. 1A, and FIG. 2B is an exploded perspective view of a state in which the clear layer is omitted in FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3A is a front view of a state in which the clear layer of the cover body of the outer case shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is omitted, and FIG. 3B is a front view of a state in which an inkjet printing layer of the cover body is omitted.

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view along a line IVA-IVA of FIG. 3A, FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of a main part along a line IVB-IVB of FIG. 3A, FIG. 4C is a cross-sectional view of a main part along a line IVC-IVC of FIG. 3A, and FIG. 4D is a front sectional view of a portion indicated by reference numeral IVD of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the cover body shown in FIGS. 1A to 3A.

FIGS. 6A to 6G are explanatory views representing an example of the manufacturing process of the cover body shown in FIGS. 1A to 3A.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a main part which shows an example of a colored steel plate used for manufacturing the cover body shown in FIGS. 1A to 3A.

FIG. 8A is a perspective view representing an example of a schematic configuration of a printer used for inkjet printing, and FIG. 8B is a view taken along an arrow VIIIB of FIG. 8A, representing a schematic structure of a print head of the printer shown in FIG. 8A.

FIG. 9 is cross-sectional view of the main part which shows an example of the working process for obtaining a structure of FIG. 4C.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

A hot water unit U shown in FIGS. 1A to 2B corresponds to a hot water supply device and includes an outer case C, and a hot water device 1 for generating hot water is accommodated inside the outer case C. The hot water device 1 is equipped with a heat exchanger 10 through which hot water flows, a burner 11 for heating the hot water in the heat exchanger 10, and a fan 12 for supplying combustion air to the burner 11.

The outer case C is equipped with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped outer case main body 2 having an opening 20 on a front surface, and a cover body 3 (a front cover body) that closes the opening 20. The cover body 3 is detachably attached to the front surface portion of the outer case main body 2 by utilizing, for example, a screw body 9 such as a screw, and screw body insertion holes 31 and 21 through which the screw body 9 is inserted.

In the present embodiment, the cover body 3 is provided with an inkjet printing layer 4 (a portion having a halftone dot pattern or a wavy line pattern in the drawing) and a clear layer 5. The outer case main body 2 is not provided with these. Therefore, the configuration of the cover body 3 will be described below in detail, and the description of the outer case main body 2 will be omitted. However, as will be described below, an inkjet printing layer or a clear layer can be provided on the outer case main body 2.

The cover body 3 is a configuration in which an inkjet printing layer 4 (4a to 4g) (see also FIGS. 3A and 5), and the clear layer 5 are provided on the colored steel plate 30 after press-molding (a metal plate provided with a paint layer).

The cover body 3 has a panel shape having a substantially rectangular shape in a front view, and is equipped with an outer peripheral flange portion 32, and a bulging portion 33 which is surrounded by the outer peripheral flange portion 32 and bulges to the front of the outer peripheral flange portion 32 (a front side of the outer case C). The outer peripheral flange portion 32 is a portion for abutting on the substantially rectangular frame-shaped flange portion 22 provided on the front surface portion of the outer case main body 2, and as shown in FIG. 4A, a folded-back portion 32a formed by hemming process is continuously provided on the outer edge portion thereof.

The bulging portion 33 of the cover body 3 occupies most of the cover body 3, and the bulging portion 33 is provided with an air supply port 34 and an exhaust port 35 (see also FIGS. 3A and 3B). The air supply port 34 is a portion that allows outside air to flow into the outer case C. The exhaust port 35 is a portion for discharging the exhaust gas after heat recovery by the heat exchanger 10 to the outside of the outer case C. As shown in FIG. 4C, the exhaust port 35 is formed as a burring hole on the peripheral edge portion of which a tubular burring portion 35a is continuously provided.

The inkjet printing layer 4 is a coating film layer provided by utilizing an inkjet printer 8 as will be described below. As the ink for inkjet printing, a water-based pigment ink or a solvent-based pigment ink can be used. Preferably, the ink contains an ultraviolet curable resin and a thermosetting resin.

Inkjet printing layers 4a to 4d representing a predetermined pattern D1 such as a penguin, and an inkjet printing layer 4e representing text D2 (“AABBCC” as an example in the drawing) indicating, for example, a maker, a model or a trademark of the hot water unit U provided on the surface of the cover body 3 are provided as the inkjet printing layer 4. An inkjet printing layer 4f representing a positioning mark D3 for pressing, which will be described later, is provided at the four corners of the cover body 3. The positioning mark D3 is shown in the shape of “+” in the drawing, but is not limited thereto. Further, the positioning mark D3 may be configured to be provided on the back surface of the cover body 3 instead of or in addition to the front surface of the cover body 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, an inkjet printing layer 4g representing an electrical wiring diagram D4 of the hot water device 1 is further provided on the back surface of the cover body 3. Instead of or in addition to the electrical wiring diagram D4, it is also possible to provide a configuration representing a piping diagram of the hot water device 1. Although this is not illustrated or described, it is also possible to provide a configuration in which an inkjet printing layer representing a specification description, notes, or the like of the hot water unit U is further provided on the back surface of the cover body 3, in addition to the electrical wiring diagram D4 and the piping diagram.

As shown in FIG. 7, the colored steel plate 30 is a raw material of the cover body 3 and has a multi-layer structure with a plated steel sheet 30a (metal plate), a whitish (or white) coating layer 30b on a front side laminated on the surface of the plated steel sheet 30a, and a coating layer 30c on a back side as a service coat laminated on the back surface of the plated steel sheet 30a. The inkjet printing layers 4a to 4e have colors different from those of the whitish front side coating layer 30b, and represent a design D1 such as the appearance of the penguin and text D2. The white portion of FIG. 3A is a portion of the front side coating layer 30b of the colored steel plate 30 that has not been subjected to inkjet printing.

The entire region of the inkjet printing layer 4a is basically formed in the same color and to the same thickness. However, as shown in FIG. 4D, a thickness ta of a corner portion 33a′ of a peripheral wall portion 33a (a wall portion rising forward from the outer peripheral flange portion 32) of the bulging portion 33 is thinner than a thickness tb of another portion of the peripheral wall portion 33a, and a thickness of the portion other than the peripheral wall portion 33a. The bulging portion 33 is formed by the drawing process, and the peripheral wall portion 33a thereof corresponds to the drawing portion. According to the drawing process, an amount of extension of the color steel plate 30 of the corner portion 33a′ of the peripheral wall portion 33a is the largest (the corner portion 33a′ corresponds to a ‘portion in which the plate thickness of the metal plate is thinner than other portions, in the drawing portion’). If the thickness ta of the inkjet printing layer 4a in the corner portion 33a′ decreases accordingly, it is possible to obtain the effect of preventing the inkjet printing layer 4a from peeling, as will be described later. When the amount of drawing (the amount of extension) of the peripheral wall portion 33a is increased to increase the amount of bulging of the bulging portion 33, it is possible to provide a configuration in which the thickness tb of the portion of the peripheral wall portion 33a other than the corner portion 33a′ is thinner than the thickness of other portions of the inkjet printing layer 4a.

The inkjet printing layer 4b is provided in the peripheral portion of the exhaust port 35. As described with reference to FIG. 4C, the exhaust port 35 is formed as a burring hole having a burring portion 35a. In contrast, a part of the inkjet printing layer 4b is also provided on the inner surface of the burring portion 35a. As a result, the peripheral portion of the exhaust port 35 and the inner surface of the burring portion 35a can be aligned in the same color or pattern, and the appearance of the exhaust port 35 and its peripheral portion can be improved.

The inkjet printing layer 4e is provided on the front surface of a step pressing portion 36 (see also FIGS. 3B and 4B) that three-dimensionally represents the text D2. More specifically, the step pressing portion 36 is a portion in which the text D2 is three-dimensionally formed by partially extruding a part of the colored steel plate 30 by pressing, and the inkjet printing layer 4e is provided on the front surface portion of such a step pressing portion 36. Although the step pressing portion 36 includes a front convex form in which a part of the colored steel plate 30 is extruded to the front side of the cover body 3, and a front concave form in which a part of the colored steel plate 30 is extruded to the rear side of the cover body 3, it does not matter which one is adopted.

The clear layer 5 is formed over substantially the entire region of the front surface part of the cover body 3 to cover the inkjet printing layer 4. As shown in FIG. 4B, the clear layer 5 is also formed in a recess in a region forming the text D2. Further, as shown in FIG. 4C, the clear layer 5 is also provided on the inner surface of the burring portion 35a, and serially covers the inkjet printing layer 4 of the inner surface of the burring portion 35a, the inkjet printing layer 4 around the exhaust port 35 (burring hole) or the like. Since the back surface of the cover body 3 is not directly exposed to wind, rain or sunlight, the clear layer 5 is not provided. However, it is possible to provide a configuration in which the clear layer 5 is also provided on the back surface of the cover body 3 to protect the inkjet printing layer 4g. In this case, instead of providing the clear layer 5 on the entire back surface, it is possible to provide a configuration in which the clear layer 5 is provided only in a region in which the inkjet printing layer 4g is provided. The clear layer 5 is made of a resin paint that does not contain a pigment, but contains an ultraviolet absorber. Further, the clear layer 5 is made of a thermosetting resin or an ultraviolet curable resin.

The aforementioned cover body 3 can be manufactured via the following steps.

First, as shown in FIG. 6A, a flat plate-shaped colored steel plate 30 described with reference to FIG. 7 is prepared as a raw material for the cover body 3. Next, the inkjet printing layer 4 is provided as shown in FIG. 6B, by performing inkjet printing on the colored steel plate 30 (strictly speaking, on the paint layers 30b and 30c of the colored steel plate 30). The inkjet printing is performed using, for example, an inkjet printer 8 as shown in FIG. 8A. In the inkjet printer 8, the print head 80 is movable in the x and y directions orthogonal to each other on the upper side of a mounting table 81 on which the colored steel plate 30 is mounted and supported.

As shown in FIG. 8B, the print head 80 includes a plurality of inkjet nozzles 82 that atomize an inkjet paint of a predetermined color and spray it toward the colored steel plate 30. This point is the same as conventional knowledge, but a pair of ultraviolet light sources 83 (83a, 83b) are further provided in the vicinity of the inkjet nozzle 82.

For example, when inkjet printing is performed while the print head 80 is moved in the x1 direction of FIG. 8B as a main scanning direction, an ultraviolet light source 83a on the rear side in the main scanning direction is made to emit light, and ultraviolet rays are radiated to the region immediately after the inkjet printing. Since the inkjet printing layer 4 contains an ultraviolet curable resin, the inkjet printing layer 4 can be rapidly cured (cured to the extent that bleeding does not occur, which will be described later) by irradiation of the ultraviolet rays.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the uncured inkjet printing layers 4 having different colors from being mixed with each other and causing bleeding. When the inkjet printing is carried out in a direction opposite to the x1 direction described above, the same effect as described above can be obtained by causing the ultraviolet light source 83b to emit light instead of the ultraviolet light source 83a.

When the inkjet printing layer 4a is provided, the thickness to of the colored steel plate 30 at a planned portion which is the corner portion 33a′ of the peripheral wall portion 33a shown in FIG. 4D is set to be thinner than the thickness tb of other portions.

After the above-mentioned inkjet printing on both the front and back surfaces of the colored steel plate 30 is completed, as shown in FIG. 6C, while heating the color steel sheet 30 and drying the inkjet printing layer 4, the thermosetting resin contained in the inkjet printing layer 4 is cured. The heating is performed using, for example, a heating furnace. By such a process, the strength of the inkjet printing layer 4 can be increased, and in addition, the durability against the pressing to be performed thereafter can also be improved.

Next, the colored steel plate 30 is subjected to drawing process as a pressing to form an outer peripheral flange portion 32 and a bulging portion 33 as shown in FIG. 6D. After that, as shown in FIG. 6E, the pressing step for forming the air supply port 34, the exhaust port 35, the step pressing portion 36, and the like, the trimming process for removing an excess portion of the outer peripheral flange portion 32, a subsequent hemming process and the like are performed. As a result, the cover body 3 described above can be manufactured. In the above working process, the colored steel plate 30 can be accurately positioned with reference to the positioning mark D3. The work of forming the exhaust port 35 is performed by utilizing a punch 7a and a die 7b, for example, as shown in FIG. 9. In contrast, in addition to the peripheral portion of the planned formation location of the exhaust port 35, the inkjet printing layer 4b is also provided serially at the formation target portion of the exhaust port 35. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4C, it is possible to appropriately realize a configuration in which the inkjet printing layer 4b is provided serially from the peripheral portion of the exhaust port 35 to the burring portion 35a.

After the outer shape of the cover body 3 is finished as described above, as shown in FIG. 6F, the cover body 3 is subjected to clear coating to form the clear layer 5 over substantially the entire region of the front surface of the cover body 3. The clear paint is mainly made of a thermosetting resin (or an ultraviolet curable resin) containing an ultraviolet absorber. The clear coating is, for example, a spray coating in which a clear paint is sprayed from a spray nozzle 88. After the clear coating is completed, the clear layer 5 is heated, dried and cured as shown in FIG. 6G The heating is, for example, heating using a heating lamp. Alternatively, when the clear layer 5 is made of an ultraviolet curable resin, it is cured by ultraviolet irradiation.

Next, the operations of the outer case C provided with the cover body 3 and the hot water unit U will be described.

First, since the design D1 such as the penguin is displayed on the front surface portion of the cover body 3, for example, the hot water unit U can have excellent design properties, as compared with a case in which the surface of the cover body 3 has a single color or no pattern. Since the inner surface of the burring portion 35a of the exhaust port 35 is continuously painted on the peripheral portion of the exhaust port 35, the appearance is also better than in a case in which the inside of the burring portion 35a is colored differently from the peripheral portion of the burring portion 35a. Further, in the corner portion 33a′ of the peripheral wall portion 33a, a part of the colored steel plate 30 greatly extends in the drawing process. However, since the thickness to of the inkjet printing layer 4 in this portion is thinner than the thickness tb of the other portion, it is also possible to prevent the problem of the inkjet printing layer 4 being easily peeled off in the above-mentioned drawing process.

Since the electrical wiring diagram D4 or the piping diagram is represented by the inkjet printing layer 4g on the back surface of the cover body 3, it is convenient for maintenance work and the like. For example, when the means such as a sheet with a printed electrical wiring diagram is stuck to the back surface of the cover body 3, the sheet may be damaged or peeled off of the cover body 3 and lost. In contrast, according to the present embodiment, there is no such risk.

Since the coating film layer representing the design D1, the text D2, the positioning mark D3, the electrical wiring diagram D4, and the like of the cover body 3 is all included in the inkjet printing layer 4, it can be easily provided using the inkjet printer 8 as described above.

For example, unlike painting by the spray method, a masking process and color matching of paint are not required, and skill is not required. Therefore, it is possible to improve workability and productivity. In addition, it is easy to change the design of the design D1 and the like, and it is suitable for small-quantity and large-variety production. Further, according to the inkjet printing, there is little to no waste of ink paint, and it is economical. Since the base material of the inkjet printing layer 4 is the paint layers 30b and 30c of the colored steel plate 3, it is also possible to improve the appearance, weather resistance or the like of the location in which the inkjet printing layer 4 is not provided.

The clear layer 5 enables various expressions such as glossy and matte, and further improves the design of the outer case C. Further, since the clear layer 5 covers and protects the inkjet printing layer 4 on the front surface portion of the cover body 3, the weather resistance of the inkjet printing layer 4 is enhanced and the stain resistance is excellent. In particular, since the clear layer 5 contains an ultraviolet absorber, the color of the inkjet printing layer 4 does not fade due to the ultraviolet rays of sunlight. Further, the clear layer 5 also has an effect of suppressing the peeling of the inkjet printing layer 4. Because the clear layer 5 is provided in substantially the entire region of the front surface portion of the cover body 3, the aforementioned effect is more excellent.

The present invention is not limited to the content of the above-described embodiment. The specific configuration of the outer case for hot water unit according to the present invention and each part of the hot water unit can be variously redesigned within the scope intended by the present invention.

Although the above-described embodiment is an example in which only the cover body 3 is subjected to inkjet printing or clear coating, in the present invention, it is possible to provide a configuration in which the outer case main body 2 is also subjected to inkjet printing or clear coating, instead of or in addition to this. The outer case main body may be subjected to only the clear coating and not subjected to inkjet printing. The specific content such as text and patterns represented by the inkjet printing layer of the present invention is not limited, and at least one of text, symbols, figures, and patterns may be represented. The clear layer may be colored and transparent instead of colorless and transparent.

The hot water unit according to the present invention can also be configured as a hot water storage tank unit or the like in which a hot water device for storing hot water, such as a hot water storage tank, is accommodated in the outer case, instead of a configuration in which a hot water device for generating hot water such as a hot water supply device is accommodated in the outer case. Therefore, the outer case is not limited to a combination of the front opening-shaped outer case main body and the cover body that closes the front opening.

Although a flat metal plate is used as the material of the outer case, it is possible to use a material different from the commercially available colored steel plate as the metal plate.

Claims

1. An outer case for a hot water unit configured using a metal plate, the outer case comprising:

a paint layer provided to cover at least one of a front surface and a back surface of the metal plate;

an inkjet printing layer which is laminated on the paint layer and represents at least one of text, symbols, figures or a pattern; and

a clear layer which covers the inkjet printing layer.

2. The outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1, wherein the clear layer contains an ultraviolet absorber.

3. The outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1, wherein the outer case includes an outer case main body having an opening on at least one surface, and a cover body attached to the outer case main body to close the opening, and

at least one of the outer case main body and the cover body has a configuration in which the paint layer, the inkjet printing layer, and the clear layer are provided on an outer surface of the metal plate.

4. The outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1, wherein the metal plate is provided with a drawing portion, and

in a portion of the drawing portion in which a plate thickness of the metal plate is thinner than that of another portion, a thickness of the inkjet printing layer is also thinner than that of the other portion.

5. The outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1, wherein the metal plate is provided with a burring hole into which a burring portion protrudes on a peripheral portion,

a first inkjet printing layer provided in a peripheral portion of the burring hole and a second inkjet printing layer provided in the burring portion to be connected to the first inkjet printing layer are included as the inkjet printing layer, and the first inkjet printing layer and the second inkjet printing layer are covered serially by the clear layer.

6. The outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1, wherein at least some component parts of the outer case are pressed products, and

a positioning mark for pressing of the component parts is provided as the inkjet printing layer.

7. A hot water unit comprising the outer case for a hot water unit according to claim 1.