Abstract:
A care bedpan and a care bedpan system that are capable of reducing the burden of wasting excrements within the care bedpan, of enabling easy use of the bedpan, and of reducing the burden on both, the care-receiving person as well as the care-giving person are provided. A movable and portable care bedpan provided with a bedpan main body  10  having an opening  31  that is pressed against or disposed to oppose a public region of a care-receiving person for receiving excrements, and with a cover  33  provided to extend frontward from an upper portion of the opening  31  of the bedpan main body  10  to thereby comprise an entire opening of the bedpan together with the opening  31  of the bedpan main body  10.  In the cover  33  is held by a holding mechanism which angle is adjustable, either in a multi-staged or non-staged manner, so as to adjust the size of the entire opening and to shield one&#39;s public region to be hardly visible from above. Upon connecting an accessory unit to the bedpan  10,  it is possible to arrange a care bedpan system for supplying washing water, cleaning water (warm water) and warm air for drying and for sucking excrements (including waste water etc.) and collecting the same in a waste water tank.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
         [0001]    This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-357615 filed on Nov. 22, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to a care bedpan and a care bedpan unit including the same.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    It is conventionally performed that a care bedpan is located next to a bed and in the case a care-receiving person is to use the bedpan, the bedpan is moved onto the bed for receiving and accumulating excrements by the bedpan on the bed whereupon the bedpan is carried to a restroom or similar for wasting the excrements.  
           [0006]    However, it takes the trouble to carry the bedpan to the restroom and to waste the excrements, and the problem of odor hanging in the air exists. Moreover, excrements of the care-receiving person may scatter to outside of the bedpan or the care-receiver may feel some sense of shame in exposing his or her public region to face the bedpan when using the bedpan and thus lead to some discomfort in performing excretion.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a care bedpan that is capable of reducing the burden of wasting excrements within the care bedpan, of enabling easy use of the bedpan, and of reducing the burden on both, the care-receiving person as well as the care-giving person.  
           [0008]    The present invention relates to a movable and portable bedpan provided with a bedpan main body having an opening that is pressed against or disposed to oppose a public region of a care-receiving person for receiving excrements, and with a cover provided to extend frontward from an upper portion of the opening of the bedpan main body to thereby form an entire opening of the bedpan together with the opening of the bedpan main body, wherein the cover is held by a holding mechanism which angle is adjustable, either in a multi-staged or non-staged manner, so as to adjust the size of the entire opening and to shield one&#39;s public region to be hardly visible from above.  
           [0009]    By providing such a cover on the opening of the bedpan, excrements (and especially urine) can be prevented from scattering, and since the public region of the care-receiving person will be hardly visible, the sense of shame of the care-receiving person may be reduced at the time of using the bedpan so as to ease mental burdens occurring at the time of using the bedpan.  
           [0010]    The present invention further relates to a movable and portable bedpan provided with a bedpan main body having an opening that is pressed against or disposed to oppose a public region of a care-receiving person for receiving excrements, an inner side of said opening being provided with a front-sided bottom portion that extends in a substantially horizontal manner rearward from a front end and that is surrounded by a low bottom wall portion, and a rear-sided rising wall portion that rises substantially upward from rear-side of said front-sided bottom portion and at least both sides of which are surrounded by a low side wall portion,  
           [0011]    wherein a rearward facing washing water outlet for discharging washing water for processing excrements in a rearward direction is formed at a bottom wall portion at a tip end of said front-sided bottom portion whereas a suction inlet for sucking said excrements and washing water is formed at a lower end portion of a front-sided rising wall portion rearward of said washing water outlet, and  
           [0012]    wherein a cleaning water outlet for jetting cleaning water for cleaning one&#39;s public region in a frontward direction is formed further upward of said suction inlet of said rear-sided rising wall portion and the cleaning water is sucked by said suction inlet. Here, an excrement sensor may be provided on the bottom surface of the front-sided bottom portion for detecting excrements.  
           [0013]    With this arrangement, the care-receiving person may use the bedpan on the bed or similar upon approaching his or her public region to the opening of the bedpan mounted on the bed and may flush the excrements with the washing water. The washing water will be discharged from the front end portion of the front-sided bottom portion in the rearward direction and with a suction inlet being provided in this rear direction, the excrements will be effectively guided to the suction inlet. Through the cleaning water (warm water etc.) that is discharged from the cleaning water outlets provided at the rear-sided rising portion of the front-sided wall portion, one&#39;s public region after excretion may be cleaned, and in the case an air outlet for drying (warm air blowing outlet etc.) is additionally provided at the rising wall portion, one&#39;s public region may be further dried after cleaning. It is accordingly possible to achieve a care bedpan that causes quite a small burden on both, the care-receiving person and the care-giving person.  
           [0014]    In the present invention, there may be arranged a care bedpan system comprising the above care bedpan and an excrement collecting device for sucking and collecting excrements together with washing water from the bedpan. The excrement collecting device may include a suction hose for sucking excrements that is connected to the bedpan, a suction device that is connected to the hose for setting the interior of the hose to negative pressure so as to suck and transfer the excrements through the hose, an excrement tank for collecting excrements that are transferred through the hose, and an excrement tank holder for fixing the excrement tank in a freely attachable/detachable manner. It is further possible to provide a washing water supplying device for supplying washing water for washing excrements for the washing water outlet on the bedpan wherein the waste water after washing is collected by the excrement collecting device together with the excrements.  
           [0015]    In another preferred embodiment, a cleaning device for supplying a cleaning medium such as warm water for cleaning one&#39;s public region after excretion (hereinafter referred to as “warm water”) from a warm water tank to the discharge outlet within the bedpan and for jetting the same through the discharge outlet is provided, wherein waste water after cleaning is received by the bedpan and collected through the excrement collecting device. A drying device for making warm air for drying one&#39;s public region after cleaning through the cleaning device blown out through an air-blowing outlet of the bedpan is also provided.  
           [0016]    A circulating conduit may be formed for accumulating, at the time of collecting the sucked excrements into the collecting device together with air, the excrements in the excrement tank while only air is sucked to a sucking driving unit through a suction conduit and wherein pressurized air that has passed through the suction driving unit and that has become positive pressure on the downstream side is circulated to the bedpan side as air (pressure air) for sending out washing water and/or cleaning water to the bedpan. The pressurized air may also be circulated to the bedpan side to be utilized as air for drying one&#39;s public region after cleaning.  
           [0017]    According to such an arrangement, upon utilizing the fact that air for sucking and collecting excrements and others is not only used for its sucking actions, but also its properties that it becomes pressurized air downstream of the suction driving unit, air may be circulated to the bedpan side as pressure air for sending out washing water or warm water for cleaning and the suction driving unit may thus be concurrently used as a means for sending out washing water or warm water for cleaning. In this manner, the structure may be simplified and become compact when compared with a case in which an exclusive means for sending out is provided and at least a part of exhaust of suction air may be reduced so that its exhaust sound will be quiet and its odor reduced.  
           [0018]    The circulating conduit is preferably provided with the discharge outlet for discharging a part of the circulating air sent through the suction driving unit, to the exterior and an adjusting valve for adjusting the amount of discharge of air through the discharge outlet. By releasing a part of air in such a manner, suction force from the bedpan may be improved and the suction force may be further adjusted.  
           [0019]    It should be noted that it is alternatively possible to provide an opening/closing valve in parallel to (or upstream of the discharge outlet and the adjusting valve) so as to generate maximum suction force at the time of sucking excrements, and it is also possible to close the opening/closing valve after temporary releasing all of air in the opened condition thereof to move a specified amount of air to be discharged from the adjusting valve. The adjusting valve and the opening/closing valve may also be replaced by a single valve device (for instance, a complex solenoid valve etc.) instead of providing them separately. It is further possible to employ an arrangement in which only the opening/closing valve is provided while the discharge outlet (adjusting valve) is omitted, and the opening/closing valve is opened when required. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view of a care bedpan and a care bedpan system representing one embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 is a simplified side view thereof.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 is a front view of the above care bedpan.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 is a side view of FIG. 3.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5 is a plan view of a front-sided portion of FIG. 4.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6 is a conceptual perspective view of an excrement tank (waste water tank) disposed in an accessory unit of the care bedpan system.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIGS. 7A and 7B are views for explaining actions of a suction system of the waste water tank.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating a condition in which the waste water tank has been pulled out to an intermediate position from the accessory unit.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIGS. 9A and 9B are views for explaining actions for fixing the waste water tank.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 10 is a view of a piping system for illustrating a piping system of the accessory unit.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 11 is a view of a piping system as described to correspond to the plane and three lateral sides of the accessory unit. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0031]    Forms for embodying the present invention will now be explained with reference to embodiments as illustrated in the drawings.  
         [0032]    As illustrated in FIGS.  1  to  5 , a bedpan  10  is formed with a base thereof being a bedpan main body  30  of laterally elongated type and includes an opening portion (opening)  31  at a front end thereof. As shown in FIGS.  3  to  5  with the enlarged manner, the opening  31  is formed in an upwardly rising form after once retracting backwards by a specified extend along a bottom portion of the bedpan main body  30  and with a lid member  33  that may rotate in vertical directions being attached around a fulcrum  32  at an upper end portion thereof.  
         [0033]    Artificial skins (e.g. foamless urethane rubber as a gel-like member exhibiting elasticity)  34 ,  35  are fixedly attached (these exhibit self-adhesiveness and may be fixedly attached to be freely attachable/detachable) so as to border outer edge portions of the opening  31  to the lid member  33  while bridging from downward surfaces of the opening  31  to the lid member  33 , wherein these artificial skins  34  and  35  substantially form the entire opening of the bedpan  30  such that this portion is fitted against the public region of the care-receiving person (or is pressed against the public region for substantially close contact).  
         [0034]    The lid member  33  is arranged in that its angle is adjustable in a multi-staged manner (or alternatively in a non-staged manner) through a section mechanism provided proximate of the fulcrum  32 , and its angle may be adjusted to suit the body shape or the sex and other factors of a care-receiving person. As will be explained later, the lid member  33  is for preventing scattering of excrements or warm water and others to the periphery at the time of excretion, washing treatments after excretion or jetting warm water for cleaning one&#39;s public region, and further functions to cover the public region of a care-receiving person so as to reduce one&#39;s sense of shame at the time of excretion.  
         [0035]    A depth portion of the opening  31  of the bedpan  10  is formed as a rear-sided rising wall  36  (FIG. 3) and a downward portion of the rising wall  36  comprises a bottom portion (front-sided bottom portion)  37  of the opening. A suction inlet  38  for sucking excrements after excretion, treating water for washing and warm water after cleaning treatments is formed at a lower end portion of the rear-sided rising wall  36 .  
         [0036]    The rising wall  36  is further formed with a plurality of, for instance, three warm water jetting outlets (cleaning water outlets or warm water outlets)  39  and a plurality of (e.g. four) warm air blowing outlets (air outlets or warm air outlets)  40  for drying one&#39;s public region that has been cleaned by the warm water. The warm water jetting outlets  39  concurrently serve as outlets for jetting water for washing treatment (washing water). The warm water jetting outlet  39  in the center of the upper portion jets warm water out in a spraying manner and is effective to serve, for instance, as a bidet. It is preferable that the remaining (right and left) warm water jetting outlets  39  are comprised with a rotating nozzle of e.g. spherical shape such that its jetting direction may be adjusted within a specified angular range such that linear jetting directions may be selected in accordance with the body shape or the sex of a care-receiving person.  
         [0037]    The bottom surface (front-side bottom portion)  37  of the opening is similarly formed with a plurality of (e.g. four) warm water jetting outlets (for washing)  41   a  located frontward of the suction inlet  38  and a plurality of (e.g. two) warm water jetting outlets  41   b  located sideward on both sides. The jetting outlets  41   a  and  41   b  formed on the bottom surface  37  of the opening are for washing treatments of excrements wherein water (warm water) is jetted rearward from the discharge outlets  41   a  formed on the low rising wall located frontward of the bottom surface  37  while water (warm water) is jetted to a central side of the bottom surface through the discharge outlets  41   b  on both sides so as to enable easy introduction of excrements and washing water to the suction inlet  38 . It should be noted that a sensor  11  (for stools) and a sensor  12  (for urines) for sensing excrements are provided on the bottom surface  37  of the opening of the bedpan  10  that are connected to a control unit of an accessory unit  64  (see FIG. 1) to be described later.  
         [0038]    A warm water hose (cleaning hose)  43  that is to be described later is connected to the warm water (and concurrently washing treatment water) jetting outlets  39 ,  41   a  and  41   b , air hose  44  is connected to warm air supplying outlet (blowing outlet)  40 , and a suction hose  42  is connected to the suction inlet  38  from rearward of the bedpan main body  30  upon respectively passing through the interior thereof. All of these hoses  42 ,  43  and  44  exhibit flexibility (while they may further be covered from outside by, for instance, a bellow-like hose cover  25 ) and exhibit warping properties that allow movements of the bedpan  10 . It should be noted that air supplied through the air hose  44  is heated by a heater  45  provided inside of the bedpan main body  30  such that the heated warm air will be blown out through the warm water blowing outlet  40 .  
         [0039]    The above-described suction hose  42 , the warm water hose  43  and the air hose  44  extending form the bedpan  10  are connected to an accessory unit  64  (reference should be made to FIGS. 1 and 2) provided to be movable proximate to the bedpan  10 . The accessory unit  64  serves as an excrement collecting device for sucking and collecting excrements from the bedpan  10  while concurrently serving as a supply source (supplying device) for supplying warm water or warm air to the bedpan  10 . The structure related to collection of excrements will first be explained.  
         [0040]    The accessory unit  64  is provided with an excrement tank (hereinafter referred to as “waste water tank”)  65  (wherein FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the interior thereof). A fan and motor (hereinafter referred to as “fan motor  66 ”) serving as a suction driving unit is provided downstream of the waste water tank  65 , wherein driving of the fan motor  66  affects suction of excrements, washing treatment water (warm water etc.) and warm water after cleaning one&#39;s public region (hereinafter all together referred to as “waste water”) from the bedpan  10  through the suction hose  42  and accumulating the same in the waste water tank  65 . The waste water tank  65  assumes a shape of a closed container and is accumulated within a tank accumulating space formed in a housing  67  of the accessory unit  64  upon dropping the same therein from above.  
         [0041]    As illustrated in FIG. 6, a grip  68  is provided on an upper portion of the waste water tank  65  with a discharge portion  69  for the waste water being formed on an upper portion thereof which opening is closed by a cap  70 . The waste water tank  65  assumes a shape of a box-shaped closed container which interior is divided through a partition  71  into an upper air sucking space  72  and a waste water accumulating space  73  downward thereof as illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7B. Upon suction of air from the air sucking space  72  through an air conduit  74 , which is affected by the fan motor  66 , the interior of the tank  65  comes to negative pressure such that the above-described waste water is sucked. A discharge outlet  75  for the waste water is located downward of the partition  71  wherein scattering of waste water from the waste water accumulating space  73  can be prevented owing to the discharge of waste water through the discharge outlet  75  and only air is sucked through the air conduit  74  by the fan motor  66 .  
         [0042]    A suction inlet (intake)  76   a  for sucking waste water (excrements, washing treatment water, and cleaning water etc.) from the bedpan  10  and a suction inlet  76   b  for further sucking air from the waste water tank  65  are formed on a part of an outer shell such as a wall surface of the waste water tank  65 , wherein a waste water introducing conduit and an air suction conduit (not shown) formed in the accessory unit  64  are respectively connected for communication with the waste water tank  65  being mounted to and accumulated in the housing (case)  67 .  
         [0043]    The above-described discharge portion  69  is communicated to only the waste water accumulating portion  73  such that waste water accumulated therein may be discharged to a specified place from the discharge portion  69  upon taking the waste water tank  65  out from the housing  67  and inclining the same. It is possible to provide an alarming device  80  for informing that the waste water accumulated within the waste water tank  65  has reached a specified amount through a buzzer or a lamp or an indicator  81  enabling visual recognition from the exterior of the housing  67  that to what extent the waste water has been accumulated.  
         [0044]    As illustrated in FIG. 8, a convex portion  84  or a groove for guiding dropping of the tank  65  is formed in a tank accumulating space  82  formed in the housing  67  while a corresponding guide groove  85  or a convex portion is formed on the outer surface of the tank  65  such that the waste water tank  65  may be dropped with being guided and positioned in the tank housing space  82  through engagement of the concave/convex formed between the housing  67  and the waste water tank  65 .  
         [0045]    A stopper device  87  which defines a waste water tank holder with the tank accumulating space  82  is further provided as a fixing means for fixing the housed waste water tank  65  within the tank housing space  82 . As illustrated in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the stopper device  87  is arranged in that a lock lever  89  is mounted to a shaft  88  while a cam  90  serving as a stopper is further fixed to the shaft  88 , wherein the cam  90  separates from the outer surface of the waste water tank  65  when the lock lever  89  is in an open position whereas upon substantially 90° rotation of the lock lever  89  to the closed position, the stopper cam  90  is pressed against the outer surface of the waste water tank  65 . In this manner, the waste water tank  65  is pinched between the opposite sided wall surface of the tank housing space  82  and the cam  90  to be fixed thereat whereupon oscillation at the time of suction actions may be prevented or restricted whereas the above-described intake  76   a  for the waste water of the tank and the air suction inlet  76   b  on the wall surface of the waste water tank  65  are pressed against respective conduits (that are open to the wall surface of the tank accumulating space  82 ) to be connected to and are sealed thereat.  
         [0046]    As illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, air that is sucked from the waste water tank  65  is sucked by the fan motor  66  through a conduit  92  (which is provided either within or outside of the housing  67  of the accessory unit  64 , and the same applies to any other conduits mentioned hereafter) and is further sent from the fan motor  66  to a warm water tank  94  side upon passing through a conduit  93 . The warm water tank  94  adjoins the waste water tank  65  and is provided either integrally with the housing  67  of the accessory unit or to be detachable and a specified amount of water may be supplied into the warm water tank  94  by detaching a lid  96  (reference should be made to FIG. 8)of a water supply inlet formed on an upper portion. A heater  97  is provided on a bottom portion of the warm water tank  94  for heating the water to a preliminarily determined temperature to obtain warm water and to stock the warm water.  
         [0047]    The conduit  93  as illustrated in FIG. 10, is arranged such that it passes through the warm water tank  94  and that air is supplied through the conduit  93  to the warm water tank  94  through a check valve  95  provided in the warm water tank  94  to pressurize the liquid surface of the warm water tank  94 . However, it should be noted that no warm water of the warm water tank  94  will enter the conduit  93  through the action of the check valve  95 . A notification means (means for urging supply of water)  94   a  for informing that the amount of warm water within the warm water tank  94  has become less than a specified amount is provided as an alarming device utilizing sounds of a buzzer or light of a lamp or the like. A liquid level indicator for indicating the level of currently remaining water within the warm water tank  94  or, alternatively, a water supply gauge  91  (FIG. 8) for indicating an amount of residue upon illuminating a part corresponding to a liquid level from among a plurality of lamps is provided.  
         [0048]    The conduit  93  that has passed through the warm water tank  94  next reaches a deodorizing chamber  100  where odor is adsorbed such that the rest of air is sent out from the deodorizing chamber  100 . The deodorizing chamber  100  is arranged in that a deodorizing liquid or similar is impregnated into a porous member such as a sponge-like member such that when air including some odor passes through, the odor is adsorbed or neutralized by the porous member and the deodorizing liquid for reducing the odor. An openable/closable lid  106  is provided at the deodorizing chamber  100  (FIG. 8) such that the deodorizing liquid may be replenished therefrom.  
         [0049]    The conduit  93  as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11 for introducing air (pressurized air) that has passed through the deodorizing chamber  100  is bifurcated into three directions in a conceptual manner to be divided to conduit  101 ,  102 , and  103 . The conduit  101  is provided with a flow rate adjusting valve  104  which takes the form of a specified throttle (choke or orifice) upon variably throttling, and a part of pressurized air is allowed to be leaked by a specified amount to the exterior at an end portion of the conduit  101  or the conduit  93 . The suction force of waste water based on the actuation of the fan motor  66  may be adjusted through this amount of leakage (amount of discharge), and the more the amount of air discharged from the flow rate adjusting valve  104  is increased, the more the suction force with respect to waste water may be increased.  
         [0050]    The conduit  102  that is provided in parallel with the flow rate adjusting valve  104  is provided with a solenoid-type opening/closing valve  105  (hereinafter simply referred to as “solenoid valve”) and by exhausting air that is send out from the fan motor  66  upon fully opening the solenoid valve  105 , it is possible to achieve maximum suction force. However, performing exhaustion upon continuously opening the solenoid valve  105  may lead to noise in peripheries of the care bed or to smelling of odor, so that it is generally the case that only a part of air is exhausted by a specified amount through the flow rate adjusting valve  104 .  
         [0051]    A conduit  107  for sending out warm water is formed from the above-described warm water tank  94  (and preferably from a bottom portion of the tank) separate from the conduit  93  for sending out air, wherein the warm water hose  43  is connected to the conduit  107 . The conduit  107  is provided with a solenoid-type opening/closing valve (solenoid valve)  108 , wherein no warm water is supplied from the warm water tank  94  when the solenoid valve  108  is closed while warm water is supplied to the bedpan  10  upon passing through the conduit  107  and the warm water hose  43  upon opening the same. The driving force (pressurizing force) for supplying warm water is achieved by a part of pressurizing air that is sent out from the fan motor  66  pressing the liquid surface of the warm water tank  94 .  
         [0052]    The conduit  103  that has bifurcated from the above-described conduit  93  upon passing through the deodorizing chamber  100  is connected to the above-described air hose  44 . Pressurized air that is sent out from the fan motor  66  is again sent out to the bedpan  10  through the air hose  44  and is warmed by the heater within the bedpan  10  to become warm air to thus be sent out from the warm air supplying outlet  40 . As explained above, air passing from the fan motor  66  through the warm water tank  94  and the deodorizing chamber  100  by the conduit  93  is made to flow through the conduit  103  that is in parallel with the above-described air adjusting valve  104  and the solenoid valve  105 , is bifurcated by a conduit  109  in front of the air hose  44  to be connected to the conduit  107  and is further connected to the warm water hose  43  upon passing through the conduit  107 .  
         [0053]    The conduit  109  for connection is provided with a solenoid-type opening/closing valve (solenoid valve)  110 , wherein pressurized air that is sent out from the fan motor  66  flows to the air hose  44  when the opening/closing valve  110  is in a closed condition whereas the pressurized air is made to flow to the warm water hose  43  upon opening of the opening/closing valve  110  for pressurizing the warm water within the hose  43  and pressing the same out for discharge from the warm water discharge outlet  39  of the bedpan  10 . In other words, while supply of warm water is normally introduced from the warm water tank  94  to the bedpan  10  upon passing through the conduit  107  and the warm water hose  43 , the solenoid valve  110  is opened at the stage cleaning of the public region of the care-receiving person is finished by using the warm water so that pressurized air is introduced from the conduit  103  through the conduit  109  and the solenoid valve  110  to the warm water hose  43  such that warm water remaining within the warm water hose  43  is pushed out.  
         [0054]    The thus arranged accessory unit  64  is provided with the above-explained fan motor  66 , and a control unit  111  for actuating the solenoid valves  105 ,  108 , and  110  (FIG. 1), and a remote controller unit  113  is provided as an operating means for the control unit  111 . The remote controller unit  113  is provided with buttons (switches) for manually (through manual operations) instructing start or stop of the fan motor  66 , supply of warm water, blow out of warm air etc. and further includes an operating unit such as buttons for selecting either care bedpan system is to be actuated in an automatic mode or in a manual mode for using the same through manual operation based on operations of the remote controller. In case the automatic mode is selected, suction, cleaning and drying of the bedpan or suction are fully automatically performed through a sequence circuit or sequence software provided in the control unit  111  of the accessory unit  64 .  
         [0055]    Actions performed through fully automatic sequence control will now be explained. Here, it is assumed that excretion is performed with the care-receiving person lying on a specified bed. First, a care-giving person moves the bedpan  10  to lift the same onto the bed such that the opening  31  of the bedpan  10  is substantially adhered in a close manner to the public region of the care-receiving person. It should be noted that the angle of the lid member  33  of the opening  31  of the bedpan  10  is suitably adjusted prior to that (reference should be made to FIG. 4) for making the entire opening of the bedpan  10  favorably put against the public region through the artificial skin  34  and  35  with regard to differences in a body shape and sex of the care-receiving person and further to hide the public region through the lid member  33 .  
         [0056]    Completion of urination or excretion is detected by the sensor  11  or  12  (FIG. 5). The fan motor  66  is consequently actuated so that suction force is applied to the bedpan  10  through the suction hose  42  while also acting pressurizing force of air onto the warm water tank  94  and opening the solenoid valve  108  whereupon warm water for washing is supplied into the bedpan  10  for sucking the excrements to the waste water tank  65  through the suction hose  42 . At this time, the solenoid valve  105  is opened to set the suction force to a maximum level.  
         [0057]    After elapse of a specified period of time, it is assumed that the excrements have been sucked whereupon the solenoid valve  105  is closed and warm water is jetted from the warm water supply outlet  39  of the bedpan  10  for cleaning the public region of the care-receiving person after excretion by using the warm water (in this embodiments, the warm water is jetted from the outlet  39  concurrently with the warm water being jetted from the warm water jetting outlets  41   a ,  41   b ). After jetting warm water for a specified period of time, the solenoid valve  110  (reference should be made to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11) is opened for pushing warm water remaining in the warm water hose  43  out through pressurized air that is sent out from the fan motor  66 . Warm water remaining in the warm water hose  43  will be cool such that cold water will be jetted at the next occasion of cleaning one&#39;s public region which is undesirable, and it is for preventing such conditions that the interior of the warm water hose  43  is emptied after supply of warm water.  
         [0058]    The solenoid valve  110  is closed thereafter so that the pressurized air that is sent out from the fan motor  66  is sent to the bedpan  10  by passing through the conduits  93 ,  103 , and the air hose  44 . The pressurized air is heated by the heater  45  in the bedpan  10  (reference should be made to FIG. 4) to become warm air whereupon this warm air is blown out from the warm air blowing outlet  40  (reference should be made to FIG. 3) for drying the public region of the care-receiving person after cleaning with the warm water. After blowing of warm air for a specified period of time, the fan motor  66  is terminated, whereupon the series of operations for sucking excrements and blowing out of warm water and warm air is completed. Then, the bedpan  10  is removed from the public region and moved out of the bad.  
         [0059]    It should be noted that in case manual operations are to be performed through the remote controller unit  113  instead of choosing the automatic mode, suctioning by the bedpan  10 , time for cleaning through warm water and drying through warm air can be suitably set at timings as instructed by the user upon operating the buttons.