Abstract:
A hydrotherapy device comprising a primary unit, a conduit, and a control panel electrically connected to the primary conduit for controlling the treatment of water. The primary unit includes a filter unit, a heater for heating the water, and a pressure regulator for pressurizing the water. The conduit directs water that is pre-treated by the primary unit out for use in hydrotherapy. The invention connects to an existing water supply system and pre-treats the water for use in hydrotherapy to be of higher quality and more purified so as to ensure the usage safety and reduce the chance of the user feeling discomforts or getting infections.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     a) Field of the Ivnention  
         [0002]     The invention relates to a hydrotherapy device and, more particularly, to a colon hydrotherapy device for cleansing colon tract.  
         [0003]     b) Description of Related Art  
         [0004]     The primary function of colon tract is to absorb water, vitamins, minerals, and different molecular nutrients, and the colon tract is a main channel for human body to excrete fecal waste. A lot of clinical researches shows that a long term deposition of adherents and fecal waste on colon wall would clog up channels in the colon wall, and toxins formed from the residual fecal waste is absorbed again into portal veins and transported to the liver, causing unexplained aches, fatigues, and chronic illness, even inducing cancer. Since the colon tract cleaning can allow the intestinal mucosa to rehabilitate and perform normal absorbing and eliminating functions, the concept of purifying colon tract has been, in recent years, widely promoted by people related to medical and health care.  
         [0005]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a conventional plastic enema douche bag  1  is illustrated and includes: a bag  11  for containing cleanse fluid, a pipe  12  in communication with the bag  11  for infusing the cleanse fluid into the colon tract. The structure of this type of enema douche bag  1  is simple, and when using it, a user puts a free end  13  of the pipe  12  directly into the rectum and then presses the bag  11  with hands so that the pressurized cleanse fluid flows along the pipe  12  into the rectum and thereby cleanses the rectum and colon wall.  
         [0006]     However, this type of enema douche bag  1  has a fixed bag volume (usually 500 ml), which cannot contain a larger amount of cleanse fluid, and thus the cleansing effect is limited. In addition, the user must rely on oneself to control the outflow of cleanse fluid, and with uneven pressing forces, the effect of cleansing the colon tract is poor. Moreover, the water temperature is hard to be adjusted to a condition similar to the body temperature, and so the user often feels too cold or uncomfortable. The most worrying point is that the cleanse fluid in the enema douche bag  1  is often filled by the user, and with the water quality being hard to control, if the water contains a high concentration of bacteria or impurities, the colon tract will feel discomforts when the water enters the body, sickness may even be induced in serious cases.  
         [0007]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a domestic colon water therapeutic device of Taiwan utility patent publication number 545246 discloses a colon water therapeutic device that includes: a host unit  21  with specific volume size, inside of the host unit  21  is a storage tank  22  that disinfects water in the storage tank  22 , and an ultraviolet disinfector (not labeled in the figure) disposed beside the storage tank  22 ; and a pipe  23 , one end of which connects to the host unit  21  and the other end connects to a positioning board  24 , the positioning board  24  has a guiding tube  25  and a central extending pipe  251  is provided in the guiding tube  25  to actively connect a vertical insertion tube  26  for cleansing. In addition, the host unit  21  operates with a connected remote control  27 .  
         [0008]     In the aforementioned utility patent, the storage tank  22  has a limited water storage (about 500 ml), and water must be poured into the storage tank  22  in advance before each use. The lack of automated water intake system causes the water for use in hydrotherapy cannot be continuously supplied and the user has to manually input the water into the storage tank  22  when the water stored in the storage tank  22  is all used up, causing the hydrotherapy to be temporarily interrupted. Plus, although the insertion tube  26  can be directly inserted into the colon tract for cleansing, the insertion tube  26  does not adapt well to the curvy characteristic of the colon contact because the insertion tube  26  lacks flexibility and its shape is fixed, and thus resulting in a poor purifying effect. In addition, the positioning board  24  can only be implemented on toilets of specific models, which limits the widespread of this type of water therapeutic device, and so the water therapeutic device cannot be widely promoted to houses and homes for usage.  
         [0009]     Furthermore, the therapeutic device utilizes ultraviolet rays to disinfect and purify water, but besides bacteria, the water also contains lots of suspended particles like sand, particulates, and heavy metal organics, which are impurities that may not be completely removed by ultraviolet radiation, and so it&#39;s a big threat to the safety of hydrotherapy.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     An object of the invention is to provide a colon hydrotherapy device that is capable of connecting to a water supply system, providing safe and clean water for use in hydrotherapy, and adapting to different colon walls.  
         [0011]     The colon hydrotherapy device of the invention includes a primary unit, a conduit, and a control panel electrically connected to the primary unit to control the treatment of water in the primary unit. The primary unit has a filter unit, a heater for heating the water to a predetermined temperature, and a pressure regulator for pressurizing the water to a predetermined pressure value. One end of the conduit is in communication with to the primary unit and the other end directs the treated water out for usage.  
         [0012]     Another object of the invention is to provide a bidet toilet seat installed on a toilet bowl and capable of performing colon hydrotherapy.  
         [0013]     The bidet toilet seat of the invention includes a seat disposed on the toilet bowl, and a hydrotherapy device assembled with the seat. The hydrotherapy device has a primary unit, a conduit, and a control panel electrically connected to the primary unit and controls water in the primary unit; the primary unit includes a filter unit, a heater for heating the water to a predetermined temperature, and a pressure regulator for pressurizing the water to a predetermined pressure value. One end of the conduit is in communication with the primary unit, and the other end is used to direct the water out for use in colon hydrotherapy. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a conventional enema douche bag.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating a domestic colon water therapeutic device of Taiwan utility patent publication No. 545246 disposed on a toilet.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is an exploded schematic diagram illustrating a colon hydrotherapy device according to an embodiment of the invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a structural schematic diagram illustrating a water treatment path in a primary unit of the colon hydrotherapy device.  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a side view illustrating a conduit of the colon hydrotherapy device, the conduit having a deformable section and a non-deformable section.  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram illustrating a filling opening provided in a casing of the primary unit according to another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]     The aforementioned and other technical contents, characteristics, and effects of the invention will be clearly presented by a detailed description of embodiments with reference to the drawings.  
         [0021]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a colon hydrotherapy device  3  according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is disposed on a bidet toilet  4 ; the bidet toilet  4  includes a toilet bowl  41 , a water tank  42 , and a seat  43 . Water in the water tank  42  is flushed into the toilet bowl  41  to wash out excreta. One end of the seat  43  is pivoted to a location at where the toilet bowl  41  connects with the water tank  42 .  
         [0022]     The colon hydrotherapy device  3  includes: a primary unit  31 , a conduit  32 , and a control panel  33  electrically connected to the primary unit  31 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the primary unit  31  includes: a casing  34 , a filter unit  35 , a heater  36 , a disinfector  37 , and a pressure regulator  38 . The casing  34  defines a space  341  for housing therein the filter unit  35 , the heater  36 , the disinfector  37 , and the pressure regulator  38 . Also, a water treatment path is defined when water flows through the filter unit  35 , the heater  36 , the disinfector  37 , and the pressure regulator  38 .  
         [0024]     The filter unit  35  has a filter chamber  351 , an activated carbon treatment chamber  352 , and a reverse osmosis chamber  353  that are in series and in communication with one another. The reverse osmosis chamber  353  filters impurities by using reverse osmosis membrane filters, which is a conventional technology in reverse osmosis filtering, and the quantity of each of the three chambers can be adjusted based on water quality in local areas. Furthermore, the filter unit  35  can be complemented with ceramic filtering, electrolysis treatment, magnetization steps, π treatment, or other known technologies, or can be models sold on the market like the practical RO water purifying machine by Tatung (K-505DT3), the normal RO water purifying machine (HK-05CT3), and other models which will not be mentioned herein.  
         [0025]     The filtering chamber  351  is filled with Mic cotton fiber to remove impurities in water, like filtrating sand, dirt, and suspended particles. The filter in the activated carbon treatment chamber  352  is used to adsorb chemical substances like chlorine and heavy metals so as to reduce the probability of trihalomethane formations. At last, heavy metal toxins that are harder to remove, like aluminum, cadmium, mercury, etc., are filtered in the reverse osmosis chamber  353 .  
         [0026]     The heater  36  is disposed downstream of the filter unit  35  in the water treatment path, and a stop valve  39  is disposed between the heater  36  and the filter unit  35 , wherein a portion of the stop valve  39  that is bared outside of the casing  34  directly controls the movement of water flow. The heater  36  is used to heat water to a predetermined temperature; the predetermined temperature is controlled by the control panel  33  and is preferably to be between 30° C. and 35° C.  
         [0027]     In the water treatment path, the pressure regulator  38  is disposed downstream of the heater  36  and controlled by the control panel  33 ; the pressure regulator  38  is preferably to increase the water pressure to be within a range of 1 to 5 gf/cm 2 , and users can make further adjustments according to their comforts. The heating and pressurizing means applied in the embodiment are conventional technologies and therefore will not be described herein.  
         [0028]     The disinfector  37  used in the embodiment is an ultraviolet lamp, and the location of the disinfector  37  in the water treatment path is between the heater  36  and the pressure regulator  38 . When water flows from the heater  36  to the pressure regulator  38  through the disinfector  37 , the ultraviolet rays emitted by the disinfector  37  is directly radiated to the water to generate a disinfection effect; bacteria and smaller microorganisms are treated at this step.  
         [0029]     Referring to FIGS.  3  to  5 , one end  321  of the conduit  32  receives water that flows out of the primary unit  31  and the other end  322  directs the water out of the conduit  32  for use in hydrotherapy. The conduit  32  further includes a deformable section  323  relatively distal to the other end  322  and a non-deformable section  324  relatively proximal to the other end  322 . The deformable section  323  is made of flexible plastic material and has an accordion structure for deformation, and thereby the deformable section  323  can be extended by pulling or shortened by folding/pushing, through which the total length of the conduit  32  can be changed. The non-deformable section  324  has a plurality of water outlets separately formed therein.  
         [0030]     The conduit  32  can be attached to the toilet bowl  41  via a holding board  5 , and since the holding board is clamped, the conduit  32  is fixedly positioned between the toilet bowl  41  and the seat  43  and cannot be displaced easily. The holding board  5  has a tubing  51  shaped like an W and the tubing  51  includes two water inlets  52 ,  53  and a water outlet  54  between the two aforementioned water inlets  52 ,  53 . Through the guiding of a pipe  7 , water enters the tubing  51  through any one of the water inlets  52 ,  53  after flowing out of the primary unit  31 . The one end  321  of the conduit  32  is in communication with the water outlet  54  and the other end  322  protrudes out of a plane encircled by the seat  43 , whereas a connecting portion of the conduit  32  and the holding board  5  approximately corresponds to the pivot location of the seat  43  and the toilet bowl  41 . The selection of which water inlet  52  or  53  to use depends on the positioning of the toilet bowl  41 , and thus, when one of the water inlets  52  or  53  is selected, the other water inlet  53  or  52  must be sealed. It is to be noted that the positioning of the conduit  32  is not limited to the abovementioned exemplary; the conduit can also be plugged to a nozzle  54 , which discharges water jet to clean anus, of a bidet toilet seat as shown in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0031]     The control panel  33  has a display screen  331  and a remote control  332  electrically connected to the display screen  331  (the remote control  332  illustrated in the figure is wireless); the display screen  331  and the remote control  332  can also be integrated together on a same interface. The display screen  331  can be independently provided for or, can be fixedly attached on a side surface of the primary unit  31  as shown in the embodiment. Through the selection buttons on the remote control  332 , the users can select best hydrotherapy conditions according to their needs, and the controllable conditions provided by the embodiment include: use-time, water temperature, and water pressure. The display screen  331  can even display the water quantity and an estimated time at which the filters should be changed, so that the colon hydrotherapy device  3  becomes a product that is more fitting to human needs.  
         [0032]     To use the colon hydrotherapy device  3 , the user sits on the seat  43  on the toilet bowl  41 , bends the deformable section  323  of the conduit  32  according to personal habits, inserts the conduit  32  into the colon tract by the other end  322 , and twists and bends the deformable section  323  to reach parts of the colon tract which the user wanted to cleanse.  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the primary unit  31  is directly in communication with a water source (like a water tap) and water enters into the primary unit  31  directly. According to the treatment path, water sequentially flows through the filtering chamber  351 , the activated carbon treatment chamber  352 , and the reverse osmosis chamber  353 , using the filter structures in the chambers  351 - 353  to filtrate impurities and suspended particles in the water and to reduce concentration of harmful chemical substances in the water, so that water for use in hydrotherapy is ensured not to cause any health threat to the user.  
         [0034]     When water flows out from the filter unit  35 , it proceeds along the water treatment path to the heater  36  which, by the user operating the control panel  33 , adjusts water to a suitable temperature, and once the water temperature is increased to the predetermined temperature, water flows to the pressure regulator  38 .  
         [0035]     Before entering the pressure regulator  38 , water passes through the disinfector  37  which emits ultraviolet rays, causing immediate extinguishment of surviving micro-organisms in the water, especially virus and bacteria, and leading to the death of micro-organisms; hence, the water is purified again.  
         [0036]     Water that has been increased to the predetermined temperature and treated by the ultraviolet radiation continues to flow into the pressure regulator  38 . According to the user&#39;s preferences and habits, the pressure regulator  38  can set a discharge pressure between 1 and 5 gf/cm 2 . Last, water adjusted to an appropriate pressure is transported out of the primary unit  31  via the conduit  32  and discharged through the water outlets  325  to cleanse the colon wall of the user. The user can change the length and bended shape of the deformable section  323  of the conduit  32  so that the clean water discharged from the water outlets  325  can truly cleanse different parts in the colon tract  
         [0037]     The embodiment utilizes multiple filtering processes, including special filter cloth filtering, activated carbon adsorption, and reverse osmosis, to extensively filtrate the sand, dirt, suspended particles, organic substances, and virus in the water, and with the disinfector  37  radiating ultraviolet rays, the water output from the primary unit  31  is ensured to be clean and harmless. This prevents danger factors like too much impurities or residual virus in the water, and further reduces infections derived from the water entering the colon tract.  
         [0038]     Unlike the shortcoming of the conventional insertion tube  26  which cannot be bent at will, the conduit  32  of the embodiment provides the possibilities of different deformations. According to different usage habits and parts the user wanted to apply hydrotherapy, the deformable section  323  can be bent into different forms so as to prevent the stimulation or rubbing of the colon wall by the overly rigid speculum  26  and to generate more comfortable feelings.  
         [0039]     Moreover, the embodiment overcame a disadvantage of the conventional technology by providing water that has a temperature close to human body temperature so as to improve the possible discomfort brought by cleansing with low-temperature water. Warm water temperature gives the user a more comfortable feeling and prevents the occurrence of any stimulated reaction of the colon wall due to the water temperature being too low.  
         [0040]     Besides adjusting the water temperature close to the human body temperature, the embodiment also includes the pressure regulator  38  to set the discharge pressure of water. Water discharged from the water outlets  325  has a certain pressure that can achieve better cleansing effect to the colon tract and can break out of the problem with the enema douche bag  1  where the pressing force applied thereto is hard to control. Moreover, the primary unit  31  is directly connected to the water source and thus is not restricted by storage water quantity; as long as the water source is turned on, water is continuously output from the conduit  32  for usage, and it is more convenient to the user as the embarrassment of manually adding water when water for usage ran out is eliminated.  
         [0041]     According to other embodiments of the invention, the disinfector  37  can be strategically disposed at a different location such as downstream of the pressure regulator  38  to prevent bacteria or harmful substances from growing in the water left in the heater  36  or the pressure regulator  38  from prior usage. The water for use in hydrotherapy is thus ensured to be in an aseptic condition because even if the water left from prior usage is mixed with the current water and flowed out together, all the water are radiated by the disinfector  37  before being directed out of the primary unit  31 .  
         [0042]     It is to be noted that the embodiment is a colon hydrotherapy device  3  in combination with any type of bidet toilet  4 ; however, the common bidet toilet seats all have heating and pressurizing functions (like AF788(H) bidet washing toilet seat by HoCheng), and therefore the functions provided by the heater  36  and the pressure regulator  38  in the aforementioned primary unit  31  can be omitted. Thus, in other implementations, the prior unit  31  can be provided with just the filter unit  35  and the disinfector  37  and be coupled to a bidet toilet seat, forming a component of the colon hydrotherapy device and the seat of the bidet toilet seat, which also achieves the object of providing water that is ideal for usage.  
         [0043]     Referring to  FIG. 6  for another embodiment of the invention, which is structurally the same as that shown in  FIG. 3 , the difference is that a filling opening  342  is formed correspondingly above the heater  36  in the casing  34  of the primary unit  31  and a movable cap (not illustrated in the figure) for sealing the filling opening  342  is provided. The filling opening  342  is in communication with the heater  36  and allows medicine, saline water, coffee, good bacteria, or other medical supplies to be added into the heater  36 .  
         [0044]     In  FIG. 6 , the filling opening  342  is for a filling bucket  6  to be placed upside down so that the additives in the filling bucket  6  enter the heater  36  and mix with the water. Through the mixing of the additives and the water, the additives experience with the water the heating, the radiating of ultraviolet rays, and the pressurizing, and the final output water has specific medical effects or is capable of helping to maintain a normal intestinal function rather than being limited to achieving simply one hydrotherapy effect, cleansing.  
         [0045]     Moreover, if the additive itself is in liquid form, there is no need to rely on the filter unit  35  to provide a source of clean water and so the filter unit  35  is turned off to a closed status, wherein the heater  36 , the disinfector  37 , and the pressure regulator  38  adjust the additive to a most suitable condition. In addition, if the additive itself has been pre-treated and is in an aseptic condition, then the disinfector  37  can be closed off as well.  
         [0046]     This embodiment discloses the design of the filling opening  342  formed in the casing  34  and in communication with the heater  36 , and through the filling opening  342 , other medical, pharmaceutical preparation can be poured in and cleanse the colon wall with the water. If the additive itself is in liquid form, the filter unit  35  functioning as a water supply can be selectively turned off, and the hydrotherapy effect can be achieved by only using the heating and pressurizing functions of the primary unit  31 .  
         [0047]     The colon hydrotherapy device according to another embodiment of the invention can help feminine hygiene. Referring to  FIG. 7 , the user sits on the seat  43  in preparation to use the colon hydrotherapy device  3 , and then the user bends the deformable section  323  of the conduit  32  according to personal habits, inserts the conduit  32  into vagina by the other end  322 , and twists and bends the deformable section to reach parts of the vagina which the user wanted to cleanse. Since the deformable section  323  has an accordion structure which extends by pulling and shortens by pushing/folding so as to change the total length of the conduit  32 , is capable of 360° rotation, and is flexible which can be inserted into the vagina easily and painless, periodic hygienic routines can be performed after menstruations, childbirths, and sexual intercourses.  
         [0048]     In conclusion, the colon hydrotherapy device  3  of the invention treats the water for use in hydrotherapy in advance, providing multiple filtering, heating, disinfecting, and pressurizing processes, so that the water output from the conduit  32  is clean and safe, conforming with human physiological environment and doesn&#39;t cause stimulation therein. The invention can further be used with additives to produce diverse hydrotherapy effects and thus truly achieves the objects of the invention.  
         [0049]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. In other words, it is intended to include equivalent modifications and changes of the above embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as would be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such equivalent modifications and changes.