Disclosure of Invention
Problems to be solved by the invention
However, in the invention of patent document 1, there are: the acidic electrolyzed water produced in the intermediate step is mainly composed of hypochlorous acid and has problems such as a problem of remaining hypochlorous acid, a problem of generation of drug-resistant bacteria, a problem of requiring a production time, and a high cost.
On the other hand, the invention of patent document 2 includes: the portable ozone water generator is used for local cleaning, so the problem that the water quality of the supplied water is clean water is assumed; the use of the cleaning agent for cleaning a wound part of an animal or human body results in a problem of a small amount of ozone water to be discharged.
The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a washing machine that can reliably perform sterilization and deodorization without generating residual substances due to ozone generation even if the water used is not fresh water and is large in amount.
Means for solving the problems
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention adopts the following solutions.
That is, the washing machine of the present invention includes: a water supply path for supplying water to the washing drum; and an ozone generating device configured by disposing an ozone electrode in the water supply path, wherein the ozone generating device includes a first ozone generating part and a second ozone generating part disposed in series with the first ozone generating part, and supplies water through the two ozone generating parts.
In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the diameter of the water supply path in which the first ozone generation unit is provided and the diameter of the water supply path in which the second ozone generation unit is provided are made smaller than the diameter of a connection path that connects the two ozone generation units.
In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the ozone generating device is disposed in a horizontal portion formed in a part of the water supply path, the water supply path is bent in a crank shape at both ends of the horizontal portion, and the ozone electrode can be inserted into and taken out from the water supply path of each ozone generating portion from the bent portion.
In addition, the present invention is characterized in that a swirl zone for swirling water is provided in a downstream region of the second ozone generation unit.
Effects of the invention
Even if ozone is generated, when chlorine, bacteria, foreign matter, or the like is present in the feed water, ozone is consumed for its decomposition, and does not contribute to sterilization and deodorization of laundry. In particular, when groundwater is used, it may cause odor due to the influence of miscellaneous bacteria contained in raw water.
In contrast, in the present invention, the supplied water passes through the first and second ozone generating units in series and ozone is generated by electrolysis of the water, so that the introduced water can be purified by initially sterilizing the water by the first ozone generating unit and then the concentration of ozone can be increased by the second ozone generating unit, thereby reliably and stably supplying the required amount of ozone water at the required concentration to the washing tub. In addition, when the initial sterilization is not required, the concentration of the ozone water supplied to the washing tub can be further increased. Then, no residual substance is generated by ozone generation.
Further, according to the present invention in which the diameter of the water supply path provided with the first and second ozone generating units is made smaller than the diameter of the connection path between the two ozone generating units, the ozone electrode is immersed in water to easily improve the contact efficiency with water, and the ozone generation and the cooling of the ozone electrode can be performed efficiently.
Further, according to the present invention configured such that the ozone generating device is horizontally arranged and both ends are cranked to enable insertion/removal of the electrodes, it is possible to promote complete submergence of the ozone electrodes, and it is only necessary to clean or replace the deteriorated electrodes, and no special electrodes are required, so that maintenance of the ozone electrodes is easy and cost reduction is facilitated.
Further, if a swirl region is further provided in the downstream region of the second ozone generation part in advance, the concentration of ozone water can be further increased by mixing ozone gas bubbles with water, and the ozone generation system can be configured compactly while ensuring a flow path length necessary for mixing.
Detailed Description
Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Fig. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a drum-type washing machine W. The washing machine W includes: a water supply path 2 for supplying water to the washing drum 1a in the drum 1; a hot water supply path 3 for supplying hot water into the drum 1 in the same manner; a water discharge path 4 for discharging water in the drum 1; a softener supply path 5 and a detergent supply path 6 for supplying a softener and a detergent into the drum 1. Water supply path 2, hot water supply path 3, softener supply path 5, and detergent supply path 6, which are supply systems, are connected to water collection introduction part 7 provided above drum 1, and water discharge path 4 is connected below drum 1. Further, an overflow path 8 for draining water exceeding the upper limit of the water level is provided.
The washing machine W is configured to: in order to perform the washing process, the rinsing process, the softening finishing process, the spin-drying process, and the like, the control unit C appropriately opens and closes the water supply valve 2a, the hot water supply valve 3a, and the drain valve 4a, which are valves of the respective supply and drain systems, or operates the softener pump 5a and the detergent pump 6a to supply water, hot water, detergent, and softener, and controls the rotation of the drum 1 to perform the respective processes. Water supply filters 2b and 3b are disposed upstream of the water supply valve 2a and the hot water supply valve 3a, respectively.
Then, an ozone generator 9 for supplying ozone water to the inside of the drum 1 is provided. This is because the supplied water is not limited to tap water, but may be ground water or the like, and therefore, it needs to be purified. In the embodiment, the control means C turns OFF the energization in the washing step and the rinsing step in advance, and turns ON the energization only in the soft washing step in the second half of the washing step. This is because, even if the energization is turned ON at an early stage, the generated ozone is consumed to sterilize and deodorize the laundry at the initial stage of the washing start, and the effectiveness is poor. Here, the timing of energization ON may be set as appropriate. The reason why the ozone generating device 9 is not provided in the hot water supply path 3 is that it is difficult to stably generate ozone when the temperature is high.
In this case, when the function of the ozone generator 9 is low, if chlorine, bacteria, foreign matter, or the like remains during the water supply, ozone is consumed for decomposition, and ozone water of a desired concentration cannot be generated, and therefore, sterilization and deodorization of the laundry are not effective. Further, if the method of introducing the ozone water is poor, the ozone water concentration may be lowered by the impact.
Therefore, as shown in the partial detail view of fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the ozone generator 9 is configured by arranging the first ozone generator 91 and the second ozone generator 92 in series, and ozone water is generated through the two ozone generators 91 and 92. Then, as shown in fig. 1, an ozone water supply path 102 as a water supply path of the present invention is constituted by a separate pipe independent from the water supply path 2, an ozone generator 9 is disposed together with a water supply filter 102b and an ozone water supply valve 102a, an outlet of the ozone generator 9 is connected to an ozone water supply port X provided below the drum 1, and the ozone water supply valve 102a is controlled by a control means C, whereby the supply of ozone water to the drum 1 is performed. With this configuration, by energizing the ozone electrodes 91a, 92a provided in the ozone generating sections 91, 92, the water in contact with the surfaces of the ozone electrodes 91a, 92a is decomposed to generate ozone gas, and this ozone gas is dissolved in the water to become ozone water.
Thus, when bacteria and odor are present in the water introduced into the first ozone generating unit 91, the water can be purified by initial sterilization, and then the ozone concentration can be increased by the second ozone generating unit 92. As a result, the required amount of ozone water with the required concentration can be stably supplied to the washing tub 1a, and the concentration of ozone water supplied to the washing tub can be increased without the need for initial sterilization. Then, no residual substance is generated by ozone generation.
Specifically, a part of the water supply path 2 is a horizontal portion 9a disposed horizontally, and the water supply path 2 is bent in a crank shape by connecting the vertical portions 2b and 2c to both ends of the horizontal portion 9 a. The horizontal portion 9a is composed of a first electrode insertion water supply passage 21 constituting the first ozone generating portion 91, a second electrode insertion water supply passage 22 constituting the second ozone generating portion 92, and a connection passage 23 connecting the two electrode insertion water supply passages 21, 22, and the diameters of the two electrode insertion water supply passages 21, 22 are made smaller than the diameter of the connection passage 23.
By forming such a horizontal portion 9a, a water pool for submerging the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a in water can be easily formed. In this case, since the first and second electrode insertion water supply paths 21 and 22 are preferentially filled with water due to the difference in the flow path diameter, the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a are easily completely immersed in water, and the contact efficiency between ozone and water can be improved. Further, even if the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a generate heat during the generation of ozone, a cooling effect is obtained by immersing them in water, and since it is not necessary to fill the connecting passage 23 with water, it is not necessary to apply a high water pressure from the upstream side in order to flow water.
The structure of the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a will be described, the first and second ozone generating units 91 and 92 are configured by inserting the first and second ozone electrodes 91a and 92a into the first and second electrode insertion water supply paths 21 and 22. As shown in fig. 3, as the first and second ozone electrodes 91a and 92a, a type of electrolytic electrode is used in which a cathode 9B in the form of a ribbon or wire is spirally wound around an anode 9A formed of a diamond electrode in the form of a rod in an insulated state.
The ozone electrodes 91a and 91B have an electrode fixing screw portion 9C and a flange 9D integrally at their base ends, a power supply portion not shown is connected to the anode 9A penetrating the flange 9D and the electrode fixing screw portion 9C, and the cathode 9B is grounded via the electrode fixing screw portion 9D and the like. An opening is provided in a crank-shaped bent portion 2x on one end side of a horizontal portion 9a constituting a water supply path 2 shown in fig. 2, a screw hole 2b1 is formed in the opening, a first ozone electrode 91a is inserted into the screw hole 2b1, an electrode fixing screw portion 9C is screwed into the screw hole 2b1, a flange 9D is brought into close contact with the vertical portion 2b via a gasket 9E, and the ozone electrode 91a is positioned in the first water supply path 91.
Similarly, an opening is provided in the crank-shaped bent portion 2y on the other end side of the horizontal portion 9a constituting the water supply path 2, a screw hole 2C1 is formed in the opening, the second ozone electrode 92a is inserted into the screw hole 2C1, the electrode fixing screw portion 9C is screwed into the screw hole 2C1, the flange 9D is brought into close contact with the hanging portion 2C via the gasket 9E, and the ozone electrode 92a is positioned in the second water supply path 92.
When the water supply path 2 is formed in a crank shape including the horizontal portion 9a as described above, the air layer is easily formed in the horizontal portion 9a, but by providing a difference in the flow path diameter between the ozone generating portions 91 and 92 and the connection path 23 as described above, the structure in which the air reservoir is hardly formed in the ozone generating portions 91 and 92 is obtained. By providing the detachable structure in which the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a of the ozone generating sections 91 and 92 are physically separated from each other in this manner, when minerals in water adhere to the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a and deteriorate, not only can the deteriorated electrodes be easily removed and cleaned or replaced, but also no special electrodes are required, and therefore, the maintenance of the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a is easy, which contributes to a reduction in the cost of parts.
In the present embodiment, an ozone water mixing zone 11 is provided in a downstream region of the second bend 2y through a vortex zone 10, and ozone water passing through the ozone water mixing zone 11 is introduced into the ozone water supply port X.
In the swirl zone 10, a bellows hose H shown in fig. 4 is used, and as the water flow is shown by arrows, bubbles of ozone gas are mixed with water while the water flows through the pipe 10a in a turbulent state, thereby promoting the increase in ozone concentration.
In the ozone-water mixing zone 11 shown in fig. 2, ozone and water also flow in a state where the gas phase is adjacent to the liquid, whereby ozone is dissolved in water to increase the ozone concentration. The ozone water mixing zone 11 needs to secure a flow path length necessary for dissolving ozone in water, but since mixing can be efficiently performed by providing the swirling flow zone 10, the flow path length of the ozone water mixing zone 11 can be minimized.
As described above, the ozone generation mechanism of the present embodiment can be completed in the flow path, and therefore, the present embodiment can be used for a highly practical washing machine W that can be compactly assembled and can effectively use ozone water.
Further, since the washing machine W of the present embodiment does not require a hermetic seal as in a general gas type ozone generating device using a venturi tube, it can be used as a commercial washing machine particularly suitable for a laundromat or a laundry mainly having a drying function, and further, a household washing machine.
While one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the specific configuration of each part is not limited to the above embodiment.
For example, in the above embodiment, the ozone electrodes 91a and 92a are inserted into the first and second ozone generating portions 91 and 92, respectively, but they may be configured such that: although the entire ozone electrode is physically integrated, a part of the ozone electrode functions as the first ozone generating unit 21, and the other part functions as the second ozone generating unit 92. In this case, it is also effective to increase the diameter of the water supply path between the two ozone generating portions 91 and 92 in advance.
In the above embodiment, the first and second ozone generating units 91 and 92 are provided, but the number of ozone generating units is not limited to two or more if a third ozone generating unit is provided.
In addition, although the bellows tube is used for the swirling area 10 of the above embodiment, a tube 10b having a shape of an inner blade of a tube may be used as shown in fig. 5. The tube 10b is as follows: the shaft 10b2 with the helical blades 10b1 attached thereto is inserted into the pipe 10b, and the outer periphery of the blades 10b1 is arranged in close contact with the inner periphery of the pipe 10b, thereby substantially cutting off the straightness of water and generating a reliable swirling flow.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the ozone water supply path 102 is constituted by a separate pipe, but as shown in fig. 6, a three-way valve 202a whose opening and closing are controlled by the control means C may be provided in the middle of the flow path from the water supply path 2 to the water collection introduction portion 7, and the ozone water supply path 302 having the ozone generating device 9, which corresponds to the water supply path of the present invention, may be branched from the water supply path 2 by the three-way valve 202a, and the ozone water supply path 302 may be connected to the ozone water supply port X provided below the drum 1.
As shown in fig. 7, the following configuration may be adopted: an ozone generator 9 is incorporated in a part of the water supply path 2, and the water supply path 2 functions as an ozone supply path when the ozone generator 9 is operated. In such a configuration, it is effective in simplifying piping if the ozone concentration is reduced to a level that is not problematic due to the impact when the ozone water is dropped from above.
Other configurations may be variously modified within a range not departing from the technical idea of the present invention.