ES1295713U - Hydraulic device (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) - Google Patents

Abstract

Hydraulic device (D), comprising a casing (C) and, housed in the casing (C): - a hot and cold water mixer assembly (1) provided with a mixing valve, a motor (M) for actuation of the mixing valve, a hot water inlet (11), a cold water inlet (12) and a water outlet (13); - a dispensing assembly (2) provided with a solenoid valve (21), a water inlet (22) and at least one water outlet (O1) for dispensing to a user, the water inlet (22) being connected to the water outlet (13) of the mixing unit (1); - a controller (μ); - the mixing assembly (1), the dispensing assembly (2) being connected to the controller (μ), characterized in that it comprises a bypass assembly (3) provided with: - an external hot water inlet (IC) and a external cold water (IF); - a hot water outlet (31) connected to the hot water inlet (11) of the mixer assembly (1) and a cold water outlet (32) connected to the cold water inlet (12) of the mixer assembly (1) ; - a first connection section (C1) between the external hot water inlet (IC) and the hot water outlet (31), a second connection section (C2) between the external cold water inlet (IF) and the outlet cold water (32) and a third connection section (C3) between the first (C1) and second (C2) connection sections, the third connection section (C3) being provided with an electrovalve (V3); - A temperature sensor (S3) arranged in the hydraulic section (C3) that joins the external hot water inlet (IC) and the external cold water inlet (IF) passing through the third connection section (C3). (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding)

Description

DESCRIPTION

hydraulic device

TECHNICAL SECTOR

The present invention refers to a hydraulic device intended to be embedded in a wall or located in a register adjacent to a sanitary hot water consumption point and provided with an interface within the reach of a user and is intended first of all to manage said point of water consumption, to avoid wasting water, otherwise wasted while the user waits for hot water to arrive, to save water heating energy, and to increase user comfort so that water is available at all times at the temperature you want and from the start of the water supply.

BACKGROUND

In domestic hot water installations, it is inevitable that the heater (electric or fuel) is at a certain distance from the point of consumption, a distance that can be high.

For this reason, when a user wants to use hot water, it will be inevitable that once the hot water tap is opened, the volume of water in the section of hot water pipe that goes from the heater to the point of consumption comes out cold. .

This supposes a waste of water and an inconvenience for the user.

On the other hand, both the consumption points and the heater are connected to the mains water supply, so the cold water inlet of a heater and the cold water inlet to any consumption point are hydraulically connected.

This circumstance has been used to control the temperature in water pipes. In particular, documents ES 1 136 008 U or ES 1136 010 U describe systems that allow the recirculation of the water coming from the hot water pipe through the cold water pipes, in order to move the hot water towards a certain point of consumption in order to avoid the proliferation of bacteria.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To solve the problems of water waste and discomfort mentioned above, the present invention proposes a hydraulic device, comprising a casing and, housed in the casing:

- a hot and cold water mixer assembly provided with a mixing valve, a mixing valve drive motor, a hot water inlet, a cold water inlet and a water outlet;

- a dispensing unit provided with a solenoid valve, a water inlet and at least one water outlet for dispensing it to a user, the water inlet being connected to the water outlet of the mixing unit;

- a controller;

- the mixing unit being connected to the controller, and comprising a bypass unit provided with:

- one external hot water inlet and one external cold water inlet;

- a hot water outlet connected to the hot water inlet of the mixer unit and a cold water outlet connected to the cold water inlet of the mixer unit;

- a first connection section between the external hot water inlet and the hot water outlet, a second connection section between the external cold water inlet and the cold water outlet, and a third connection section between the first connection sections and second, the third section of connection being provided with a solenoid valve;

- A temperature sensor arranged in the hydraulic section that joins the external hot water inlet and the external cold water inlet passing through the third connection section.

This advantageously and in a known manner allows the cold water pipe to be used as a recirculation route for the water coming from the hot water pipe and which has not yet reached the consumption point hot.

In addition, the internal structure of the device through the four main units consisting of the mixing assembly, the dispensing assembly, the bypass assembly and the controller, all of which are commercially available, allow the device according to the invention to be manufactured at competitive costs.

In some embodiments, the device comprises a user interface connected to the controller. The user interface could consist of a touch screen or in its simplest version, a keypad.

In some embodiments, the controller comprises means for generating a control signal to turn the Circulator Module on and off, the means being wired or wireless, preferably Wi-Fi.

In some embodiments, the controller is configured to operate in a warm-up mode in which it can open or close the bypass assembly solenoid valve based on a signal provided by the bypass assembly temperature sensor.

In some embodiments, the controller is configured to open or close the dispense assembly solenoid valve based on a signal provided by the bypass assembly temperature sensor.

In some embodiments, the solenoid valve of the dispensing assembly is of the on or off type or of the proportional type.

In some embodiments, the dispensing assembly comprises a plurality of water outlets for dispensing to a user.

In some embodiments, the controller can activate the heating mode when a user requests water with a certain temperature.

In some embodiments, the controller may activate the heating mode when a predetermined minimum time has elapsed since last use.

The invention also refers to a set comprising a device according to any of the previous inventive variants and a pre-installation box, the device being housed in the pre-installation box.

In some embodiments, the set includes a Circulator Module intended to be arranged in series in a circuit formed by a hot water pipe, a cold water and a heater.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to some examples of practical embodiment of the invention, an integral part of the description is accompanied by a set of figures in which, with illustrative and non-limiting character, the following has been represented:

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the different components of the device of the invention.

Figure 2 shows the installation context of the device according to the invention.

Figures 3 to 6 illustrate the operation of the device according to the invention.

Figure 7 illustrates the operation of the device delivering hot water at the point of consumption once it has arrived.

Figures 8 and 9 show the two flowchart parts constituting an embodiment of the operating algorithm of the device according to the invention, the algorithm constituting an invention by itself.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In the description of the possible preferred embodiments of the invention, it is necessary to give numerous details in order to promote a better understanding of the invention. Even so, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the invention can be implemented without these specific details. On the other hand, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.

In the present description when it is indicated that a valve is open it means that it allows water to pass and closed means that it does not allow water to pass, that is to say that the terms open and closed are not used in the sense that they are given in electrical circuits.

As shown in figure 1, the invention relates to a hydraulic device D, comprising a casing C.

The following components are housed in housing C:

- A mixer set 1 for hot and cold water. This assembly 1, which can consist of a commercially available type cartridge, comprises a mixing valve, a valve drive motor, a hot water inlet 11, a cold water inlet 12 and a generally mixed water outlet 13 ;

- A dispensing assembly 2 that is provided with a solenoid valve 21, a water inlet 22 and at least one water outlet O1 for dispensing to a user, the water inlet 22 being connected to the mixed water outlet 13 of the assembly mixer 1;

- a controller e.g.

The mixing set 1, the dispensing set 2 are connected to the controller p.

The wiring has not been represented in figure 1.

Device D also comprises a bypass set 3 provided with:

- an external hot water inlet IC and an external cold water inlet IF;

- a hot water outlet 31 connected to the hot water inlet 11 of the mixer unit 1 and a cold water outlet 32 connected to the cold water inlet 12 of the mixer unit 1;

- a first connection section C1 between the external hot water inlet IC and the hot water outlet 31, a second connection section C2 between the external cold water inlet IF and the cold water outlet 32 and a third connection section C3 between the first connection sections C1 and the second C2, the third connection section C3 being provided with a solenoid valve V3;

- a temperature sensor S3 arranged in the part of the hydraulic section C3 comprised between the solenoid valve V3 and the connection section C1.

In this embodiment the temperature sensor S3 is specifically arranged in the partial hydraulic section C3 between the solenoid valve V3 and the connection section C1, that is to say to the left of the valve V3 in the figure. This arrangement is preferred because temperature sensing will be independent of proper valve operation.

Therefore, the device includes the necessary elements to act as a bypass for the water that arrives through the hot water pipe TAC and that is recirculated to the heater through the cold water pipe TAF, as shown in the sequence illustrated in figures 3 to 6. Figure 2 highlights the presence of a non-return valve arranged at the arrival of the mains water supply in accordance with the regulations and which guarantees the correct operation and safety of the system.

At first, the user enters in the H/M user interface an order to supply water at a certain temperature. At that moment, with the bypass valve open and the user dispensing valve closed, the Circulator Module is activated.

In this configuration, the user remains on hold, since the device does not yet have hot water. The hot water advances through the hot water pipe, which has been represented in the figures by thick lines. The advance of the hot water causes the displacement of the cold water from the cold water pipe, but in the direction of the heater. In this way, during the waiting time for the arrival of hot water, the cold water is not lost, but recirculated.

Once the hot water reaches the device, the bypass valve V3 closes and the MC Circulator Module is deactivated thanks to the signal provided by the temperature sensor S3 of the bypass set 3, and the hot water already enters the mixing set 1. At that time, the dispensing valve 21 is already opened, and mixed water is supplied to the user at the preset set temperature.

The solenoid valve 21 of the dispensing unit 2 is of the all or nothing type or of the proportional type.

The dispensing assembly comprises a plurality of water outlets O1, O2, O3 for dispensing to a user.

It is also provided that the controller p can deactivate the heating mode when a predetermined minimum time has passed since the last use.

The invention also refers to a set of device D according to any of the variants described above and a pre-installation box H, the device D being housed in the pre-installation box H. The set preferably includes a Circulator Module intended to be arranged in series in a circuit formed by a hot water pipe TAC, a cold water pipe TAF and a heater Q.

Next, a possible mode of operation of the device will be described in detail with the help of the flow charts of figures 8 and 9. Note that between them they constitute a closed control algorithm, that is to say complete.

First of all, by default the device is in “Deep-Standby” state.

When detecting presence and/or movement, the device goes into an active Standby state, optionally showing a welcome message through the interface.

When the touch interface detects a contact at any point on its surface, the device is activated.

The user, through contact with the interface, selects a setpoint temperature and selects which is the water outlet through which he wishes to start the process of using the service point. This last situation will only occur in those cases in which the service point have more than one type of water outlet, such as showers or bathtubs.

If the set temperature is equal to or less than 20°C, the service point is directly activated in standard mode without previously activating the "warm-up" system. Obviously, another threshold temperature could be selected.

If the set temperature is higher than 20°C, the system automatically checks the time elapsed since the last use of the service point as well as the water supply temperature.

- if this is greater than 15', the "warm-up" system is directly activated, since it can be assumed that the water from the connection pipe to the heater has cooled;

- if this is less than 15' but more than 5', the system checks the signal from the temperature probe (S3); that is to say, it is an intermediate zone in which it could be decided to activate the “warm-up” mechanism or not.

- If the temperature reading of the S3 is 4° lower or more than the set temperature, (this being at least >20°), the “warm-up” system is activated.

- if the temperature reading of the S3 is not at least 3.9° lower than the set temperature, (this being at least >20°), the service point is directly activated in standard mode without previously activating the system " warm up”.

- if this is less than 5' and the temperature of the last use was >20°, the service point is directly activated in standard mode without previously activating the "warm-up" system.

When the “Warm-up” system is activated, the controller (p) generates a signal to activate the Circulator Module (MC) or recirculation pump and the signal from the temperature probe (S3) is automatically checked.

When the temperature reading of the probe (S3) reaches or exceeds the set temperature in a period of time not exceeding 5', the “Warm-up” process ends and automatically through the controller a deactivation signal is emitted from ( MC) and simultaneously the water supply of the service point is activated, delivering it, consequently, at the previously selected setpoint temperature.

If when activating the "Warm-up" system (heating system) and after 5' and 1" the reading of the temperature probe (S3) has not reached the set temperature or higher, the "Warm-up" system ” will turn off, returning the device to Standby mode and displaying an ERROR message on the interface.

To end the use of the service point, the user, through a contact on the interface, deactivates the device, returning it to Standby mode.

After 5 minutes without detection of presence and/or movement, the device enters Deep-Standby mode (deep standby mode).

When the service point is activated (it is the equivalent of a faucet, any type of faucet) in standard mode, it behaves, as its name indicates, like a conventional electronic faucet, with all its operational functionalities through direct interaction through its interface, these functionalities are: open and close water flow, temperature and flow selection, pause and selection of the different water outlet options.

In summary, the operating modes are as follows:

1) “W arm-up” system or mode: Automatic process that allows the device that manages a water service point to supply water at the desired water temperature, whether hot or tempered, from the first moment it is supplied. begins to flow through the water outlet of the same.

2) Standard Mode: Conventional operating mode of electronic faucets that does not include the functionality of the "Warm-up" system.

3) In all cases, once the "Warm-up" process is finished, the device goes into Standard mode.

4) All the values of temperature and time reflected in this document and in the flow diagram that heads it are susceptible to variation depending on the needs, that is to say that the specific values have been offered as a realistic example.

Legends to figures 8 and 9

8.1 Standby

8.2 Ignition (On) and Start using Service point

8.3 The user selects the desired setpoint temperature

8.4 Setpoint temperature higher than 20°

8.5 Check time elapsed since last use

8.6 Condition Time greater than 15 seconds

8.7 Time less than 15 seconds and greater than 5 seconds

8.8 Time less than 5 seconds

8.9 Check temperature sensor S3

8.10 Start of standard operation without "warm-uo” (the system works like a conventional faucet)

8.11 The reading of the temperature sensor (S3) is 4° lower or more than the temperature of slogan

9.1 Starting the "Warm Up” System

9.2 Check temperature sensor S3

9.3 The S3 temperature sensor detects that the water temperature has reached the set temperature in less than 5 seconds

9.4 Stopping the "Warm Up” process and opening the water supply. The water temperature corresponds to the selected setpoint temperature

9.5 Shutdown and termination of use of the service point

9.6 System lock, alarm release: "Lack of hot water"

9.7 Reset

In view of this description and figures, the person skilled in the art will be able to understand that the invention has been described according to some preferred embodiments thereof, but that multiple variations can be introduced in said preferred embodiments, without departing from the object of the invention as such. and as it has been claimed.

In this text, the term "comprises" and its derivations (such as "comprising", etc.) should not be understood in an exclusive sense. That is, these terms should not be interpreted as excluding the possibility that what is described and defined may include more elements, stages, etc.

Claims (12)

1. - Hydraulic device (D), comprising a casing (C) and, housed in the casing (C): - a hot and cold water mixer assembly (1) provided with a mixing valve, a motor (M) for driving the mixing valve, a hot water inlet (11), a cold water inlet (12) and a water outlet (13); - a dispensing assembly (2) provided with a solenoid valve (21), a water inlet (22) and at least one water outlet (O1) for dispensing to a user, the water inlet (22) being connected to the water outlet (13) of the mixing unit (1); - a controller (p); - the mixing assembly (1), the dispensing assembly (2) being connected to the controller (p), characterized in that it comprises a bypass assembly (3) provided with: - an external hot water inlet (IC) and an inlet for external cold water (IF); - a hot water outlet (31) connected to the hot water inlet (11) of the mixer assembly (1) and a cold water outlet (32) connected to the cold water inlet (12) of the mixer assembly (1) ; - a first connection section (C1) between the external hot water inlet (IC) and the hot water outlet (31), a second connection section (C2) between the external cold water inlet (IF) and the outlet cold water (32) and a third connection section (C3) between the first (C1) and second (C2) connection sections, the third connection section (C3) being provided with an electrovalve (V3); - A temperature sensor (S3) arranged in the hydraulic section (C3) that joins the external hot water inlet (IC) and the external cold water inlet (IF) passing through the third connection section (C3). 2. - Device according to claim 1, comprising a user interface (H/M) connected to the controller (p). 3. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, in which the controller (p) comprises means to generate a control signal for turning on and off a circulator module (MC), the means being wired or wireless, preferably by Wi-Fi. 4. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, in which the controller (p) is configured to work with a heating mode in which it can open or close the solenoid valve (V3) of the bypass assembly (3) based on a signal provided by the temperature sensor (S3) of the bypass assembly (3 ). 5. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, in which the controller (p) is configured to open or close the solenoid valve (21) of the dispensing assembly (2) based on a signal provided by the temperature sensor (S3 ) of the bypass assembly (3). 6. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the solenoid valve (21) of the dispensing assembly (2) is of the all-or-nothing type or of the proportional type. 7. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the dispensing assembly comprises a plurality of water outlets (O1, O2, O3) for dispensing to a user. 8. - Device according to claim 4 or any that depends on it, in which the controller (p) can deactivate the heating mode when a user requests water with a certain temperature. 9. - Device according to claim 4 or any that depends on it, in which the controller (p) can deactivate the heating mode when a predetermined minimum time has passed since the last use. 10. - Device according to any of the preceding claims, in which the temperature sensor (S3) is arranged in the partial hydraulic section (C3) between the solenoid valve (V3) and the connection section (C1). 11. - Set of device (D) according to any of the preceding claims and pre-installation box (H), the device (D) being housed in the pre-installation box (H). 12. - Assembly according to claim 11, comprising a circulator module (MC) or recirculation pump intended to be arranged in series in a circuit formed by a hot water pipe (TAC), a cold water pipe (TAF) and a heater (Q).