JP2002219065A - Bath water purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a bath water purifier capable of insulation control without lowering a bath water purification function by controlling input power of a circulating pump. SOLUTION: In the bath water purifier performing purification and insulation of a bath water, a heater 14 heating the bath water, a circulating pump 12 circulating the bath water, a controller 20 controlling the temperature of the bath water, and the controller 20 has a second judgment means 170 judging whether the temperature of the bath detected exceeds set temperature or not set by a user, and when the heater 14 has stopped heating, the second judgment means 170 judges that the set temperature was exceeds, and controls input power of the circulation pump 12 for low power driving.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for purifying bath water in a house or the like, and more particularly, to heat retention control for maintaining bath water at a predetermined temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of bath water purifying apparatus, for example, one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-190493 is known. In the prior art described in this publication, there is provided a temperature detecting means for detecting a bath water temperature, a storage means for storing the bath water temperature detected by the temperature detecting means as needed, and a control means. First determining means for determining whether or not the detected bath temperature has exceeded a predetermined temperature; and using the bath temperature data stored in the storage means to determine whether or not the rate of increase in the bath temperature is within a predetermined range. When the first determination means determines that the bath water temperature has exceeded the set temperature, and the second determination means determines that the bath water temperature rise rate is within a predetermined range, Control means for temporarily stopping the drive of the circulation pump.

That is, when the circulation pump is driven, the control means determines whether or not the rise rate of the bath water temperature is within a predetermined range of the stored bath water temperature data by the second determination means. When the bath water temperature rises due to the calorific value, the circulation pump is temporarily stopped or intermittently operated during the suspension to perform the heat retention control.

[0004]

However, according to the intermittent operation of the circulating pump described in the above publication when the circulating pump is temporarily stopped or while the circulating pump is temporarily stopped, the function of circulating bath water by the circulating pump is to maintain a predetermined bath water temperature and Stopping the circulating pump due to its function of purifying the bath water may shorten the purifying time and cause deterioration of the water quality.

As a measure for reducing the heat generation amount of the circulation pump without stopping the circulation pump, there is a method of driving the circulation pump while reducing power consumption. For example, there is a method in which a well-known inverter control circuit is added to the input power supply of the circulation pump to perform a deceleration operation with a small voltage. According to this, the component costs of the inverter drive circuit and the control circuit become relatively expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to control the heat retention without preventing a decrease in the purifying function of bath water by controlling an input power supply of a circulation pump. Bath water purifying device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the technical means described in claims 1 to 3 is adopted. That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the suction port (15a) and the discharge port (15b) opened in the bathtub,
Purification means (13) for purifying the bath water, heating means (14) for heating the bath water, and a circulation pump (1) for circulating the bath water
2) to form a bath water circulation path, and circulate the bath water by a circulation pump (12), so that a bath water purification device for purifying and keeping the temperature of the bath water detects temperature of the bath water. (17) and the temperature detecting means (1)
Control means (20) for controlling the operation of the circulation pump (12) in accordance with the bath water temperature detected by 7),
The control means (20) has a judging means (170) for judging whether or not the bath water temperature detected by the temperature detecting means (17) exceeds a set temperature set by a user, and comprises a heating means (14). When the heating is stopped, the determination means (17)
It is characterized by determining that the bath water temperature has exceeded the set temperature set by the user according to 0), and controlling the input power supply of the circulation pump (12) to perform low power driving.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the control means (20) determines that the bath water temperature has exceeded the set temperature by the determining means (170) when the heating means (14) has stopped heating. By controlling the input power of the circulating pump (12) and driving the circulating pump (12) with low power, for example, the input power source input to the circulating pump (12) has a predetermined number of input power source waveforms. The circulation pump (12) is driven with low power by giving a soft command output to decrease it.
The amount of heat generated is varied. As a result, the circulation pump (12)
Since the amount of heat generated can be controlled without stopping the heating, the heat retention can be controlled without impairing the purification.

In the invention according to claim 2, the control means (2
0) is characterized in that the drive of the circulating pump (12) is driven with low power by performing thinning-out control for reducing the predetermined number of cycles of the input waveform of the input power supply of the circulating pump (12).

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the thinning control for outputting the input power of the circulating pump (12), specifically, the output waveform obtained by thinning out a predetermined number of cycles from the input waveform of the input power, is performed. By doing so, low-power power is input to the input power of the circulation pump (12),
The calorific value from 2) can be kept low.

Further, since the thinning-out control can be performed by the driving means (180) based on a command on the software side, an increase in component cost can be suppressed as compared with the inverter control for performing frequency control or the like.

In the invention according to claim 3, the control means (2
0) is characterized by comparing the detected bath water temperature with a predetermined temperature obtained by subtracting a predetermined constant from the set temperature, and when the temperature is not reached, heating the heating means (14).

[0013] According to the third aspect of the present invention, the heating means (14) performs heating at a predetermined temperature which is a predetermined constant less than the set temperature, thereby heating up to a predetermined temperature lower than the set temperature. Means (14) is used to control the heat retention, and the predetermined amount of heat generated by the circulating pump (12) is varied to control the heat retention with the set temperature. Heating control can vary the amount of heat generated by the circulation pump (12). As a result, the temperature is kept by the heating means (14) until just before the set temperature, and a predetermined constant can be finely adjusted by the calorific value of the circulation pump (12).

The reference numerals in parentheses of the above-mentioned means indicate the correspondence with the concrete means described in the embodiments described later.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment in which a bath water purifying apparatus of the present invention is applied to a bath tub provided with a bath kettle will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 1, a bath water purification device 10 of the present invention is installed in a bathroom having a bath tub 19 provided with a bath kettle 21, and has a suction port 15 a and a discharge port 15 b containing an inlet filter 16. Is provided in a bathtub 19, while a circulating pump 12, a purifier 13 which is a purifying means, and a heater 14 which is an electric heater as a heating means are built in a main body case 11 installed in the bathroom. They are connected in series by a flexible circulation pipe 15. The operation mode of the circulating pump 12 is driven by one of a normal drive for performing a rated operation and a low-power drive (to be described later) in which a smaller power operation is performed than the normal drive.

A water temperature sensor 17 composed of a thermistor, which is a temperature detecting means, is mounted in the course of the circulation pipe 15 so that the temperature of the circulating water can be detected. The purifier 13 is provided with an ultraviolet lamp 13 for sterilizing circulating water.
a, a photocatalyst 13b that receives light from the ultraviolet lamp 13a to purify and sterilize circulating water, and a barley stone 13c that filters microorganisms in the circulating water.

An operation section 18 is provided on the outer surface of the main body case 11 to operate an operation switch 18a for purifying and keeping heat, and a set temperature switch 18b for setting a target temperature of bath water in the bathtub 19. And are arranged. The set temperature switch 18b can set the target bath temperature within a range of 35 ° C. to 45 ° C. by operating a button switch.

Next, the control device 20, which is a control means of the bath water purification device, includes a set temperature switch 18b, a water temperature sensor 1
7, and a signal from the operation switch 18a
A control signal is output to the circulation pump 12, the ultraviolet lamp 13a of the purifier 13, and the heater 14. Thereby, the bath water in the bathtub 19 is purified and kept warm.

The control device 20 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and a built-in ROM (not shown) stores a control program shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the operation will be described based on the control program shown in FIG. The symbols used in the following description are as follows: the current value of the bath water temperature continuously detected by the water temperature sensor 17 is Tc, and the set temperature Ts set by the user by the set temperature switch 18b.
It is.

First, in step 100, the operation unit 1
When the operation switch 18a of Step 8 is operated, Step 10
In step 5, after performing an initialization process for initializing counters and flags used in the subsequent arithmetic processing, step 110
Then, the circulation pump 12 and the ultraviolet lamp 13a start operating. Here, the operation is performed in the normal drive operation mode. Next, at step 120, the current bath temperature Tc and the set temperature Ts are read.

In the next step 130, the circulation pump 12
Is an operation mode determining means for determining whether the operation mode is normal drive or low-power drive. In this case, the process proceeds to step 140 because the drive is normal drive in step 110. This step 140 is a first determining means for determining whether or not to perform the heat retention control, and makes a determination by a discriminant (Tc ≧ Ts−1 ° C.). This is such that the current value Tc of the bath water temperature is compared with the set temperature Ts by subtracting a predetermined constant, and the heater 14 is turned off before reaching the set temperature Ts.
Here, the predetermined constant is set to 1 ° C., but may be set as appropriate according to the power consumption characteristics of the circulating pump 12, the environmental conditions in the bathroom, and the like.

If the discriminant expression (Tc ≧ Ts-1 ° C.) is not satisfied, at step 150 the heater 14
Is operated to heat the bath water temperature. In addition, the discriminant (Tc ≧
If (Ts-1 ° C.) is satisfied, the routine proceeds to step 160, in which the heater 14 is stopped to perform a heat retention control for approaching the set temperature Ts.

However, in the bath water purifying apparatus according to the present embodiment, the circulation pump 12 disposed in the narrow closed space in the main body case 11 radiates heat of the electric motor generated when the motor is driven to the outside of the main body case 11. As a result, the temperature of the bath water may rise and exceed the set temperature Ts even though the heater 14 is stopped. When a canned circulation pump characterized by low noise is used as the circulation pump 12, generally, the rotor of the motor is immersed in bath water, so that the structure easily receives heat of the motor. Therefore, the bath water temperature rises and exceeds the set temperature Ts.

Therefore, in the present invention, in the following steps, the circulating pump 12 is driven so as to reduce the heat generation, thereby performing the heat retention control without exceeding the set temperature Ts. The section will be described.

The next step 170 is a second judging means for judging whether or not the calorific value of the circulating pump 12 is to be reduced, which is judged by a discriminant (Tc ≧ Ts).

That is, when the current value Tc of the bath water temperature is compared with the set temperature Ts and the discriminant expression (Tc ≧ Ts) is satisfied, the routine proceeds to step 180, where the operation mode of the circulation pump 12 is set to low power drive. This is driving means for controlling the switching. As shown in FIG. 3, the low-power drive uses an output waveform B obtained by thinning out a predetermined number of cycles (the number of peaks and valleys) from the input waveform A of the AC power supply input to the circulation pump 12 as shown in FIG. , The power for the number of thinned cycles is reduced, and as a result, the heat generation for the thinned power is reduced.

Here, the thinning-out control is performed by, for example, software processing such that the waveform output by the arithmetic processing of the microcomputer of the control device 20 is turned on, the thinning-out waveform is turned off, and the on / off is alternately repeated. . In addition,
The number of thinning-outs or the interval of thinning-out can be set as appropriate, and it is preferable that the minimum output be thinned out to the extent that abnormal noise due to rattling of the impeller in the circulating pump 12 does not occur. In the normal driving of the circulation pump 12, the input waveform A may be directly input to the circulation pump 12.

The low-power drive in which the above-described thinning-out control is performed is repeatedly turned on and off within a very short time.
By switching from the normal drive to the low-power drive, the heat generation can be reduced without the start torque or the start current always protruding.

On the other hand, when the discriminant (Tc ≧ Ts) is not satisfied, the routine proceeds to step 190, where the circulating pump 12 is continued from normal driving or returned from low power driving to normal driving. Is read, and the heat retention control is continued. In addition, while either the normal drive or the low power drive of the circulation pump 12 is operating, the bath water circulates from the suction port 15a to the discharge port 15b, so that the ultraviolet lamp 1 operated in step 110 is operated.
Purification of bath water is also performed at the same time by the action of 3a, photocatalyst 13b, and barley stone 13c.

Also, when the bath water temperature Tc exceeds the set temperature Ts due to additional cooking or hot water by the bath kettle 21 during the above-mentioned purification and operation, purification and heat retention are performed based on the current bath water temperature Tc. Is what you do.

According to the bath water purification apparatus 10 of the above embodiment, the detected bath water temperature Tc is determined by the first determination means in step 140 and the second determination means in step 170.
Regardless of the stop of the heater 14, when the set temperature Ts is exceeded, the heat generated by the circulation pump 12 can be reduced by controlling the drive of the circulation pump 12 from the normal drive to the low power drive. In addition, it is possible to control the heat retention of the bath water.

Therefore, the operation of the circulation pump 12 is not stopped as compared with the conventional case where the circulation pump 12 is temporarily stopped or intermittently operated, so that the heat retention control can be performed without impairing the purification.

In the thinning control for switching the driving of the circulation pump 12 to the low power driving, the waveform output by the arithmetic processing of the microcomputer of the control device 20 is turned on, the waveform to be thinned is turned off, and the on / off is alternately repeated. As described above, the processing can be performed by software processing, so that an increase in component cost can be suppressed as compared with inverter control that performs frequency control or the like.

The operation of the heater 14 is changed to step 140.
In the first determination means, the predetermined temperature obtained by subtracting the predetermined constant from the set temperature Ts is compared with the current value Tc of the bath water temperature, and the predetermined constant is appropriately set, whereby the heat retention control of the bath water temperature is controlled by the circulation pump. Twelve heat values can be varied. As a result, the heater 14 warms up to just before the set temperature Ts, and a predetermined constant can be finely adjusted by the heat generated by the circulation pump 12.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiment,
It has been described that the driving of the circulating pump 12 is driven at low power by performing the thinning control for reducing the predetermined number of cycles of the input waveform of the input power supply of the circulating pump 12, but the invention is not limited thereto. The input power of the circulating pump 12 may be controlled by outputting a soft command so as to decrease only a predetermined number of the input waveforms on the power supply side.

As a result, the power supplied to the input power supply of the circulation pump 12 becomes low and the amount of heat generated by the circulation pump 12 can be varied.

In the above embodiment, the suction port 15
a, the circulation pump 12, the purifier 13, the heater 14, and the discharge port 15b are connected in series by the circulation pipe 15, but the arrangement is not limited thereto, and the arrangement of the circulation pump 12, the purifier 13, and the heater 14 is optional. Good as

Although the description has been made of the case where the heater 14 is built in the main body case 11, the bath water is heated only by the bath kettle 21 and the operation of the bath kettle 21 is operated by the first determination means of step 140. Is also good.

The bathtub 19 that can be used is a bath kettle 21.
Not only those having a water heater but also other forms such as those having a water heater and hot springs may be used.

As for the purifier 13, an ultraviolet lamp 13a for sterilization may be used if it purifies circulating water.
Only, barley stone 13c for microbial purification, or
Other forms such as a filter for performing other physical removal may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a bath water purification device applied to a bathtub provided with a bath kettle according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control program of a control device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing thinning control of a circulation pump 12 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Circulation pump 13 ... Purifier (purification means) 14 ... Heater (heating means) 15a ... Suction port 15b ... Discharge port 17 ... Water temperature sensor (temperature detection means) 20 ... Control device (control means) 170 ... 2nd judgment Means (judgment means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] An inlet (15a) and an outlet (15b) opened in a bathtub, and a purifying means (1) for purifying bath water.
3), a heating means (14) for heating the bath water, and a circulation pump (12) for circulating the bath water are connected to form a bath water circulation path, and the bath water is circulated by the circulation pump (12). Thus, in the bath water purification device for purifying and keeping the temperature of the bath water, a temperature detecting means (17) for detecting a bath water temperature; and the circulating pump (17) according to the bath water temperature detected by the temperature detecting means (17). Control means (20) for controlling the operation of 12), wherein the control means (20) determines whether or not the bath water temperature detected by the temperature detection means (17) exceeds a set temperature set by a user. Determining that the temperature of the bath water exceeds the set temperature set by the user by the determining means (170) when the heating means (14) has stopped heating. Judgment and said circulation pump (1 By controlling the input power bath water purifying apparatus characterized by lowering the power drive of). 2. The circulating pump (1) performs a thinning control to reduce an input waveform of an input power supply of the circulating pump (12) by a predetermined number of cycles.
The bath water purifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving in (2) is performed with low power. 3. The control means (20) compares the detected bath water temperature with a predetermined temperature obtained by subtracting a predetermined constant from the set temperature, and when the temperature is not reached, the control means (20) heats the heating means (14). The bath water purifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein