JP2002336846A - Purifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water purifier having a cartridge exchange announcing function reflecting the quality of raw water. SOLUTION: A water pressure sensor 3 positioned so as to measure the water pressure of the raw water caused to flow into a cartridge 2, a flow rate sensor 4 positioned so as to measure the flow rate of the purified water caused to flow out from the cartridge 2 and a control means for detecting the down of the filtering capacity of the filter material 1 by using the ideal flow rate which is relatively decided from a measured pressure value of the inflow water and an actually measured value in cooperation with these water pressure sensor 3 and flow rate sensor 4 are provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a purification device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, there has been known a purification apparatus which can be attached directly to a faucet or stored under a kitchen so that purified water can be produced from raw water such as tap water. This purifying apparatus is provided with a detachable cartridge containing a filtering material. By passing raw water through the cartridge, impurities can be removed from the raw water.

[0003] By the way, as a filtering material, activated carbon or 0.1M is used.
Hollow fiber membranes with holes of 4-0.01 microns have been used. In the activated carbon, impurities such as chlorine odor components and organochlorine compounds dissolved in tap water are removed by adsorption through pores of the activated carbon, and in the hollow fiber membrane, impurities such as iron rust and mold are removed. Remove as filter cake. Therefore, for example, when the filtering material is a hollow fiber membrane, the holes gradually become clogged with use. In other words, in a purifying device, the filter capacity of the cartridge gradually decreases with use, and the outflow of water from the cartridge deteriorates. The same can be said when activated carbon or another substance is used as a filtering material.

Therefore, it is necessary to replace the cartridge with a new one if the purifier is used to some extent. Therefore, this type of purification device measures the integrated water flow by providing a flow rate sensor downstream of the cartridge, and when the integrated water flow reaches a predetermined value, notifies that it is time to replace the cartridge. It is.

[0005]

However, since the clogging speed of the filter material in the cartridge varies depending on the quality of the raw water, the above-mentioned point is not reflected by the above-mentioned integrated flow rate. More specifically, even if muddy water or the like flows into the cartridge and the filter medium is rapidly clogged, the cartridge replacement time cannot be detected unless the accumulated water flow rate has reached the predetermined value. There are cases where the cartridge should be replaced and cases where it is not necessary to replace it yet.

[0006]

Therefore, the present invention does not judge the time to replace the cartridge from the accumulated water flow amount as in the conventional case, but rather causes the filter material to be clogged. The above problem is solved by judging from the quality of water flowing out of the cartridge. More specifically, the present invention focuses on the fact that the flow rate value of purified water flowing out of the cartridge can be assumed from the pressure of raw water flowing into the cartridge, and uses the ideal value and the measured value to filter the filtration material. An attempt was made to detect a decrease in filtration capacity.

[0007] That is, the purification apparatus of the present invention removes impurities contained in the taken-in raw water by passing it through a detachable cartridge containing a filtering material so that purified water can be produced from the raw water. In a certain purification device, a water pressure sensor provided to measure the pressure of raw water flowing into the cartridge, a flow sensor provided to measure the flow rate of purified water flowing out of the cartridge, and a water pressure sensor and a flow sensor A control means for detecting a decrease in filtration capacity of the filter medium using an ideal flow rate value which can be relatively determined from a measured inflow water pressure value and a measured flow rate value in cooperation with each other. It is.

[0008] In such a case, the control means uses the ideal flow rate value and the actually measured flow rate value to detect a decrease in the filtration capacity of the filter medium. In other words, it is determined from clogging of the filter medium. Therefore, even if the rate of decrease in the filtration ability due to clogging or the like varies depending on the quality of the water, the replacement time of the cartridge can be accurately detected by reflecting the quality of the raw water.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of a purifying apparatus which is used by being directly attached to a faucet or stored under a kitchen, and is included in taken-in tap water as raw water. Impurities are removed by passing them through a removable cartridge 2 containing a filter medium 1 so that purified water can be produced from the tap water. The cartridge 2 includes an activated carbon 1a and a hollow fiber membrane 1b as a filtering material inside. Activated carbon 1a
Is to adsorb and remove impurities such as a chlorine odor component and an organic chlorine compound which are dissolved in tap water through the pores of the activated carbon 1a. The hollow fiber membrane 1b has a thickness of 0.4 to 0.01.
It has a micron hole and removes iron rust, mold, and the like as impurities as filter cake. In particular, the purifying apparatus according to the present embodiment has an electrolytic layer 6 provided downstream of the cartridge 2 and has an ion water generating function. The electrolytic layer 6 has an anode 61 and a cathode 62 to which a DC voltage is applied between them, and electrolyzes the taken-in tap water into acidic water and alkaline water. Thus, the tap water is filtered when passing through the cartridge 2 through the water passage 9 and is then electrolyzed when passing through the electrolytic layer 6 to be separated into acidic water and alkaline water.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a water pressure sensor 3 is provided so as to measure the pressure of tap water flowing into the cartridge 2.
A flow sensor 4 is provided so that the flow rate of purified water flowing out of the cartridge 2 can be measured, and control means cooperating with the water pressure sensor 3 and the flow sensor 4 can detect a decrease in the filtration capacity of the filter medium 1. is there.

More specifically, the water pressure sensor 3
Is provided upstream of the cartridge 2, and is configured to measure the pressure of tap water flowing into the cartridge 2 by a known method such as by applying a DC voltage via a resistor. The flow rate sensor 4 is provided downstream of the cartridge 2 and generates a pulse number corresponding to the flow rate of purified water flowing out of the cartridge 2. The control means uses the measured flow rate value measured and the ideal flow rate value that can be relatively determined from the inflow water pressure value measured by the number of pulses to reduce the filtration capacity of the activated carbon 1a and the hollow fiber membrane 1b. Is detected, and if the filtration capacity is reduced until replacement of the cartridge 2 is required, a lamp (not shown) is turned on to prompt replacement of the cartridge 2.

In particular, in the present embodiment, the ideal flow rate is the flow rate that can be assumed to flow out of the cartridge 2 when the activated carbon 1a and the hollow fiber membrane 1b, which are the filtering material 1, are assumed to have almost no reduced filtration capacity. This is equivalent to a value and is stored in advance in association with the inflow water pressure value. Then, the control means turns on the lamp when the difference between the measured flow rate value and the ideal flow rate value exceeds a preset "predetermined value". Note that the "predetermined value" is a value that can be set as appropriate, which is evident from the present embodiment, and can determine how much filter material is clogged before the cartridge is replaced. The "predetermined value" is stored in advance in association with the ideal flow rate value so that it can be relatively determined from the ideal flow rate value.

The control means measures the inflow pressure value of the tap water flowing into the cartridge 2 and the measured flow rate value of the purified water flowing out of the cartridge 2 in cooperation with the water pressure sensor 3 and the flow rate sensor 4. On the other hand, it is determined whether the difference between the actually measured flow rate value and the ideal flow rate value extracted based on the measured inflow pressure value is higher or lower than a predetermined value extracted based on the ideal flow rate value. The lamp will be turned on.

Therefore, if the hollow fiber membrane 1b is clogged with iron rust, mold, or the like, or if the pores of the activated carbon 1a are filled with a chlorine odor component or an organic chlorine compound, etc., the outflow of water becomes poor. Since the decrease in the performance appears as a difference between the actually measured flow rate value and the ideal flow rate value, the notification prompting the control means to replace the cartridge 2 is based on the filtering capacity of the filter medium 1 resulting from the clogging of the filter medium 1. Is accurately reflected. Therefore, even if the rate of decrease of the filtration ability varies depending on the quality of the raw water, the cartridge 2 can be accurately removed.
Can be notified of the replacement time.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the ideal flow rate value corresponds to a value obtained by subtracting a predetermined value from a flow value that can be assumed to flow out of the cartridge when it is assumed that the filtration capacity of the filter medium has hardly decreased. If the value is lower than the ideal flow rate value, it may be determined that the filtration capacity of the filter medium has decreased to a level that requires replacement of the cartridge. It is needless to say that the above-described effect can be similarly obtained as long as the control means detects the decrease in the filtering ability of the filter medium using the measured flow rate value and the ideal flow rate value. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the water purification apparatus of the present invention, the control means detects a decrease in the filtration capacity of the filtration material using the ideal flow rate value and the actually measured flow rate value. The detection is determined based on whether the water is flowing out or in other words, from the clogging of the filter medium. Therefore, even if the rate of decrease of the filtration ability due to clogging or the like varies depending on the quality of the raw water, the cartridge replacement timing can be accurately detected by reflecting the quality of the raw water.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an internal structure of a water purification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a (1) Filtering material 1b (1) Filtering material 2 Cartridge 3 Water pressure sensor 4 Flow rate sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] An impurity contained in raw water taken in is removed by passing it through a removable cartridge (2) containing a filter medium (1) so that purified water can be produced from the raw water. In the purifying device, a water pressure sensor (3) provided so as to measure a water pressure of raw water flowing into the cartridge (2);
Flow rate sensor (4) provided so as to measure the flow rate of purified water flowing out of the apparatus, and in cooperation with these water pressure sensor (3) and flow rate sensor (4), it is possible to relatively determine from the measured inflow water pressure value. A purifying apparatus comprising: control means for detecting a decrease in the filtration capacity of the filter medium (1) using an ideal flow rate value and a measured flow rate value measured.