JP2002346550A - Water cleaning cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive small-size water cleaning cartridge which can adopt the designs of instruments such as a faucet while keeping easy handling and uses hollow fiber membranes. SOLUTION: In the water cleaning cartridge having an adsorbent material and the hollow fiber membranes between a water inlet and a water outlet, a cylindrical hollow fiber membrane case and an adsorbent material unit filled with the adsorbent material which is cylindrical and has a water channel and in which water flows from the outside toward the inside are provided. In the adsorbent material unit, one end part of the adsorbent material is fitted with a cap with a hole, and the other end part is fitted with a cap. The cap with the hole and the latter cap are connected with each other through a slit cylinder passing through the water channel in the adsorbent material unit. The hollow fiber membrane case and the adsorbent material unit have approximately the same cross-sectional area and are connected together in series and watertightly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a small water purification cartridge which is installed in a kitchen, a wash basin, or the like, and is incorporated in a water purification device capable of removing residual chlorine, red rust and the like contained in tap water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Tap water as drinking water has water quality standards, but is increasingly being purified by a water purifier in order to make the water safer and more delicious. Normally, water purifiers can be used to remove odors such as odor, mold, and trihalomethane in tap water due to adsorbents such as activated carbon used as water treatment materials, and bacteria in tap water due to porous hollow fiber membranes used in combination as water treatment materials. And contaminant components are removed. The water purifier uses a water purification cartridge in which a water treatment main body is formed into a cartridge, in order to easily replace the water treatment material when the purification capacity of the water treatment material is reduced.

[0003] An example of a water purification cartridge is disclosed in JP-A-2001-2001.
A small water purification cartridge 40, which is incorporated in a faucet 41 with a shower head which can be pulled out from and stored in a faucet and which is shown in FIG.

[0004]

However, the water purifying cartridge 40 used for the conventional faucet 41 with a shower head shown in FIG. 4 has a length of about 10 cm so that it can be easily handled and has a small thickness. Has a diameter of about 3 cm and a cross-sectional area of about 7 cm ² from a practical point of view so that the body is not too thick. However, in order to reduce the diameter of each of them, the hollow fiber membrane which normally occupies about half the volume of the water purification cartridge is deleted, and only the adsorbent 42 is used. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure high filter performance, and depending on the raw water, fine particles such as iron rust and bacteria contained in the water may not be captured and may be directly contained in the purified water and flow out, and used for drinking. There is a problem that is not enough.

A water purification cartridge 40 used for a conventional faucet 41 with a shower head or the like has a high performance in which a fibrous activated carbon or the like is formed into a cylindrical shape as an adsorbent 42 and is used. Usually, however, emphasis is placed on water sealability, and the adsorbent 42 is used by bonding both ends of the adsorbent 42 to the front end 43 and the rear end 44 inside the container with an adhesive such as urethane resin. For this reason, a large manufacturing cost required for bonding occurs, which is not preferable. On the other hand, from the environmental viewpoint, the water purification cartridge 40 is disassembled and the adsorbent 42 is taken out.
Even if it is desired to reuse or separate and discard, there is a problem that it is difficult because it is bonded and fixed with an adhesive.

[0006] In addition, the water purification cartridge 40, which has a high performance using fibrous activated carbon or the like as the adsorbent 42, has a cylindrical shape of the adsorbent 42 serving as a water purification outlet in order to prevent adsorbent fine powder from being mixed into purified water. In some cases, a nonwoven fabric 45 made of plastic is separately fixed on the inside and filtered through water. However, this is not preferable because the expensive non-woven fabric 45 is specially formed into a cylindrical shape and used, so that a large manufacturing cost is required. There is a problem that the nonwoven fabric 45 having a small water passage area and having a large thickness may be clogged and the flow rate may decrease in a short time.

[0007] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is designed to exhibit high and stable water purification performance by devising the arrangement structure, shape and type of members such as a hollow fiber membrane and an adsorbent. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and configurable small-sized water purification cartridge using a hollow fiber membrane, which can be incorporated without deteriorating the design and usability of such devices.

[0008]

That is, a water purification cartridge according to the present invention is a water purification cartridge having a water inlet and a water outlet, in which an adsorbent and a hollow fiber membrane are arranged in the middle in order. A hollow fiber membrane case filled with the hollow fiber membrane, which is open, and an adsorption filled with the adsorbent, which is cylindrical and has a water passage formed therein so that water flows from the outside to the inside. The adsorbent unit has a cap with a hole so that one end face of the adsorbent is water-tightly supported, and a cap such that the other end face is water-tightly supported. Provided, and the cap with holes is arranged so that the side with the hollow fiber membrane case is connected to the hollow fiber membrane case, and the cap with holes and the cap are connected via a slit tube passing through a water passage inside the adsorbent. The hollow fiber membrane Scan and the adsorbent unit is characterized by being provided to be connected in series and in a watertight manner with a cross-sectional area of each substantially identical. Preferably, the adsorbent is fixed between the cap and the cap with holes without using an adhesive, and a tubular plastic mesh is insert-molded in the slit cylinder.
Further, the adsorbent is a block-shaped or fibrous shaped activated carbon, and the adsorbent has a bulk specific gravity of 0.2 to 0.25 g /
cm3 is preferred. Further, the area of the cross section of the cartridge cylinder is preferably 4 to 10 cm2, and the length is preferably 7 to 11 cm.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of the water purification cartridge of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded view of parts of the embodiment of the water purification cartridge of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a device incorporating the water purification cartridge of the present invention. A schematic diagram of a faucet is shown as an example.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the main materials of the water purification cartridge 1 of the present invention are ABS resin, polypropylene resin, polysulfone resin, polyacetal resin, polycarbonate resin in consideration of strength, moldability and cost. And plastics such as polyphenylene ether resin. Although the shape is substantially cylindrical in the present embodiment, the shape is not particularly limited to this. Since the housing is not a closed pressure-resistant structure, it is not necessary to configure a cylindrical shape excellent in pressure resistance performance, and the cross section is not required. It can be configured in an elliptical shape, a rectangular shape, or the like, and has the advantages of wide design flexibility and adaptability to the shape of a built-in faucet or shower head. If the thickness of the member is too large, the moldability deteriorates, the cost increases, and if the member is too thin, the strength deteriorates.
It is preferably set to に 3 mm.

[0011] The water purification cartridge 1 mainly comprises a bottom lid 4 having a substantially cylindrical shape on which a flexible packing 3 such as an O-ring is mounted;
A hollow fiber membrane case 5 having a substantially cylindrical shape filled with a hollow fiber membrane 6 fixed at the water discharge side end portion thereof with a resin in the longitudinal direction, a slit tube 10 and a water hole 8 are provided at substantially the center. Cap 7 with hole, adsorbent 12 having substantially cylindrical shape, and slit tube 1
A cap 13 having a substantially circular shape which is fixedly connected to the end of the zero
And an adsorbent unit 16 having:

The flow of water is indicated by the arrow in FIG.
The water flows from the periphery of the adsorbent 12 toward the center, is collected inside the slit tube 10, and then flows into the hollow fiber membrane case 5 through the water passage hole 8, and passes through the hollow fiber membrane 6 in the vertical direction. The purified water is discharged to the outside from the water outlet 2 provided in the bottom cover 4.

[0013] The bottom lid 4 is adhesively fixed to the end of the hollow fiber membrane case 5 by an ultrasonic welding method having low cost and strong adhesiveness, and the water purification cartridge 1 is water sealed in a main body container. It functions as an adapter for fixing the connection. The structure is not particularly limited to that of the embodiment. For example, it is also possible to adopt a structure in which a concave pipe is used, or the packing 3 is removed and provided on the coupling side with emphasis on low cost. It is. Further, with emphasis on lower cost and miniaturization, the bottom cover 4 is omitted in the construction of the water purification cartridge 1, and the packing 3 is directly provided at the end of the hollow fiber membrane case 5, or the end is convex. It is also possible to devise such a configuration with a tube.

[0014] The hollow fiber membrane case 5 is preferably formed at least in part of a transparent member so that the state of the hollow fiber membrane 6 inside can be visually checked. The degree of clogging can be visually confirmed instantaneously, and the time for replacing the water purification cartridge 1 can be easily determined. As the hollow fiber membrane 6, it is preferable to use a conventionally used porous hollow fiber membrane capable of removing bacteria. The material and area of the film can be appropriately designed and used. The hollow fiber membrane 6 is a hollow fiber membrane case 5 having both ends opened.
One side is adhesively fixed and filled with a conventionally used method using a urethane resin, an epoxy resin or the like.
Since the hollow fiber membrane 6 can remove even bacteria, it is preferable to arrange the hollow fiber membrane 6 immediately before the water outlet 2 where hygienic safety is maximized, that is, it is preferable to arrange the hollow fiber membrane 6 after the adsorbent 12.

The adsorbent 12 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and its both ends are sandwiched between the cap 7 with a hole and the cap 13 and are pressure-bonded so that the ends are water-sealed. The cap with holes 7 and the cap 13 are fixed in the same manner. As a fixing method, a crimping method is preferable, with emphasis on assembly costs and the desorption and reuse of the adsorbent 12.

[0016] The details of the crimping method will be described. The adsorbent 12 is inserted all the way into the hole of the adsorbent 12 at the center of the adsorbent 12 with the tip of the slit tube 10 protruding from the cap 7 with holes. Then, the cap 13 is fitted to the fitting portion 14 provided at the end of the slit tube 10 and fixed by a conventionally used method. There are screw type,
There are press-fit type, ultrasonic welding type, etc., but when screw type or press-fit type is used, the fitting and fixing is loosened due to vibration and shock during transportation, water pressure at the time of passing water, etc., from the position where the cap 13 is desired. In this example, an ultrasonic welding method capable of firmer fixing was used because there is a possibility of displacement.

[0017] The ultrasonically welded cap 13 is sandwiched between pliers or the like and peeled off from the slit tube 10 so that the adsorbent 1 is removed.
2 is possible. When the adsorbent 12 is fixed, it is important to make the thickness of the adsorbent 12 in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder before fixing larger than the distance between the cap 7 with the hole and the cap 13 by about 1 to 2 mm. By doing so, the adsorbent 12 is compressed, exhibits elasticity at that time, and a reliable water sealing property at the time of fixing is obtained. The reason for the compression range is that if the thickness is small, it is difficult to obtain a reliable water-sealing property, and if the thickness is too large, the adsorbent 12 is deformed and bent or wrinkled, and the appearance becomes poor.

The cap 13 includes an adsorbent 12 and a cap 13
A circular triangle having a height of 0.5 to 1 mm, which blocks a through-path of water in the direction of the center between the wall and the wall, and sinks into the adsorbent 12 to securely fix without any deviation or the like. Protrusion 15
Is preferably provided. The reason for the height range is that when the height is small, it is difficult to obtain a reliable blocking property and strong fixing, and when the height is large, the adsorbent 12 is deformed or cracked. The position is preferably provided so as to be near the center of the thickness of the adsorbent 12. The same effect can be obtained when the triangular projections 15 are similarly provided on the plane portion of the cap with holes 7. Therefore, it is preferable to provide the triangular projections 15 on the cap with holes 7 as much as possible.

In the case of multi-stage treatment using a plurality of water treatment materials using the adsorbent 12 and the hollow fiber membrane 6, it is necessary to sequentially pass water through each water treatment material without short-circuiting.
Is bonded and fixed to the hollow fiber membrane case 5 to prevent raw water from flowing into the hollow fiber membrane 6 without passing through the adsorbent 12. As the bonding method, an ultrasonic welding method having low cost and strong adhesiveness is preferable.

A slit cylinder 10 having a slit hole for collecting water on the peripheral wall and having a function of maintaining the shape of the adsorbent 12 is provided substantially at the center of the interior of the adsorbent 12, and substantially at the center of the disc-shaped holed cap 7. It is protruded. In addition, in the slit cylinder 10,
In order to prevent the adsorbent fine powder from being mixed into the purified water, a cylindrical plastic mesh 9 is formed by insert molding using a conventional method. As the type of the mesh 9, a 100-200 mesh made of plastic such as nylon or Tetron, which is thin, has high strength, has good moldability, and is inexpensive, is preferable. The reason for the mesh range is that if the mesh size is too small, the pressure loss increases and the flow rate decreases, and clogging tends to occur. The shape of the slit and the thickness of the cylinder are not particularly limited, and can be appropriately designed and used.

Since the vertical hole inside the adsorbent 12 is a hollow place, water or air easily accumulates, so it is necessary to devise a structure. In this embodiment, the vertical hole has a small diameter of about 5 to 10 mm. If the diameter is too large, the amount of accumulation will increase, and the amount of the adsorbent will decrease, resulting in a decrease in performance. Is preferably set in this range. The present invention has an advantage that water or air is easily discharged therefrom because the volume of the pool portion is small and the tube is communicated so that the position is close to the water outlet 2. This is effective in preventing bacteria from becoming a breeding place.
When activated carbon or the like is used to remove residual chlorine contained in water for sterilization, it is more effective.

As the adsorbent 12, for the purpose of removing residual chlorine, conventionally used water treatment materials such as powder, granules, and solid calcium sulfite, activated carbon, and vitamin C may be used. It is preferable to use block-shaped or fibrous shaped activated carbon which has excellent performance in molding / assembling processability and also functions as a filter. The size, performance, and life can be appropriately designed and used. The bulk specific gravity is preferably set to 0.2 to 0.25 g / cm3. The reason is that if the amount is too large, the pressure loss increases, the flow rate decreases, and clogging tends to occur. If the amount is small, the adsorption performance decreases due to the decrease in the filling amount.

On the outer surface of the adsorbent 12, a plastic nonwoven fabric such as PET which is conventionally used is used for the purpose of protecting against friction and impact during transportation, preventing scattering of the adsorbent fine powder, and improving the filter function. 11 is preferably attached.

The size of the water purification cartridge 1 is an easy-to-handle size, and the practical area of the cartridge tube cross-section is 4 to 4 so that the built-in faucet and shower head body are not too thick or too long. 10
cm2 (equivalent to 23-35mm in diameter), length 7-11c
m is preferable. In this embodiment, the diameter is 3 cm,
That is, since the cross-sectional area is set to about 7 cm 2 and the length is set to about 10 cm, it can be suitably incorporated into a commonly used faucet or shower head body.

FIG. 3 shows the water purification cartridge 1 shown in FIGS.
It is a schematic diagram in the case of taking out the wall-mounted type faucet 30 as an example of a device in which is detachably incorporated. In the drawing, the water purification cartridge 1 can be attached and detached by turning the faucet front part 31 counterclockwise to remove it from the faucet rear part 32, and pulling out the water purification cartridge 1 from the faucet front part 31. Should be performed. The method and structure of the water purification cartridge 1 are not particularly limited, and may be appropriately designed and used.

The flow of water is as indicated by the arrow in the figure, and the raw water flowing from the faucet root 33 passes through a raw water passage 35 having a gap of about 1 to 2 mm between the faucet rear part 32 and the water purification cartridge 1. After flowing into the adsorbent 12 of the water purification cartridge 1 and passing through the inside thereof, it flows into the hollow fiber membrane 6, where it is filtered and becomes purified water. Is discharged downward from the purified water outlet 34 through the space. If the width of the raw water passage 35 is too large, the filling amount of the water treatment material is reduced and the performance is deteriorated. Since it becomes insufficient, it is preferable to set the above range.

When the water purification cartridge 1 of the present invention is incorporated, the gap between the adsorbent 12 and the main body can be used as a water passage as it is, so that the raw water passage 3 reaching the adsorbent 12 can be used.
5 can secure a wide space, so that the raw water sufficiently flows in the raw water passage 35 to fill the space and to adsorb the adsorbent 12.
And water is passed from the periphery of the adsorbent 12 toward the center, so that the flow of water becomes uniform, the performance of the entire adsorbent 12 is sufficiently exhibited, and excellent effects are exhibited in terms of performance.
Further, even if the water pressure is high, since there is a long and wide space, water is dispersed without flowing locally, and water is passed through the entire adsorbent 12, so that good performance is exhibited.

A water tap 3 incorporating the water purification cartridge 1 of the present invention.
The material of 0 may be bronze, brass, engineering plastic, or the like, which is conventionally used, and is not particularly limited. Also, the shape and structure are not limited to the present embodiment, and may be designed and used as appropriate according to the purpose. As for the thickness, it is important to set the thickness so that it will not be too thick to make the design clunky, obstructive to water work, and difficult to grasp, making it difficult to use. In other words, from a practical point of view, the area of the cross section of the cartridge cylinder is
In the case of 0 cm 2 (equivalent to a diameter of 35 mm), the cross-sectional area of the faucet 30 is about 2 mm for the raw water passage 35 and 2 m for the body thickness.
It is preferable to set the length to about m and at most about 14.5 cm 2 or less.

In consideration of further enhancement of the function of the faucet 30, a switching valve mechanism for switching discharge water to purified water or raw water, a hot water control valve mechanism for preventing hot water from entering the water purification cartridge 1,
It is preferable to add a water draining mechanism or the like for draining accumulated water in the faucet 30. In addition, what is necessary is just to use those used for the conventional water purifier as these mechanisms.

In this embodiment, a water faucet is taken as an example of a device in which the water purification cartridge 1 is detachably mounted.
The present invention can be suitably used for a water purifying shower head, a portable water purifier, a gripping bar type water purifier or the like having a small cross-sectional area and requiring compactness.

[0031]

According to the water purifying cartridge of the first aspect of the present invention, the outer case having a large thickness is not formed as a housing of the water purifying cartridge, and the internal water passage is not provided. Since it is compact and is not constrained by the pressure-resistant cylindrical structure, the cross-sectional shape can be appropriately adjusted to the instrument to be incorporated. Furthermore, it has a high-performance hollow fiber membrane and allows water to flow from the periphery to the center of the adsorbent, so that the flow of water is even and the performance of the entire adsorbent is fully exhibited. On the other hand, since the gap between the adsorbent and the built-in appliance body can be used as a water passage as it is, there is an advantage that the raw water passage leading to the adsorbent has a long and wide space. In addition, since the vertical hole inside the adsorbent is a small-diameter vertically long tube, there is an advantage that a water pool volume is small, and water or air is easily released because the tube is communicated in a direction in which the position is close to the water outlet.

[0032] According to the water purification cartridge according to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the water purification cartridge according to the first aspect, since both ends of the adsorbent are not bonded and fixed to the container with an adhesive, a great amount of bonding is required. Manufacturing costs can be saved, while
From the environmental point of view, it is possible to disassemble the water purification cartridge, take out the adsorbent, and reuse or separate and discard it.

According to the water purification cartridge of the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the water purification cartridge of the first and second aspects,
Furthermore, since a cheap and thin mesh is formed into a cylindrical shape and used instead of an expensive and thick nonwoven fabric, a large production cost can be saved. On the other hand, from the performance point of view, clogging is caused by a turbid component contained in raw water. It is unlikely that the flow rate will drop in a short period of time.

According to the water purification cartridge of the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the water purification cartridge of the first to third aspects,
Further, since the adsorbent is formed of block-shaped or fibrous shaped activated carbon, it has high performance, is excellent in molding and assembling processability, and can add a function as a filter.

[0035] According to the water purification cartridge of the fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the water purification cartridge of the fourth aspect, a high level of adsorption performance is developed while securing an appropriate pressure loss and low clogging. It is possible.

[0036] According to the water purification cartridge of claim 6 of the present invention, in addition to the water purification cartridge of claims 1 to 5,
Furthermore, a high-performance hollow fiber of a size that is easy to handle and can be installed without greatly increasing the size of a main body such as a commonly used faucet and shower head without impairing convenience, and which has not been conventionally equipped. A water purification cartridge having a membrane can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of a water purification cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of parts of the embodiment of the water purification cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a water faucet of an embodiment in a device incorporating the water purification cartridge of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a faucet with a shower head according to an embodiment in a device incorporating a conventional water purification cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Water Purification Cartridge 2 Water Outlet 3 Packing 4 Bottom Cover 5 Hollow Fiber Membrane Case 6 Hollow Fiber Membrane 7 Cap with Hole 8 Water Flow Hole 9 Mesh 10 Slit Tube 11 Nonwoven Fabric 12 Adsorbent 13 Cap 14 Mating Portion 15 Triangular Projection 16 Adsorption Material unit 30 faucet 31 faucet front part 32 faucet rear part 33 faucet base 34 purified water outlet 35 raw water passage 40 water purification cartridge 41 shower faucet with faucet 42 adsorbent 43 container inner front end 44 container inner rear end 45 nonwoven fabric

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2D060 CD09 4D006 GA07 HA02 HA91 JA19A JA19C JA25A JA25C KA01 KB12 MA01 MB02 PA01 PB06 PB22 PB24 PC52 4D024 AA02 AB07 AB11 BA02 BB02 BB05 BC01 CA04 CA13 DB05

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A water purifying cartridge having a water inlet and a water outlet, in which an adsorbent and a hollow fiber membrane are arranged in the middle thereof, wherein the tubular hollow fiber membrane having both ends opened is filled. A hollow fiber membrane case, and an adsorbent unit filled with the adsorbent, which is formed in a cylindrical shape and has a water passage therein so that water flows inward from the outside, wherein the adsorbent unit is A cap with holes is provided so that one end face of the hollow fiber membrane case is supported in a watertight manner, and a cap is provided in the other end face so as to be supported in a watertight manner, and the side of the cap with a hole is connected to the hollow fiber membrane case connection. It is arranged to be on the side,
The cap with a hole and the cap are connected via a slit tube passing through a water passage inside the adsorbent, and the hollow fiber membrane case and the adsorbent unit each have substantially the same cross-sectional area and are connected in series. A water purification cartridge characterized by being provided in a watertight manner. 2. The water purification cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the adsorbent is fixed between the cap and the cap with holes without using an adhesive. 3. The water purification cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the slit cylinder is formed by insert molding a plastic mesh. 4. The water purification cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the adsorbent is a block-shaped or fibrous shaped activated carbon. 5. The adsorbent has a bulk specific gravity of 0.2 to 0.25.
purification cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the g / cm ^3. 6. The water purification cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the length of the cartridge is 7 to 11 cm, and the area of a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is 4 to 10 cm ² .