JP2005238187A - Water purification cartridge, method for manufacturing the same, and water purifier comprising water purification cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water purification cartridge, which has a high level of water filtration performance and, at the same time, has low resistance to water permeation, and is less likely to cause clogging, and to provide a method for manufacturing the water purification cartridge and a water purifier comprising the water purification cartridge. <P>SOLUTION: In this water purification cartridge, a fibrous filter medium comprising fibers arranged in a central axis direction of a cylindrical vessel and having a fibrous filter medium thickness in the central axis direction of not less than 3 mm and less than 10 mm is disposed within a cylindrical vessel. This water purification cartridge has excellent performance, that is, has a high level of filtration performance and is less likely to cause clogging. The water purification cartridge having the above excellent performance can be manufactured by packing the fibrous filter medium in the cylindrical vessel in such a manner that the fibrous filter medium is compressed in a compression ratio of 0.1 to 5% in the radial direction of the cylindrical vessel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a water purification cartridge excellent in water purification performance, a method for producing the same, and a water purifier equipped with the same.

  Water purifiers are known for removing substances that impair the taste of water such as chlorine and musty odors in tap water, heavy metals such as lead, and harmful substances such as trihalomethanes and agricultural chemicals. Conventionally, adsorbents such as activated carbon have been widely used as filter media for removing these substances.

  Adsorbents are often used in the form of granules, but the performance of the adsorbent is better as the specific surface area is larger, so a water purifier using a filter medium whose shape is fibrous is known ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

However, since the fibrous filter medium has a high bulk density, the volumetric efficiency becomes poor if it is not used after being compressed. On the other hand, if it is used after being compressed, the resistance to the passage of water is increased, and the suspension is formed at the site where the fibers are entangled. It was likely to be trapped and easily clogged.
JP 2002-177951 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a water purification cartridge having high filtration performance, low resistance to passage of water, and hardly clogging, a method for producing the same, and a water purifier provided with the water purification cartridge.

  That is, the first gist of the present invention is a water purification cartridge in which fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of a cylindrical container, and a fibrous filter medium having a thickness in the direction of 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is arranged inside the cylindrical container. It is.

  The second gist of the present invention is that a fibrous filter medium in which fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container and the thickness in the direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is 0.1 in the radial direction of the cylindrical container. A method for producing a water purification cartridge that compresses at a compression rate of ˜5% and fills the inside of the cylindrical container.

  The third gist of the present invention is a water purifier to which the water purification cartridge is detachably connected.

  According to the water purification cartridge of the present invention and the water purifier provided with the same, since the fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container and the thickness of the direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm, the fibrous filter medium is used. In addition to improving the ability to remove a substance to be removed, the resistance of the fibrous filter medium to water passage can be reduced, and clogging can be prevented.

  According to the method for producing a water purification cartridge of the present invention, a fibrous filter medium in which fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container and the thickness in the direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is reduced to 0 in the radial direction of the cylindrical container. Compressed at a compression ratio of 1 to 5% and filled into the cylindrical container, so that the resistance to water passage of the fibrous filter medium is not excessively increased and it is difficult to clog. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of the water purification cartridge of the present invention.

  The water purification cartridge 1 is configured by filling a fibrous filter medium 3 inside a cylindrical container 2. In the present invention, the fibrous filter medium 3 has fibers oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container, and the thickness in that direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm. In the water purification cartridge 1, water flows in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical container.

  To orient the fibers of the fibrous filter medium 3 in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical container means that the fiber axis direction of the fibers constituting the fibrous filter medium 3 is approximately aligned with the central axis direction of the cylindrical container. Say. At this time, it is not always necessary that the fiber axes of all the fibers are completely oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container, and the fiber axes of some of the fibers intersect the central axis direction of the cylindrical container. It may be arranged as follows.

  In a fibrous filter medium, when fibers are randomly entangled three-dimensionally, there are many points where the fibers cross each other on a specific surface in the direction of water passage. And clogging due to the accumulation of suspended matter is likely to occur.

  On the other hand, when the fibers are oriented in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical container as in the present invention, there are few points where the fibers cross each other on a specific surface in the water passage direction, so that suspended substances are captured by the surface The clogging is less likely to occur, and the resistance to water passage can be reduced.

  If the thickness of the fibrous filter medium 3 of the present invention in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical container is too thin, sufficient contact time between water and the filter medium cannot be secured, and thus the filtration performance may be insufficient. On the other hand, if the thickness is too thick, resistance to water passage increases, and the filtration flow rate may not be ensured in a place where the water pressure is low.

  Therefore, the thickness of the fibrous filter medium 3 needs to be 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm, preferably 5 to 9.7 mm, more preferably 6 to 9 mm, and still more preferably 7 to 8 mm.

  The type of the fibrous filter medium 3 may be set according to the type of substance to be removed. For example, fibrous activated carbon, ion exchange fiber, chelate fiber, or the like can be used. In particular, when heavy metals such as lead are to be removed, the use of ion exchange fibers can improve removal performance per unit volume compared to the case of using a granular ion exchange resin having a general particle size. Therefore, it is preferable.

  The fibrous filter medium 3 may be used by mixing a plurality of fibrous filter media. For example, when a fibrous filter medium 3 in which ion exchange fibers and fibrous activated carbon are mixed is used, a water purification cartridge having excellent heavy metal removal performance and improved removal performance of trihalomethane, agricultural chemicals and the like can be obtained. The mixing ratio may be determined according to the object to be removed and the respective removal capacities, but when the mass ratio of ion exchange fiber: fibrous activated carbon is 30:50 to 50:30, the balance of the respective removal capacities is improved. Therefore, it is preferable.

  In order to orient the direction of the fiber axis of the fibrous filter medium 3 and to have the above-described thickness, the handleability is improved when the fibrous filter medium 3 is formed into a molded body and then filled into the cylindrical container 2. Therefore, it is preferable. As the molding method, for example, a molded body can be obtained by a method in which a heat-sealing fiber is mixed as a binder with fibers of a filter medium and then heated.

  The shape of the molded body is preferably a disc shape in accordance with the shape of the cylindrical container 2, but may be other shapes such as a donut shape.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the water purification cartridge 1 can be filled with a granular filter medium 4 in addition to the fibrous filter medium 3. Thus, it is preferable to use the fibrous filter medium 3 and the granular filter medium 4 together because various types of filter medium can be filled in accordance with the substance to be removed.

The type of the particulate filter medium 4 is not particularly limited, and powdered activated carbon, granular activated carbon, molecular adsorption resin, zeolite, molecular sieve, chelate resin, ion exchange resin, calcium sulfite, coral sand, barleystone, Ioishi stone, tourmaline, etc. are used. can do. Two or more of these can also be used.
The granular filter medium 4 is preferably granular activated carbon because many substances can be removed.

  When the fibrous filter medium 3 and the granular filter medium 4 are used in combination, if the filling amount is determined only from the viewpoint of the respective removal performances, there is a possibility that the pressure loss increases and water flow becomes difficult. It is preferable to adjust.

  As the water flow resistance of the fibrous filter medium 3 and the granular filter medium 4, when the water flow resistance of the fibrous filter medium 3 is set to 1, the flow resistance of the granular filter medium 4 is set to 5 to 70. The balance of removal capability and the overall pressure loss are in the preferred range. Moreover, when the water flow resistance of the fibrous filter medium 3 is 1, it is more preferable to set the water flow resistance of the granular filter medium 4 to be 10-50, and when the water resistance of the fibrous filter medium 3 is 1, More preferably, the water resistance of the granular filter medium 4 is set to 20 to 40.

The mass per volume occupied by the fibrous filter medium 3, when the 0.1~0.25g / cm ^3, preferably the balance is improved removal capability and the pressure loss, 0.16~0.22g / cm ³ More preferably.

Mass per volume particulate filter medium 4 is occupied, when 0.45~0.65g / cm ^3, preferably the balance is improved removal capability and the pressure loss, be 0.50~0.58g / cm ³ Is more preferable.
Moreover, the particle size of the granular filter medium 4 is preferably 120 μm to 1300 μm, and more preferably 150 μm to 450 μm.

  When the fibrous filter medium 3 is filled into the cylindrical container 2, the fibrous filter medium 3 in which the fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container 2 and the thickness in the direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is used. After compressing in the radial direction of 2 at a compression rate of 0.1 to 5%, the fibrous filter medium 3 is filled into the cylindrical container 2 by filling.

  The compression rate referred to here is the compression of the fibrous filter medium 3 by compressing the fibrous filter medium 3 with respect to the radial length of the cylindrical container 2 in a natural state before the fibrous filter medium 3 is compressed. The ratio of the length contracted in the radial direction.

By setting the compression rate to 0.1 to 5%, it is possible to prevent a gap from being generated between the outer peripheral portion of the fibrous filter medium 3 and the inner wall of the cylindrical container 2, and to the water passage of the fibrous filter medium 3 An increase in resistance can be prevented.
The compression ratio is more preferably 1 to 3%.

When the granular filter medium 4 is used in combination, first, the granular filter medium 4 is filled in the cylindrical container, and then the fibrous filter medium 3 is filled. Further, a force of 10 to 300 N is applied to the fibrous filter medium 3 in the center of the cylindrical container 2. When applied in the axial direction, it is preferable because a gap is generated in the filling space of the granular filter medium 4, and water can be prevented from short-passing through the gap to reduce the filter medium performance.
The force applied to the fibrous filter medium 3 is more preferably 50 to 200N, and even more preferably 75 to 150N.

  It is preferable to fill the granular filter medium 4 while vibrating the cylindrical container 2 because the packing density can be increased.

  When the granular filter medium 4 is used, it is preferable that a partition member 5 that can prevent passage of the granular filter medium 4 such as a mesh or a sintered body is disposed in the cylindrical container 2 to prevent leakage of the granular filter medium 4.

  In addition, although a partition member can also be arrange | positioned between the granular filter medium 4 and the fibrous filter medium 3, since the fibrous filter medium 3 can prevent the granular filter medium 4 from leaking, as shown in FIG. It is not necessary to arrange a partition member between the fibrous filter medium 3.

  As shown in FIG. 1, since the fibrous filter medium 3 is arranged at the end of the cylindrical container 2 on the water inflow side, each filter medium does not leak from the cylindrical container 2. A partition member 6 may be further arranged at the end of the container 2. Since this partition member 6 is not preferable if the water flow resistance is too large, when the water flow resistance of the fibrous filter medium 3 is 1, the water flow resistance of the partition member 6 is 0.2 to 0.75. It is preferable to set.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, it is preferable to arrange a hollow fiber membrane 7 in the water purification cartridge 1 because bacteria and the like can be removed. The material of the hollow fiber membrane 7 is not particularly limited, but is cellulose, polyolefin (polyethylene, polypropylene), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinyl alcohol, ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyether, poly Examples include various materials such as methyl methacrylate (PMMA), polysulfone, polyacrylonitrile, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polycarbonate, polyester, polyamide, and aromatic polyamide.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a water purifier to which the water purification cartridge 1 of the present invention is detachably connected.
This water purifier is composed of a flow path switching unit 9 having a faucet mounting portion 10 connected to a faucet of a water supply and a cartridge housing cylinder portion 8 for housing the water purification cartridge 1.
The tap water is introduced from the raw water receiving port 11 into the flow path switching unit 9 by being connected to the tap of the tap at the tap mounting portion 10. The introduced tap water is connected to a raw water discharge port (not shown) for discharging tap water as it is without purifying it by operating the flow path switching lever 13 and the cartridge storage cylinder portion 8 to connect the cartridge storage cylinder portion. The water is selectively switched to the raw water supply section 12 that sends the raw water to the water.
The tap water sent from the raw water feed section is introduced into the storage cylinder section 8 and flows into the clean water cartridge 1 from the partition member 6.
The tap water that has flowed into the water purification cartridge 1 passes through the fibrous filter medium 3, the granular filter medium 4, and the hollow fiber membrane 7 in order, is filtered, and is discharged from the purified water discharge port 13 as purified water.

  The embodiment of the faucet direct connection type water purifier has been described as an example of the embodiment of the present invention. A type water purifier may be used.

It is typical sectional drawing which shows an example of the water purification cartridge of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the water purifier of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water purification cartridge 2 Cylindrical container 3 Fibrous filter medium 4 Granular filter medium 5 Partition member 6 Partition member 7 Hollow fiber membrane 8 Storage cylinder part 9 Flow path switching part 10 Faucet attachment part 11 Raw water inlet 12 Raw water supply part 13 Purified water discharge outlet

Claims (4)

  A water purification cartridge in which fibers are oriented in a central axis direction of a cylindrical container, and a fibrous filter medium having a thickness in the direction of 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is arranged inside the cylindrical container.   A fibrous filter medium in which the fibers are oriented in the central axis direction of the cylindrical container and the thickness in the direction is 3 mm or more and less than 10 mm is compressed at a compression rate of 0.1 to 5% in the radial direction of the cylindrical container. And the manufacturing method of the water purification cartridge with which the inside of this cylindrical container is filled.   After filling the inside of the cylindrical container with the granular filter medium, the fibrous filter medium is filled into the inside of the cylindrical container, and further, a force of 10 to 300 N is applied to the central axis of the cylindrical container against the fibrous filter medium. The manufacturing method of the water purification cartridge of Claim 2 applied to a direction.   A water purifier to which the water purification cartridge according to claim 1 is detachably connected.

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