JP2007313501A5 - - Google Patents

Description

Water purifier

The present invention includes an outer case having an inlet for flowing raw water into one end surface, an outer case having an outlet for flowing purified water at the other end surface, and an inner case accommodated in the outer case, and is disposed on the outer peripheral surface side. A cylindrical filter medium filling portion disposed between the outer filter and the inner filter disposed on the inner peripheral surface side, and a collecting flow path provided on the inner peripheral side of the inner filter in the inner case. It relates to the water purifier provided .

  As such a water purifier, there is known a water purifier including a water purifying cartridge that is purified by the raw water flowing in from an inflow port passing through a filter material filling portion in a radial direction (see Patent Document 1).

  And by using such a water purifier, raw water can be purified with a shorter filtration length compared to the case where it passes through the filter medium filling part in the axial direction, so a fine filter medium can be used for the filter medium, and the water purification performance is improved. Can be improved.

Furthermore, in said water purifier, since an elastic body is arrange | positioned at the inflow port side end surface of a filter medium, since consolidation of a filter medium filling part can be accelerated, water purification performance can be improved.
JP 2001-212555 A (FIG. 1)

However, in the conventional water purifier as shown in FIG. 7 , a dead space 72 in which water stops stays in the water purifying cartridge 6 of the water purifier due to the lid portion 78 having no water permeability. That is, since the purified water whose chlorine has been removed and the sterilizing effect has decreased is stagnated in the dead space 72 and becomes water-stopping, there is a possibility that the bacteria breeding risk in the water purifier may increase, so that bacteria are likely to breed. If the user uses the above water purifier without throwing away water in summer or after not using the water purifier for a long time, it is not preferable in terms of hygiene management and there is room for improvement.

  This invention is made | formed in view of said subject, The objective exists in the point which provides the water purifier which can supply safe drinking water by a user.

A water purifier according to the present invention for achieving the above-described object includes an outer case having an inflow port through which raw water flows into one end surface and an outflow port through which purified water flows out to the other end surface, and an inner case housed in the outer case. A cylindrical filter medium filling portion disposed between an outer filter disposed on the outer peripheral surface side and an inner filter disposed on the inner peripheral surface side, and an inner peripheral side of the inner filter A collecting flow path provided in the inner case, and the raw water passes through the filter medium filling portion in a radial direction between the outer flow path provided on the outer peripheral side of the outer filter and the collecting flow path. A water purifier to be purified, the characteristic configuration is provided in the inner case an opening capable of passing water in the axial direction of the filter material filling portion, and the raw water is guided from the opening to the filter material filling portion, It exists in the point which guides the obtained purified water to the said outlet . This configuration can be used for water purifiers such as faucet direct-coupled water purifiers and countertop water purifiers.

  According to the above characteristic configuration, by providing the opening that allows water to flow in the axial direction of the filter medium filling portion, it is possible to maintain the state in which the raw water flows through the filling gap generated on the raw water inlet side in the axial direction of the filter medium filling portion. Therefore, the dead space in which the water stop stays can be eliminated, and the risk of bacterial propagation can be reduced.

  In addition, the conventional structure does not allow water to pass through, so the filter medium specific part that could not exhibit a sufficient water purification function (the axial part of the filter medium filling part on the side where the opening is provided in the present invention) On the other hand, when the water is passed in the axial direction, the specific part of the filter medium can be used effectively. Furthermore, since water pressure is applied to the filter medium filling part in the axial direction from the opening, consolidation to the filter medium filling part can be accelerated, so that water purification performance can be improved.

  A further characteristic configuration of the water purifier according to the present invention resides in that the opening is provided on the outlet side, and the outer peripheral flow path has a U-shaped configuration and communicates with the opening. .

  According to the above characteristic configuration, by providing the opening on the outlet side, the outer peripheral flow path has a structure that is bent in a U-shape and communicates with the opening. It is possible to eliminate the dead space where the water stoppage has been stagnated, reduce the risk of bacterial propagation, and suppress the deterioration of the water purification performance.

  The further characteristic structure of the water purifier which concerns on this invention exists in the point which the said raw | natural water passes the said filter material filling part in the radial inner direction which goes to the said collection flow path from the outer peripheral side of the said outer filter.

  According to the above characteristic configuration, since the flow path is formed from the outer side to the inner side of the water purification cartridge, the raw water is caused to flow from the outer peripheral flow path having a wide cross section on the outer peripheral side to the collective flow path having a lower cross section on the inner peripheral side. Can demonstrate sufficient water purification performance. Moreover, the stability of the structure of the water purification cartridge is improved because the flow path is directed to the axis, and the possibility of water leakage and the like can be reduced.

  The further characteristic structure of the water purifier which concerns on this invention exists in the point which has arrange | positioned the 1st filter which can permeate | transmit water to the said opening part.

  According to the above characteristic configuration, while allowing water to pass through the first filter, it is possible to prevent, for example, foreign matters having a relatively large particle diameter from reaching and accumulating in the filter medium filling part, and the filter medium from the filter medium filling part. It is possible to prevent leakage to the outside.

  A further characteristic configuration of the water purifier according to the present invention is that, between the opening and the filter medium filling unit, a second filter having a lower water permeability than an inflow side filter of the inner filter or the outer filter is used as the filter medium. It exists in the point arrange | positioned so that sliding to the axial direction of a filling part is possible.

  According to the above characteristic configuration, the second filter with low water permeability is pressed and slid in the axial direction by the water pressure due to the inflow of raw water at the opening of the filter medium filling section to accelerate the consolidation of the filter medium filling section. Therefore, water purification performance can be improved. In addition, by providing the second filter, the end surface of the filter medium filling portion in the opening is strongly pressed compared to a structure not provided with the filter, so that consolidation is accelerated. To do. Further, channeling in which a large amount of water flows only in a specific portion of the passage can be suppressed, and a constant water quality can be maintained. Furthermore, the end face of the filter medium filling part can be pressed uniformly, and the end face is kept horizontal with respect to the axial direction, so that the filtration length can be kept constant in any flow path, and the water quality is always constant. Can be maintained. Furthermore, since the second filter has a structure that allows water to pass therethrough, it is possible to prevent bacteria from breeding by providing a structure that always allows water to flow through the filling gap.

  The further characteristic structure of the water purifier which concerns on this invention exists in the point which has arrange | positioned the raw material which a volume expand | swells by water flow between the said opening part and the said filter material filling part.

  According to the above characteristic configuration, the water is passed through a material such as a dry ion exchange resin or a water-absorbent resin (hereinafter referred to as an expanded material) whose volume is expanded by passing water, so that the volume is expanded and the filling gap is filled. Since the consolidation of the filling portion is accelerated, the water purification performance can be improved. Further, by separating the filter medium and the expansion material, the filtration performance can be maintained higher than in the case of mixing the expansion material in the filter medium, so that the water purification performance can be improved.

  A further characteristic configuration of the water purifier according to the present invention is a filtration length in which the filter medium filling part is filtered through the opening in the axial direction, and the filter medium filling part is filtered in the radial direction. It is at a point longer than the filtration length.

  According to the said characteristic structure, even if it is the raw | natural water which passed the filter-medium filling part to the axial direction, the water quality equivalent to the case where it passed by radial direction can be ensured. That is, since the filter medium in the filter medium filling portion is configured to flow, the inlet end surface from the axial direction does not maintain a plane perpendicular to the axis, and the filtration length depends on the position of the end surface into which the raw water flows. When the raw water passes through the filter medium filling part in the axial direction by arranging the end face of the filter medium filling part so that the shortest possible filtration length in the axial direction is equal to or greater than the filtration length in the radial direction. Even so, it is possible to ensure a water quality equivalent to or higher than that when passing in the radial direction.

  The inventors detected from the discharge pipe when bacteria were intentionally propagated and passed through the dead space in the water purifier having the conventional structure and the structure part that conventionally formed the dead space in the water purifier having the present structure. The number of bacteria to be measured was measured. As a result, in the conventional structure, bacteria were continuously detected even after a lapse of time, whereas in the inventive structure of the present invention, an experimental result was obtained that the number of bacteria was not detected in about 10 seconds after passing water. From this result, by taking the structure of the present application, it was found that the inside of the water purifier can be made into an environment in which bacteria are difficult to propagate, and the water purifier can supply highly safe water to the user. The present invention is based on these findings.

[First Embodiment]
1st Embodiment of this invention is described based on drawing.

  The water purifier shown in FIG. 1 is configured as a counter top type water purifier installed on a kitchen counter, and water is supplied from the switching valve 2 connected to the faucet 1 and the water supply hose 3 from the switching valve 2. A water purifier body 4, a water purification cartridge 6 that filters the water received from the water purifier body 4, and a water purification discharge pipe 8 that guides and discharges the water filtered by the water purification cartridge 6 to the water purification outlet 81.

  In addition, although mentioned later for details, the said water purification cartridge 6 is provided with the inner case 62 accommodated in the outer case 61 and the outer case 61, and the internal flow path lets water flow, without water retaining. It is configured as follows.

  Further, the water purification cartridge 6 has a cylindrical shape in which an inflow port 60 that protrudes downward and communicates with the water supply passage 43 of the water purifier main body 4 and an outflow port 67 that protrudes upward and is connected integrally with a purified water discharge pipe 8 described later. An outer case 61 is provided, the water received in the inner case 62 from the water supply channel 43 of the water purifier body 4 through the inlet 60 is filtered, and the filtered purified water is supplied from the outlet 67 to the purified water discharge pipe 8. It is configured.

  The switching valve 2 is configured to supply the raw water received from the faucet 1 to the water purifier main body 4 through the water supply hose 3 and discharge the purified water from the purified water discharge port 81 by the swinging operation of the switching lever 2a. 1 is configured to be switched between a raw water discharge state in which raw water received from 1 is discharged from a raw water discharge port (not shown) and a shower state in which raw water received from the faucet 1 is discharged from a shower port (not shown).

  The water purifier main body 4 is provided with a cylindrical main body casing member 41 and a joint portion 42 provided below the main body casing member 41 to which the water supply hose 3 is connected. A water supply passage 43 through which water supplied from the water supply hose 3 flows is provided.

  Next, a structure in which the water purification cartridge 6 suppresses bacterial growth inside and improves water purification performance will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the cartridge casing 77, the water purification cartridge 6 includes an outer case 61 having an inflow port 60 through which raw water flows into one end surface and an outflow port 67 through which purified water flows out to the other end surface, and an inner case 62 housed in the outer case. It has. Then, the inner case 62 has an outer filter 64 capable of passing water on the outer peripheral side surface, a cylindrical filter medium filling portion 65 for purifying raw water inside the outer filter, and a water passage on the inner peripheral side surface of the filter medium filling portion 65. A possible inner filter 63 has a collecting channel 69 communicating with the outlet 67 in the inner filter 63, and an outer peripheral channel 68 is provided between the outer case 61 and the inner case 62. Further, the filter medium filling section 65 includes a water flow section 75 that allows water to flow in the radial direction from the side surface, an opening section 74 that can flow in the axial direction from the end face on the outlet 67 side, and a filter medium in the opening section 74. A first filter 96 for preventing outflow and a partition wall 66 on the inner side surface and the outer side surface on the outlet 67 side are provided. For the outer filter 63 and the inner filter 64, a net, a nonwoven fabric or the like is used.

  In addition to the flow path (a) in which the raw water supplied to the water purification cartridge 6 passes through the filter medium filling part 65 in the radial direction, a part of the raw water passes through the filter medium filling part 65 in the axial direction (b). Pass through. The raw water passing through the flow path (a) passes through the outer peripheral flow path 68 and passes through the filter medium filling section 65 from the water flow section 75 in the radial direction. On the other hand, the raw water passing through the flow path (b) does not pass through the water passage portion 65, passes through the outer peripheral flow path 68 toward the outlet 67, passes through the opening 74, and passes through the filter medium filling portion 65 in the axial direction.

By adopting the structure in which the flow path of (b) is formed, the dead space existing in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 7 is eliminated, and the risk of bacterial propagation due to the retention of water stoppage is reduced. Furthermore, also in the dead space formed in the space 73 on the outlet side in the outer peripheral flow path 68, the retention of the water stop is suppressed and a good flow path can be formed.

Further, the filtration length L2 of the channel (b) is configured to be longer than the filtration length L1 of the channel (a). By doing in this way, for example, even when the raw water inlet side end surface of the filter medium filling part 65 is not perpendicular to the axis, the shortest filtration length in the filter medium filling part 65 is always equal to or longer than the filtration length L1, The minimum filtration length can be maintained, and the quality of purified water can be maintained above a certain level.

As shown in FIG. 2, the water purification cartridge 6 may be configured so that raw water passes through the filter medium filling portion in the radially outward direction from the shaft center for purification. By adopting such a configuration, substantially the same operations and effects as described above can be obtained.
[Second Embodiment]
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In addition to the structure of the water purifier shown in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, the water purifier shown in FIG. 3 is more water-permeable than the outer filter 64 that is a filter on the inflow side between the opening 74 and the filter medium filling portion 65. The second filter 92 having a low height is slidable in the axial direction. A guide 93 is provided with respect to the partition 66, and the second filter 92 slides with the guide 93 along the partition 66 with the filter surface perpendicular to the axial direction. Further, a stopper 94 is provided on the side of the opening 74 of the guide 93 so that the axial sliding of the second filter 92 can be restricted within a certain range.

  When raw water flows in from the inflow port 60, the second filter 92 is subjected to a higher water pressure than the outer filter 64 because of water permeability, and the axial end surface of the raw water inflow port of the filter medium filling portion 65 is connected to the guide 93. Press along the line. On the other hand, when the inflow of the raw water stops, the second filter 92 is released from the water pressure and floats in a form of being restrained between the stopper 94 and the raw water inlet end face of the filter material filling unit 65.

  By taking such a structure, the consolidation of the filter medium filling part 65 is accelerated, and the end face of the filter medium filling part 65 is uniformly pressed. Due to the above effects, channeling in the filter medium filling portion 65 can be prevented. Furthermore, the filtration length can be maintained uniformly by the effect | action of a postscript, and the water quality more than a fixed level can be maintained also with the raw | natural water which passed any filtration path | route.

In addition, since the second filter 92 has a structure that allows water to pass therethrough, a structure in which the filling gap 72 in the conventional structure of FIG. 7 does not exist can be taken, so that an environment in which bacteria propagate can be prevented.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the structure of the water purifier shown in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, an inner filter 63 that is an inflow side filter is passed between the opening 74 and the filter material filling portion 65. You may comprise the 2nd filter 92 with low aqueous property provided with the form which can be slid with respect to an axial direction.
Third Embodiment A third embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

  In the water purifier shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the structure of the water purifier shown in FIG. 1 of the first embodiment, water is passed through the raw water inlet end face in the axial direction of the filter medium filling portion 65 on the downstream side of the opening 74. Thus, a material 95 whose volume expands is provided. A filter such as a net or a nonwoven fabric is provided as a stopper 96 on the opening 74 side of the material 95. The material 95 is made of dry ion exchange resin, water absorbent resin, or the like, and expands to the maximum volume in 1 to 2 seconds after passing water, and maintains the expanded form after expansion. However, even in this expanded state, the water permeability of the part is ensured to some extent.

  Regardless of whether or not the raw water is flowing, the structure as described above is always in a state where the consolidation of the filter medium filling portion 65 is accelerated, so that the stability of the water purification performance can be improved. . Moreover, since the said raw material 95 presses uniformly the raw | natural water inlet end surface of the axial direction of the filter material filling part 65, the filtration length can be kept constant and the water quality of a certain level or more is maintained even in the raw water which passed any filtration channel | path. it can.

  As shown in FIG. 6, in addition to the configuration of the water purifier shown in FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, raw water may flow from the collecting channel 69 to the flow opening 74 in the radially outward direction.

In the water purifier of the present invention, the water purification cartridge 6 may be integrated with the water purifier, or may have a structure in which only the water purification cartridge 6 can be replaced.

  The water purifier according to the present invention is installed, for example, next to a sink on a kitchen counter in each home, and can be effectively used as a water purifier that can supply safe drinking water by a user.

Side sectional view which shows schematic structure of water purifier 1 is a side sectional view of the water purification cartridge having a structure in which the collecting flow path and the opening communicate with each other in the water purification cartridge of FIG. Side cross-sectional view of a water purification cartridge with a filter at the opening 3 is a side sectional view of the water purification cartridge having a structure in which the collecting flow path and the opening communicate with each other in the water purification cartridge of FIG. 3. Side cross-sectional view of a water purification cartridge with a structure that expands its volume by passing water 5 is a side sectional view of the water purification cartridge having a structure in which the collecting flow path and the opening communicate with each other in the water purification cartridge of FIG. Side sectional view which shows schematic structure of the conventional water purifier

60: Inflow port 61: Outer case 62: Inner case 63: Inner filter 64: Outer filter 65: Filter medium filling part 67: Outlet 68: Outer peripheral channel 69: Collective channel 72: Filling gap 73: Flow in the outer peripheral channel Outlet side space 74: opening 92: second filter 95: material 96 whose volume is expanded by water flow 96: first filter

Claims (7)

An inlet for flowing raw water into one end surface, an outer case having an outlet for flowing purified water to the other end surface, and an inner case housed in the outer case,
A cylindrical filter medium filling portion disposed between an outer filter disposed on the outer peripheral surface side and an inner filter disposed on the inner peripheral surface side, and a collective flow provided on the inner peripheral side of the inner filter A purified water in which the raw water is purified by passing the filter medium filling portion in a radial direction between an outer peripheral flow path provided on the outer peripheral side of the outer filter and the collecting flow path. A vessel,
The water purifier which provides the inner case with an opening capable of passing water in the axial direction of the filter medium filling part, guides the raw water from the opening to the filter medium filling part, and guides the obtained purified water to the outlet.   The water purifier according to claim 1, wherein the opening is provided on the outlet side, and the outer peripheral flow path communicates with the opening in a U-shaped bent shape.   The water purifier according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the raw water passes through the filter medium filling portion in a radially inward direction from an outer peripheral side of the outer filter toward the collecting channel.   The water purifier according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a first filter capable of passing water is disposed in the opening.   Between the opening and the filter medium filling part, a second filter having a lower water permeability than the inflow side filter of the inner filter and the outer filter is disposed so as to be slidable in the axial direction of the filter medium filling part. The water purifier according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   The water purifier as described in any one of Claim 1 to 5 formed by arrange | positioning the raw material which a volume expand | swells by water flow between the said opening part and the said filter material filling part.   7. The filter according to claim 1, wherein a filtration length for passing and filtering the filter medium filling part in the axial direction through the opening is longer than a filtration length for passing and filtering the filter medium filling part in a radial direction. The water purifier according to one item.

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