JP2010220812A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To soften washing water without executing maintenance of a washing machine by a user, and to enhance washing performance of the washing machine. <P>SOLUTION: The washing machine includes a washing vessel 4 for storing a washed object, a water supply path 9 for supplying water to the washing vessel 4, and a water softening means 13 including a granular thermal regeneration type ion exchanger 17 in the midway of the water supply path 9, and is constituted to supply the water softened by the water softening means 13 to the washing vessel 4 to wash clothes, the ion exchanger is thereby regenerated by warm water, by using the thermal regeneration type ion exchanger 17 regeneratable by using a difference in ion adsorption equilibrium between temperatures, the washing water is softened without executing the maintenance by the user of feeding a regenerating agent into the washing machine, and the washing performance of the washing machine is enhanced, by this manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a washing machine that improves the washing performance of clothes using detergents for washing.

  Conventionally, in order to improve the washing performance of clothes, there is a technique of softening washing water using an ion exchange resin (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  A divalent cation such as calcium and magnesium as hardness components has a great influence on the detergency of the detergent. These react with the surfactant in the detergent to produce an insoluble metal soap, reducing the surfactant material contributing to cleaning and reducing the cleaning power. Therefore, the washing performance of the washing machine can be improved by removing the hardness component of the washing water.

  FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the water softening means of a washing machine to which the water softening technique described in the above publication is applied.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a container 60 for containing a cation exchange resin 31 for removing hardness components and a salt 62 for regenerating the ion exchange resin 31 is provided.

  The container 60 has a cylindrical shape, a water inlet 29a is formed in the lower part of the side peripheral surface, a discharge port 29b is formed in the middle part of the side peripheral surface, and a water pipe 60h for salt dissolution is formed in the upper part of the side peripheral surface. The conical outlet 29c is formed on the bottom surface. Further, a convex portion 60j is formed at the upper end of the side peripheral surface of the container 60, and the lid 61 is fixed in such a manner as to be fitted to the convex portion 60j. The lid 61 has an air hole 61b formed on the top surface thereof. The container 60 is fixed to the bottom surface of the rear storage box 28 so that the salt water discharge port 29c penetrates the bottom surface of the box.

  The inside of the container 60 is partitioned into an upper and lower first space and a second space by a partition wall 60d provided at a position slightly above the discharge port 29b. The first space above the partition wall 60d forms a salt storage space 60a, and the second space below the partition wall 60d is further divided into upper space 29g, middle space 29f, and lower space 29e by two upper and lower mesh filters 29d. It is partitioned into three spaces. The two mesh filters 29d are both provided above the water inlet 29a and below the outlet 29b.

  The intermediate space 29f is filled with an ion exchange resin 31. The partition wall 60d is formed with a through hole 60e penetrating from the salt storage space 60a to the upper space. Below this through hole 60e, a check valve 60f is arranged on the upper space 29g side. While the upper space 29g is filled with water, the through hole 60e is closed, and water is passed from the upper space 29g to the salt storage space 60a. Prevent inflow.

  In addition, a salt particle outflow prevention filter 60g is disposed on the salt storage space 60a side above the through hole 60e, and prevents salt particles from flowing out from the salt storage space 60a into the upper space 29g. The salt dissolving water injection pipe 60h has a discharge port located at an upper part in the salt storage space 60a and facing obliquely downward. The salt storage space 60a has a volume capable of storing one week of salt 62, about 200 g (seven times 29 g of salt required for one regeneration).

The salt storage space 60a is located above the upper surface of the rear storage box 28 so that the user can easily open and close the lid 61, and all or part of the surrounding wall surface is transparent. The salt 62 consumed by the regeneration of each ion exchange resin can be observed from the front surface of the washing machine.

  A tube 35, a ball valve 34a, and a salt water discharge tube 36 are connected to the salt water discharge port 29c in the same manner as described above. Further, the ball valve 34a is provided with a salt water discharge solenoid 40 via a connecting rod 34d. The ball valve 34a, the connecting rod 34d, and the salt water discharge solenoid 40 constitute a salt water discharge electromagnetic valve 39.

  The operation of the washing machine provided with the water softening means configured as described above will be described.

The washing water supplied to the washing tub is passed through the cation exchange resin 31 in the container 60, so that the exchange capacity is determined by ion exchange of calcium and magnesium in the water. If it becomes above, a hardness component will leak. For this reason, it is necessary to regenerate the cation exchange resin 31 before the amount of treated water exceeds the exchange capacity. Since the cation exchange resin 31 is a sodium ion exchange resin, it can be regenerated by passing a saline solution in which sodium chloride 62, which is sodium chloride, is dissolved as a regenerant. Therefore, when the user throws in the salt 62 and periodically regenerates the cation exchange resin 31 (for one week), the washing water is softened even for long-term use, and the washing performance of the washing machine is maintained. be able to.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-244585

  However, in the conventional configuration, the cation exchange resin 31 uses sodium-type ion exchange resin and is regenerated with the salt 62, so that the user of the washing machine periodically puts the salt 62 into the washing machine. There was a problem that it had to be put in and maintenance was required.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a washing machine capable of softening washing water without maintenance by a user of the washing machine and improving the washing performance of the washing machine. The purpose is to do. It is an object of the present invention to realize vibration detection that suppresses the influence even if the vibration level is offset by gravitational acceleration by appropriately selecting a code to be used according to the detected acceleration.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a washing machine of the present invention includes a washing tub for storing laundry, a water supply path for supplying water to the washing tub, and a heat-regenerative ion exchanger in the middle of the water supply path. By providing the water softening means and supplying the water softened by the water softening means to the washing tub and washing the clothes, heat that can be regenerated using the difference in ion adsorption equilibrium due to temperature By using a regenerative ion exchanger, it is possible to regenerate the ion exchanger with warm water, so that the user can soften the water for washing without the need for the user to put a regenerant into the washing machine. The washing performance of the washing machine can be improved.

  Since the washing machine of the present invention can regenerate the ion exchanger with warm water, the washing water can be softened without the maintenance of the user putting the regenerant into the washing machine. The cleaning performance can be improved.

1st invention provides the water softening means provided with the heat regeneration type | mold ion exchanger in the water supply path | route in the said water supply path | route, the water supply path | route which supplies water to the said washing tub, and the said water supply path | route, By using the heat-regenerative ion exchanger that can be regenerated using the difference in the adsorption equilibrium of ions depending on the temperature by supplying the softened water to the washing tub and washing the clothes. Since the ion exchanger can be regenerated with warm water, the user can soften the water for washing without the need for the user to put a regenerant into the washing machine and improve the washing performance of the washing machine. be able to.

  In the second invention, a heater is provided in the washing tub of the first invention, and hot water heated by the heater in the washing tub is introduced into the heat regeneration ion exchanger, so that the heat regeneration ion exchange is performed. By regenerating the body, it is possible to generate warm water for regeneration of the ion exchanger using a warm water washing heater, so there is no need to newly provide heating means for regeneration. It is not necessary to supply hot water from the outside of the machine, and the cost and size of the water softening means can be reduced.

  In the third invention, in particular, the washing tub and the water softening means of the second invention are connected to the water softening means by a regeneration water supply path, and a regeneration drainage path is connected to the water softening means. The warm water heated in step 1 is passed through the softening means via the regeneration water supply path to regenerate the heat regeneration type ion exchanger, so that the warm water is regenerated in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the washing water. Since water flows from the bottom to the top of the ion exchanger, the hardness component desorbed by regeneration at the peak can be drained without reacting with the unreacted heat-regenerative ion exchanger, so heat-regenerative ion exchange is efficiently performed. The body can be regenerated.

  In the fourth invention, since the heat regeneration type ion exchanger is regenerated by storing warm water for a certain period of time in the water softening means of the third invention in particular, the hardness component is desorbed with a certain amount of warm water. By draining the hardness component having a higher concentration than the running water condition, the heat-regenerative ion exchanger can be regenerated with a small amount of hot water, and water can be saved.

  In the fifth aspect of the present invention, in particular, in the third or fourth aspect of the invention, by providing a heat insulating material around the water softening means and the regeneration water supply path, it is possible to reduce the temperature drop of the warm water during regeneration. Therefore, the regeneration efficiency of the heat regeneration type ion exchanger can be improved.

  In the sixth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the invention described in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the deaeration unit is provided in the middle of the water supply path on the upstream side of the water softening unit. In order to prevent oxidative deterioration of the heat regenerative ion exchanger having an ion exchange group, it is possible to ensure long-term reliability of the water softening means.

  In a seventh aspect of the invention, in particular, in the invention described in any one of the first to sixth aspects, the heat-regenerative ion exchanger is produced by pulverizing and granulating a cation exchange resin and an anion exchange resin. As a result, the resin containing amphoteric ion-exchange groups can maintain the distance between the ion-exchange groups so as not to form an internal salt, so that it can be regenerated by the difference in ion adsorption equilibrium due to temperature. . Moreover, since it is granular, a large exchange capacity can be secured.

  According to an eighth aspect of the invention, in particular, in the invention according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the heat-regenerative ion exchanger is synthesized by modifying a cation exchange group and an anion exchange group using cellulose as a base material. In this way, the pressure loss is reduced and the flow rate can be secured. For this reason, since a water temperature fall can be prevented at the peak time by running warm water, regeneration of a heat regeneration type ion exchanger can be performed efficiently.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the present embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a washing machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the water softening means according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the washing machine main body 1 has a washing tub 4 including an outer tub 2 and an inner tub 3 that rotates in the outer tub 2. The inner tank 3 is configured so that the inner tank 3 can be rotated by the motor 5.

  One end of a drainage channel 6 is connected to the lower part of the outer tub 2, and a drain valve 7 is connected to the drainage channel 6 to drain the washing water in the outer tub 2.

  Water for washing is supplied to the washing tub 4 by connecting a water supply path 9 to the washing tub 4 through a water tap (not shown) and a water supply valve 8, and opening and closing the water supply valve 8.

  The inner tank 3 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape, and a large number of water passage holes communicating with the outer tank 2 are formed on the peripheral surface thereof, and baffles 10 are provided at a plurality of positions on the inner peripheral surface. A rotation axis is provided in a substantially inclined direction at the center of rotation of the inner tub 3, and the axial center direction of the inner tub 3 is inclined upward from the back side to the front side. A motor 5 attached to the rear side of the outer tub 2 is connected to the rotating shaft, and the inner tub 3 is rotationally driven in the forward and reverse directions.

  The laundry clothes are thrown into the washing machine by covering the opening provided in the upward inclined surface on the front side of the outer tub 2 with a lid 11 so that the lid 11 can be opened and closed. The laundry can be taken in and out. Since the lid 11 is provided on the inclined surface facing upward, the laundry can be taken in and out without bending the waist, and in general, the workability of the washing machine for taking in and out the laundry from the sideways opening is improved. is doing.

  A heater 12 is provided at the lower part of the washing machine 4. Usually, the washing water supplied to the washing tub 4 is heated by the heater 12 when washing clothes with warm water.

  A water softening means 13 is provided in the middle of the water supply path 9. Moreover, the lower part of the washing tub 4 and the lower part of the water softening means 13 are opened and connected by a reclaimed water supply path 14, and the warm water heated in the washing tub 4 is softened in the middle of the regenerated water supply path 14. A pump 15 is provided to supply 13.

  Moreover, the upper part of the water softening means 13 and the drainage channel 6 are opened and connected by the regeneration drainage path 16, and the hard water generated by the regeneration of the water softening means 13 can be discharged to the outside.

  Next, the water softening means 13 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the water softening means 13, a plurality of granular heat-regenerative ion exchangers 17 are accommodated in a casing 18. The upper and lower portions of the casing 18 are opened and connected to the water supply path 9, the regenerative water supply path 14, and the regenerative drainage path 16. The opening is provided with a filter 19 that holds the granular heat-regenerative ion exchanger 17 in the casing 18 and allows water to pass therethrough.

  The heat-regenerative ion exchanger 17 is manufactured by embedding a mixture of a weakly acidic ion exchange resin and a weakly basic ion exchange resin pulverized into fine particles into a matrix material and re-granulating. As another production method, a weakly basic ion exchange resin skeleton having macropores is prepared, a monomer that becomes a weakly acidic ion exchange resin is charged into the macropores, and then polymerized. It may be produced by introducing a group.

  Further, a heat insulating material 20 is provided around the casing 18 and the regenerative water supply path 14.

  An electromagnetic valve 21 is provided at the inlet of the water softening means 13 in the regenerative water supply path 14 so that the hardness component desorbed by the regeneration of the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17 flows into the washing tub by opening and closing. In addition to preventing it, it is pushed out into the regeneration drainage path 16 and drained to the outside.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1, the deaeration means 22 is provided in the upstream of the water softening means 13 of the water supply path 9, and the dissolved oxygen in water is removed.

  The operation of the washing machine configured as described above will be described below.

  When the power of the washing machine body 1 is turned on, the lid 11 is opened, clothes are put in, detergent is put in and the operation is started, the water supply valve 8 is opened and tap water is introduced into the water softening means 13 through the water supply path 9. In the water softening means 13, when water containing a hardness component comes into contact with the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17 accommodated in the casing 18, the weakly acidic ion exchange group of the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17 becomes positive for the hardness component. Ion exchange with calcium and magnesium ions. In addition, carbonate ions and sulfate ions, which are anions on the other side of calcium and magnesium, are ion-exchanged with weakly basic ion-exchange groups of the heat-regenerative ion exchanger 17. Therefore, on the outlet side of the water softening means 13, the water from which the hardness component has been removed is supplied into the washing tub 4 through the water supply path 9.

  Next, the inner tub 3 of the washing tub 4 is rotationally driven by the motor 5 to start the washing process. As the inner tub 3 rotates, the laundry stored in the washing tub 4 is lifted in a rotating direction by a baffle 10 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the inner tub 3, and agitated to fall from a lifted appropriate height position. Since the operation is repeated, the laundry has the effect of tapping and washing.

  Here, since the hardness component is removed from the washing water supplied into the washing tub 4 by the water softening means 13, it prevents the surfactant in the detergent from reacting to generate insoluble metal soap. be able to. Therefore, since the amount of the surfactant that contributes to cleaning is not reduced and the cleaning power is not reduced, the cleaning performance of the washing machine can be improved. Then, after the required washing time, the drain valve 7 is opened, the dirty washing liquid is discharged from the drainage channel 6, and the laundry contained in the laundry by a dehydrating operation that rotates the inner tub 3 of the washing tub 4 at high speed. The liquid is dehydrated.

  Then, after the washing process, water is supplied to the washing tub 4 in the rinsing process to rinse the clothes. Thereafter, in the dehydration process, the inner tub 3 of the washing tub 4 is rotated at a high speed to be dehydrated and the washing is completed.

  After such washing is performed for a certain period, the water softening means 13 is in the regeneration mode. In the regeneration mode, when a certain amount of water is supplied to the washing tub 4 through the water supply path 9, the heater 12 is energized to produce hot water. The produced hot water is supplied from the lower part to the upper part of the water softening means 13 through the regenerative water supply path 14 by the pump 15 with the electromagnetic valve 21 opened. At this time, since it is in a high temperature state, dissociation of water increases and the concentration of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions increases. For this reason, since the heat regeneration type ion exchanger 17 in the water softening means 13 can suppress the dissociation of the weak acid and the weak base, calcium and magnesium, which are hardness components bonded to the heat regeneration type ion exchanger 17, are desorbed and regenerated. Is done.

The desorbed hardness component is introduced into the drainage channel 6 from the upper part of the water softening means 13 through the regeneration drainage channel 16 and discharged to the outside of the washing machine. Here, since the warm water flows from the lower part to the upper part of the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17 in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the washing water, the hardness component desorbed by regeneration at the time of regeneration is unreacted heat regenerative ion exchanger 17. Therefore, the heat regeneration type ion exchanger can be efficiently regenerated.

  In addition, since the heat insulating material 20 is provided around the water softening means 13 and the regenerative water supply path 14, it is possible to reduce the temperature drop of the hot water during regeneration, and thus the regeneration efficiency of the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17. Can be improved.

  In addition to the running water using warm water, a regeneration method using waste water is also possible. In the regeneration mode, a certain amount of hot water is sent to the water softening means 13 through the regeneration water supply path 14 with the solenoid valve 21 open, and then the solenoid valve 21 is closed. And hot water is stored in the casing 18 for a fixed time. While being stored, the heat regenerative ion exchanger 17 is regenerated, and a high-concentration hardness component is desorbed. Then, the electromagnetic valve 21 is opened and introduced into the drainage channel 6 through the regeneration drainage channel 16 by the pump 15 and discharged to the outside of the washing machine. In this way, the heat-regenerating ion exchanger can be regenerated with a small amount of warm water by desorbing the hardness component with a certain amount of warm water in a batch process and draining the hardness component with a higher concentration than the running water condition. Can be achieved.

  Furthermore, since the deaeration means 22 is provided in the middle of the water supply path 9 on the upstream side of the water softening means 13, it is possible to prevent oxidative deterioration of the heat-regenerative ion exchanger 17, particularly weakly basic ion exchange groups. Therefore, long-term reliability of the water softening means can be ensured.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the washing tub 4 that houses the laundry, the water supply passage 9 that supplies water to the washing tub 4, and the granular heat-regenerative ion exchanger 17 in the middle of the water supply passage 9. The water softening means 13 provided with water is provided, the water softened by the water softening means 13 is supplied to the washing tub 4 and the clothes are washed to recycle using the difference in ion adsorption equilibrium due to temperature. By using a heat-regenerative ion exchanger that can be used, the ion exchanger can be regenerated with warm water. And the washing performance of the washing machine can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, a granular ion exchange resin obtained by pulverizing and granulating a cation exchange resin and an anion exchange resin is used as a heat regenerative ion exchanger. An ion exchange fiber synthesized by modifying a group and an anion exchange group may be used. When a fiber mold is used, the pressure loss is reduced and a large flow rate can be secured. For this reason, since a water temperature fall can be prevented at the time of regeneration by running warm water, regeneration of a heat regeneration type ion exchanger can be performed efficiently.

  As described above, since the washing machine according to the present invention can regenerate the ion exchanger with warm water, the washing water is softened without the maintenance of the user putting the regenerant into the washing machine. In addition, since the washing performance of the washing machine can be improved, it can be applied to uses such as a dishwasher and the like.

Sectional drawing of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention Sectional drawing of the water softening means of the washing machine in Embodiment 1 of this invention Sectional view of water softening means of a conventional washing machine

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 Washing tub 9 Water supply path 12 Heater 13 Water softening means 14 Regeneration water supply path 16 Regeneration drainage path 17 Heat regeneration type ion exchanger 18 Casing 20 Heat insulating material 22 Deaeration means

Claims (8)

A water tank softened by the water softening means provided with a washing tub for storing laundry, a water supply path for supplying water to the washing tub, and a water softening means provided with a heat regenerative ion exchanger in the middle of the water supply path A washing machine that supplies clothes to a washing tub to wash clothes. 2. The heat regeneration ion exchanger according to claim 1, wherein a heater is provided inside the washing tub, and hot water heated by the heater in the washing tub is introduced into the heat regeneration ion exchanger to regenerate the heat regeneration ion exchanger. Washing machine. The washing tub and the water softening means are connected to the water softening means by a regenerative water supply path and a regenerative drainage path is connected to the water softening means, and warm water heated in the washing tub is connected to the regenerated water supply path. The washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the heat-regenerative ion exchanger is regenerated through the water softening means. The washing machine according to claim 3, wherein warm water is stored in the water softening means for a predetermined time to regenerate the heat regeneration type ion exchanger. The washing machine according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising a heat insulating material around the water softening means and the recycled water supply path. The washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a deaeration means is provided in the middle of the water supply path upstream of the water softening means. The washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the heat-regenerative ion exchanger is produced by pulverizing and granulating a cation exchange resin and an anion exchange resin. The washing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the heat-regenerative ion exchanger is produced in a fibrous form by synthesizing cellulose by using cation exchange groups and anion exchange groups as modifications.

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