JP2013221643A - Liquid storage unit, and water heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid storage unit capable of improving a heat insulation effect in the vicinity of a joint part of a member constituting a liquid storage tank, and to provide a water heater.SOLUTION: A liquid storage tank 3 includes a cylindrical body part 31, and a mirror part connected to the body part 31, and is structured such that a joint part 31a between the body part 31 and the mirror part is located at a portion projected toward the outside of the liquid storage tank 3, normal heat insulation materials 21, 22 are arranged by being divided in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank by including a boundary part B at a height position different from that of the joint part 31a, and a vacuum heat insulation material 40 is arranged to position the upper end 41 on an upper side relative to the boundary part B.

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid storage unit and a hot water supply device.

In recent years, development of a hot water supply apparatus having a liquid storage unit using a heat pump unit or an electric heater as a heat source as a heating apparatus has been advanced.
The liquid storage unit includes a liquid storage tank for storing liquid. The liquid storage tank is generally known as a cylindrical (round tank), and has a cylindrical barrel, a hemispherical upper mirror connected to the upper end of the barrel, and a barrel. And a hemispherical lower mirror connected to the lower end of the lens.
The liquid storage tank is equipped with a heat insulating material to prevent heat dissipation from the hot water in the tank. As the heat insulating material, glass wool, polystyrene foam or the like is generally used, but in recent years, the use of a vacuum heat insulating material has increased (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In the liquid storage unit of Patent Literature 1, a unit in which a joint portion between a body portion and an upper mirror portion is covered with a vacuum heat insulating material and an upper end portion of the vacuum heat insulating material is disposed above the joint portion is disclosed.
Further, a structure in which a vacuum heat insulating material is stacked after a normal heat insulating material is disposed outside the liquid storage tank has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2010-25402 A JP 2007-163038 A

By the way, at the end portions of the upper mirror portion and the lower mirror portion, ribs that bulge in the radial direction of the liquid storage tank are formed in order to ensure strength and shape.
Therefore, when heat insulation is performed using only the vacuum heat insulating material, a gap may be formed between the liquid storage tank and the vacuum heat insulating material around the rib, and the heat insulating property may be impaired. Moreover, in order to prevent this, it is necessary to bend and form a vacuum heat insulating material according to the outer shape of the liquid storage tank, and there is a problem that productivity is lowered.

  Moreover, in patent document 2, although the structure which laminates | stacks a vacuum heat insulating material after arrange | positioning a normal heat insulating material is disclosed, the specific heat insulating structure around a junction part is not disclosed.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the liquid storage unit and hot water supply apparatus which can improve the heat insulation effect in the junction part vicinity of the member which comprises a liquid storage tank.

  In order to achieve the above object, a liquid storage unit of the present invention includes a liquid storage tank, a normal heat insulating material covering the liquid storage tank, and a vacuum heat insulating material sheathed on the normal heat insulating material. In the unit, the liquid storage tank includes a cylindrical body part and a mirror part connected to the body part, and a joint part between the body part and the mirror part is outward of the liquid storage tank. The normal heat insulating material has a boundary portion at a height position different from the joint portion, and is divided and arranged in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank, and the vacuum heat insulating material Is arranged such that the upper end portion is located above the boundary portion.

  Moreover, the hot water supply device of the present invention includes the above-described liquid storage unit.

  According to the present invention, the heat insulation effect is synergistically reduced by setting the joint portion where the thickness of the heat insulating material tends to be thin and the boundary portion of the normal heat insulating material where a gap is easily formed and heat leakage is likely to occur at different positions. By arranging the vacuum heat insulating material so that the upper end is positioned above the boundary between the normal heat insulating materials, it is easy to form a gap and from the boundary of the normal heat insulating material that is likely to leak heat The heat radiation by the heat bridge can be prevented. Therefore, the heat insulation effect in the vicinity of the joint can be improved.

It is a figure which shows the liquid storage unit applied to the hot water supply apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention, (a) is sectional drawing which showed the internal structure, (b) is the AA line in FIG. 1 (a). It is sectional drawing. It is a partial expanded sectional view which shows the structure of a junction part. (A) is explanatory drawing which shows the mounting form which used multiple vacuum heat insulating materials, (b) is sectional drawing which shows the other mounting form which used the vacuum heat insulating materials similarly. It is explanatory drawing which shows the liquid storage unit applied to the hot water supply apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a cross-sectional view of the liquid storage unit applied to the hot water supply apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the liquid storage unit of a modification. It is sectional drawing which shows the liquid storage unit of a modification. It is sectional drawing which shows the liquid storage unit of a modification.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, the embodiments are not limited to the following contents, and can be arbitrarily modified within the scope of the invention. It is. In each embodiment, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
In the following description, the liquid storage unit is shown to be used for an electric water heater that makes hot water using an electric heater or a heat pump type hot water supply device that makes hot water using a heat pump unit, but the purpose is to limit the form of the liquid storage unit is not.

(First embodiment)
As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the liquid storage unit 1 has a liquid storage tank 3 for storing hot water in an exterior cover 2 (see FIG. 1 (b)) having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. . A heat pump unit (not shown) as a heating device is connected to the liquid storage unit 1 to constitute a hot water supply device.
Each surface of the exterior cover 2 is formed in a substantially square shape and covers a liquid storage tank 3 (not shown). The exterior cover 2 is attached to the bottom plate 4 disposed below the liquid storage tank 3.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 1B, a space S is formed between the outer cover 2 and the liquid storage tank 3. In this space portion S, there are arranged piping (not shown), various control valves such as a mixing valve for mixing water and hot water with hot water at a set temperature, electric parts, and the like.
A part of the exterior cover 2 is provided with a connection space for connecting piping and the like.
The exterior cover 2 may be cylindrical.

  The liquid storage tank 3 is a cylindrical container, and includes a cylindrical barrel portion 31 made of stainless steel, a substantially hemispherical upper mirror portion 32 connected to the upper end of the barrel portion 31, and a lower end of the barrel portion 31. And a substantially hemispherical lower mirror part 33 connected thereto. The upper mirror part 32 and the lower mirror part 33 are joined to the body part 31 by welding. The upper mirror part 32 and the lower mirror part 33 may be semi-elliptical.

Ribs that bulge in the radial direction of the liquid storage tank 3 (project toward the outside of the liquid storage tank 3) at the ends of the upper mirror section 32 and the lower mirror section 33 in order to ensure strength and shape. 32a and 33a are formed. For example, assembling the barrel 31 and the upper mirror 32 is performed by bringing the upper end 31d of the barrel 31 into contact with the lower outer circumferential surface 32b of the rib 32a of the upper mirror 32 as shown in FIG. This is performed by welding a contact portion (joint portion 31a) between the surface 32b and the upper end portion 31d.
The body 31 and the lower mirror 33 are not assembled, but the lower end of the body 31 is brought into contact with the upper outer peripheral surface of the rib 33a of the lower mirror 33 (see FIG. 1A). Then, the contact portion between the upper outer peripheral surface and the lower end (welding portion 31b, see FIG. 1A) is welded.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, uneven circumferential ribs 31 c are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the body portion 31 in order to prevent deformation and breakage of the liquid storage tank 3 due to negative pressure.

The liquid storage tank 3 is connected to a water supply pipe (not shown) for supplying water to the liquid storage tank 3, a hot water supply pipe 3a (see FIG. 1A) for extracting hot water from the liquid storage tank 3, and the like.
Moreover, as shown to Fig.1 (a), the support leg part 10 is provided in the lower part of the liquid storage tank 3 via the attachment board 10a. The support legs 10 are usually provided with a total of three (only two are shown) at regular intervals in the circumferential direction of the liquid storage tank 3.
The lower end portion of each support leg 10 is fixed to the bottom plate 4 by a fixing means such as a bolt (not shown).
Note that, on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 4, three leg portions (not shown) corresponding to the fixing positions of the support leg portions 10 are fixed by welding or the like. That is, each support leg 10 is indirectly connected to the three legs via the bottom plate 4. The liquid storage unit 1 is installed by fixing the legs to the installation surface with anchor bolts or the like.

On the outer surface of the liquid storage tank 3, normal heat insulating materials 21, 22, and 23 are mounted so as to cover the uneven portions such as the ribs 32a and 33a and the peripheral rib 31c (covering the uneven portions so as to absorb the uneven portions). .
Usually, the heat insulating materials 21, 22, and 23 can be made of glass wool that is easy to mold and relatively inexpensive, or foamed polystyrene that is formed by foaming foam beads. Below, what formed the normal heat insulating materials 21, 22, and 23 with the polystyrene foam is demonstrated.
Usually, the heat insulating material 21 has a cylindrical shape that covers the body portion 31. As shown in FIG. 1A, the upper end portion 21a of the normal heat insulating material 21 is usually located above the joining portion 31a. That is, the normal heat insulating material 21 and the normal heat insulating material 22 disposed on the boundary portion B (upper end portion of the normal heat insulating material 21 serving as a mating surface) at a height position (upper position) different from the joint portion 31a. 21 a and a lower end 22 a of the normal heat insulating material 22), and is divided and arranged in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3.

  An interval L between the joint portion 31a and the boundary portion B in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3 is larger than the particle size dimension (not shown) of the above-mentioned expanded polystyrene. In other words, at least two foamed beads (not shown) exist between the joint portion 31a and the boundary portion B.

  Usually, the lower end portion 21 b of the heat insulating material 21 is located on the outer peripheral surface of the lower portion of the body portion 31. Note that the lower end portion 21 b of the normal heat insulating material 21 may extend to a lower position on the support leg portion 10 or may extend to a position on the lower mirror portion 33. Furthermore, the normal heat insulating material 21 may be provided integrally with the normal heat insulating material 23.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the normal heat insulating material 21 is divided into two in the circumferential direction, and is joined to each other via stepped abutting portions 21 d and 21 d to cover the body portion 31. In addition, the normal heat insulating material 21 may be divided into three or more in the circumferential direction.
The divided normal heat insulating material 21 can be held so as not to be detached using an adhesive tape or an attachment band.
Moreover, when the heat insulating material 21 is normally composed of sheet-like glass wool, it can be wound around the body 31 and attached.

  As shown in FIG. 1A, the normal heat insulating material 22 is a heat insulating material that covers the upper mirror portion 32, and has an inner surface along the substantially hemispherical outer surface of the upper mirror portion 32. Usually, an accommodating portion 22c for accommodating the hot water supply pipe 3a is formed inside the upper portion of the heat insulating material 22. The lower end 22a of the normal heat insulating material 22 is in close contact with and in contact with the upper end 21a of the normal heat insulating material 21, and forms the boundary B described above.

  The normal heat insulating material 23 is a heat insulating material that covers the lower mirror portion 33. Usually, the heat insulating material 23 has an inner surface along the substantially hemispherical outer surface of the lower mirror portion 33, and covers the lower mirror portion 33 and the support leg portion 10. The upper end portion 23b of the normal heat insulating material 23 is in close contact with and in contact with the lower end portion 21b of the normal heat insulating material 21, and forms a boundary portion B1.

The outer peripheral surface formed by these normal heat insulating materials 21, 22, and 23 is a smooth curved surface. A vacuum heat insulating material 40 is attached to the smooth outer peripheral surface.
The vacuum heat insulating material 40 has a plate shape with a uniform thickness, and a core material made of a laminated body of inorganic fibers such as glass wool is covered with an outer packaging material film. The inside of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is in a vacuum state, and the amount of heat transferred from the core material to the surface is very small. As a result, the amount of heat transferred from the back surface of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 to the surface is also very small. .
The outer packaging material film is, for example, a multilayer film having a four-layer structure, and is composed of nylon, PET with aluminum vapor deposition, aluminum foil, and HR-CPP (non-ductile polypropylene for high retort) which is a kind of polyethylene in order from the surface side. Has been.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is disposed in the vicinity of the boundary portion B of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22 such that the upper end portion 41 is positioned above the boundary portion B. That is, the boundary B between the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22 is covered with the vacuum heat insulating material 40.
Here, the overlap amount of the upper end portion 41 with respect to the boundary portion B is desirably an overlap amount that does not cause a heat bridge by the boundary portion B.
The lower end 42 of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is usually extended to the lower side of the heat insulating material 23.
In addition, as for the vacuum heat insulating material 40, the lower end part 42 is located below the boundary part B1.

  Such a vacuum heat insulating material 40 is usually bent and wound along the smooth outer peripheral surfaces of the heat insulating materials 21, 22, and 23. In this case, both ends 43 and 44 in the circumferential direction of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 are shifted in the circumferential direction from the abutting portions 21d and 21d of the normal heat insulating material 21 (the heat bridge does not occur) as shown in FIG. Position).

  In this embodiment, the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is formed in a size that covers the entire vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3 in a side view. For example, in the liquid storage tank 3 constituted by the body portion 31 having a height of 1100 mm, the upper mirror portion 32 having a height of 150 mm, and the upper mirror portion 32 having a diameter of 580 mm, the body portion 31 is conventionally avoided so as to avoid the rib 32a. Since the vacuum heat insulating material 40 was disposed only on the side, the coverage of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 was 79% in a side view. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the coverage can be increased up to a maximum of 100%, and the heat insulation performance of the liquid storage tank 3 can be improved.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the vacuum heat insulating material 40 may be divided into a plurality of parts in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3. In FIG. 3A, the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is divided into three in the vertical direction. Each vacuum heat insulating material 40 is arrange | positioned without leaving a clearance gap in the up-down direction.
In this example, each vacuum heat insulating material 40 is located at a position shifted in the vertical direction from the boundary B of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22 (see FIG. 1A), and the boundary B1 of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 23 ( It is divided into a plurality of positions at positions shifted in the vertical direction from FIG.
Thus, by providing the vacuum heat insulating material 40 divided into a plurality of parts, the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is excellent in manufacturability, formability, and assemblability compared to the case of covering with a single large vacuum heat insulating material 40. , Improve productivity.

Further, a vacuum heat insulating material 45 is also mounted on the upper surface of the normal heat insulating material 22. As the vacuum heat insulating material 45, a square shape having a size closer to the diameter of the cylindrical liquid storage tank 3 can be used, but a polygonal shape such as a pentagonal shape or a hexagonal shape can be used.
As described above, by using the vacuum heat insulating material 45 having a size closer to the diameter of the liquid storage tank 3, the coverage of the vacuum heat insulating materials 40 and 45 can be increased with respect to the entire surface of the liquid storage tank 3. Thereby, the heat insulation performance is further improved, and further energy saving can be achieved.
Although not shown, a vacuum heat insulating material 45 may also be provided on the lower surface of the normal heat insulating material 23.

  According to the present embodiment described above, the joint portion 31a in which the thickness of the heat insulating material tends to be thin, and the boundary portion B of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22 that easily form a gap and easily leak heat, Since the positions are different in the vertical direction, it is possible to suitably prevent the heat insulation effect from being reduced synergistically. And since the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is arrange | positioned so that the upper end part 41 may be located above the boundary part B of normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22, normal heat insulating material 21 which is easy to make a clearance gap, and is easy to heat-leak. The heat radiation by the heat bridge from the boundary portion B of 22 can be suitably prevented. Therefore, the heat insulation effect in the vicinity of the joint portion 31a can be improved.

  Moreover, since the space | interval L of the junction part 31a and the boundary part B in the up-down direction of the liquid storage tank 3 is larger than the particle size dimension of a foaming material, the heat insulation which covers between the junction part 31a and the boundary part B is carried out. A part can be shape | molded favorably and the heat insulation effect can be ensured.

  Moreover, since the circumferential direction both ends 43 and 44 of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 are arrange | positioned so that it may become the position shifted | deviated to the circumferential direction from the abutting parts 21d and 21d of the normal heat insulating material 21, the abutting part of the normal heat insulating material 21 Heat leakage from 21d and 21d can be suitably prevented, and the heat insulation effect can be improved.

  Further, in the configuration in which the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is divided into a plurality of parts at positions shifted vertically from the boundary portion B of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22 and the boundary portion B1 of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 23, the boundary portions B, Heat leakage from B1 can be suitably prevented, heat insulation performance can be further increased, and energy saving can be achieved.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the normal heat insulating material 21 is provided with a protruding portion 21e that is disposed between the upper vacuum heat insulating material 40 and the lower vacuum heat insulating material 40, and this protruding portion 21e. You may arrange | position the vacuum heat insulating material 46 to the outer peripheral surface. In this case, the vacuum heat insulating material 46 is disposed so as to overlap the upper vacuum heat insulating material 40 and the lower vacuum heat insulating material 40.

  By setting it as such a structure, the heat leak from the division | segmentation part of the vacuum heat insulating materials 40 and 46 can be prevented suitably, and the heat insulation effect can be improved more.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, a plurality of temperature detecting means (not shown) for detecting the water temperature (temperature state) in the liquid storage tank 3 are provided in the body 31, and the installation positions of the temperature detecting means are Usually, only the heat insulating material 21 is arranged.

The vacuum heat insulating material 40 is not disposed on the front side of the liquid storage unit 1, and the heat insulating material 21 is normally exposed. Usually, the heat insulating material 21 is provided with a plurality of concave portions 21f in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3, and temperature detecting means is installed in the concave portions 21f. That is, each temperature detection means can be accessed from the front side of the liquid storage unit 1, and maintenance for each temperature detection means is possible.
It should be noted that a separate normal heat insulating material may be attached to and removed from the concave portion 21f, or the position corresponding to the concave portion 21f during maintenance is marked by marking the position of each temperature detection means without providing the concave portion 21f. You may make it cut from normal heat insulating material 21.

  According to this embodiment, the liquid storage unit 1 excellent in maintainability of the temperature detecting means can be obtained while maintaining a high coverage with the vacuum heat insulating material 40.

(Third embodiment)
A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the normal heat insulating material 21 is partially reduced to make the liquid storage unit 1 slim.
The normal heat insulating material 21 has three flat portions 25 corresponding to three surfaces where the exterior cover 2 and the normal heat insulating material 21 are close to each other.
The flat surface portion 25 corresponds to the inner surfaces of the left side surface 2b, the rear surface 2c, and the right side surface 2d of the exterior cover 2, and is formed thinner than the other curved surface portions 26.

  The vacuum heat insulating material 40 has flat plate portions 47 corresponding to the three flat surface portions 25. Each flat plate portion 47 is disposed so as to cover the flat portion 25.

According to the present embodiment, the product dimensions can be reduced by the presence of the three flat portions 25.
In addition, although the normal heat insulating materials 21, 22, 23 and the vacuum heat insulating materials 40, 46 have a property that the heat insulating performance increases as the thickness increases, all of the thin flat portions 25 are vacuum heat insulating. Since it is covered with the flat plate portion 47 of the material 40, the liquid storage unit 1 can be made slim while ensuring sufficient heat insulation in each flat surface portion 25.

  6 to 8 show a liquid storage unit 1 according to a modification. In the modification shown in FIG. 6, the upper end portion 21a of the normal heat insulating material 21 is positioned below the joint portion 31a. That is, the normal heat insulating material 21 and the normal heat insulating material 22 disposed on the normal heat insulating material 21 have a boundary portion B2 (mating surface) at a height position (lower position) different from the joint portion 31a. The tank 3 is divided and arranged in the vertical direction.

The interval L1 between the joint portion 31a and the boundary portion B2 in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank 3 is larger than the particle size (not shown) of the foam material as described above, and the joint portion 31a and the boundary portion B2 Between, there are at least two expanded beads (not shown).
Also in such a modification, the same effect as the effect demonstrated in 1st Embodiment is obtained.

In the modification shown in FIG. 7, in the liquid storage unit 1 described in the first embodiment, the lower end portion 42 of the vacuum heat insulating material 40 is formed short to the upper position of the support leg portion 10.
Even with such a vacuum heat insulating material 40, a region about 3/4 from the top of the liquid storage tank 3 (region where mainly high-temperature water is stored in the liquid storage tank 3) is covered with the vacuum heat insulating material 40 in a side view. So that it has excellent heat insulation.

In the modification shown in FIG. 8, in the modification shown in FIG. 7, the upper end portion 21a of the normal heat insulating material 21 is disposed below the joint portion 31a.
Even with such a configuration, it is possible to suitably prevent heat dissipation by the heat bridge from the boundary portion B2 of the normal heat insulating materials 21 and 22, and to improve the heat insulating effect in the vicinity of the joint portion 31a.

  In each of the above embodiments, the boundary portions B, B1, and B3 are shown as flat mating surfaces. However, the boundary portions B, B1, and B3 are not limited to this, and are abutted with a step as in a spigot fitting. It does not matter even if it fits (fits).

  Moreover, the structure which raises the heat insulation effect by providing the recessed part for air layers in which the opening edge was round-shaped (it does not have a corner | angular part and does not damage the vacuum heat insulating material 40) in the outer peripheral surface of the normal heat insulating material 21 It is good.

  Further, the liquid storage tank 3 may be stored in an antifreeze or brine as hot water or any liquid.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Liquid storage unit 2 Exterior case 3 Liquid storage tank 21-23 Normal heat insulating material 31 Body part 31a Joint part 32 Upper mirror part (mirror part)
40 Vacuum insulation material 41 Upper end B, B1, B2 boundary L, L1 interval

Claims (5)

In a liquid storage unit comprising a liquid storage tank, a normal heat insulating material covering the liquid storage tank, and a vacuum heat insulating material sheathed on the normal heat insulating material,
The liquid storage tank includes a cylindrical body part and a mirror part connected to the body part, and a joint part between the body part and the mirror part protrudes outward of the liquid storage tank. In the set part,
The normal heat insulating material is divided and arranged in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank having a boundary portion at a height position different from the joint portion,
The liquid storage unit, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is disposed such that an upper end portion is positioned above the boundary portion. The normal heat insulating material is a foam material formed by foaming foam beads,
2. The liquid storage unit according to claim 1, wherein an interval between the joint and the boundary in the vertical direction of the liquid storage tank is larger than a particle size of the foam material.   3. The liquid storage unit according to claim 1, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is divided into a plurality of parts at a position shifted in a vertical direction from the boundary portion of the normal heat insulating material. The liquid storage tank is provided with temperature detection means for detecting the water temperature in the liquid storage tank,
4. The liquid storage unit according to claim 1, wherein, of the heat insulating materials, only the normal heat insulating material is disposed at an installation position of the temperature detecting means. 5.   A hot water supply apparatus comprising the liquid storage unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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