JP2014025611A - Water heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a water heater having a simple structure and capable of supplying microbubbles to inside of a bathtub with a small pressure loss.SOLUTION: In a water heater, hot water is circulated between a water heater body having a built-in pump and a bathtub through inflow side circulation piping, a bathtub adapter 4 and outflow side circulation piping by driving the pump. The bathtub adapter 4 includes: an inflow portion 3A connected to the inflow side circulation piping; a suction nozzle 5 mounted to the inflow portion 3A and sucking air to the inflow portion 3A; a blowout portion 8 having a blowout port 6 facing inside of the bathtub and diffusing taken-in air to inside of the bathtub; and an air bubble crushing rod 9 installed near the blowout port 6 and crushing air bubbles.

Description

  The present invention relates to a hot water supply apparatus provided with a bathtub adapter that generates fine bubbles that are said to have a warm bath effect.

It is known that a hot water supply apparatus laying a pipe that circulates for hot water accumulated in a bathtub and the like is provided with a bathtub adapter that generates fine bubbles that are said to have a warm bath effect (for example, Patent Documents) 1).
The bathtub adapter described in Patent Document 1 includes a cylindrical swirl mixing chamber that mixes gas with swirling liquid, a liquid inlet that can introduce liquid in the tangential direction of the inner peripheral surface of the swirl mixing chamber, A gas introduction part formed at one end of the swirl mixing chamber in the axial direction; and a gas-liquid outlet formed opposite to the gas introduction part and formed at the other end of the mixing chamber in the axial direction. doing.

JP 2010-207678 A

However, since the hot water supply device described in Patent Document 1 creates a swirling flow in the adapter and draws bubbles, the pressure loss increases, the circulation flow rate decreases, and the flow rate from the outlet decreases. There was a problem that fine bubbles were difficult to spread in the bathtub.
In order to avoid reducing the flow rate, it is possible to use a pump with a large discharge volume built in the water heater body. In this case, the water heater body and the bathtub are connected to the bathtub adapter and the circulation circuit piping. This causes problems such as an increase in pressure in the circulation system for circulating hot water and an increase in cost of the pump.
Moreover, in the said hot water supply apparatus, the structure of the bathtub adapter was complicated, for example, there existed a problem that the connection site | part of a bathtub adapter and circulation circuit piping had restrictions.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and has a simple structure, can supply fine bubbles into a bathtub with a small pressure loss, and a bathtub adapter and a water heater. An object of the present invention is to obtain a hot water supply device in which the degree of freedom of the connection portion with the main body is improved.

A hot water supply apparatus according to the present invention is a hot water supply apparatus in which hot water circulates by driving of the pump through an inflow side circulation pipe, a bathtub adapter, and an outflow side circulation pipe between a hot water supply body having a built-in pump and a bathtub. ,
The bathtub adapter includes an inflow portion connected to the inflow side circulation pipe, an intake nozzle that is attached to the inflow portion and sucks air into the inflow portion, and a blowout port that faces the bathtub and is taken into the hot water. Is provided in the vicinity of the outlet, and a bubble crushing rod that crushes bubbles.

According to the hot water supply apparatus of the present invention, fine bubbles can be supplied into the bathtub with a small pressure loss with a simple structure in which a bubble crushing rod is provided in the vicinity of the outlet.
Moreover, since the flow path in a bathtub adapter can be simplified, the freedom degree of the connection site | part of a bathtub adapter and a water heater main body improves.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the hot water supply apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the bathtub adapter of FIG. It is a front view which shows the bathtub adapter of FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 3. It is a front view of the bathtub adapter of the state which removed the suction inlet formation cover. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5. It is a perspective view which shows the bubble crushing rod of FIG. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the conventional hot water supply apparatus. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the bathtub adapter of the hot water supply apparatus by Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of FIG. FIG. 11A is a view showing a state where a conventional bathtub adapter is attached to the bathtub, and FIG. 11B is a view showing a state where the bathtub adapter of FIG. 9 is attached to the bathtub. 12 (a) is a schematic configuration diagram showing a bathtub adapter of a hot water supply apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and FIG. 12 (b) is a diagram showing a modification of the bathtub adapter of FIG. 12 (a). It is a schematic block diagram which shows the bathtub adapter of the hot water supply apparatus by Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the presence distribution of the bubble diameter obtained by the hot water supply apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the presence distribution of the bubble diameter obtained by the hot water supply apparatus of Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the presence distribution of the bubble diameter obtained by the hot-water supply apparatus of Embodiment 3 and 4 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding members and parts will be described with the same reference numerals.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a hot water supply apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In this hot water supply apparatus, a bathtub adapter 4 is attached to the bathtub 2. One end of each of the inflow side circulation pipe 30A and the outflow side circulation pipe 30B is connected to the bathtub adapter 4. The other end portions of the inflow side circulation pipe 30 </ b> A and the outflow side circulation pipe 30 </ b> B are connected to the water heater main body 1.
A pump (not shown) is built in the water heater main body 1, and hot water is supplied between the water heater main body 1 and the bathtub 2 by the driving of this pump, and the inflow side circulation pipe 30 </ b> A, the bathtub adapter 4, and the bathtub 2, hot water circulates through the bathtub adapter 4 and the outflow side circulation pipe 30B.

2 is a schematic configuration diagram when the bathtub adapter 4 in FIG. 1 is cut along the horizontal direction, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the bathtub adapter 4, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. FIG. 5 is a front view of the bathtub adapter 4 with the suction port forming lid 14 removed, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG.
The bathtub adapter 4 includes an inflow portion 3A connected to the inflow side circulation pipe 30A, an intake nozzle 5 attached to the inflow portion 3A, a cylindrical tube portion 12, and a tube portion 12 concentric with the tube portion 12. And a cylindrical blowing portion 8 disposed on the inner side.
The bathtub adapter 4 has a disk-shaped entrance / exit partition plate 11 having a plurality of screw holes 24 formed in the circumferential direction and having a flange portion 21 fitted into the cylindrical portion 12, and is superimposed on the entrance / exit partition plate 11. The suction port forming lid 14 arranged and fixed using screws 15, the bubble crushing rod 9 shown in FIG. 7 fixed perpendicularly to the axis in the blowing part 8, and the opening part of the blowing part 8 The three-dimensional mesh 10 attached to a certain outlet 6 and the outflow part 3B connected to the outflow side circulation piping 30B are provided. In FIG. 2, the state of the bubble crushing rod 9 and the surrounding bubbles is schematically shown.
The entrance / exit partition plate 11 is formed with a stepped portion 22 having a thin plate thickness at a portion C indicated by hatching in FIG.
The suction port 7 is formed in the step portion 22 by overlapping the suction port forming lid 14 on the entrance / exit partition plate 11. The suction port 7 communicates with the outflow portion 3B via a return side flow passage 13 formed between the blowing portion 8 and the cylindrical portion 12.

As shown in FIG. 7, the bubble crushing rod 9 has a plane where the bubbles collide because the shearing force is generated at the contact surface of the bubbles and the bubbles are crushed and miniaturized, and the shearing force is obtained even at the edges. Furthermore, it is an isosceles triangular prism shape whose base is longer than the other two sides. A surface corresponding to the bottom surface of the bubble crushing rod 9 is a bubble collision surface B.
In addition, the three-dimensional mesh 10 that finely partitions the flow path has a function of preventing crushing of the fine bubbles that are crushed and rectifying and maintaining straightness so that the fine bubbles are diffused into the interior of the bathtub 2.
The partition shape of the three-dimensional mesh 10 may be a honeycomb shape, a lattice shape, a spider web shape, or the like.

In the hot water supply apparatus of this embodiment, hot water flows to the inflow portion 3A of the bathtub adapter 4 through the inflow side circulation piping 30A by driving the pump of the hot water heater body 1. The air naturally sucked from the intake nozzle 5 is mixed with hot water and becomes a two-phase flow (bubble flow) and flows toward the outlet 6 of the outlet 8. In the middle of this, the bubble flow flows in the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 7 and collides with the collision surface B of the bubble crushing rod 9, shearing force is generated, and the bubbles are crushed and refined.
Thereafter, the refined bubbles pass through the three-dimensional mesh 10 and diffuse to the back of the bathtub 2.
Hot water that has flowed into the bathtub 2 from the outlet 6 returns to the water heater main body 1 through the inlet 7, the return-side flow passage 13, the outflow portion 3B, and the outflow-side circulation pipe 30B.
While the pump is driven, hot water circulates between the water heater main body 1 and the bathtub 2 via the inflow side circulation pipe 30A, the bathtub adapter 4, and the outflow side circulation pipe 30B, and the refined bubbles are It is continuously supplied into the bathtub 2.

By the way, the inventor of the present application forms the swirl flow inside the bathtub adapter 4A shown in FIG. 8 when the bathtub adapter 4 of the first embodiment is used, and crushes bubbles simultaneously with the intake air. Each pressure loss with the case of using one was determined by experiment.
In the case of the bathtub adapter 4, the pressure loss when the inner diameter of the blowing portion 8 is 8 mm, the size of the collision surface B of the bubble crushing rod 9 is 4 mm × 8 mm, and hot water is circulated at a circulation flow rate of 7 L / min, And the intake nozzle 5 were 0.012 MPs.
On the other hand, in the case of the conventional one in FIG. 8 in which the inner diameter and circulation flow rate of the blowing portion are the same as those in the first embodiment, the pressure loss is 0.075 MPs, and the bathtub adapter 4 in this embodiment is It was confirmed that the pressure loss was small compared to the case where the conventional bathtub adapter 4A was used.

As described above, according to the hot water supply device according to this embodiment, the bathtub adapter 4 is attached to the inflow side circulation piping 30A and the inflow portion 3A attached to the inflow portion 3A and sucks air into the inflow portion 3A. An intake nozzle 5, a blowout port 6 that enters the bathtub 2, and a blowout unit 8 that diffuses the air taken in the hot water into the bathtub 2, and a bubble crushing rod 9 that is provided in the vicinity of the blowout port 6 and crushes bubbles. , The bubbles sucked from the intake nozzle 5 collide with the bubble crushing rod 9 and are crushed by the shearing force of the flow, and the bubbles are easily miniaturized.
Further, unlike the formation of fine bubbles at the time of intake and discharge by the shearing force of the swirling flow, the fine bubbles can be supplied into the bathtub 2 with a small pressure loss with a simple structure.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of the bathtub adapter 4 of the hot water supply apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention cut along the horizontal direction, and is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of FIG.
In the hot water supply apparatus of this embodiment, the inflow part 3A and the outflow part 3B of the bathtub adapter 4 extend along the side wall of the bathtub 2 as shown in FIG.
The inflow portion 3A bent at a right angle at the middle bent portion has an intake nozzle 5 attached upstream of the bent portion. In the inflow portion 3A, a swirl flow forming chamber 20 having an enlarged diameter is formed in a downstream portion of the bent portion. The outflow part 3B, the tip of which is connected to the abdomen of the cylindrical part 12, extends in parallel with the site of the inflow part 3A on the upstream side of the bent part.
Other configurations are the same as those of the bathtub adapter 4 of the first embodiment.

In the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the hot water flowing through the inflow portion 3A is mixed with the air naturally aspirated from the midway intake nozzle 5 and flows as a two-phase flow (bubble flow). Subsequently, the bubble flow enters the swirl flow forming chamber 20 formed on the downstream side of the inflow portion 3A. In the swirl flow forming chamber 20, a spiral flow is formed along the flow direction, and the blowout port of the blowout unit 8 is formed. It flows toward 6.
On the way, the bubble bundle gathered at the center of the swirling flow in the swirling flow forming chamber 20 collides with the bubble crushing rod 9, and the shearing force generated when the swirling flow is rectified by the bubble crushing rod 9 is also applied, and fine bubbles and Become. Thereafter, the refined bubbles pass through the three-dimensional mesh 10 and diffuse to the back of the bathtub 2.

In the case of the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the pressure loss when the inner diameter of the blowing part 8 is 8 mm, the size of the collision surface B of the bubble crushing rod 9 is 4 mm × 8 mm, and hot water is circulated at a circulation flow rate of 7 L / min. Was 0.015 MPs when the bathtub adapter 4 and the intake nozzle 5 were combined.
On the other hand, in the case of the conventional one of FIG. 8 performed under the same conditions, the pressure loss is 0.075 MPs, and the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment is compared with the case where the conventional bathtub adapter 4A is used. It was confirmed that the pressure loss was small.

Moreover, as shown to Fig.11 (a), in the conventional bathtub adapter 4A, the inflow part 3A and the outflow part 3B are extended with respect to the side wall surface of the bathtub 2, for example, the bathtub 2 and the bathroom wall are adjacent. However, it is impossible to cope with a case where a hole cannot be formed in the wall.
On the other hand, in the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the inflow part 3A and the outflow part 3B extend along the side wall of the bathtub 2, and such a case can be dealt with.

  Thus, according to the hot water supply device according to this embodiment, the same effect as that of the hot water supply device of Embodiment 1 can be obtained, and the flow path in the bathtub adapter 4 can be changed simply and easily. Moreover, the freedom degree of the connection part of bathtub adapter 4 and inflow side circulation piping 30A and outflow side circulation piping 30B improves.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Fig.12 (a) is a structure schematic when the bathtub adapter 4 of Embodiment 3 of this invention is cut | disconnected in a horizontal direction.
In this embodiment, the blowing portion 16 has a branching portion 23 whose front end portion is bifurcated in the horizontal direction.
Other configurations are the same as those of the bathtub adapter 4 of the first embodiment.
In the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the blowing part 16 has the branch part 23, and a fine bubble is not discharge | released equally from the two blowing outlets 6 by the slight deviation of a flow.
In order to improve this phenomenon, it is necessary to provide the bubble crushing rod 9 on the upstream side of the branch portion 23 as shown in FIG. At this time, by installing the bubble crushing rod 9 in the flow path in parallel with the branch portion 23 arranged horizontally, the bubble crushing rod 9 plays the role of crushing and rectifying the bubble, and is divided into two outlets. It was confirmed that fine bubbles were discharged stably and evenly.

  In addition, as shown in FIG.12 (b), by attaching the solid mesh 10 to the blowing part 6, the blowing-out of a fine bubble to the bathtub 2 is rectified | straightened, and straightness can be increased.

  In the case of the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the flow path inner diameter of the branch part 23 of the blowing part 16 is 7 mm, the size of the collision surface B of the bubble crushing rod 9 is 4 mm × 7 mm, and hot water is circulated at a circulation flow rate of 7 L / min. The pressure loss when it was made to combine the bathtub adapter 4 and the intake nozzle 5 was 0.012 MPs.

  According to the hot water supply apparatus according to this embodiment, the same effect as that of the hot water supply apparatus according to the first embodiment can be obtained, and the blowing portion 16 has a branch portion 23 branched to the tip portion. Since the bubble crushing rod 9 is provided on the upstream side of the branching portion 23 in parallel with the arrangement of the branching portions, the bubble crushing rod 9 plays the role of crushing and rectifying the bubbles, and is divided from the blowout port 6 divided into two. Fine bubbles can be discharged stably and evenly.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 13: is a structure schematic when the bathtub adapter 4 of Embodiment 4 of this invention is cut | disconnected in a horizontal direction.
In the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the blowing part 16 has a branch part 23 that is divided into two branches in the horizontal direction at the tip part.
Other configurations are the same as those of the bathtub adapter 4 of the second embodiment shown in FIG.

In the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, as in the third embodiment, the bubble crushing rod 9 plays a role of crushing and rectifying the bubbles. Install in the channel.
Moreover, also about this bathtub adapter 4, similarly to Embodiment 3, by attaching the solid mesh 10 to the blower outlet 6 of the blower part 16, the blowout of a fine bubble to the bathtub 2 is rectified, and straightness can be increased. .

  In the case of the bathtub adapter 4 of this embodiment, the flow path inner diameter of the branch part 23 of the blowing part 16 is 7 mm, the size of the collision surface B of the bubble crushing rod 9 is 4 mm × 7 mm, and hot water is circulated at a circulation flow rate of 7 L / min. The pressure loss when it was made to combine the bathtub adapter 4 and the intake nozzle 5 was 0.016 MPs.

  In addition, this inventor calculated | required the existence rate distribution by experiment about the bubble diameter (50 micrometers or more) which can confirm visually the fine bubble which generate | occur | produced in each bathtub adapter 4 of the said Embodiment 1-4.

  According to the hot water supply device according to this embodiment, the same effect as that of the hot water supply device according to the second embodiment can be obtained, and the blowing portion 16 has a branch portion 23 branched to the tip portion. Since the bubble crushing rod 9 is provided on the upstream side of the branching portion 23 in parallel with the arrangement of the branching portions, the bubble crushing rod 9 plays the role of crushing and rectifying the bubbles, and is divided from the blowout port 6 divided into two. Fine bubbles can be discharged stably and evenly.

14-16 is a figure which shows the experimental result at that time.
The bubble diameter existence ratio distribution was calculated from the diameter and the number of bubbles that were captured by photographing a fine bubble emitted from the outlet 6 of the outlets 8 and 16 with a high-speed camera and then converting it into a still image. The measurement conditions are the same as the conditions under which the pressure loss was measured in each embodiment.

In the bathtub adapter 4 of the first and second embodiments, as can be seen from FIG. 14 and FIG. 15, the comparison is made with the case where the bubble crushing rod 9 is not installed, and the bubble crushing rod 9 distributes to the finer bubble side. Shifted.
Therefore, the effect of increasing the number of fine bubbles by installing the bubble crushing rod 9 in the flow path was confirmed.
In the bathtub adapter 4 of the third and fourth embodiments, if the bubble crushing rod 9 is not installed, a phenomenon in which bubbles are not evenly generated from the two outlets 6 of the blowing unit 16 occurs. It is impossible.
In all the embodiments, there is no inferiority in comparison with the measurement result of the fine bubbles generated by the method of crushing the bubbles simultaneously with the intake air by forming a swirl flow inside the bathtub adapter, while obtaining the pressure loss reduction effect, It was confirmed that fine bubbles could be generated.
In addition, when the inflow portion 3A and the outflow portion 3B are extended along the side wall of the bathtub 2, the state of fine bubbles is compared with the case where the inflow portion 3A and the outflow portion 3B are extended perpendicularly to the side wall. It was also confirmed that there was almost no difference.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water heater main body, 2 bathtubs, 3A inflow part, 3B outflow part, 4 bathtub adapter, 5 intake nozzle, 6 outlet, 7 inlet, 8,16 outlet, 9 bubble crushing rod, 10 solid mesh, 11 entrance partition Plate, 12 cylinder part, 13 return side flow channel, 14 suction port forming lid, 15 screw, 20 swirl flow forming chamber, 21 collar part, 22 step part, 23 branch part, 24 screw hole, 30A inflow side circulation piping, 30B Outflow side circulation piping, B Colliding surface.

Claims (5)

A hot water supply device that circulates hot water by driving the pump through an inflow-side circulation pipe, a bathtub adapter, and an outflow-side circulation pipe between a hot water supply body having a built-in pump and the bathtub,
The bathtub adapter includes an inflow portion connected to the inflow side circulation pipe, an intake nozzle that is attached to the inflow portion and sucks air into the inflow portion, and a blowout port that faces the bathtub and is taken into the hot water. A hot water supply apparatus comprising: a blowing part that diffuses the gas into the bathtub; and a bubble crushing rod that is provided in the vicinity of the outlet and crushes the bubbles.   The blowing portion has a branching portion branched at a tip portion, and the bubble crushing rod disposed in parallel with the arrangement of the branching portions is provided on the upstream side of the branching portion. The hot water supply apparatus according to claim 1.   The hot water supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a solid mesh is attached to the outlet.   The hot water supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the inflow portion and the outflow portion connected to the outflow side circulation pipe extend along a side wall of the bathtub.   The hot-water supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the bubble crushing rod has a triangular prism shape and is arranged so that the hot water collides perpendicularly to a wall surface.

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