JP2016022332A - Liquid supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid supply device capable of supplying water in a tank by raising a contact part with a valve opening/closing mechanism.SOLUTION: An outflow port 27 is opened by a valve opening/closing mechanism 35 at the time of starting mist operation and closed by the valve opening/closing mechanism 35 at the time of stopping the mist operation, and thus only water in a water storage chamber 6 and a storage part 10 can be flowed into a waste liquid tray 24 without removing a tank 7 from a tank mounting part 9. This prevents the water from overflowing from the waste liquid tray 24 and improves use feeling without removing the tank 7 from a device body 1 when discharging the water in the water storage chamber 6 and the storage part 10. Furthermore, since the valve opening/closing mechanism 35 for raising a valve body 26 provided in the tank 7 is absent in the storage part 10, it is possible to prevent long-term deterioration of the valve opening/closing mechanism 35 due to a substance such as chlorine contained in the water accumulated in the storage part 10, and operate the valve opening/closing mechanism 35 reliably for a long period of time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid supply apparatus that supplies liquid in a tank to a storage section below the tank.

  Conventionally, with this type, when a tank equipped with a valve body in the cap that is always closed to prevent the liquid from leaking out is mounted on the tank mounting section in the instrument body, the pressing section is pressed down. The seesaw operation is performed around the pivot point, and the push-up part rises to raise the valve body provided on the tank cap to open the outlet and supply the liquid in the tank to the reservoir. When the filter unit is raised as the front panel of the instrument main body is raised, the push-down operation of the push-down portion is released, the valve body is lowered and the outlet is closed, thereby stopping the supply of liquid to the storage portion. Some have an opening / closing mechanism, and it is possible to change whether or not the liquid in the tank is supplied to the storage portion depending on the state of the instrument body. (For example, Patent Document 1)

JP 2011-12859 A

  However, in this conventional device, the rotation fulcrum of the valve opening / closing mechanism is submerged in the storage part, so that if the instrument is used for a long period of time, the rotation fulcrum will become dirty and the aesthetics will be impaired. If the dust enters the storage section when removing or putting in and the rotation fulcrum of the valve opening / closing mechanism becomes clogged and the rotation becomes impossible, the liquid in the tank cannot be supplied to the storage section, so there is room for improvement. there were.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, in claim 1 of the present invention, the outlet formed in the lower part is urged downward to close and the outlet is opened and closed by moving in the vertical direction. A tank having a flexible valve body, a tank mounting portion in the instrument body on which the tank is detachably mounted, and a contact portion that comes into contact with the bottom surface of the valve body when the tank is mounted on the tank mounting portion. A valve opening / closing mechanism that opens the outlet by raising the corresponding contact portion upward and pushing up the valve body, and stores the liquid that flows out from the outlet when the outlet opens by the valve opening / closing mechanism. A storage portion, and is formed with an elastic structure so that a connecting surface between the contact portion and the storage portion is deformed, and the valve opening / closing mechanism is configured to contact the liquid when the liquid in the tank flows into the storage portion. Raise the part, inside the tank It is characterized by lowering said abutment when to stop the body from flowing into the reservoir.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the contact portion has a shape integrated with the bottom surface of the storage portion, and the connection surface with the bottom surface is thinned to have an elastic structure.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the connection surface is constituted by an insert-molded elastic body.

  According to the present invention, the connection surface between the contact portion and the storage portion is formed with an elastic structure so that the valve opening / closing mechanism raises the contact portion when the liquid in the tank flows into the storage portion, and the tank Since the contact portion is lowered when the flow of the liquid in the storage portion is stopped, when the contact portion is raised by the valve opening / closing mechanism, the connection surface is deformed to raise the valve body and open the outlet. Therefore, the supply of liquid from the tank to the storage part can be stopped with the liquid in the tank remaining, and the valve opening / closing mechanism does not collect dirt and can maintain aesthetics. It is possible to prevent malfunction of the valve opening / closing mechanism.

  In addition, the contact portion has a shape integrated with the bottom surface of the storage portion, and since the connection surface with the bottom surface is thinned to have an elastic structure, it is possible to form a contact with the bottom surface without adding a new member to the bottom surface of the storage portion. Since the outflow port can be opened by a simple means of thinning the connection surface, water leakage from the contact portion does not occur, and an increase in cost due to additional parts can be prevented.

  In addition, since the connection surface is composed of an insert-molded elastic body, the connection surface with the storage portion is in close contact, so that no water leaks from the contact portion to the lower portion of the storage portion.

The perspective view which shows the mist generator of one Embodiment of this invention Schematic configuration diagram of the same embodiment Control block diagram of the same embodiment The figure explaining the operation part of the same embodiment The figure explaining the structure around the valve body of the same embodiment The figure explaining a mode that the valve element of the same embodiment moves up and down The figure explaining the structure around the valve element of other embodiments

Next, a liquid supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Reference numeral 1 denotes an appliance main body that cleans and humidifies indoor air, and a cylindrical guide cylinder 4 that guides indoor air sucked from the suction port 2 to a blower fan 3 that is a sirocco fan that is driven to rotate in the center. Is provided.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a processing chamber that covers the guide tube 4, and 6 denotes a water storage chamber provided in the lower part of the processing chamber 5. The water storage chamber 6 includes a tank mounting portion 9 to which a cap 8 of a tank 7 can be mounted. The water storage chamber 6 is always kept at a constant water level by supplying water with a drop in the height direction of the tank 7. Reference numeral 12 denotes a float sensor that is provided in the storage unit 10 and detects the presence of a water level when the water storage chamber 6 and the storage unit 10 have water storage above a certain level.

  Reference numeral 13 denotes a cylindrical rotating body which is submerged in the water storage of the water storage chamber 6 and is pivotally supported together with the blower fan 3 on a driving shaft 15 which can be rotated by a driving motor 14. The rotating body 13 has a hollow inverted conical shape. The diameter gradually expands upward, and the water stored in the water storage chamber 6 is pumped up by the centrifugal force of rotation caused by the rotation of the rotating body 13, and is pushed up along the outer and inner walls of the rotating body 13 to rotate. The stored water pushed up along the outer wall of the body 13 is scattered to the surroundings, and the pushed up water stored along the inner wall of the rotating body 13 is scattered from a plurality of unillustrated splash ports formed at the upper end of the rotating body 13 to the surroundings. It is something to be made.

  Reference numeral 16 denotes a cylindrical porous body which is located on the outer periphery of the rotating body 13 at a predetermined interval and rotates together with the rotating body 13. The porous body 16 includes a plurality of slits, a metal mesh, punching metal, etc. on its entire peripheral wall. A porous portion 17 is formed, and the drive motor 14, the rotating body 13 and the porous portion 17 constitute a mist generating portion.

  The drive motor 14 constituting the mist generating unit is driven and the rotating body 13 is rotated to pump up water in the water storage chamber 6 by centrifugal force generated and to disperse the air, and the water droplets passing through the porous part 17 are crushed. As a result, the water particles are refined to generate nanometer (nm) size mist, and a large amount of negative ions are generated by the Leonard effect due to the refinement of the water particles.

  A heater 18 is provided at the bottom of the water storage chamber 6 and heats the water in the water storage chamber 6. When the air flow rate is set to “strong”, the water storage temperature in the water storage chamber 6 is set to about 38 ° C. of the set temperature. When the air flow rate is set to “weak”, the water storage temperature in the water storage chamber 6 is heated to around 34 ° C. of the set temperature, and the blowing temperature is maintained at about 30 ° C. The heater 18 is installed at the bottom and detects the temperature of the water in the water storage chamber 6 to detect the temperature of the water sensor 19. The heater 18 is turned on / off and held at a predetermined temperature. The heater 18 is forcibly turned off. Thus, a mode in which the water in the water storage chamber 6 is not heated can be set.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a flow path for guiding humidified air containing nanometer-sized mist and negative ions generated by the rotation of the rotating body 13 and the porous body 16 toward the upper portion of the processing chamber 5 by driving the blower fan 3. It is an air outlet that is formed on the front side of the top surface of the appliance body 1 and blows humidified air flowing through the flow passage 20 into the room. The humid air that has flowed up the flow passage 20 follows the angle of the louver 22 from the air outlet 21. The direction is blown.

  A drain valve 23 is provided in a water passage 11 communicating with the water storage chamber 6. When water is supplied from the tank 7 to the storage section 10, the drain valve is switched to a valve-closed state, thereby remaining water in the water storage chamber 6. When the water supply from the tank 7 to the storage unit 10 is stopped and the supply of water to the storage unit 10 is stopped, the valve is switched to a state in which the drainage is possible, so that the water in the water storage chamber 6 and the storage unit 10 can be removed without removing the tank 7. Can only drain.

  24 is a waste liquid tray with an open top surface that receives the drainage of the remaining water in the water storage chamber 6, and is provided so as to be freely inserted into and removed from the instrument body 1, and has a volume that can sufficiently accommodate the remaining water in the water storage chamber 6. It is.

  Reference numeral 25 denotes a nut that is provided in the water storage chamber 6 through which the drive shaft 18 penetrates, and fixes a connection portion between the drive shaft 18 and the rotating body 13. The nut 25 is rotated and removed to remove the rotating body 13 from the instrument body 1. By taking out, the inside of the water storage chamber 6 can be cleaned.

  Reference numeral 26 denotes a valve body installed at the outlet 27 in the substantially central portion of the cap 8, and the valve body 26 comes into close contact with a valve seat 28 formed around the outlet 27, thereby A valve portion 29 that prevents water from flowing out, and a projection portion 31 that has a spring 30 that adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the valve portion 29 and biases the valve portion 29 downward to close the outlet 27. It is configured.

  32 is a solenoid capable of moving up and down the movable iron core 33 provided in the energized ON / OFF state, and 34 is movable up and down by the movable iron core 33, and has a ring-shaped locking projection on the side surface. The solenoid 32, the movable iron core 33, and the movable protrusion 34 constitute a valve opening / closing mechanism 35.

  Reference numeral 36 denotes an abutting portion that is formed integrally with the bottom surface 37 of the water storage chamber 6 and that contacts the bottom surface and the upper end of the valve body 26 when the tank 7 is mounted on the tank mounting portion 9. By reducing the thickness of the connection surface 38 to a predetermined thickness, an elastic structure is formed that can be deformed in the vertical direction within a range in which the movable protrusion 34 operates.

  Reference numeral 39 denotes an operation unit provided on the front surface of the instrument body 1 and provided with a plurality of switches. The operation unit 39 drives the drive motor 14 to rotationally drive the blower fan 3 and the rotating body 13, so An operation switch 40 for starting a mist operation for blowing a fine mist, and an air volume switch 41 capable of changing the number of rotations of the drive motor 14 to set the air volume from the air outlet 21 to “strong” and “weak”; , A warm mist switch 42 that performs a warm mist operation to raise the water in the water storage chamber 6 to a predetermined temperature by the heater 18, and the drive motor 14 is stopped after 1 hour or 2 hours from the start of operation to stop the mist operation. A turn-off timer switch 43 is provided, and when each switch is operated, a predetermined lamp installed above each switch is turned on.

  44 is a control unit that controls the operation of the heater 18 and the drive motor 14 in response to an input signal from the operation unit 39 and detection signals from the temperature sensor 19 and the float sensor 12, and the control unit 44 includes a mist operation. The heater control means 45 for controlling the output of the heater 18 so as to have a set temperature that changes depending on the intensity of the air flow at the time, and the output of the drive motor 14 so that the set air volume changes depending on the intensity of the air flow during the mist operation. Motor control means 46 for controlling and error stop means for stopping the mist operation and reporting an error by turning on the water supply lamp 47 installed in the operation unit 39 when the float sensor 12 detects no water level during the mist operation. 48.

Next, the operation of each part by the solenoid 32 in the energized ON / OFF state will be described in detail.
First, when the energization to the solenoid 32 is in the OFF state, the movable iron core 33 does not operate, and the movable protrusion 34 also stops at a predetermined position. Therefore, the valve body 26 provided in the cap 8 of the tank 7 is urged downward by its own weight and the elasticity of the spring 30, and the valve portion 29 comes into close contact with the valve seat 28. It is possible to prevent water from being supplied to the storage unit 10 without flowing out from the storage unit 10.

  When the energization to the solenoid 32 is in an ON state, the movable iron core 33 moves upward, and the movable protrusion 34 moves upward by the movement of the movable iron core 33, thereby contacting the bottom surface of the valve element 26. The upper end of the part 36 contacts and pushes upward. Then, when the valve body 26 is lifted to a predetermined height, the movable projection 34 stops, so that the water in the tank 7 flows out from between the valve seat 28 and the valve portion 29, and from the outlet 27 to the storage portion 10. It becomes possible to supply water inside.

Next, the operation of the valve body 26 provided in the cap 8 of the tank 7 and the deformation of the contact portion 36 in this embodiment will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 6A, if the operation switch 40 is in the OFF state when the tank 7 is mounted on the tank mounting portion 9, the energization to the solenoid 32 is in the OFF state, so the movable iron core 33 and the movable core 33 are movable. The protrusion 34 does not operate, the valve body 26 is urged downward by the spring 30, and the outflow port 27 maintains the closed state. When the operation switch 40 is turned on and a mist operation start instruction is given, as shown in FIG. 6B, the solenoid 32 is energized and the movable iron core 33 is raised upward. Along with this, the movable projection 34 rises and pushes up the abutting portion 36, so that the connection surface 38 is curved upward, the projection 31 is pushed up to raise the valve body 26, and the outlet 27 is opened to open the inside of the tank 7. Water is supplied to the storage unit 10.

  Further, when the operation switch 40 is switched from the ON state to the OFF state or an error occurs and a mist operation stop instruction is issued, the solenoid 32 is switched to the energized OFF state and the drain valve 23 is opened, so that the movable core 33 is opened. As the movable projection 34 descends as it descends, there is no force to push up the contact portion 36, so the connecting surface 38 is lowered to its original position by the restoring force, and the upward pressing force by the contact portion 36 is increased. The lost valve body 26 is lowered by the restoring force of the spring 30 and closes the outlet 27 to stop the supply of water from the tank 7 to the storage unit 10. Then, only the water in the water storage chamber 6 and the storage unit 10 is guided to the waste liquid tray 24 by opening the drain valve 23, so that only dirty water is drained without removing the tank 7 from the tank mounting unit 9. It becomes possible to do.

  As described above, the outlet 27 is opened by the valve opening / closing mechanism 35 when the mist operation is started, and the outlet 27 is closed by the valve opening / closing mechanism 35 when the mist operation is stopped, so that the tank 7 remains with water in the tank 7 left. Since the water supply to the storage unit 10 can be stopped, only the water in the water storage chamber 6 and the storage unit 10 can flow into the waste liquid tray 24 without removing the tank 7 from the tank mounting unit 9. Since the water does not overflow from the waste liquid tray 24 without removing the tank 7 from the instrument body 1 when the water in the water storage chamber 6 and the storage section 10 is drained, the feeling of use is improved. Since the valve opening / closing mechanism 35 that raises the body 26 does not exist in the storage unit 10, the valve opening / closing mechanism 35 is deteriorated over time due to a substance such as chalk contained in the water accumulated in the storage unit 10, or the storage unit 10. Since clogging the valve opening and closing mechanism 35 by invading dust can be prevented from occurring, it is possible to operate reliably over the valve opening-closing mechanism 35 to the long-term.

  In addition, since the bottom surface 37 of the storage unit 10 and the connection surface 38 of the contact unit 36 are thinned, an elastic structure is obtained, so that the contact unit is not added to a part of the bottom surface 37 of the storage unit 10. Since 36 can be installed, water leakage from between the storage unit 10 and the contact unit 36 does not occur, and an increase in cost due to additional parts can be prevented.

Next, the structure of the contact part 36 in other embodiment is demonstrated.
As shown in FIG. 7, by using rubber which is an elastic body connected to the end of the bottom surface 37 of the storage unit 10 by insert molding as the connection surface 38, the movable protrusion 34 is turned on when the energization of the solenoid 32 is switched to the ON state. Is raised, the connecting surface 38 is bent upward, and the valve body 26 is raised by the contact portion 36, thereby opening the outflow port 27 and supplying water into the storage portion 10. When the energization of the solenoid 32 is switched to the OFF state, the movable protrusion 34 is lowered, the connection surface 38 is returned to the original position by the restoring force, and the valve body 26 is lowered by the restoring force of the spring 30, whereby the outlet 27. Can be closed to stop the supply of water to the reservoir 10.

  As described above, since the connection surface 38 is configured by an insert-molded elastic body, the end portion of the storage portion 10 and the contact portion 36 are in close contact with each other, so that water leakage does not occur, and when the mist operation starts. The valve body 26 can be raised to supply water to the storage unit 10, and when the mist operation is stopped, the valve body 26 can be lowered to reliably stop the supply of water to the storage unit 10.

  In the present embodiment, the mechanism using the solenoid 32, the movable iron core 33, and the movable protrusion 34 as the valve opening / closing mechanism 35 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a substantially egg-shaped circle is formed on a shaft rotated by a motor or a manual handle. A cam structure having a plate cam is installed below the contact portion 36. At the start of mist operation, the shaft rotates to change the direction of the disc cam and push up the contact portion 36 to raise the valve body 26. A mechanism or a mechanism that raises the valve body 26 by pushing up the abutting portion 36 by a link mechanism or the like by a user operating a manual lever installed in the instrument main body 1 may be used.

  Moreover, although the content which uses this invention for the humidifier which supplies the water in the tank 7 to the storage part 10, and ventilates humidified air indoors was demonstrated in this embodiment, it is not restricted to this, For example, in the tank 7 The fuel oil such as kerosene may be stored, and the fuel oil in the tank 7 may be supplied to the oil tray, ejected to the combustion section, and used for a heating apparatus that performs the heating operation by burning.

  The configuration used in the present embodiment is presented as an example, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, and can be implemented in various other forms. Various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument main body 7 Tank 9 Tank mounting part 10 Storage part 26 Valve body 27 Outflow port 35 Valve opening / closing mechanism 36 Contact part 37 Bottom surface 38 Connection surface

Claims (3)

  A tank having a valve body that is urged downward to close the outlet formed in the lower part and can be freely opened and closed by moving in the vertical direction; A tank mounting portion that is detachably mounted, a contact portion that comes into contact with the bottom surface of the valve body when the tank is mounted on the tank mounting portion, and lifts the valve body by raising the corresponding contact portion upward. A valve opening / closing mechanism that opens the outlet, and a storage portion that stores liquid that flows out from the outlet when the outlet opens by the valve opening / closing mechanism, the contact portion and the storage portion An elastic structure is formed so that the connection surface is deformed, and the valve opening / closing mechanism raises the contact portion when the liquid in the tank flows into the storage portion, and flows the liquid in the tank into the storage portion. When you stop Liquid supply apparatus characterized by lowering the part.   The liquid supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the contact portion has a shape integrated with a bottom surface of the storage portion, and the connection surface with the bottom surface is thinned to have an elastic structure.   The liquid supply apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the connection surface is configured by an insert-molded elastic body.

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