JP2639908B2 - Dishwasher with water softener - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial application field The present invention performs a rinsing step by spraying rinsing water in a rinsing tank heated by a kanno apparatus from a rinsing nozzle onto an object to be cleaned after the completion of a cleaning step. The present invention relates to a dishwasher, and more particularly to a dishwasher having a water softener.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a dishwasher for performing a rinsing process by injecting rinsing water in a rinsing tank heated by a heating device from a rinsing nozzle to an object to be cleaned after a washing process has been completed is, for example, a real dishwashing machine.
There are many such publications, such as Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-18832 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-2762. Although the cleaning object and the rinsing object are taken out after the cleaning and rinsing, the attached dirt is removed neatly, but large and small white spots can be confirmed on the surface of the cleaning object in a dry state. . These spots remain due to the attachment of cations such as calcium and magnesium, and have caused great discomfort to those who eat.

Therefore, it is conceivable to employ a commercially available water softening device as a means for removing the white spots.The water softening device generally uses an ion exchange resin, and the ion exchange resin is saturated by a hardness component. You lose the ability to sample soft water. Therefore, if the ion exchange resin is washed with salt water in such a state, soft water can be collected again.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention When such a water softener is simply attached to a washing machine, a long-time operation of the washing machine causes a decrease in soft water collecting capacity,
If the operation is continued in this state, the cations are left on the surface of the object to be cleaned again, so that when performing the regeneration operation, the operation of the cleaning device must be stopped during the regeneration time. Another problem is how to detect if the water softener has lost its ability to collect soft water.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is provided in the middle of a water supply pipe for supplying water to a rinsing tank so that water can be passed by a switching device such as a solenoid valve. A first and second water softener communicated with a water supply pipe, and a control device for controlling a switching device each time the washer is operated a predetermined number of times to communicate the first and second water softeners with the water supply pipe. It is a dishwasher with a water softener provided with.

(E) Function According to the above configuration, the limit of the soft water collecting capacity of the water softener is detected by the number of times of operation of the washing machine. If the washing machine is operated a predetermined number of times and one of the softeners loses the soft water collecting capacity, Automatically switch to take soft water from the other water softener. Therefore, the washing machine can be operated even during replacement or regeneration of the water softener having lost the soft water collecting ability.

(F) Example FIG. 1 shows an internal configuration diagram of a dishwasher with a water softener according to the present invention, and a washing chamber (2) opened by an ascending and descending door (1) is provided in the upper part of the main body. A washing nozzle (3) and a rinsing nozzle (4) are rotatably arranged above and below the chamber (2), and a rack (6) containing an object to be washed (5) is interposed therebetween. Is mounted on a support rail (7). Below the washing chamber (2), a washing tank (10) having a drain port (9) formed at the bottom and an rinsing tank (11) and a rinsing tank (11) are provided with a partition plate (12). A strainer (13) is disposed above the washing tank (10), and a tank cover (14) is detachably disposed on the upper surface of the rinsing tank (11). Also,
The rinse tank (11) is provided with a water supply pipe (16) that opens and closes a water supply port (16A) based on the ups and downs of the float (15), and is provided with soft water supplied to the rinse tank (11) according to a method described later. A heat exchanger (17) and a heating device (18) for heating the water are provided. (19) is a washing pump for pumping hot water from the washing tank (10) to the washing nozzle (3), and (20) is a rinsing pump for sending hot water from the rinsing tank (11) to the rinsing nozzle (4).

By the way, the water softening device (21) for supplying soft water to the rinsing tank (11) is interposed in the middle of the water supply pipe (16), and the water supply pipe (16) branches in the middle and one branch. A first inlet solenoid valve (22), a first water softener (23) and a first outlet solenoid valve (24) are sequentially connected to the pipe, and a second inlet solenoid valve (25) is connected to the other branch pipe. ), The second water softener (26) and the second water softener
After the outlet solenoid valves (27) are sequentially connected, they are joined again and piped to the rinsing tank (11).

Next, an electric circuit of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The current power supply includes a motion switch (28), a door switch (29) that turns on when the door (1) is closed and turns off when it is open, and a timer circuit that controls the cleaning time and rinsing time on the secondary side. Transformer (31) connected to (30), normally open first
Series circuit of relay contact (32A) and washing pump (19), series circuit of normally open second relay contact (33A) and rinsing pump (20), smoothing capacitor via diode (34) and resistor (35) (36) and a light emitting element (38A) via a resistor (37). The normally open first relay contact (32A) is controlled by a first relay (32) incorporated in a timer circuit (30), and the first relay (32) is excited simultaneously with the start of the timer circuit (30), Excitation is released when a predetermined cleaning time has elapsed. The normally open second relay contact (33A) is controlled by a second relay (33) incorporated in a timer circuit (30), and the second relay (33) releases the excitation of the first relay (32). When the predetermined rinsing time elapses, the excitation is canceled.

(38B) is a photocoupler (3
8) Light receiving element (39) is ON for light receiving element (38B)
The transistor which is turned ON, (40) is connected to the secondary side of the transformer (41) via a rectifier (42) and is a control circuit mainly composed of an oscillator, a counter and an output stage.
Is a capacitor (4) connected via a transistor (39).
3) Time constant and resistance (45) and resistance (46) by resistance (44)
Oscillates a periodic pulse conditioned by a reference voltage, and outputs "H" and "L" alternately every time a predetermined number of pulses are counted. (47) is a transistor that is turned on and off based on the output of the control circuit (40), (48) is a control relay connected in series with the transistor (47), and the first inlet solenoid valve (22) and the first Normally closed control relay contact (48) connected in series with the parallel circuit of the outlet solenoid valve (24)
A) and the second inlet solenoid valve (25) and the second outlet solenoid valve (2
It has a normally open control relay contact (47B) connected in series with the parallel circuit of 7).

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. First, the door (1) is opened and the object to be cleaned (5) is placed in the rack (6) in the cleaning room (2).
When the door (1) is closed, the door switch (29) is closed, and when the operation switch (28) is turned on, the timer circuit (30) starts. As a result, the first relay (3
2) is excited to close the normally open first relay contact (32A), so that the cleaning pump (19) is operated and the cleaning tank (1) is operated.
The cleaning water of (0) is sent under pressure to the cleaning nozzle (3), and the cleaning water is injected from the nozzle (3) to the cleaning object (5) to perform the cleaning process. When a predetermined cleaning time has elapsed by the timer circuit (30), the excitation of the first relay (32) is released, the normally open first relay contact (32A) is opened, and the cleaning pump (19) stops to perform cleaning. End the process. Next, the second relay (3
In order to close the normally open second relay contact (33A) by exciting 3), the rinsing pump (20) is operated to pump the softened rinse water in the rinse tank (11) to the rinse nozzle (4). And rinsing hot water from the nozzle (4) with the object to be cleaned (5).
To perform a rinsing step. When a predetermined rinsing time has elapsed by the timer circuit (30), the second relay (33)
Is released, the normally open second relay contact (33A) is opened, the rinsing pump (20) stops, and the rinsing step is completed.

The rinse water injected in the rinsing step falls into the washing tank (10) without returning to the rinse tank (11), and the water level in the rinse tank (11) drops. Then
At this time, since the first inlet and outlet solenoid valves (22) and (24) are open, tap water passes through the first water softener (23) to remove cations such as calcium and magnesium. Water is supplied to the rinse tank (11) from the water supply port (16A).

On the other hand, as described above, when the door switch (29) is closed and the operation switch (28) is turned on, the light emitting element (38A) emits light and the light receiving element (38B) is turned on.
9) turns ON, the control circuit (40) connects the capacitor (4
3) Time constant and resistance (45) and resistance (46) by resistance (44)
Oscillates a periodic pulse conditioned by the reference voltage according to, and starts counting the pulses. The counting of the pulses is stopped when the door (1) is opened and the door switch (29) is opened in order to take out the object to be cleaned (5) from the cleaning chamber (2) after the rinsing step.

According to the present invention, for example, eight pulses are counted by one operation of the washing machine as described above, and "H" and "L" are alternately output from the control circuit (40) every time 1024 pulses are counted. When the operation of the washing machine is repeated 256 times, that is, the ON / OFF of the door switch (29) is repeated 256 times, the control circuit (40) outputs “H”.

As described above, when "H" is output from the control circuit (40), the transistor (47) is turned on, the control relay (48) is excited, and the normally closed control relay contact (48A) is opened and the normal state is closed. Close the open control relay contact (48B). This closes the first inlet and outlet solenoid valves (22) and (24) and the second inlet and outlet solenoid valves (25) and (27).
Opens. Therefore, the water pipe (16) and the first water softener (2
The communication state of 3) is cut off, and the water supply pipe (16) and the second water softener (26) are in a communication state. In addition, the first water softener (23) which has lost the soft water collecting capacity replaces the internal ion exchange resin while collecting the soft water with the second water softener (26), or The regeneration is performed by using salt water to prepare for the next switching.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the control circuit (40) counts the number of times the cleaning machine has been operated based on the opening and closing of the door switch (29). May be based on a signal from any switch unit. Further, as the switching device, a three-way solenoid valve may be used at each of the junction and the junction.

(G) Effect of the invention As described above, the sound invention supplies soft water to the rinsing tank through a water softener, thereby substantially eliminating white spots on the object to be washed remaining after cations such as calcium and magnesium adhere thereto. Of course, the present invention provides two water softeners, and when one of the water softeners loses the ability to collect soft water, it automatically switches to collecting soft water from the other water softener. There is no hindrance to temporarily stopping the operation of the vehicle.

Also, in view of the fact that once the washing machine is operated, the rinse tank is supplied with soft water, based on the number of times the washing machine has been operated,
Since the first and second water softeners are switched, the advantage of being able to accurately detect the limit of the soft water collecting capacity is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an internal configuration diagram of a dishwasher with a water softener of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is an electric circuit diagram of the present invention. (11) Rinsing tank, (16) Water pipe, (21)
... water softener, (22) ... first inlet solenoid valve, (23) ...
1st water softener, (24) ... 1st outlet solenoid valve, (25) ...
... second inlet solenoid valve, (26) ... second water softener, (27)
...... Second outlet solenoid valve, (29) ... door switch, (40)
Control circuit (47) Transistor (48) Control relay (48A) Normally closed control relay contact (48B)
... Normally open control relay contact.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-50-31653 (JP, A) JP-A-50-2360 (JP, A) JP-A-60-195666 (JP, U) 44423 (JP, B2)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A cleaning step of injecting cleaning water in a cleaning tank from a cleaning nozzle onto an object to be cleaned which is installed in a cleaning chamber with a door opened, and heated by a heating device after the step. In a dishwasher in which a rinsing step of spraying rinsing water in a rinsing tank from a rinsing nozzle is performed, the rinsing tank is interposed in a water supply pipe for supplying water to the rinsing tank, and water can be passed through a switching device such as a solenoid valve. The first and second water softeners communicated with the water supply pipe in a proper state, and the switching device is controlled each time the washer is operated a predetermined number of times, so that the first and second water softeners are mutually connected. A dishwasher with a water softener characterized by having a control device for communicating with a water supply pipe.