JP2678340B2 - How to clean the bath filtration circuit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of cleaning a filtration circuit incorporated in a bath device, that is, a filtration circuit for preventing contamination of bath water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application No. 165709/1993 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-24 / 1995) as a bath device incorporating a filtration circuit for adsorbing / removing scales of bathing water to prevent contamination of the bathing water.
The invention of No. 224) has already been proposed. The bath device is shown in Fig. 1.
It has the schematic structure shown in Fig. 1, and the circulation circuit
The upstream end of the return path (1b) constituting (1) is connected. On the other hand, the downstream part of the outward path (1a) that constitutes the circulation circuit (1) is a discharge port (12) (12) formed on the back side and foot side walls of the bath (B).
A circulation pump (P ₀₁ ) is provided in the circulation circuit (1).

Filtration circuit for removing scales of bathing water
(2) is connected in parallel to the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ), and switching valves (31) (32) are installed near the inlet and outlet of the filtration container (20) that constitutes the filtration circuit (2). There is. A discharge circuit (3 _c ) for opening to the atmosphere is connected to the switching valve (32) on the inlet side, and a water heater is connected to the switching valve (31) on the other outlet side.
(4) is pulled out and the water filling valve (30) and flow counter (3
The water filling circuit (3a) including 4) is connected. In addition to the hot water filling circuit (3a), a hot water supply circuit (37) connected to a hot water tap of a shower or a kitchen is formed on the downstream side of the hot water supply device (4).

The discharge port (12) (1) formed on the side wall of the bathtub (B)
2) is connected to an air suction circuit (13) for sucking outside air through the open / close valve (14), and opens the open / close valve (14) to operate the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ). Then, outside air is sucked from the air suction circuit (13) by the ejector effect of the water flow generated in the circulation circuit (1) and is ejected into the bath (B) to perform bubble operation. And during the bubble operation,
A part of the water discharged from the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ) branches to the filtration circuit (2) side and passes through the filtration container (20), which returns to the inlet side of the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ) again. The water is filtered. Thereby, the bath water in the bathtub is gradually purified.

[0005] In this case, the scale and the like adhering to the filter material in the filtration container (20) can be regularly washed and removed, thereby preventing loss of the capacity of the filtration container (20). I am able to do it. That is, when the duration of the bubble operation described above exceeds the reference time (generally about 7 minutes),
Turn off the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ) and the filtration circuit (2), and fill the circuit with the water (3a) → Switching valve (31) → Filter container (20) → Switching valve (32) →
Switching valve (31) so that the circuit connected to the discharge circuit (3 _c ) is established
(32) is switched, and the water filling valve (30) is opened in this state. Then, the water in the direction opposite to the passing direction of the bathing water (the direction indicated by the solid arrow in FIG. 1) flowing through the filtration container (20) during the bubble operation (the direction indicated by the dotted arrow in FIG. 1) is the filtration container. It will flow into (20), and the backflow water will be used to filter the container (20).
The inside is washed and the water after washing is discharged to the outside from the discharge circuit (3 _c ). And, at the time of the washing, a filter container (2
The amount of wash water supplied to (0) is judged by the output of the flow rate counter (34), and the amount of wash water is a predetermined amount (for example, 10 liters).
When it reaches, the cleaning operation is terminated and the filtration circuit (2) is restarted.
And the circulation pump (P ₀₁ ) are connected to continue normal bubble operation.

However, in the above conventional one, the filter container
When the washing operation of (20) and the hot water supply operation by the hot water supply circuit (37) proceed simultaneously, only the amount of water supplied to the hot water supply circuit (37) is filtered.
Since the amount of washing water supplied to (20) is reduced, the filtration container
The flow rate of wash water flowing through (20) decreases. That is, the filtration container
It is impossible to secure the flow rate necessary for sufficiently cleaning the dirt adhering to the filter medium in (20). In addition, the hot water supply circuit (3
Also on the 7) side, the supply amount is reduced by the amount of washing water in the filtration circuit (37), which hinders comfortable use of hot water.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, when hot water supply operation is performed in the hot water supply circuit (37), the washing of the filtration container (20) is interrupted, and after the hot water supply operation is completed, the filtration container (20) is again opened. It is also possible to repeat the cleaning. However, in such a case, if hot water supply operation is intermittently performed in the hot water supply circuit (37), the cleaning operation is repeatedly interrupted and the cleaning operation is not completed for a long time. Therefore, in such a case, there is a disadvantage that the cleaning water for cleaning the filtration container (20) is wasted.

On the other hand, when hot water supply operation is performed in the hot water supply circuit (37), it may be considered that the cleaning of the filtration container (20) is completely terminated at that time, but in such a case, the filtration container (20) is cleaned. Becomes insufficient, and the cleaning ability cannot be sufficiently restored. In this way, even if any of the above measures are taken,
It is impossible to sufficiently wash the filter container (20) with an appropriate amount of wash water.

In the above-mentioned conventional one, the cleaning operation is executed until the amount of cleaning water supplied to the filter container (20) reaches a predetermined amount, but the cleaning time of the filter container (20) is monitored. Alternatively, the filtration container (20) may be washed until the washing time reaches a predetermined value. Even in such a case, if the cleaning of the filtration container (20) and the hot water supply operation compete with each other, the same problem as described above occurs. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, "circulation pump that recirculates the bath water sucked from the bath (B) to the bath (B) through the filtration container (20), and the filtration container (20). The exhaust circuit (3 _c ) connected to the upstream side of the filter container (32) via the switching valve (32) and open to the atmosphere, and the water filling connected to the downstream side of the filtration container (20) via the switching valve (31). Circuit (3a), hot water supply circuit (3a) or hot water supply circuit (37) branched from the upstream side, hot water filling circuit (3a), switching valve (3
1), filtration container (20), switching valve (32), cleaning circuit supplied to the filtration container (20) when backwashing the inside of the filtration container (20) by passing water through the circuit connected to the discharge circuit (3 _c ). A washing amount determining means for measuring the amount of water and the time for washing the filtration container is provided, and the backwashing operation is performed when the output of the washing amount determining means reaches a predetermined required washing water amount or a required washing time. Even if the hot water supply circuit (37) performs hot water supply during the cleaning operation of the filter container (20), the filter container should be supplied with a predetermined appropriate amount of wash water. The task is to be able to perform sufficient cleaning.

[0010]

[Technical Means] The technical means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is "a hot water supply detecting means for outputting a hot water supply signal during a hot water supply operation and a cleaning amount for storing the output of the cleaning amount determination means when the hot water supply signal is generated. A storage means is provided, and when the hot water supply detecting means outputs the hot water supply signal during the cleaning operation, the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is temporarily interrupted, and when the hot water supply signal of the hot water supply detecting means disappears, the cleaning is performed. The cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is re-executed by an insufficient cleaning amount determined as a difference between the cleaning amount stored in the amount storage means and a predetermined required cleaning amount ”.

[0011]

The above technical means operates as follows. When the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is started, the amount of cleaning water or the cleaning time is measured by the cleaning amount determination means. Next, when the hot water supply operation is performed during the cleaning of the filtration container (20), the hot water supply detecting means outputs a hot water supply signal and the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is interrupted by the hot water supply signal. Further, during the hot water supply, the filtration container measured by the cleaning amount determination means.
The washing amount of (20), that is, the amount of washing water supplied to the filtration container (20) until the above washing operation is interrupted and the washing time for washing the filtration container (20) are stored in the washing amount storage means. To be done.

When the hot water supply operation ends and the hot water supply detection signal from the hot water supply detecting means disappears, insufficient cleaning as a difference between the cleaning amount stored in the cleaning amount storage means and a predetermined required cleaning amount. The cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is re-executed by the amount (insufficient cleaning water amount or insufficient cleaning time). That is,
By subtracting the amount of wash water already supplied to the filter container (20) or the wash time that has already been performed from the predetermined wash water amount and wash time for washing the filter container (20), Judging the amount of insufficient cleaning, filter container (20)
That is, the cleaning operation is performed to end the cleaning operation.

As described above, according to the above technical means, when hot water supply operation is performed in the hot water supply circuit (37) during the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20), the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is temporarily interrupted. Although it is required, the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is executed without excess or deficiency by the predetermined amount of cleaning water and the predetermined cleaning time.

[0014]

The present invention has the following specific effects. Filter container (2
Even if the washing operation of (0) and the hot water supply operation by the hot water supply circuit (37) compete with each other, the filtration container (20) can be washed by a predetermined washing amount, so that waste of washing water can be prevented and Also, a complete cleaning effect of the filter container (20) can be obtained.

[0015]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The bubble bath apparatus employing the method of this embodiment employs the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and the basic configuration is the same as that of the above-described conventional example. In the bathtub (B), the discharge port
(12) Foot outlet (12a) and back outlet corresponding to (12)
(12b), and each discharge port has a forward path of the circulation circuit (1).
The branch circuits of (1a) are separately connected. Tub suction port (B) (B ₁₎ backward from (1b) is connected to the inlet side of the circulation pump of a large capacity non-self-priming (P _1), the outlet side of the circulation pump (P ₁₎ The forward path (1a) to be connected is branched at the branch point (Q), one of which is connected to the foot-side discharge port (12a), and the other is connected to the back-side discharge port (12).
b) to form a circulating circuit (1). The discharge ports (12a) and (12b) have an air suction circuit (1).
The downstream branch circuits of 3) are separately connected, and the path to the discharge port of the air suction circuit (13) is opened and closed by an on-off valve (14) inserted upstream of the branch point.

A filtration circuit provided in parallel with the circulation circuit (1)
(2) is a configuration in which a filtration vessel (20) is inserted, and both ends of the filtration vessel (20) are connected to the inlet side and the exit side of the circulation pump (P ₁ ), and the filtration direction of the filtration vessel (20) is circulated. This coincides with the forward direction of the circulation circuit by the pump (P ₁ ). A switching valve (31) is provided at the outlet side of the filtration vessel (20) in the filtration circuit (2).
A switching valve (32) is provided on the inlet side of (20), and the switching valve
The backwash circuit (3b) is connected to (31), and the discharge circuit (3c) is connected to the switching valve (32).

The bubble bath apparatus includes a water heater (4) and a bath heat exchanger (11). The water heater (4) is
The bypass circuit (4) from the water supply pipe (41) on the inlet side to the heat exchanger
3) is combined with a circuit to be heated (42) via a heat exchanger, which is a so-called bypass mixing method. Therefore,
By controlling the distribution amount by the control valve (46) inserted at the branch point of the water supply pipe (41) and the bypass circuit (43), the temperature of the hot water from the hot water circuit (44) is maintained at the set temperature.

In this embodiment, the branch circuit (45) from the water supply pipe (41) is also joined to the filling circuit (3a) branched from the tapping circuit (44), and the switching control is performed at this junction. Valve (33) is inserted. This switching control valve (33) is
The opening degree is controlled by (M) .In this embodiment, the amount of hot water to the filling circuit (3a) can be controlled, and the filling circuit (3a) and the tapping circuit (44) side or branch circuit can be controlled. (45) side can be selectively communicated. Therefore, only the hot water circuit (3a) and the branch circuit (45) can be communicated to supply tap water to the bathtub (B) as it is, and in this case, the circuit to be heated (42) can be filled with cold water. Since there is no hot water, the cold water sand phenomenon is unlikely to occur at the time of hot water supply again.

The water filling circuit (3a) is provided with a water filling valve (30) and a flow rate counter (34) downstream thereof, and the flow rate counter (34) is provided in the water filling circuit (3a) portion. It is configured to emit a pulse each time a unit amount of water flows. The pulse is then counted by the pulse counter (39). Therefore, the output of the pulse counter (39) indicates the cumulative amount of water supplied to the water filling circuit (3a). In this embodiment, the pulse counter (39)
The combination of the flow rate counter (34) and the flow rate counter (34) corresponds to the cleaning amount determination means described in the section of technical means.

A pressure feeding hopper (5) is inserted downstream of the flow rate counter (34), and a downstream end of the water filling circuit (3a) is connected to a forced circulation circuit (1c) for circulation heating described later. It is connected to the upstream side of the self-priming pump (P ₂ ). A switching valve (35) is provided at the junction of the filling circuit (3a) and the forced circulation circuit (1c). This switching valve (35) shuts off the water filling circuit (3a) side so that only the forced circulation circuit (1c) communicates, and the switching circuit (3a) is a self-priming type of the forced circulation circuit (1c). The configuration is such that the pump (P ₂ ) side and the circulation switching valve (15) side are both in communication with each other.

The pressure feeding hopper (5) includes a valve device (52) housed in a valve chamber (51) in a casing (50), and an air chamber (53) connected to the valve chamber and open to the atmosphere side. ) And is provided. An air suction port (54) is opened in a partition wall between the valve chamber (51) and the air chamber (53), and a valve seat port (55) is provided at a position facing the air suction port (54) and at an inlet of the valve chamber (51). ) Opens, during which time
A valve device (52) including a valve body facing the air suction port (54) and the valve seat port (55) is incorporated. The valve device (52) is always operated by a spring (not shown).
(55) is closed and the air suction port (54) is urged to open, and the water seat circuit (3a) opens the valve seat port (55) and closes the air suction port (54). Is a form that works as follows.

A downstream side circuit (3a ₁ ) of the water filling circuit (3a) is communicatively connected to the side wall of the valve chamber (51).
a ₁ ) and the air chamber (53) are connected to the communication pipe (57) into which the drain valve (56) is inserted.
Are connected to each other. The forced circulation circuit (1c) is a self-priming pump between the circulation switching valve (15) inserted in the back circuit of the circulation circuit (1) and the circulation switching valve (16) inserted in the foot circuit.
(P ₂ ) and a bath heat exchanger (11) are inserted.The inlet side of the self-priming pump (P ₂ ) is connected to the circulation switching valve (15), and the self-priming pump (P The outlet side of ₂ ) is connected to the circulation switching valve (16) via a bath heat exchanger (11), and a switching valve is provided between the self-priming pump (P ₂ ) and the circulation switching valve (15). (3
5) is inserted. A water flow switch (17) is inserted on the outlet side of the self-priming pump (P ₂ ), and a pressure type water level sensor (18) is provided between the circulation switching valve (16) and the discharge port (12a). Is inserted. Therefore, the forced circulation circuit (1c) is connected to the circulation switching valve (1
5) → Switching valve (35) → Self-priming pump (P ₂ ) → Water flow switch (17)
→ It becomes the path of the bath heat exchanger (11) → the circulation switching valve (16).

The water level sensor (18) detects the pressure corresponding to the water level in the bath (B) communicating with the discharge port (12a). The operation of the bubble bath apparatus having the above configuration will be described below. In this embodiment, each unit is configured to be controlled by a microcomputer, and the operation of each main unit will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, in steps (81) to (83), whether or not a washing switch or a bubble operation switch (not shown) is operated, necessity of additional heating, and further, the water level of the bath (B) is lowered. Monitor the need for water replenishment at that time. When the operation of the washing switch is confirmed in step (81), the required washing water amount V is set to "30 liters" and the circuit for backwashing shown in FIG. 4 is established. That is, the backwash circuit (3b) branched from the hot water filling circuit (3a) is connected to the filtration circuit (2), and the filtration circuit (2) is disconnected from the forward path (1a) and the return path (1b) side. The switching valves (31) and (32) are set to the open state, and the water filling valve (30) is opened to give a reverse flow of water to the filtration circuit (2) to discharge the water (3 _c ). Drain from (step
(See (84)). In addition, in the step (84), the pulse counter (39) functioning as a water meter is reset, and the memory serving as a cleaning amount storage means for storing the amount of cleaning water supplied to the filtration container (20) is set to "0". To do. That is, the amount of washed water (S) is stored by the memory.

Then, the sum of the amount of water counted by the pulse counter (39) from the start of the backwashing operation and the amount of washed water (S) stored in the memory of the microcomputer as the washing amount storage means (the filtration container (20) The cumulative amount of water washed)
In step (85), if the sum of the water amounts is less than or equal to the required washing water amount V, step (85) is further executed, and hot water is supplied from the hot water supply circuit (37) connected to the hot water tap of the shower or kitchen. Determine whether or not. That is, a flow rate counter (38) and a flow rate counter (38) that generate a pulse each time a unit amount of water flows through the water supply pipe (41).
The output of (34) is monitored, and it is determined whether or not the hot water supply operation has been performed depending on whether or not there is a difference in the occurrence frequency of these pulses.

In this embodiment, both flow rate counters (3
4) (38) and the functional unit in the microcomputer that calculates the difference in the number of pulses output by these units per unit time correspond to the hot water supply detection means described in the section of technical means. And step (86)
If it is determined that the hot water was operated in the shower etc. in step (87), the water filling valve (30) is closed and the filtration container (20) is closed.
The washing operation is stopped, and the amount of washed water (S) at that time is calculated. That is, "washed water amount (S) = washed water amount (S) + measured water amount of pulse counter (39)" is calculated.

Next, when it is determined in step (89) that the hot water use in the shower or hot water tap is stopped, step (9)
The pulse counter (39) is reset at 0), the water filling valve (30) is opened, and the washing of the filtration container (20) is restarted. That is,
Total amount of washing water supplied to the filtration container (20) again (amount of washed water
The step (85) of judging whether (S) + the amount of water measured by the pulse counter (39) has exceeded the required washing water amount V is executed. Then, when the total amount of washing water becomes equal to or more than the required washing water amount V, the water filling valve (30) is closed in step (88) to complete the washing operation of the filtration container (20).

Next, the bubble operation will be described. When it is confirmed in step (82) that the bubble operation switch has been operated, the bubble time measuring timer (T ₆ ) is set to "0" and the bubble operation is started. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the suction port (B
₁ ) → Circulation pump (P ₁ ) and filtration circuit (2) → Forward path (1a) → Circulation switching valve (15) (16) → Circuit connected to discharge port (12a) (12b) and circulation switching valve (15) → Forced circulation circuit (1 _C ) → Circulation switching valve (1
Circulation switching valve (15) (16) (3
5) and switching valves (31) (32) are switched, and in this state the on-off valve (14)
Open the valve and also self-priming pump (P ₂ ) and circulation pump (P ₁ )
Activate As a result, the suction port (B ₁ ) → circulation pump (P
₁ ) → Outward path (1a) → Circulation switching valve (15) (16) → Discharge port (12a) (12
The bath water is circulated in the circuit connected to b),
Outside air is sucked from the air suction circuit (13) by the ejector effect of water ejected from the outlets (12a) (12b) into the bath, and is supplied to the bath (B) in a bubble state. That is, step
The bubble operation shown in (821) starts.

When the bubble operation is started, the bubble operation accumulated time (BT) is increased every 1 second in step (91), and the bubble operation accumulated time (BT) is turned off until the bubble operation switch is turned off. If the (BT) exceeds 7 minutes (see steps (911) and (92)), the accumulated bubble operation time (B
T) is set to "0" and the required washing water volume V is set to "1".
Set to 0 liters "(see step (93)). next,
The cleaning operation after the above-described step (84) is executed. That is, with the circulation pump (P ₁ ) still driven, the switching valve
By switching (31) and (32), the circulation pump (P ₁ ) and the filtration circuit (2) are shut off, and the water filling circuit (3a) → backwash circuit
(3 _b ) → switching valve (31) → filter container (20) → switching valve (32) → discharging circuit (3 _c ) is connected (see FIG. 6). Then, during the cleaning operation, the cleaning operation and the bubble operation described above proceed simultaneously.

When hot water is supplied in the kitchen or shower while washing the filtration container (20), the steps (86),
The control operation proceeds in the order of (87) and (89), and the washing operation of the filtration container (20) is interrupted until the hot water supply operation is completed. And
When the hot water supply operation is completed, the washing of the filtration container (20) is restarted in step (90), and when the washing operation is completed, step (81),
If (82) is executed and the bubble operation switch is not turned off, the bubble operation from steps (821) and (91) is continued. Then, when the bubble operation switch is turned off, it is judged in step (911) that the operation has been turned off, and the bubble operation is stopped. The bubble operation accumulated time (BT) is stored even after the bubble operation is stopped.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the second embodiment, in which the amount of cleaning of the filtration container (20) is judged by time. Therefore, if the cleaning switch is operated, the required cleaning time (T
7) is set to 3 minutes, and if the filtration container (20) needs to be washed during bubble operation, the required washing time (T7) is set to 1 minute (step (93)). . Then, in the step (84) and subsequent steps for actually cleaning the filtration container (20), a timer for measuring the cleaning duration of the filtration container (20)
Using the measurement time of (T) and the cleaning time (T8) that has already elapsed when the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) was interrupted by the hot water supply operation, cleaning for the required cleaning time (T7) only It is determined whether or not is executed. That is, when hot water is supplied from the shower or the tap in the kitchen, the washing time of the already washed filter container (20) is stored as the washed time (T8) (step (87)), and the filter container (20) is washed. If the cleaning time (output of the timer (T)) after restarting cleaning is larger than the difference between the required cleaning time (T7) and the cleaning completed time (T8) (step (85)), the water filling valve (30) ) To close the cleaning operation.

As described above, according to the above, when the washing operation of the filtration container (20) is interrupted by the hot water supply operation or the like, the washing operation of the filtration container (20) is continued until the hot water supply operation is completed. Since it is interrupted and the remaining cleaning operation is executed,
The filter container (20) can be cleanly washed. In addition, when the filter container (20) is rewashed after the interruption, the washing operation is not repeated from the beginning for the required amount of washing water or the required washing time, so the washing operation may be repeated for a long time. Absent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a conventional example.

FIG. 2 is an overall view of a configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 3] State diagram of each part during bubble operation

[Fig. 4] State diagram of each part when cleaning the filtration container (20)

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the first embodiment.

[Fig. 6] State diagram of each part when cleaning the filtration container (20) during bubble operation

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the control operation of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

(B) ... bathtub (12) ... discharge port (B ₁₎ ... suction port (P ₁₎ ... circulation pump (1) ... circulation circuit (P ₂₎ ... Self-priming Type pump (1c) ・ ・ ・ Forced circulation circuit (15) (16) ・ Circulation switching valve (1c) ・ ・ ・ Forced circulation circuit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A filtration container for bathing water sucked from the bath (B)
A circulation pump that recirculates to the bathtub (B) through (20),
A discharge circuit (3 _c ) connected to the upstream side of the filtration container (20) through a switching valve (32) and open to the atmosphere, and the filtration container (2
(0) Downstream side connected via a switching valve (31)
(3a), hot water supply circuit (3a) or hot water supply circuit (37) branched from the upstream side, hot water filling circuit (3a), switching valve (31), filtration container (20), switching valve (32 ), The filtration container (20) when backwashing the inside of the filtration container (20) by passing water through the circuit connected to the discharge circuit (3 _c ).
Is provided with a cleaning amount determination means for measuring the amount of cleaning water supplied to the filter and the time for cleaning the filtration container, and when the output of the cleaning amount determination means reaches a predetermined required cleaning water amount or required cleaning time, In the one in which the backwashing operation is stopped, there is provided hot water supply detection means for outputting a hot water supply signal during hot water supply operation, and cleaning quantity storage means for storing the output of the cleaning quantity determination means when the hot water supply signal is generated. When the hot water supply detecting means outputs the hot water supply signal, the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is temporarily interrupted, and when the hot water supply signal of the hot water supply detecting means disappears, the cleaning amount storage means stores it. A method for cleaning a bath filtration circuit, in which the cleaning operation of the filtration container (20) is re-executed by an insufficient cleaning amount determined as a difference between the required cleaning amount and a predetermined cleaning amount.