JP2918371B2 - Bathtub cleaning method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bath tub cleaning method and apparatus for cleaning dirt in a bath tub by jet kinetic energy of cleaning water spouted from a cleaning nozzle and chemical power of a cleaning agent.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is known a so-called automatic bathtub washing apparatus for washing off dirt in a bathtub by jetting kinetic energy of washing water spouted from a washing nozzle attached to the bathtub and chemical power of a washing agent. FIG. 4 shows this known example, in which reference numeral 1 is a bathtub, 2 is a swing type cleaning nozzle, 3 is a drain line,
Is a circulation line, 5 is a heater, 6 is a circulation pump, and 7 is a cleaning agent tank. When cleaning is performed, a small amount of water is stored at the bottom of the bathtub 1 and a certain amount of water is stored in the water from the cleaning agent tank 7. An amount of detergent is introduced to produce washing water, and the washing water is circulated through a drain line 3 → a circulation line 4 → a circulation pump 6 → a heater 5 → a washing nozzle 2 → a bathtub 1 to perform washing.

[0003]

However, in the above-described cleaning apparatus, the amount of the cleaning agent supplied from the cleaning agent tank 7, the temperature of the cleaning water heated by the heater 5, and the cleaning time (the operation time of the circulation pump 6) are reduced. Since these conditions are always constant and are set on the premise that the dirt is the strongest, there are the following problems.

A. It is wasteful to use a large amount of detergent when the dirt is not tight.

B. Excessive detergent input, high temperatures, and unnecessarily long time can damage the bathtub.

C. If the cleaning time is too long, the running cost is high and energy saving is not preferable.

D. The waiting time becomes longer.

An object of the present invention is to provide a bath tub cleaning method and apparatus for controlling the temperature and controlling the time by introducing an optimum amount of a cleaning agent according to the degree of contamination.

[0009]

The configuration of the present invention is as follows.

[0010] 1. A bathtub cleaning method in which the degree of dirt in a bathtub is detected by a dirt detection sensor, and the amount of cleaning agent supplied, the temperature of cleaning water, and the cleaning time are controlled based on the degree of dirt.

2. a. A bath tub cleaning apparatus for jetting cleaning water mixed with a cleaning agent pressurized by a circulation pump from a cleaning nozzle mounted in a bath tub to wash off dirt in the bath tub by kinetic energy and chemical power of the cleaning agent; b. Attach a dirt level detection sensor in the bathtub, c. A control circuit for controlling all or selective control of the amount of the cleaning agent, the temperature of the cleaning water, and the cleaning time based on a signal from the contamination degree detection sensor; d. Providing a cleaning agent charging device having a control valve for determining an amount of the cleaning agent in the cleaning agent tank to be charged into the bath tub based on a signal from the control circuit; e. Providing a washing water temperature setting device having a washing water heater for controlling the temperature of washing water based on a signal from the control circuit; f. Providing a circulation pump whose operation is controlled based on a signal from the control circuit; g. Bath cleaning method and apparatus therefor.

[0012]

The dirt degree detection sensor is mounted on the inner wall surface of the bathtub, particularly near the waterline where the dirt is particularly bad and hard to fall, and the dirt adheres under the same conditions as the bathtub. Then, this degree of contamination is output as an electrical signal from the sensor.
The dirt level signal output from the dirt level detection sensor is input to a control circuit. The control circuit calculates the amount of the cleaning agent to be injected, the temperature of the cleaning water, and the cleaning time. It is sent to the temperature setting device and the circulation pump. As a result, cleaning is performed under optimal conditions according to the degree of contamination.

The operation mode is automatically determined according to the degree of contamination, but the mode may be manually selected. In addition, the amount, temperature, and time of the cleaning agent are not controlled all. For example, the mode is set such that the amount of the cleaning agent is reduced without changing the amount of the cleaning agent, and the amount of the cleaning agent is reduced without changing the temperature. May be. In addition, the rotation speed of the washing nozzle may be controlled so as to reduce the speed particularly in the waterline portion where the dirt is extremely heavy and to take time partially.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference numeral 10 is a bathtub, 10 'is a lid, and 11 is a cleaning unit attached to the edge of the bathtub 10. The cleaning unit 11 has a oscillating cleaning nozzle 12, a cleaning agent tank 13, and a circulation tank. Pump 14, control circuit 15, drain port 1
A drive 18 for automatically opening and closing the drain valve 17 of the sixth embodiment is incorporated.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a cleaning circuit in which a circulation port 20 is located at the bottom of the bathtub 10 and reaches the cleaning nozzle 12 via the circulation pump 14. Reference numeral 21 denotes a cleaning circuit in which the cleaning agent in the cleaning agent tank 13 is supplied. A cleaning agent input line 22 is a cleaning agent input amount control valve.

Numeral 23 denotes a heater, in which a reheating heat exchanger 24 and a hot water supply heat exchanger 25 are incorporated. The reheating heat exchanger 24 is a reheating heater opened in the bathtub 10. The reheating circuit 29 connects the suction port 26 and the reheating discharge port 27 and is connected to the bathtub 10. The hot water supply heat exchanger 25 heats the water entered from the clean water 30 to the cleaning nozzle 12 via the hot water supply line 31. Are tied together. 28 is a circulation pump for reheating.

Numeral 32 denotes an inner wall surface of the bathtub 10, which is a dirt degree detecting sensor attached near the water line, and which has a light emitting element 33 and a light receiving element 34 as shown in FIG. The light-emitting element 3 is covered with a cover 35 so that dirt adheres to the transparent cover 35.
The light amount when the constant light amount emitted in step 3 is received by the light receiving element 34 through the dirt attached to the transparent cover 35 is electrically detected and output to the control circuit 15.

An operation example of the above bathtub cleaning apparatus will be described below.

After the bathing is completed, when the operation switch is turned on, the driver 18 pulls the drain valve 17 to open the drain port 16,
Drain. After draining is completed, the drive 18 is turned
Is driven to close the drain port 16. Next, the hot water supply heat exchanger 25 is driven to move the hot water supply line 31 → the washing nozzle 12 to the bathtub 10.
Fill a constant temperature bath to a certain low level. Next, the control valve 22 is opened from the inside of the cleaning agent tank 13 and an appropriate amount of the cleaning agent is introduced into the bathtub 10 to generate cleaning water. Next, the circulation pump 14 is driven and the circulation port 20 → circulation line 1
9 → circulation pump 14 → wash nozzle 12 and wash water circulate, and the inside of bathtub 10 is washed. Next, the drive unit 14 is driven to open the drain valve 17 to drain the washing water, and the hot water supply heat exchanger 25 to the hot water supply line 3 with the drain valve 17 opened.
1 → Hot or cold water is supplied to the washing nozzle 12 and rinsing and washing of the bottom surface of the bathtub 10 are performed for a certain period of time. This situation is shown in FIG.

In the above-described cleaning process, the amount of each cleaning agent, the temperature of the cleaning water, and the cleaning time are determined based on the numerical value calculated by the control circuit 15 based on the degree of contamination output from the degree-of-contamination sensor 32. Is done. Although the rinsing is always constant, the rinsing may be controlled by the control circuit.

Next, in the embodiment, the hot water supply temperature is controlled by using the hot water supply heat exchanger 25. A heater corresponding to the heater 5 of the known example shown in FIG. The cleaning water may be heated. Further, the washing nozzle 12 of the embodiment is configured to wash the inside of the bathtub 10 at the same speed without fail. May be configured to be performed effectively.

In the case of the embodiment, the hot water supply pressure or the supply pressure of the hot water supplied from the hot water supply heat exchanger 25 into the bathtub 10 via the washing nozzle 12 is directly used as the water supply pressure. It may be configured such that the water pressure is increased with the interposition of.

[0023]

According to the present invention, since the amount of the cleaning agent, the temperature of the cleaning water, and the cleaning time are optimally determined according to the degree of contamination, the following effects are obtained.

A. There is no waste of cleaning agents.

B. The bathtub will not be damaged by excessive (high concentration) cleaning agents and high-temperature, long-time cleaning.

C. Since the minimum required operation is performed, the running cost is low and it is effective for energy saving measures.

D. Less waiting time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an embodiment view of a bathtub cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of rinsing and bottom cleaning.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a dirt degree detection sensor.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a conventional cleaning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Bathtub 11 Cleaning unit 12 Cleaning nozzle 13 Cleaning tank 14 Circulation pump 15 Control circuit 17 Drain valve 23 Heater 24 Reheating heat exchanger 25 Hot water supply heat exchanger 32 Dirty degree detection sensor 33 Light emitting element 34 Light receiving element 35 Transparent cover

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-12115 (JP, A) JP-A-2-104393 (JP, A) JP-A-5-1455 (JP, U) Patent 2875383 (JP, B2) ( 58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A47L 25/00 A47K 3/00

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bathtub cleaning method in which the degree of contamination of a bathtub is detected by a dirt detection sensor, and the amount of cleaning agent supplied, the temperature of cleaning water, and the cleaning time are controlled based on the degree of contamination. 2. The bathtub cleaning method according to claim 1, wherein one or two of the amount of the cleaning agent, the temperature of the cleaning water and the cleaning time are selectively controlled according to the degree of contamination. 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein: a. A bath tub cleaning apparatus for jetting cleaning water mixed with a cleaning agent pressurized by a circulation pump from a cleaning nozzle mounted in a bath tub to wash off dirt in the bath tub by kinetic energy and chemical power of the cleaning agent; b. Attach a dirt level detection sensor in the bathtub, c. A control circuit for controlling all or selective control of the amount of the cleaning agent, the temperature of the cleaning water, and the cleaning time based on a signal from the contamination degree detection sensor; d. Providing a cleaning agent charging device having a control valve for determining an amount of the cleaning agent in the cleaning agent tank to be charged into the bath tub based on a signal from the control circuit; e. Providing a washing water temperature setting device having a washing water heater for controlling the temperature of washing water based on a signal from the control circuit; f. Providing a circulation pump whose operation is controlled based on a signal from the control circuit; g. A bath tub cleaning device characterized by the above-mentioned. 4. The rotation speed of the cleaning nozzle is controlled so that the rotation speed of the swing type cleaning nozzle is slower when the nozzle is facing the waterline direction of the bathtub than when the nozzle is facing the other direction. 4. The bathtub cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a circuit is added to the control circuit.