JP3067457B2 - Bath equipment with water heater - 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 apparatus with a water heater having a function of circulating and heating bath water and supplying hot water to the bath.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bath apparatus with a water heater includes a circulating heating circuit which is connected to an outgoing pipe and a return pipe connected to a bathtub, circulates bathtub water from the return pipe to the outgoing pipe, and heats the circuit. And a hot water supply circuit for supplying hot water to the bathtub via the hot water supply circuit. Generally, hot water supply to a bathtub is performed in parallel from two pipes, an outgoing pipe and a return pipe, thereby shortening a hot water supply time. In addition, a hot water supply channel of a hot water supply circuit is branched so that hot water can be supplied not only to a hot tub but also to a hot water supply point such as a hot water tap or a shower in a kitchen. That is, the hot water supply circuit is branched into a bath hot water supply path to a bathtub and a general hot water supply path to a shower or the like. Therefore, it is possible to configure a domestic hot water supply system with one bath apparatus with a water heater without preparing another water heater.

[0003]

However, according to the bath apparatus with a water heater, when a shower or the like is used in a general hot water supply path during hot water supply to the bathtub, or when the shower is in use, hot water supply to the bathtub starts. For example, the amount of hot water supplied to the general hot water supply channel decreases due to the difference in resistance of flowing water between the bath hot water supply channel and the general hot water supply channel, which gives a shower user discomfort.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of hot water supplied to a general hot water supply channel by restricting the amount of hot water supplied to the bath hot water supply channel when the hot water supply circuit simultaneously supplies hot water to the bath hot water supply channel and the general hot water supply channel. An object of the present invention is to provide a bath apparatus with a water heater, which can eliminate the user's unpleasant feeling sometimes given.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is to connect a feed pipe and a return pipe leading to a bathtub to form a circulation path for bathtub water, and to circulate the bathtub water. The circulation heating circuit and the circulation heating circuit supply hot water to the bathtub from the two pipes, the outgoing pipe and the return pipe, and branch from the hot water supply path to the circulation heating circuit to other hot water supply points. In a bath apparatus with a water heater having a hot water supply circuit having a general hot water supply path, a general hot water supply detection means for detecting the presence or absence of hot water supply in the general hot water supply path, and a circulation path provided in the circulation heating circuit, When the hot water supply of the general hot water supply path is detected by the opening / closing means for opening and closing and the general hot water supply detecting means, the hot water supply flow for closing the opening / closing means and shutting off either the hot water supply flow path of the going pipe or the return pipe. Road switching It is intended and a stage.

[0006]

In the bath apparatus with a water heater of the present invention having the above structure, when the general hot water supply detecting means does not detect hot water supply to the general hot water supply path during hot water supply to the bathtub, the opening / closing means provided in the circulation heating circuit is opened. The hot water is supplied to the bathtub from both the circulation pipe and the return pipe from the circulation heating circuit, that is, two pipes. On the other hand, when the general hot water supply detecting means detects the hot water supply in the general hot water supply path, the hot water supply flow path of the circulation heating circuit on the side where the opening / closing means is mounted is shut off by the opening / closing means closing the circulation path. This is performed through one of the outgoing pipe and the return pipe from the circulation heating circuit on the side where the opening / closing means is not attached.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A bath apparatus with a water heater embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a pipeline of a bath apparatus with a water heater attached to a bathtub.

As shown in FIG. 1, a bath apparatus 1 with a water heater indicated by a dotted line has an external water supply pipe 2 for supplying water for water supply, an external water supply pipe 3 connected to a shower or a washroom, and a bathtub 4.
Are connected to the return pipe 5 and the outgoing pipe 6. The interior of the bath apparatus 1 with a water heater includes a hot water supply circuit 10 for heating water in the external water supply pipe 2 and a circulation heating circuit 20 connected to the return pipe 5 and the outgoing pipe 6 for circulating and heating bathtub water. You.

The hot water supply circuit 10 includes a water supply path 11 connected to the external water supply pipe 2, a hot water supply heat exchanger 13 connected to the water supply path 11 and heated by the burner 12, and a hot water supply path 14 connected to the hot water supply heat exchanger 13. And the hot water supply channel 1 that branches off from the hot water channel 14
5 and a general hot water supply path 16 that branches in the same manner. Bath hot water supply path 15 is connected to circulation heating circuit 20, while general hot water supply path 16 is connected to external hot water supply pipe 3 that leads to a hot water tap such as a shower. Therefore, hot water supply heat exchanger 13
The hot water heated by the bath is supplied to the bath hot water path 15 and the general hot water path 1
From 6, hot water is supplied to circulation heating circuit 20 and external hot water supply pipe 3. The general hot water supply detecting means 17 for detecting the presence or absence of hot water supply to the general hot water supply path 16 includes a total water meter 1 mounted on the water supply path 11.
7a and a bath water meter 17 mounted on the bath hot water supply path 15
b, the total water meter 17a and the bath water meter 17b
When a difference in flow rate occurs, it is determined that hot water has been supplied to the general hot water supply path 16, and a signal is output to control means described later.

A hot water supply valve 18 which is normally closed is attached to the bath hot water supply path 15, and when the hot water supply to the bathtub 4 is started, the hot water supply valve 18 is provided.
Is opened, the hot water can be circulated as appropriate.
Supply to In addition, reference numeral 19 in the figure denotes a gate valve as a hopper.

The circulation heating circuit 20 has a flow path 23 connected to the outgoing pipe 6 of the bathtub 4 and a flow path connected to the return pipe 5 of the bathtub 4 having a connection portion 22 to the bath water supply path 15 on the way. 21 and a bath heat exchanger 30 provided therebetween, and a normally open / close valve 24 is attached to the flow path 21. The on-off valve 24 controls the general hot water supply detecting means 17 including the total water meter 17a and the bath water meter 17b to control means 2
5 are connected. The control means 25 calculates the flow rate difference between the total water meter 17a and the bath water meter 17b, determines hot water supply to the general hot water supply passage 16 based on the flow rate difference, and changes the flow rate to the open / close valve 24 which is normally opened when a certain flow rate difference occurs. Outputs a blockage signal.

The on-off valve 24 may be attached to either of the pipes 21 and 23. In particular, by attaching the on-off valve 24 to the flow path 21 of the return pipe 5, the on-off valve and the hot-water supply valve of the automatic hot water filling apparatus can be installed. Can be shared. That is, by the open / close valve 24, the pressure sensor 26 between the open / close valve 24 and the return pipe 5, and the automatic hot water filling function including the automatic hot water supply control means, the open / close valve 24 is closed at an arbitrary time after the start of hot water supply, The water pressure of the bathtub 4 is detected by the pressure sensor 26,
As a result, the water level of the bathtub 4 is obtained by calculation, and when the water level reaches an arbitrary level, the automatic hot water supply control means operates the hot water supply valve 18 of the bath hot water supply path 15.
And shut off the hot water supply to the bathtub 4.

At the time of reheating, the circulation heating circuit 20 is used.
While the hot-water supply valve 18 of the hot-water supply path 15 is closed, the pump 27 is driven to take in the bath water of the bath 4 from the return pipe 5 into the circulation path, and the bath heat exchanger is operated by the burner 29 operated by the water flow switch 28. The mixture is heated at 30 and returned to the bathtub 4 from the outgoing pipe 6 of the circulation path.

Next, the operation of the bath apparatus 1 with a water heater will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, when hot water is supplied to the bathtub 4, the hot water supply valve 1 of the bath hot water supply path 15 is supplied by an automatic hot water supply command.
8 is opened (step S1), the cutoff valve 19 is opened by the water supply pressure, and hot water is supplied to the circulation heating circuit 20.
At this time, if the amount of flowing water detected by the total water meter 17a and the bath water meter 17b as the general hot water supply detecting means 17 is the same, the general hot water supply detecting means 17 determines that hot water is not supplied to the general hot water supply path 16 ( Step S2), the on-off valve 24 continues to be opened (step S3), and hot water is supplied to the bathtub 4 by the circulation heating circuit 2
It is performed from two pipes of the flow paths 22 and 23 of 0. Then, the shower is started to be used, and hot water is supplied to the general hot water supply passage 16, and a flow difference occurs in the amount of flowing water detected by the total water meter 17 a and the bath water meter 17 b.
When the hot water supply to the hot water supply is detected (step S2), the general hot water supply detection means 17 outputs a closing signal of the on-off valve 24 to the control means 25, and the control means 25 closes the on-off valve 24 (step S4). Hot water is supplied to the bathtub 4 by a circulation heating circuit 20.
This is performed with one pipe from another flow path 23.

During hot water supply from the circulation heating circuit 20, a timer for detecting a water level is started (step S5).
6) If it is less than the detection time, return to step 2.
When the detection time has come, if the open / close valve 24 is opened in step S6, it is closed once (step S7), and the water level is detected from the water pressure of the bathtub 4 during hot water supply obtained by the pressure sensor 26 (step S8). If the water level is below the certain level, the process returns to step 2, and if the water level has been reached, the automatic hot water supply control means closes the hot water supply valve 18 of the bath hot water supply path 15 by a closing command (step S9).

In the existing hot water supply system, the difference in water flow resistance between the circulation heating circuit 20 and the general hot water supply passage 16 is large.
An orifice 31 is provided in the other flow path 23, and the general hot water supply path 1 is provided.
It is desirable to reduce the difference in water flow resistance between the general hot water supply path 16 and the flow path 23 when hot water is supplied to the hot water supply 6.

In the above embodiment, the general hot water supply detecting means 17 uses the flow rate difference between the total water meter 17a and the bath water meter 17b. However, as another method, the position indicated by the dotted line of the general hot water path 16 is used. A configuration in which a water flow switch is attached to 17c and an on / off of the switch is used as an output signal to the control means 25 is exemplified. In addition, the shape and configuration of each part may be appropriately changed and embodied without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0018]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when a hot water supply valve is opened and a shower or the like is used with an external hot water supply pipe connected to a general hot water supply path during hot water supply to a bathtub, Even when hot water supply to the bathtub is started while using the water heater, a decrease in the amount of hot water supplied to the general hot water supply path is suppressed, and the shower can be used comfortably. Further, if the open / close valve of the bath apparatus with a water heater is shared with the hot water supply valve of the automatic hot water filling apparatus, it is possible to provide a bath apparatus with a water heater with a reduced number of parts and a low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a bath apparatus with a water heater according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the bath apparatus with a water heater according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. bath equipment, 2. external water supply pipe, 3. external water supply pipe, 4. bathtub, 5. return pipe, 6. outgoing pipe, 7.
···································································································································· 14
··· Hot water supply channel, 15 ·· Bath water supply channel, 16 ··· General hot water supply channel, 17 ··· General hot water supply detection means, 17a.
17b bath water meter, 18 hot water supply valve, 19 cutoff valve, 20 circulation heating circuit, 21, 23 flow path, 2
2 ··· Connections, 24 ·· On-off valves, 25 ·· Control means,
26 pressure sensor, 27 pump, 28 water flow switch, 29 burner, 30 bath heat exchanger,
31 orifice.

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-302946 (JP, A) JP-A-3-194326 (JP, A) JP-A-1-273929 (JP, A) JP-A-5-302 87359 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F24D 17/00 F24H 1/00 602

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A circulating heating circuit for circulating and heating bathtub water, which is connected to an outgoing pipe and a return pipe leading to a bathtub, and a circulating heating circuit for circulating and heating the bathtub water. In a bath apparatus with a water heater provided with a hot water supply circuit that supplies hot water to a bathtub from two pipes, a pipe and a return pipe, and has a general hot water supply path branched from a water supply path to the circulation heating circuit to another hot water supply point. A general hot water supply detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of hot water supply in the general hot water supply path; an opening / closing means provided in the circulation path of the circulation heating circuit to open and close the circulation path; A hot water supply device, comprising: a hot water supply switching means for closing the opening / closing means when a hot water supply is detected and shutting off one of the hot water supply flow paths of the outgoing pipe and the return pipe. .