JP3184751B2 - Bathtub equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a bathtub apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recent bathtub devices are provided with a circulating system incorporating a filter, a sterilizing device, a heating device, or the like.
The filter removes trash in the hot water in the bathtub, suppresses the growth of bacteria in the hot water by the sterilizing device, and heats the hot water by the heating device to keep the hot water in the bathtub clean. Some are designed to keep the temperature within a certain temperature range.

[0003]

In such a bathtub apparatus, hot water is drained from the bathtub when it is not used for a long time. At this time, it is preferable to drain all the hot water in the circulation system. However, since the filter incorporated in the circulation system has a tank structure inside, it is difficult to extract hot water accumulated in the filter. If the hot water is left standing in the filter, problems such as propagation of various bacteria occur, which is not preferable in terms of hygiene. Therefore, it is conceivable to connect a drain pipe to the lower part of the filter and to draw out hot water accumulated in the filter from the drain pipe when not in use.
In this case, since air does not enter into the filter, the inside of the filter in a sealed state has a negative pressure, and the hot water in the inside cannot be properly extracted.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a bathtub apparatus that can smoothly drain hot water accumulated in a filter to the outside.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a bathtub or a circulation system connected to a tank for temporarily storing hot water in the bathtub is provided so as to interpose the bathtub or the bathtub. In a bathtub apparatus provided with a filter for removing dust mixed in hot water in a tank and a drain pipe attached to the filter, a communication pipe for opening the inside of the filter to the atmosphere is provided. It is characterized in that a check valve is provided to allow the flow of the fluid to the filter but to prevent the flow of the reverse fluid. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the communication pipe is provided so as to communicate the upper part of the filter and the overflow discharge part provided on the upper part of the bathtub. In the invention described in claim 3, the check valve is arranged so as to face up and down and has a fluid passage having a valve seat at an upper end, a valve body interposed in the fluid passage, and a valve body. A spring that urges the valve so as to abut against the seat, wherein the spring is set to have such strength that the valve body separates from the valve seat by its own weight when hot water in the filter is extracted from the drain pipe. It is characterized by.

When the hot water stored in the filter is extracted from the drain pipe, air enters the filter from the communication pipe through the check valve, so that the inside of the filter is maintained at the atmospheric pressure without a negative pressure. It is. Therefore, hot water is smoothly extracted from the filter.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a door opening / closing bathtub apparatus,
FIG. 2 is a side view showing a connection state of a filter and a pipe connected to the filter.

As shown in FIG. 1, a door opening / closing type bathtub apparatus 1 shown here opens a door 2 and places a bather in a wheelchair with a bather positioned at a predetermined position inside a bathtub body 3. Is closed and the bathtub main body 3 is filled with hot water previously stored in the tank 4 to bring the bather into a bathing state. A switching mechanism such as a pump and a three-way valve for flowing hot water from the bathtub body 3 to the tank 4 or vice versa from the tank 4 to the bathtub body 3 is interposed in the pipe connecting the bathtub body 3 and the tank 4. (Both not shown).

A circulation system 10 for sterilizing hot water in the tank 4 is connected to the tank 4. In the circulating system 10, a pump 11 is interposed in a pipe 10a extending from the lower part of the tank 4, and the discharge side of the pump 11 in the pipe 10a is divided into two branches, and branch pipes 10b and 10b divided into the two branches are provided. A filter 12 of the same type is interposed, and a branch pipe 10
b, 10b are merged into one and connected to a conduit 10c, and a sterilizer 13 and a heating device 1 are connected to the conduit 10c.
4 are interposed in order, and the distal end of the pipe 10 c is connected to the upper part of the tank 4.

The sterilizing device 13 is a well-known device used in this kind of bathtub device, and uses a device using ultraviolet rays, a device using chemicals, a device using heat, or a combination thereof. It should be noted that 15a, 1 in FIG.
Reference numeral 5b denotes a level gauge for detecting whether or not the level of the molten metal in the tank 4 has reached the upper limit position, or whether or not has reached the lower limit position.

The filter 12 removes dust mixed in the hot water sent from the tank 4 by passing the hot water through the filter medium 12a. A drain pipe 16 is connected to a lower portion of the filter casing. The drain pipe 16 is provided with a manually operated valve 16a. Merging joint 1 of left and right pipelines 10b in which the filter 12 is interposed
7, a communication pipe 18 is connected. An upper end of the communication pipe 18 is provided at an overflow discharge portion 19 provided at an upper end of the bathtub body 3.
It is connected to the. The communication pipe 18 is provided with a check valve 20 that allows a fluid flow from the bathtub body 3 to the filter 12 but prevents the reverse fluid flow. In addition,
As shown in FIG. 2, the overflow discharge portion 19 is formed with an overflow portion 19a into which excess hot water in a bathtub flows, and is connected to an upper end of the communication pipe 18 and further has a drain pipe 19b extending downward at a bottom portion. Is connected.

As shown in FIG. 3, the check valve 20 has a fluid passage 21 having a valve seat 21a at one end, a spherical valve body 22 interposed in the fluid passage 21, and a valve seat 21a. And a spring 23 that urges the valve seat 2 so as to abut the valve seat 2.
It is assembled to the joint 17 of the circulation system 10 so that 1a is at the upper end position. The spring 23 is provided with the check valve 20.
When the valve seat 21a is arranged upward as described above, the strength is set so that the valve body 22 can be held at a position facing the valve seat 21a with a slight gap as shown by a solid line in FIG. Have been. Therefore, when the pump 11 is turned on and a predetermined fluid pressure is applied to the circulating system 10 on the pump discharge side, the water pressure in the circulating system 10 is applied above the pressing force of the spring 23, and thus two points in FIG. As shown by the chain line, the valve body 22 comes into contact with the valve seat 21a, and the check valve 20 is "closed".
On the other hand, when the pump 11 is turned off and pressure is not applied to the circulation system 10, the valve body 22 descends by its own weight, and a gap is formed between the valve body 22 and the valve seat 21a. The check valve 20 is in an "open" state.

Next, the operation of the bath apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. When the hot water stored in the tank 4 is subjected to processing such as sterilization, the pump 11 is operated. Then, the hot water in the tank 4 is supplied from the lower part of the tank to the pump 1
1, the hot water is discharged from the discharge port of the pump 11, and the discharged hot water is sequentially sent to the filter 12, the sterilizing device 13, and the heating device 14, and after each device performs a predetermined process, It is returned into the tank through the conduit 10c. That is, while the dust in the hot water is removed by the filter 12, the proliferation of bacteria in the hot water is suppressed by the sterilizing device 13, and the hot water is heated by the heating device 14 so that the temperature of the hot water in the tank 4 is kept constant. Kept in range.

At this time, the check valve 20 is connected to the pump 11
Is turned on and a predetermined water pressure is applied to the circulation system 10 on the pump discharge side, so that the valve body 22 comes into contact with the valve seat 21a, and the check valve 20 is in the "closed" state after all. . Therefore, the hot water in the circulation system 10 does not flow out to the overflow discharge section 19 through the communication pipe 18.

When bathing is completed and hot water in the bathtub is drawn out, at the same time, the valve 16a is manually opened to draw out hot water stored in the filter 12. Here, at the time when the processing by the sterilizing device 13 or the like is completed and the pump 11 is stopped, the predetermined pressure is not applied to the circulation system 10, so that the check valve 20 is already in the “open” state, Is connected to the atmosphere via a communication pipe 18. Therefore, when the hot water in the filter is extracted from the drain pipe 16, the inside of the filter 12 does not become negative pressure, and therefore, the hot water in the filter can be smoothly extracted.

Since the check valve 20 automatically opens and closes according to the on / off of the pump 11 as described above, the valve is opened and closed each time the hot water in the filter 12 is extracted. Need not be performed, and the draining operation of the filter 12 can be easily performed.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a door opening / closing type bathing apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may have another bathtub apparatus, for example, a tank. Instead, the present invention is also applicable to a box-shaped bathtub body having a mere upper opening. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a valve that is manually opened and closed is used as the valve 16a interposed in the drain pipe 16. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Good.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects can be obtained. According to the invention described in claim 1,
A check valve that allows the flow of fluid from the atmosphere side to the filter but prevents the reverse flow of fluid is provided in the communication pipe that opens the inside of the filter to the atmosphere, so that the hot water stored in the filter can be drained. When air is extracted from the filter, air enters the filter through the communication pipe, so that the inside of the filter is maintained at atmospheric pressure without negative pressure, and as a result, the hot water is smoothly extracted from the filter. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the communication pipe is provided so as to communicate the upper part of the filter and the overflow discharge part provided at the upper end of the bathtub, for example, the check valve does not operate well and the communication pipe is not operated. Even if the hot water in the filter flows backward from the filter, the hot water flowing from the filter flows into the overflow discharge portion, and does not cause any trouble in the bathtub or the circulation system. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the check valve includes: a fluid passage having a valve seat;
Since the valve has a valve body interposed in the fluid passage and a spring that urges the valve body so as to abut on the valve seat, it has a simple structure. The structure can be in a state, and the number of parts can be reduced and cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a door opening / closing bathtub apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a connection state of a filter incorporated in a door opening / closing type bathtub apparatus and piping connected thereto.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a detailed structure of a check valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Door opening / closing type bathing apparatus 3 Bathtub (main body) 4 Tank 10 Circulation system 10a, 10b, 10c Pipeline 11 Pump 12 Filter 13 Sterilizer 14 Heating device 16 Drain pipe 16a Valve 18 Communication pipe 19 Overflow discharge part 20 Check valve 21 Fluid passage 22 Valve 23 Spring

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A circulating system (10) connected to a bathtub (3) or a tank (4) for temporarily storing hot water in the bathtub to remove dust mixed in the hot water in the bathtub or the tank. A bathtub device comprising a filter (12) and a drain pipe (16) attached to the filter, wherein a communication pipe (18) for opening the inside of the filter to the atmosphere is provided, and the communication pipe is connected to the filter from the atmosphere side. Check valve (2) which allows the fluid flow of
0) A bathtub apparatus characterized by the above. 2. The bathtub apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication pipe is provided so as to communicate an upper part of the filter with an overflow discharge part (19) provided on an upper part of the bathtub. Bathtub equipment. 3. The bathtub apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the check valve is arranged so as to face in a vertical direction, and has a valve seat (21a) at an upper end, and a fluid passage (21). And a spring (23) for urging the valve body so as to abut against a valve seat. The spring is used when the hot water in the filter is extracted from the drain pipe. A bathtub apparatus characterized in that the strength of the body is set so as to separate from the valve seat by its own weight.