JP4557284B2 - Water purifier - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a water purifier capable of easily and easily obtaining safe delicious water.

  Conventionally, water purifiers have been used to purify tap water due to pollution of water resources and demand for delicious water. Water purifiers are known that have a function of removing odor, mold odor, trihalomethane, etc. by adsorbents such as activated carbon and ion exchange resin, and bacteria, turbidity components, etc. by porous hollow fiber membranes. . As types of water purifiers, faucet direct-coupled water purifiers, stationary water purifiers, undersink water purifiers, pitcher water purifiers, and the like are commercially available and used in general households.

  In recent years, unlike a water purifier such as a faucet direct connection type, it is free to carry and can purify raw water of about 1 to 2 liters at a time without applying excessive water pressure, and can be stored in a refrigerator or the like as it is. A pitcher-type water purifier in which a spout into a cup is formed has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the water purifier of Patent Document 1, a water purification cartridge including a hollow fiber membrane and an adsorbent such as activated carbon or ion exchange resin is disposed between the raw water storage unit and the purified water storage unit in a replaceable manner. The hollow fiber membrane is bent in a U shape and potted in a cylindrical case.

  The pitcher type water purifier may be stored in a refrigerator or the like for a long time of 2 hours or more depending on the method of use, and the water purification cartridge is generally submerged during that time. In this case, during submergence, an off-flavor may be eluted from the resin such as urethane used for potting the hollow fiber membrane.

  Since the water purification cartridge arranged in the water purifier of Patent Document 1 has activated carbon arranged on the downstream side of the hollow fiber membrane, it can remove the dissolved off-flavor to some extent. However, in the case of such a configuration, even if the water has been sterilized once filtered through the hollow fiber membrane, it will come into contact with the activated carbon layer for a long time thereafter, so that the bacteria propagated in the activated carbon layer are mixed in the purified water. There was a fear.

JP 2002-320967 A

  The present invention is to provide a water purification cartridge that is capable of reducing the off-flavor that is eluted from the potting resin even when the water purification cartridge has been submerged for a long time, is delicious, has high safety, and is significantly superior in terms of hygiene. Objective.

That is, the present invention provides an outer container (5) whose upper side is open, a lid (3) that closes the open end of the outer container (5), and an inner container (6) disposed inside the outer container (5). ) And a water purification cartridge (4) attached to the inner container (6), wherein the water purification cartridge (4) includes a filter medium (22) and a hollow fiber membrane (23) inside. ) And a potting resin portion (24) for fixing the hollow fiber membrane (23) on the downstream side of the filter medium (22) so as to be located on the upstream side of the hollow fiber membrane (23). And an air discharge cylinder (21) at the upper end, a raw water inlet is arranged on the outer peripheral side surface of the air discharge cylinder (21), and an air discharge hole ( 30) is a water purifier.

  According to the present invention, even when the water purification cartridge (4) is submerged for a long time, it is possible to reduce elution of off-flavors from the potting resin part (24), which is delicious, highly safe, and extremely hygienic. Water purification cartridge can be provided.

Hereinafter, the water purifier of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of the water purification cartridge (4) of the present invention.

  As for the water purification cartridge (4), the filter medium (22) and the hollow fiber membrane (23) are arranged in the cylindrical container. The hollow fiber membrane (23) is preferably arranged on the most downstream side in order to reliably remove bacteria and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the hollow fiber membrane (23) is bent into a U shape, and the upstream end of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is bonded and fixed in the cylindrical container by the potting resin portion (24). ing. As the potting resin, a urethane resin, an epoxy resin, or the like can be used, and among them, the urethane resin is preferably used from the viewpoint of workability.

The greatest influence on the degree of off-flavor generation is the area of the potting resin portion (24) on the outer surface side of the hollow fiber membrane (23), the portion where the water directly contacts during filtration, the hollow fiber membrane ( It is not the area of the potting resin part (24) at the end face part of 23) but the total area (A) of the inner surface of the hollow part in the part buried in the potting resin part (24) of the hollow fiber membrane (23).
In water purification cartridge (4), the total area (A) is less than 1,600Cm ^2, further when the potting resin portion thickness (24) is less than 2cm, the taste and odor hardly occurs due to long-term immersion preferable.

The total area (A) of the inner surface of the hollow part is as follows when the inner diameter of the hollow fiber membrane is D (cm), the number is F (book), and the thickness of the potting resin part (24) is H (cm): It is calculated by the following formula.
A = D × π × H × F
The thickness H of the potting resin part (24) means the thickness from the apex where the potting resin scoops up to the hollow fiber to the end face where the hollow fiber membrane (23) opens, and the position of the scooped up apex is not horizontal. In this case, the value obtained by averaging the individual thicknesses is taken as the total thickness (H).

  Moreover, it is preferable that the distance between the filter medium (22) and the potting resin part (24) is less than 1 cm, because a bad odor due to long-time immersion is less likely to occur, more preferably less than 0.5 cm, and even more preferably. Is less than 0.3 cm.

  The material of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is cellulose, polyolefin (polyethylene, polypropylene), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinyl alcohol, ethylene / vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyether, polymethyl methacrylate. Examples thereof include various materials such as (PMMA), polysulfone, polyacrylonitrile, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polycarbonate, polyester, polyamide, and aromatic polyamide. Of these, polyolefin (polyethylene, polypropylene) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are preferable, and polyolefin (polyethylene, polypropylene) is most preferable.

  The lower limit of the length of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is preferably 1.5 cm or more, and more preferably 2 cm or more. Moreover, as an upper limit of length, 20 cm or less is preferable and 10 cm or less is more preferable.

Moreover, when the number (F) of hollow fiber membranes (23) is 2000-20000, it can be used conveniently as a pitcher type water purifier.
The number (F) of hollow fiber membranes refers to the number of portions fixed by potting resin, and the number of hollow fiber membranes fixed by bending in a U shape is counted as two.

  The filter medium (22) is most preferably activated carbon, but any of zeolite, molecular sieve, coral sand, barley stone, Ioishi, tourmaline, bone charcoal, hydroxyapatite, titanium silicate, and the like can be used. When these are used in combination, they may be mixed with activated carbon, arranged separately as a layer, or attached to activated carbon. If the particle size is too fine, the filtration time becomes long. Therefore, it is preferable to use a filter medium having a particle size of 0.25 mm or more, more preferably larger than 0.35 mm.

  In addition to the granular shape, the filter medium (22) may have any shape such as fiber, powder, crushed, beaded, honeycomb, molded, or the like.

  The amount of the filter medium (22) is preferably 10 cc to 200 cc, more preferably 30 cc to 150 cc, and even more preferably 50 cc to 100 cc, considering the balance between the size of the water purification cartridge (4) and the filtration performance.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a water purifier provided with the water purification cartridge of the present invention.
The water purifier (1) includes an outer container (5) whose upper side is open, a lid (3) that closes the open end of the outer container (5), and an inner container (6) disposed inside the outer container (5). ) And a water purification cartridge (4) attached to the inner container (6).

  The outer container (5) is a molded plastic material having a substantially rectangular overall shape, and the material is ABS resin, polycarbonate resin, methacrylic resin, polypropylene, polystyrene, MS resin, nylon resin, poly-4-methylpentene. Resin such as −1, and the like is selected in consideration of mechanical strength, surface appearance, molding processability, and the like. Furthermore, antibacterial properties may be added to the outer container (5).

  Moreover, you may arrange | position the handle (25) of the width | variety of the extent which a user can clamp with one hand on the outer periphery of an outer container (5). When attaching the handle part (25) to the outer container (5), the attachment part of the handle part (25) to the outer container (5) is annular, and the width of the outer container (5) is increased from the bottom to the top. It is preferable that the outer container (5) is formed to be slightly larger and the outer container (5) is fitted into the annular portion of the handle portion (25) because it can be attached and detached as necessary.

The outer container (5) is preferably transparent so that the contents can be visually observed from the outside. As shown in FIG. 1, the outer container (5) is formed between the outer wall of the inner container (6) and the inner wall of the outer container (5), and has a clean water spout (8) protruding in the lateral direction. If this clean water pouring spout (8) can be opened and closed by a pouring lid (9) attached to the lid (3) in a swingable manner, it is preferable because it is easy to maintain the cleanness of the purified water.
The material of the lid (3) can be the same as that of the outer container (5), and may have antibacterial properties.

  The inner container (6) has a substantially elliptical column shape having an open upper part and an engaging part (13) for the water purification cartridge (4) at the lower part, and has a raw water storage part (10) inside thereof. . The height dimension of the inner container (6) is set to about ½ of the height of the outer container (5), and is structured to be fitted inside the outer container (5).

  The material of the inner container (6) can be the same as that of the outer container (5), and may have antibacterial properties.

  The water purification cartridge (4) has an air discharge tube (21) at its upper end. Although not shown, a raw water inlet is arranged on the outer peripheral side surface of the air exhaust pipe (21). An air exhaust hole (30) is disposed at the top of the air exhaust cylinder (21).

  When the lid (3) is removed from the outer container (5) and the tap water is poured into the raw water reservoir (10), the tap water is drawn from the raw water inflow portion on the outer periphery of the side surface of the air discharge tube (21) of the water purification cartridge (4). It flows into the water purification cartridge (4), passes through the particulate filter medium (22) and the hollow fiber membrane (23), falls into the water purification storage section (11) of the outer container (5), and is stored as purified water.

  At this time, since the air in the cartridge (4) is discharged from the air exhaust hole (30) to the atmosphere, the supplied tap water flows down at the highest permeation rate without receiving air resistance. And the stored purified water can be poured into, for example, a cup from the purified water spout (8) by tilting the water purifier (1).

  About the volume of the purified water storage part (11), if it is too large, it is inconvenient to carry and cannot be stored in a refrigerator. On the other hand, if it is too small, the amount of purified water that can be used at one time will be small, and therefore it is preferably 0.5 L to 5 L.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on examples.

<Example 1>
As the hollow fiber membrane (23), Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. polyethylene porous hollow fiber membrane (product name EX270TS, outer diameter 380 μmm, inner diameter 270 μm, average pore diameter 0.1 μm) 0.2 m ² , and filter medium (22), Using 70 ml of granular coal having a particle size of 0.4 to 0.8 mm, the potting resin portion (24) of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is located upstream of the hollow fiber membrane (23) on the downstream side of the filter medium (22). A hollow fiber membrane (23) was arranged so as to be positioned at a position, and a water purification cartridge (4) having a structure as shown in FIG.

  This water purification cartridge (4) was arranged between the raw water reservoir (10) and the purified water reservoir (11) of the pitcher type water purifier (1) having the structure shown in FIG.

  Then, 1 L is filtered by its own weight using this water purifier (1), and the water purification cartridge (4) including the potting resin part (24) of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is submerged in the refrigerator for 15 hours. Stored. The obtained water was used as a specimen, filtered in the same manner, and the sensory test 1 was conducted by 25 panelists using the water stored in the refrigerator for 15 hours after removing the water purification cartridge (4) as a control. The results are shown in Table 1 as average points. The average score was not different from the control.

In addition, the sensory test 1 was implemented in the following procedures.
(1) Adjust the temperature of the specimen and control to 20 ° C.
(2) Separately put the specimen and the control in two cups of the same shape.
(3) Have the paneler drink water with his / her face down as to which sample is the sample or control, and have the deliciousness scored on a 10-point scale.

<Example 2>
Using the water purification cartridge (4) of Example 1, the sensory test 2 was performed according to the following procedure for the specimen and the control prepared by the same procedure as the sensory test 1. The results are shown in Table 2. Few respondents understood the difference from the control.

The sensory test 2 was performed in the following procedures.
(1) Adjust the temperature of the specimen and control to 20 ° C.
(2) Three cups having the same shape are prepared, and either one of the specimen or the control is put in two cups, and the other one is put in one cup.
(3) Ask 25 panelists to drink water, and ask which of the three waters is different. If there is no distinction, the answer is “I don't understand” and it is counted as an incorrect answer.

<Comparative Example 1>
As the hollow fiber membrane (23), Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. polyethylene porous hollow fiber membrane (product name EX270TS, outer diameter 380 μmm, inner diameter 270 μm, average pore diameter 0.1 μm) 0.2 m ² , and filter medium (22), Using 70 ml of granular coal having a particle size of 0.4 to 0.8 mm, the potting resin part (24) of the hollow fiber membrane (23) is further downstream of the hollow fiber membrane (23) on the downstream side of the filter medium (22). The hollow fiber membrane (23) was arranged so as to be located at a position, and a water purification cartridge (4) having a structure as shown in FIG. 2 was produced.

  Using this water purification cartridge (4), sensory test 1 was performed in the same procedure as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 1 as average points. The average score was clearly lower compared to the control.

<Comparative example 2>
Using the water purification cartridge (4) of Comparative Example 1, sensory test 2 was performed in the same procedure as in Example 2. The results are shown in Table 2. It was clear that 80% or more of the panelists could distinguish the difference from the control and had a different odor.

  Table 3 shows the results of measuring the filtration flow rate and the turbidity removal ability using the water purification cartridge (4) of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1. There was no difference in filtration flow rate and turbidity removal ability.

  In addition, the filtration flow rate and the turbidity filtration ability test were performed by the method based on JIS S3201.

It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the water purification cartridge (4) of this invention. It is sectional drawing of an example which shows the comparative example of the water purification cartridge (4) of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the water purifier (1) of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water purifier 3 Lid 4 Water purification cartridge 5 Outer container 6 Inner container 8 Purified water spout 9 Spout lid 10 Raw water storage part 11 Purified water storage part 21 Air discharge cylinder 22 Filter medium 23 Hollow fiber membrane 24 Potting resin part 25 Handle 26 O-ring 30 Air Exhaust hole

Claims (1)

An outer container (5) having an upper opening;
A lid (3) for closing the open end of the outer container (5);
An inner container (6) disposed inside the outer container (5);
A water purifier comprising a water purification cartridge (4) attached to the inner container (6) ,
The water purification cartridge (4) has a filter medium (22) and a hollow fiber membrane (23) disposed therein, and a potting resin for fixing the hollow fiber membrane (23) to the downstream side of the filter medium (22). The portion (24) is disposed so as to be located upstream of the hollow fiber membrane (23), and has an air discharge tube (21) at the upper end. An inlet is disposed, and an air discharge hole (30) is disposed at the top of the air discharge tube (21).
Water purifier.

Images