JP4593698B2 - Water intake equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a water intake apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus that efficiently extracts water from moisture in the atmosphere even when the atmospheric temperature is low.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Various water intake devices have been developed so far, but for the purpose of seawater desalination, for example, instead of the old distillation method, a highly efficient device using a reverse osmosis membrane or an ultrafiltration method is used. The developed equipment has been developed. Among them, since there are many energy advantageous aspects, an apparatus using a reverse osmosis membrane was considered. However, an apparatus using a reverse osmosis membrane has a problem that the membrane itself is expensive, and the lifetime of the membrane is not so long. Moreover, there is no method for directly detecting the deterioration of the membrane, and it is necessary to constantly inspect the quality of the generated fresh water, and the maintenance cost is high. Accordingly, the present inventor has developed an apparatus that can produce fresh water easily and inexpensively without using an expensive reverse osmosis membrane.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the above apparatus has a problem that the water intake efficiency is lowered when the atmosphere is low. That is, the lower the atmospheric temperature, the lower the water intake efficiency. In particular, when the atmospheric temperature is lower than 5 ° C., the water intake efficiency is remarkably reduced and the use is restricted. Therefore, as a result of diligent research and efforts to maintain the water intake efficiency above a certain level even when the atmospheric temperature is low, such as in winter, the present inventor can exert unexpected effects by adding a simple device. We have invented a device that can take water more efficiently than in the atmosphere even in winter when the temperature is low.
[0004]
An object of this invention is to provide the water intake device which can take in a water | moisture content from air | atmosphere efficiently, although air | atmosphere is low temperature.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The above object can be achieved by the invention described in the claims. That is, the characteristic configuration of the water intake measure according to the present invention includes an air intake device, a heating device capable of raising the intake air, and a mechanism for reducing the atmospheric pressure taken in by the air intake device. An atmospheric humidity converter with a built-in cooling unit that cools the collected air and takes out moisture, a water intake port for taking out water obtained by the atmospheric humidity converter , and the saturated moisture content in the introduced atmosphere is increased. And a control device for controlling a heating condition of the heating device . If it is configured in this way, the moisture in the atmosphere can be increased by heating to increase the amount of saturated moisture in the atmosphere , even though the atmosphere is low like in winter, In addition, since the temperature of the air taken in can be increased, it is not necessary to reduce the atmospheric pressure. Therefore, it is possible to achieve an unexpected effect that the amount of air taken in can be increased and water can be taken from the moisture present in a large amount of air, and the water intake efficiency is higher than when the ambient air temperature is high. In addition, it was possible to provide a water intake device that can efficiently take in moisture from the atmosphere despite the low temperature of the atmosphere.
[0006]
It is preferable to provide an air volume adjusting device for adjusting the flow rate of the air taken in by the air intake device. In this way, even when there are a large number of atmospheric humidity converters connected to the atmospheric intake device, the atmospheric air volume supplied to each atmospheric humidity converter is evenly branched and fed, Conveniently, the water intake efficiency of each atmospheric humidity converter can be kept high on average.
[0007]
It is preferable to provide a control device capable of controlling the after-air flow rate and the heating condition of the heating device. If it is in this way, while being able to make appropriate the air volume sent from an air volume adjusting device and the heating conditions of a warming device to be appropriate, always high water intake efficiency can be maintained. In particular, when the air volume adjusting device is sent later through a plurality of branch pipes, the air volume in each branch pipe is made uniform and can contribute to the improvement of water intake efficiency.
[0008]
The mechanism for reducing the atmospheric pressure is preferably a 50 to 120 mesh porous ventilation body. This is more preferable because the object can be achieved effectively at low cost. In this case, since dust in the atmosphere can be removed, cleaner water can be obtained and the durability of the apparatus itself can be improved. If the pore size of the ventilation body is less than 50 mesh, the atmospheric pressure increases, the residual moisture decreases, and the resulting moisture decreases, which is not preferable. When the pore size of the ventilation body exceeds 120 meshes, the remaining moisture increases and the resulting moisture increases, but the amount of air taken in cannot be increased, and the efficiency is lowered, which is not preferable. Use of foamed polyurethane, foamed polypropylene, or the like as the material of the ventilation body is preferable in terms of durability and cost. Incidentally, the atmospheric pressure is 16 kgf / cm ² or less, more preferably it is reduced to less than 9 kgf / cm ² preferably in increasing the intake efficiency.
[0009]
It is preferable that a sterilizer is provided between the atmospheric humidity converter and the water intake. In this case, the obtained water can be used not only for drinking water but also for applications requiring particularly clean water such as washing water for precision parts.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of a water intake device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of a water intake device for obtaining drinking water. The apparatus includes an atmospheric humidity converter 1 for taking out moisture in the taken-in air, a suction pump 2 as an atmospheric intake apparatus for taking a large amount of air into the atmospheric humidity converter 1, and an atmospheric humidity converter. 1 is provided with a cooling mechanism 3 that sends in a refrigerant that cools the air taken into the air. The suction pump 2 is provided with a heating device 2a for raising the temperature of the air taken in. The heating device 2a incorporates a heater composed of a heating wire or the like, and is controlled so that the atmosphere becomes a certain temperature or higher while monitoring the warming state of the atmosphere with a temperature sensor (not shown). The temperature control in this case is performed by the control device C. For heating, for example, when the atmosphere is close to 0 ° C in a cold season such as winter, the saturated moisture content in the atmosphere is increased by heating the atmosphere to 20 to 50 ° C, more preferably 40 to 50 ° C. It enables efficient water intake regardless of the season. Therefore, by providing this heating device, the water intake device of the present embodiment can be used efficiently even in cold regions. Moreover, since the air taken in is warmed , the water intake efficiency is extremely high compared to the conventional device. The heating device may have a configuration such as an infrared radiation heater.
[0011]
In order to alleviate the harmful effects caused by sending a large amount of air sucked by the suction pump 2 at a time, the sucked air is sent to the air volume regulator 3 that branches into 2 to 4, where a plurality of air flows are used. The air that is branched and somewhat rectified and has a small fluctuation width is sent to the next filter 4. That is, inside the air flow adjuster 3, although not shown, a damper that opens and closes to adjust the air flow is mounted, and in each branch pipe fed to the next filter 4 according to the instruction of the control device C. The opening / closing amount of the damper is controlled so that the air volume is uniform. Of course, the air volume adjuster 3 is not necessarily required, but is preferably provided in order to stably supply a large amount of air and improve water intake efficiency. The number branched by the air flow adjuster 3, the size of the branch pipe, and the like can be appropriately selected.
[0012]
The air removed by the filter 4 is sent to the porous aeration body 5 which is an atmospheric pressure reduction mechanism for reducing atmospheric pressure in order to efficiently extract moisture from a large amount of air taken in from the suction pump 2. . The atmospheric humidity converter 1 includes the porous ventilation body 5, the cooling unit 7 from the cooling mechanism 6, the sterilizing device 8 for sterilizing the cooled and condensed water, and the water intake for collecting the sterilized water. It is comprised from the port 9 and the air discharge port 10 which discharges the taken-in air. The porous ventilator 5 can adopt various forms, but since the atmosphere is heated and becomes warm air, a ventilator made of foamed polyurethane, foamed polypropylene or the like (50 to 120 mesh) is used. It is preferable to use it. In addition, 9a in the figure is a water intake valve for taking out water. The cooling mechanism 6 can use a commonly used cooling device as it is. For example, a compressor 11 that compresses a refrigerant, a condenser 12 that has a fan 14, and a pressure reducing mechanism (not shown). It consists of a heat storage tank (not shown) or the like for storing cold heat, and the refrigerant having cold heat is conveyed to the cooling unit 7 of the atmospheric humidity converter 1 via the pipe 13. This effectively condenses the large amount of air that is taken in to obtain water. In addition, various things, such as ammonia, a freon, water, can be used as a refrigerant | coolant. In order to use the obtained water for drinks, it is further sent to the sterilization device 8 to be sterilized and water taken. However, if the obtained water is not used for beverages, it is not always necessary to provide the sterilizer 8. In short, necessary facilities may be provided according to the purpose.
[0013]
【Example】
Next, examples obtained by the apparatus shown in the above embodiment are shown below. In an atmosphere with a relative humidity of 70% at room temperature of 5 ° C, the air sucked with an air suction pump (suction capacity: 24 m ³ per minute) is heated to about 40 ° C by a heating device, and suctioned while maintaining this temperature. The pump was operated for a long time. The compressed atmospheric pressure at this time was 9 kgf / cm ² . As a result, fresh water with an average of 10 liters / hour was obtained. This value is almost satisfactory, and even when used in winter or cold regions where the atmosphere is low, results have been obtained that can be put to practical use.
[0014]
[Another embodiment]
(1) In the above embodiment, the control device C controls the temperature control of the heating device 2a and the opening / closing of the damper in the air volume adjuster 3 . Furthermore, the system of measuring the atmospheric temperature for each branch pipe fed to the filter 4 and controlling the temperature of the heating device 2a based on the result may be used. This is preferable because more efficient water intake can be performed from the atmosphere sent to the atmospheric pressure reduction mechanism 5.
[0015]
(2) As the porous ventilation body 4 for reducing the atmospheric pressure, various air filters can be used as long as they can withstand a certain degree of continuous heating. Instead of the porous ventilation body, a large number of baffle plates may be arranged in the air intake passage, or a configuration like an orifice may be used. In short, any structure that can increase the pressure loss in order to reduce the atmospheric pressure to be taken in may be used. The porous ventilation body may be a porous sintered material. The atmospheric pressure reduction mechanism may be configured to reduce the atmospheric pressure by passing the taken-in air through a long and narrow passage such as a spiral tube and then introducing it into a chamber having a large volume.
[0016]
(3) In order to effectively condense a large amount of the introduced air, a condensing agent having a catalytic action for facilitating condensation may be added. Further, after the air is cooled and taken in, the outlet may be reduced in size so as to increase the atmospheric pressure at the outlet portion in order to reduce the atmospheric moisture released to the outside as much as possible.
[0017]
(4) The water obtained by the present invention can be used not only for drinking water but also as industrial water such as various cooling waters and washing waters.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a water intake device according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Atmospheric humidity converter 2 Atmospheric intake device 2a Heating device 3 Air volume control device 5 Atmospheric pressure reduction mechanism 7 Cooling part 9 Water intake C Control device

Claims (2)

An atmospheric intake device;
A heating device composed of a heater capable of raising the temperature so as to be in a temperature range of 20 to 50 ° C. while detecting the air taken in by the air intake device with a temperature sensor ;
An atmospheric humidity converter having a mechanism for reducing the atmospheric pressure taken in by the atmospheric intake device and incorporating a cooling unit that cools the taken-in air and takes out moisture; and
A water intake port for taking out water obtained by the atmospheric humidity converter,
A control device for controlling the heating conditions of the heating device, which is the heater, so that the taken-in air is in a temperature range of 20 to 50 ° C . ;
An air volume adjusting device for adjusting the flow rate of the air taken in by the air intake device is provided, and the air volume adjusting device is provided with a plurality of branch pipes for branching the air,
A water intake device in which a damper for adjusting the air volume in the branch pipe is mounted inside the air volume adjusting device, and the control device controls the opening / closing amount of the damper.   The water intake device according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism for reducing the atmospheric pressure is a porous aeration body of 50 to 120 mesh.

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