JP5807629B2 - Water heater - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a water heater.

  Conventionally, in a water heater, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-257083 (Patent Document 1), it is recognized that there is a hot water leakage phenomenon due to forgetting to close a faucet downstream of a mixing valve for mixing hot water and water. Has been. And in the said conventional hot water supply machine, when making hot water again beyond a predetermined flow rate after a hot water leak, the mixing valve is controlled to the water side so that hot water is not discharged from the faucet.

JP 2011-257083 A

  However, the conventional water heater has a problem that even if there is a hot water leak or a water leak from the faucet, no specific measures have been taken against the leak itself, so that the leak is left unattended.

  In addition, water may be intentionally leaked from the faucet in order to prevent freezing or to thaw food, and in this case, if a leak is reported, the condition is poor.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a water heater that can accurately notify leakage when necessary without notifying leakage when unnecessary.

In order to solve the above problems, the water heater of the present invention is
A mixing valve for mixing hot water and water,
A hot water supply flow rate sensor provided between the mixing valve and the faucet;
Water setting means for setting water so that water flows out from the mixing valve;
When the water setting means does not set water and the flow rate detected by the hot water supply flow sensor is within a predetermined range, it is determined that there is a leak, while the water setting means causes water to flow out of the mixing valve. Leak determination means that does not determine whether there is a leak when setting water to
And a notifying means for notifying leakage when the leak determining means determines that there is a leak.

  According to the water heater having the above configuration, when the water setting means has not set water, the leakage determination means when the hot water flow rate sensor provided between the mixing valve and the faucet is within a predetermined range. Determines that there is a leak, and the notifying means notifies the leak.

  Therefore, the user of this water heater can know that there is a leak when necessary, and can take measures.

  On the other hand, when water is set by the water setting means so that water flows from the mixing valve to the faucet in order to prevent freezing, etc., the leakage determination means can prevent the leakage from being determined. When there is a leak in order to prevent freezing or the like, there is no problem because the leak is not notified. The reason why the water is set so that the water flows from the mixing valve to the faucet is that it is not necessary to consume hot water in the hot water storage tank when preventing freezing.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately notify the leakage when necessary, without notifying the leakage when unnecessary.

In one embodiment,
The notification means notifies with an image indicating a leakage state.

  According to the embodiment, since the notification means notifies with an image indicating a leak state, the leak can be reliably notified with a strong image.

In one embodiment,
The notification means notifies by voice that there is a leak.

  In the said embodiment, since the said alerting | reporting means alert | reports that there exists a leak with an audio | voice, it can alert | report a leak reliably.

  The water heater of the present invention determines that there is a leak when the water setting means does not set water and the hot water flow rate detected by the hot water flow rate sensor between the mixing valve and the faucet is within a predetermined range. Therefore, it is possible to accurately notify leakage when necessary, without notifying leakage when unnecessary.

1 is a circuit diagram of a water heater according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement of leak discrimination | determination and alerting | reporting of the water heater of the said embodiment. It is a figure of the image display part of the said embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the hot water supply apparatus of the first embodiment is supplied with hot water from a hot water storage tank 1, a heat pump unit 2 as a heating means for heating water or hot water in the hot water storage tank 1, and hot water storage tank 1. The mixing valve 3 is provided.

  The heat pump unit 2 is connected to a heat pump outlet 18 at the bottom of the hot water tank 1 and a heat pump return 19 at the top of the hot water tank 1 by a boiling circuit 6 having a pump 5 for boiling. Then, by driving the boiling pump 5, water at the bottom of the hot water storage tank 1 or low-temperature hot water is supplied from the heat pump outlet 18 to the heat pump unit 2 and heated, and is heated from the heat pump return port 19 to the hot water storage tank 1. It is supposed to be returned.

  Hot water is supplied to the mixing valve 3 from the hot water supply port 20 at the upper part of the hot water storage tank 1 through the pipe 21, and hot water and water are mixed by the mixing valve 3. From this mixing valve 3, hot water that has been mixed and brought to an appropriate temperature is supplied to the faucet 4 through the pipe 22. A hot water supply flow rate sensor 23 is provided in the middle of the pipe 22, and a temperature sensor 24 for detecting the temperature of hot water passing through the pipe 22 is provided. The outlet of the pipe 22 is connected to the hot water side of the faucet 4.

  A water supply pipe 27 is connected to the water supply port 26 at the lower part of the hot water storage tank 1 so that the amount of water equivalent to the amount of hot water discharged from the hot water supply port 20 is supplied into the hot water storage tank 1 from the water supply port 26. . The water supply pipe 27 is also connected to the mixing valve 3 so that water is supplied to the mixing valve 3. A water supply pipe 28 is connected to the water side of the faucet 4 to supply water.

  The remote controller 30 includes, for example, an image display unit 31 including a liquid crystal display device, a speaker 33, and whether or not to enable leak notification to the image display unit 31 and the speaker 33. A notification button 32 for setting “OFF”, a water setting button 35 as an example of water setting means for setting ON / OFF of water setting for preventing freezing, and a volume button 36 for setting the volume of the speaker 33 are provided.

  Since the notification button 32 for setting the above-mentioned notification “ON” and “OFF” may leak a small amount of hot water from the faucet 4 at the time of thawing or the like, in this case, the notification button 32 is turned off and notification is performed. Can not be.

  On the other hand, control device 40 receives signals from remote controller 30, hot water supply flow rate sensor 23, and temperature sensor 24 to control heat pump unit 2, pump 5, mixing valve 3, and remote controller 30. The control device 40 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer.

  The control device 40 includes a memory 41, a leakage determination unit 42, and a water setting control unit 43. The leak determination means 42 and the water setting control means 43 are configured by software.

  The memory 41 stores the hot water flow rate detected by the hot water flow rate sensor 23 in association with the time when the hot water flow rate is detected.

  The water setting control means 43 controls the flow path of the mixing valve 3 so that only water flows out of the mixing valve 3 when water setting is performed by the water setting button 35 to prevent freezing. The reason why the water is set so that the water flows from the mixing valve 3 to the faucet 4 is that it is not necessary to consume hot water in the hot water storage tank 1 when preventing freezing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the leak determination means 42 is an example of “0..0” as an example in which the water setting button 35 does not set water and the hot water flow rate detected by the hot water flow rate sensor 23 is within a predetermined range. If it is within the range of 0 L / min <hot water supply flow rate <2.0 L / min ”and this state continues for 3 minutes or more, it is determined that there is a leak. The determination of whether or not it is within this predetermined range and whether or not the above state continues for 3 minutes or more is made with reference to the stored contents of the memory 41.

  Thus, since the leak is detected by the hot water supply flow rate detected by the hot water supply flow rate sensor 23, the leak due to forgetting to close the faucet 4 can be detected even if the temperature of the hot water storage tank 1 or the like does not fluctuate.

  When it is determined that there is a leak, the leak determination unit 42 outputs a signal that causes the image display unit 31 and the speaker 33 of the remote controller 30 as an example of the notification unit to perform a leak notification.

  When the image display unit 31 receives a signal for notifying leakage from the leakage determination means 42, the display of the normal image A is changed to the display of a special image B for notifying leakage as shown in FIG. To do. The image B includes a moving image or still image B1 representing a state in which water is leaking from the faucet, and a character image B2 that calls attention to leakage. The image display unit 31 may turn on or blink the backlight when notifying leakage. By doing so, it is possible to notify the forgetting to close the faucet 4 more reliably.

  In addition, although not shown in FIG. 3, when the notification end button is displayed in the image of B in FIG. 3 and the leakage is notified against the user's intention, this notification end button is displayed. Thus, the notification may be stopped immediately.

  In addition, when the speaker 33 notifies the leakage by voice, the user is notified at a desired volume set by the volume button 36. Or you may make it alert | report a leak with a sound louder than the setting value which the user set with the volume button 36. FIG. In this way, the user can be more surely aware of the leak notification. Further, even if the volume is set to “OFF”, that is, silence, it may be possible to notify leakage by voice. In this way, the leak notification can be more reliably noticed.

  When the user notices the notification and closes the faucet 4 with certainty, the hot water flow rate becomes 0.0 L / min, which is out of the predetermined range, so the notification ends.

  The hot water storage tank 1, the mixing valve 3, the hot water supply flow rate sensor 23, the boiling pump 5, the temperature sensor 24, and the control device 40 constitute a hot water storage unit 100.

  The operation of determining and notifying leakage of the water heater having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the notification button 32 in FIG. 1 is set to “ON” and the operation of leakage determination and notification is started, first, in step S1, water setting is performed by the water setting button 35 to prevent freezing, etc. It is determined whether or not only the water flows out from the mixing valve 3. If YES is determined in step S1, since a small amount of water is intentionally flowing between the mixing valve 3 and the faucet 4 to prevent freezing or the like, the process proceeds to step S4 without determining leakage. .

  On the other hand, if it is determined NO in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2, in which the hot water flow rate detected by the hot water flow rate sensor 23 is 0.0 L / min <hot water flow rate <2.0 L / as an example within a predetermined range. If it is within the range of min and this state continues for 3 minutes or more, and it is determined to be good, the process proceeds to step S3, and the image display unit 31 and the speaker 33 of the remote controller 30 are leaked. Let me know.

  On the other hand, if it is determined NO in step S2, the process returns to step S1.

  In step S4, it is determined whether or not the notification button 32 is “OFF” of notification. If YES, the leakage determination and notification operations are terminated. If NO, the process returns to step S1.

  Steps S1 and S2 constitute an example of a leakage determination unit.

  The above operations are summarized together with “ON” and “OFF” of the notification button 32 as shown in Table 1 below.

  In this way, the hot water supply apparatus has the notification “ON”, the water setting button 35 has not set the water, and the hot water flow rate detected by the hot water flow rate sensor 23 between the mixing valve 3 and the faucet 4. Is in the range of 0.0 L / min <hot water supply flow rate <2.0 L / min, and when this state continues for 3 minutes or more, it is determined that there is a leak. When leaking, it is possible to accurately notify the leak when necessary without notifying the leak.

  On the other hand, when water is set with the water setting button 35, the water supply flow rate is 0.0 L / min <hot water supply flow rate <2.0 L / min because it is intentionally leaked to prevent freezing. Even if it is within the range and this state continues for 3 minutes or more, no leak is reported. The reason why the water is set so that water flows from the mixing valve 3 to the faucet 4 in this way is that it is not necessary to consume hot water in the hot water storage tank 1 when preventing freezing.

  If desired, even if the water setting is performed with the water setting button 35, the prohibition of notification may be canceled to notify the leakage.

  In the above embodiment, the leakage determination means 42 is within the range of “0.0 L / min <hot water supply flow rate <2.0 L / min” as an example of the hot water supply flow rate detected by the hot water supply flow rate sensor 23 within the predetermined range, And when this state continues for 3 minutes or more, it is determined that there is a leak, but the predetermined range and time (3 minutes) may be arbitrarily changed according to the user's preference. This changing method is preferably a special operation from the remote controller 30 so that it cannot be easily changed. Here, special operations include long-pressing buttons, simultaneous pressing, and confirmation screen display.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the heat pump unit was used as a heating means, you may use a gas kettle.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot water storage tank 2 Heat pump unit 3 Mixing valve 4 Faucet 23 Hot-water supply flow sensor 30 Remote control 32 Notification button 35 Water setting button 40 Control apparatus 42 Leak determination means

Claims (3)

A mixing valve (3) for mixing hot water and water;
A hot water supply flow sensor (23) provided between the mixing valve (3) and the faucet (4);
Water setting means (35) for setting water so that water flows out of the mixing valve (3);
While the water setting means (35) does not set water and the flow rate detected by the hot water supply flow rate sensor (23) is within a predetermined range, it is determined that there is a leak, while the water setting means (35 ) Is a leakage determination means (42) that does not determine the presence or absence of leakage when water is set so that water flows out of the mixing valve (3) ;
A water heater, comprising: a notifying means (31, 33) for notifying leakage when the leak determining means (42) determines that there is a leak. In the water heater according to claim 1,
The notification means (31) is notified with an image indicating a leakage state. In the water heater according to claim 1 or 2,
The notification means (33) notifies the presence of leakage by voice.

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