JP6799027B2 - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relate to washing machines.

Fine bubbles containing fine bubbles having a diameter equivalent to a sphere ranging from several hundred μm to several tens of nm have various characteristics such as excellent surface-active action and cleaning effect, and are expected to be widely applied to industrial applications. ..

International Publication No. 2013/012069

Therefore, we provide a washing machine with improved washing ability using fine bubble water.

In the washing machine according to the embodiment, a water tank for storing water, a rotary tank arranged in the water tank, a dissolution region into which a softener is charged and a softener is dissolved, one of which is connected to a water supply valve and the other Is provided in the middle of the water supply path and the water supply path capable of supplying water to the dissolution region, and by rapidly reducing the pressure of the liquid flowing through the internal flow path, fine bubbles having a diameter of 50 nm to 1 μm are mainly generated. It is provided with a cavitation-type fine bubble generating means capable of generating fine bubble water containing fine bubbles, and at least a control means for controlling the opening and closing of a water supply valve. The control means controls to dissolve the softener by bringing the softener into contact with fine bubble water during the water supply period in the washing course to be operated.

Vertical sectional view showing the structure of the washing machine according to the first embodiment. Block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a washing machine according to an embodiment Vertical sectional view showing the structure of the washing machine according to the second embodiment. Schematic diagram showing the structure of the washing machine according to the third embodiment Opening / closing timing chart of water supply valve according to the embodiment

Hereinafter, washing machines according to a plurality of embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In each embodiment, substantially the same constituent parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.
(First Embodiment)
Hereinafter, the first embodiment will be described. The washing machine 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes an outer box 12, a water tank 14, a rotary tank 16, a pulsator 18, and a motor 20. The installation surface side, that is, the vertically lower side of the washing machine 10 is the lower side of the washing machine 10, and the side opposite to the installation surface, that is, the vertically upper side is the upper side of the washing machine 10.

The washing machine 10 is a so-called vertical axis type washing machine in which the rotation axis of the rotary tub 16 faces in the vertical direction. The outer box 12 constitutes the outer shell of the washing machine 10. The outer box 12 is formed in a substantially rectangular box shape by, for example, a steel plate, and has an opening at the upper portion. The water tank 14 is housed inside the outer box 12. The rotary tank 16 is housed inside the water tank 14. The water tank 14 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having an opening on the upper side and a bottom of the water tank on the lower side. Similarly, the rotary tank 16 is formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape having an opening on the upper side and a bottom of the rotary tank on the lower side.

The water tank 14 has a drain port (not shown) provided at the bottom of the water tank. Further, the washing machine 10 includes a drain valve 52 shown in FIG. 2 and a drain hose (not shown) connected thereto. The drain valve 52 is, for example, an electronically controlled solenoid valve, and is driven and controlled by the control device 46. When the drain valve 52 is opened, the water in the water tank 14 is discharged from the drain port to the outside of the washing machine 10 via the drain valve 52.

The rotary tank 16 has a plurality of holes (not shown), and communicates the inside and the outside of the rotary tank 16. The holes are formed in the entire peripheral wall constituting the mainly cylindrical cylindrical portion of the rotary tank 16. The water supplied into the water tank 14 goes in and out of the rotary tank 16 through the holes.

The pulsator 18 is provided near the bottom of the rotary tank in the rotary tank 16. The pulsator 18 is rotatable relative to the rotary tank 16. The motor 20 is located outside the water tank 14 and is provided at the bottom of the water tank. The motor 20 is, for example, an outer rotor type DC brushless motor. The motor 20, the rotary tank 16 and the pulsator 18 are connected by a clutch (not shown). The clutch (not shown) can selectively switch between a form in which only the pulsator 18 rotates and a form in which the pulsator 18 and the rotary tank 16 rotate integrally. The pulsator 18 rotates relative to the rotary tub 16 to agitate the laundry housed inside the rotary tub 16.

The washing machine 10 is provided with a water supply pipe 30, a water supply valve unit 32, and a detergent case 44 on the upper portion thereof. For example, a tap water faucet and a bath water intake means are connected to the water supply pipe 30, and the source water 22 to be used for washing is supplied. The water supply valve unit 32 has a water supply pipe 30 branched into a fine bubble (hereinafter, may be referred to as FB) side water supply valve 34 and a main water supply valve 36. A fine bubble generator 40 is connected to the water supply valve 34 on the FB side, and is further connected to the FB pipe 38. The FB pipe 38 is connected to the detergent case 44 via the main pipe 42. With this configuration, the source water 22 introduced into the water supply pipe 30 has a route passing through the FB side water supply valve 34, the fine bubble generator 40 and the FB pipe 38, and a bypass route passing through the main water supply valve 36 and the main pipe 42. It is branched into and connected to the detergent case 44, and is supplied into the water tank 14 from the water supply port 45 via the detergent case 44.

The fine bubble generator 40 is a device that generates fine bubbles in a liquid passing through a flow path provided inside, in this case water. As the fine bubble generator 40, for example, a cavitation type device that generates fine bubbles by rapidly reducing the pressure of the liquid flowing through the internal flow path can be used. In addition, for example, a pressure melting method, a high-speed swirling liquid flow method, a micropore method, a gas-liquid two-phase flow swirling method, or the like may be used. In addition, the fine bubble generator described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-129097, which the applicant filed earlier, can also be used. The fine bubble generator 40 can mainly generate bubbles including ultrafine bubbles having a bubble sphere-equivalent diameter of about 50 nm to 1 μm. The fine bubble in the present embodiment includes an ultrafine bubble having a bubble equivalent diameter of 50 nm to 1 μm.

In general, fine bubbles are classified as follows according to the sphere-equivalent diameter of the bubbles. For example, bubbles having a diameter of 1 mm or more are called millibubbles, microbubbles having a diameter of about 1 μm to several hundred μm are called microbubbles, and fine bubbles having a diameter of less than 1 μm are called ultrafine bubbles or nanobubbles. Further, fine bubbles of several hundred μm or less including microbubbles and ultrafine bubbles are collectively called fine bubbles. When the diameter of the bubble is less than 1 μm, the ultrafine bubble becomes smaller than the wavelength of light and cannot be visually recognized, and the liquid becomes transparent. These fine bubbles are known to have excellent cleaning ability for objects in a liquid due to their characteristics such as a large total interface area, a slow ascent speed, and a large internal pressure.

For example, the ultrafine bubble has the following properties. That is, the Ultra Fine Bubble stays in the water for a long time while doing Brownian motion. The energy generated by crushing due to the self-pressurizing effect decomposes the substance to generate free radicals. Since the bubble surface is negatively charged, the ultrafine bubbles repel each other and there is no bond. In addition, the ultrafine bubble has the function of attracting positively charged organic substances. Due to these properties, Ultra Fine Bubble has a high cleaning effect.

Further, since the microbubbles are negatively charged, they easily adsorb positively charged foreign substances floating in the liquid. Therefore, the foreign matter destroyed by the crushing of the microbubbles is adsorbed by the microbubbles and slowly rises to the liquid surface. Then, the liquid is purified by removing the foreign matter collected on the surface of the liquid. As a result, high cleaning ability is exhibited.

In the first embodiment, the fine bubble generator 40 mainly generates ultrafine bubbles having a diameter of about 50 nm to 1 μm as described above. Hereinafter, water containing fine bubbles will be referred to as fine bubble water.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the electrical configuration of the portion of the electrical configuration of the washing machine that is relevant to the gist of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the washing machine 10 includes an operation panel 48 for operating the contents of the washing course, a water level sensor 50 for detecting the water level in the water tank 14, a motor 20 for rotating the pulsator 18, a water supply valve 34 on the FB side, and the like. It is provided with a main water supply valve 36 and a drain valve 52. The control device 46 is mainly composed of a microcomputer. The control device 46 has a function of controlling washing, rinsing, dehydration and washing operations of laundry. Signals from the operation panel 48 and the water level sensor 48 are input to the control device 46.

The control device 46 has a function of controlling the rotation of the motor 20, the FB side water supply valve 34, the main water supply valve 36, and the opening / closing of the drain valve 52 based on these input signals and a control program provided in advance. There is.

The operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows the opening / closing timing of the FB side water supply valve 34, the main water supply valve 36, and the softener side water supply valve 37 in the washing stroke, drainage / dehydration stroke, rinsing stroke, drainage stroke, final rinsing stroke, and drainage / dehydration stroke. It is a timing chart. The softener side water supply valve 37 will be referred to in the third embodiment described later.

In the washing process, first of all, the control device 46 controls to open the FB side water supply valve 34. As shown in FIG. 1, a fine bubble generator 40 is connected to the FB side water supply valve 34. Therefore, the source water 22 supplied from the FB side water supply valve 34 passes through the fine bubble generator 40 to become fine bubble water, and the fine bubble water passes through the FB pipe 38 and is supplied to the detergent case 44. Detergent is put in the detergent case 44. The detergent is dissolved in the detergent case 44 by contacting with fine bubble water and mixing and stirring. Here, the detergent case 44 is also a detergent dissolving region. Before supplying the fine bubble water to the detergent case 44, for example, a small amount of tap water as the source water 22 is supplied into the detergent case 44 to bring the detergent and the source water 22 into contact with each other, and then the fine bubble water is applied. It may be a control that leads to the detergent case 44.

At this time, since the fine bubble water has a negative charge on its surface, it easily adsorbs a surfactant, that is, a detergent, which tends to be positively charged. Therefore, the fine bubble water can disperse the detergent in the water in a short time as compared with ordinary tap water, so that the detergent dissolves well. The fibrous water and the detergent are agitated to disperse the detergent and produce a dissolved detergent solution. The detergent solution is flowed according to the flow of fine bubble water supplied to the detergent case 44, and is charged into the water tank 14 from the water supply port 45. Here, the detergent case 44 may be further provided with a detergent dissolution chamber so that the detergent and fine bubble water may be brought into contact with each other and stirred.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the control device 46 opens the FB side water supply valve 34 halfway through the washing process to completely dissolve the detergent in the detergent case 44, and then closes the FB side water supply valve 34. , The main water supply valve 36 is controlled to be opened, and the water tank 14 is filled with washing water. For example, tap water is supplied to the main water supply valve 36 as normal source water 22. Since the main pipe 42 is connected to the main water supply valve 36 and the fine bubble generator 40 is not connected to the main pipe 42, the source water 22 is supplied to the detergent case 44 as it is in the form of bypassing the fine bubble generator 40. Then, if there is excess detergent, it is washed away to clean the inside of the detergent case 44, and water is supplied from the water supply port 45 into the water tank 14.

Here, when the fine bubble generator 40 has a mechanism for generating fine bubbles by, for example, a cavitation method, the pressure is reduced by reducing the diameter of the water channel in the fine bubble generator 40, and the flow rate of water is reduced. descend. Therefore, if the fine bubble water generated by the fine bubble generator 40 is continuously supplied until the end, the total water supply time becomes very long. Therefore, a main pipe 42, which is a water supply path that bypasses the fine bubble generator 40 and does not pass through, is further provided. As a result, the FB side water supply valve 34 of the water supply path that first passes through the fine bubble generator 40 is opened, and after the detergent charged in the detergent case 44 is exhausted, the bypass water supply path that does not pass through the fine bubble generator 40 is used. By supplying water using a certain main pipe 42, the total water supply time can be shortened. The main pipe 42, which is a bypass water supply path that does not pass through the fine bubble generator 40, may not be connected to the detergent case 44, and the water supply port may be arranged above the water tank 14 to directly supply water.

According to the first embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
At the beginning of the washing process, the fine bubble water is controlled to be supplied to the detergent case 44 in which the detergent is charged, so that the detergent can be dissolved in an efficiently dispersed state. This makes it possible to provide a washing machine 10 having an improved washing effect during washing.

Further, after the detergent is dissolved with fine bubble water, the control is performed to supply the source water 22 such as normal tap water that does not pass through the fine bubble generator 40 to the water tank 14, so that all the washing water is fine. Compared with the case of using bubble water, it is possible to shorten the water supply time to the water tank 14 without deteriorating the cleaning effect.
The supply of fine bubble water is not necessarily the beginning of the washing process, and even if it is performed before or after the supply of the source water 22, substantially the same effect can be expected in the initial stage of water supply.

(Second Embodiment)
Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described. In the following description, the same components as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the washing machine 10 according to the second embodiment includes a water supply valve unit 32 and a fine bubble generator 40, but is generated by passing through the FB side water supply valve 34 and the fine bubble generator 40. The fine bubble water is supplied from the FB pipe 38 between the water tank 14 and the rotary tank 16, and is first stored in the detergent dissolving region 60 at the bottom of the water tank 14. Further, the source water 22 that has passed through the main water supply valve 36 and the main pipe 42 without passing through the fine bubble generator 40 is also supplied between the water tank 14 and the rotary tank 16 and stored in the water tank 14. .. The washing machine 10 has a detergent inlet 54 on the side of the rotary tub 16. The detergent charged from the detergent inlet 54 passes through the detergent passage 56 and leads to the lower part of the pulsator 18 at the bottom of the rotary tank 16, and a part of the detergent is dropped from the detergent drop port 58 to the bottom of the water tank 14.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First of all, the detergent is charged from the detergent inlet 54 and exists in the vicinity of the detergent dissolving region 60 at the bottom of the water tank 14. In the washing process, the control device 46 controls to open the FB side water supply valve 34. As shown in FIG. 3, the FB side water supply valve 34 is equipped with a fine bubble generator 40. Therefore, the source water 22 supplied from the FB side water supply valve 34 passes through the fine bubble generator 40 to become fine bubble water, and the fine bubble water passes through the FB pipe 38 and is supplied between the water tank 14 and the rotary tank 16. And water is stored in the bottom of the rotary tank 16. When the control device 46 recognizes that the fine bubble water has been stored to the extent that it is immersed in the pulsator 18, the control device 46 controls to drive the pulsator 18. The water level is detected by detecting the water level in the water tank 14 by the water level sensor 50 and transmitting the water level signal to the control device 46. Driven by the pulsator 18, fine bubble water is agitated in the detergent dissolution region 60 at the bottom of the water tank 14. As a result, the fine bubble water and the detergent are brought into contact with each other and stirred, and a detergent solution in which the detergent is dispersed in the fine bubble water is generated.

After sufficiently stirring the detergent and fine bubble water and determining that the detergent has dissolved, the control device 46 closes the FB side water supply valve 34, opens the main water supply valve 36, and fills the water tank 14 with washing water. Enforce control.

According to the second embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment is obtained. Further, since the detergent inlet 54, the detergent passage 56, and the detergent drop port 58 leading under the pulsator 18, the thick detergent before dissolution is charged into the detergent dissolution region 60 without directly contacting the laundry. As a result, the detergent and fine bubble water can be efficiently contacted and agitated at the initial stage of water supply, so that the detergent can be dissolved satisfactorily.

(Third Embodiment)
Hereinafter, the third embodiment will be described. The washing machine 10 according to the third embodiment adds a softener side water supply valve 37, a softener pipe 43, and a softener case 62 to the configuration of the washing machine 10 according to the first embodiment or the second embodiment. It has a different configuration. It will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 4, the washing machine 10 includes a water supply valve unit 32. The water supply valve unit 32 is a multi-unit, in this case, three-unit water supply valve, and includes an FB side water supply valve 34, a main water supply valve 36, and a softener side water supply valve 37. The softener side water supply valve 37 is connected to the softener case 62 via the softener pipe 43. A fine bubble generator 41 is provided between the softener side water supply valve 37 and the softener case 62. A softener is charged as a surfactant in the softener case 62. The source water 22 that has passed through the fine bubble generator 41 becomes fine bubble water, which is supplied to the softener case 62. In the softener case 62, the softener and the fine bubble water are brought into contact with each other and stirred to dissolve the softener in the fine bubble water. Here, the softener case 62 is also a dissolution region of the softener.

At this time, since the fine bubble water has a negative charge on its surface, it easily adsorbs a surfactant, that is, a softener, which tends to be positively charged. Therefore, in fine bubble water, the softener can be dispersed in water in a short time as compared with ordinary tap water, so that the softener can be dissolved well. The softener dissolves in fine bubble water to become softener water, which is supplied to the water tank 14. In this case, the softener case 62 may be provided with a dissolution chamber, that is, a dissolution region, in which the softener and the fine bubble water are brought into contact with each other and stirred to dissolve the softener in the fine bubble water.

Further, the FB pipe 38 connected to the detergent case 44 has a fine bubble generator 40, and the water supply is controlled by the FB side water supply valve 34. Further, the main pipe 42, which is a water supply path connected to the detergent case 44, does not have the fine bubble generator 40, but the water supply is controlled by the main water supply valve 36, which is a so-called bypass route that does not pass through the fine bubble generator 40. But also. The detergent case 44 is configured to be able to supply water to the water tank 14 via the supply pipe 39.

In FIG. 4, the outer box 12, the rotary tank 16 and other configurations are simplified and drawn on behalf of only the water tank 14, but the specific structure is the outer box 12, the water tank 14, and the rotation in FIG. 1 or FIG. The configuration of the tank 16, the pulsator 18, and the motor 20 is the same. For example, when the present embodiment is applied to the washing machine 10 according to the first embodiment, the softener water supplied from the softener case 62 is supplied to the water tank 14 and the rotary tank 16 from above. Further, when this embodiment is applied to the washing machine 10 according to the second embodiment, the softener water supplied from the softener case 62 is supplied between the water tank 14 and the rotary tank 16 and stored in the bottom of the water tank 14. To.

The operation of the third embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, in the final rinsing process, the control device 46 supplies the source water 22 to the fine bubble generator 41 via the softener pipe 43 by opening the softener side water supply valve 37. When passing through the fine bubble generator 41, the source water 22 becomes fine bubble water and is supplied to the softener case 62. A softener is charged in the softener case 62. Therefore, the fine bubble water is first contacted and stirred with the softener in the softener case 62 to generate a softener solution in which the softener is dissolved in the fine bubble water. The generated softener liquid passes through the softener pipe 43 and is supplied into the water tank 14.

Next, after the softener in the softener case 62 is completely melted, the control device 46 closes the softener side water supply valve 37 and opens the main water supply valve 36. The source water 22 passing through the main water supply valve 36 passes through the detergent case 44 and is supplied to the water tank 14 via the supply pipe 39. As a result, the water tank 14 is filled with the softener water in which the softener is dissolved in the source water 22 and the fine bubble water.

According to the washing machine 10 according to the third embodiment, the following effects are obtained.
At the beginning of the final rinsing process, the control is performed to supply the fine bubble water to the softener case 62 in which the softener is charged, so that the softener is efficiently dispersed and dissolved in the fine bubble water. Was made possible. As a result, the softener easily penetrates into the clothes, and the clothes after washing have a softer finish. Therefore, it is possible to provide the washing machine 10 having an improved softening effect at the time of final rinsing.

Further, since the control is performed to supply the source water 22 such as normal tap water to the water tank 14 after the softener is dissolved with the fine bubble water, it is compared with the case where all the rinse water is the fine bubble water. Therefore, the entire water supply time to the water tank 14 can be shortened in a state where the flexibility effect is improved.

In the description of the first to third embodiments, the washing machine 10 has been described by exemplifying a so-called vertical axis type washing machine in which the rotation axis of the rotary tub is oriented in the vertical direction, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the washing machine 10 may be a so-called horizontal axis type drum-type washing machine in which the rotation axis of the rotary tub is tilted horizontally or downward.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are also included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

In the drawing, 10 is a washing machine, 14 is a water tank, 16 is a rotary tank, 44 is a detergent case (dissolving area), 30 is a water supply pipe (water supply path), 34 is an FB side water supply valve, 36 is a main water supply valve, and 37 is. Softener side water supply valve, 38 is FB pipe (water supply path), 39 is supply pipe (water supply path), 42 is main pipe (water supply path), 43 is softener pipe (water supply path), 40, 41 are fine bubbles generated A vessel, 46 is a control device, 60 is a detergent dissolving region, and 62 is a softener case (dissolving region).

Claims (3)

A water tank that stores water and
The rotary tank arranged in the water tank and
A dissolution region where the softener is added and dissolves the softener,
One is connected to the water supply valve, and the other is a water supply path capable of supplying water to the dissolution region.
It is provided in the middle of the water supply path, and by rapidly reducing the pressure of the liquid flowing through the internal flow path, fine bubbles having a diameter of 50 nm to 1 μm can be mainly generated to generate fine bubble water containing the fine bubbles. Cavitation type fine bubble generating means and
It is equipped with at least a control means for controlling the opening and closing of the water supply valve.
The control means is a washing machine that controls to dissolve the softener by bringing the softener into contact with fine bubble water during the water supply period in the washing course to be operated . The washing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a water supply path that does not pass through the fine bubble generating means . The washing machine according to claim 2, wherein the control means controls to pass water through a water supply path through which the fine bubble generating means is passed and then through a water supply path that does not pass through the fine bubble generating means. ..

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