JPH03193186A - Water purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent foreign matters from attaching to a filter medium during backwashing by performing backwashing for preventing the clogging of filter medium utilizing purified water purified by means of a filter medium. CONSTITUTION:In a water purifier provided with hollow fiber membranes 71 as filter media, there are provided a purified water storing zone alpha provided between the media 71 and a purified water outlet 64 for storing purified water having passed through the media 71, a return means for returning the purified water in the zone alpha to the media 71, a closing means for closing the zone alphaon the side of the outlet 64 when the water is returned, and a changeover valve 9 which is actuated by water pressure to change over the feed of raw water to said return means and the feed of raw water to the filter media. And, the for the valve 9, a discharge water changeover section 67 is provided to open a raw water feed passage to the media 71 and to open a raw water feed passage to the return means in response to the changeover of the feed direction of raw water. As a result, backwashing for preventing the clogging of filter media is performed utilizing the purified water purified by means of the media, thereby preventing foreign matters from attaching to the media.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a water purifier equipped with a filter material, particularly a hollow fiber membrane.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, water purifiers that use hollow fiber membranes as a filler material have been attracting attention. This hollow fiber membrane has minute pores of 0.1 to 0.01μ on its wall surface, and uses these pores to pass water from the outer wall of the hollow fiber membrane to the inner space of the hollow fiber membrane, thereby filtration. In order to do this, even bacteria can be removed. In the case of using such a sawn material, since the filtration is carried out using the fine pores as mentioned above, clogging due to the removed substances occurs early, so it was proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-238.
No. 391, JP-A No. 6230507, or JP-A No. 62-79809 discloses that by performing backwashing in which water flows in the opposite direction to that during filtration, it is possible to remove particles that adhere to the outer wall surface of the hollow fiber membrane. This allows foreign matter to be washed away.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the water purifiers disclosed in the above publications, the water used for backwashing is raw water, that is, water containing foreign matter, so foreign matter adheres to the inner wall surface of the hollow fiber membrane when backwashing is performed. Therefore, if the backwashing time is long, there is a risk that the inner wall will become clogged, and the next time the water is purified, foreign matter that has adhered to the inner wall will be mixed with the purified water. The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to be able to wash away by backwashing the substances that adhere to the filter medium made of hollow fiber membranes and cause clogging. To provide a water purifier that can extend the life of a filter medium and prevent backwashing from causing new problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

In a water purifier equipped with a hollow fiber membrane as a filter medium, the present invention provides a purified water storage section that is arranged between the filter medium and the purified water outlet and stores purified water that has passed through the filter medium, and a purified water storage section that stores purified water that has passed through the filter medium. a return means for returning the water to the water, a closing means for closing the purified water outlet side of the purified water storage section during the return, and a switching valve operated by water pressure to switch between supplying the raw water to the return means and supplying the raw water to the filter medium. In addition, the switching valve is characterized in that it includes a drainage switching part that opens the raw water supply path to the filter medium and the raw water supply path to the return means in accordance with the switching of the raw water supply direction. are doing. [Function] According to the present invention, backwashing for preventing clogging of the filter medium is performed.
Because it uses purified water that has been purified by a component, there is no chance of foreign matter adhering to the filter material during backwashing.In addition, backwashing is performed using water pressure, and when switching channels, it is necessary to Since this control is performed at the same time, reliable backwashing can be performed simply by switching the switching valve. [Embodiment] The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated embodiment. This water purifier is composed of a purification unit A and a switching unit B. Starting with the switching unit B that switches water channels, this switching unit B consists of a main body 1 made of synthetic resin and formed into a cylindrical shape with vertical openings, and a main body 1, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Mounting nut 50 attached to the top of
, a lever 2 attached to the side surface of the main body 1, a water discharge plate 4 attached to the lower surface of the main body 1, and a cylindrical rotary valve 3 housed within the main body 1. The upper end of the main body 1 serves as a mounting portion for attachment to a water faucet (not shown). The main body 1 is provided with an inlet 11 on its upper surface that communicates with a faucet, and a tube 51 surrounding this inlet 11 is erected. A gasket 53 and a water stop gasket 54 are arranged, and a male thread is cut on the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder 51 to be screwed into the mounting nut 50. Once the mounting nut 50 removed from the main body 1 is inserted into a water faucet, the auxiliary fitting 52 is locked to the tip of the faucet, and in this state, the tip of the water faucet is inserted into the tube 51 and the mounting nut 50 is inserted. When screwed into the tube 51 and tightened, the main body 1 is attached to the faucet and at the same time the tip of the faucet is pressed against the gasket 53. The center of the main body 1 is formed as a valve chamber 13 having a circular longitudinal section and opening to the -side. This valve chamber 13 is a part in which the rotary valve 3 is housed, and is open upward through the inflow port 11, and as shown in FIG. 2nd outlet 1
5 are formed respectively, and a cylindrical portion 1 surrounding the first outlet 14 is formed.
8 is formed hanging down. A connection plug 17 is provided on the side surface of the main body 1 opposite to the side surface on which the lever 2 is arranged, and one end of which opens into the inner part of the valve chamber 13. The water discharge plate 4 attached to the lower surface of the main body 1 has a water discharge port 41 with a rectifying wire mesh 44 arranged in the center and a large number of small holes 42 around the periphery for discharging water in the form of a shower. It is attached to the main body 1 by screwing into a male thread formed on a partition member 45 which is fixed to the lower end of the cylindrical portion 18 by means such as ultrasonic welding. The ring-shaped partition member 45 located between the cylindrical portion 18 and the water discharge plate 4 is provided with a buffer piece 46 and a rectifying rib 47 at its center via a plurality of ribs. 1
The flow path from the outlet 14 to the water outlet 41 is separated from the valve chamber 13 in the main body 1 and the external space of the cylindrical portion l8. The rotary valve 3 housed in the valve chamber 13 is composed of a shaft and a cylindrical portion integrally formed with the shaft, and is a thin-walled rotary valve 3 that hangs down from the water-stop gasket 54 along the inlet port 11. A large first inlet 33 and a small second inlet 33 are provided on the circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion with which the lower end of the cylindrical hanging piece 55 comes into elastic contact.
Three ports, an inlet 34 and an outlet 36, are open. Although the first inlet port 33 and the outlet port 36 are connected inside the cylindrical portion, the second inlet port 34
As is clear from FIG. 8, the valve chamber 13 is separated by a partition wall and communicates with the end surface on the inner side of the valve chamber 13 which is connected to the connection plug 17. Further, a plurality of recesses 39 arranged in the circumferential direction are provided on the peripheral surface of the end of the cylindrical portion of the rotary valve 3. This recess 39 is engaged with a ball 59 that is biased by a spring 58 and protrudes into the valve chamber 13, thereby giving a click to the rotation of the rotary valve 3. 3 each positioning is performed. The 0-tally valve 3 is attached to the main body 1 using a holding plate 57. The holding plate 57 through which the shaft 31 of the rotary valve 3 passes is attached to the main body 1 by screwing it into a female thread formed on the inner peripheral surface of the opening opening on the side surface of the main body 1 of the valve chamber 13. This prevents the valve from coming out of the valve chamber 13. The lever 2 has a fitting part with the non-circular tip of the shaft of the rotary valve 3 that protrudes outside through the presser plate 57. 5 is fixed to the rotary valve 3 by screws screwed in. Now, by operating the lever 2, the second inlet 34 in the rotary valve 3 is connected to the inlet 1 as shown in FIGS.
1, water supplied from the faucet is sent to the connection plug 17. Further, by operating the lever 2, the first inlet 33 of the rotary valve 3 faces the inlet 11, and the outlet 36 moves to the second outlet 15.
If the water is in communication with the ring-shaped partition member 45, the water from the inlet 11 passes through the 8th first inlet 33, the outlet 36, and the second outlet 15, hits the upper surface of the circumference of the ring-shaped partition member 45, and is scattered. A shower-like flow is discharged from the small holes 42 of the water discharge plate 4. Further, when the inlet 11 and the first inlet 33 of the rotary valve 3 communicate with each other, and the outlet 36 and the first outlet 14 communicate with each other, water from the inlet 11 flows through the first outlet 14.
After hitting the buffer piece 46 of the partition member 45 and weakening the flow velocity, the water is rectified by the rectifying ribs 47 and the rectifying wire mesh 44 and is discharged from the water outlet 41. The outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion of the rotary valve 3 is a cylindrical hanging piece 55.
When the inlet 11 is closed in contact with the faucet, the water from the faucet is stopped here. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the purification unit A is composed of a case 6, a purification cartridge 7 and a pre-filter cartridge 8 housed within the case 6. . The case 6 consists of a lower case 60, an upper case 61, a cylinder part 62 disposed on the upper case 61, and a lid 63 that closes the upper opening of the cylinder part 62, and includes a purification cartridge 7 and a pre-filter cartridge. 8 is housed in a space surrounded by a lower case 60 and an upper case 61. Further, a switching valve 9 is disposed in the bottom of the lower case 60. This switching valve 9 includes a housing 90 fixed to the bottom plate of the lower case 60, a cover 9.4.97 that closes both ends of the housing 90, and one end that is rotatably housed within the housing 90 and that passes through the cover 94. It consists of a cylindrical valve body 91 to which an operating lever 95 is attached to the side, and as is clear from FIG. It is provided with shafts 902 and 904 that are long in the axial direction. Here, the boat 900 is connected to the pre-filter cartridge 89, and the boat 901 is connected to the connection plug 1 of the switching unit B through the check valve 905 and the tube 18.
7, boat 903 is connected to drain pipe 907 through L-shaped pipe 905, one end of 01902 communicates with boat 901, and one end of groove 904 communicates with boat 1-903. Also, on the cover 97 side,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a connection port 98 is provided. As shown in FIG. 6, the valve body 91
．． A communication hole 92 is provided in the portion where the connection port 901 and 903 are located, and a pair of grooves 93,
It has 9B. The bottom plate of the lower case 60 further includes a drain valve 85 shown in FIG.
is provided. The drain valve 85, which is biased by the spring 87 in the direction of opening the valve body 86,
It is connected to a drain pipe 907 via a duplex 88. The purification cars 1 to 7 have a cylindrical case 72 whose bottom opening is closed with a bottom lid 74, a cylindrical holter 73 fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical case 72, and a bundle in the holder 73. It consists of a hollow fiber membrane 71 loaded in a state of A nonwoven fabric 75 is disposed at the joint portion to prevent the activated carbon 70 from leaking, and a nonwoven fabric 77 is disposed at the passage hole 76 formed on the upper circumference of the cylindrical case 72 by the perforated plates 1 to 78. The pressed arrangement prevents the activated carbon 70 from leaking through the passage hole 76. The purification cartridge 7 is disposed within the case 6 by screwing and connecting the upper end of the holder 73 that protrudes upward from the center of the upper surface of the cylindrical case 72 to the top plate of the upper case 61. Ru. The pre-filter cartridge 8 includes a lower housing 80 equipped with a plug 81 that is detachably inserted into and connected to the boat 900 portion of the housing 90 of the switching valve 9, and an upper lid 82 with an appropriate number of openings on the upper periphery. A pre-filter is formed as a sintered body with pores made of polypropylene, polyethylene, etc. in a space surrounded by
83 is filled. The purification cartridge 7 and the pre-filter cartridge 8 can be replaced by separating the lower case 60 and upper case 61, which are screwed together. The cylinder part 62, which is disposed on the second case 61 and whose two-sided opening is closed with a lid 63, is provided with a connection plaque 65 on the lower surface that is inserted into the center opening of the upper case 61, and has a connection plate 65 inserted into the center opening in the vertical direction. It is equipped with a purified water outlet 64 on the side surface of the part, and is rotatable around a vertical axis with respect to the upper case 61. Inside there is a screw I~n 67 and a piston holder integrally connected thereto. 68 are arranged. A piston 67 is fitted with a gasket on its outer circumferential surface and opens and closes the purified water outlet 64 as it moves downward.
It is urged upward by a spring 69, and is normally in a position where the purified water outlet 64 is open. Further, the other end of a tube 99 whose one end is connected to the connection port 97 of the switching valve 9 is connected to the plug 100 passing through W2B. However, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the switching valve 9 of the purification unit A of the water purifier is rotated by a spring 96 whose one end is connected to the operating lever 95.
901 and the boat 900 communicate through the communication hole 92, and the connection port 98 is always in communication with the boats 1 to 903 through the grooves 93 and 904, so that the lever 2 of the switching unit B cannot be operated. When the raw water supplied from the faucet is sent to the purification unit A side through the connection plug 17 and tube 18, this raw water enters the pre-filter cartridge 8 through the boat 900, and is filtered by the pre-filter 83 into a relatively large After the particles have been removed, they enter the cylindrical case 72 of the purification cartridge 7 through the passage hole 76, come into contact with the activated carbon 70, and then are filtered by the hollow fibers 11171 and are stored in the space below the piston 67 in the cylinder part 62. The purified water enters a certain purified water storage section α, and then flows out to the outside through the purified water outlet 64. At this time, the drain valve 85 provided in the lower case 60
The valve body 86 moves against the spring 87 and closes due to the water pressure. Also, if the tap water pressure is very high, or if the hollow fiber membrane 7
If the internal pressure inside the case 6 becomes high due to clogging of the switching unit B as shown in FIG.
The pressure regulating valve 28 arranged in the lower part of the valve chamber 13 retreats against the pressure regulating spring 29, causing water to leak from the small hole 42 of the water discharge plate 4. From the purified water discharge state, the operating lever 95 is rotated so that the boat 900 and the boat 903 in the switching valve 9 communicate with each other as shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, and the connection port 98
is in communication with the bow 1-900 through the groove 93 and the groove 902, the raw water sent from the switching unit l-B is transferred between the piston holder 68 and the lid 63 through the tube 904 and the connection port 98. It enters the space β between the pistons 6 and 6 due to water pressure.
7 against the spring 69. For this reason, some of the purified water accumulated in the purified water storage part α, which is the space below the screws 1 to 67, is discharged from the purified water outlet 82 at the beginning of the downward movement of the piston 67. 67 closes the purified water outlet 64,
It flows in the opposite direction inside the purification cartridge 7, washes away foreign matter adhering to the outer wall of the hollow fiber membrane 71, passes through the inside of the pre-filter cartridge 8, and is discharged to the outside from the boat 5 903 connected to the boat 900 through the drain pipe 907. be done. After this backwashing is completed, when the user releases the operating lever 95, the operating lever 95 and the switching valve 9 are biased by the spring 96 and return to the states shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. At this time, the piston 67 is returned upward by the spring 69 (also biased by water pressure when the switching unit B is still in the state of supplying water to the purification unit A side), and due to this, the space β The water used as backwashing power is pushed back and discharged from the connection port 98 to the drain pipe 907 via the groove 904 and the boat 903. Furthermore, if the water supply from the switching unit B side is stopped, the inside of the case 6 is opened through the purified water outlet 64, so the water staying inside the case 6 is no longer under water pressure and is opened. The water is discharged from the drain valve 85 through the drain pipe 907.

【Effect of the invention】

As described above, in the present invention, by performing backwashing in which water flows in the opposite direction to the original water flow, substances that have been filtered through the filter medium made of hollow fiber membranes and adhered to the filter medium can be removed from the drainage area. It is something that can be washed away,
Since it is possible to discharge substances that were clogging the filter media, it is possible to eliminate the short lifespan caused by clogging, which is a problem with heating materials made of hollow fiber membranes. Backwashing is performed by returning purified water collected in a purified water storage section installed between the filter medium and the purified water outlet to the filter medium, so there is no chance that the water used for backwashing will stain the filter medium or attach foreign matter. In addition, the purified water for backwashing is placed between the filter medium and the purified water outlet. By using the purified water in the purified water storage section, it is possible to always secure a certain amount of purified water necessary for backwashing, and it is also possible to minimize water waste due to backwashing. Furthermore, since the return means is operated by water pressure and a switching valve is provided to switch between supplying raw water to the return means and supplying raw water to the filter medium,
This switching valve is equipped with a drainage switching part that opens the raw water supply path to the component and the raw water supply path to the return means in accordance with the switching of the raw water supply direction. Reliable backwashing can be performed simply by switching the switch, and even though water pressure is used, it is only necessary to install piping between the switching valve and the return means, and there is no need for separate piping to lead water to the return means. Piping is easy.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a purification unit according to an embodiment of the present invention when discharging purified water, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same, Fig. 3 is a broken bottom view of the same, and Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the same. 5 is a sectional view of the water drain valve same as above, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the valve body of the same switching valve as above, FIGS. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views and longitudinal sectional views of the switching unit, and FIG. The figure is a vertical cross-sectional view of the purification unit during backwashing.
Figure 0 is a cross-sectional view of the same as above, and Figure 11 is a partial cross-sectional view of the same as above, where A is a purification unit, α is a purified water storage section, 9 is a switching valve, 64 is a purified water outlet, 67 is a piston, 8 71 indicates a hollow fiber membrane.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a water purifier equipped with a hollow fiber membrane as a filter medium, a purified water storage section is arranged between the filter medium and the purified water outlet to collect purified water that has passed through the filter medium, and the purified water in the purified water storage section is returned to the filter medium side. A return means, a closing means for closing the purified water outlet side of the purified water storage section during the return, and a switching valve operated by water pressure to switch between supply of raw water to the return means and supply of raw water to the filter medium, The switching valve opens the raw water supply path to the filter medium according to the switching of the raw water supply direction,
A water purifier characterized by comprising a drainage switching section that opens a raw water supply path to a return means.