JPH03224561A - Freezing preventive operation control in bubble generating bathtub - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the freezing preventive effect by stopping the operation of a bath hot water circulating pump, when the freezing temperature of bath hot water in the piping is detected in the course of a freezing preventive operation. CONSTITUTION:As for the freezing preventive operation, its execution is started in the case bath hot water is in a water level in which the freezing preventive operation can be executed, and also, a bath hot water temperature is <=5 deg.C, and an actual bath hot water temperature is >=0 deg.C by allowing for an error + or -2 deg.C of a detection value of a temperature sensor T. In such a state, a bath hot water temperature is detected, and unless the detection value is >=-2 deg.C, it is decided that freezing occurs in the piping or a bath hot water circulating pump P, and in order to avoid an overload of the bath hot water circulating pump P, the freezing preventive operation is stopped. In such a way, when the freezing preventive operation is stopped at the time when the detection value is -2 deg.C,the freezing preventive operation can be executed surely until an actual water temperature become <=0 deg.C, and the freezing preventive effect can be enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to antifreeze operation control in a bubble generating bathtub.

(b) Conventional technology Conventionally, while circulating the bath water in the bathtub body through a bathwater circulation pump configured separately from the bathtub body, the bathwater is jetted out from a jet nozzle and air is sucked in at the same time. There are bubble-generating bathtubs that eject air bubbles as a jet along with the bath water.

In such a bubble-generating bathtub, since the bath water circulation pump is installed outdoors, a portion of the piping is exposed outdoors, and therefore, there is a risk that the piping and pump portion may freeze during severe winters, except when bubble generation is activated.

Such a frozen state can be used when the bubble generation operation is next operated.
There is a risk that the bath water will not be circulated sufficiently, which may put an excessive load on the bath water circulation pump and cause it to malfunction.

Therefore, in order to avoid such a freezing state, when the temperature drops to a certain level, the sensor detects this and automatically rotates the bath water circulation pump at a low speed to flow the bath water at a low speed to prevent freezing. Control is possible.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the freeze prevention operation control configured in this way, the operation of the bath water circulation pump is always started when the temperature drops below a certain level. Therefore, even if the bath water in the pipes or the bath water in the bath water circulation pump freezes, a signal is still output to the bath water circulation pump to continue operating.

If the bath water circulation pump is operated in such a state that the bath water is frozen and cannot flow, the pump will be overloaded, causing failures such as motor overheating, and creating a dangerous situation.

In order to avoid such a situation, the present invention is designed to stop the antifreeze operation itself when the bath water freezes.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems This invention provides a bath water circulation flow path between a bathtub body and a bath water circulation pump installed outside the bathtub body, and communicates with the bath water circulation flow path. While inhaling air from the connected air intake,
The system is configured so that bath water mixed with air bubbles can be ejected from multiple jet nozzles installed in the bathtub body, and when the temperature of the bath water falls below a certain level, the bath water circulation pump automatically operates to prevent freezing. Anti-freezing in a bubble-generating bathtub configured as above, in which the operation of the bath water circulation pump is stopped when the temperature at which the bath water in the piping should be frozen is detected during the anti-freeze operation. The purpose is to provide operational control.

(E) Function/Effect In this invention, when the bath water reaches a certain set temperature while the bubble generation operation is stopped, this is detected by a sensor and a signal for operating the bath water circulation pump is output. The pump is rotated at low speed to gently circulate the bath water to prevent freezing.

However, even during such operation, if the bath water freezes due to a sudden drop in outside temperature, etc., a sensor detects the temperature set as the freezing temperature of the bath water and outputs a signal to stop the bath water circulation pump. The system stops operation to prevent freezing.

Therefore, by performing such control, it is possible to prevent overload on the bath water circulation pump that would occur due to continued operation even if the bath water freezes during antifreeze operation, and ensure the safety of circulation equipment such as motors. It has the effect of being able to.

(F) Example First, the overall structure of the bubble-generating bathtub according to the present invention will be explained.

Figure 1 (^) shows the bubble-generating bathtub according to the present invention, which includes the bathtub body (B) installed in the bathroom, various devices attached to it, and the functional part case (IE) installed outdoors. It consists of various equipment installed in the

The bathtub body (B) is a bathtub body (B) formed in the shape of a box with an open top.
13) on the front and rear walls and left and right side walls, respectively, on the foot side, dorsal side,
A total of six chest side jet nozzles (2), (3), and (4) are provided.

In addition, a flange-shaped edge (1) of a constant width is formed on the periphery of the bathtub body (I3), and an air intake part (5) is formed on the edge (1).
An infrared signal receiving section (R1) and an operation panel (93) are provided.

Each of the ejection nozzles (2), (3), and (4) communicates with the air intake section (5) via an intake vibe (8).

The functional part case (E) has a bath water circulation pump (P
), an inverter (+) that controls the pump drive motor (M), a control unit (C) that controls the pump drive motor (M) and the motor (old) for driving the valve body for the nozzle, and a controller for bath water filtration. A filter (P) and an electric three-way valve (v) that controls the filter (P)
O).

The water intake port (9) provided at the bottom of the side wall of the bathtub body (B)
4) and the suction port (328) of the bath water circulation pump (P), via a bath water suction vibrator (10) for sending bath water from the bathtub body (B) to the bath water circulation pump (-P). In addition to establishing
Between the spout (32g) of the bath water circulation pump (P) and each spout nozzle (2) (3) (4), there is a pipe for sending bath water from the pump (P) to the bathtub body (B). A bath water circulation flow path (D) is constructed by interposing a bath water bullet conveying vibrator (11).

(R1) is an infrared signal receiving section that receives an infrared signal from the remote controller (R), and is connected to the control section (C).

With the above configuration, by operating the remote controller (R), the output frequency of the inverter (1) (described later) can be controlled via the control unit (C), and the motor (old) for driving the nozzle valve body forward and backward can be controlled. , adjust the bath water jet pressure to each jet nozzle (
2) Change or adjust each of (3) and (4), or
The electric three-way valve (We) can be controlled to control the operation of the filter (P).

As shown in Fig. 2, the functional part case (E) is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a shelf board (IEI) is installed inside to divide the internal space into two vertically. :l) Earth leakage breaker (ELB), fan (Fl), isolation transformer (TI), power transformer (Tr), noise filter (
Electrical equipment such as Pn), an inverter (1), and a control unit (C) are installed.

The inverter (1) changes the output frequency under the control of the control section (C) to steplessly change the rotation speed of the pump drive motor (M), as shown in Fig. 3. , single-phase AC 100V power from a commercial power supply (S) is transferred to a power transformer (T"), a rectifier ("), and a smoothing capacitor (C").
) is converted to DC 200V and supplied to the switching circuit (Sv) built in the inverter (1), and the switching frequency of the switching circuit (Sv) is supplied from the control unit (C) via the inverter control circuit (punishment). By controlling in accordance with the control code, the output frequency of the inverter (+) can be changed arbitrarily.

Therefore, under control from the control unit (C), the rotation speed of the bath water circulation pump (P) connected to the pump drive motor (M) is changed to nullify the discharge pressure and discharge amount of the pump (P). It will be possible to change the stage.

The control unit (C) is provided on a substrate (CI) that stands on the inner surface of the inverter (1) at a predetermined interval.

A filter (F), a hot water circulation pump (P), and an electric three-way valve (Ve) are arranged below the shelf board (El).

As shown in FIG. 4, the bath water circulation pump (P) has an upper impeller chamber (33) and a lower impeller chamber (34) that communicate with each other via a communication channel (32d) in a pump casing (82). The lower impeller chamber (30) is connected to the bath water suction pipe (10) via the bath water suction passage (32a) provided on the lower side of the pump casing (32), and the pump casing (32) The hot water bullet conveying pipe (11
).

Then, the impeller shaft (35) is mounted so as to vertically penetrate the central part of the upper and lower impeller chambers (33) (!14), and the upper impeller (33) is mounted on the impeller shaft (35).
a) and the lower impeller (34a) are installed coaxially within the upper and lower impeller chambers (33) and (34), respectively, and the impeller shaft (35) is mounted integrally and watertightly on the pump casing (32). The installed pump drive motor (M
) is interlocked and connected to the drive shaft (39).

A rectifying plate (29) is provided protruding from the terminal end of the bath water suction path (32a) to improve pump efficiency by rectifying the bath water sucked into the lower impeller chamber (34).

Further, the upper impeller chamber (33) is connected to a lead-in pipe (41) of a filter (P) to be described later through a forced filtration passage (32c) provided on the - side of the upper impeller chamber (33).

(3B) is a mechanical seal lubricated with bath water attached to the impeller shaft (35), (39a) is the motor casing of the pump drive motor (M), (39b) is the rotor,
(39e) is a fixed magnetic pole, (39d) is a cooling fan that also serves as a water slinger, (!19e) is a cooling intake port, (
39r) is the cooling exhaust port, (32e) is the intake port, (l12
g) is the upper spout, (zl) is the circulation flow direction, (zl)
is the filtration flow direction.

With the above configuration, when the pump drive motor (M) is rotated, the bathtub body (B) → bath water suction pipe (lO) → suction port (32e) → lower impeller chamber (34) → bath thirst force passage (32b) ) - Bath water suction pipe (11) - Bathtub body (B)
It is pumped in this order.

In addition, some of the bath water sucked into the lower impeller chamber (30) is
→Upper impeller chamber (33) - Lead-in pipe (4I) -
Filter machine (P) → Return pipe (42) – Bath water bullet feed vibe (
11) - Circulate in the order of bathtub body (B).

In addition, as shown in Fig. 5, the pressure transmission path of the pressure sensor (Sp) that detects the water level of the bath water is connected to the bath water circulation pump (P).
An opening (Spl) is made in the side wall of the bath water suction passage (32a). Further, a temperature sensor (T)' for detecting the bath water temperature is provided in the lower impeller chamber (34). Therefore, the water level and temperature of the bath water in the bathtub body (B) are t m-m
*II will be determined at the position of 'bon'y(p).

The filter (P) is a downflow type filter that can backwash the filter medium,
As shown in Fig. 6, the assembly bolt (28c) is made by inserting the upper and lower shells (21H) (28g), each formed into a substantially cylindrical shape with a bottom, through the upper and lower flanges (28d) (28e) provided around each opening. is connected to the filter body (43a
), a support net (43b) is stretched in the lower part of the filter body (43a), and upper and lower baffle plates (43b) are placed above the support net (43b).
43d) (43r) are stretched at intervals, and between the lower baffle plate (431') and the support net (43b),
A bead-shaped filter medium (43e) is filled on the mesh body <43b).

A draw-in pipe connecting portion (43a) connected to the upper end of the 7 filter bases (43a) is connected to the upper impeller chamber (33) of the bath water circulation pump (P) via the draw-in pipe (41).
41a) and an exhaust pipe connection part (28a) that communicates with the bath water bullet feed pipe (II) via the exhaust pipe (28), and connects the bath water via the return pipe (42) to the lower end of the main body (43a). A return pipe connecting portion (42a) is provided which is connected in communication with the hot water bullet sending pipe (11). (28b) is a reinforcing rib, and (29a) is an O ring.

The electric three-way valve (Ve) is connected to the middle part of the lead-in pipe (41), and a drain pipe (46) is connected to one end of the three-way valve (v8) to open the flow path of the three-way valve (We). By switching, the bath water from the upper impeller chamber (33) is filtered by passing through the filter layer formed of the filter material (43c) from top to bottom, or backwashing is performed, that is, the bath water is The bath water from the lower impeller chamber (34) of the circulation pump (P) is caused to rise in the filter main body (43a) to break the filter layer and flow the filter medium (48c).
3c) Clean the filter slag that has accumulated or adhered to the drain pipe (
46) to be discharged.

Next, various devices installed in the bathtub body (B) will be explained.

Foot side, dorsal side, and chest side jet nozzles (2), (3), and (4) use automatic variable jet volume jet nozzles with the same configuration that can automatically change the jet volume and jet pressure of bath water. This will be explained with reference to FIG.

The spout nozzles (2), (3), and (4) are connected to a bottomed cylindrical nozzle body (20) attached to a spout nozzle connection port (9) formed on the side wall of the bathtub body (B), and the nozzle body (20). (
20), a valve seat forming cylinder (21) fitted into the bathtub body (B) from the side, and a valve seat (21) formed in the valve seat forming cylinder (21).
A valve body (22) for adjusting the jetting amount that approaches and separates from the rear of 21a)
, a nozzle valve advancing/retracting drive motor (Ml) for causing the jetting amount adjusting valve body (22) to perform the above-mentioned approaching/separating operation, and a freely swingable motor (Ml) for driving the nozzle valve body forward and backward of the valve seat forming cylinder body (21). It consists of a supported throat (20).

In addition, an intake pipe connection part (2flb) is opened in the inner circumferential wall of the central part of the nozzle body (20), and the inside of the valve seat forming cylinder (21) and the air intake part (5) are connected via the intake pipe (8). are communicating.

In addition, a bullet-feeding vibration connecting part (20c) is opened in the inner circumferential wall of the rear part of the nozzle body (20), and the inside of the rear part of the valve seat forming cylinder (21) and the bath water bullet-feeding vibe (11) are communicated with each other. ing.

The motor (Ml) for driving the nozzle valve body forward and backward is a stepping motor, and a ball screw mechanism (Bs) is interposed between the nozzle valve body (22) and the jet volume regulating valve body (22). 22) can be brought into and out of contact with the valve seat (21a).

(23j) is a valve body position sensor consisting of a magnet and a magnetic Hall element.

With the above configuration, the bath water from the bath water circulation pump (P) passes through the gap between the valve seat (21a) and the spout amount regulating valve body (22), and the bath water is spouted from the valve seat (21a). Negative pressure is generated, and air from the air intake part (5) can be mixed into the spouting bath vortex, and furthermore, by the operation of the motor (Ml) for driving the nozzle valve body forward and backward, the jetting of the bath water is controlled. Strength can be adjusted.

Although each of the jet nozzles (2), (3), and (4) have the same configuration, the motor (Ml) for driving the nozzle valve body forward and backward of each jet nozzle (2), (3, and 4) is controlled by the control unit ( C)
Therefore, each of the jet nozzles (2), (3), and (4) can be made to take on a different bath water jetting form.

As shown in FIG. 8, the air intake part (5) is connected to the bathtub body (
B) is provided on the edge (1) of the air intake body (80), and the top opening of the air intake body (80) is covered with the lid body (82) with openings on the left and right sides, and only on the outside of the air intake body (82). The formed air intake port (82a) allows the inside of the air intake portion main body (80) to communicate with the outside air.

In addition, the central part of the bottom surface of the air intake main body (80) is connected to each jet nozzle (2) (3) (4) via the intake pipe (8).
). (92) is a silencer.

The control unit (C) is arranged on the board (CI), and as shown in FIG. 1, it includes a microprocessor (50),
Human output interface (51) (52) and memory (
53) and an input interface (53).
1) includes a valve body position sensor (23j) and a pressure sensor (S
p), the temperature sensor (T) and the infrared signal receiving section (R1) are connected.

The output interface (52) includes an inverter (+),
Motor for driving the valve body for the nozzle (Ml), electric three-way valve (
vO) and various indicator lamps, etc. are connected.

The memory (53) controls each motor (M) (old), electric three-way valve (We), etc. based on the signals from each of the above-mentioned sensors and the signal from the remote controller (R), and controls each jet nozzle. (2), (3), and (4) stores a program that can execute six types of bath blow modes and three types of variations for each blow mode.

The remote controller (R), as shown in Figure 9,
On the front are various switch groups (R4) for controlling the bubble-generating bathtub (A), such as an ON/OFF switch and each blow mode switch, and a liquid crystal panel (R5) that displays the operating status of the bathtub (A). In addition, an infrared signal transmitter (R3) is provided at the front end of the infrared signal transmitter (R3), which converts the electrical signals from each of the above switches into a serial code signal set in advance for each switch, and transmits the infrared signal. Part (R3)
transmits infrared rays as a carrier.

The above-mentioned serial code signal is received by an infrared signal receiving section (R1), which will be explained next, is converted into an electric signal, and is inputted to the input interface (51) of the control section (C), and the signal is input to the memory (53). ) The bubble generating bathtub (A) can be placed in an operating state corresponding to the operation of each switch by controlling the operation of the corresponding actuator according to the control program stored in the controller.

The infrared signal receiving section (R1), as shown in FIG.
An operation panel (
93), and the same panel (93) is provided with various switches similar to the remote controller (R), an LED for displaying the operating status corresponding to each switch, and a filtration type cleaning switch. There is.

With the above configuration, actuators such as the pump drive motor (M) and the nozzle valve movement drive motor (Ml) can be operated by operating the remote controller (R) on the bath water surface or the switch operation on the operation panel (93). Control the rotation speed of the bath water circulation pump (P) and each spout nozzle (2)
(3) Adjust the opening/closing amount of the jet volume regulating valve body (22) in (4) to control the jet volume and jet pressure of bath water spouted from each jet nozzle, corresponding to the various blow mode switches described above. You can select the bath blow mode and its variations.

In addition, by turning on and off the filtration-like cleaning switch provided on the operation panel (93), the electric three-way valve (Va) is switched for a certain period of time using the timer function of the control program, and the filter (P) is turned on and off. Filter media can be backwashed.

Hereinafter, the operation of the bubble generating bathtub (A) will be explained.

Fig. 11 shows a flowchart of the main routine. When the power is turned on (20G), the motors (Ml) for driving the valve bodies of all the jet nozzles (2) (3) (4) and the inverter (1) ) are initialized (210).

In addition, in the above initialized state, each jet nozzle (2>
(3) The valve body (22) in (4) is opened from the fully closed position to enable smooth supply and drainage of bath water.

During the above initialization, the bath water circulation pump (P) maintains the stopped state (215), and the control unit (C) controls the pressure sensor (Sp
) and temperature sensor (T), and the temperature sensor (T) detects the bath water temperature (220
), If this is within the range of 5°C to 50°C (Y), detect the state of the operation switch (225), and if it is ON (Y), detect the bathtub water level from the output of the pressure sensor (Sp). (227), the water level is above which blow operation is possible (Y), and the temperature sensor (T) detects the bath water temperature (
230) If the water temperature is such that blowing operation is possible (Y), the subroutine is executed in accordance with input instructions for various blowing operations, filter cleaning, etc. from the remote controller or operation panel (500).

Next, detect ON/OFF of the operation switch (99
5) If it is ON (Y), the process returns to step (230) and continues execution of the above subroutine.

Also, in step (220), if the water temperature does not allow blow operation (N), the bath water level is detected (235), and if it is higher than the water level that allows blow operation (Y), the bath water temperature is detected (237). ), if the temperature is less than 5° C. (Y), the antifreeze operation subroutine (300) is executed.

Note that if the bath water temperature is not below 5° C. in step (237) (N), a high water temperature warning (400) is issued and the operation is stopped (215).

In addition, if the water level is below which blow operation is possible in step (235) (N), a water level drop warning (410) is issued.
The blowing operation is stopped (215).

Note that the water level at which blow operation is possible means that the water level of the bath water is at least at the water intake port (94) provided in the bathtub body (B), and
Conditions such as the location being higher than the top of the highest jet nozzle are met, and the temperature of the bath water is 5.
A water temperature within the range of 50°C to 50°C is considered to be a water temperature that allows blowing operation.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A bath water circulation flow path is interposed between the bathtub body and a circulation pump installed outside the bathtub body, and air is sucked in from the air intake part connected to the flow path, and air bubbles are mixed. The system is configured so that bath water can be ejected from multiple jet nozzles installed in the bathtub body, and the bath water circulation pump is configured to automatically operate to prevent freezing when the temperature of the bath water falls below a certain level. In a bubble-generating bathtub made of
Antifreeze operation control in a bubble generating bathtub configured to stop the operation of a bathwater circulation pump.