JPH0332794A - Device for circulating bath tub water - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively utilize a sterilizing liquid, to safely sterilize bacterias and to facilitate the maintenance and management of the device by providing a controller which injects the prescribe volume of the sterilizing liquid from a sterilizing liquid tank into path tub water and drives a circulating pump by setting the filter time longer than the injection time. CONSTITUTION:Circulating water is admitted as flow A into a water passage part 8a of a filter 8 by a circulating pump 6. A part of this water enters as flow B the filter chamber 8b. While the water is filtered by a filter 8f, the water is introduced from the hollow part in the central inside part to the filter outlet in the bottom from which the water joins with the flow C past a bypass line 8C to form flow D which returns to the bath tub. On the other hand, the sterilizing liquid 9a is sucked through a pipe 11a by a liquid feed pump 10 from the upper part of a sterilizing liquid tank 9 and is supplied through a pipe 11b to the filter chamber 8b from the upper part of the filter 8. The filter time is set longer than the injection time of the sterilizing liquid to diffuse the sterilizing liquid into the bath tub water at this time. The damages of a circulating water circuit by the sterilizing liquid are eliminated and the sterilizing effect is rapidly and effectively exhibited in this way.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is designed to eliminate the environment in which household bath water is contaminated by jets, etc., and where germs have grown, and to keep the bath cleanest by sterilization and filtration. The present invention relates to a bathtub water circulation device that allows bathing.

BACKGROUND ART FIG. 8 is a system diagram showing a conventional example, in which the outlet 2 and inlet 6 of the circulating water of the bathtub 1 are piped with a circulating water circuit 3, and a circulation pump 4 and a filter 5 are provided in the middle to drain the bathtub water. By circulating the water, the filter 5 filters the pollutants discharged from the human body floating in the bath water, and furthermore, the sterilizing liquid stored in the sterilizing liquid tank 7 is injected into the circulating water circuit 3, It kills bacteria that breed using pollutants as a nutrient source.

These sterilization and filtration systems are large-scale and are used for commercial purposes, and the bathtub water becomes polluted in proportion to the number of bathers. Alternatively, based on experience, a sterilizing solution was injected at a set time using a timer, and filtration was performed almost constantly to maintain the cleanliness of the bath water.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, with the conventional technology, someone in the household must constantly maintain and manage the bathtub water, which requires the introduction of equipment that is extremely difficult in today's busy personal environments. This is a major drawback for its widespread use in household use.

Furthermore, if an unnecessarily large amount of sterilizing liquid is simply injected into the bathtub water, the residual chlorine concentration in the bathtub water will increase needlessly beyond what is necessary to kill germs. In addition to this increase, excess residual chlorine is released as decomposition gas from the bath water in a nearly sealed space such as a bathroom, and at low levels it is disliked due to the smell of chlorine, while at high levels it is harmful to human breathing. This creates an unfavorable environment that may harm the plant, so proper maintenance and management of the sterilizing solution becomes an issue.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional technology, and makes it possible to safely sterilize by efficiently using a sterilizing liquid and to facilitate the maintenance and management of the device.

Means for Solving the Problems As a means for solving the above problems, the present invention provides a bathtub, a circulation water circuit for circulating bath water in the bathtub, a circulation pump and a filter provided in the circulation water circuit. , a sterilizing liquid tank containing a sterilizing liquid to be injected into the circulating water circuit, and a predetermined amount of sterilizing liquid being injected into the bathtub water from the sterilizing liquid tank in order to sterilize and filter the bathtub water after bathing, and for a period of time for this injection. and a controller that sets a longer filtration time and drives the circulation pump.

Function The present invention uses a sterilizing solution to sterilize pollutants contained in the bathtub water and bacteria that propagate using this as a nutrient source using a filtration device installed in the circulating water circuit that circulates the bathwater, and then filters it with a filtration device. In order to keep the bath water clean at all times, a predetermined amount of sterilizing liquid is quickly diffused into the bath water, so it safely and efficiently exerts the sterilizing effect without damaging the circulating water circuit of the bathtub water with the sterilizing liquid. Moreover, clean bath water is always provided not only on the day the bathtub is filled with water, but also when reheating and reusing the next day.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the bathtub water that comes out of the circulating water outlet 2 at the bottom of the bathtub l passes through the circulating water circuit 3, the sterilization/filtration device 4 shown in FIG. It returns to the bathtub 1 from the jet nozzle 5 that generates it.

Next, the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. Circulating water first enters through the inlet 6a of the circulation pump 6, is pressurized, exits through the outlet 6b, passes through the pipe 7, and flows to the water passage part 8a of the filter 8.
A portion enters the filtration chamber 8b as a flow B, enters from the outer periphery of the filtration filter 8f, and is guided from the hollow part inside the center to the bottom filter outlet while being filtered. on the other hand,
A part of the flow A passes through the bypass passage 8c as a flow C, merges with the flow B at the filter outlet again, becomes a flow D, and returns to the bathtub 1. At this time, the amounts of circulating water in flows A and D are exactly the same, and are of course equal to the sum of flows B and C. The ratio between the flow C of the bypass l18c and the flow B of the filter water passage section is determined by the water flow resistance of each water flow section (for example, on the flow B side, it is mainly the water flow resistance of the filtration filter 8f, and on the bypass path 8C, It can be set in various ways depending mainly on the cross-sectional area of the water passage.

There is a sterilizing liquid supply circuit completely separate from the circulating water circuit 3, and a sterilizing liquid injection pump 10 is connected through a pipe lla from the upper part of a sterilizing liquid tank 9 that stores a sterilizing liquid 9a such as sodium hypochlorite.
The water is sucked in, pressurized through pipe llb, and supplied from the upper part of filter 8 to filtration chamber 8b. In addition, 13 in the figure is the filtration chamber 8.
b is an air bleed valve, 14 is a controller having a sequence described later for this device, and 15 is a case for storing these components.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained.

When the bathtub 1 is filled with fresh hot water and the operation switch is turned on using the bathroom control unit (not shown), the controller 14 receives the signal from the control unit, drives the circulation pump 6, and the bathtub water is turned on. A portion is filtered through the filter 8 and sent to the jet nozzle 5 again.
The water is sprayed with more force into the bathtub 1, giving appropriate stimulation to the surface of the human body. At this time, the aged skin tissue on the surface of the human body is peeled off and released into the bath water as dirt. In addition, bacteria that adhere to the air in the bathroom or the surface of the human body mix into the bath water and increase when the bath water temperature and growth conditions such as the aforementioned grime are met, so the circulation pump 6 must be restarted manually after bathing. At the same time, the liquid injection pump 10 is operated for a certain period of time to inject the sterilizing liquid 9a into the bathtub water to kill various germs and filter out pollutants such as dead bacteria and aged skin tissues mixed into the bathtub water through the filter 8f. to keep the bath water clean at all times.

FIG. 3 shows an operating section 1 for injecting the sterilizing liquid 9a.
7 and is electrically connected to the controller 14,
When a bather turns on the operation switch 18 before or after bathing,
The circulation pump 6 is driven, the filtration lamp 19 is lit,
The sterilizing liquid 9a is injected into the filter 8 by driving the liquid injection pump 10, and the sterilizing lamp 20 is turned on, and at the same time, the automatic purification lamp 21 is also turned on. Next, if the operation switch 18 is not turned off manually as shown in Fig. 4, the circulation pump 6 will stop (filtration action) after approximately 15 minutes have elapsed since the timer has turned it on and the filtration performance will be fully demonstrated. Pump I9
goes out. Approximately 10 seconds after the start of injection of the sterilizing liquid 9a, the operation of the liquid injection pump 10 is stopped and the sterilizing lamp 20 is turned off.

With this operation, approximately 2 cc of sterilizing liquid 9a is added to the circulating water circuit 3.
The water is circulated inside the bathtub and the water is circulated to kill bacteria in the water.
Since it is filtered by r, germs are removed from the bathtub water and it remains clean.

Moreover, when the next bather wants to take a bath quickly during this sterilization/filtration operation mode, by pressing the operation switch 18 again, the circulation pump 6 is stopped and the filtration lamp 19 is turned off.

However, this switch-on operation prevents the controller 14 from accepting the sterilizing liquid 9a while it is being injected, so that the sterilizing liquid 9a can be diffused into the water circuit including the bathtub water and exert its sterilizing effect. If the highly concentrated sterilizing liquid 9a stagnates in the circulating water circuit 3 without being sufficiently diffused, its oxidizing effect will be strong and may damage the components of the water circuit. When F1.9a is injected into the filter 8, it is made to diffuse into the bath water as quickly as possible.

Therefore, it is only possible to manually turn off the filtration mode.
After the injection of a, 9a is finished and it is dispersed in the bath water,
This is assumed to be approximately 1 minute after the start of injection of the sterilizing liquid 9a (FIG. 4).

After turning on the aforementioned operation switch for 1 day, the automatic purification lamp 21 will not turn off even if it is manually turned off or automatically turned off by the control timer after about 15 minutes, and will only turn off if the operation switch 18 is held down for about 2 seconds. However, the automatic driving mode described later can be canceled.

On the day when the bathtub 1 is filled with fresh water, or when the residual water is reheated and reused after the next day, the above sterilization and filtration operations are performed at least once, and the bath water is used as it is from the next day onwards. As the operation mode when the water is not drained from the bathtub 1 for the purpose, after the first operator turns on the operation switch 18, then 4 hours later, then 8 hours later, 12 hours later, 24 hours later, and then From then on, every 24 hours (Fig. 4), the circulation pump 6 is automatically operated for about 1 minute as a filtration operation at the same time as the sterilizing solution 9a is injected, so that no residue remaining in the bathtub 1 remains in the bathtub water. It sterilizes and filters germs that grow during bathing, keeps the bath water clean at all times, and is automatically controlled so that it can be reused at any time. At this time as well, we would like to set the filtration operation time to 15 minutes to fully demonstrate the filtration performance, but care was taken to avoid noise problems since it would be operated late at night.

If there is a person other than the first operator who operates the operating switch 18 among the bathers on that day, the operating switch 18 may be operated again after the first operator in order to clean the bathtub water that has become contaminated due to bathing. When I8 is turned on, the operation is exactly the same as when the first operator turned it on, the information that the first operator inputted into the controller 14 is erased, and the automatic operation mode is restarted as before. do. After that, no matter how many times the operation switch 18 is operated, the same operation is repeated and the automatic operation mode is maintained thereafter.

Next, the safety of the automatic driving mode will be described. One of them, as mentioned above, is to switch the operation switch to 1 before or after bathing.
8 is manually turned on, the controller 14 will not be activated even if it is manually turned off until at least one minute has elapsed. Even if the operation switch 18 is turned off during the approximately 1 minute purification operation, the controller 14 similarly does not accept this until the approximately 1 minute purification operation is completed. Although not shown in FIG. 1, it is not preferable to take a bath when the amount of water in the bathtub is small and the concentration of the injected sterilizing solution 9a is not sufficiently diffused in the bathwater. A water level sensor for detecting the water level in the bathtub 1 is incorporated therein, and the above-mentioned sterilization and filtration operations are performed only when this water level sensor detects a water level above which the sterilizing liquid 9a is diffused and diluted to a desired concentration. .

Next, the performance of sterilizing and filtering bath water according to this example will be described. In general, common bacteria in bathtub water, with the exception of special bacteria that rarely exist in everyday life, can be sterilized by bacterial decomposition, ultraviolet irradiation, and the incorporation of ozone into the water, as well as the following methods adopted in the present invention. There is a method such as injecting sodium chlorite solution into water, which decomposes and generates residual chlorine in the water, which contacts bacteria and decomposes it. Among these methods, Kimoto adopted a sterilization method using a sodium hypochlorite solution as the method that exhibits the most efficient sterilization effect, but performance comparisons with other methods are not the purpose of this invention, so they are excluded. do. Here, we will discuss the effectiveness of this method as a method for sterilizing household bathtub water.

Figure 5 shows how much the bathtub water gets dirty due to different bathing methods, using the amount of increase in COD (oxygen consumption) as a scale. In the case (indicated by an "x" mark and a dashed-dotted line), it is clear that bubble bathing has a high level of contamination of the bath water. This is because the jet bubbles come into contact with and collide with the surface of the human body, and the force of the water flow and the bursting energy of the bubbles peel off aged skin tissue from the body surface, polluting the bath water, which is then eaten and mixed into the bath water. General bacteria (abbreviated as miscellaneous bacteria in the text)
This is because they proliferate and further pollute the bath water.

On the other hand, if the bather performs the sterilization and filtration operations of this embodiment, which involve injection of sterilizing liquid for about 10 seconds and filtration operation for 15 minutes, after each bath in jet bubble bathing, C as shown by the rOJ mark and the solid line will occur.
Clean bath water with less OD increase than normal bathing can be obtained. Note that the data for each bath was measured after the bather had sterilized and filtered the water after bathing. However, the test conditions were that the bathtub water was filled with approximately 2,000 liters of water, and the bathers washed their bodies and hair with body shampoo and hair shampoo under the same conditions as when taking a normal bath. Replenish fresh water beforehand to maintain 200C water tension.
As for the sterilizing solution 9a, 2 cc of a 6% stock solution is injected every time, and the calculated residual chlorine concentration is 0.6 ppm. Note that the residual chlorine concentration in tap water is controlled at the end of the line to about 1±0.5 ppI11. In addition, the filtration flow rate is approximately 401.7 minutes, and the filtration filter has an outer diameter of approximately 7 mm with a coarseness of 100 mesh.
5omS with a thickness of about 20mm and a length of about 250wa are installed in two rows of ice trays, and the total circulation flow rate for jet bubbles is about 80mm.
2/min, and all participants were required to take a jet bubble bath for 5 minutes during bathing.

A diaphragm pump was used as the liquid injection pump 10 for injecting the sterilizing liquid 9a, and was designed to pump 2 cc in about 10 seconds.

These test conditions are also common to tests related to an increase in the number of general bacteria and an increase in turbidity, which will be described later, and the present example is configured based on these conditions. Of course, even for household use, the capacity of bathtubs has recently become larger. For example, even under conditions where the amount of water in the bathtub increases to 250i, the amount of sterilizing liquid 9a to be injected will increase from 2.5cc to 0.5cc in proportion to the increase in the amount of water in the bathtub. Since it is better to increase the amount, this can be done by providing a setting switch for the amount of sterilizing liquid 9a in the controller 14 so that the amount of sterilizing liquid 9a to be injected corresponding to the amount of water filled in the bathtub can be selected at the time of equipment installation.

Figure 6 shows that after filling the bathtub with fresh warm water (this is the same condition in the tests related to Figure 5 and Figure 7 described below), six people took a bath within 6 hours of the day, and then the bathtub water was filled. The bath water is heated again the next day without being drained, and the bath water is always kept clean in the automatic operation mode mentioned above, and after each bath, samples are collected for general bacteria count measurement and sterilized. If you maintain cleanliness after each bath by operating the operation switch 18 of the filtration switch 17 (indicated by the "○" mark and solid line in the figure), the sterilization number 9a is filtration without injection. This is test data that measures the level of increase in the number of general bacteria compared to when only the test was carried out (indicated by an "x" and a broken line in the figure). Note that the data after 12 and 18 hours indicate the situation without bathing.

As is clear from the figure, in the latter case, even on the day of bathing, the number of general bacteria rose to a level of 104 to 105 bacteria/- by the time everyone finished bathing, and 10' to 10' bacteria/- by the time everyone took a bath the next day.
levels and general bacterial counts have increased abnormally. It should be noted that the number of -S bacteria grows and dies at the same time in a saturated state, and does not seem to reach a higher level. Compared to this, the number of general bacteria in the former case is almost a few or less, which is the same as the level of completely new bathtub water immediately after filling a clean bathtub with fresh water. With the bathtub device equipped with this example, it is possible to take a fresh and pleasant bath, which is commonly called the ``first bath''.

However, even if the number of general bacteria increases to a level of 10 to 107, this fact cannot be clearly identified by general users without knowledge, and it is difficult to identify this fact to the extent that the bath water has become dirty due to the act of taking a bath. It seems that just being recognized can be perceived as a particularly clear appeal point, but this is because the data is simply viewed on a desk, and important facts that do not appear in the data are not recognized separately. It was.

In other words, at this level, which is indicated by the dashed line in the figure, a "foul odor" is generated from the bathtub water, making bathing itself unpleasant, and even worse, when you touch the bathtub wall, you will notice a slimy "slimy smell". This is also very unpleasant.This kind of experience rarely occurs even during normal bathing, especially in the summer, and the main cause is an increase in this common bacteria. Yes, on the one hand, bacteria die naturally, but on the other hand, they continue to increase, and these dead and sterilized bacteria are not sufficiently filtered and may stick to the bathtub walls or float in the bathwater, creating a "bad smell". This is because it causes "slimy" on the bathtub walls.

To prevent an increase in general bacteria during filtration operation only, the coarseness of the filter mesh of the filtration filter 8r should be made even finer, for example, 10 mesh or less, in order to better filter out particles of several micrometers, which are the size of general bacteria. If you lower it to a certain level, it will be filtered well, and it will be considerably reduced compared to the figure.

However, if the filter roughness is lowered to this level, clogging will become severe and the frequency of cleaning and replacement of the filter 8r will become more frequent, making it unsuitable for household use. Therefore, in order to maintain the cleanliness of bathtub water, it is rational to use sterilization methods in addition to relying only on filtration. Furthermore, for general bacteria, an environment with a bath water temperature of around 40°C is the optimum temperature for survival, and is an optimal environment for proliferation. In the practical filtration filter 8f, the rate of proliferation of general bacteria is so high that even on the day of bathing, the number of bacteria increases to the level of 104 to 105, making it impossible to suppress the proliferation, so it is used in combination with sterilization means.

FIG. 7 shows data obtained by testing turbidity as a measure of contamination of bath water due to factors such as an increase in the number of bacteria during bathing. The symbols and test conditions are exactly the same as the test in FIG. In this case as well, in the automatic purification operation mode that combines filtration and sterilization, the turbidity is 0.5 degrees or less, which meets the general tap water standards and remains almost transparent even the next day. ing. On the other hand, in the case of only filtration operation, the number increased gradually, and it can be seen that this is clearly due to an increase in the number of general bacteria.

These series of test results represent the final test results obtained from various preliminary tests leading up to this, and if the general bacterial count is not constantly suppressed to below the 102 level, it will be sterilized if it exceeds this level. Even with filtration, it is difficult to maintain the level below this level. For this reason, in the present invention, the level of residual chlorine concentration contained in the bathtub water at the time of bathing on that day, the amount of injection of sterilizing solution 9a when the bathwater remains until the next day and is reused, its frequency, and the interval of injection. This is an empirical pursuit of the following. As mentioned above, the optimum temperature for general bacteria to grow is around 40°C, and the growth rate is also high.However, after bathing, the bathtub was covered under the test conditions, and the ambient temperature in the bathroom was adjusted. However, as the bath water temperature gradually decreases due to natural heat dissipation at about 20°C, the rate of proliferation gradually decreases. This is clear from the fact that the number of general bacteria in the case of only filtration shown in Figure 6 increases more slowly than on the day of bathing.

Therefore, the interval between injections of the sterilizing solution 9a for automatic purification may be gradually increased after the first 4 hours;
8 to simplify the design for time setting of the controller 14;
Since the time after 12 hours and the time after 12 hours are set to be the same, it would be possible to change them slightly and set the values after 9 hours and 155 hours. In addition, this time setting assumes the summer season, which is the worst condition in which general bacteria are most likely to multiply.
In order to perform more delicate control in the future, a method such as detecting the ambient temperature or bath water temperature and determining the amount and timing of injection of the sterilizing liquid 9a may be considered. Furthermore, the amount of bacterial solution 9a injected during automatic operation is always constant, but this is done in order to keep the residual chlorine concentration in the bathtub water at a level suitable for bathing, and to make it possible to reheat and reuse it at any time. If this condition is excluded, the automatic purification interval should be longer and the number of times should be reduced, so that one sterilizing solution 9a
It is also possible to increase the amount of injection. Note that residual chlorine is released from the bath water into the atmosphere as a decomposed gas after the sterilizing effect, and after the sterilizing solution 9a is injected into the bath water, the concentration in the bath water gradually decreases, and the sterilizing effect is approximately 0. 2ppm
As described above, the automatic purification operation mode was also set with a slight safety factor in mind so as to satisfy this condition.

Effects of the Invention As described above, in the present invention, even under conditions where bath water is circulated in a jet bubble bath or the like and becomes more polluted than normal bathing,
With simple operations at home, you can prevent bad odors from the bathtub water and slime from forming on the bathtub walls, and keep the bathtub water always filled with fresh water and clear and clean before bathing. This allows you to always take a comfortable bath in the best possible bath.

In addition, since the filtration time is longer than the injection time of the sterilizing liquid to diffuse the sterilizing liquid into the bath water, damage to the circulating water circuit due to the sterilizing liquid can be eliminated and the sterilizing action can be exerted quickly and effectively.

Furthermore, since the bath water is always kept clean, there is no need to drain it every time after bathing, which protects valuable water resources.This is especially effective during summer droughts, and can be reheated at any time. Since it is only necessary to raise the water temperature by the amount that the water temperature has decreased due to heat radiation since the previous use, it is more energy efficient than heating from cold water.

Furthermore, since there is no stain on the bathtub walls due to "slimy", there is no need to clean the bathtub after draining the bathtub water, making it easier to clean the bathroom, which has long been a strong demand from housewives. It matches.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of the bathtub water circulation device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration in which the circulation pump etc. are housed, and Fig. 3 is the operation section for automatic purification. 4 is a diagram showing the automatic purification operation mode, FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in COD increase by bathing method, FIG. 6 is a graph showing changes in the number of general bacteria over time due to bathing, and FIG. The figure shows a graph of the change in turbidity of bathtub water over time, and FIG. 8 shows a system diagram of a conventional example. 1...Bathtub, 6...VA ring pump, 8
...Filter, 9...Sterilization tank, 14...Controller.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A bathtub, a circulating water circuit that circulates the bath water in the bathtub, a circulation pump and a filter installed in this circulating water circuit, and a sterilizing solution tank that stores a sterilizing solution to be injected into the circulating water circuit. and a controller for injecting a predetermined amount of sterilizing liquid into the bathtub water from a sterilizing liquid tank and driving the circulation pump by setting a filtration time longer than the injection time in order to sterilize and filter the bathtub water after bathing. A bathtub water circulation system equipped with (2) The bathtub water circulation system according to claim 1, wherein the controller performs control to inject the sterilizing liquid from the sterilizing liquid tank simultaneously with the filtration operation by driving the circulation pump. (3) A bathtub, a circulating water circuit that circulates the bathtub water of this bathtub, a circulation pump and a filter installed in this circulating water circuit, and a sterilizing liquid tank that stores a sterilizing liquid to be injected into the circulating water circuit. and a controller that injects sterilizing liquid from a sterilizing liquid tank and drives a circulation pump to carry out sterilization and filtration only when a sensor detects a signal that the bath water is above a predetermined water level. circulation device. a bathtub; a circulating water circuit that circulates bathwater in the bathtub;
A circulation pump and filter installed in this circulating water circuit,
A sterilizing liquid tank containing the sterilizing liquid to be injected into the circulating water circuit, and a maximum of 15 minutes of filtration operation and residual chlorine concentration in the bathtub water after the first bath after filling the bathtub with fresh water or after the second bathing. If a sterilizing solution is injected at the beginning of the filtration operation in an amount to make the sterilization concentration about 0.3 ppm or more, and if the bath water is to be left and reused the next day after bathing on that day, after the final sterilization and filtration operations, each After 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours, and every 24 hours thereafter, the filtration operation is automatically repeated for a minimum of 1 minute and a maximum of 15 minutes at the same time as the injection of the sterilizing solution. A bathtub water circulation device comprising the sterilizing liquid tank and a controller for controlling a circulation pump.