JPH0357234Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a bubble bath device that is equipped with a forced circulation type reheating function for bathtub water and that allows bubble bathing.

(Prior art) Conventionally, bubble bath devices that can perform bubble baths are well-known.
Also, automatic hot water supply type bathtubs are known which have a reheating function of forced circulation of bath water and an automatic hot water supply function of automatically supplying hot water to the bathtub at a set water level. By the way, in order to provide the above-mentioned functions to a conventional bathtub, it is necessary to provide the bathtub with a connection port for bubble bathing and a connection port for reheating, which not only spoils the beauty of the bathtub, but also requires a lot of piping. Connection work was also troublesome.

For this reason, the applicant has previously filed, for example, the U.S. Patent Application No. 62-
As shown in No. 13290, we proposed a bubble bath device that connects a forced circulation type reheating device to the bubble bath circulation path and reheats the bath water using the bubble bath circulation path.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) However, in the conventional example of the applicant's earlier application, air in the circulation path is supplied to the reheating device during reheating operation.
There is a problem that the reheating pump in the reheating device is operated with air trapped, generating noise and reducing self-priming power. In a device equipped with an automatic hot water supply function that controls hot water supply to the bathtub using the output of the pressure sensor, when air enters as described above, the output value of the pressure sensor changes and hot water is accurately supplied to the bathtub at the set water level. will not be able to do so.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention aims to solve these problems, and for this purpose, in the first invention, a circulation pump is interposed between the suction port provided in the bathtub and the foam nozzle. At the same time, the inlet waterway to the forced circulation type reheating device that heats the bathtub water is connected from the above circulation path via an air separator, and a controller is installed that drives the circulation pump during reheating operation. There is a set configuration.

In addition to the above configuration, in order to solve the problem that occurs when the hot water outlet from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, the present invention has a configuration in which the circulation pump is operated at high speed for a predetermined period of time at the start of reheating operation. It is said that
Furthermore, for the same purpose as the second invention, the third invention has an air separator interposed in the outlet channel, and for the same purpose as the second invention, the fourth invention has an air separator in the inlet channel. The structure includes a valve that closes when the water level drops.

In the second to fourth inventions mentioned above, the hot water outlet from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, but as in the fifth invention, it is connected to the discharge side of the circulation pump. Good too.

(Function) The circulation pump is activated during reheating operation, and even if bath water mixed with air is sucked in by the circulation pump, the air is separated and discharged by the air separator, and bath water without air mixed in is sent to the reheating device. It will be done.

In addition, the hot water outlet from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, and in this second invention, the circulation pump is operated at high speed for a predetermined period of time at the start of reheating operation, and even if air is sent to the circulation pump, the circulation will not continue. In addition, in the third invention, the air sent from the reheating device is discharged through an air separator installed in the hot water outlet path to prevent the air from being sent to the circulation pump. If the circulation pump airlock does not send bath water to the air separator, the valve closes the inlet channel and prevents air from being supplied to the circulation pump. In the fifth invention, hot water from the reheating device is sent directly to the discharge side of the circulation pump.

(Example) Fig. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the first and second inventions, Fig. 2 is a main part configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the third invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the main part configuration of an embodiment of the third invention. Figure 4 is a diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the fourth invention, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the fifth invention, and Figure 5 shows an example of how bath water is used elsewhere in the first invention. FIG.

In FIG. 1, the bubble bath device consists of a bubble bath unit A and a reheating unit B. Bubble bath unit A includes a suction port 2 provided in a bathtub 1 and a known foam nozzle 3.
It has a circulation path 5 with a circulation pump 4 interposed therebetween. The foam nozzle 3 is provided on both the back side and the foot side of the bathtub 1, and a back foot switching valve 6 is interposed to switch the direction of the bubble jet. 7 is an air supply path connected to the foam nozzle 3, and 8 is an air adjustment valve for adjusting the amount of foam. 9 is a filtration circulation path returning from the circulation path 5 on the discharge side of the circulation pump 4 to the circulation path 5 on the suction side of the circulation pump 6, and the filtration circulation path 9 includes an air separator 10 having an air purge valve 10S, and a first three-way valve. 11, a filter 12, a second three-way valve 13 are interposed, and a drainage channel 14 is connected to the first three-way valve 11,
A bypass passage 15 is connected to the second three-way valve 13 from the air separator 10 . When filtering the bathtub water, a part of the bathtub water flows through the air separator 10, the first three-way valve 11, the filter 12, and the second three-way valve 13, as shown by the solid line, and when the filter 12 is backwashed. The air flows through the air separator 10, the bypass path 15, the second three-way valve 13, the filter 12, the first three-way valve 11, and the drainage path 14 as shown by the broken line.

In this embodiment, the reheating unit B is an example of the use of an automatic hot water bath pot previously filed by the applicant (Utility Application No. 62-28121), and its outline will be explained below.
21 is a water heater, and 22 is a bath heater. 23 is a bath hot water supply pipe branched from the hot water outlet pipe 24 of the water heater 21, and is provided with a valve 25. 26, 27
is a reheating circulation path, which includes an outgoing pipe 26 connected from a self-priming pump 28 to the bathtub 1 via the bath heater 22 and the circulation path 5 on the suction side of the circulation pump 4;
Pump 2 from bathtub 1 via air separator 10
8 and a return pipe 27. 29 is the pump 28
It is a three-way valve connected to the suction side of the valve, with one side connected to the return pipe 27 and the other side connected to the hopper 30. The hopper 30 is opened to the atmosphere to cut off the hot water from the bath water supply pipe 23. Reference numeral 31 denotes a three-way valve provided on the discharge side of the pump 10, and a short circuit path 32 connecting the outgoing pipe 26 and the return pipe 27 via the three-way valve 31 is provided. A solenoid valve 33 is provided in the short circuit path 32, and a detour path 34 that detours around the solenoid valve 33 is further provided. A pressure sensor 35 is provided in the detour 34 and detects the pressure based on the water level in the bathtub 1. The pressure sensor 35 is a semiconductor pressure sensor that transmits water pressure to a semiconductor via silicone oil isolated by a diaphragm.

The effects of the above configuration are as follows.
When automatic hot water supply is commanded, the valve 25 is first opened to supply hot water to the hopper 30, and the three-way valve 29 is switched to the hopper 30 side. Then, the solenoid valve 33 is opened, the three-way valve 31 is switched to the short-circuit path 32 side, and the pump 28 is operated to flow hot water into the return pipe 27 to purge the inside of the pipe with air. After air purging for a predetermined time, the solenoid valve 33 is closed, the three-way valve 31 is switched to the outgoing pipe 26 side, and hot water is generally sent from the outgoing pipe 26 to the bathtub 1, and during this time, the water pressure applied to the pressure sensor 35 via the return pipe 27 is detected. That's what I do.

Depending on the piping conditions from reheating unit A to bathtub 1 and the positional relationship between unit A and bathtub 1,
By the time the water level in the bathtub 1 reaches the suction port 2, the return pipe 27
In the case where air enters the inside of the return pipe 27, the inside of the return pipe 27 can be purged with air by switching the flow path at appropriate time intervals. When the pressure sensor 35 detects water pressure corresponding to the set water level, the valve 25 is closed and automatic hot water supply to the bathtub 1 is ended.

At the time of reheating, the three-way valve 29 is switched to the return pipe 27 side and the three-way valve 31 is switched to the outgoing pipe 26 side by operating an operator (not shown) of the reheating unit B.
Drive 8. By operating the pump 28, the return pipe 2
When water is introduced from step 7 and water flow is detected by a water flow detector (not shown), the gas burner of the bath heater 22 starts combustion and reheating is started. On the other hand, on the bubble bath unit A side, the start of reheating when the air has risen is detected by means such as detecting the gas burner combustion command output of the controller on the reheating unit B side, and the bubble bath unit A side controller (not shown) detects the start of reheating. ), the circulation pump 4 is driven weakly. By driving the circulation pump 4, the bathtub water flows through the circulation path 5 from the suction port 2 to the foam nozzle 3, and a part of it is supplied to the reheating unit B via the air separator 10, and the hot water from the reheating unit B is is mixed with the bathtub water in the circulation path 5 and supplied from the foam nozzle 3 into the bathtub 1 from the circulation path 5 .

Therefore, water enters the reheating unit B through the air separator 10, and as a result, the air mixed with the bath water sent from the circulation path 5 is completely separated and discharged within the air separator 10, so that the reheating unit Air is not supplied to B, so the pump 28 sucks air and makes noise, and the self-priming power decreases, temporarily causing water flow to be undetected due to air, and refiring is interrupted. There's nothing to do. Furthermore, in the case of automatically supplying hot water by detecting the bathtub water level with the pressure sensor 35 as in this embodiment, the predetermined automatic hot water supply function will not be impaired due to false detection of the bathtub water level due to residual air in the piping after reheating. It is.

The above is an explanation of the configuration and its operation according to an embodiment of the first invention, but the configuration in which the hot water outlet path from the reheating device, that is, the outgoing pipe 26 is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump 4, has the following problems. be.

That is, when the above-mentioned reheating is performed with the outgoing pipe 26 and return pipe 27 inside the reheating device replaced with air,
The air is sent to the circulation pump 4 via the circulation path 5 by driving the self-priming pump 28 . Therefore, the circulation power of the circulation pump 4 decreases due to air intake.
On the other hand, by driving the pump 28, the air separator 10
As the water inside is sucked in, the water level in the air separator 10 will eventually drop, and air will be sucked in from the air purge valve 10S attached to the air separator 10, causing the problem of stopping reheating due to the supply of air. has. For this reason, in the second invention, the circulation pump 4 is operated strongly for a predetermined period of time (for example, 30 seconds) at the start of the reheating operation. According to this configuration, even if air is sent to the circulation pump 4, the minimum necessary circulation force is maintained, and as a result, a drop in the water level in the air separator 10 is prevented, and air supply to the reheating device is prevented. Ru. Furthermore, for the same purpose as the second invention, in the embodiment of the third invention shown in FIG. installed air purge valve 1
As a result of the air being separated and discharged by the air separator 10A having 0t, no air is sent to the circulation pump 4, and a decrease in circulation force is prevented. Furthermore, in an embodiment of the third invention shown in FIG.
A float 10b having a specific gravity smaller than that of water is housed inside the valve 1, and when the water level drops, this float 10b closes the valve port 1.
0c to block the passage to the return pipe 27,
Prevents air from being sent to the reheating device.
In FIG. 3, the valve is composed of a float 10b and a valve port 10c, but the valve may be an electromagnetic valve, as long as it closes the passage when the water level in the air separator 10 decreases.

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the fifth invention shown in FIG. 4, the hot water outlet path, that is, the outgoing pipe 26 is connected to the discharge side of the circulation pump 4, so that even if air is sent from the hot water outlet path, the air is not absorbed into the bathtub. The above-mentioned problem is eliminated by discharging the hot water into the reheating unit B side, and in addition, part of the hot water from the reheating device is not sent to the reheating device again, so the temperature of the bath water can be accurately determined from the reheating unit B side. It can be detected by In addition, as shown by the broken line in FIG.
A may be provided with a check valve 5c and connected to the downstream side of the check valve 5c. In this configuration, hot water is dispensed from the foam nozzle 3 on the foot side during reheating, so circulation during reheating is possible. There is little risk of burns even if the pump 4 is not driven.

The configuration shown in FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration for supplying bathtub water to a washing machine, etc., and a three-way valve 45 is installed in the middle of the inlet waterway to the reheating device, that is, the return pipe 27, and a three-way valve 45 is installed in the middle of the outlet waterway, that is, the outgoing pipe 26. A three-way valve 46 is interposed between the three-way valves 4 and 4.
5 is connected between the three-way valve 46 and the circulation path 5, and one valve port of the three-way valve 46 is connected to the washing machine C.
A water injection circuit 47 is connected to the pipe.

In this configuration, when reheating, the three-way valves 45 and 46
is switched to the flow shown by the solid line arrow, and when water is being poured into a washing machine etc., the three-way valves 45 and 46 are switched to the flow shown by the broken line arrow.During this water injection, if the pump 28 is driven, there is no need to drive the circulation pump 4. Become.

(Effects of the invention) As described above, according to the present invention, when reheating is performed by the reheating device, the air separator allows bath water without air to be mixed in to the reheating device, and thus the reheating device side The air in the pump is no longer stale and noise generation is prevented. In addition, reheating may be interrupted due to the above air supply prevention, and in a reheating device that has the function of automatically supplying hot water to a set water level in the bathtub based on the output of a pressure sensor after reheating, the accuracy may be reduced due to the accumulation of air within the reheating device. This also solves the problem of not being able to supply hot water.

Also, according to the second invention, the problem when connecting the hot water path to the suction side of the circulation pump in the configuration of the first invention, that is, the air supply to the reheating device, can be solved by simply changing the control specifications. In the third invention and the fourth invention, the same problem can be solved by using a low-noise circulation pump in a weak operating state, and in the fifth invention, the same problem can be solved by changing the control specifications. Moreover, the problem can be solved without adding any additional parts, and the temperature of the bathtub water can be accurately controlled on the reheating device side.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an overall schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the first and second inventions, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the main parts of an embodiment of the third invention, and Figure 3 is an example of the fourth invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main part of an embodiment of the fifth invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram of the main part showing an example of how bath water is used elsewhere in the first invention It is a diagram. 1... Bathtub, 2... Suction port, 3... Foam nozzle,
4...Circulation pump, 5...Circulation path, 10...Air separator, 10A...Air separator, 10b
...Float (valve), 10c...Valve port (valve), 26
...Outgoing pipe (outlet waterway), 27...Return pipe (inlet waterway), B
... Reheating unit (reheating device).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] 1. A suction port provided in a bathtub and a foam nozzle are connected by a circulation path with a circulation pump, and an inlet waterway to a forced circulation reheating device that heats bathtub water. A bubble bath device, characterized in that a controller is provided which is connected to the circulation path via an air separator and drives a circulation pump during reheating operation. 2. The bubble bath device according to claim 1, wherein the hot water outlet from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, and the circulation pump is operated strongly for a predetermined time at the start of the reheating operation. 3. The bubble bath device according to claim 1, wherein a hot water outlet path from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, and an air separator is interposed in the hot water outlet path. 4. Claim 1, wherein the outlet channel from the reheating device is connected to the suction side of the circulation pump, and the inlet channel is provided with a valve that closes when the water level in the air separator decreases.
Bubble bath device as described. 5. The bubble bath device according to claim 1, wherein a hot water outlet from the reheating device is connected to the discharge side of the circulation pump.