JPH04349906A - Circulating hot bathing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the mounting degree of freedom in a narrow bathroom by constituting a small-sized lightweight filter having high purifying capacity using a filter medium having excellent sterilizing and deodorizing functions. CONSTITUTION:A filter 9 is received in the suction member 3 provided within a bathtub 2 and fur or waste refuse is removed by the filter 9. The filter medium 18 received in the filter 14 arranged in a control case 3 is formed from granular metallic ion-containing ceramic. The metallic ion-containing ceramic ionizes a part of dissolved oxygen by the catalytic function of a metallic ion and org. matter such as bacteria of hot water is decomposed by ionized oxygen to purify hot water.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a circulating hot bath device that constantly heats hot water in a bathtub to an appropriate temperature and purifies it so that the bathtub can be bathed at any time.

0002

[Prior Art] Generally, a circulation hot bath device has a suction member and a discharge nozzle that are placed inside the bathtub, and a control case that is placed outside the bathtub. connected by a tube. Inside the control case, a pump that circulates hot water, a heater that constantly heats the hot water to an appropriate temperature, a filter that purifies the hot water, a control device that controls the heater, etc. are installed, and the hot water in the bathtub is circulated. The device is configured to perform heating and filtration at the same time. The control case is waterproofed and installed inside the bathroom near the bathtub. Incidentally, due to the housing situation in recent years, bathroom space is often limited, and for this reason, making the control case smaller and lighter is one of the important factors for the popularization of circulation bathers. The biggest factor preventing the control case from becoming smaller and lighter is that a large amount of filtration material is used, so the weight of the filtration material is heavy, and the volume of the filter that accommodates the filtration material becomes large. This resulted in an increase in the volume of the control case.

[0003] Conventionally, the filter media used in circulating hot bath equipment has been physical filtration means using activated carbon, etc., or aerobic bacteria are implanted and propagated as biofilms on materials such as stones to remove the scales and scales generated in hot water. One of the biological filtration means that purifies organic substances such as various bacteria by decomposing them into water and carbon dioxide gas using aerobic bacteria is employed.

0004

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Physical filtration means using activated carbon etc. have high purification performance, but the purification function decreases in a short time with a small amount of activated carbon etc., so the activated carbon etc. must be washed or replaced frequently. In order to maintain the purification function for a long time, a large amount of activated carbon, etc. was required. For this reason, when using physical filtration means, there is a drawback that the weight becomes heavy due to the large amount of activated carbon, etc., and the volume of the filter becomes large. On the other hand, biological filtration means requires less maintenance such as cleaning and replacement than physical filtration means, but because the breeding state of aerobic bacteria changes depending on conditions such as water quality, it is necessary to always maintain optimal purification performance. difficult to maintain. Furthermore, in order to increase the landing area for aerobic bacteria, many members such as stones are used, which results in a heavy weight and, in addition, there is a drawback that the volume of the filter becomes large. In this way, no matter which filtration means is used, physical filtration means or biological filtration means, the weight of the filtration material is heavy, the volume and weight of the inside of the filtration device itself are large, and the control case is accordingly large. The volume is large and the weight is heavy. Therefore, when the control case is installed in the bathroom, there is a problem in that the area of the washing area in the bathroom becomes narrow.

[0005] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and uses another filter material with excellent sterilization and deodorization functions to significantly reduce the size and weight of the control case, thereby making it possible to control it in the bathroom. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a circulating hot bath device that allows the degree of freedom in installing a case to be increased.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a bathtub equipped with a heater for heating hot water, a filter for accommodating a filter material for hot water purification, and a circulation pump for circulating hot water. A filter for removing scale, etc. from hot water before entering the control case in a circulation hot bath having a control case installed outside the bathtub, and an inlet member and a discharge nozzle placed in the bathtub and connected to the control case. is provided inside the suction member, and the filtering material housed inside the filter is made of metal ion-containing ceramic.

[0007]

[Operation] Ceramics containing metal ions ionize a portion of dissolved oxygen through the catalytic function of the metal ions, and the ionized oxygen oxidizes and decomposes organic substances such as bacteria contained in the circulating hot water. Rather than attaching organic matter to the activated carbon or stones housed in the filter or breeding aerobic bacteria as in conventional filters, it uses ionized oxygen to decompose organic matter such as bacteria to purify hot water. Since this metal ion-containing ceramic does not allow anything to adhere to it, the amount of filtration material housed in a conventional filter can be extremely small compared to the amount of filter material housed in the filter. Aim to make the control case smaller and lighter.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, the overall configuration of a circulation hot bath device will be described. The circulation hot bath device 1 communicates between a control case 3 disposed outside the bathtub 2, a suction member 4 and a discharge nozzle 5 placed in the bathtub 2, and the control case 3 and the suction member 4 and discharge nozzle 5. It is composed of a suction connecting pipe 6 and a discharge connecting pipe 7. The suction member 4 has an intake port 8 for taking in the water in the bathtub 2, and a filter 9, which is a physical filtration means, is provided inside the intake port 8 at a communication port with the suction connecting pipe 3. This filter 9 is made of, for example, a sponge, and captures large dirt substances such as scale and dirt contained in the hot water before reaching the control case 3, and prevents scale and dirt from adhering to the filtering material described later. It is. The suction member 4 can be opened and closed so that the filter 9 can be taken out from the suction member 4 and cleaned easily.

A heater 11 is provided inside the control case 3.
A circulation pump 13 that circulates water in the bathtub 2, a filter 14 that sterilizes and deodorizes hot water, and a connecting pipe 15 that connects these in order. The heater 11 is provided outside the control case 3.
A control device 16 for controlling the operation of the pump 13 and the pump 13 is attached. This control device 16 determines the presence or absence of circulating water,
It performs ON/OFF control of the circulation pump 13 so as not to run dry, controls the heater 11 to heat the circulating water to a predetermined temperature, and detects an abnormality such as overheating or overturning of the device and stops energization. It controls safety circuits, etc. The hot water in the bathtub 2 from this circulating bathtub enters the control case 3 from the suction member 4 through the suction connecting pipe 6. The hot water sequentially moves through the heater case 12, circulation pump 13, and filter 14 within the control case 3, and then returns to the bathtub 2 from the discharge nozzle 5 via the discharge connecting pipe 7.

As shown in FIG. 2, the filter 14 has meshes 17 each having a predetermined diameter provided near the entrance and exit, and a filter material 18 is housed between the meshes 17. As the filter material 18, metal ion-containing ceramics are used. This metal ion-containing ceramic is made by solidifying a ceramic such as silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide, or aluminum oxide containing metal ions such as silver, copper, titanium oxide, zinc silver, or the like. This filter material 18 is lightweight because it is mainly composed of ceramic. In addition, the metal ions in the filter material 18 convert some of the dissolved oxygen in the water into active oxygen through their oxidation catalytic action, and when hot water passes through the filter 14, ionized oxygen is released from the filter material 18 one after another. is replenished in an unsaturated state, and this ionized oxygen has the function of oxidizing and decomposing organic matter in the hot water that passes through it, thereby sterilizing and deodorizing it.

The filter medium 18 made of metal ion-containing ceramics of the present invention does not allow aerobic bacteria to grow on stones made of activated carbon with organic matter attached, unlike conventional physical filtration means or biological filtration means. Rather, it converts dissolved oxygen in water into active oxygen. That is, since the filter medium 18 does not have anything attached to it, its weight can be very small. In the case of conventional physical filtration or biological filtration, the weight of the filter material stored in the filter is 5 kg, whereas the weight of the filter material 18 stored in the filter 14 of the present invention is only 250 g. In this way, the filter medium 18 in the present invention
The weight is about 1/17 of the weight of conventional filter media, and as a result, the filter 14 can be significantly smaller, and the entire control case 3 can be made lighter and smaller.

The dimensions of the control case are 15 cm x 50 cm x 60 cm in the conventional case, whereas in the present invention they are 10 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm, and the volume is about 1/3 that of the conventional case. In addition, the total weight of the conventional control case that houses the heater case, circulation pump, filter, etc. was approximately 17 kg, whereas the control case 3 of the present invention weighs approximately 7 kg, which is approximately 1 kg compared to the conventional control case. /3. In the present invention, the volume is not only reduced to 1/3 compared to the conventional one, but also it can be installed in many positions in the bathroom that could not be installed conventionally. That is, in the bathroom of a general household, it is difficult to install a conventional control case with a width of about 15 cm (50 cm in height x 60 cm in width may be overcome) anywhere other than the bathroom floor. The main reason for this difficulty is that there are almost no places in the bathroom other than the bathroom floor where you can place or rest objects that are 15 cm wide (50 cm long x 60 cm wide). However, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, in a bathtub 2 with an integrated shelf 19,
Although the case with a width of 15 cm cannot be mounted, the control case 3 of the present invention
If it is about 10 cm wide (40 cm long x 40 cm wide), it may be possible to install it on the shelf 19 somehow. In addition to this, it can be placed in any installation location with a width of about 8 cm. In reality, there are not many shelves in home bathrooms that are wide enough to hold items with a width of 15 cm, but shelves that can hold items with a width of about 8 to 10 cm often exist. Thus, 10c according to the present invention
The control case 3 having a width of m has a much greater degree of freedom in installation in a bathroom than the conventional case 3 having a width of 15 cm. Note that even when installed on the bathroom floor, the control case 3 of the present invention
Since the volume of the bathroom is about 1/3 that of the conventional one, the bathroom can be used more effectively than the conventional one. Furthermore, the conventional control case weighs about 20 kg, making it difficult for one adult to move and carry, whereas the control case of the present invention weighs about 7 kg, making it easy to install and move by one person. It became something.

[0013]

As described above, according to the circulating hot bath device according to the present invention, since metal ion-containing ceramics are used as the filter medium of the filter, the weight of the filter medium of the present invention is about 1 times that of the conventional filter medium. The weight can be reduced to /17. As a result, the filter itself can be made lighter and smaller than conventional filters, and the control case can also be made lighter and smaller. Since the control case can be miniaturized in this manner, the degree of freedom in installing the control case in the bathroom is greatly increased, and the space required for the washing area etc. is not reduced. Furthermore, since it is light in weight, it is easy to install and move.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a filter used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of a state in which the control case is installed in a bathroom.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Bathtub 3 Control case 4 Suction member 5 Discharge pump 9 Filter 11 Heater 13 Circulation pump 14 Filter 18 Filter material

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A control case installed outside a bathtub, which is equipped with a heater for heating hot water, a filter for accommodating a filtration medium for hot water purification, and a circulation pump for circulating hot water; In a circulating hot bath device having a suction member connected to a case and a discharge nozzle, a filter for removing scale etc. from the hot water before entering the control case is provided inside the suction member, and the filter is housed inside the filter. A circulating hot bath device characterized by using a metal ion-containing ceramic as a filtering material.