JPH0734907B2 - Liquid sterilization method and liquid sterilization apparatus using the method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvement of a liquid sterilization method and a liquid sterilization apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a liquid sterilization method for a liquid such as tap water or water stored in a swimming pool, a chemical such as chlorine is dissolved in the liquid and the chemical A method of sterilization by action is used.

In this sterilization method, in view of the allowable survival rate of harmful microorganisms in a unit volume of water and the acceptable level to the human body, the free residual chlorine concentration in a unit volume of water is set within a certain range. The standards are set by each local government under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (for example, 0.1-0.3 mg / l for tap water, 0.4-for swimming pools).
1.0 mg / liter).

[0004]

However, for example, in a swimming pool that complies with the above hygiene standards, various damages to the human body due to chlorine (such as pain and discomfort in the eyes, nose, and skin, and decolorization of hair). Etc.) is being sued by the user. In addition, the coloring of water may impair the cleanliness. Moreover, the odor of tap water in tap water is generally disliked. Furthermore, recently, it has been pointed out that the carcinogenicity of chlorine is high, and there is a demand for a reduction in the amount of chemicals such as chlorine used or a sterilization method that does not use chemicals.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid sterilization method and a liquid sterilization apparatus for performing sterilization while avoiding the use of medicines as much as possible.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a liquid sterilization method according to the present invention degasses gas dissolved in a liquid and applies ultrasonic waves to the degassed liquid. The liquid sterilizer according to the present invention is characterized in that the liquid sterilizer according to the present invention degasses gas dissolved in the liquid, and ultrasonic waves are applied to the liquid degassed by the degasser. It is characterized in that an ultrasonic wave applying means for applying is provided.

[0007]

According to the liquid sterilizer of the present invention, the gas dissolved in the liquid is degassed by the degassing means before the ultrasonic wave is applied to the liquid by the ultrasonic wave applying means. By this degassing, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of gas aeration in the liquid that causes the efficiency of ultrasonic sterilization to be reduced, the liquid has a high density with less dissolved gas, and the conduction of ultrasonic waves in the liquid is good, resulting in cavitation. The cell membrane of bacteria can be satisfactorily destroyed.

[0008]

Embodiments of the liquid sterilizer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a storage tank for storing a liquid, and the liquid is stored in the storage tank 1. A water supply pipe 2 is attached to the storage tank 1. In the water pipe 2,
A filter device 3 for filtering the liquid and a valve 4 for adjusting the outflow amount of the liquid are provided.

The other end of the water supply pipe 2 is connected to a degassing tank 5, and the degassing tank 5 temporarily stores the liquid flowing from the storage tank 1 through the water supply pipe 2. An end portion 2a of the water supply pipe 2 on the liquid outflow side is extended above the liquid surface in the degassing tank 5.
A water level control valve 6 for keeping the water level of the liquid flowing into the degassing tank 5 constant is provided at the end 2a. The water level control valve 6 is opened and closed by floating and sinking a float 7 for detecting the water level. A shower hole 8 is attached to the end of the end 2a. The degassing tank 5 has a sealed structure.

Reference numeral 9 is a vacuum pump for making the inside of the deaeration tank 5 a negative pressure. The vacuum pump 9 is provided outside the deaeration tank 5 and constitutes a deaeration means together with the deaeration tank 5. The gas in the degassing tank 5 is sucked into the vacuum pump 9 through the pipe ventilation pipe 10.
A channel 11 as a liquid passage pipe is attached to the degassing tank 5. The channel 11 is provided with a gear pump 12 for forcibly flowing out the liquid from the degassing tank 5.

Reference numeral 13 is an ultrasonic wave application tank for applying an ultrasonic wave to the liquid flowing from the degassing tank 5 through the channel 11. An end portion 11a of the channel 11 on the liquid outflow side is extended in the ultrasonic wave application tank 13. Bottom of ultrasonic wave application tank 13
An ultrasonic transducer 14 as an ultrasonic wave applying means for applying ultrasonic waves to the inflowing liquid is provided in 13a. The ultrasonic oscillator 14 uses, for example, the piezoelectric effect of a crystal thin piece. A water supply pipe 15 is attached to the ultrasonic wave application tank 13. The water supply pipe 15 is provided with a valve 16 for adjusting the outflow amount of the liquid.

The ultrasonic vibrator 14 serving as the ultrasonic wave applying means may be provided in the storage tank 13 as shown in FIG. 1 or without the storage tank 13 as shown in FIG. A plurality of channels 11 may be arranged in the flow direction, for example, at the bottom portion 11a of the channel 11.

Next, the operation of the liquid sterilizer having such a structure will be described.

The liquid stored in the storage tank 1 flows into the degassing tank 5 by its own outflow adjusted by the valve 4 and forced outflow by the gear pump 12 to lower the float 7 and open the water level control valve 6. Is flowed into. At this time, impurities such as dust are filtered by the filtering device 3.
The liquid flowing into the degassing tank 5 is sprinkled by the shower port 8 and sprayed in the degassing tank 5. The water level in the degassing tank 5 is kept at a predetermined height by a water level control valve 6 connected to the float 7. Therefore, the degassing of the gas dissolved in the liquid is stably performed under the constant output of the vacuum pump 9.

Various gas components are dissolved in the liquid, and when ultrasonic waves are applied to the liquid while the gas components are dissolved in the liquid, gas aeration easily occurs. This gas aeration is a phenomenon that countless bubbles are generated on the surface of the ultrasonic transducer 14, and the bubbles have a function of blocking transmission of ultrasonic waves and absorbing them. For this reason, the ultrasonic wave is applied to the liquid before the ultrasonic wave is applied, and efficient degassing is performed to prevent the occurrence of gas aeration in the liquid when the ultrasonic wave is applied.

The liquid deaerated in the deaeration tank 5 is a gear pump 12
Forced ultrasonic channel 13 via channel 11 by
Be made to flow into. The ultrasonic waves generated from the ultrasonic vibrator 14 are applied to the liquid that has flowed into and stored in the ultrasonic wave application tank 13. When the output of this ultrasonic wave is set to, for example, about 0.3 W or more per 1 cm 2, cavitation occurs on the body surface of bacteria that are liberated and suspended in the liquid to which the ultrasonic wave is applied. This cavitation physically destroys the bacterial cell membrane. Further, a chemical reaction that produces hydrogen peroxide or the like in water occurs.

In general, bacteria are those that are sterilized by physical destruction (for example, pandemic cold bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae, etc.) and those that are sterilized by chemical oxidation (for example, common Escherichia coli,
Pseudotuberculosis, etc.). The physical destruction action and the chemical oxidation action of the ultrasonic waves have a synergistic effect on bacteria that live in the liquid and are effective for sterilization. In addition,
When the type of bacteria that are likely to survive in the liquid is known, the output of the vacuum pump 9 is adjusted to adjust the degassing amount of the gas component dissolved in the liquid,
It is also possible to carry out effective sterilization by focusing on either sterilization effect by adjusting the physical destruction effect of ultrasonic waves and the chemical oxidation effect.

In the ultrasonic wave application tank 13, the ultrasonic wave application time can be changed by adjusting the liquid storage time with the valve 16, and the number of ultrasonic vibrators 14 can be reduced. On the other hand, when a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 14 are arranged on the bottom 11a of the channel 11 along the flow direction of the liquid, ultrasonic waves are applied by increasing the number of ultrasonic transducers 14 according to the flow velocity. The same effect as when the tank 13 is provided can be achieved with a small-sized device.

Furthermore, if the oscillation frequency of the applied ultrasonic wave is changed so that the resonance point is generated at any time, the attenuation of the ultrasonic wave due to the generation of the resonance point can be prevented and the sterilization effect is increased.

The liquid sterilization method and the liquid sterilization apparatus according to the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the above-described gas components dissolved in the liquid are degassed and converted into degassed liquid. In parallel with the application of sound waves, it is also possible to dissolve a drug having a sterilizing action, such as chlorine or ozone, in an amount such that various effects do not affect the human body and the like, thereby achieving a synergistic effect with the drug. In addition, for example, the miniaturized device can be attached to a tap of a tap to use it in an open system to provide tap water with less odor of chlorine, and to use in a closed system to sterilize water in a bathtub, etc. You can Furthermore, it can be applied to fish cages as a closed system. In fish farm cages, fish,
It is possible to reduce the amount of antibiotics that have been conventionally used in large amounts for sterilizing water. In this case, oxygen supply means may be separately provided to prevent oxygen deficiency in the fish cage.

[0022]

As described above, according to the liquid sterilization method and the liquid sterilization apparatus according to the present invention, the gas component dissolved in the liquid to be sterilized is removed before the ultrasonic wave is applied to the liquid. Be worried. By this degassing, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of gas aeration in the liquid that causes the efficiency of ultrasonic sterilization to be reduced, the liquid has a high density with less dissolved gas, and the conduction of ultrasonic waves in the liquid is good, resulting in cavitation. Bacteria can be satisfactorily destroyed, and efficient sterilization can be performed while avoiding the use of drugs.

Specifically, various damages to the human body and the like due to chlorine (pain and discomfort in the eyes, nose, skin, etc., abnormalities such as decolorization of hair, carcinogenic problems, cleanliness caused by water coloring) Providing a sterilizer for swimming pools that can solve feeling loss, etc.,
It is possible to provide delicious tap water with no odor of chlorine and provide a sterilizer for fish cages that does not use large amounts of antibiotics.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall explanatory view of a liquid sterilizer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram in which an ultrasonic transducer is provided in a channel of the liquid sterilizer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Deaeration tank (deaeration means) 9 Vacuum pump (deaeration means) 11 Channel 13 Ultrasonic wave application tank 14 Ultrasonic transducer (ultrasonic wave application means)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location C02F 9/00 502 Q 7446-4D 503 A 7446-4D

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A liquid sterilization method comprising degassing a gas dissolved in a liquid and sterilizing the degassed liquid by applying ultrasonic waves. 2. A gas dissolved in a liquid is degassed, ultrasonic waves are applied to the degassed liquid to sterilize, and a drug having a sterilizing action is further dissolved in the liquid. Liquid sterilization method. 3. Degassing means for degassing gas dissolved in the liquid, and ultrasonic wave applying means for applying ultrasonic waves to the liquid degassed by the degassing means are provided. Liquid sterilizer characterized in that 4. The ultrasonic wave applying means is provided in a storage tank for storing degassed liquid.
The liquid sterilizer according to. 5. The ultrasonic wave applying means is provided in a pipeline through which the degassed liquid passes.
The liquid sterilizer according to. 6. The liquid sterilizer according to claim 3, wherein air is dissolved in the liquid to which ultrasonic waves are applied by the ultrasonic wave applying means.