JPH08117519A - Circulating hot bath machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To uniformly wash a filter material to enhance the filtering capacity thereof by stopping the flow of bath water after allowing the same to flow for a predetermined time in the washing mode operation of a filter apparatus and stirring the filter material at this time. CONSTITUTION: At the time of washing mode operation, at first, a passage changeover valve 14 is changed over and the bath water 3 in a bathtub 2 is pumped up through a suction pipe 5 by driving a circulating pump 11 to be introduced into a filter apparatus 13 from the direction reverse to that at the time of usual mode operation to wash a filter material. The sewage after washing is discharged out of the bathtub 2 through a drain pipe 17 because an automatic drain valve 16 is changed over. This washing operation is appropriately performed when the filter material 25 is contaminated and, at the time of the washing mode operation, the circulating pump 11 and a stirring rod driving motor are operated alternately and intermittently.

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 machine in which bath water in a bathtub is pumped up, heated, purified by a filter device, and circulated again in the bathtub as clean and appropriate hot water, and more particularly, The present invention relates to a technique for cleaning the inside of a filtration device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a hot water circulation type bath device (referred to as a circulation hot bath machine) has been provided. In this circulating hot bath machine, the bath water in the bathtub is pumped up by a circulation pump, heated to a desired temperature by a heater, and foreign matter such as dust and dirt contained in the bathwater is removed and purified by a filtering device,
In addition to being operated in the normal mode in which it returns to the bathtub again, by switching the flow path switching valve, a flow opposite to the flow path in the normal mode is generated and accumulated in the filtration device by the normal mode operation. It is operated in a cleaning mode in which foreign matter is removed and discharged to clean the filtration device.

[0003]

However, in the washing mode operation in the conventional circulating hot bath machine, the bath water is simply flowed in the filtering device in the direction opposite to the normal flow of water for washing. , In some cases, unevenness may occur in the cleaning of the inside of the filtration device, and it may not be possible to sufficiently remove foreign matter such as dust and dirt adhered to the filter material.Besides, since a large amount of bath water is discharged for back-cleaning, There was a problem that the bath water in the bathtub decreased.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and during the washing operation, the flow of the bath water is interrupted and the flow of the bath water is stopped, and the filter material in the filtration device is stopped. It is an object of the present invention to provide a circulating warm bath machine in which the filter medium can be uniformly washed, the filtration performance is improved, and a large amount of bath water is not drained during washing by stirring.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a circulating hot bath machine according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a circulating pump for sucking bath water in a bath and circulating the bath water between the hot bath machine body and the bath. ,
In a circulating hot bath machine equipped with a heater for heating the bath water sucked by the circulation pump to a predetermined temperature and a filter device for filtering the bath water sucked by the circulation pump, the bath water is fed between the hot bath machine body and the bathtub. A flow path switching valve that switches between a flow path during normal operation that circulates and a flow path during a cleaning operation that flushes the filter medium in the filtration device by flowing bath water in the direction opposite to that during normal operation. A drain valve that forms a flow path so as to drain the water after cleaning during the cleaning operation, a stirring member that stirs the filter medium and its driving means, and the flow of the bath water is interrupted during the cleaning operation. And a control means for operating the drive means when the flow is stopped. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the circulating warm bath machine according to the first aspect, wherein the filtering device has a bath water inlet and an outlet at one end side thereof, and one end side at a lateral center of the filtering device. A hollow member is provided which guides the bath water flowing in from the other end to the other end and folds back the flow of the bath water, and a filter material for filtering the bath water is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the hollow member. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the circulating warm bath machine according to the first or second aspect of the invention, the filter medium is housed in the tank of the filtering device in a state where a gap remains at the upper part.

[0006]

According to the circulating hot water bath machine of the present invention having the above construction, during normal operation, the bath water in the bath water is sucked by the circulating pump, heated by the heater, filtered by the filter device, and the hot bath machine main body is provided. Circulate between baths. During the cleaning operation for cleaning the filter media in the filtration device, the flow passage switching valve is operated to switch the flow passages so that the flow direction of the bath water with respect to the filtration device is the reverse of the normal direction, and the drain valve Drain the water after cleaning by switching. Further, during this washing operation, the control means interrupts the flow of the bath water, and when the flow of the bath water is stopped, the drive means operates the stirring member to stir the filter medium. By such an agitating operation, the filter medium can be washed evenly, and by stopping the flow of the bath water when agitating the filter medium, the hydraulic pressure resistance is reduced and the agitation driving torque can be reduced. . In addition, since the foreign matter that has adhered to the filter medium comes out by stirring, the subsequent bath water only needs to flow to the extent that the foreign matter that has risen is flushed out, and the amount of bath water used for cleaning is small. I'm done. Further, according to the circulating hot bath machine of claim 2, in addition to the above-mentioned action, the bath water flowing in from one end side of the filtering device is guided to the other end side through the hollow member located in the axial center part, It is folded back at the other end, passes through the outer peripheral portion of the hollow member, and is filtered there by a filter medium. Note that this flow direction may be opposite to the above, and may be returned from one end side through the outer peripheral portion of the hollow member at the other end side and then through the hollow member later. Is for normal operation, and the other flow direction is for cleaning operation. By using the bath water flow path in such a filtration device, the filtration material can be efficiently stored without increasing the cross-sectional area while arranging the stirring member in the filtration device. Large contact area with Further, according to the circulating hot bath of claim 3, the filter medium is easily moved by stirring, and foreign matters are easily floated out in the gap on the filter medium in the filter tank, whereby the action of claim 1 becomes remarkable.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the circulating hot water bath according to the present embodiment, showing the flow of bath water during normal mode operation. FIG. 2 is the same configuration diagram, and shows the flow of bath water in the cleaning (backwashing) mode operation in which the flow direction is opposite to that in the normal mode operation. The circulating warm bath machine 1 (hereinafter referred to as the warm bath machine 1) is a horizontally long horizontal type and is placed on the side edge of the bath 2. The warm bath 1 faces the bath 2 and the bath water 3
There is a suction pipe 5 having a suction port 4 for sucking and pumping water into the hot bath machine 1, and a discharge port 6 for circulating and discharging hot water, which has been subjected to heating, filtration, and the like in the hot bath machine 1, to the bathtub 2. The discharge pipe 7 is connected.

Further, in the warm bath machine 1, a circulation pump 11 for pumping and circulating the bath water 3 through a suction pipe 5, and a heater tank 12 for heating the bath water 3 pumped by the circulation pump 11 to a predetermined temperature, The filtering device 13 for filtering the bath water 3 pumped up by the circulation pump 11, the flow path switching valve 14 for switching the flow path of the pumped bath water 3 according to the operation mode, and the flow path switching valve 14 are provided. A valve drive motor 15 for switching and driving, and an automatic drain valve 16 for forming a flow path so as to drain the dirty water after cleaning in the cleaning mode operation are provided. The automatic drain valve 16 is connected to a drain pipe 17 that drains dirty water after cleaning the filtering device 13.

The flow path of the bath water 3 during the normal mode operation is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the suction pipe 5 is passed through the heater tank 12, the circulation pump 11, the flow path switching valve 14, and the inlet port 2 of the filtering device 13.
1, after passing through the inside of the filtering device 13, the outlet 22 thereof passes through the automatic drain valve 16 and the flow path switching valve 14 to reach the discharge pipe 7. Further, during the washing mode operation for washing the filtering device 13, as shown in FIG. 2, by switching the flow path switching valve 14, the bath water 3 is caused to flow in the filtering device 13 in the direction opposite to that in the normal mode operation. . That is, the bath water is made to flow in from the outflow port 22 and flow out from the inflow port 21, and at the same time, the automatic drain valve 16 switches the flow path so as to drain the dirty water after cleaning. The filtering device 13 has an inflow port 21.
And the outlet 22 are provided on one end side of the filtering device 13, and the internal configuration (24 to 27 etc.) will be described next.

FIG. 3 shows a filter device 1 including a flow path switching valve 14.
It is sectional drawing which shows the detailed structure of 3. The filtration device 13 includes a cylindrical filtration tank 24 and a particulate filtration material 25 made of a porous ceramic ball or the like housed inside the filtration tank 24.
And is rotatably supported near the axial center,
A hollow member 26 having one end communicating with the inflow port 21 and the other end open, and a stirring rod 27 (stirring member) provided integrally with the hollow member 26 on the outer peripheral surface thereof for stirring the filter medium 25. ) And a motor 28 (driving means) for rotating the hollow member 26 and driving the stirring rod 27. The filter material 25 includes a wire net 29 arranged near the inner wall of the filter tank 24, the outer peripheral surface of the hollow member 26, and both ends of the hollow member 26.
It is stored in a space partitioned by a and 29b with a gap left at the top. The amount of the filter medium 25 is preferably about 90% of the volume of the filter tank 24.

More specifically, it is pivotally supported by end brackets 24a and 24b fixed to both ends of the filtration tank 24. The wire nets 29a, 29b are sandwiched and fixed between the filter tank 24 and the end brackets 24a, 24b, respectively. Further, an opening 26a is provided near the tip side of the hollow member 26 (left side in FIG. 3),
The bath water is turned back through the opening 26a. An output shaft 28a of a stirring rod drive motor 28 is connected to the tip of the hollow member 26. By driving the stirring rod drive motor 28 at least in the cleaning mode, the hollow member 26 is rotationally driven, and thereby the stirring rod 27 is rotationally driven, so that the filter medium 2 is rotated.
5 can be stirred. The filter material 25 is housed in the space defined by the inner wall of the filter tank 24, the outer peripheral surface of the hollow member 26, and the wire nets 29a and 29b.

A flow path switching valve 14 is connected to one end of the filtering device 13, and a rotary valve 14a for switching the flow path is provided inside the flow path switching valve 14, and the rotary valve 14 is provided.
A is pivotally supported by the casing of the switching valve and is also connected to the output shaft of the valve drive motor 15. The illustrated connection pipe 31 is an inflow part of the flow path switching valve 14 connected to the circulation pump 11, and the connection pipe 32 is an outflow part of the flow path switching valve 14 connected to the discharge pipe 7. The flow of bath water in the normal mode operation is shown by a black arrow, and the flow of bath water in the cleaning mode operation is shown by a white arrow. The flow path switching valve 14 shown in FIG. 3 is in the state during the cleaning mode operation, and is in the state indicated by the chain double-dashed line during the normal mode operation. The automatic drain valve 16 and drain pipe 17 are not shown in FIG.

An outline of the operation of the hot bath machine 1 having the above structure will be described with reference to FIGS. In normal mode operation, bathtub 2
The bath water 3 therein is pumped up through the suction pipe 5 by the drive of the circulation pump 11, heated by the heater tank 12, enters the filtering device 13 through the flow path switching valve 14, and is guided to the tip side thereof by the hollow member 26. Then, it is folded back, filtered through the outer peripheral portion of the hollow member 26 by the filter material 25, and the filtered bath water is returned from the discharge pipe 7 into the bath 2 through the flow path switching valve 14 and circulated. Further, during the washing mode operation, by switching the flow path switching valve 14, the bath water 3 in the bathtub 2 is pumped up through the suction pipe 5 by the drive of the circulation pump 11, and passes through the flow path switching valve 14 and then inside the filtering device 13. Then, the filter medium 25 is washed by entering from the opposite direction to that in the normal mode operation.
As for the sewage water after the cleaning, the automatic drain valve 16 is switched due to the change of the flow path, so the tub 2 is drained through the drain pipe 17.
Drained to the outside. This cleaning operation may be appropriately performed when the filter medium 25 becomes dirty, and in this cleaning mode operation, the circulation pump 11 and the stirring rod drive motor 28 are alternately intermittently operated, as will be described later in detail. There is. Also,
Although not shown, the bath water 3 is driven by the circulation pump 11.
It is also possible to perform jet mode operation in which the water is passed through the heater tank 12 only, without passing through the filter device 13, and is vigorously discharged into the bath 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control unit in the hot bath machine 1. The control unit includes a CPU 41 (control unit) that controls the entire hot water bath 1 according to a predetermined program procedure, an input device 43 that inputs an operation command on the operation panel 42, and an output unit 44 that displays an operating state, and the like. It has a storage means 45 for storing programs and data. Further, the CPU 41 receives a detection signal from the water temperature sensor 46 that detects the temperature of the circulating bath water, and a heater so that the bath water 3 in the bathtub 2 reaches the set temperature based on the detected temperature and the set temperature. The energization of the heater 12a of the tank 12 is controlled, and the driving of the motor 11a of the circulation pump 11, the drive motor 15 of the flow path switching valve 14, and the stirring drive motor 28 are controlled.

Control of the warm bath machine 1 by the above-mentioned control unit, in particular,
The operation of the cleaning operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the user selects a cleaning operation from the input device 43 of the operation panel 42 to the CPU 41, the warm bath machine 1 enters the backwash mode, and first, the circulation pump motor 1
1a is stopped (S1), then the flow path switching valve 14 is switched to the backwash mode (S2), the flag R is set to 3 to count the number of times of repeating operation described below (S3), and then the circulation is performed. The pump motor 11a is driven (S4), and after 5 seconds have elapsed (YES in S5), the circulation pump motor 11
a is stopped (S6). Next, the stirring rod drive motor 28 is driven (S7), whereby the filter medium 25 is stirred. Further, after 30 seconds have elapsed (YES in S8), the stirring rod drive motor 28 is stopped (S9), the flag R minus 1 is set (S10), and if the flag R is not 0 (S11). NO), the process returns to S4 and the same operation is repeated until the flag R becomes zero. When the flag R becomes 0 (YES in S11), the backwash mode process ends. By the above-mentioned backwash mode treatment, the bath water is filtered by the filtration device 13
In addition, after flowing for a predetermined time in the direction opposite to the normal time, the flow is stopped, and at that time, the operation of stirring the filter medium 25 is repeated.

By performing the cleaning operation control as described above, the filter medium 25 can be evenly stirred to improve the cleaning performance, and the filter medium 25 can be fully filled in the filter tank 24. By keeping the volume of the filter tank 24 at about 90% without packing, the filter medium 25 can be easily moved, and
Since the flow of the bath water 3 is stopped when the filter medium 25 is stirred, the hydraulic resistance is not applied, the torque for driving the stirring is small, and the load on the stirring driving motor 28 is reduced. Moreover, in the gap above the filter material 25 in the filter tank 24,
The foreign matter adhering to the filter medium 25 is easily floated by stirring, and after the stirring, the bath water may be flushed to such an extent that the floating foreign matter is flushed out.
The amount of is small. Therefore, the bath water 3 does not decrease due to the cleaning.

Also, in the normal mode operation, the bath water 3
Flows in from one end side of the filtering device 13, passes through the hollow member 26 at the central portion in the axial direction, and is folded back at the other end side.
Since the flow path is such that it passes through the outer peripheral portion of the filter device and is filtered here by the filter medium 25, the stirring member 27 is arranged in the filter device 13 as compared with the case where the return passage of the filter device 13 is provided outside the device. However, the storage efficiency of the filter medium is good without increasing the cross-sectional area so much, and moreover,
The contact area efficiency between the bath water and the filter medium is improved. Further, since the hot bath machine 1 is a horizontal type and various members are arranged in the horizontal direction, it is possible to adopt a configuration in which the flow path is not wastefully drawn as a whole, and as a result, the flow path length is minimized. The circulation pump 11 can be shortened and the flow path resistance loss can be suppressed.
The head of can be lowered.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the cleaning mode operation, the number of interruptions and stop times of the circulation pump, the stirring drive time of the filter medium, etc. It can be set appropriately.
Further, the flow of the bath water to the filtration tank 24 may be reversed between the normal mode and the cleaning mode, and the hollow member 26 may be first sent to the tip side and then folded back.
The hollow member 26 may be sent to the tip end side through the outer peripheral portion of the hollow member 26, that is, the inside of the filter medium 25, and then folded.

[0019]

As described above, according to the circulating warm bath according to the invention of claim 1, in the cleaning mode operation of the filtration device,
After flowing the bath water for a predetermined time, the flow was stopped, and at that time, the operation of stirring the filter medium was repeated,
The filtering material can be washed evenly and the filtering performance can be improved. Further, since the flow of the bath water is stopped when the filter medium is stirred, the hydraulic resistance is reduced and the stirring driving torque can be reduced. Further, since the foreign matter adhered to the filter material comes out by stirring, the subsequent bath water only needs to be flushed out, and the amount of bath water used for washing can be small. Further, according to the circulating warm bath according to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the above effects, since the hollow member is provided in the axial center of the filtering device to form the folded flow path structure, the filtering material in the filtering device The storage efficiency is good, and the contact surface efficiency between the bath water and the filter material is good. Further, according to the circulating warm bath according to the invention of claim 3, since the filter medium is easily moved by agitation during the cleaning mode operation, foreign matter is likely to stand out in the gap on the filter medium in the filter tank, and the cleaning effect is enhanced. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a circulating hot water bath according to an embodiment of the present invention during normal mode operation.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the same circulating warm bath machine during a cleaning mode operation.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a filtering device and a flow path switching valve portion in the circulation warm bath machine.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control unit in the circulation warm bath machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a cleaning mode operation operation in the circulating hot bath machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 circulating warm bath machine 2 bathtub 3 bath water 11 circulating pump 12 heater tank 12a heater 13 filtering device 14 flow path switching valve 16 automatic drain valve 24 filtering tank 25 filtering material 27 stirring rod (stirring member) 26 hollow member 28 stirring rod drive motor (Driving Means) 41 CPU (Control Means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A circulation pump for sucking bath water in a bathtub to circulate the bathwater between the main body of the warm bath machine and the bathtub; a heater for heating the bathwater sucked by the circulation pump to a predetermined temperature; In a circulating hot bath machine equipped with a filtering device for filtering bath water sucked by a circulation pump, a flow path during normal operation for circulating the bath water between the hot bath machine body and the bath, and the filtering device A flow path switching valve that switches a flow path during a cleaning operation in which bath water is flowed in a direction opposite to that in a normal operation to clean the filter medium in the filtration device, and water after cleaning is drained during the cleaning operation. A drainage valve that forms a flow path, a stirring member that stirs the filter medium, and a driving means for the stirring member; the bath water flow is intermittent during the cleaning operation, and the drive is performed when the bath water flow is stopped. And a control means for operating the means. Circulation hot bath machine according to symptoms. 2. The filtering device is provided with an inlet and an outlet of bath water at one end side thereof, and guides the bath water flowing from one end side to the other end side in the lateral center of the filtering device. The circulating warm bath machine according to claim 1, wherein a hollow member for turning back the flow of the bath water is provided on the other end side, and a filter material for filtering the bath water is provided on an outer peripheral portion of the hollow member. 3. The circulating hot bath machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the filter medium is housed in a tank of the filter device in a state where a gap is left in an upper part thereof.