JPH08141035A - Bubble generating bathtub - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent circulation water from jumping out from a fall discharge port and to smoothly change a flow rate to a targeted flow rate after switching when the use of a jet stream and that of a fall are switched. CONSTITUTION: A pump 2 whose rotating speed can be controlled is provided. When the switching from a jet stream outlet 3 to the fall discharge port 5 by a switching valve 6 is performed, the rotating speed of the pump 2 is controlled so as to reduce the flow rate of the circulation water once before starting the switching, and to increase the flow rate of the fall 7 within the range of targeted flow rate after completing the switching. Also, the switching from the fall discharge port 5 to the jet stream outlet 3 is performed, the rotating speed of the pump 2 is controlled so as to keep the flow rate of the circulation water as it is until the switching is completed, and to increase the flow rate of the jet stream 8 in which bubbles are mixed within the range of targeted flow rate after the switching valve 6 is completely switched.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bubble generating bathtub which circulates bath water by a pump to generate either a jet of mixed bubbles from a jet outlet in a bath or a waterfall from a waterfall outlet of a bathtub flange. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a discharge port of a pump for circulating bath water is connected via a switching valve to a jet outlet provided inside the bath and a waterfall outlet provided outside the bath to switch the switching valve. 2. Description of the Related Art A bubble generation bathtub is known that generates either a jet flow of bubbles mixed by a jet outlet or a waterfall by a waterfall spout by operation. Then, in consideration of use safety of the pump, it is general to automatically stop the operation of the pump when the idle operation state and the motor lock state are detected.

[0003]

By the way, a jet flow containing bubbles (hereinafter referred to as "jet jet flow") using one pump.
Called. ) And a waterfall due to the waterfall spout attached to the bathtub flange, the waterfall spout located outside the bathtub has a smaller load at the time of spouting than the jet outlet located inside the bathtub. Since it is light, the pump speed will increase too much when switching from using jet jets to using waterfalls, and it will be in a state close to idle operation. Moreover, the rotation speed of the pump is voltage-controlled, but the rotation speed is detected for "idle operation" and "motor lock".
Since the rotation speed is not fed back, if the rotation speed of the pump is too high and an idle operation is detected, the pump automatically stops and there is a problem that the waterfall spout cannot be used. In addition, when the switching valve is switched from the jet jet to the generation of a waterfall by the waterfall spout during pump operation, there is a problem that more than necessary circulating water suddenly jumps out from the waterfall spout. Therefore, when switching from using a jet jet to using a waterfall, the pump operation is temporarily stopped, and the pump is restarted after the switching valve has completely switched to avoid sudden jumping of circulating water from the waterfall spout. However, in this case, it is necessary to stop the pump each time the switching valve is switched, which complicates control of the switching valve and the pump, and when the pump is stopped, the jet outlet also falls from the jet outlet. Even from this, there is a problem that circulating water cannot be used for a long time, so-called waiting time is very long, which makes the user feel uncomfortable in use.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object thereof is to prevent the circulating water from suddenly jumping out from a waterfall spout at the time of switching jets by controlling the rotational speed of a pump. An object of the present invention is to provide a bubble generation bathtub capable of smoothly changing the flow rate from a waterfall spout and a jet outlet after switching to a target flow rate.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a jet jet port 3 and a bathtub in which a discharge port of a pump 2 for circulating bath water is provided in a bathtub 1 through a switching valve 6. In a bubble generation bathtub that communicates with a waterfall spout 5 provided outside 1, and generates either a jet 8 containing bubbles by the jet spout 3 or a waterfall 7 by the waterfall spout 5 by switching operation of a switching valve 6. , Pump 2 whose speed can be controlled
When switching from the jet flow outlet 3 to the waterfall spout 5 by the switching valve 6, the flow rate of the circulating water is temporarily reduced before the switching is started, and after the switching is completed, the flow rate of the waterfall 7 is gradually increased within the target flow rate range. The rotation speed of the pump 2 is controlled to, and when switching from the waterfall spout 5 to the jet outlet 3, the flow rate of the circulating water is not changed until the switching is completed,
It is characterized in that it is provided with a control unit that controls the rotation speed of the pump 2 so that the flow rate of the jet flow 8 containing bubbles gradually increases within the target flow rate range after the switching of the switching valve 6 is completed.

An orifice 20 is provided between the switching valve 6 and the waterfall spout 5, and the rotation speed of the pump 2 set after the completion of switching from the jet outlet 3 to the waterfall spout 5 is set to the upper limit rotation. It is preferable to set the value approximately at an intermediate value between the numerical value and the lower limit rotation numerical value.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the pump 2 whose rotation speed is controllable
When switching from the jet flow outlet 3 to the waterfall spout 5 by the switching valve 6, the flow rate of the circulating water is temporarily reduced before the switching is started, and after the switching is completed, the flow rate of the waterfall 7 is gradually increased within the target flow rate range. The rotation speed of the pump 2 is controlled so that the switching valve 6 is operated during the operation of the pump 2.
Even if the use of water jets mixed with bubbles is switched to the use of waterfalls, it is possible to prevent the amount of circulating water from suddenly jumping out more than necessary from the waterfall spout 5 due to the decrease in the flow rate of circulating water. The flow rate of the waterfall 7 can be smoothly reached to the target flow rate without interruption, and after a short time after switching. On the other hand, when switching from the waterfall spout 5 to the jet outlet 3, the flow rate of the circulating water is not changed until the switching is completed, and the flow rate of the bubble-containing jet 8 within the target flow rate range after the switching valve 6 is switched. Since the rotation speed of the pump 2 is controlled so as to gradually increase, it is possible to switch from using the waterfall to using the jet stream containing bubbles while maintaining the rotation speed of the pump 2 using the waterfall. Since the rotation speed of the pump 2 does not increase while a part of the flow path leads to the waterfall spout 5, that is, until the switching valve 6 is completely shut off from the waterfall spout 5.
Even when switching to the jet flow 8 containing bubbles, it is possible to prevent the excessive amount of circulating water from suddenly jumping out from the waterfall spout 5, without causing the circulating water to be interrupted and after a short time after switching. The flow rate of the mixed jet can reach the target flow rate smoothly.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the bubble generation bathtub used in the present embodiment circulates bath water by a pump 2 whose rotation speed is controllable, and a jet jet 3 which is installed in the bathtub 1 has a jet flow mixed with bubbles (hereinafter, referred to as a jet flow). "Jet jet 8") and a waterfall 7 generated by a waterfall spout 5 attached to a bathtub flange 4 are controlled by a switching valve 6 and are controlled in a circulating bathtub. The water in the bathtub is sucked up by the pump 2 for the foot side and the pump 2a for the back side through the suction pipe 9, and the discharge port of the pump 2a for the back side is directed to the jet outlet (not shown) on the back side. Eject a jet jet,
On the other hand, the discharge port of the foot side pump 2 passes through the foot side pipe 10, passes through the switching valve 6 and is connected to the foot side jet outlet 3 and the waterfall spout 5 attached to the bathtub flange 4. It communicates freely. The circulating water from the switching valve 6 reaches the foot jet outlet 3 through the foot jet outlet pipe 11 and reaches the waterfall outlet 5 through the waterfall outlet pipe 12. It has become. In addition, 5 in FIG.
Reference numeral 0 is an air suction port for bubbles.

Here, the switching valve 6 is composed of, for example, an electric three-way valve, and the switching valve 6 and the pump 2 are collectively controlled by a control unit (not shown) realized by a microcomputer or the like. It When switching from the jet outlet 3 to the waterfall spout 5 by the switching valve 6, the controller temporarily reduces the flow rate of the circulating water before starting the switching, and after the switching is completed, the flow rate of the waterfall 7 gradually falls within the target flow rate range. The function of controlling the number of revolutions of the pump 2 so that the flow rate of the circulating water does not change until the switching is completed and the switching valve 6 is completed It also has a function of controlling the number of revolutions of the pump 2 so that the flow rate of the jet jet 8 gradually increases within the target flow rate range later.

Next, the operation will be described. First, when switching from jet jet use to waterfall use during pump operation, if a key input for a waterfall of an operation switch (not shown) is performed,
The control unit shifts from step n1 shown in FIG. 2 to step n2 to suppress the rotation speed of the pump 2 to a low flow rate operation, and then the control unit shifts to step n3 to rotate the switching valve 6. Let Then, when the flow path of the switching valve 6 is cut off from the jet outlet 3 and switched to a position communicating only with the waterfall spout 5, the process proceeds to step n4 to stop the rotation of the switching valve 6. After that, the control unit proceeds to step n5 to gradually increase the flow rate of the pump 2. This operation is continuously performed until the flow rate of the waterfall 7 from the waterfall discharge port 5 reaches the target flow rate. As described above, while the switching valve 6 is operating, the pump 2 is operated in the “small flow rate operation” in which the flow rate is significantly smaller than the normal operation, so that the switching valve 6 rotates and the pump 2 discharges the waterfall outlet 5. Even if a flow path is formed, it is possible to prevent more than necessary circulating water from suddenly jumping out of the waterfall spout 5, and the rotation speed of the pump 2 is gradually increased only after switching of the switching valve 6 is completed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the sudden escape of the circulating water even after the switching. Moreover, since the operation of the pump 2 is continued during the switching, the circulating water is not interrupted, and the waterfall 7 is kept a little after the switching.
Since the flow rate of can reach the target flow rate,
The discharge amount of the circulating water from the waterfall discharge port 5 can be smoothly changed until it reaches the target flow rate.

On the other hand, when switching from waterfall use to jet jet use while the pump is operating, when the key input for the jet of the operation switch is performed, the control unit causes step n6 shown in FIG.
Then, the switching valve 6 is rotated while keeping the rotation speed of the pump 2 as it is, that is, the rotation speed of the pump 2 when the waterfall is used. Then, when the flow path of the switching valve 6 is completely closed from the waterfall spout 5 and switched to a position communicating with only the jet outlet 3, the rotation of the switching valve 6 is stopped, and thereafter, the control unit performs step n7. And the flow rate of the pump 2 is gradually increased. This operation is continued until the jet amount of the jet jet 8 from the jet jet outlet 3 reaches the target flow rate.
Then, when the flow rate of the jet jet flow 8 reaches the target flow rate, the process returns to step n1, and if there is a switching operation from the use of jet jet flow to the use of the waterfall again, the control unit repeats the operations of the steps n2 to n7.

In this way, at the time of switching from using a waterfall to using a jet jet, the rotational speed of the pump 2 is not increased while a part of the flow path of the switching valve 6 leads to the waterfall spout 5.
The rotation speed is maintained as it is, and the pump 2 is controlled so that the flow rate gradually increases only after the switching is completed. Therefore, the rotation speed of the pump 2 is increased more than necessary and becomes close to the idle operation. Don't worry, even pump 2
Even when the number of revolutions is not fed back, it is possible to avoid the situation in which the pump 2 mistakenly detects an idle operation and automatically stops during the switching from the jet jet use to the waterfall use, and the switching valve 6 and It is possible to avoid the situation where circulating water spouts from the waterfall spout 5 at the same time even though the waterfall spout 5 is still in communication, and the operation of the pump 2 is continued during the switching process. It is possible to smoothly change the jetting amount of the circulating water from the jet jet port 3 after the switching until the target flow rate is reached without the water being interrupted.

As another embodiment of the present invention, an orifice 20 is provided between the switching valve 6 and the waterfall spout 5 as shown in FIG. The rotation speed of the pump 2 (see FIG. 1) set after the completion of switching to 5 may be set to a substantially intermediate value between the upper limit rotation speed value and the lower limit rotation speed value. Other configurations are similar to those of the embodiment shown in FIG. In this embodiment, first, an orifice 20 is provided between the waterfall spout 5 and the switching valve 6 in order to increase the load at the time of spouting water from the waterfall spout 5 to prevent sudden ejection of circulating water. The flow rate of the waterfall 7 from the waterfall spout 5 is suppressed. In this embodiment, the orifice 20 is formed at the tip of the tubular body 21, the base of the tubular body 21 is fastened to the upper portion of the pipe screw 22 penetrating the counter 40, and the lower portion of the pipe screw 22 is located below the counter 40. Is fastened to the connection fitting 23, and the orifice 20 is provided on the connection surface between the lower end surface of the pipe screw 22 and the connection fitting 23. In FIG. 3, 24 is a packing, 25 is a washer, 26 is a tightening nut, and 27 is an O-ring.

Further, in this embodiment, the pump 2 when the waterfall is used
The rotational speed (voltage) control table is separately provided, and the rotational speed of the pump 2 is set to a numerical value (voltage) that is a rotational speed that takes into consideration "idle operation" and "motor lock", respectively. In other words, while at least part of the flow path of the switching valve 6 communicates with the waterfall spout 5, the rotation speed of the pump 2 is approximately the upper limit rotation value for idle operation detection and the lower limit rotation value for motor lock detection. The value is set to an intermediate value. By doing so, when the waterfall is used, the load of the orifice 20 is applied and the rotation speed of the pump 2 is reduced, so that the sudden escape of the circulating water from the waterfall spout 5 is further suppressed. In addition to being able to effectively prevent it, the rotation speed of the pump 2 is set to an approximately intermediate value between the upper limit rotation value for detecting the idle operation and the lower limit rotation value for detecting the motor lock. There is an advantage that the waterfall 7 can be generated from the waterfall spout 5 at an optimum flow rate without interruption without worrying about stopping.

Even if a part of the flow path of the switching valve 6 is used, the waterfall spout 5
As a method of detecting whether or not communication with the
As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the switching valve 6 has two cams 30 and 31 so that the normal state of the valve can be grasped, and these cams 30 and 31.
Alternatively, two corresponding micro switches S ₁ and S ₂ may be provided so that the position detection information changes as the output shaft 80 of the motor 90 rotates. In this embodiment, two cams 30 and 31 and two micro switches S ₁ and S ₂ are provided so that the valve operation can be grasped in two directions. Further, the cams 30 and 31 are arranged vertically and the upper cam is arranged. 30 and the lower cam 31 form the concave portion 3
Nos. 2 and 33 are located on the opposite sides of 180 °. Then, by applying a voltage to the micro-switches S _1, S _2, the microswitch S _1, S ₂ is enabled to grasp the position normally of the valve depending on whether or not energized.
Incidentally, 34a and 34b in FIG. 4 are covers.

[0016]

As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, when the pump whose rotation speed is controllable and the switching valve is used to switch from the jet outlet to the waterfall outlet, the circulating water is started before the switching is started. Once the flow rate is reduced, the rotation speed of the pump is controlled so that the flow rate of the waterfall gradually increases within the target flow rate range after the switching is completed, and when switching from the waterfall outlet to the jet outlet, circulation is performed until the switching is completed. Since the flow rate of the water is not changed, the control valve controls the rotation speed of the pump so that the flow rate of the bubble-containing jet flow gradually increases within the target flow rate range after the switching valve is completely switched. When switching from the jet outlet to the waterfall spout due to, the flow rate of the circulating water can be reduced once to prevent the circulating water from suddenly jumping out, and the circulating water can be cut without interruption. The flow rate of the waterfall can be reached to the target flow rate after a while after the change, while at the time of switching from the waterfall spout to the jet spout, even if part of the flow path of the switching valve leads to the waterfall spout. Since the rotation speed of the pump does not increase while it is operating, it is possible to prevent the circulating water from suddenly jumping out even when switching to a jet mixed with air bubbles, without interrupting the circulating water, and after a short time after switching. The flow rate of the jet flow mixed with bubbles can reach the target flow rate, and after switching, the flow rates from the waterfall spout and the jet flow outlet can be smoothly changed to the target flow rate.

According to the second aspect of the invention, an orifice is provided between the switching valve according to the first aspect and the waterfall outlet.
In addition to the effect according to claim 1, since the rotation speed of the pump set after the completion of switching from the jet outlet to the waterfall discharge outlet is set to a value approximately intermediate between the upper limit rotation value and the lower limit rotation value, At the time of use, the sudden flow of circulating water from the waterfall spout can be effectively prevented by applying a load by the orifice and reducing the rotation speed of the pump, and at the same time, the rotation speed of the pump is the upper limit for detecting idle operation. Since it is set to an intermediate value between the rotation speed value and the lower limit rotation speed value for motor lock detection, there is no concern that the pump will stop accidentally during pump operation, and the optimum flow rate without interrupting the waterfall from the waterfall spout Can be generated in.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a bubble generation bath used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the control unit of the above.

FIG. 3 is a partially omitted sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

4 (a) and (b) are a plan sectional view and a side sectional view showing a configuration for detecting whether or not the flow path of the switching valve of FIG. 3 is completely blocked.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bathtub 2 Pump 3 Jet outlet 5 Waterfall outlet 6 Switching valve 7 Waterfall 8 Jet mixed with bubbles 20 Orifice

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A discharge port of a pump for circulating bath water is connected via a switching valve to a jet outlet provided inside the bath and a waterfall outlet provided outside the bath, respectively, and jetting is performed by switching operation of the switching valve. In a bubble generating bathtub that generates either a jet of bubbles mixed with a jet or a waterfall with a waterfall spout,
When switching from a jet outlet to a waterfall spout with a pump whose rotation speed is controllable and a switching valve, the flow rate of circulating water is temporarily reduced before switching is started, and the flow rate of the waterfall gradually falls within the target flow rate range after the switching is completed. The number of revolutions of the pump is controlled to increase, and when switching from the waterfall spout to the jet outlet, the flow rate of the circulating water is not changed until the switching is completed. A bubble generation bath, comprising: a control unit that controls the number of rotations of the pump so that the flow rate of the mixed jet flow gradually increases. 2. An upper limit rotational speed value and a lower limit rotational speed value of the pump rotation speed set after completion of switching from the jet outlet to the waterfall discharge opening, with an orifice provided between the switching valve and the waterfall discharge opening. The bubble generating bath according to claim 1, wherein the bubble generating bath is set to an approximately intermediate value between and.