JPH0866679A - Water purifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a water purifying device which cleans waterworks water by previously completely sterilizing the clean waterworks water, then passing the water through a filter. CONSTITUTION: A sterilizing chamber 9 is formed upstream of the filter 5 in the water flow direction from a faucet T of the waterworks in a housing 4. A cap B having an apparatus chamber 7 is freely attachably and detachably mounted at the sterilizing chamber. A DC/AC inverter 15, a battery 14 and a power source switch 16 for opening and closing electric circuits are built in the apparatus chamber. The cap is projectingly provided with a UV lamp 10 and a liquid level sensor 17 for the power source switch so as to advance into a housing. Further, the device is so constituted that electricity is conducted when the liquid level sensor submerges the liquid.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water purification device installed in a tap of a water supply. More specifically, the present invention relates to a water purification apparatus that can also exhibit an excellent sterilization effect by providing a sterilization lamp composed of an ultraviolet lamp upstream of the filter in addition to the filter provided in the conventional water purification apparatus. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been called for that the quality of tap water is deteriorated, and along with this, various types of water purifiers that can be easily installed in a water faucet in each home have been put on the market. ing. Usually, these water purifiers have an adsorbing layer made of activated carbon particles, a hollow, in a housing having a water supply port connected directly to a water faucet or through a hose and a water injection port for discharging purified water. A thread filter, a synthetic resin sintered filter, and the like are attached. If these water purifiers are used for a certain period of time, impurities such as organic compounds and various bacteria in the water are deposited on the filter, so this filter must be replaced with a new one.

In addition, by switching a switching valve provided in the water purifier during use, a drain port and a vent hole separately provided in the housing are opened to allow water from the faucet to flow upstream of the filter. A water purifier having a so-called backwash function, in which a portion (that is, an inlet portion of the filter) is flushed to wash away accumulated impurities from the filter, has also appeared on the market. This utilizes the fact that by opening the drain port and the vent hole, the water flows in contact with the inlet part of the filter without passing through the filter having a large flow resistance. That is, in the filter, the highest density of impurities is deposited at the inlet portion of the filter, and therefore, this portion alone is to be washed to brake the deposition of impurities.

As described above, impurities such as organic compounds in the water and various bacteria are deposited on the filter, so that the various bacteria may constantly grow in the filter. Generally, the growth rate of such bacteria is said to be 10 times per hour, and if the water purifier is not used overnight, it will increase to 1 million times. Therefore, after some period of non-use, bacteria may be mixed even in purified water. Such a problem is a well-known fact.

Further, even in the case of the water purifier having the above-mentioned backwash function, it is impossible to sufficiently remove impurities because only the inlet portion of the filter is washed, and water containing a large amount of such live bacteria is not available. Since it is released, it is unfavorable to the kitchen and washroom at home in terms of environmental hygiene.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and in the above conventional water purifier, a sterilizing lamp consisting of an ultraviolet lamp is installed on the upstream side of the filter so that tap water is completely preliminarily prepared. It is an object of the present invention to provide a water purification device that purifies by passing through a filter after being sterilized.

[0007]

A water purification apparatus of the present invention is a water purification apparatus installed in a faucet or the like of water supply, wherein a housing having a filter therein is provided with the above-mentioned water flow direction from the faucet. It is characterized in that an ultraviolet lamp for sterilization is mounted upstream of the filter.

A cap is provided on the ultraviolet lamp, which has a device chamber and is detachably attached to the housing, and a power source for opening and closing a DC / AC inverter, a battery housing, and an electric circuit in the device chamber. It is preferable to incorporate a switch and electrically connect the electrode of the ultraviolet lamp to the above-mentioned electric circuit because it is convenient to handle and can prevent a defect due to electric leakage.

The ultraviolet lamp is fixed with a cap that has an equipment chamber and is detachably attached to the housing, and the equipment chamber has a DC / AC inverter, a battery storage section and a power switch built therein. A liquid level sensor for a power switch is provided so as to project into the housing together with the ultraviolet lamp from the cap, and the liquid level sensor is configured to be able to conduct electricity when immersed in the liquid. It is preferable that the ultraviolet lamp is turned on in conjunction with the use of the water purifying device (water is passed through the filter by a switching tool or the like) to automatically perform a sterilizing action.

The housing is provided with a washing water discharge port and a switching device for opening and closing the ventilation hole and the washing water discharge port on the upstream side of the filter with respect to the flow direction of water from the ventilation hole and the faucet. , The ventilation hole and the washing water outlet are opened by switching the switching tool, and the water from the faucet is passed through an ultraviolet lamp so as to come into contact with the inlet side of the filter and is drained from the washing water outlet. What to do
So-called backwash water can be completely sterilized, which is preferable.

Instead of the power switch and the liquid level sensor for the power switch, a manual power switch may be provided in an electric circuit which connects the DC / AC inverter, the battery housing and the ultraviolet lamp.

Further, the tube forming the outer shell of the ultraviolet lamp is formed of a bottomed quartz glass tube having two cavities parallel to each other along the axial direction, and the two cavities are formed at the bottom of the quartz glass tube. The ultraviolet lamp is configured by attaching electrodes to each of the two cavities on the opening side of the quartz glass tube while making the ultraviolet glass communicate with each other, and the entire ultraviolet lamp becomes compact, and the output does not decrease, Moreover, the rigidity is improved, which is preferable.

[0013]

According to the water purifier of the present invention, by mounting a sterilizing lamp consisting of an ultraviolet lamp on the upstream side of the filter, the tap water is completely sterilized in advance by the ultraviolet lamp and then passed through the filter for purification. The bacteria that accumulate on the filter are dead. Therefore, since bacteria are not easily propagated in the filter, it is safe even if the water purifier is not used for a while, and then the purified water can be used from the beginning. Moreover,
Also in the case of backwashing, the water washed with impurities accumulated on the filter is again irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet lamp, which is preferable from the viewpoint of environmental hygiene.

Incidentally, for example, when an ultraviolet lamp is mounted on the downstream side of the filter, unsterilized impurities will be deposited on the filter, which causes the same problem as in the conventional water purifier. A water purifier equipped with such an ultraviolet lamp on the downstream side of the filter is not included in the scope of the present invention.

[0015]

Embodiments of the water purifying apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the water purifying apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are front views showing examples of ultraviolet lamps used in the water purifying apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows a water purifier 1, which has a housing 4 having a water supply port 2 connected to a water faucet T via a hose H and a water injection port 3 for discharging purified water. Both 5 and the germicidal lamp 6 are detachably mounted. Here, the germicidal lamp 6 is mounted on the upstream side of the filter 5 when viewed in the flow direction of water.

The structure of the water purifier 1 is almost the same as that of the conventional water purifier except that the germicidal lamp 6 is mounted. That is, the filter 5 is a hollow fiber membrane filter 5a made of synthetic resin and an adsorption layer 5 made of activated carbon particles.
b and a synthetic resin sintered filter 5c. Of course, any one or two of these three 5a, 5b and 5c may be used.

The features of this water purification device 1 are, as described above,
The sterilizing lamp 6 is attached upstream of the filter 5. The sterilizing lamp 6 has an equipment chamber 7 as shown in the drawing, and a cap 8 detachably attached to the housing 4.
And an ultraviolet lamp 10 fixed to the cap 8 so as to project into the sterilization chamber 9 of the housing 4. The ultraviolet lamp 10 is inserted into a protective tube 10a made of a bottomed quartz glass tube.

The lower part of the cap 8 is a seal ring 11
A small container 1 for forming a device chamber 7 is formed with a male screw 12 for screwing it into the housing 4 via the
3 is installed. In the equipment room 7, a battery 14, DC /
An AC inverter 15 and a power switch IC circuit (hereinafter referred to as a power switch) 16 are housed.

The cap 8 and the ultraviolet lamp 10 are attached to the sterilization chamber 9 when the cap 8 is screwed onto the housing 4.
A liquid level sensor 17 is provided so as to project inward.

The water purifying device 1 is constructed as described above. First, when the faucet T is opened, the liquid level sensor 17 is immersed in the water injected into the sterilization chamber 9, so that the power source is supplied. The switch 16 is closed and the ultraviolet lamp 10 is turned on. Then, the water sterilized by the ultraviolet lamp 10 passes through the filter 5.

Next, when backwashing is performed, for example, when the switching lever is switched to backwashing, the backwash water discharge port 18 and the vent hole 19 are opened, and the water from the faucet T is sterilized in the sterilization chamber 9 as described above. Therefore, the ultraviolet lamp 10 is turned on by the operation of the liquid level sensor 17. In this case, the water injected into the sterilization chamber 9 is drained from the outlet 18 without passing through the filter 5 having a large flow resistance. The so-called inlet portion 20 of the filter 5 is washed by the water flow at this time. Of course, since the various bacteria in the impurities deposited on the filter 5 have already been killed, the sanitary conditions in the kitchen or washroom in the home will not be impaired.

Incidentally, a manual power switch is provided in place of the power switch 16 and the liquid level sensor 17, and a switching lever of a water purifier (also provided in a conventional water purifier,
The light may be turned on only when the water is switched to pass through the filter by interlocking with a switching lever for selecting two paths of passing the filter through the filter and bypassing the filter. The manual power switch may be turned on only when desired.

Further, instead of the battery 14 and the DC / AC inverter 15, a 100V AC power source in the home may be electrically connectable via a transformer.

Next, regarding the constitution of the ultraviolet lamp, a conventional ultraviolet lamp can be used as it is if it is small. That is, a germicidal lamp including an ultraviolet lamp generally has a wavelength of 253.
Since the object to be processed is irradiated with 7 nm ultraviolet light, the glass tube forming the outer shell of the ultraviolet lamp is made of quartz glass that can transmit such ultraviolet light. The shape of the ultraviolet lamp is shown in FIGS.

The ultraviolet lamp 21 shown in FIG. 2 is composed of a single quartz glass tube 22, as is found in a normal fluorescent lamp. Sockets 23 are attached to both ends and electrodes 24 are attached to both ends in the tube. Has been done. In addition, 21a is a protective tube.

The ultraviolet lamp 25 shown in FIG. 3 uses a tube 26 in which a single quartz glass thin tube is curved in a U shape, and has electrodes 24 at both ends thereof and a socket 23. . It is a lamp with a long tube length and a compact size.

The ultraviolet lamp 27 shown in FIG. 4 is a novel one which has not been found in the prior art, and uses a so-called double-row hollow silica glass tube (hereinafter referred to as a double-bore tube) 28.

The double bore pipe 28 has a circular tubular shape, and a partition wall W is formed inside the double bore pipe 28 along the central axis direction. That is, two cavities B are formed in parallel along the tube axis.

The double bore pipe as a product is, for example,
A product manufactured by General Electric Company is available. In this double-bore pipe made by General Electric, for example, a nominal diameter of 6.5 has an outer diameter of 5.85-
7.15 mm, the tube wall thickness is 0.75 to 1.25 mm, and the central partition wall thickness is 0.7 to 1.25 mm.
The nominal diameter of 9.0 has an outer diameter of 8.1 to 9.9 mm, a pipe wall thickness of 1.1 to 1.9 mm, and a central partition wall thickness of 0.9 to
It is manufactured in the range of 1.9 mm, and the nominal diameter of 11.0 has an outer diameter of 8.8 to 13.2 mm and a pipe wall thickness of 1.35 to 2.
It is manufactured with a thickness of 25 mm and a partition wall thickness in the center of 0.87 to 1.55 mm.

In the method of manufacturing the ultraviolet lamp 27 shown in FIG. 4 using the double bore tube 28, first, one end of the double bore tube 28 is heated and slightly softened while the double bore tube 28 is rotated. The partition W at is cut off. Next, while rotating the double bore pipe 28, the end portion is heated and softened, and one end of another quartz glass rod is also heated and melted.
Attach to the softened end of the and close the opening. During such work, the double bore tube 28 is kept rotating. This is an ordinary glasswork method. This completes the glass tube for the UV lamp. Next, the electrodes 24 are respectively inserted into both cavities B at the other end of the glass tube, and a glass thin tube having a melting point higher than that of the material of the double bore tube is further inserted into one cavity B, and the ends are heated and melted. . Then, only the double bore pipe is melted and the both cavities B are closed. Then, the internal gas is sucked through the high melting point glass thin tube by a vacuum pump or the like and filled with mercury vapor, and the high melting point glass thin tube is immediately heated and melted to be closed. In this way, the small ultraviolet lamp 27 of FIG. 4 is completed.

The ultraviolet lamp 27 has a small diameter and a small size, and is convenient to handle. However, the tube length is almost twice the total length of the UV lamp. For example, in a UV lamp having a total length (including a socket portion) of about 75 mm using the double bore having the nominal diameter of 6.5, the power consumption is about 5 watts.

The ultraviolet lamp 27 has a high rigidity due to the internal partition wall W, and has a long tube length while being small in size, so that the output can be increased.

The water purifier 1 used only one ultraviolet lamp, but the number is not particularly limited to one, and it is possible to increase the number to two or more if necessary. .

If a plate made of a material having excellent corrosion resistance and UV resistance, such as a stainless steel plate having a mirror-finished surface, is installed as the reflection plate in the sterilization chamber 7, the loss of UV light will be reduced. It is preferable because it can be prevented.

[0037]

According to the ultraviolet lamp of the present invention, since tap water is completely sterilized in advance by the ultraviolet lamp and then passed through the filter to be purified, bacteria and the like accumulated on the filter are killed. Therefore, since bacteria are not easily propagated in the filter, it is safe even if the water purifier is not used for a while, and then the purified water can be used from the beginning. Moreover, even when backwashing, the water washed with impurities accumulated on the filter is again irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet lamp, which is preferable from the viewpoint of environmental hygiene.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a water purification device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of an ultraviolet lamp used in the water purifying apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing another example of the ultraviolet lamp used in the water purifying apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing still another example of the ultraviolet lamp used in the water purifying apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Water purifier 4 ... Housing 5 ... Filter 6 ... Sterilization lamp 9 ... Sterilization chamber 10, 21, 25, 27 ... Ultraviolet lamp 14 ... Battery 15 ... DC / AC inverter 16 ... Power switch 17 ... Liquid level sensor

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A water purifier installed in a tap of a water supply, wherein a sterilizing ultraviolet lamp is mounted in a housing containing a filter, upstream of the filter with respect to a flow direction of water from the tap. Water purification equipment. 2. The ultraviolet lamp is fixedly provided with a cap that has an equipment chamber and is detachably attached to the housing, and opens and closes a DC / AC inverter, a battery storage portion, and an electric circuit in the equipment chamber. The portable water purifier according to claim 1, further comprising a power switch for controlling the electric power, and an electrode of the ultraviolet lamp electrically connected to the electric circuit. 3. The ultraviolet lamp is fixedly provided with a cap that has an equipment chamber and is detachably attached to the housing, and the equipment chamber has a DC / AC inverter, a battery storage section, and a power switch built therein. The liquid level sensor for the power switch is provided so as to project into the housing together with the ultraviolet lamp from the cap, so that the liquid level sensor can conduct electricity when immersed in the liquid. The water purification apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured. 4. The housing includes a wash water outlet on the upstream side of the filter with respect to the flow direction of water from the vent hole and the faucet, and a switch for opening and closing the vent hole and the wash water outlet. The ventilation hole and the washing water outlet can be opened by switching the switching tool, and the water from the faucet can be passed through an ultraviolet lamp so as to come into contact with the inlet side of the filter and drained from the washing water outlet. The water purification apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the water purification apparatus is configured as described above. 5. A manual power switch is a DC / AC instead of the power switch and the liquid level sensor for the power switch.
The water purification apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the water purification apparatus is provided in an electric circuit that connects the inverter, the battery housing, and the ultraviolet lamp. 6. A tube forming an outer shell of the ultraviolet lamp is formed of a bottomed quartz glass tube having two cavities parallel to each other along the axial direction, and the tube is formed at the bottom of the quartz glass tube. The water purification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the two cavities communicate with each other, and an electrode is attached to each of the two cavities on the opening side of the quartz glass tube.