JPH091145A - Electrolyzed water forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to execute always adequate washing by determining the scale deposition corresponding to the integrated electric energy in accordance with the characteristic data on the integrated electric energy and scale deposition previously determined and determining the polarity changeover continuation time of impressed voltage based on the results thereof. CONSTITUTION: An electrolytic cell 3 is arranged with an anode 8 and a cathode 9 in a cell body 7. Acidic water and alkaline water discharge pipes 11, 12 are respectively connected to regions M1 , M2 arranged with the respective electrodes 8, 9. The integrated electric energy is determined in accordance with the detected signals of current and voltage detecting circuits 15, 16 in an integrated electric energy calculating section at the time of electrolysis in such electrolyzed water forming device and thereafter, the scale deposition corresponding to the integrated electric energy is determined among the characteristic data of the integrated electric energy and the scale deposition in a scale quantity conversion section. The washing time is then determined in accordance with the scale deposition in a washing decision section and the voltage of the polarity opposite to the polarity at the time of the electrolysis is impressed on both electrodes 8, 9 for this time, by which the scale removal is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrolyzed water generator for producing alkaline ionized water and acidic water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a conventional electrolyzed water generator, an electrolytic cell having a cathode and an anode and a diaphragm disposed between the cathode and the anode is provided, and a polarity is provided between a power source and an electrode (cathode, anode). There is one in which a reversing means is provided and a means for measuring the application time to the electrodes (cathode, anode) is provided. In this electrolyzed water generator, by applying voltage to the cathode and anode, water is electrolyzed to obtain alkaline ionized water for drinking and acidic water (astrinsent water) used for beauty water and the like. .

Generally, in an electrolyzed water generator, scales such as causium compounds adhere to electrodes and the like due to electrolysis of water. In the electrolyzed water generator, in order to remove this scale, electrolysis is performed. The duration is measured, and when this duration reaches a preset reference time, the polarity reversing means is activated automatically or manually,
A voltage having the opposite polarity to that at the time of electrolysis was applied for a certain period of time to remove the scale from the electrode (cleaning treatment).

[0004]

By the way, the electrolyzed water generator is used in various usage environments with different water qualities, and the amount of scale adhered to the electrodes or the like in a predetermined time varies depending on the usage environment. . Therefore, in the above-described electrolyzed water generator, even if a cleaning process is performed, insufficient cleaning or overcleaning may occur depending on the usage environment, which may accelerate the deterioration and deterioration of the capacity of the electrolytic cell. It was

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electrolyzed water generator capable of achieving proper cleaning.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an electrolytic cell for electrolyzing water to obtain alkaline ionized water and acidic water, and an anode and a cathode provided in the electrolytic cell. In the electrolyzed water generator having a polarity switching means for switching the polarity of the applied voltage, a voltage between the anode and the cathode during the electrolysis, an integrated power amount calculation means for calculating an integrated power amount based on a current, Conversion means for obtaining a scale adhesion amount corresponding to the integration power amount obtained by the integration power amount calculation means based on previously obtained integration power amount / scale adhesion amount characteristic data, and scale adhesion amount obtained by the conversion means And an inversion control means for determining the polarity switching duration of the applied voltage by the polarity switching means.

[0007]

With the above configuration, the integrated power amount calculating means calculates the integrated power amount during electrolysis, and the scale amount converting means calculates the integrated power amount in the integrated power amount / scale deposit amount characteristic data by the integrated power amount calculating means. The scale deposition amount corresponding to the amount is obtained, and the reversal control unit determines the polarity switching duration time of the applied voltage by the polarity switching unit.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electrolyzed water generator according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, an electrolytic bath 3 is connected to a water supply source 1 such as a water faucet via a supply pipe 2, and water W is supplied to the electrolytic bath 3. In the supply pipe 2, a manual supply control valve 4 for switching water flow or stop thereof, a valve 5 for adjusting the water flow rate, and a flow meter 6 for detecting the water flow rate are arranged in this order from the upstream side. It is installed.

[0009] electrolytic cell 3 includes a tank body 7 for storing water, an anode 8 disposed within the tank body 7, a cathode 9, an area M ₂ of arranging the area M ₁ and the cathode 9 disposed an anode 8 It is generally composed of a diaphragm 10 positioned so as to be separated. The diaphragm 10 is made of a material that is permeable to ions.

An acidic water discharge pipe 11 and an alkaline ionized water discharge pipe 12 are connected to the portions of the tank body 7 which face the regions M ₁ and M ₂ , respectively, and the acidic water D obtained by electrolysis, The alkaline ionized water E is discharged respectively.

The anode 8 and the cathode 9 are connected to a DC power source 14 via a polarity conversion circuit (polarity switching means) 13.
The polarity conversion circuit 13 switches the polarity of the voltage applied to the anode 8 and the cathode 9. That is, the polarity conversion circuit 13 uses the anode 8 and the cathode 9 when electrolyzing water.
While the positive side terminal 14a and the negative side terminal 14b of the DC power source 14 are connected to the negative side terminal 14b and the negative side terminal 14b of the DC power source 14, respectively, due to the switching operation during the cleaning process.
b, the positive terminal 14a is connected. The DC power supply 14 is composed of, for example, an AC power supply (not shown) and a rectifier circuit (not shown), and the output current including ON and OFF can be adjusted by controlling the rectifier circuit.

A current detection circuit 15 is provided in the line connecting the polarity conversion circuit 13 and the anode 8, and the anode 8,
The current value supplied to the cathode 9 is detected. Polarity conversion circuit 1
The voltage detection circuit 16 is provided by connecting to the line connecting the 3 and the cathode 9 and the line connecting the polarity conversion circuit 13 and the current detection circuit 15, and detects the voltage applied to the anode 8 and the cathode 9. . On the outer surface of the tank body 7, a blinking device, an alarm device 17 such as an alarm device, and a manual cleaning switch 18 are provided.

The controller 19 is connected to the flow meter 6, the polarity conversion circuit 13, the current detection circuit 15, the voltage detection circuit 16, the DC power supply 14, the cleaning switch 18, and the alarm device 17.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 19 includes an integrated electric energy calculation unit (integrated electric energy calculation means) 20.
And a scale amount conversion unit (scale amount conversion means) 21,
The cleaning determination unit (reversal control unit) 22, the timer 23, the water flow determination unit 24, and the device control unit 25 are roughly configured and perform the calculation and control described later to perform the polarity conversion circuit 1.
3, the DC power supply 14, and the alarm 17 are controlled. The calculation and control contents of the controller 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, when the detection signal of the flow meter 6 is input to the water flow determining unit 24 (step S1), the water flow determining unit 2
4 outputs a water flow signal to the device control unit 25, which causes the device control unit 25 to output an electrolysis start signal to the DC power supply 14 to turn on the DC power supply 14 and apply a voltage to the anode 8 and the cathode 9. Electrolysis is started (step S2). When the electrolysis is started, the current detection circuit 15 and the voltage detection circuit 16
Of the detection signals are input to the integrated electric energy calculation unit 20 (step S3), the integrated electric energy calculation unit 20 sequentially adds the products of the current value and the voltage value of each detection signal (time integration), and is described later. The integrated electric energy stored in the storage unit is added to obtain the integrated electric energy (step S4). At this stage, the cleaning determination unit 22 determines whether or not the cleaning switch 18 is turned on (step S5).

When NO is determined in step S5, the cleaning determination unit 22 determines whether or not the scale adhesion amount S, which will be described later, is equal to or larger than a preset scale adhesion reference amount A (S ≧ A?) (Step S6). Here, the scale adhesion reference amount A
Is set to an amount that can be removed by the cleaning process described later.

If YES is determined in step S6, the cleaning determination unit 22 outputs a signal to that effect to the device control unit 25, and the device control unit 25 operates the alarm 17 to notify the operator of the cleaning operation instruction. (Step S7), then,
The water flow determining unit 24 determines whether water flow is stopped (step S8).

If the water flow determining unit 24 determines NO in step S8 (that is, water is flowing through the electrolytic cell 3), the process returns to step S3 and is executed. Also, in step S8, YES
When it is determined that the water flow is stopped, the device control unit 25 receives the determination result of YES of the water flow determination unit 24, turns off the DC power supply 14 (step S9), and performs the cleaning process (step S1).
0). The details of the cleaning process in step S10 will be described later.

If YES is determined in step S5, that is, if the cleaning switch 18 is turned on,
On the condition that the supply control valve 4 is closed and water supply is stopped (step S11), the equipment control unit 25 turns off the DC power supply 14 (step S12), and performs the cleaning process of step S10.

Further, it is determined NO in step S6,
That is, if S <A, similarly to step S8, it is determined whether or not the water flow is stopped (step S13).
It is determined to be NO in step S13 (that is, the electrolytic cell 3
To water), the process returns to step S3 and is executed. If YES (stop of water flow) is determined in step S13, the controller 19 stores the data in step S4
The integrated electric energy obtained in step S14 is stored as the stored integrated electric energy (step S14). The stored integrated electric energy stored in the storage unit is cleared when the cleaning process is performed.
Subsequently, the device control unit 25 turns off the DC power supply 14 to stop the voltage application to the anode 8 and the cathode 9 (step S15), and ends the electrolysis (step S16).

The cleaning process in step S10 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the scale amount conversion unit 21
Is the integrated electric energy calculated by the integrated electric energy calculation unit 20.
The scale adhesion amount S is obtained corresponding to the previously calculated integrated electric energy / scale adhesion amount characteristic data, and the data indicating the scale adhesion amount S is output to the cleaning determination unit 22 (step S31).

Here, the integrated electric energy / scale adhesion amount characteristic data is obtained as follows. That is,
When water is electrolyzed by the electrolyzed water generator, the scale adheres to the electrodes and the like, but the adhered amount has a relationship of increasing in proportion to the integrated electric energy. Then, such scale adhesion amount and accumulated electric energy are associated with each other to be obtained as accumulated electric energy / scale adhesion amount characteristic data and stored in a storage unit (not shown). In addition, in the integrated power amount / scale deposit amount characteristic data, the integrated power amount and scale deposit amount are
It corresponds to 1: 1.

The applicant of the present invention measured the amount of precipitation of the calcium compound forming a part of the scale in correspondence with the integrated electric energy, and as shown in FIG.
As a result, it was verified that the adhered amount and the integrated electric energy have a substantially proportional relationship.

Following step S31, the cleaning determination unit 22
Calculates the cleaning time (polarity switching continuation time) required for cleaning the scale and sets it in the timer 23 (step
S32). Next, when the supply control valve 4 is opened and water flow is started (step S33), the timer 23 starts measuring time (subtraction processing), and the device control unit 25 reverses the voltage at the time of electrolysis. The polarity converter is operated so that a polarity voltage (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as opposite polarity voltage) is applied (step S34), and the DC power supply 14 is operated to control so that the maximum current is output (step S34). S35), followed by step S36
Then, the opposite polarity voltage is applied to the anode 8 and the cathode 9. By applying voltages of opposite polarities to the anode 8 and the cathode 9, the scale attached to the electrodes and the like will be removed.

Subsequent to step S36, it is judged whether or not the measurement time of the timer 23 (remaining time obtained by subtracting the opposite polarity voltage application time from the cleaning time obtained in step S32) is 0 (step S37). If NO is determined, the process is returned to step S36, and the opposite polarity voltage is continuously applied. If YES is determined in step S37, the DC power supply 14 is turned off (step S38), the application of the opposite polarity voltage to the anode 8 and the cathode 9 is released (step S39), and the supply control valve 4 is closed to pass water. Is stopped (step S40), and the cleaning process is ended (step S41).

In the electrolyzed water generator configured as described above, the integrated power amount calculating section 20 determines the integrated power amount based on the detected current of the current detection circuit 15 and the detected voltage of the voltage detection circuit 16 during electrolysis. , The scale conversion unit 21
Since the scale adhesion amount S corresponding to the integration power amount obtained by the integration power amount calculation unit 20 of the integrated power amount / scale deposition amount characteristic data is obtained, the scale deposition amount S in the electrolytic cell 3 is calculated regardless of the difference in water quality. You can grasp it accurately. Furthermore, since the cleaning determination unit 22 determines the cleaning time based on the highly accurate scale adhesion amount S, by applying a voltage of the opposite polarity to that at the time of electrolysis to the anode 8 and the cathode 9 over this cleaning time. The scale can be removed with high accuracy, and neither insufficient cleaning nor excessive cleaning is caused, and in turn, deterioration of the performance of the electrolytic cell 3 and deterioration of the electrolytic cell 3 can be prevented.

In the present embodiment, when the cleaning determination unit 22 determines that the scale adhesion amount S is greater than or equal to the scale adhesion reference amount A, the alarm device 17 informs the operator of the cleaning operation instruction (step S7). Therefore, the operator can surely know the operation timing of the cleaning switch 18. Note that the process of step S7 is omitted and the process is
It may be configured to proceed to S8.

In the present embodiment, the cleaning process (step S10) is performed after the judgment (step S6) as to whether the scale adhesion amount S is equal to or larger than the scale adhesion reference amount A (S ≧ A?) (Step S6). In this case, it is determined to be YES in step S8 (is water flow stopped?), That is, the supply control valve 4
It is necessary for the operator to perform the valve closing operation of. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the erroneous transition to the cleaning process while continuing the electrolysis.

[0028]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention is the electrolyzed water generator configured as described above, the integrated power amount calculating means calculates the integrated power amount during electrolysis, and the scale amount converting means calculates the integrated power amount / scale. By obtaining the scale deposit amount corresponding to the accumulated power amount obtained by the integrated power amount calculating means from the deposit amount characteristic data, it is possible to accurately grasp the scale deposit amount regardless of the water quality. As the scale deposit amount is high, the polarity switching duration obtained by the reversal control means becomes accurate, so that the voltage of the opposite polarity to that at the time of electrolysis is applied to the anode and cathode over this polarity switching duration. By applying the voltage, the scale can be surely removed, and neither insufficient cleaning nor excessive cleaning is caused, and eventually, deterioration of the performance of the electrolytic cell and deterioration can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram schematically showing an electrolyzed water generator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a controller of the same electrolyzed water generator.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing contents of the controller.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the content of the cleaning process of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing a correspondence relationship between integrated electric energy and scale adhesion amount.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Electrolysis tank 7 Tank body 8 Anode 9 Cathode 13 Polarity conversion circuit 14 DC power supply 19 Controller 20 Integrated power amount calculation unit 21 Scale amount conversion unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for producing electrolyzed water having an electrolyzer for electrolyzing water to obtain alkaline ionized water and acidic water, and a polarity switching means for switching the polarity of voltage applied to an anode and a cathode provided in the electrolyzer. And an integrated power amount calculating means for calculating an integrated power amount based on a voltage and a current between the anode and the cathode during the electrolysis, and based on previously calculated integrated power amount / scale deposit amount characteristic data. And a conversion unit for obtaining a scale adhesion amount corresponding to the integrated electric energy obtained by the integrated electric energy calculation unit, and a polarity switching continuation time of the applied voltage by the polarity switching unit based on the scale adhesion amount obtained by the conversion unit. An electrolyzed water generator, which is provided with a required reversal control means.