JPH09173236A - Bath water circulating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an accident caused by electric shock from occurring, a light of a sterilization lamp from being directly watched and bath water from overflowing when a lid of a casing box of an apparatus main body is opened and a maintenance work for the inside is performed in a bath water circulating apparatus wherein bath water is externally circulated and is returned into a bathtub. SOLUTION: A lid sensor 56 consisting of a magnet 52 for detecting opening and closing of a lid 50 of a casing box 14 and a lead switch 54 is provided on an apparatus main body and based on detection on a lid opening condition by means of the lid sensor 56, application of driving electric source to a mechanism part unit in the casing box 14 is stopped.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bath water circulating device, and more particularly to a bath water circulating device characterized by a safety mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
The main body of the device, which contains the specified mechanism unit including the circulation pump inside the casing box, is installed away from the bathtub, and the bathwater in the bathtub is taken out through the external circulation pipe based on the operation of the main body of the device. There is known a bath water circulation device which is returned to the bathtub again. As this seed bath water circulation device, bath water is circulated continuously for 24 hours,
A form has been proposed in which the bathtub can be used anytime.

[0003] In the bath water circulating apparatus premised on continuous operation for 24 hours, for example, when general users perform maintenance work by opening the lid of the casing box while continuing operation, general users are specialized. Because I do not have knowledge, I may get an electric shock accident at that time, or look at the sterilization lamp (ultraviolet lamp) directly with my eyes,
If an ozone generator is used as a sterilizer, it may be exposed to ozone, and the bath water will overflow when the casing of the filter is opened to remove the filter material of the filter. The device gets wet,
Further, this may damage the device.

[0004]

The invention of the present application has been made to solve such a problem. Thus, the invention of the present application is provided with an apparatus body in which a predetermined mechanism unit including a circulation pump is housed inside a casing box,
A bath water circulating device in which the bath water in the bathtub is taken out through an external circulation pipe based on the operation of the device body and then returned to the bathtub, and the device body detects opening / closing of the lid of the casing box. A lid detecting means for opening and closing, and an opening and closing means for opening and closing a drive power supply circuit for the mechanism unit based on detection of opening and closing of the lid by the lid detecting means are provided (claim 1).

According to another invention of the present application, in claim 1, display means is provided for displaying that the lid is open or closed based on a lid open / closed detection signal from the lid detection means. (Claim 2).

Still another invention of the present application is the one according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a manual switch means for closing the opening / closing means of the drive power supply circuit is provided when the lid is in an open state ( Claim 3).

Still another invention of the present application is as follows.
In any one of the above, the opening and closing means has a contact provided in the drive power supply circuit, and a control unit for controlling the opening and closing of the contact, the lid detection means is connected to the control unit, The drive power supply circuit is opened and closed by supplying a detection signal from the lid detection means to the control section (claim 4).

[0008] Still another invention of the present application is as follows.
In any one of 3 and 4, a purifying device for continuously purifying external circulating water and a heater for continuously heating the external circulating water to keep it warm are housed as devices in the mechanism unit in the casing box. (Claim 5).

Still another invention of the present application is that in claim 5, the purifying device inside the casing box is provided with a sterilizing device for continuously sterilizing external circulating water (claim 6). ).

[0010]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the lid detecting means for detecting the opening / closing of the lid of the casing box in the apparatus body, and the mechanism unit based on the lid opening / closing detection by the lid detecting means. According to the present invention, when the lid is opened during maintenance work or the like, detection by the lid detection means and the opening / closing means based on the lid detection means are provided. The drive power supply to the mechanism unit can be cut off based on the operation. As a result, even when a general user who does not have specialized knowledge performs maintenance work, it is possible to avoid an electric shock accident or the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided display means for displaying whether the lid is open or closed based on a lid open / close detection signal from the lid detection means. According to this, it is possible to know from the display means whether or not the lid detection means is properly detecting the lid open state or the lid closed state.

Thus, when a general user or an expert worker closes the lid after inspecting the mechanism unit inside the casing box, it is possible to know whether or not the lid is properly closed, and at the same time, the driving power source is provided. It is possible to know whether or not a signal for closing operation is supplied to the opening / closing means for opening / closing the supply circuit. That is, by closing the lid, it is possible to know whether or not the driving power has been supplied to the mechanism unit.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the manual switch means is provided for closing the opening / closing means of the drive power supply circuit when the lid is open. According to the present invention, the lid is opened. As it is, the driving power can be supplied to the mechanism unit by the operation of the manual switch means to perform the trial operation.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the opening / closing means is configured to include a contact provided in the drive power supply circuit and a control section for controlling the opening / closing of the contact, and based on a detection signal from the lid detecting means. The control unit opens and closes the contacts.

As a method of detecting the opening of the lid and shutting off the drive power supply to the mechanism unit,
It is also possible to provide a power switch (for example, a limit switch or the like) on the drive power supply circuit at the opening / closing portion of the lid, and turn on / off the power switch when the lid is opened / closed. Such a case is also included (in this case, the movable part that operates in accordance with the opening and closing movement of the lid serves as the lid detection means, and the contact portion that turns on and off based on the operation of the movable portion serves as the opening and closing means). However, in this case, a high-voltage (for example, 100V) electric wire extends to the opening / closing portion of the lid, and there is a danger that a general user or the like touches the electric wiring when opening / closing the lid.

However, according to the present invention, since the signal from the lid detecting means is sent to the control section so that the control section opens and closes the contact of the drive power supply circuit, the high voltage electric wiring is opened and closed. There is no need to bring it to the department, which provides the advantage of high safety.

Next, the invention according to claim 5 is an application of the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 4 to a bath water circulating device provided with a purifying device for continuously purifying bath water and a heater for continuously heating, inside a casing box. In this case, the advantage of high safety can be obtained even when performing maintenance by opening the lid of the casing box in the apparatus main body while continuously purifying the bath water and continuously heating it.

That is, even when the lid is opened to perform the maintenance work in such a continuous operation state, the pump is stopped and the heater is stopped at the same time when the lid is opened. In addition, the bath water does not overflow and the heater is not left on. Therefore, it is possible to avoid problems such as flooding of each device due to overflow water.

The invention according to claim 6 is the one in which the invention according to claims 1 to 4 is applied to the one further equipped with a sterilizing device, whereby the lid of the casing box is opened when performing maintenance work. Since the power supply to the sterilizer is stopped at the same time it is opened, you can look at the sterilization lamp directly, or if you are using an ozone generator as the sterilizer, take the ozone from the ozone generator. It is possible to avoid such a situation.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a schematic overall configuration of a so-called 24-hour bath, in which 10 is a bathtub and 12 is a bathtub.
Is a device main body of the bath water circulating device and has a casing box 14, and a mechanism unit is housed inside the casing box 14.

Reference numeral 16 denotes an external circulation pipe for taking out the bath water inside the bathtub 10 to the outside and returning it back to the bathtub 10. On the external circulation pipe 16, a circulation pump 18, a filtering device, and a sterilizing device are provided. A purifying device 20 including is provided.

Further, a check valve 22 and a pressure sensor 24A are provided in the middle of the circulation pump 18, and a portion between the circulation pump 18 and the purification device 20 is provided.
An indirect heating type ceramic heater 26 for continuously heating the bath water in the external circulation pipe 16 to keep it warm is provided.

28 is a blower, and an air pipe 30 extends from the blower 28.
However, in the downstream portion of the circulation pump 18, the external circulation pipe 1
6 is connected. An air valve (electromagnetic valve) 32A is provided on the air pipe 30. External circulation piping 1
Further, an air exhaust pipe 34 is connected to 6 via a three-way valve 36 at a downstream portion of the purification device 20.

The bathtub 10 is an air bubble bath, and an air supply pipe 38 is connected to the bubble jet portion of the bathtub 10. An air valve (electromagnetic valve) 3 is provided on the air supply pipe 38.
2B are provided. 42 is a remote controller, and this remote controller 42 is electrically connected to the control device 44. Here, the control device 44 is configured with a CPU (see FIG. 3) 46 as a main element. Incidentally, 48 is an earth leakage breaker.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 50 denotes a lid of the casing box 14, and an opening / closing portion of the lid 50 has a lid sensor 56 as a lid detecting means for detecting the opening / closing of the lid 50.
Is provided. In this example, the lid sensor 56 is the lid 5
It is composed of a magnet 52 provided on the 0 side and a reed switch 54 provided on the casing box body 53 side, and the magnet 52 is provided when the lid 50 is closed.
And the reed switch 54 face each other and the lid sensor 5
6, that is, the reed switch 54 supplies a detection signal of the lid closed state to the control device 44.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the lid sensor 5
Reference numeral 6 is connected to the CPU 46 via a signal display circuit 58, and a detection signal from the lid sensor 56 is supplied to the CPU 46. A manual switch 60 for trial operation as a manual switch means is provided between the lid sensor 56 and the signal display circuit 58. Further, a display unit 62 is connected to the signal display circuit 58 and the lid 50 is When the lid sensor 56 is closed, specifically, when the lid sensor 56 outputs a lid closing signal, an indication that the lid is closed is displayed. The display by the display unit 62 may be optical or audio.

The CPU 46 is also connected with a remote controller 42 and various sensors 24 such as a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor via a remote controller circuit 64 and a sensor circuit 66.
Further, a drive power supply circuit 68 is connected to the CPU 46 via a transformer 70 and a power supply circuit 72, and the CPU 4
A low-voltage control power source is supplied to 6.

The drive power supply circuit 68 is connected to the commercial power supply 74 of 100V, and the drive power supply circuit 6 is also connected.
A circulation pump 18, a sterilization lamp 76 in the purification device 20, a solenoid valve 32, a three-way valve 36, and the like are connected in parallel to the valve 8.

On the drive power supply circuit 68, a relay contact 80A for opening and closing the circuit is provided. 80B
Is a relay coil that opens and closes the relay contact 80A, and is connected to the CPU 46 via a relay drive circuit 82. In this example, the relay 80 including the relay contact 80A, the relay drive circuit 82, and the CPU 46 constitute an opening / closing means for opening / closing the drive power supply circuit 68. Further, the relay coil 80B, the relay drive circuit 82, the CPU 46
The (mainly CPU 46) constitutes a control unit for controlling opening / closing of the contact 80A.

In the apparatus of this example, the bath water in the bathtub 10 is taken out through the external circulation pipe 16 by the activation of the circulation pump 18, passes through the heater 26 and the purifying device 20, and then again in the bathtub 10. Returned to. At this time, air is supplied through the air supply pipe 38 and the bathtub 1
The bath water returned to the inside of the bath 0 becomes a bubbly flow containing bubbles and is ejected into the bath 10.

The bath water externally circulated through the external circulation pipe 16 is heated and kept warm in the process of passing through the heater 26, and is filtered and sterilized by the filtering device 76 in the process of passing through the purifying device 20. After being sterilized by the method, it is purified and then returned to the inside of the bathtub 10 again.

In the apparatus of this example, the purifying device 20
Continuous operation is possible for 24 hours based on the purification of bath water and the heating and heat-retaining action of the heater 26. However, when it is operated for a long period of time, the filtering capacity of the filtering device of the purifying device 20 is lowered, and the sterilizing lamp 76 in the sterilizing device is used.
Reaches the end of its life. Therefore, maintenance work such as taking out and cleaning the filter material in the filter device and replacing the sterilization lamp 76 is required.

This maintenance work is performed by the casing box 14 in the apparatus body 12 as shown in FIG.
This is done by opening the lid 50 of the. This maintenance work may be performed while the bath water circulation device is operating, and in that case, the casing box 1
4. A high-voltage power source is being supplied to the internal equipment units.

However, in this embodiment, the lid sensor 56 including the magnet 52 and the reed switch 54 detects this at the same time when the lid 50 is opened, and supplies the CPU 46 with a detection signal indicating that the lid 50 is opened. .

Based on this, the CPU 46 operates the relay 80 to open the relay contact 80A to open the drive power supply circuit 68. That is, the power supply to the circulation pump 18, the sterilization lamp 76, the solenoid valve 32, the three-way valve 36, etc. is cut off.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent an electric shock accident even when a general user who does not have specialized knowledge performs maintenance work. Further, at that time, the sterilization lamp 76 can be directly seen, or by opening the lid of the filtering device in the purifying device 20, that is, the bath water circulated when the filtering material is taken out overflows and the inside of the casing box 14 is closed. It is also possible to prevent the device unit from getting wet.

When it is necessary to make a trial run of the circulation pump 18 or the like for maintenance work, the circulation pump 18 or the like is operated by operating the trial operation manual switch 60 with the lid 50 left open. be able to.

When the lid 50 is closed next after the predetermined work is completed, the magnet 52 and the reed switch 54 are opposed to each other at that time, and the lid sensor 56 composed of the magnet 52 and the reed switch 54 removes this. It detects and outputs a detection signal to the CPU 46. Based on this, the CPU 46 operates the relay 80 to close the relay contact 80A and supply a predetermined power to the circulation pump 18, the sterilization lamp 76 and the like.

At this time, from the signal display circuit 58 to the display unit 6
A signal is output to 2 and a predetermined display is performed on the display unit 62. That is, the display unit 62 displays that the lid sensor 56 has output the lid closing signal. This ensures that the lid 50 is securely locked in place,
With this, it is possible to confirm whether or not the power is properly supplied to the circulation pump 18, the sterilization lamp 76 and the like. In other words, at this point the circulation pump 1
When 8 and the like do not operate normally, it can be confirmed that the cause is not the failure to close the lid 50, but the other causes.

As described above, in this example, the lid sensor 5
Since the signal from 6 is sent to the control unit and the control unit opens and closes the contact 80A of the drive power supply circuit 68, it is not necessary to bring the high-voltage electrical wiring to the opening and closing unit of the lid 50. It has the advantage of high safety.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail, this is merely an example. For example, in the above embodiment, the lid sensor 5
Although the power supply to the circulation pump 18, the sterilization lamp 76, the solenoid valve 32, the three-way valve 36, etc. is collectively stopped based on the lid opening signal from 6, the circulation pump 18, the sterilization lamp 76, It is also possible to provide relay contacts 80A corresponding to the solenoid valve 32 and the three-way valve 36 and open the relay contacts 80A to cut off the power supply to the respective actuators. In addition, the present invention can be applied to a bath water circulating device in a normal bubble bath.

Further, in the above embodiment, the magnet and the reed switch are used as the lid sensor, but various kinds of other lid sensors can be used. For example, it is possible to use a lid sensor such as a photodiode or a phototransistor that optically detects this when the lid is opened, or a lid sensor or limit switch that magnetically detects this. It is possible to use a sensor that mechanically detects this, or another sensor. In addition, the present invention can be configured in a form in which various changes are made without departing from the gist thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a casing box in a bath water circulating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention with a lid open.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic overall configuration of a bath water circulating apparatus in the same embodiment.

3 is a diagram showing an electrical connection relationship of the bath water circulation device in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Bathtub (Bubble Bathtub) 12 Device Main Body 14 Casing Box 16 External Circulation Piping 18 Circulation Pump 20 Purifier 26 Heater 46 CPU 50 Lid 56 Lid Sensor 60 Manual Switch for Trial Run 62 Display 68 Drive Power Supply Circuit 76 Sterilization Lamp 80 Relay 80A Relay contact 80B Relay coil 82 Relay drive circuit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Motoyuki Nimura 5-1-1, Koiehoncho, Tokoname City, Aichi Prefecture Inax Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A device main body comprising a predetermined mechanical unit including a circulation pump housed in a casing box, and the bath water in a bathtub is taken out through an external circulation pipe based on the operation of the device main body. In the bath water circulating device which is returned to the inside of the bath again, the device body is provided with a lid detection means for detecting opening and closing of the lid of the casing box, and to the mechanism unit based on the detection of lid opening and closing by the lid detection means. And a means for opening and closing the drive power supply circuit of the bath water circulation device. 2. The bath water circulating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying that the lid is in an open or closed state based on a lid opening / closing detection signal from the lid detecting means. . 3. The bath water circulation device according to claim 1, further comprising a manual switch means for closing the opening / closing means of the drive power supply circuit when the lid is in an open state. 4. The contact according to claim 1, wherein the opening / closing means includes a contact provided on the drive power supply circuit.
A control unit for controlling the opening and closing of the contact, the lid detection unit is connected to the control unit, and a detection signal from the lid detection unit is supplied to the control unit to supply the drive power. A bath water circulation device characterized in that the circuit can be opened and closed. 5. A purifying device for continuously purifying external circulating water in the casing box, and a heater for continuously heating the external circulating water to keep it warm according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, and 4. Is stored as a device in the mechanism unit, a bath water circulating device. 6. The bath water circulating device according to claim 5, wherein the purifying device inside the casing box is provided with a sterilizing device for continuously sterilizing external circulating water.