JPH09318157A - Automatic hot water supply bath apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize performance of a hopper device by providing a certain time lag between the opening of a water feed solenoid valve and the closing of a solenoid vent valve in an operation of supplying hot water. SOLUTION: When water discharging operation is finished, a water feed solenoid valve 9 provided in a first hot water supply pipe 7 of a hot water supply circuit (C) is opened. Combustion of a burner 4 of a hot water supply apparatus (A) is started and a solenoid vent valve 32 provided in a vent pipe 30 of a hopper device (D) is closed and hot water supply control is effected. Hot water flows from the hot water supply apparatus (A) to a switching valve (V) via the first hot water supply pipe 7, the water feed solenoid valve 9, the hopper device (D) and a second hot water supply pipe 8 of the hot water supply circuit (C). Then, the flow from the switching valve (V) is divided into a circuit passing from a heat exchanger 17 through a supply pipe 14 and a circuit to a return pipe 15 via a bypass line 19 and the hot water is supplied through two lines of the supply pipe 14 and the return pipe 15. At this time, a certain time lag, e.g. about 1 second is provided between opening of the water feed solenoid valve 9 and closing of the solenoid vent valve 32. Air within the hopper device (D) is relieved into open air and closing of the solenoid vent valve is stabilized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic hot water supply bath device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an automatic operation switch is turned on, water leaks from a hopper device are drained, and then hot water is dropped from a hot water supply device into a bathtub through a hopper device and a bath circuit for additional heating to remove water from the hopper device. When the pouring water reaches the set amount, there is known an automatic hot water supply bath device that stops dropping hot water and reheats it to a set temperature, but in the conventional automatic hot water supply bath device,
At the same time, the drop solenoid valve provided in the hot water supply circuit is opened and the air release solenoid valve provided in the atmosphere opening path of the hopper device is closed at the same time, and the hopper device is drained after filling water. Furthermore, the structure is such that after the filling is stopped, the drop solenoid valve is closed and the atmosphere open solenoid valve is opened at the same time.

[0003]

However, in the above-described conventional automatic hot water supply bath apparatus, the drop solenoid valve is opened and the atmosphere open solenoid valve is closed at the same time when filling water. The air in the hopper reservoir is compressed in the hopper reservoir during the closing operation due to the water pressure of the atmosphere release valve, and the force to push up the atmosphere release valve is generated. There is a problem that water leakage in the hopper device at the time of filling with water is remarkable because the sealing is unstable because the closing is not sensitive and reliable.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional automatic hot water supply bath device,
Since the leaked water is drained after filling with water, the pump operation is a so-called self-priming operation until air enters the bath circuit and equipment for draining when draining and until the air escapes at the time of subsequent draining. There is a problem in that the pump cannot immediately enter the reheating operation by sucking hot water and circulating hot water, resulting in a lot of wasted time.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional automatic hot-water supply bath device, since the dropping solenoid valve is closed and the atmosphere opening solenoid valve is opened at the same time after the filling is stopped, the atmosphere is opened at the same time as the filling is stopped. Due to the inertia action of the hot water, the air from the atmosphere open path of the hopper device enters the bath circuit for reheating and the pump operation at the beginning of the reheating is a so-called self-priming operation, so the pump sucks the hot water However, there is a problem in that it is not possible to immediately enter the reheating operation due to the circulation of, and a large amount of time is wasted.

The automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of the present invention solves the above problems and stabilizes the performance of the hopper device when filling the hot water, and at the same time, the automatic hot water supply bath apparatus that can smoothly reheat after filling the hot water is provided. It is intended to be provided.

[0007]

According to a first automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of the present invention for solving the above problems, a switching valve is switched to a pouring side and a pump is operated for a certain period of time in response to a filling instruction by turning on an automatic operation switch. The drainage means that starts up and drains the leaked water accumulated in the hopper device into the bathtub through the bath circuit, and after the drainage operation by the drainage means is finished, the drop solenoid valve provided in the hot water supply circuit opens and the hopper opens. An air release solenoid valve provided in the air release path of the device is closed, and hot water supply means for dropping hot water from the hot water supply device into the bathtub through the hopper device and the bath circuit, and pouring of a set amount into the bathtub by the hot water supply device. An automatic hot-water supply bath device equipped with a reheating means for stopping the dropping of hot water when the hot water ends and for heating the hot water in the bathtub to a set temperature when the temperature is below a set temperature. Oke A certain time difference is provided between the opening of the drop solenoid valve and the closing of the atmosphere release solenoid valve so that the air in the hopper device is released to the atmosphere when the water is filled and the closing of the atmosphere release valve of the hopper device is affected by air. It is configured to include an opening / closing control means that can be stably performed without the need.

A second automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus according to the present invention which solves the above-mentioned problems is configured such that drainage of the hopper apparatus by the drainage means in the series of water filling operation of the first automatic hot-water bath apparatus is dropped by hot water supply means. The configuration is provided with drainage leading means that is performed only immediately before entering the bathing operation to replace the air in the bath circuit with hot water.

A third automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems closes the drop solenoid valve when the hot-water supply means stops the hot-water filling in the series of the hot-water supply bath operations of the first automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus. After that, the hot water supply circuit is closed, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve is opened to provide opening / closing means for preventing air from entering the bath circuit.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of the present invention, when the automatic operation switch is turned on, the switching valve switches to the pouring side to form the hot water supply path, and then the pump is activated for a certain period of time to start the hopper device. Equipped with a drainage means for draining the water leaked in the hopper reservoir of the into the bathtub through the bath circuit,

When the drainage operation by the draining means is completed, the drop solenoid valve provided in the hot water supply circuit is opened, the atmosphere release solenoid valve provided in the atmosphere opening path of the hopper device is closed, and the hot water supply device is provided. The burner includes a hot water supply means that starts burning and drops hot water from the hot water supply device into the bathtub through the hopper device and the bath circuit,

When the pouring of water into the bathtub by the hot water supply means reaches a set amount, the pouring of hot water is stopped, and the switching valve is switched to the additional heating side, and when the hot water in the bathtub is below the set temperature, the set temperature is reached. It is equipped with a reheating means for reheating.

In a series of filling operations by the drainage means, hot water supply means and reheating means, a certain time difference is provided between the opening of the drop solenoid valve and the closing of the atmosphere open solenoid valve so that the drop solenoid valve opens. The air release solenoid valve is closed after a certain time from, so that the air in the hopper device that escapes the air in the hopper device to the atmosphere when the water is filled is opened and closed stably by the air pressure. It is provided with open / close control means that can be operated.

In the above series of filling operations, the water in the bath circuit is drained to the bathtub for leaking the water stored in the hopper reservoir of the hopper device only just before the hot water supply means starts dropping water. Is equipped with a drainage leading means in which is replaced with hot water,

Furthermore, when the filling is stopped, the drop solenoid valve is closed and then the switching valve is turned on to close the hot water supply circuit, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve is opened to prevent air from entering the bath circuit. Equipped with means.

The above various operations are automatically controlled by a controller according to a predetermined program.

The hopper device is provided with a valve body integrally provided with an atmosphere release valve and a pressure receiving body for receiving water pressure from the hot water supply circuit in the valve chamber, and the hot water supply circuit is moved forward and backward by the water flow pressure. Can be opened and closed, and can communicate with and shut off from the atmosphere.It has a hopper reservoir underneath it, and this hopper reservoir holds water leakage from the atmosphere opening port that is opened and closed by the atmosphere release valve. Maintains the inside of the hot water supply circuit at atmospheric pressure by using a structure that has an open air path that leads to the outside air. A motor-driven two-way valve is used as the switching valve.

Although one example of the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. Of course.

In order to further clarify the structure and the embodiment of the present invention described above, an embodiment specifically showing the automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS.
The hot water supply device A, the reheating device B, the hopper device D provided in the hot water supply circuit C, the pump P provided in the bath circuit E, and the switching valve V provided at the connecting portion between the hot water supply circuit C and the bath circuit E are the main components. It is configured as a functional unit and has a controller (not shown) that controls these operations.

The hot water supply device A exchanges heat with a water supply pipe 1 to which cold water is supplied, a heat exchanger 2 connected to the water supply pipe 1, and a hot water supply pipe 3 connected to the downstream side of the heat exchanger 2. And a burner 4 for heating the vessel 2, and while cold water from the water supply pipe 1 flows through the heat exchanger 2 heated by the burner 4, heat is exchanged to form hot water of a predetermined temperature and is sent to the hot water supply pipe 3. The hot water supply pipe 3 is branched from the middle and divided into a hot water supply circuit C and a general hot water supply circuit 6. The hot water supply device A of the embodiment is of a mixing type in which the water supply pipe 1 and the hot water supply pipe 3 are connected by a bypass pipe 5.

Hot water supply circuit C branched from the middle of the hot water supply pipe 3
Includes a first hot water supply pipe 7 and a second hot water supply pipe 8, and a hopper device D, which will be described later, for maintaining this circuit at atmospheric pressure is provided between the first hot water supply pipe 7 and the second hot water supply pipe 8. A drop solenoid valve 9 for opening and closing the circuit is provided in the first hot water supply pipe 7 and is connected to a reheating device B described later. On the other hand, an external hot water supply pipe 11 leading to a hot water supply port 10 such as a washroom or a shower is connected to the general hot water supply circuit 6 branched from the middle of the hot water supply pipe 3. In the figure, 12 is a hot water supply tap and 1a is a water inlet.

The reheating device B forms a bath circuit E composed of a forward pipe 14 and a return pipe 15 each having one end connected to the bus adapter 13a of the bath 13 and the other end connected to the circulation pump P. A heat exchanger 17 heated by a burner 16 is provided in the middle of the upstream pipe 14, and the return pipe 15 of the bath circuit E and the second hot water supply pipe 8 of the hot water supply circuit C are provided.
A switching valve V of a motor drive type is provided at a connection portion with, and the switching valve V is provided with two-way valves 35 and 36 having three ports, and is moved forward and backward by a motor M to fill the flow path with water, drain water, It is designed so that it can be switched to reheating.

The return pipe 15 of the bath circuit E is provided with a bypass passage 19 provided with a check valve 18 across the motor-driven switching valve V, and when the water is filled, the bypass passage 19 is communicated with the hot water supply circuit C so as to flow the water. The passage is made to be able to be poured by the two main pipes of the going pipe 14 and the returning pipe 15.

The hopper device D is provided with a valve chamber 21 and a hopper reservoir 22 with the partition wall 20 sandwiched between them, and the first hot water supply pipe 7 of the hot water supply circuit C is connected to the upper part of the valve chamber 21. A valve body 26 integrally including an atmosphere release valve 24 that opens and closes the atmosphere release port 23 provided in the partition wall 20 and a pressure receiving body 25 that receives the water pressure from the hot water supply circuit C is provided with a spring 27 to introduce the pressure receiving body 25 into the inflow side. It is equipped with an urging force to open and close the atmosphere opening port 23 by advancing and retracting due to the water pressure. Then, the second hot water supply pipe 8 of the hot water supply circuit C is connected to the edge cutting chamber 28 formed around the valve body 26 via the first check valve 29.

Further, the hopper reservoir 22 has an atmosphere open pipe 30 communicating with the outside air and a drain pipe 3 communicating with the second hot water supply pipe 8.
1, the atmosphere opening pipe 30 is provided with an atmosphere opening electromagnetic valve 32. The drain pipe 31 is provided with a third check valve 33, and the second check valve 34 is provided downstream of the connection portion of the second hot water supply pipe 8 with the drain pipe 31.

In the above structure, automatic hot water supply control, reheating control, time difference control between opening of the drop solenoid valve and closing of the atmosphere opening solenoid valve at the time of filling water, which is a feature of the present invention, drainage advance control, and filling water stop. The opening / closing control for opening the atmosphere opening solenoid valve after closing the drop-in solenoid valve at time is performed by a controller (not shown), and the controller includes a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM that form a well-known arithmetic logic operation circuit.
It consists of an input interface and an output interface.

Next, the control processing of the automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In response to a water filling instruction by turning on the automatic operation switch (S10), first, the two-way valves 35 and 36 of the switching valve V are set.
Moves to the pouring side (right side in the drawing) to switch to form a hot water supply path, and then the pump P is activated (S11). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the water leak a accumulated in the hopper pool 22 of the hopper device D is drained by the suction force of the pump P to the drain pipe 31 → the second hot water supply pipe 8 → the switching valve V → the return pipe. 15
→ Pump P → Heat exchanger 17 → Outgoing pipe 14 and bathtub 13
Drained to This draining operation is completed within a fixed time (for example, about 3 seconds) from the start of the pump P to the stop (S12). At this time, since the check valve 18 is provided in the bypass passage 19, there is no inflow of hot water from the return pipe 15 and the drainage is smoothly performed. By this drainage operation, all of the leaked water a in the edging chamber 28 of the hopper device and the hopper reservoir 22 is drained, so that there is no fear of freezing.

When the drainage operation is completed, the drop solenoid valve 9 provided in the first hot water supply pipe 7 of the hot water supply circuit C is opened (S13), and the burner 4 of the hot water supply device A starts burning.
At the same time, the atmosphere release solenoid valve 32 provided in the atmosphere release pipe 30 of the hopper device D is closed (S14) to enter the hot water supply system, and as shown in FIG. 1st hot water supply pipe 7-> drop solenoid valve 9-> hopper device D
→ The second hot water supply pipe 8 → The switching valve V → The return pipe 15 is branched so that one is to the heat exchanger 17 → the outgoing pipe 14, and the other is the bypass path 19 → the return pipe 15, that is, the outgoing pipe 14 and the return pipe 15. It is possible to reduce the low pressure loss and shorten the hot water supply time by pouring the molten metal in the two pipes of the pipe 15. At this time, the atmosphere release solenoid valve 32
Is closed, and water leaking from the atmosphere opening port 23 is stored in the hopper reservoir 22, so there is no water leakage to the outside. The pouring of the hot water supply operation described above is performed, for example, by tap water pressure.

When the pouring into the bathtub 13 reaches the set amount by the above hot water supply operation (S15: YES), the drop solenoid valve 9
Is closed and pouring is stopped (S16). After that, the two-way valves 35 and 36 of the switching valve V move to the reheating side (the left side in the drawing) to form a switching reheating path (S17), and the atmosphere opening solenoid valve 32 opens (S18), and the pump P starts up (S1
9) If the hot water in the bathtub 13 is below the set temperature (S
20: NO), the burner 16 burns and starts the reheating operation (S21). Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The hot water in the bathtub 13 is heated and circulated in the reheating path of the return pipe 15 → the switching valve V → the pump P → the heat exchanger 17 → the forward pipe 14 and reaches the set temperature (S22: YES), the burner 16 burns. Stop (S23) and pump P also stop (S24)
The reheating operation ends. With the above, a series of filling operation is completed (S25). If the hot water poured into the bathtub 13 is equal to or higher than the set temperature (S20: YES), the reheating operation is not performed, the pump P is stopped (S24), and the series of hot water filling operations is completed ( S25). In the reheating operation, the hopper device D is operated by the three check valves 29, 33, 34.
Backflow water leakage to is surely prevented.

After the drop solenoid valve 9 is opened with a certain time difference between the opening of the drop solenoid valve 9 and the closing of the atmosphere release solenoid valve 32 after the completion of the drainage operation in the above series of filling operation (S13). By closing the air release solenoid valve 32 (S14) after a fixed time (for example, 1 second),
When the drop-in solenoid valve 9 is opened to pass hot water, the valve body 26 of the hopper device D is pushed down by the water flow pressure, the atmosphere opening valve 24 closes the atmosphere opening port 23, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve 32 To be closed. Therefore, when the valve body 26 descends, the air in the hopper reservoir 22 escapes from the atmosphere opening passage 30 into the atmosphere, so that the closing operation of the atmosphere opening valve 24 is performed sensitively and reliably without being affected by the air. Since the operation is stable, hot water does not leak from the atmosphere opening port 23.

Further, in the above series of filling operations, the switching valve V is switched to the pouring side and the pump P is started (S11),
By performing the drainage operation by stopping the pump P after a predetermined time (S12) only immediately before filling the hot water, the water filling operation performed immediately after the air that has entered the equipment and the bath circuit E by the drainage (S13). ) And (S16), the hot water is replaced and purged, so that the additional heating operation (S
Even when 17) and (S19) are performed, the operation of the pump P does not have a so-called self-priming operation and no time is required for self-priming, so that the combustion mode is rapidly shifted to (S20), (S2).
1) The reheating operation can be performed smoothly.

Further, when the hot water filling operation in the series of hot water filling operations is stopped (S15: YES), the drop solenoid valve 9 is closed (S16) and then the switching valve V is turned on (S17) to close the hot water supply circuit C. After that, by opening the atmosphere opening solenoid valve 32 (S18), the communication with the atmosphere is closed in the state where the drop solenoid valve 9 is closed, so that there is no inflow of air, and then the switching valve Since the hot water supply circuit C is closed by V and the bath circuit E is communicated, the bath circuit E
No air will enter the. Therefore, during the next reheating operation, the operation of the pump P does not have a so-called self-priming operation and the time for self-priming is not required, so that the combustion is promptly transitioned to (S20), (S21), and the reheating operation. Can be done smoothly.

As described above, in the automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of this embodiment, the atmosphere release solenoid valve 32 is simply closed after a certain period of time has elapsed since the drop solenoid valve 9 was opened during filling with water. The atmosphere release valve in the hopper device can be operated stably without increasing, and since only the drainage is performed just before filling the hot water, the subsequent reheating operation can be performed quickly and the reheating time can be shortened. Moreover, since the hot water supply circuit D is only closed after the drop-in solenoid valve 9 is closed when the hot water filling is stopped, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve 32 is opened, the subsequent reheating operation can be performed without increasing the number of parts. It can be done promptly and the reheating time can be shortened.

[0036]

According to the first automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of the present invention described above, a certain time difference is provided between the opening of the drop solenoid valve and the closing of the atmosphere release solenoid valve when filling water, and the opening and closing timings thereof are set. By shifting, the air is prevented from affecting the operation of the atmosphere release valve of the hopper device, and the operation is made stable, so that water leakage in the hopper device at the time of filling with water is eliminated.

Further, since the second automatic hot-water supply bath apparatus of the present invention drains water only immediately before filling it with water, since the air that has entered the bath circuit or the like is replaced by the drainage water, it is reheated thereafter. The operation can be performed smoothly and the reheating time can be shortened.

Furthermore, in the third automatic hot water supply bath apparatus of the present invention, when the filling is stopped, the hot water supply circuit is closed after closing the drop-in solenoid valve, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve is opened. It does not enter, and the subsequent reheating operation can be performed smoothly, and the reheating time can be shortened.

The automatic hot-water supply bath device of the present invention is an excellent invention that can achieve the intended purpose without a large-scale structure because it only opens and closes the valve at a predetermined timing and drains water. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram at the time of additional heating, showing an embodiment of an automatic hot-water supply bath device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of only a main part at the time of filling with hot water.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of only a main part during drainage.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a series of filling operations.

[Explanation of symbols]

A ... Hot water supply device, B ... Reheating device, C ... Hot water supply circuit, D ... Hopper device, E ... Bath circuit, V ... Switching valve, P ... Pump, 1
3 ... bath, 9 ... drop solenoid valve, 32 ... atmosphere open solenoid valve.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A drainage in which a switching valve is switched to a pouring side by a pouring instruction by turning on an automatic operation switch and a pump is activated for a certain period of time to leak leaked water in a hopper device into a bathtub through a bath circuit. Means, and after the draining operation by the draining means is completed, the drop solenoid valve provided in the hot water supply circuit is opened and the atmosphere release solenoid valve provided in the atmosphere release path of the hopper device is closed to remove the water from the water heater. When the hot water supply means for dropping hot and cold water into the bathtub through the hopper device and the bath circuit and the pouring of the set amount of water into the bathtub by the hot water supply means are finished, the drop of hot and cold water is stopped and the hot water in the bathtub is kept below the set temperature. An automatic hot water supply bath device provided with a reheating means for reheating to a set temperature at a certain time, wherein a fixed time difference is provided between the opening of the drop solenoid valve and the closing of the atmosphere release solenoid valve during the above water filling operation. hand Automatic hot water bath apparatus characterized by closing the air release valve of the air in the hopper device during water filling missed the atmosphere hopper device comprising a switching control unit that can perform stably. 2. The drainage in which the air in the bath circuit is replaced with hot water by draining the hopper device by the draining means in the series of hot water filling operations according to claim 1 just before the hot water supplying means starts dropping hot water. An automatic hot-water supply bath device, which is equipped with a preceding means. 3. When the filling of water by the hot water supply means in the series of filling operations of claim 1 is stopped, the drop solenoid valve is closed and then the hot water supply circuit is closed, and then the atmosphere opening solenoid valve is opened to release air into the bath circuit. An automatic hot-water supply bath device comprising an opening / closing means for preventing entry.