JPH09324953A - Heat insulating and purifying system for bathtub water - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heat insulating and purifying system for bathtub water which can sterilize Legionella germ throughout the entire body of the heat insulating and circulating system of bathtub water and save energy and water. SOLUTION: A heat insulating and purifying system for bathtub water is provided with a gas or petroleum fired or electric heater type heating and heat insulating part 61 for bathtub water and a filtration tank 49 for filtering the bathtub water. Further, a short-circuit pipeline 73 for short-circuiting a flow pipeline 65 and a return pipe 13 in the front part of a bathtub 7 in a circulating pipeline is provided between them. A selector valve 71 is provided in the combined part of the flow pipeline 65 and the short-circuit pipeline 73. The heating and heat insulating part heats bathtub water to 65 deg.C or higher and the high temperature water can be supplied to the entire body of the bathtub water circulating pipeline except the front part of the bathtub 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bath water keeping / purifying system for keeping and purifying bath water in a so-called 24-hour bath. In particular, the present invention relates to a bath tub water heat purifying system capable of efficiently disinfecting Legionella spp., Which is becoming a problem as being propagated in this system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It has recently been practiced to use water for many days while purifying water in a bathtub without discarding the water. For example, there is a so-called 24-hour bath, which has the advantage of contributing to water saving and energy saving in addition to the comfort and convenience of being able to take a bath at any time. In addition, the 24-hour bath referred to in this specification is not limited to home use,
It also includes public baths, hot springs, dormitories and nursing home baths of the same type. Such a bath is provided with a bathtub water circulation system for circulating and purifying bathtub water. The bathtub water circulation system plays a role of removing dirt and dirt from the bathtub water, sterilizing bacteria, and keeping the bathtub water clean.

Various bacteria are mixed in the bath water in the bath water circulation system from the human body or from the outside. One of such fungi
One is Legionella spp., Which causes highly lethal legionellosis. Legionnaires 'disease is classified into two types: Legionella pneumonia with multiple organ disorders (conventional veterans' disease) and Pontiac fever (non-pneumonia type) which is an influenza-like febrile disease. Dust on the soil in which Legionella spp. Inhabits and artificial water such as cooling towers contaminated by the dust are the source of this disease. Many outbreaks reported so far are caused by aerosol ( This is caused by the scattering of Legionella spp. By liquid particles suspended in the air. It is not only the cooling tower that generates the aerosol, but also the humidifier, 4
Showers, hot springs, whirlpool baths that use hot water storage tanks at about 0 ° C,
Decorative fountains are also known to be a source of infection. Since there is no human-to-human transmission, it is important to reduce the number of Legionella spp. And aerosol generation in water use facilities that are the source of infection.

A bath water keeping warm purification system having a sterilizing device has been proposed or developed as a measure for reducing germs propagating in the bath water circulation system. FIG. 2 is a system diagram of a bath water warm insulation purification system having an ultraviolet lamp as a sterilizer. In the bathtub water heat insulation purification system of FIG. 2, the bathtub water is bathtub 7 → water inlet / outlet port 11 → return pipe 13 → pipe 33 in the purification unit 5 → circulation pump 35 → pipe 37 → ultraviolet lamp 41 → three-way valve 43 → pipe 45 → Filtration tank 49 → Piping 51 → Three-way valve 53 → Piping 55 → Piping 57 → Bath water heating / insulating section 61 → Piping 63 → Outgoing piping 57 → Water inlet / outlet port 11 → Circulating bath 7

The water inlet / outlet port 11 is provided with a coarse filter, and large dust such as hair is caught here. The ultraviolet lamp 41 in the bath water purification unit 5 irradiates the bath water with ultraviolet rays to sterilize it. Filter tank 4
9 has a built-in filter material (mesh, beads, etc.),
Remove small dust, dirt, oil, etc. in the bath water.

Three-way valves 43 and 53 are provided in front of and behind the filter tank 49. By switching these three-way valves, backwashing of the filtration tank 49 (the flow of water is from the pipe 39 to the three-way valve 5
3 → pipe 51 → filter tank 49 → pipe 45 → three-way valve 43 → pipe 47). Note that a port painted black in the three-way valve is closed, and a white port is open.

[0007]

The bath water keeping warm purification system of FIG. 2 has the following problems. That is, in the sterilization by irradiation with ultraviolet rays, ultraviolet rays are not irradiated to the microorganisms that are in the shadow of other microorganisms, so that the sterilization cannot be performed completely. Further, since the quartz tube of the irradiation device becomes cloudy, the irradiation ability may decrease. In addition, for various bacteria that use hot water such as scale accumulated in the piping system as a hotbed,
Since it cannot be circulated, it cannot be effectively sterilized (it does not reach the UV lamp).

On the other hand, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-38111 proposes to pass hot water of 60 ° C. or more from a water heater to a bath water purification filter to sterilize the filter. However, it is not possible to sterilize Legionella at 60 ° C. In addition, the concretely proposed water-passing method is only the method of backwashing the filter.

An object of the present invention is to provide an energy-saving and water-saving type bath water keeping warm purification system which can sterilize Legionella spp. Throughout the bath water keeping warm circulation system.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a bath water heat insulation / purification system of the present invention has a pipe for circulating bath water, and the bath water is kept warm (heated) in the pipe. A bath water warming and purification system for purifying; a gas or oil-fired or electric heater type bath water heating and heat insulating section, a filtration tank for filtering bath water, and a forward pipe and a return pipe in front of the bathtub in the circulation pipeline. And a switching valve provided at a confluence of the forward pipe and the short-circuit pipe;
As described above, the bath water is heated, and the hot water can be circulated in the entire bath water circulation pipe except the front portion of the bath.

That is, high-temperature water is circulated in the entire system (excluding the front part of the bathtub) to perform high-temperature sterilization of the entire system. According to experiments conducted by us, high-temperature sterilization at 63 ° C. for 5 minutes or 65 ° C. for 1 minute can obtain a considerable sterilizing effect of Legionella spp. Therefore, if high-temperature water of 65 ° C. or higher is passed through the purification unit, a sufficient sterilizing effect can be obtained. In addition, since the bath water in the circulation pipe is circulated and used, sterilization can be performed without using extra energy and water.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The following will specifically describe the present invention. FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing the configuration of a bath water heat retention purification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Compared to the bath water heat insulation purification system of FIG. 2 described above, a three-way valve 71 is provided between the forward pipe 65 and the return pipe 13 in the front portion of the bath 7.
Also, the short-circuit pipe 73 enters, and the short-circuit pipe 73 and the water inlet / outlet port 1
The check valve 74 is inserted between the check valve 1 and the check valve 1.

That is, the circulation route for high temperature water bacteria in the bath water heat retention circulation system of FIG. 1 enters the return pipe 13 → purification unit 5, and the pipe 33 → pump 35 → pipe 37.
→ UV lamp 41 → Three-way valve 43 → Piping 45 → Filtration tank 4
9 → Pipe 51 → Three-way valve 53 → Pipe 55 → Pipe 57 → Bath water heating / heat-retaining part 61 → Pipe 63 → Outgoing pipe 65 → Three-way valve 71 → Short-circuit pipe 73 → Return pipe 13. As described above, the system of the present invention is characterized by being able to sterilize all the pipelines and constituent devices except for a part of the piping in the front part of the bathtub 7 by passing hot water. The check valve 73 blocks hot water from flowing from the return pipe 13 to the bath 7.

The heating and heat retaining section 61 is gas-fired (petroleum-fired or electric heater type may be used). The bath water temperature control at the time of high temperature sterilization in the bath water heating and heat retaining unit 61 will be described. The temperature of circulating bath water is 65 ℃ or more and 100 ℃
Proportional control or on-of
A control unit for F control is provided. As described above, the temperature on the outlet side of the heat insulation section 61 needs to be 65 ° C. or higher. One of the means to achieve this is water regulation. For example, when the rated gas flow rate is supplied to the gas burner of the bath water heating and heat retaining unit, the water amount is adjusted so that the amount of water that makes the bath water temperature 65 ° C. or higher flows. For example, a temperature sensor (return hot water temperature thermistor 83, forward hot water temperature thermistor 81) that detects the inlet and outlet temperatures of the bath water heating and heat retaining unit 61 is attached, and the water amount adjustment is controlled by a feedback signal from the sensor. You may

The second method of controlling the bath water temperature is a method of controlling the amount of gas supplied to the gas burner.
For example, a gas proportional valve can be provided in front of the gas burner and the gas flow rate can be controlled so that the temperature of the bath water in the temperature sensor becomes 65 ° C. or higher.

In the bath water warming purification system of FIG. 1, the frequency and number of high temperature sterilization operations are once or twice a day,
It is standard to carry out for 5 to 10 minutes.

In the bath water keeping warm purification system of FIG.
High temperature sterilization was performed once a day at 65 ° C. for 5 minutes, and changes in the number of Legionella spp. In the bath water were examined over 50 days. In addition,
When hot water is passed, the bath water temperature on the outlet side of the filtration tank 49 is 64
It took 5 minutes after the temperature reached ℃. As a result, the number of Legionella bacteria was 10 to 1 even after 30 to 50 days from the start of the test.
0 and less ^two / 100 ml, good results were obtained. On the other hand, in the bath water heat insulation purification system of FIG. 2, the number of Legionella spp. Reached 10 ⁴ cells / 100 ml after 10 to 20 days.

The present invention is also applicable to systems other than the type shown in FIG. 1, for example, a system of heating bath water in a bath water heater outside the purification unit. Further, the bath water that has been circulated at high temperature for sterilization can be returned to the bath again to be used as a heat retaining heat source for the bath water, or can be used as water for backwashing the filtration layer. Furthermore, if the structure is such that the short-circuit pipe and the switching valve are incorporated in the water inlet / outlet port of the bathtub, the system of the present invention can be applied to an existing bathtub without performing piping work.

[0019]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides an energy-saving / water-saving type bath water heat insulation purification system which can sterilize Legionella spp. Throughout the bath water heat insulation circulation system. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a configuration of a bath water heat retention purification system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of a bath water heat retention purification system having an ultraviolet lamp as a sterilizer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bathtub Water Warming Purification System 3 Bath Water Heater 5 Purification Unit 7 Bathtub 9 Bathwater Circulation Pipeline 11 Water Transmission / Reception Port 13 Return Pipe 31 Pipe 33 Pipe 35 Pipe 37 Pipe 39 Pipe 41 UV Sterilization Lamp 43 3-way Valve 45 Pipe 47 Pipe 49 Filter Tank 51 piping 53 three-way valve 55 piping 57 piping 61 bath water heating / heat-retaining portion 63 piping 65 piping 71 three-way valve 73 short-circuit piping 74 check valve 81 outgoing hot water temperature thermistor 83 return hot water thermistor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A bath water warming / purification system which has a pipe for circulating bath water and performs heat retention (heating) and purification of the bath water in the pipe; gas or petroleum fired or electric heater type Bath water heating and heat insulating section, a filtration tank for filtering the bath water, a short-circuit pipe provided between the forward pipe and the return pipe in front of the bath in the circulation pipe, and a short-circuit pipe for short-circuiting both, and a forward pipe and a short-circuit pipe. A switching valve provided at the confluence part of
The heating and heat-retaining part heats the bath water to 65 ° C. or higher,
A bath water heat insulation purification system characterized in that the high temperature water is configured to be able to circulate in the entire bath water circulation pipeline except for the front portion of the bath. 2. The temperature of circulating bath water is 65 ° C. or higher and 10
Proportional control or ON- control of the above-mentioned heat retaining part so that it becomes less than 0 ° C.
The bathtub water heat retention purification system according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit for performing OFF control. 3. The bath water heat retention purification system according to claim 1, wherein the bath water circulated at high temperature is returned to the bath water again to be used as a heat retention heat source for the bath water. 4. The bath water keeping warm purification system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bath water circulated at high temperature is used as water for backwashing the filtration layer. 5. The bath water keeping warm purification system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the short-circuit pipe and the switching valve are incorporated in a water inlet / outlet port of the bathtub.