JPH0957023A - Purifying device for bath tub water - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To arrange an ultraviolet sterilization device capable of accurately detecting the crack of a protecting tube housing an ultraviolet ray lamp and free from the danger of electrical shock in the case of breaking the protecting tube. SOLUTION: A sensor chamber 45 prevented from the flow-in of the hot water by separating the upper part of a hot water flow-in port 35 of a jacket 34, through which the hot water in the ultraviolet sterilization device 29 is passed, by a partition plate 38 and communicating with atmosphere of the inside of the protecting tube is provided and a pressure sensor 30 for detecting the increase of the pressure in the tube as the increase in voltage when the hot water flows in the sensor chamber by breaking the protecting tube is disposed in a state out of the ultraviolet ray. Where, the parting plate 38 is constituted so that the protecting tube 32 housing detachably the ultraviolet ray lamp 31 is inserted in a protecting tube attaching hole 39 with an attaching ring 33 serving also as a sealing material.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bath device, and in particular, it performs a cleaning treatment such as filtration and sterilization while forcibly circulating hot water in a bathtub and at the same time keeps it warm at the bath temperature to keep the bath water clean and at an appropriate temperature. The present invention relates to a so-called 24-hour bath device in which the user can take a bath at any time for 24 hours.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a bath water purifying device has been actively used, which keeps the hot water in the bathtub clean and at an appropriate temperature constantly, allows a comfortable bathing at any time for 24 hours, and saves water.

An example of such a bath water purifying apparatus is as shown in FIG. 8, in which 1 is a bath, 2 is hot water, 3 is a suction pipe for pumping up hot water 2 in the bath 1, and 4 are An apparatus main body in which devices for cleaning the hot water pumped up by the hot water suction pipe 3 are collectively arranged, and 9 is a spout pipe for ejecting the hot water treated by the device main body 4 again into the bathtub 1. .

In order to remove dirt from the bath water, the apparatus body 4 is filled with various granular filter media such as activated carbon, activated stone, porous ceramic balls, etc., or a fibrous filter, individually or in combination, and a filtration tank 5. A circulation pump 6 for forcedly circulating hot water, a heater 7 for keeping the hot water at an appropriate temperature, and a cleaning treatment device such as an ozonizer 8 as a high-pressure discharge type ozone generator for sterilizing the hot water with ozone are provided. .

Numeral 10 is a prefilter attached to the tip of the hot water pipe 3 for removing large dirt in advance before it is pumped up to the apparatus main body 4, and 11 is hot water after cleaning treatment in the bathtub 1 as a jet flow having a high flow rate. Intake pipe 1 ejected to the
Reference numeral 2 is a jet nozzle connected to the ejector section.

A solenoid valve 13 for opening and closing the pipe line is provided at the tip of the intake pipe 12 connected to the ejector portion of the jet nozzle 11, and an ozonizer 8 is provided on the way, and when the solenoid valve 13 is opened, the jet nozzle 11 is opened. The air is sucked in from the intake pipe 12 by the intake force of the air, and this air is mixed in the hot water in the ejector section, and the hot water is jetted into the bathtub 1 together with the hot water from the jet nozzle 11 to form a bubble bath. Ozone generated from the oxygen in the air is jetted into the bath 1 to sterilize the hot water 2 with ozone.

Further, in this apparatus, in order to remove dirt from the filter material of the filtration tank 5, the hot water is back-flowed into the tank for so-called back-washing, or in order to strengthen the jet flow, the hot water is passed through a bypass pipe having a low resistance. Switching valves 14 and 15 are provided on the hot water pipe 3 and the hot water pipe 9, respectively, so that the pipe lines can be switched.

Reference numeral 16 designates a hot water suction pipe 3 and a hot melt pipe 9 for forming a bypass pipe line which does not pass hot water in the filtration tank 5 having a large resistance.
Reference numeral 17 denotes a bypass pipe connected to the hot water suction pipe 3 via the switching valve 14 for discharging hot water for backwashing.

Reference numeral 18 is a check valve provided in the hot water suction pipe 3 for preventing hot water in the pipe line from leaking out when it is filled with water or flowing back into the bathtub 1 when the operation of the circulation pump is stopped. The reference numeral 19 indicates that the hot water in the bathtub has fallen out, or air has been sucked into the pipeline due to equipment damage or other reasons, and the circulation pump loses the hot water absorption capacity, and the hot water flows into the circulation path. It is based on the pressure difference between the suction side and the discharge side of the circulation pump 6 as a water shortage sensor that acts as a safety device to prevent the pump 7 from being broken and the heater 7 from becoming empty. Reference numeral 20 denotes a differential pressure sensor, which is a hot water temperature sensor which constantly detects the hot water temperature and sends it to the control device in order to control the power supply to the heater 7 and keep the hot water temperature at an appropriate temperature.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a thermostat provided in the heater 7. When the heater 7 is of an indirect heating type in which hot water flowing in the heat transfer tube is heated via a heat medium, the inner surface of the heat transfer tube is covered with scale and heat is transferred. It is provided as a safety device for preventing the heater 7 itself from being overheated when the temperature falls.

In the device configured as described above, the user can set various operation modes as necessary by using the operation panel as shown in FIG. When the operation is set by the stop key 22, the operation is normally performed in the cleaning mode, and the hot water 2 in the bathtub 1 is cleaned by the prefilter 10 to remove large dirt, and then the filtration tank 5 is used.
After being filtered by and heated by the heater 7, ozone is jetted from the jet nozzle 11 at the tip of the spout tube 9 to sterilize ozone.

As described above, when the apparatus is operated in the cleaning mode, ozone is constantly ejected into the bathtub 1. Therefore, the bather does not inhale ozone during bathing, so that the bather takes a bath. A bathing mode for cutting off ozone sterilization for a limited time can be set by the bathing key 24. When the bathing mode is set, the solenoid valve 13 is closed and the operation of the ozonizer 8 is stopped at the same time. During the bathing mode, which is set to about time, the ejection of ozone into the bathtub is stopped.

In addition, a jet mode can be set by the jet key 23 so that a bather can enjoy a so-called bubble bath by jetting a jet flow in which air is mixed with hot air into the bathtub. When set, only the solenoid valve 13 is opened so that the air sucked from the intake pipe 12 is not absorbed by the jet nozzle 11
When hot water is blown out into the bathtub 1 together with hot water and the jet mode is set to be particularly strong, the switching valve 1
Bathtub 1 with 4 and 15 switched and pumped up from hot water pipe 3
The hot water 2 in the inside is made to flow directly to the hot water pipe 9 through the bypass pipe 16 without flowing through the filtration tank 5 and the heater 7.

Then, the resistance of the circulation path of the hot water is reduced, the flow velocity of the hot water flowing through the jet nozzle 11 is increased, and at the same time, the degree of the negative pressure formed in the ejector section is increased and the intake pipe 1 is also increased.
Since the amount of intake air from 2 also increases, the strength of the jet flow becomes stronger.

When it is desired to continue the cleaning process to wash the filter material in the filtration tank 5, the switching valves 14 and 15 are switched by setting backwashing with a backwashing key (not shown), and the bathtub 1 pumped from the hot water pipe 3 is used. The hot water 2 in the bypass pipe 16
There is also provided a backwashing mode in which the inside of the filtration tank 5 is backflowed through, and the water is drained from the hot water discharge pipe 17 to perform so-called backwashing.

The operation panel shown in FIG. 9 further includes a display panel 27 for changing the display of the hot water temperature or the time with the display changeover key 25 while changing the setting of the hot water temperature or the time with the setting change key 26, and various types of display. A plurality of display lamps 28 showing the selected state of the mode are provided.

As described above, in the conventional bathtub cleaning device, the ozonizer, which is a high-pressure discharge type ozone generator, is a sterilizer because it is small and inexpensive, and the amount of ozone generated is easy to control. Is widely used as.

However, if the ozonizer constructed as described above is used as a sterilizing device in the bath water purifying device, ozone sterilization must be stopped at the time of bathing where the hot water is most contaminated as described above, and the ozone sterilization is performed at midnight. When sterilizing, there was a problem that the sound of inhalation disturbed sleep.

Further, the ozonizer causes electric appliances such as TVs to interfere with electric waves due to noise generated during high-voltage discharge, and contains the silicon compound released from the silicone rubber tube used for piping and sucks in high-humidity air. There is also a problem in that the surface of the discharge electrode is easily contaminated and the ozone generation efficiency is lowered.

As described above, since many problems occur when a high-pressure discharge type ozonizer is used as a sterilizer in a bath water cleaning device, an ultraviolet sterilizer has recently been used as a sterilizer.

When an ultraviolet sterilizer is used in a bath water purifying device, if the ultraviolet lamp comes into direct contact with the circulating bath water, there is a risk of leakage of water if the lamp is not completely waterproof. Since it is heated to a high temperature, the temperature difference from the hot water is large and there is a risk of cracking due to heat shock.

Therefore, in the ultraviolet sterilizer in the bath water purifier, the outside of the ultraviolet lamp is housed in a protective tube made of quartz glass, which is a material having a transparent outer side, good ultraviolet ray transparency and excellent heat resistance, With the direct contact cut off, the ultraviolet lamp housed in this protective tube is housed in a metal or plastic jacket having a hot water inlet and a hot water outlet.

However, even if the direct contact of the ultraviolet lamp with the hot water is cut off by the protective tube, the protective tube is formed of a glass tube because of the UV transmissivity as described above, so that the protective tube may be cracked. If the protective tube is broken for some reason, there is a risk of electric leakage to the bath water and electric shock to the bather. Further, there is a risk of being scattered in the bath water and being injured by broken glass.

For this reason, conventionally, a pair of water detecting electrodes are provided in the protective tube, and when the protective tube is broken and hot water flows into the tube, the electrodes are electrically connected to detect cracks in the protective tube. Therefore, the power supply to the ultraviolet lamp and the operation of the circulation pump were stopped.

[0025]

However, in the case of detecting a crack in the protective tube using the water detection electrode, the detection accuracy is poor and the electrode is expensive, and the water detection circuit itself causes a crack in the protective tube. When it is detected, there is a risk that it may cause an electric shock by leaking into the hot water, or there is a risk that an electric shock may occur during the time from when the protection tube crack is detected until the UV lamp is de-energized. There was such a problem.

That is, the accuracy of detection of cracks in the protective tube by the water detection electrode is considerably affected by the conductivity of the hot water flowing into the protection tube and the distance between the electrodes, but the conductivity of the hot water depends on the region where the device is installed. It varies considerably depending on the quality of water and how dirty the bath is based on the bathing habits of each household, and the distance between the electrodes also varies considerably among products, so the conductivity is low, the distance between the electrodes is long, or the conductivity is low. Moreover, if the distance between the electrodes is long, even if the protective tube cracks, it may not be detected.

In order to prevent such problems from occurring, it is necessary to increase the voltage applied to the electrodes and at the same time use electrodes having a low resistance.

However, if the voltage applied to the electrodes is increased, there is a high risk that the bather will get an electric shock due to the leakage of water into the bath water when the electrodes are energized due to the breakage of the protective tube.
Even if the detection accuracy deteriorates, a voltage as low as 24 V or less must be applied.

If a material having a low resistance such as platinum is used to reduce the resistance of the electrode, the electrode becomes expensive.

Furthermore, if the micro-computer shuts off the power supply to the ultraviolet lamp or stops the operation of the circulation pump after the water detection electrode detects a crack in the protective tube as in the conventional case, even if it is short, the protection is protected. After the tube breaks, it takes time until the ultraviolet lamp is de-energized or the circulation pump stops operating, during which time the bather may get an electric shock or broken glass may scatter in the hot water circulation path. There is a risk of losing it.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, detects the crack of the protective tube quickly and accurately, stops the operation of the circulation pump, and prevents the broken glass from scattering at all in the circulation path of the hot water. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bathtub cleaning device that does not pose any risk of electric shock related to cracking of a protective tube.

[0032]

That is, the present invention relates to a bathtub in which a hot water pipe for pumping hot water in a bathtub, a circulation pump, an ultraviolet sterilizer, a filtration tank, and a hot water pipe for jetting hot water into the bathtub are connected in series. In a bath water purifying device having a hot water purifying pipe line, an ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet sterilizer is cut off from the bath water to be housed in a protective pipe, and a rise in voltage in the pipe due to cracking of the protective pipe is increased. It is a first claim that a pressure sensor for detecting by the above is provided, and a second claim that an ultraviolet sterilization device is provided in a pipe line on the downstream side of the filtration tank is provided in the first claim. In the second claim, the power source for the ultraviolet lamp is supplied through an insulating transformer, and the first to third aspects are provided.
In the third claim, when the pressure sensor detects the crack of the protective pipe, the control device controls the display device to display the crack of the protective pipe at the same time as stopping the operation of the circulation pump. It is a device for cleaning bath water.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of the configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the basic construction of the present invention will be described with reference to the piping diagram of FIG. 1. The same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIG. Only the part will be explained.

An ultraviolet sterilizer 29 is provided in series in the circulation pipe of the bath water. The ultraviolet sterilizer 29 is equipped with a pressure sensor 30 for detecting cracks in the protective tube for the ultraviolet lamp.

In this pipe, the ultraviolet sterilizer 29 is arranged in the hot water suction pipe 3 upstream of the filtration tank 5 and even if the protective pipe is broken, glass fragments are collected by the filtration tank 5 and never flow into the bath 1. I am trying.

Further, since a backwash pipe line is formed in this pipe, if the position where the ultraviolet ray sterilizer 29 is arranged in the hot water pipe 3 is located downstream of the switching valve 14 to which the hot water pipe 17 is connected, the protective pipe is broken. In the event of occurrence of the above, the switching valves 14 and 15 are immediately switched to the backwashing direction so that the hot water in which the broken glass fragments are scattered never flows into the bathtub 1, and the backwashing does not cause the hot water to be ejected to the pipe line. It is convenient because it can be washed.

A pressure sensor 3 for detecting cracks in the protective tube
2 is a specific configuration of the ultraviolet sterilizer 29 in which 0 is installed.
It is as shown in FIG.

31 is an ultraviolet lamp for sterilization, and this ultraviolet lamp 31 is detachably housed in a protective tube 32 having an open upper end, and the protective tube 32 is coated with fluorine resin on the outside as required. It is made of glass having excellent ultraviolet ray transparency, such as quartz glass, and a mounting ring 33 made of a sealing material is fitted on the upper end.

Reference numeral 34 is a jacket for forming a hot water flow passage, which is made of metal or plastic with a reflective surface formed on the inner surface as required, and a hot water inlet 35 for flowing hot water as shown by the arrow. And a hot water outlet 36 is provided.

Further, the jacket 34 is provided with a flange 37 for attaching a lid to the outer periphery of the opening at the upper end, and a protective pipe mounting hole 39 for fitting the protective pipe 32 to the inner periphery above the hot water inlet 35 is provided in the center. A partition plate 38 is provided.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a jacket lid for sealing the opening at the upper end of the above-mentioned jacket 34. The jacket lid 40 has a lead wire hole 41 for passing the lead wires of the ultraviolet lamp 31 and the pressure sensor 30 at the center thereof. Align the flange 37 of the jacket 34 with the screw 44
The flanges 42 for stopping with are respectively provided with fitting rings 43 that fit downwardly on the inner circumference of the jacket 34.

When the parts thus formed are assembled according to a conventional method, the ultraviolet sterilizer 29 has a space in which the flow of hot water is blocked by the partition plate 38 of the jacket 34 and the atmosphere is communicated with the inside of the protective tube 32. The pressure sensor 30 that detects a pressure increase in the pipe when the protective pipe 32 is broken into the sensor chamber 45, which is a part of the protective chamber, and the hot water flows into the sensor chamber 45 is provided without being directly exposed to ultraviolet rays.

As the pressure sensor 30, as shown in FIG. 3, a piezoresistive semiconductor sensor in which the voltage changes based on the resistance value that changes according to the pressure applied by the piezo effect is used.

When the pressure sensor 30 having such a characteristic is used, when the protective pipe 32 is cracked by the circuit as shown in FIG. 4 and the pressure in the pipe which has been atmospheric pressure up to now rises to a pressure corresponding to the pump pressure. In addition, the pressure sensor 30 immediately detects this increase in pressure as a rise in voltage and outputs it to the control device, so that cracking of the protective tube 32 can be easily detected.

That is, when the comparator compares the voltage Vs, which is the voltage output in proportion to the pressure of the pressure sensor 30 and amplified by the amplifier, with the standard voltage Vr, the output Vout of the comparator output to the controller is When the pressure detected by the sensor 30 is low and Vs is lower than Vr, the level is low, but the protective pipe 32 cracks and the pressure in the pipe rises, and Vs becomes Vr.
The higher the level, the higher the level.

Therefore, the control device can easily detect the crack of the protection tube 32 by the high level signal output from this comparator.

The power supply Vcc applied to this detection circuit is a direct current 5 rectified and smoothed after being transformed through an insulating transformer.
Since it is a normal control power supply of about V, the pressure sensor 3
Even if 0 gets wet with hot water and leaks, there is no danger of electric shock.

Further, FIG. 5 shows a power supply circuit for the ultraviolet lamp 31, which is separated from a commercial AC 100V power supply by an insulating transformer 46, at the same time, first transformed, and then rectified and smoothed by a rectifying and smoothing circuit 47. Finally, the inverter circuit 48 applies an AC power source having a predetermined frequency to the ultraviolet lamp 31.

When the power supply circuit applied to the ultraviolet lamp 31 is separated from the commercial power supply of 100 V AC by the insulating transformer 46 in this way, even if the protective tube 32 is broken and hot water flows in and the electric current leaks from the ultraviolet lamp 31, an electric shock is generated. The danger of is almost gone.

Next, the pressure sensor 3 indicates that the protective tube 32 is broken.
The control when 0 is detected will be described with reference to the control block diagram of FIG. 6 and the flow chart of FIG.

Reference numeral 49 is a key input device provided on the operation panel for setting various operating conditions. The key input device includes a run / stop key 22 and a jet key 2.
3, the hot water temperature setting key 26 and the like are provided as described above.

Various sensors such as a hot water temperature sensor 20, a differential pressure sensor 19 and a thermostat 21 are provided to control the operation of the apparatus, and further, to detect cracks in the protective tube 32 of the ultraviolet sterilizer 29. As described above, the pressure sensor 30 is also provided.

Reference numeral 50 is a control device for controlling the entire device. The control device 50 is a CPU 51 for performing various arithmetic processes, and a program RO storing a control program.
RAM 53 for temporarily storing M52 and control data
It is a micro-computer that consists of etc.

54 is a circulation pump drive circuit for driving the circulation pump 6, 55 is a heater drive circuit for driving the heater 7, and 56 is the power supply circuit shown in FIG. 5 for driving the ultraviolet sterilizer 29. It is the ultraviolet sterilizer drive circuit that has been deployed.

Reference numeral 58 designates a key input device 49 on the operation panel.
A display device, which is provided together with the display panel 27 and a plurality of display lamps 28, is driven by the display device drive circuit 57, and 60 is a buzzer for warning of an abnormality of the device, and is driven by the buzzer drive circuit 59. .

The control unit 50 has a program ROM 5
2 is stored in the pressure sensor 30 according to the program shown in the flow chart of FIG.
The device is controlled when the crack of the protection tube 32 of 9 is detected.

First, in the first step S1, it is judged whether or not the operation is set by the operation of the start / stop key 22, and when the operation is set, the circulation pump 6 is operated as the second step S2 and at the same time the third step is performed. As step S3, the ultraviolet lamp 31 of the ultraviolet sterilizer 29 is turned on to start the operation for cleaning the bath water.

During the operation of the apparatus, it is continuously determined whether or not the voltage value of the pressure sensor 30 is above the reference value as the fourth step S4. If it is below the reference value, the operation is continued as it is, and it is determined that the voltage value is above the reference value. If so, the operation of the circulation pump 6 is immediately stopped as the fifth step S5.

Next, as a sixth step S6, the display device 58 is used.
On the display panel 27 as, for example, 9917 is used to display that the protective tube 32 is broken by using a four-digit number, and the buzzer 60 is sounded at the seventh step S7 to warn that an abnormality has occurred in the device. .

In this way, the sound of the buzzer 60 makes it possible to notice the abnormality of the device, and further, looking at the display on the display panel, the protective tube 32
The user who immediately knows that the power has been broken turns off the power of the device and requests repair, but the display on the display panel 27 and the alarm by the buzzer 60 are determined until the power is turned off at the eighth step S8. I can continue.

If the protection tube 32 is thus controlled when it breaks, the flow of hot water immediately stops when the operation of the circulation pump 6 is stopped, and the glass fragments are collected in the filtration tank 5 and flow into the bath 1. However, as described above, not only is the circulation pump 6 stopped, but also the solenoid valve 1
It is more preferable to control so that 4 and 15 are switched to the side forming the backwashing pipe line, since glass fragments never flow in the direction of the bath 1.

Since the power source for the ultraviolet lamp 31 is separated from the commercial power source of 100 V AC by the insulating transformer 46 as described above, there is no fear of electric shock even if the power supply is not stopped.

[0064]

The present invention is constructed as described above, and uses the ultraviolet sterilizer which does not generate ozone which may harm the human body, and performs the effective sterilization at the same time. (EN) Provided is a bath water cleaning device capable of quickly detecting cracks in a glass protective tube to be deployed and keeping sufficient safety without fear of electric shock.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example piping diagram,

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of an ultraviolet sterilizer.

FIG. 3 is a pressure sensor characteristic diagram,

[Fig. 4] Circuit diagram for detecting protective tube cracks,

FIG. 5: Power supply circuit diagram for UV lamp,

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram,

FIG. 7: Flow chart for controlling cracking of protective tube,

FIG. 8 is a conventional piping diagram,

FIG. 9 is a front view of an operation panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bathtub 2 Hot water 3 Hot water suction pipe 4 Device body 5 Filtration tank 6 Circulation pump 9 Fountain pipe 27 Display panel 29 Ultraviolet ray sterilizer 30 Pressure sensor 31 Ultraviolet lamp 32 Protective tube 34 Jacket 45 Sensor room

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A hot water pipe for pumping hot water in a bathtub, a circulation pump, an ultraviolet sterilizer, a filtration tank, and a hot water pipe for jetting hot water into the bathtub are connected in series to form a bathtub hot water purification conduit. In the bath water purifying device, a pressure sensor that detects the pressure increase in the tube due to the cracking of the protection tube inside the tube by blocking the ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet sterilizer from the bath water is installed. A bath water purifying device characterized in that 2. The apparatus for cleaning bath water according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet sterilizer is provided in a pipe line upstream of the filtration tank. 3. The bath water cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein power for the ultraviolet lamp is supplied through an insulating transformer. 4. When the pressure sensor detects the crack of the protective tube, the control device controls the display device to display the crack of the protective tube at the same time as stopping the operation of the circulation pump. The cleaning device for bath water according to claim 3.