JPH0970425A - Cleaning device for bathtub hot water - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To arrange an ultraviolet ray sterilization device capable of prolonging the life of an ultraviolet ray lamp without lowering a sterilization effect. SOLUTION: To the ultraviolet ray lamp 28, an ultraviolet ray lamp power supply circuit 32 for switching and applying the power supply Va of a rated voltage and the low-voltage power supply Vb of about 60% of the rated voltage through an inverter circuit 34 under the control of a controller 33 is connected. Normal sterilization by applying the rated power supply is performed only in a time band when hot water gets dirty by bathing and saving sterilization by applying the low-voltage power supply is performed in the other time band.

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. 1, in which 1 is a bath, 2 is hot water, 3 is a suction pipe for pumping 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, an ultraviolet sterilization device 8 for sterilizing the hot water with ultraviolet rays, and the like 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. When the solenoid valve 13 is opened, the jet nozzle 1 is opened.
Air is sucked from the intake pipe 12 by the intake force of 1, and this air is mixed in the hot water at the ejector portion, and the air is ejected from the jet nozzle 11 into the bathtub 1 together with the hot water to form a bubble bath.

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.

In the apparatus configured as described above, the user can set various driving conditions as necessary by using the operation panel as shown in FIG. Operation is set by the stop key 21, and the bathtub 1
The hot water 2 in the inside is sterilized by an ultraviolet sterilizer 8 after removing a large amount of dirt with a prefilter 10, filtered by a filtration tank 5, heated by a heater 7, and then jetted from a jet nozzle 11 at the tip of a spout tube 9.

Further, the jet mode can be set by the jet key 22 so that a bather can enjoy a so-called bubble bath by jetting a jet flow in which air is mixed with air into the bathtub, which will be described in detail later. However, the bath key 22 can change the sterilization condition for a predetermined time after the bath is set so that the hot water soiled by bathing can be immediately and completely sterilized.

When the strength is set by the jet key 22, the changeover valves 14 and 15 are switched and the hot water 2 in the bathtub 1 drawn from the hot water suction pipe 3 flows directly to the hot water pipe 9 through the bypass pipe 16. The resistance of the circulation path is reduced, and a strong jet flow is ejected from the jet nozzle 11.

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 drawn from the hot water pipe 3 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.

Further, on the operation panel shown in FIG. 2, a display panel 26 for changing and displaying the hot water temperature or the time by the display switching key 24 while changing the setting of the hot water temperature or the time with the setting change key 25 and various kinds of display. A plurality of display lamps 27 that indicate the setting state of operating conditions are provided.

The structure of the ultraviolet sterilizer 8 is as shown in FIG. 3, and the ultraviolet lamp 28 does not break due to a thermal shock due to a large temperature difference between the circulating hot water and electric leakage or contact. As described above, the hot water is housed in the protective tube 29 made of quartz glass, and the hot water is housed in the jacket 30 which flows as shown by an arrow in a state where the direct contact with the hot water is cut off.

Reference numeral 31 is a water drop sensor for detecting that the protective pipe 29 has cracked and hot water has entered the pipe, and when the water drop sensor 31 detects the crack of the protective pipe 29, the circulation pump is operated or Immediately stopping the supply of power to the ultraviolet lamp 28 prevents leakage of electricity and scattering of broken glass into the bath water.

[0017]

When the UV sterilizer 8 is provided as the sterilizer for the bath water cleaning device as described above, the illuminance of the UV lamp 28 decreases as the irradiation time elapses. As a matter of course, the sterilizing power also declines if the temperature drops, so if the irradiation time reaches about 10,000 hours after using the device for about one year, the life of the device will have to be replaced.

Therefore, in order to extend the life of the ultraviolet lamp 28 as much as possible, conventionally, the application of power to the ultraviolet lamp 28 is controlled to be turned on and off.

That is, the ON-OFF control is performed such that power is supplied to the ultraviolet lamp 28 for ultraviolet sterilization only during the bathing time of the day, for example, and the power supply is stopped during the non-bathing time.

With such control, the ultraviolet lamp 2
No. 8 is lit for only a few hours of 24 hours a day, so its life is extended considerably, but since no sterilization is performed during non-bath hours, the sterilizing effect is considerably reduced and the bath water becomes considerably dirty. Will end up.

In some cases, the application of power to the ultraviolet lamp 28 is stopped and then stopped at short time intervals, and ON-OFF control is performed to reduce the lighting time per day to about half a day.

In the case of such control, the lighting time of one day can be reduced to about half without substantially reducing the sterilizing effect, but the life of the ultraviolet lamp 28 is shortened due to the effect of frequent ON-OFF. I will end up.

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and the bath water provided with the ultraviolet sterilizer 8 which has a substantially longer life of the ultraviolet lamp 28 than the conventional one, with the bactericidal effect being hardly reduced. An object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning device.

[0024]

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 apparatus having a hot water purifying pipe, applying a power source to an ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet sterilizer while controlling a power supply amount through an inverter circuit. In the first claim, in order to control the amount of power supply to the ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet sterilizer, a time period for saving sterilization is provided by lowering the applied voltage according to the degree of contamination of the hot water in order to extend the life of the ultraviolet lamp. It is the second claim that the control is
According to the third claim, the third aspect is that the degree of dirt of the hot water is determined based on the elapsed time from the installation of the device and the presence / absence of a bather and / or the set bath time zone. It is an oxidizer.

[0025]

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.

A power supply circuit 32 for the ultraviolet lamp 28 is shown in FIG.
Is an inverter circuit 34 under the control of the controller 33.
It is a circuit that supplies power via.

That is, the rated voltage and the rated voltage of 60 are applied to the inverter circuit 34 under the control of the control device 33.
%, A rated voltage power supply application circuit 35 that applies a rated voltage power supply Va and a low voltage power supply that applies a low voltage power supply Vb so that two power supplies having different power supply amounts can be switched and applied. Circuit 36 and inverter circuit 34
Is connected to a switch circuit 37 that opens and closes.

As a result, the control device 33 causes the inverter O
When the N signal is output and the Va application signal is output, the rated voltage is applied to the ultraviolet lamp 28, and when the Vb application signal is output, the low voltage is applied.

The rated voltage power source Va and the low voltage power source Vb described above are formed by a circuit forming a normal DC power source as shown in FIG.

Next, the ultraviolet lamp 2 based on the controller 33
The control of the power supply to the power source 8 will be described.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram showing a configuration in which the control device 33 controls the device as a whole, and 38 is a key input device provided on the operation panel for setting various operating conditions. In this key input device, in addition to the run / stop key 21 for setting the operation and the jet key 22 for setting the bubble bath, a bath key 23, a display switching key 24 and a hot water temperature related to the control of the power supply to the ultraviolet lamp 28. A setting key 25 is provided.

That is, the bathing key 22 is a key for manually setting the above-mentioned rated voltage Va to the ultraviolet lamp 28 so that the bath can be completely sterilized for a predetermined period of time, for example, 6 hours since the bathing water has become dirty. Is.

The display switching key 24 and the hot water temperature setting key 2
5 is set in accordance with the living time zone such as 18:00 to 23:00 while the user displays the time on the display panel 26 so that the hot water temperature is appropriate at the time of bathing. This key is also used to

In this way, when the bathing time zone is set by using the display switching key 24 and the hot water temperature setting key 25,
In the present invention, the time period for applying the rated voltage Va to the ultraviolet lamp 28 is automatically set in accordance with the bathing time period which is set such as 18:00 to 24:00.

In order to control the apparatus, a hot water temperature sensor 20 for controlling the hot water temperature, a differential pressure sensor 19 for detecting a water shortage, and a crack of the protective tube 29 with respect to the ultraviolet lamp 28 of the ultraviolet sterilizer 8 are detected. As described above, various sensors such as the water drop sensor 31 are provided.

Reference numeral 39 is a timer used for temporally controlling the apparatus, and of course it is also used for controlling the application time of the power source to the ultraviolet lamp 28, and the time for applying the rated voltage Va to the ultraviolet lamp 28. In the case of manual setting, in case of automatic setting based on the bathing time zone set by using the display changeover key 24 and the hot water temperature setting key 25 by measuring the time elapsed after the bath key 23 is pressed. To set the time, measure the elapsed time.

Reference numeral 33 is a control device for controlling the entire apparatus. The control device 33 is a CPU 40 for performing various arithmetic processes, and a program RO storing a control program.
RAM 41 for temporarily storing M41 and control data
It is a micro-computer that consists of etc.

Reference numeral 43 is a circulation pump drive circuit for driving the circulation pump 6, 44 is a heater drive circuit for driving the heater 7, and 32 is a power supply for the ultraviolet lamp 28 of the ultraviolet sterilizer 8. It is the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit shown in FIG.

Reference numeral 45 denotes a key input device 38 on the operation panel.
A display panel 26 and a plurality of display lamps 2 provided together with
7 is a display device drive circuit for driving the display device 46, and 47 is a buzzer drive circuit for driving a buzzer 48 that warns of an abnormality of the device.

The control device 33 includes a program ROM 4
The UV lamp 2 of the UV sterilizer 8 according to the program shown in the flow chart of FIG.
Control the supply of power to 8;

Once the device is installed, the first step S
When the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp 28 is started to be measured by using the timer 39 at 1 and whether or not the driving is set by the operation of the driving / stop key 21 at the second step S2, the driving is set. In the third step S3, it is determined whether or not the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp 28 exceeds 750 hours.

If it is determined in the third step S3 that the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp 28 has not exceeded 750 hours, the bath water can be cleaned immediately after the installation of the apparatus and the remaining time has not passed. Because it is necessary to sterilize ultraviolet rays by applying the rated voltage without being in a stable state,
At step S4, the application signal of the Va power supply is issued to the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 32.

When the Va applied signal is issued in the fourth step S4, in the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 32, the Va power having the rated voltage is supplied to the inverter circuit 34 through the rated voltage power supply application circuit 35 in the fifth step S5. In the sixth step S6, the ultraviolet lamp 28 is turned on and the normal sterilization is performed at the rated voltage.

Normal sterilization by applying the rated voltage is performed until the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp reaches 750 hours,
In the third step S3, the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp is 75
If it is determined that the bath water has been cleaned for more than 0 hours and the bath water is stable, save the water by applying a low voltage except when the bath is dirty and the normal sterilization is set manually or automatically. It is controlled so that sterilization is performed.

That is, if it is determined in the third step S3 that the cumulative irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp has exceeded 750 hours, the low voltage is applied to perform the save sterilization, and therefore the seventh step is performed.
In step S7, a Vb power supply application signal is issued to the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 32.

When the Vb application signal is issued in the seventh step S7, in the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 32, the Vb power source which is a low voltage of about 60% of the rated voltage is supplied to the inverter circuit 34 in the eighth step S8. The voltage is applied through the application circuit 36, and in the ninth step S9, the ultraviolet lamp 28 is turned on to perform the save sterilization at a low voltage.

In the tenth step S10, it is judged whether or not the normal sterilization is set during the save sterilization.

This normal sterilization setting is manually set by operating the bathing key 23, or the timer 39 indicates that the bathing time zone set using the display switching key 24 and the setting changing key 25 has been reached. It is detected and automatically set.

As described above, when it is judged in the 10th step S10 that the normal sterilization is necessary because the hot water becomes dirty by bathing, the elapsed time of the normal sterilization is measured by the timer 39 in the 11th step S11. At the same time, at the same time, in the twelfth step S12, an application signal of Va power source is issued to the ultraviolet lamp power source supply circuit 32.

When the Va applied signal is issued in the twelfth step S12, in the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 32, the inverter circuit 34 is operated as the thirteenth step S13.
The rated voltage Va power supply is the rated voltage power supply circuit 35.
The UV lamp 28 is turned on in the fourteenth step S14 to perform normal sterilization at the rated voltage.

The normal sterilization time is set as the time until the dirty water is completely sterilized by bathing. For example, when it is manually set by the bathing key 23, the bathing time period is taken into consideration for about 6 hours. When automatically set based on the setting of the time zone, it is set to be about 1 to 2 hours after the bathing time zone has elapsed.

Therefore, it is determined whether or not the timer 39 has detected that the normal sterilization time set in the fifteenth step S15 has elapsed, and when it is determined that the normal sterilization time has elapsed, the low voltage power supply Vb is restarted. Return to save sterilization by applying.

[0053]

The present invention is configured as described above.
When ultraviolet sterilization is performed under the control as described above, the rated voltage is applied to the ultraviolet lamp 28 within one day.
A low voltage of about 60% of the rated voltage is applied for the remaining 17 hours.

As a result, a graph showing the relationship between the irradiation time of the ultraviolet lamp and the relative illuminance is as shown in FIG.
In the conventional example shown by the solid line A, the relative illuminance drops to about 70% and reaches the end of the life in the irradiation time of about 10,000 hours for about one year, whereas when the embodiment of the present invention is adopted, it is shown by the dotted line B. Thus, the service life is extended to about 30,000 hours for about 3 years.

Moreover, since the sterilization is always performed even if the control is not ON-OFF and the applied voltage is low, the bath water is kept clean all day.

In the above, the embodiment in which the amount of electric power supplied to the ultraviolet lamp 28 is controlled by changing the applied voltage has been described. However, when the ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit is formed by using an inverter circuit, it is natural. However, the frequency of the applied power source can be changed and controlled.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Fig. 1] Device piping diagram,

[Fig. 2] Operation panel,

[Fig. 3] UV sterilizer

[Fig. 4] UV lamp power supply circuit,

FIG. 5: Applied power supply forming circuit,

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram,

FIG. 7: UV sterilization control flow chart,

FIG. 8 Life of UV lamp.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bathtub 2 Hot water 3 Hot water pipe 4 Device body 5 Filtration tank 6 Circulation pump 8 Ultraviolet ray sterilizer 9 Fountain pipe 23 Bath key 25 Setting change key (bathing time zone setting) 28 Ultraviolet lamp 32 Ultraviolet lamp power supply circuit 33 Control device 34 Inverter circuit 35 Rated voltage power supply circuit 36 Low voltage power supply circuit

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI Technical display location C02F 9/00 502 C02F 9/00 503A 503 504C 504 B01D 35/02 J

Claims (3)

[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 cleaning bath for hot water in the bathtub. In the apparatus for cleaning bathtub hot water, the apparatus for cleaning bathtub hot water is characterized in that power is applied to the ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet ray sterilizer through an inverter circuit while controlling the power supply amount. 2. The control of the amount of power supply to the ultraviolet lamp of the ultraviolet sterilizer is to extend the life of the ultraviolet lamp.
2. The control is performed by providing a time period during which the applied voltage is lowered and the save sterilization is performed according to how dirty the hot water is.
The bathtub purifier according to the above. 3. The bath water according to claim 2, wherein the degree of contamination of the hot water is determined on the basis of the elapsed time since the installation of the device, the presence / absence of a bather, and / or the set bathing time zone. Cleaning equipment.