JPH10216720A - Bathtub hot water circulating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bathtub hot water circulating apparatus preventing the turbidity of hot water even after various bacteria in hot water are sterilized by a chemical agent to prevent a bathing person from causing an unpleasant feeling. SOLUTION: At a time of usual operation keeping the purifying function of a biological purifying tank high, a passage is changed over so that hot water W passes only through the biological purifying tank 21. After sterilizing operation low in the purifying function of the biological purifying tank 21, the passage is changed over so that the hot water W passes through both of the biological purifying tank 21 and a membrane filter tank 22. As mentioned above, by mainly purifying hot water W by the membrane filter tank 22 in place of the biological purifying tank 21 after sterilizing operation lowered in purifying function, the turbidity of the hot water W can be surely prevented. By preventing the hot water W from always passing through hollow fiber membranes (membrane filter tank 22) easy to generate clogging, the maintenance of the membrane filter tank 22 becomes easy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bath tub hot water circulating apparatus for sucking hot water in a bath tub to remove impurities and then discharging the hot water into the bath tub.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bath tub hot water circulating apparatus sucks hot water in a bath tub by a pump, purifies the hot water in a purifying tank, heats the hot water to a predetermined temperature by a heater, and discharges the hot water to the bath tub again. Thereby, the heated and purified hot water is circulated in the bathtub.

[0003] As the septic tank, barley stone or the like for removing impurities by biochemical treatment is used. When hot water passes through the septic tank, the organic matter dissolved in the hot water (which causes turbidity and slime of the hot water) is biochemically treated by the action of microorganisms and the insoluble scale in the hot water , General germs are removed. There is also a bath tub hot water circulation device equipped with a sterilization device that actively performs various germs treatment in hot water. This sterilizer injects ozone into warm water,
There are those that sterilize various bacteria in warm water by the sterilizing action of ozone, and those that irradiate ultraviolet rays to the hot water and sterilize various bacteria in warm water by the sterilizing action of ultraviolet light.

However, even when the above-mentioned ozone and ultraviolet rays are used, it is not possible to completely sterilize various bacteria in warm water. In recent years, chlorine has been injected into warm water instead of ozone and ultraviolet rays, and the sterilizing action of the chlorine has resulted in chlorine. A bath tub hot water circulation device provided with a sterilizing means for completely sterilizing various germs in hot water has been proposed.

[0005]

However, the bath tub hot water circulating apparatus for completely sterilizing various germs in the hot water using the chlorine has the following problems.

[0006] That is, since the chlorine has a very high sterilizing ability, even when warm water mixed with chlorine flows through the septic tank, even microorganisms in the septic tank are sterilized. For this reason, even after the germs disappear from the warm water after the chlorine injection, the turbidity of the warm water cannot be removed until the microorganisms are revived and propagated. Therefore, there is a problem that the bather is uncomfortable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to prevent turbidity of warm water, etc., even after sterilizing various bacteria in the warm water with a chemical, thereby preventing the bather from becoming ill. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bath tub hot water circulation device that can prevent a pleasant feeling.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a hot water in a bathtub is sucked by a pump, the sucked hot water is purified by a purifying means, and the bathtub is returned to the bathtub again. In the bathtub hot water circulation device for discharging, the purifying means has a physical treatment purifying means for purifying hot water by physical treatment, and a biochemical purifying means for purifying hot water by biochemical treatment. A main hot water purifying flow path that guides the sucked hot water through only the biochemical treatment and purification means into the bathtub, and purifies both the physical treatment and the biochemical purification means by using the pump. The gist of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary hot water purification flow passage that passes through the means and guides the hot water into the bathtub.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a non-hot water purifying flow path is provided for guiding the hot water sucked by the pump into the bathtub without passing through both purifying means. Is the gist.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the hot water sucked by the pump is passed only through a physical treatment / purification means and guided into a bathtub. The point is that a purification channel is provided.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a bathtub hot water circulation device 11 includes a main body case 13 installed above a bathtub 12, and a suction pipe 14 exposed from the main body case 13.
And a discharge pipe 15 and the like. A pump 16 for circulating hot water W in the bathtub 12, a purifying tank 17 as a purifying means for purifying the sucked hot water W, a heating tank 18 for heating the sucked hot water W, a sodium hypochlorite Is stored. An opening / closing valve (not shown) is attached to the container 19 for storing the sodium hypochlorite so that the sodium hypochlorite in the container 19 is supplied into the bathtub 12 with the opening of the opening / closing valve. It has become. The on-off valve is controlled to open and close by a controller.

As shown in FIG. 2, the septic tank 17 comprises a biological purifying tank 21 as a biochemical purifying means and a membrane filter tank 22 as a physical purifying means.
It has a tank. In the present embodiment, the biological septic tank 21
Is made of barley stone. A hollow fiber membrane (having a pore diameter of 0.04 μm) is used for the membrane filter tank 22. The discharge port 21b of the biological purification tank 21 and the inflow port 22a of the membrane filter tank 22 are connected by a tank connection pipe 23. An inflow pipe 2 is provided between the discharge port of the pump 16 and the inflow port 21a of the biological septic tank 21.
4. The discharge pipe 15 is connected to a discharge port 22b of the membrane filter tank 22.

A first three-way valve 31 and a second three-way valve 32 are connected to the inflow pipe 24 on the downstream side of the first three-way valve 31. Further, a four-way valve 40 is connected to the tank connection pipe 23. The drain pipe 25 is connected to the four-way valve 40. The drain pipe 25 and the second three-way valve 32 are connected by a drain connection pipe 26. Further, a third three-way valve 33 is connected to the discharge pipe 15. A bypass pipe 2 is provided between the first three-way valve 31 and the third three-way valve 33.
7. A fourth three-way valve 34 is connected to the bypass pipe 27. The fourth three-way valve 34 and the four-way valve 40 are connected by the branch pipe 28. The three-way valves 31 to 34 and the four-way valve 40 are switch-controlled by a controller.

In this embodiment, the suction pipe 14, the inflow pipe 2
4. First three-way valve 31, second three-way valve 32, biological septic tank 2
1, tank connection pipe 23, four-way valve 40, branch pipe 28, fourth three-way valve 34, bypass pipe 27, third three-way valve 33, discharge pipe 15
Constitute a main hot water purification flow path.

In the present embodiment, the suction pipe 14, the inflow pipe 24, the first three-way valve 31, the second three-way valve 32, the biological purification tank 21, the tank connection pipe 23, the membrane filter tank 22, the four-way valve 40, The three-way valve 33 and the discharge pipe 15 constitute an auxiliary hot water purification passage.

Further, in the present embodiment, the suction pipe 14,
The inflow pipe 24, the first three-way valve 31, the bypass pipe 27, the third three-way valve 33, and the discharge pipe 15 constitute a non-hot water purification flow path.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
First, the normal circulation operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, during normal operation, the controller drives the first three-way valve 31 and the second three-way valve 32 to communicate between the discharge port of the pump 16 and the inflow port 21 a of the biological purification tank 21. At the same time, the four-way valve 40, the fourth three-way valve 34, and the third three-way valve 33 are driven to communicate between the discharge port 21b of the biological purification tank 21 and the discharge pipe 15. That is, during normal operation, the flow path of the hot water W becomes the main hot water purification flow path.

When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the pump 16, the hot water W is pumped into the biological purification tank 21 via the inflow pipe 24. After the hot water W flows through the biological purification tank 21, the tank connection pipe 23 → the four-way valve 40 → the branch pipe 28 → the fourth three-way valve 34 → the bypass pipe 27 → the third three-way valve 33 → the discharge pipe 15 flows into the bathtub 12. Is discharged. As the warm water W passes through the biological purification tank 21, soluble proteins and fats that cause turbidity and slime of the warm water W are biochemically treated and purified by the action of microorganisms. Insoluble impurities, such as descaling, are purified.

Next, the sterilization operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, during the sterilization operation, the controller switches the first three-way valve 31, the fourth three-way valve 34, and the third three-way valve 33 to switch the inflow pipe 24, the bypass pipe 27, and the discharge pipe 15. Communicate. That is, during the sterilization operation, the flow path of the hot water W is a non-hot water purification flow path that does not pass through the purification tank 17. Further, the controller opens the on-off valve attached to the container 19 and supplies a predetermined amount of sodium hypochlorite into the bathtub 12.

When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the pump 16, the hot water W is supplied to the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 3
1 → the bypass pipe 27 → the third three-way valve 33 is discharged into the bathtub 12 through the flow path of the discharge pipe 15. By injecting sodium hypochlorite into the bathtub 12, it is possible to almost completely sterilize bacteria and the like attached to the wall surface of the bathtub 12 that cannot be removed by the membrane filter tank 22. In addition,
In the present embodiment, this sterilization operation is performed every day at a predetermined time from 2 to
It is performed for about 6 hours.

Next, the operation after sterilization will be described. FIG.
As shown in the figure, during the post-sterilization operation, the controller operates the first three-way valve 31, the second three-way valve 32, the four-way valve 40, the third
The three-way valve 33 is switched to drive the inflow pipe 24, the biological septic tank 2
1. The tank connection pipe 23, the membrane filter tank 22, and the discharge pipe 15 are communicated. That is, during the post-sterilization operation, the flow path of the hot water W is an auxiliary hot water purification flow path that passes through both the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22.

When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the pump 16, the hot water W is supplied to the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 3.
1 → second three-way valve 32 → biological septic tank 21 → tank connecting pipe 23 →
Membrane filter tank 22 → third three-way valve 33 → discharge pipe 1
5 is discharged into the bathtub 12. After the sterilization operation is performed, a desired purification action can be obtained by passing the hot water W through the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22. That is, if the flow path of the hot water W is the main hot water purification flow path that passes only through the biological purification tank 21 after the sterilization operation, the purification of the hot water W is not sufficiently performed. That is,
Since the warm water W mixed with sodium hypochlorite affects the biological purification tank 21 to some extent, the number of microorganisms in the biological purification tank 21 after the sterilization operation decreases, and the purification function temporarily decreases. In this case, the warm water W discharged to the bathtub 12 becomes turbid. However, in the present embodiment, after the sterilization operation, the hot water W is passed through both the membrane filter tank 22 and the biological purification tank 21 to the biological purification tank 21.
The turbidity and the like of the warm water W that cannot be treated in the step 1 can be removed by the membrane filter tank 22, so that not only the turbidity in the bathtub 12 can be prevented, but also the purification of the biological purification tank 21 can be promoted. In this embodiment, the post-sterilization operation time is performed for about 12 hours. By performing the operation after sterilization for about 12 hours, the microorganisms in the biological septic tank 21 are completely restored,
The treatment of the warm water W by the microorganism is performed normally.

Next, the operation during the backwashing operation of the biological septic tank will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, in the biological septic tank reverse cleaning operation, the controller includes a first three-way valve 31, a fourth three-way valve 34,
The four-way valve 40 and the second three-way valve 32 are switched to drive the inflow pipe 24.
And the discharge port 21b of the biological purification tank 21 and the communication between the inflow port 21a of the biological purification tank 21 and the drain pipe 25. When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the pump 16, the hot water W is supplied to the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 31 → the bypass pipe 27 → the fourth three-way valve 34 → the branch pipe 2
8 → four-way valve 40 → tank connection pipe 23 → biological septic tank 21 → second
The water is drained to the outside through the three-way valve 32 → the drain connection pipe 26 → the drain pipe 25.

By performing the backwashing operation of the biological purification tank, impurities such as clogged scale in the biological purification tank 21 are discharged to the outside together with the hot water W, so that the purification function of the biological purification tank 21 can be prevented from lowering.

Next, the operation during the backwashing operation of the membrane filter tank will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, in the membrane filter tank backwashing operation, the controller controls the first three-way valve 3.
The first and fourth three-way valves 34, the third three-way valve 33, and the four-way valve 40 are switched to drive the communication between the inflow pipe 24 and the discharge port 22b of the membrane filter tank 22, and the inlet 22a of the membrane filter tank 22. And the drain pipe 25 are communicated. When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the pump 16, the hot water W is supplied to the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 31 →
Bypass pipe 27 → fourth three-way valve 34 → third three-way valve 33 → discharge pipe 15 → membrane filter tank 22 → tank connection pipe 23 →
The four-way valve 40 is drained to the outside through the drain pipe 25. By performing the membrane filter tank backwashing operation, impurities such as bacteria and scale attached to the hollow fiber membrane are separated from the hollow fiber membrane together with the warm water W and discharged to the outside. As a result, it is possible to prevent the purification function from being deteriorated due to clogging of the hollow fiber membrane in the membrane filter tank 22.

In the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained by configuring the bath tub hot water circulation device 11 as described above. -During normal operation with a high purification function of the biological purification tank 21, the flow path is switched so that the hot water W passes only through the biological purification tank 21. Further, after the sterilization operation in which the purification function of the biological purification tank 21 is low, the flow path is switched so that the hot water W passes through both the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22. As described above, after the sterilization operation in which the purification function is reduced, the membrane filter tank 22 mainly purifies the hot water W instead of the biological purification tank 21,
Turbidity of the warm water W can be reliably prevented.

In addition, maintenance of the membrane filter tank 22 is facilitated by preventing the hot water W from constantly passing through the hollow fiber membrane (membrane filter tank 22) which is easily clogged.

During the sterilization operation with a high chlorine concentration, hot water W
The flow path of the hot water W is switched so that does not pass through the biological septic tank 21. Thereby, the microorganisms in the biological septic tank 21 at the time of returning to the normal operation can be quickly returned.

The above embodiment may be modified and embodied as follows. In the above embodiment, each valve is automatically switched by the controller, but the user may manually switch each valve.

In the above embodiment, during the sterilization operation,
The flow path was switched so that the hot water W did not pass through the septic tank (biological septic tank 21 and membrane filter tank 22) 17, but this was changed to a first three-way valve 31, a fourth three-way valve 34, a four-way valve as shown in FIG. 40, by switching the third three-way valve 33,
The hot water W is circulated so as to pass only through the membrane filter tank 22 as a physical treatment and purification means. That is, the hot water flow path is replaced with a physical hot water purification flow path (suction pipe 12, inflow pipe 2).
4, first three-way valve 31, bypass pipe 27, branch pipe 28, four-way valve 40, tank connection pipe 23, membrane filter tank 22,
The third three-way valve 33 and the discharge pipe 15 constitute a physical hot water purification channel).

According to this configuration, even when the hot water W is passed through the membrane filter tank 22 which is not affected by sodium hypochlorite, the purification function of the membrane filter tank 22 can be maintained well. In this case, impurities such as scale in the hot water W can be removed even during the sterilization operation.
More sanitary.

In the above embodiment, the hot water W
Is a non-hot water purification flow path, so that the hot water W does not pass through the purification tank 17, but the hot water W is supplied to the purification tank (the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22) 17 during the sterilization operation.
May be passed. In this case, since the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22 can be sterilized, the sanitation is further improved. In this case, the microorganisms in the biological septic tank 21 are also sterilized, and the biological septic tank 2 is disinfected.
Although the purification function of (1) is reduced, it can be covered by the purification function of the membrane filter tank 22.

In the above embodiment, sodium hypochlorite is stored in the container 19 of the apparatus 11 and is automatically injected into the bathtub 12 by the controller. However, sodium hypochlorite can be arbitrarily added by the user. It may be configured to be injected into the bathtub 12.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the hot water flow path includes a main hot water purification flow path passing only through the biochemical treatment purification means, the biochemical treatment purification means, and the physical treatment purification. The auxiliary hot water purification passage passing through both purification means
Switch to the channel. For example, when the hot water flow path is the main hot water purification flow path during normal hot water circulation, soluble impurities and insoluble impurities in the hot water are removed by the biochemical treatment and purification means. In addition, when an agent for disinfecting various bacteria is introduced into warm water, the warm water flow path is used as an auxiliary warm water purification flow path. In this case, the hot water passes through both purification means. Therefore, in this case, even the microorganisms of the biochemical treatment and purification means are sterilized by the action of the drug, and the purification ability is reduced. However, since the purification ability of the biochemical treatment purification means can be compensated for by the physical treatment purification means, the turbidity of the warm water can be prevented even after the sterilization of the warm water, which may discomfort the bather. Can be prevented. Further, since the hot water is not always passed through the physical treatment / purification means, maintenance of the physical treatment / purification means which is easily clogged becomes easy.

According to the invention described in claim 2, according to claim 1
In addition to the effects of the invention described in (1), when the sterilizing agent is introduced into the hot water, the hot water flow path is a non-hot water purification flow path that does not pass through the purification means. Thereby, since the warm water mixed with the chemical does not pass through the purification means, it is possible to prevent the microorganisms of the biochemical treatment means from being sterilized after sterilization. As a result, the hot water can be normally purified by the biochemical treatment unit even after the sterilization operation.

According to the invention described in claim 3, according to claim 1
Alternatively, in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 2, when the drug is introduced into the hot water, the flow path of the hot water is a physical hot water purification flow path. Thereby, since the warm water mixed with the chemical passes only through the physical treatment and purification means, there is no influence on the biochemical treatment means by the chemical, and it is also possible to remove impurities such as descaling in the warm water, More sanitary.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a bath tub hot water circulation device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a bathtub hot water circulation device showing a hot water flow path during normal operation.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a bath tub hot water circulation device showing a hot water flow path during a sterilization operation.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of a bathtub hot water circulation device showing a hot water flow path during operation after sterilization.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a bath tub hot water circulation device showing a hot water flow path during a biological purification tank backwash operation.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of a bath tub hot water circulation device showing a hot water flow path during a membrane filter tank backwash operation.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of a bathtub hot water circulation device showing a flow path of hot water during a sterilization operation according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 ... bathtub, 14 ... main hot water purification channel, auxiliary hot water purification channel, non-hot water purification channel, suction pipe constituting physical hot water purification channel, 15 ... main hot water purification channel, auxiliary hot water purification channel, A discharge pipe constituting a non-hot water purification channel, a physical hot water purification channel, 1
Reference numeral 6 denotes a pump, W denotes hot water, 17 denotes a purifying tank as a purifying means, 21 denotes a main hot water purifying flow path, an auxiliary hot water purifying flow path, and a biological purifying tank as a biochemical purifying means constituting the purifying means.
22: an auxiliary hot water purification flow path, a physical hot water purification flow path, a membrane filter tank as a physical treatment purification means constituting a purification means, 23 ... a main hot water purification flow path, an auxiliary hot water purification flow path,
Tank connecting pipe constituting a physical hot water purification channel, 24... A main hot water purification channel, an auxiliary hot water purification channel, a non-hot water purification channel, an inflow pipe constituting a physical hot water purification channel, 27. A flow path, a non-hot water purification flow path, a bypass pipe constituting a physical hot water purification flow path, 28 a main hot water purification flow path, a branch pipe constituting a physical hot water purification flow path, 31 a main hot water purification flow path, an auxiliary A first three-way valve constituting a hot water purification channel, a non-hot water purification channel, a physical hot water purification channel, 32 a second three-way valve constituting a main hot water purification channel and an auxiliary hot water purification channel, 33 a main hot water A third three-way valve constituting a purification flow path, an auxiliary hot water purification flow path, a non-hot water purification flow path, a physical hot water purification flow path, 34 a fourth three-way valve constituting a main hot water purification flow path, 40 a main hot water purification A four-way valve constituting a flow path, an auxiliary hot water purification flow path, and a physical hot water purification flow path, W: hot water.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI C02F 1/50 540 C02F 1/50 540B 550 550B 550H 550L 560 560H 560E 3/06 ZAB 3/06 ZAB

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A hot water in a bathtub is sucked by a pump,
In a bathtub hot water circulation device that purifies the sucked hot water by a purifying means and discharges the hot water to a bathtub again, the purifying means includes a physical treatment purifying means for purifying hot water by physical treatment, and a hot water purifying means by biochemical treatment. Having a biochemical purifying means for purifying, passing hot water sucked by the pump only through the biochemical purifying means,
A main hot water purification flow path for guiding into the bathtub, and an auxiliary hot water purification flow path for guiding the hot water sucked by the pump through both the physical treatment purification means and the biochemical treatment purification means to be guided into the bathtub. And a bath tub hot water circulation device. 2. The bathtub hot water circulation device according to claim 1, further comprising a non-hot water purification flow path for guiding the hot water sucked by the pump into the bathtub without passing through both purification means. 3. The bathtub hot water circulation device according to claim 1, further comprising a physical hot water purification channel for guiding the hot water sucked by the pump through only a physical treatment / purification means and guiding the hot water into the bathtub. .