JPH1025772A - Rainwater storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device which dies not tale up trouble and time required when it is necessary to drain an auxiliary tank and is capable of enhancing the quality of drain water stored in a main tank to a more satisfactory extent and reducing time and trouble during the maintenance of the main tank. SOLUTION: A control device 6 of a rainwater storage device 1 holds a rainwater passage on the side of an auxiliary tank 3 by driving a three way valve V1, responding with the output of an auxiliary tank sensor SE2 when the amount of stored water in the auxiliary tank 3 is less than a specified quantity. When the amount of stored water in the auxiliary tank 3 has reached to specified amount, the three way valve V1 is driven so that the flow passage of rainwater may be switched over the side of the main tank 4 while a solenoid valve V2 is opened and driven so that the stored water in the auxiliary tank 3 may be drained. In addition to that, when to rains, the solenoid valve V2 is driven and closed, responding to a detection signal with the rainfall sensor SE1, thereby storing rainwater in the auxiliary tank 3. When it does not rain, an automatic drain valve V2 is driven, thereby draining the auxiliary tank 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a water tank for storing rainwater, which comprises two water tanks, a main tank and an auxiliary tank, and stores rainwater starting to descend only in the auxiliary tank, and the auxiliary tank becomes full. At times, the present invention relates to a rainwater storage device that stores rainwater thereafter in a main tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A rainwater storage device described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 6-30256 is known. In the rainwater storage device 100, as shown in FIG. 14, the rainwater (initial rainfall) at the beginning of falling collected by a water collecting unit (not shown)
First flows down the inflow pipe 101 and the inflow pipe 101a, and flows into the auxiliary tank 102. This auxiliary tank 1
02, a float 103 floating on a water storage surface is provided. When the inside of the auxiliary tank 102 is full, the float 103
To stop rainwater inflow. Thereafter, the rainwater flows into the main tank 104 via the inflow pipe 101 and the inflow pipe 101b and is stored. With this configuration, in the rainwater storage device 100, initial rainfall that is likely to be contaminated by dust in the atmosphere or dirt in the water collecting section is stored only in the auxiliary tank 102, and when the inside of the auxiliary tank 102 becomes full, Subsequent rainfall that is cleaner than the rainfall is stored in the main tank 104.

[0003] A faucet 104a is provided at the lower end of the main tank 104. By opening the faucet 104a manually, rainwater in the main tank 104 can be used as, for example, miscellaneous water. Furthermore, an overflow port 104b is provided at the upper end of the main tank 104,
When the inside of the main tank 104 becomes full, excess rainwater is drained from the overflow port 104b. In addition, the initial rainfall of poor water quality stored in the auxiliary tank 102 is drained by manually opening the drain cock 102b.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned prior art, drainage of rainwater in the auxiliary tank 102 is performed manually, which is troublesome. In addition, since the float 103 is used as a means for switching the flow path of the inflow pipe 101 from the auxiliary tank 102 side to the main tank 104, a large amount of rain continuously falls from the start of falling, and the inside of the auxiliary tank 102 is filled at a stretch. When the auxiliary tank 102 becomes full due to a small amount of rainfall at one time and several rainfalls separated by a considerable amount of time, the rainwater of poor quality is stored in the main tank 104. May be stored. For example,
When rain has occurred in this state when the inside of the auxiliary tank 102 is in a state immediately before the water is full due to the last rain,
The auxiliary tank 102 becomes full of water immediately due to a very small amount of initial rainfall, the flow path of the inflow pipe 101 is switched to the main tank 104 side, and the initial rainfall with poor water quality may flow into the main tank 104 side. In this case, the main tank 104
Rainwater of poor quality is stored therein, and a large amount of sediment such as garbage accumulates at the bottom of the main tank 104, so that maintenance must be performed frequently and there is a problem that maintenance is extremely troublesome. The main tank 10
Since the quality of the rainwater in 4 is poor, there is a problem in that the use of the rainwater as miscellaneous water is limited.

[0005] Further, insects and debris are discharged from the main tank 1 through an overflow port 104b provided in the main tank 104.
04, and may deteriorate the quality of rainwater stored in the main tank 104. Even if a wire mesh (not shown) is attached to the overflow port 104b,
Small insects and garbage may pass through the wire mesh, and it is difficult to completely prevent deterioration of the quality of rainwater stored in the main tank 104.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can easily drain the auxiliary tank and maintain the main tank, and can store rainwater of relatively high quality in the main tank. It is intended to provide a device.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rainwater storage device, comprising: a water collecting portion for collecting rainwater; a water pipe connected to the water collecting portion, through which the collected rainwater flows; A main tank and an auxiliary tank that are connected to each other and store rainwater flowing down the water pipe, an automatic switching valve that is provided in the water pipe and switches the flow path of the water pipe to one of the auxiliary tank side and the main tank side, and an auxiliary tank An auxiliary tank sensor for detecting whether or not the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount; a drain pipe provided at a lower end of the auxiliary tank for draining rainwater in the auxiliary tank; An automatic drain valve provided on the pipe and opening and closing the drain pipe, and an automatic switching valve in response to a detection signal from the auxiliary tank sensor drives a water pipe when the water storage amount of the auxiliary tank is less than a predetermined amount. Flow path on the auxiliary tank side When the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank reaches a predetermined amount, switch the flow path of the water supply pipe to the main tank side, and when the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank reaches the predetermined amount, open and drive the automatic drain valve. And a control device for opening the drainpipe.

According to this rainwater storage device, first, the rainwater collected in the water collecting section flows down the water supply pipe, passes through the flow path of the water supply pipe switched to the auxiliary tank side by the automatic switching valve, and then flows through the auxiliary water supply pipe. Stored in the tank. The control device drives the automatic switching valve in response to the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor provided in the auxiliary tank, and when the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank is less than a predetermined amount, the control device switches the flow path of the water pipe to the auxiliary tank. And store rainwater in the auxiliary tank. Then, when the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank reaches a predetermined amount, the automatic switching valve is driven to switch the flow path of the water pipe to the main tank side, store rainwater in the main tank, and open the automatic drain valve. Driving to open the drain pipe, drain the rainwater stored in a predetermined amount in the auxiliary tank.
Thereby, the rainwater stored in the auxiliary tank can be automatically drained without any trouble of human labor, so that drainage of the auxiliary tank becomes easy.

In the above, the rainwater storage device further includes a rainfall sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rainfall, and the control device closes and drives the automatic drain valve when rainfall occurs in response to a detection signal from the rainfall sensor. Therefore, it is preferable that the drain pipe is closed, and when there is no rainfall, the drain pipe is opened by opening and driving the automatic drain valve.

According to this rainwater storage device, the control device includes:
In accordance with the detection signal of the rain sensor, the drain pipe is closed by driving the automatic drain valve to close during rain, and the drain pipe is opened by driving the automatic drain valve to open when there is no rain. Therefore, for example, when the amount of rainfall per one time is small and there are several rainfalls separated by time, the automatic drain valve opens the drain pipe every time the rainfall ends, and drains the rainwater in the auxiliary tank. Since the water is drained, the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank does not reach the predetermined amount due to such rainfall, and only when rain continuously falls from the start of the rain, a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the auxiliary tank, After that, the flow path of the water pipe is switched to the main tank side. As a result, when the flow path of the water supply pipe is switched to the main tank side, heavy initial rainfall does not flow into the main tank side, and rainwater of relatively good quality is reliably stored in the main tank. And the maintenance of the main tank becomes easy. In addition, since the quality of rainwater in the main tank is improved as compared with the related art, the use of the rainwater as miscellaneous water is widened.

In the above, the rainwater storage device further includes a main tank sensor provided in the main tank, for detecting whether or not the amount of water stored in the main tank is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. In response to the detection signal from the main tank sensor, when the amount of water stored in the main tank has reached a predetermined amount, by driving the automatic switching valve, the flow path of the water pipe is switched to the auxiliary tank side, and the automatic drain valve is set. It is preferable that the drainage pipe is opened by driving the opening.

According to this rainwater storage device, when the water storage amount of the main tank reaches a predetermined amount in accordance with the detection signal of the main tank sensor, the control device drives the automatic switching valve to thereby control the flow of the water pipe. Since the drainage pipe is opened by switching the path to the auxiliary tank side and opening the automatic drain valve, unnecessary rainwater does not flow into the main tank without exceeding a predetermined amount of rainwater. Is automatically drained from the drainpipe. This eliminates the need to provide an overflow port in the main tank unlike the conventional one, so that insects and debris do not enter the main tank through the overflow port and deteriorate the quality of rainwater in the main tank. , Can maintain water quality. Maintaining the water quality makes maintenance of the main tank easier.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
A rainwater storage device according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the rainwater storage device 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a rainwater storage device 1 has a gutter 2 as a water collecting part for receiving rainfall from a roof R and collecting water.
And an auxiliary tank 3 and a main tank 4 for receiving and storing rainwater from the gutter 2, respectively. This gutter 2
Is provided with a rain sensor SE1 for detecting the presence or absence of rain. The rain sensor SE1 changes its detection signal to ON / OFF under the condition of the presence or absence of rain. When there is no rain, the detection signal is in the OFF state, and when the rain is detected, the detection signal is OFF. It changes from the state to the ON state. The detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 is input to the control device 6 described later.

At the bottom of the gutter 2, a water pipe 5 through which rainwater collected by the gutter 2 flows is connected. The water pipe 5 is connected via a three-way valve V1 as an automatic switching valve. , Branched into two water pipes 5a, 5b, and the branched water pipes 5a, 5b.
5b is connected to the auxiliary tank 3 and the main tank 4, respectively. The three-way valve V1 is, for example, an electromagnetic valve (not shown) and an air-driven three-way valve using instrumentation air. When the drive signal is switched from the auxiliary tank 3 side to the main tank 4 side and there is no drive signal from the control device 6 even when the power is turned off, the flow path of the water pipe 5 is always communicated with the auxiliary tank 3 side. Have been.

The auxiliary tank 3 is provided at a predetermined height on the inner surface of the side wall, and is provided at an auxiliary tank sensor SE2 used for detecting the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank 3 and at the bottom of the auxiliary tank 3. , A drain pipe 7 for draining rainwater in the auxiliary tank 3, and a drain pipe 7 provided in the drain pipe 7.
And an electromagnetic valve V2 as an automatic drain valve for opening and closing the valve. The detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is ON / OFF on condition that the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank 3 is a predetermined amount (for example, the amount of water at which the auxiliary tank 3 becomes full).
When the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank 3 is less than the predetermined amount, the detection signal is OFF, and when the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank 3 reaches the predetermined amount, the detection signal is The state changes from the OFF state to the ON state. The detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is input to the control device 6 described later.

The solenoid valve V2 is a normally-open solenoid valve. When the solenoid valve V2 is excited by a drive signal from the control device 6, which will be described later, the drain pipe 7 is closed and the control device 6 including the power-off state is shut off. When no drive signal is received from the
Is opened to drain the rainwater in the auxiliary tank 3. Further, the drain pipe 7 extends to a drain not shown, and drains rainwater into this drain.

The main tank 4 is provided at a predetermined height on the inner surface of the side wall, and is used to detect the amount of water stored in the main tank 4.
And a faucet V3 for discharging rainwater in the main tank 4 by an operator twisting a handle. The detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 is ON / OFF on condition that the amount of water stored in the main tank 4 is a predetermined amount (for example, the amount of water in which the main tank 4 is full).
When the amount of water stored in the main tank 4 is less than the predetermined amount, the detection signal is OFF, and when the amount of water stored in the main tank 4 reaches the predetermined amount, the detection signal is The state changes from the OFF state to the ON state. The detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 is also input to the control device 6 described later.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the control device 6
C for executing a control program shown in FIGS.
PU60 and ROM for storing the control program and the like
61, a RAM 62 for temporarily storing operation data and the like used when executing each control program, and a three-way valve V1.
A drive circuit for outputting a drive signal for driving the solenoid valve V2, an interface circuit 63 having an I / O port (all not shown) for inputting detection signals of the sensors SE1, SE2, SE3, and the like; As a microcomputer provided with This control device 6
Are based on the control program, and the sensors SE1, SE2,
A drive signal is output to the three-way valve V1 and the solenoid valve V2 via the interface circuit 63 in accordance with the ON / OFF state of the detection signal input from SE3, thereby controlling the operation of the rainwater storage device 1.

The control operation of the control device 6 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main program of the control device 6. In this main program, first, when the rainwater storage device 1 is turned on, the drive signal to the three-way valve V1 and the solenoid valve V2 is not output as an initialization state. Thereby, the three-way valve V1
Is maintained in a state where the flow path of the water supply pipe 5 is set to the auxiliary tank 3 side, and the solenoid valve V2 is maintained in a state where the drain pipe 7 is opened (steps S1 and S2). Next, in step S3, each detection signal input to the control device 6 from each of the sensors SE1, SE2, and SE3 changes from ON to OFF or O
It is determined whether or not FF has changed to ON.

This determination is made based on the result of the "interrupt processing" routine shown in FIG. 6, which is executed by interrupting the processing of the main program at predetermined time intervals. In this interrupt processing routine, first, in step S10
Then, it is determined whether or not the ON / OFF state of the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 has changed.

In the "signal change determination of sensor SE1" routine of step S10, for example, at the time of execution at a certain point, it is detected that the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 has changed from OFF to ON, for example, and thereafter. If all the detection signals of the rain sensor SE1 are in the ON state during the execution of this step S10 a predetermined number of times, it is determined that the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 has changed from OFF to ON for the first time. This means, for example, when it starts raining,
The output state of the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 is not stable,
Since there is a possibility that ON / OFF may be repeated, the three-way valve V1 and the solenoid valve V
2 causes chattering and the like, and the three-way valve V
This is to prevent the life of the solenoid valve 1 and the solenoid valve V2 from being shortened.

Next, in step S11, step S10
Similarly to the above, the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is turned ON / OFF.
It is determined whether the OFF state has changed, and then, in step S12, similarly to step S10, it is detected whether the ON / OFF state of the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 has changed. In these steps S11, the "sensor S
Also in the "determination of signal change of E2" routine and the "determination of signal change of sensor SE3" routine of step S12,
For the same reason as described in step S10, the ON / OFF state of the detection signal is detected at a certain point in time, and the state after the change of the detection signal is detected at the subsequent predetermined number of times in steps S11 and S12. Is maintained,
At that time, it is determined that a change in the output state of the detection signal has occurred.

According to the "interrupt processing" routine, if the determination in step S3 of FIG. 5 is "YES", that is, at least one of the detection signals of the sensors SE1, SE2, and SE3, the ON / OFF state of the detection signal is changed. If it has changed, the "valve drive" routine is executed in step S4, and if the determination is "NO", the flow returns to step S3. This "valve drive" routine is shown in FIG.
First, in step S20, it is determined whether the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 has changed from OFF to ON.

When the determination in step S20 is "YES", that is, when the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 is OFF.
When it changes from to ON, it is determined that rain has occurred, and the “SE1 / ON valve drive” routine of step S21 is executed. In the “SE1 / ON valve drive” routine, FIG.
As shown in (2), in step S210, the three-way valve V1 is set to the auxiliary tank 3 side, and in step S211, a drive signal is output to the solenoid valve V2 to close the solenoid valve V2, and this routine ends. The three-way valve V1 is set to the auxiliary tank 3 side, and the solenoid valve V
By closing 2, the auxiliary tank 3 is in a state capable of storing water, and as shown in FIG. 2, rainwater flows down from the roof R,
It is collected by the gutter 2 and stored in the auxiliary tank 3.

If the determination in step S20 is "NO", that is, if the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 is OFF.
If it has not changed from ON to ON, the process proceeds to step S22, where the detection signal of the rainfall sensor SE1 changes from ON to OFF.
Is determined. If the determination in step S22 is "YES", that is, if the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 changes from ON to OFF, it is determined that the rain has ended and "SE1 / OFF" in step S23.
The "valve drive" routine is executed. This “SE1 ・ OFF
In the "valve drive" routine, as shown in FIG.
At 230, the three-way valve V1 is set to the auxiliary tank 3 side, and at step S231, the output of the drive signal to the solenoid valve V2 is stopped, the solenoid valve V2 is opened, and this routine ends. By setting the three-way valve V1 to the auxiliary tank 3 side and opening the solenoid valve V2, the rainwater in the auxiliary tank 3 is drained. Therefore, when there is no rainfall, the inside of the auxiliary tank 3 is always kept empty. Is done. Thereby, unlike a conventional rainwater storage device, a predetermined amount of rainwater is not stored in the auxiliary tank 3 due to several rainfalls at intervals, and when rainfall continuously starts from the start of the rainfall, Only, auxiliary tank 3
A predetermined amount of rainwater is stored therein.

If the determination in step S22 is "NO", that is, if the detection signal of the rain sensor SE1 has not changed from ON to OFF, the process proceeds to step S24, where the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is It is determined whether the state has changed from OFF to ON. This step S24
Is "YES", that is, when the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 changes from OFF to ON, it is determined that a predetermined amount of rainwater has been stored in the auxiliary tank 3 and "YES" in step S25. SE2 · ON valve drive ”routine is executed. In this “SE2 / ON valve drive” routine, as shown in FIG.
A drive signal is output to the three-way valve V1 so that the three-way valve V1 is set to the main tank 4 side. In step S251, the solenoid valve V2 is opened.
This routine ends. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, rainwater flows down to the main tank 4 side through the water supply pipe 5 and the three-way valve V1 and is stored in the main tank 4. At this time,
The dirty initial rainfall is already stored in the auxiliary tank 3, and the main tank 4 stores later rainwater which is cleaner than the initial rainfall. At this time, since the solenoid valve V2 is opened, the dirty initial rainfall stored in the auxiliary tank 3 is automatically drained.

On the other hand, if the determination in step S24 is "NO", that is, if the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is
If it has not changed from OFF to ON, step S
26, the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is ON
It is determined whether the state has changed from OFF to OFF. When the determination in step S26 is "YES", that is, when the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 changes from ON to OFF, this indicates a state in which the drainage of the auxiliary tank 3 has been started. Therefore, “SE2 · O” in step S27
FF valve drive ”routine is executed. This "SE2 ・ O
In the “FF valve drive” routine, as shown in FIG.
The states of the direction valve V1 and the solenoid valve V2 are kept as they are (steps S270, 271), and this routine ends. Thereby, the drainage in the auxiliary tank 3 is continued.

If the determination in step S26 is "NO", that is, the detection signal of the auxiliary tank sensor SE2 is
If it has not changed from ON to OFF, step S
Proceeds to 28, where the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 is OFF
It is determined whether or not has changed from ON to ON. This step S
If the determination in step S28 is "YES", that is, if the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 has changed from OFF to ON, it is determined that a predetermined amount of rainwater has been stored in the main tank 4, and the process proceeds to step S29. The “SE3 · ON valve drive” routine is executed. This “SE3 ·
In the "ON valve drive" routine, as shown in FIG. 12, the three-way valve V1 is switched to the auxiliary tank 3 side in step S290, the solenoid valve V2 is opened in step S291, and this routine ends. As a result, no more than a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the main tank 4, and unnecessary rainwater is drained from the drain pipe 7 of the auxiliary tank 3. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an overflow port in the main tank 4. Disappears.

When the determination in step S28 is "NO", that is, when the detection signal of the main tank 4 is changed from OFF to O
If it has not changed to N, the process proceeds to step S30,
It is determined whether the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 has changed from ON to OFF. If the determination in step S30 is "YES", that is, if the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 has changed from ON to OFF, this means that the rainwater in the main tank 4 has been used and the water level has dropped. The "SE3 OFF valve driving" routine of step S31 is executed. In the “SE3 · OFF valve drive” routine, as shown in FIG. 13, the states of the three-way valve V1 and the solenoid valve V2 are maintained as they are (step S
310, 311), and terminates this routine. If the determination in step S30 is "NO", that is, if the detection signal of the main tank sensor SE3 has not changed from ON to OFF, this routine ends.

As described above, according to the rainwater storage device 1 of this embodiment, when the rain has ceased (when step S22 is YES), steps S230 and S2 are performed.
As shown at 31, the inside of the auxiliary tank 3 is always kept empty. Then, when rain occurs (Step S20 is YES) and a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the auxiliary tank 3 (Step S24 is YES), Step S2 is performed.
50, S251, the flow path of the water supply pipe 5 is set to the main tank 4 side, and the rainwater in the auxiliary tank 3 is drained. As a result, even if the amount of rainfall per one time is small and several rainfalls occur at intervals of time, the inside of the auxiliary tank 3 is always kept empty every time the rainfall stops. The rainfall does not cause a predetermined amount of rainwater to be stored in the auxiliary tank 3, and only when the rain has continued from the start of the rainfall, a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the auxiliary tank 3. Rainwater is stored in the main tank 4 side. For this reason, unlike the conventional rainwater storage device, dirty initial rain is not stored in the main tank 4, so that the main tank 4
The quality of rainwater stored in the main tank 4 can be improved as compared with the related art, and the accumulation of dirt and dirt in the main tank 4 becomes smaller than before, so that the maintenance of the main tank 4 is facilitated.

Further, when a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the main tank 4 (when step S28 is YES), the flow path of the water pipe 5 is switched to the auxiliary tank 3 side (step S28).
290), there is no need to provide an overflow port in the main tank 4. As a result, unlike the conventional case, insects and the like do not enter through the overflow port, and the quality of rainwater stored in the main tank 4 can be maintained more than before, so that dirt and dirt accumulate in the main tank 4. And the maintenance of the main tank 4 becomes easy.

When the rain stops (step S22)
Is YES, or when a predetermined amount of rainwater is stored in the auxiliary tank 3 (when step S24 is YES), the solenoid valve V2 is opened (steps S231 and S251), and the water in the auxiliary tank 3 is automatically Since the water is drained automatically, it is not necessary to manually drain the water in the auxiliary tank 3 as in the related art, and the labor is not required. Further, when the power is turned off, the three-way valve V1
The flow path of the water pipe 5 is set to the auxiliary tank 3 side, and the solenoid valve V2 is
Since the drain pipe 7 of the auxiliary tank 3 is opened, for example, a malfunction occurs during a power failure, and dirty rainwater is stored in the main tank 4, or the main tank 4, the auxiliary tank 3, and the water pipe 5 become full. Since the rainwater does not overflow from the gutter 2, a fail-safe configuration that does not burden the rainwater storage device 1 can be provided.

In the above embodiment, the three-way valve V1 and the solenoid valve V2 are controlled by turning on / off the sensor outputs of the sensors SE1, SE2, SE3. , Depending on the amount of rainfall and the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank 3 and the main tank 4
A three-way valve V1 and a solenoid valve V2 may be controlled using a sensor whose output changes linearly.

[0034]

As described above, according to the rainwater storage device of the present invention, the rainwater stored in the auxiliary tank can be automatically drained without troublesome operation. Becomes easier. In addition, when the flow path of the water pipe is switched from the auxiliary tank side to the main tank side, initial rain with poor water quality does not flow into the main tank side, and relatively high-quality rainwater is introduced into the main tank. The tank can be reliably stored, and the maintenance of the main tank becomes easy. In addition, since the overflow port of the main tank is not required, insects, dust and the like do not enter the main tank, the water quality can be maintained, and the main tank can be easily maintained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a rainwater storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the rainwater storage device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the rainwater storage device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control device of the rainwater storage device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main program relating to the operation of the control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an “interrupt processing” routine of the control device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a “valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an “SE1 / ON valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an “SE1 / OFF valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a “SE2 · ON valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a “SE2 · OFF valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an “SE3 · ON valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an “SE3 · OFF valve drive” routine of the control device.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a conventional rainwater storage device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rainwater storage device 2 Water collecting part 3 Auxiliary tank 4 Main tank 5,5a, 5b Water pipe 6 Control device 7 Drain pipe SE1 Rain sensor SE2 Auxiliary tank sensor SE3 Main tank sensor V1 Automatic switching valve V2 Automatic drain valve

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A water collecting section for collecting rainwater, a water pipe connected to the water collecting section, through which collected rainwater flows, and a rainwater connected to the water pipe and flowing down the water pipe. An automatic switching valve provided in the water supply pipe, for switching a flow path of the water supply pipe to one of the auxiliary tank side and the main tank side, and provided in the auxiliary tank, An auxiliary tank sensor for detecting whether or not the amount of water stored in the tank is equal to or more than a predetermined amount; a drain pipe provided at a lower end of the auxiliary tank for draining rainwater in the auxiliary tank; An automatic drain valve that opens and closes the drain pipe is provided in accordance with a detection signal from the auxiliary tank sensor.By driving the automatic switching valve, when the water storage amount of the auxiliary tank is less than a predetermined amount. And said The flow path of the water pipe is held on the auxiliary tank side, and when the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank reaches a predetermined amount, the flow path of the water supply pipe is switched to the main tank side, and the amount of water stored in the auxiliary tank is reduced. A control device that opens the drain pipe by opening the automatic drain valve when the predetermined amount is reached. 2. The apparatus further comprises a rainfall sensor for detecting the presence or absence of rainfall, wherein the control device closes and drives the automatic drain valve during rainfall according to a detection signal from the rainfall sensor. The rainwater storage device according to claim 1, wherein the drain pipe is closed, and when there is no rainfall, the drain pipe is opened by driving the automatic drain valve to open. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a main tank sensor provided in the main tank, the main tank sensor detecting whether or not the amount of water stored in the main tank is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. According to the detection signal, when the amount of water stored in the main tank reaches a predetermined amount, the automatic switching valve is driven to switch the flow path of the water pipe to the auxiliary tank side, and the automatic drain valve is The rainwater storage device according to claim 1, wherein the drainage pipe is opened by opening and driving.