JPH1119667A - Bath hot water circulating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To judge that the purifying capacity of a biochemically purifying means and a physically purifying means become less than a prescribed value while reducing the cost. SOLUTION: The hot water W is treated and purified biochemically by passing through a purifying tank 21. When the discharging flow rate of the purifying tank 21 becomes to less than a fixed flow rate in the case that the hot water flows in a tank connecting pipe 23, a detected signal S1 is outputted from a flow switch 29 and the purifying capacity of the purifying tank 21 is judged by a controller 20 that the capacity is lowered to less than a prescribed value. When the consumed current of a circulating pump 16 detected by a current detector 30 becomes more than a prescribed value in the case that the hot water W flows through a membrane filter tank 22, the purifying capacity of the membrane filter tank 22 is judged by a controller 20 that the capacity is lowered to less than a prescribed value.

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 back into the bath tub.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bathtub hot water circulating apparatus draws hot water in a bathtub by a circulation pump, purifies the hot water in a purification tank, and heats the water to a predetermined temperature by a heater.
Discharge into the bath again. Thereby, the purified and heated hot water is circulated in the bathtub.

[0003] As the septic tank, there is a biochemical septic tank using barley stone or the like for removing impurities by a biochemical treatment. The biochemical septic tank processes organic matter dissolved in the hot water (which causes turbidity and slime) in the hot water as it passes through the septic tank. Insoluble scale and general bacteria are removed. Further, there is a physical treatment / purification tank using a hollow fiber membrane, and this physical treatment / purification tank passes hot water to remove impurities in the warm water.

In order to maintain the purification ability of the biochemical and physical treatment septic tanks, the barite and the hollow fiber membrane must be replaced or washed at an appropriate time. The replacement time and the cleaning time can be determined by detecting whether the flow rate from the biochemical septic tank and the physical treatment septic tank has fallen below a predetermined value.

[0005]

In order to measure the flow rate from a biochemical septic tank and a physical treatment septic tank, if a water wheel type flow sensor that outputs a pulse signal is used, the pulse is analyzed by a control device. Thus, the flow rate can be accurately detected. However, there is a problem that the cost of the bathtub hot water circulation device is increased when a water wheel type flow sensor is used.

[0006] In order to detect whether or not there is a constant flow rate, an inexpensive flow switch (pressure type or flapper type) can be sufficiently measured, and the cost of the bathtub hot water circulation device can be reduced.

However, the biochemical septic tank uses barley stone and the physical treatment septic tank uses a hollow fiber membrane, and the pressure loss is extremely different. For example, the cleaning time is about 10 l / min for the barley stone, while the replacement time is about 5 l / min for the hollow fiber membrane.
Therefore, in order to measure the flow rates from the biochemical septic tank and the physical treatment septic tank, a flow switch must be provided for each of the septic tanks, which hinders the cost reduction of the bathtub hot water circulation device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce costs and reduce the purifying ability of biochemical purifying means and physical treatment purifying means to a predetermined value or less. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bath tub hot water circulating device capable of judging the fact.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 is a physical pump for suctioning hot water in a bathtub by a circulation pump and purifying the hot water by physical treatment. In a bath tub hot water circulating device that purifies hot water by a biological treatment purifying means or a biochemical purifying means that purifies hot water by a biochemical treatment and discharges the water to the bath tub again, the physical treatment purifying means and the biological The gist of the present invention is to provide a determination means for determining that the purification ability of the chemical purification means has become equal to or less than a predetermined value.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the bath tub hot water circulating apparatus according to the first aspect, the flow rate from the biochemical purification means is reduced to a predetermined value or less downstream of the biochemical purification means. The gist of the present invention is to provide a flow switch for detection, and to judge that the purification ability of the biochemical purification means has become equal to or less than a predetermined value based on the detection result of the flow switch.

[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. The main body case 13 includes a circulation pump 16 for circulating the hot water W in the bathtub 12, a purifying tank 17 as a purifying means for purifying the sucked hot water W, and a heating tank 1 for heating the sucked hot water W.
8. A container 19 for storing sodium hypochlorite is accommodated, and a controller 20 is provided as a judging unit for controlling the operation of the bathtub hot water circulation device 11.

An opening / closing valve (not shown) is attached to the container 19 for storing the sodium hypochlorite. With opening of the opening / closing valve, the sodium hypochlorite in the container 19 is discharged from the bathtub 1.
2. The on-off valve is controlled by the controller 20 to open and close.

As shown in FIG. 2, the septic tank 17 includes 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. In the present embodiment, when the barley stone is washed in the biological septic tank 21, the discharge flow rate is 10 liters / minute or less. At the time of replacing the hollow fiber membrane in the membrane filter tank 22, the discharge flow rate is 5 liters / minute or less.

The discharge port 21b of the biological purification tank 21 and the inflow port 22a of the membrane filter tank 22 are connected to a tank connection pipe 23.
Connected by An inflow pipe 2 is provided between the discharge port of the circulation pump 16 and the inflow port 21a of the biological purification 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 downstream of the first three-way valve 31. Further, a four-way valve 40 is connected to the tank connection pipe 23, and the four-way valve 40 and the discharge port 21 b of the biological purification tank 21 are connected.
Is provided with a pressure type flow switch 29. The flow switch 29 detects the discharge flow rate from the biological septic tank 21 and sets the discharge flow rate to a constant flow rate (10
When it becomes equal to or less than (liter / minute), an ON signal S1 is output.
The flow switch 29 may be of a flapper type.

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. In addition, the discharge pipe 15
A third three-way valve 33 is connected above. The bypass pipe 27 is connected between the first three-way valve 31 and the third three-way valve 33. Fourth three-way valve 3 on bypass pipe 27
4 are connected. Fourth three-way valve 34 and four-way valve 40
Are connected by a branch pipe 28. The three-way valves 31 to 34 and the four-way valve 40 are switch-controlled by the controller 20.

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 this 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.

A current detector 30 is connected to the circulation pump 16. The current detector 30 detects the current consumption of the circulating pump 16 and outputs a current detection signal S2 corresponding to the current consumption.

The controller 20 has a flow switch 29
Are connected, and the current detector 30 is connected. When the detection signal S1 is input from the flow switch 29, the controller 20 detects that the discharge flow rate of the biological purification tank 21 has become equal to or less than a predetermined flow rate (10 liters / minute). That is, it is determined that the purification ability of the barley stone in the biological purification tank 21 is equal to or less than the predetermined value and it is time to wash the stone. Also,
The controller 20 detects the current consumption of the circulating pump 16 based on the current detection signal S2 from the current detector 30, and when the current consumption becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value, the discharge flow rate of the membrane filter tank 22 becomes a constant flow rate (5 liter / Minutes) or less. That is, it is determined that the purification capacity of the hollow fiber membrane of the membrane filter tank 22 is equal to or less than a predetermined value and it is time to clean or replace the membrane.

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 20
By driving the three-way valve 31 and the second three-way valve 32 to communicate between the discharge port of the circulation pump 16 and the inflow port 21a of the biological purification tank 21, the four-way valve 40, the fourth three-way valve 34,
By driving the third three-way valve 33, the discharge port 2 of the biological septic tank 21
1b and the discharge pipe 15 are communicated. 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 circulation pump 16, the hot water W is pumped into the biological purification tank 21 via the inflow pipe 24. Hot water W is biological septic tank 21
, The tank connecting pipe 23 → the four-way valve 40 → the branch pipe 28
→ 4th 3-way valve 34 → bypass pipe 27 → 3rd 3-way valve 33 →
The water is discharged into the bathtub 12 through the flow path of the discharge pipe 15. 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. In addition, when the hot water flows through the tank connecting pipe 23, the discharge flow rate is detected by the flow switch 29. When the discharge flow rate of the biological septic tank 21 falls below a certain flow rate, a detection signal S1 is output from the flow switch 29, and the detection signal S1
1 and the biological septic tank 2
It is determined that the purification capability of No. 1 has dropped below a predetermined value.

Next, the sterilization operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, during the sterilization operation, the controller 20
Switches the first three-way valve 31, the fourth three-way valve 34, and the third three-way valve 33 to drive the inflow pipe 24, the bypass pipe 27, and the discharge pipe 15
And 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 20 opens the on-off valve mounted on 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 circulating pump 16, the hot water W flows through the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 31 → the bypass pipe 27 → the third three-way valve 33 to the discharge pipe 15
Is discharged into the bathtub 12 through the flow path. 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 this embodiment, this sterilization operation is performed every day at a predetermined time for about 2 to 6 hours.

Next, the operation after sterilization will be described. FIG.
As shown in the following, during the post-sterilization operation, the controller 20 controls the first three-way valve 31, the second three-way valve 32, the four-way valve 40,
The third three-way valve 33 is switched to drive the inflow pipe 24, the biological purification tank 21, the tank connection pipe 23, the membrane filter tank 22, and the discharge pipe 15 to communicate with each other. That is, during operation after sterilization,
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 circulation pump 16, the hot water W is supplied to the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 31 → the second three-way valve 32 → the biological purification tank 21 → the tank connecting pipe 2.
3 → the membrane filter tank 22 → the third three-way valve 33 → the discharge pipe 15 discharges into the bath tub 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, after the sterilization operation, if the flow path of the hot water W is the main hot water purification flow path that passes through only the biological purification tank 21, 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 is reduced, and the purification function is temporarily reduced. 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 biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22, so that the turbidity or the like of the hot water W that cannot be treated in the biological purification tank 21 is passed through the membrane filter tank 22. Not only can prevent turbidity in the bathtub 12, but also promote insufficient purification of the biological septic tank 21. 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 purification tank 21 are completely restored, and the treatment of the warm water W by the microorganisms is performed normally.

When the consumption current of the circulation pump 16 detected by the current detector 30 exceeds a predetermined value when the hot water flows through the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22, the controller 20 purifies the membrane filter tank 22. It is determined that the performance has dropped below the predetermined value.

Next, the operation during the backwashing operation of the biological septic tank will be described. The biological septic tank backwash operation is performed when the controller 20 determines that the purification capacity of the biological septic tank 21 has decreased to a predetermined value or less.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the biological septic tank reverse cleaning operation, the controller 20 controls the first three-way valve 31 and the fourth
The three-way valve 34, the four-way valve 40, and the second three-way valve 32 are switched to drive the communication between the inflow pipe 24 and the discharge port 21 b of the biological purification tank 21, and between the inflow port 21 a of the biological purification tank 21 and the drain pipe 25. Make communication between them. When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the circulation 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 28 → the four-way valve 40 → the tank connection pipe. 23 → the biological purification tank 21 → the second three-way valve 32 → the drainage connection pipe 26 → the drainage pipe 25 is drained to the outside through the flow path.

By performing the backwashing operation of the biological purification tank, impurities such as clogged scale and the like 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. Then, the flow switch 29
Does not output the detection signal S1, and based on this, the controller 20 detects that the purification ability of the biological purification tank 21 has returned to a predetermined value or more.

Next, the operation during the backwashing operation of the membrane filter tank will be described. The membrane filter tank backwash operation is performed when the controller 20 determines that the purification capacity of the membrane filter tank 22 has decreased to a predetermined value or less based on the fact that the current consumption of the circulation pump 16 has decreased to a predetermined value or less.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the membrane filter tank backwashing operation, the controller 20 switches the first three-way valve 31, the fourth three-way valve 34, the third three-way valve 33, and the four-way valve 40 to drive the inflow pipe. 24 and the discharge port 22 b of the membrane filter tank 22, and between the inlet 22 a of the membrane filter tank 22 and the drain pipe 25. When the hot water W in the bathtub 12 is sucked by the circulation pump 16, the hot water W flows into the inflow pipe 24 → the first three-way valve 31 → the bypass pipe 27 → the fourth three-way valve 34 → the third three-way valve 3.
3 → Membrane filter tank 22 → Four-way valve 40 → Drain pipe 2
The water is drained to the outside through the channel 5. 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. Then, based on the current detection signal S2 from the current detector 30, the controller 20 detects that the purification capacity of the membrane filter tank 22 has returned to a predetermined value or more.

In the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained by configuring the bath tub hot water circulation device 11 as described above. For the biological septic tank 21 that requires relatively accurate detection of the discharge flow rate, a flow switch 29 is provided between the discharge port 21b and the four-way valve 40 to detect the discharge flow rate of the biological septic tank 21. It is possible to determine the cleaning time of the barley stone, and for the membrane filter tank 22 in which the detection of the discharge flow rate may be rough, the discharge flow rate of the membrane filter tank 22 is detected by detecting the current consumption of the circulating pump 16 and the hollow fiber The time to clean or replace the membrane can be determined. That is, the cost of the bathtub hot water circulation device 11 can be reduced without providing a flow switch for the biological purification tank 21 and the membrane filter tank 22 or using an expensive water turbine type flow sensor, and two different set flow rates can be obtained. Can be detected.

During normal operation in which the biological purification tank 21 has a high purification function, the flow path is switched so that the hot water W passes only through the biological purification tank 21. In addition, biological septic tank 21
After the sterilization operation having a low purification function, the flow path was switched so that the hot water W passed 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 performs the purification of the hot water W instead of the biological purification tank 21, so that the turbidity of the hot water W can be reliably prevented.

In addition, maintenance of the membrane filter tank 22 is facilitated by always preventing the hot water W from 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 embodied with the following modifications. In the above embodiment, if the detection of the discharge flow rate of the biological purification tank 21 is not required to be accurate, the flow switch 29 is omitted, and the discharge flow rate of the biological purification tank 21 is detected based on the current consumption of the circulation pump 16. It may be.

In the above embodiment, the controller 20
, The valves are automatically switched, but the user may manually switch and drive each valve. In the above embodiment, during the sterilization operation, the hot water W is supplied to the septic tank (biological septic tank 21 and membrane filter tank 22) 1
7 was switched so as not to pass through
As shown in (1), the first three-way valve 31, the fourth three-way valve 34, the four-way valve 40, and the third three-way valve 33 are switched to circulate the hot water W so as to pass only through the membrane filter tank 22 as the physical treatment and purification means. Let it. That is, the hot water flow path is changed to a physical hot water purification flow path (suction pipe 12, inflow pipe 24, first three-way valve 31, bypass pipe 27, branch pipe 28, four-way valve 40, tank connection pipe 23, membrane filter tank 22, Third three-way valve 3
3. The discharge pipe 15) may be configured.

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, the user can arbitrarily add sodium hypochlorite by the user. It may be configured to be injected into the bathtub 12.

[0043]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a bath tub hot water circulation device capable of determining that the purification abilities of the biochemical purification means and the physical treatment purification means have become equal to or less than a predetermined value while reducing costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a hot water flow path during normal operation.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a hot water flow path during a sterilization operation.

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

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a hot water flow path during a biological septic tank backwash operation.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a hot water flow path during a membrane filter tank backwash operation.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

12 ... bathtub, 16 ... circulation pump, 20 ... controller as determination means, 21 ... biological purification tank as biochemical purification means, 22 ... membrane filter tank as physical treatment purification means, 29 ... flow switch, W ... hot water.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A circulating pump sucks hot water in a bathtub and purifies the sucked hot water by a physical treatment purifying means for purifying hot water by physical treatment or a biochemical purifying means for purifying hot water by biochemical treatment. Then, in the bath tub hot water circulating device that discharges again to the bath tub, a determination is made based on the consumption current of the circulating pump that the purifying capacity of the physical treatment purifying unit and the biochemical purifying unit has become a predetermined value or less. Bathtub hot water circulation device provided with means. 2. The bathtub hot water circulation device according to claim 1, wherein a flow switch downstream of said biochemical purification means for detecting that a flow rate from said biochemical purification means has fallen below a predetermined value. A bathtub hot water circulation device that determines that the purifying ability of the biochemical purifying unit has become equal to or less than a predetermined value based on a detection result of the flow switch.