JPH11211224A - Bath unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bath unit in which a mild additional heating mode or a full additional heating mode can be employed selectively and the time required for heating up the bath is prevented from being extended at the time of automatic operation. SOLUTION: The bath unit is provided with an automatic operating function dropping the water level of bath down to a set level and heating up to a set temperature in addition to independent operation, e.g. additional heating operation. It is also provided with a mild additional heating mode for burning a burner while lowering the combustion capacity appropriately as compared with a full additional heating mode for burning the burner with high combustion capacity. In principle, the bath unit is controlled to make a transition automatically to mild additional heating mode when the bath temperature falls within a specified temperature range with respect to a set bath temperature. When dropping operation is followed by additional heating operation during automatic operation, full additional heating mode is sustained by means of a controller until the bath set temperature is reached regardless of the principle.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for automatically lowering a bath at least to a set water level and automatically reheating a bath to a set temperature, in addition to a single operation such as a normal reheating operation or an automatic dropping operation. It has a function of automatic operation to be performed, and a full refueling mode in which the burner is burned with a high burning capacity as a reheating mode and a state in which the burning capacity is appropriately reduced compared to the case of the full refueling mode The present invention relates to a bath apparatus provided with a mild reheating mode in which a burner is burned in a bath.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a bath apparatus having an automatic operation function of a type in which hot water is dropped into a bath tub to automatically drop the water to a bath set water level and to automatically heat up to a bath set temperature. That is, in the automatic operation, by turning on the automatic operation switch, first, the automatic dropping of the bath is started, and subsequently, the automatic reheating is performed, and the reheating is performed to the bath set temperature. . On the other hand, when it comes to reheating a bath,
As the reheating mode, there is a full reheating mode in which the burner is burned at the highest capacity or high capacity, and a mild reheating mode in which the burner is burned in a state in which the burning capacity is appropriately reduced from the full reheating mode. Bath equipment is provided. The relationship between the full reheating mode and the mild reheating mode is such that when the bath temperature is lower than a certain temperature than the bath setting temperature, the full reheating mode is set, and the bath temperature is constant with respect to the bath setting temperature. When the temperature is close to within the temperature range, mild reburning combustion is performed. As described above, the reason for using the mild reheating mode together with the full reheating mode is as follows.
When the bath temperature approaches the set bath temperature, the heating degree is slowed down to prevent the bath temperature from exceeding the bath set temperature, and when the bath temperature is near the bath set temperature. The reason for this is to prevent the bather from suddenly rising to the set temperature when the full reheating mode is employed and giving the bather uncomfortable feeling in many cases.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the above-mentioned conventional bath apparatus. Now, when the automatic operation switch is turned on (Yes in step S11), for example, hot water set at a bath set temperature or a lower temperature is dropped into the bathtub, and automatic dropping into the bathtub is started (step S12). . When the hot water is dropped to the bath set water level of the bathtub (Yes in step S13), the automatic dropping is completed and ended (step S13).
14). Subsequently, the reheating burner is ignited, and reheating is started (step S15). Then, when the automatic dropping into the bathtub is dropped with hot water at the bath set temperature, even if there is a slight temperature drop during dropping, the temperature is within a certain range from the bath set temperature (for example, from the bath set temperature. Is also lower than 3 ° C.), and in this case, reheating in the mild reheating mode is started (step S16). When the bath temperature is raised to the bath set temperature (Yes in step S17),
The reheating operation is terminated, and the end of the reheating operation is notified to a person who intends to take a bath by an alarm sound such as a buzzer (step S18). In the above case, for example, assuming that hot water heated to a bath set temperature of 40 ° C. is dropped into a bathtub, it takes about 18 minutes to drop 180 liters of hot water into the bathtub. Assuming that the temperature has dropped to 39 ° C. due to natural heat radiation at the time of dropping, when reheating in the mild reheating mode, for example, the above 39 ° C.
Approximately 3 minutes and 40 seconds to raise the bath temperature to 0 ° C (3000 kc output from the burner in mild reheating mode)
al / h).

[0004]

However, for those who want to take a bath immediately, the reheating time (3 minutes 4
There was a problem that 0 seconds (21 minutes and 40 seconds from the start of dropping) was too long.

Therefore, the present invention takes a long time to start the bath in automatic operation while maintaining the above-mentioned advantages by selectively using both the mild post-heating mode and the full post-heating mode in the conventional bath apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bath apparatus that can solve the above problem.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the bath apparatus according to the present invention automatically drops at least the bath to a set water level in addition to a single operation such as a normal reheating operation and an automatic dropping operation. It has a function of automatic operation that automatically reheats to the set temperature of the bath and also has a full reheating mode in which the burner is burned with a high combustion capacity as a reheating mode and the full reheating mode It has a mild reheating mode in which the burner is burned in a state in which the combustion capacity is appropriately reduced from the case of the mode, and automatically when the bath temperature is within a certain temperature range with respect to the bath set temperature in principle. A bath apparatus controlled to be in the mild reheating mode,
The first feature is that, in the reheating following the drop during the automatic operation, a controller is provided which performs reheating in the full reheating mode until the temperature reaches the bath set temperature regardless of the principle. Further, the bath apparatus of the present invention has a second feature that, in addition to the first feature, the automatic operation is an operation including a heat keeping operation after the bath temperature once reaches the bath set temperature.

[0007] In the first aspect of the present invention, in the case of automatic operation in which the automatic dropping of the bath and the subsequent reheating are set at least, the reheating for performing the heating to the bath set temperature is the full reheating. Since the heating is performed in the heating mode, the time required for heating to the bath set temperature can be sufficiently reduced as compared with the case of performing in the mild reheating mode. In addition, since automatic operation starts from automatic dropping into the bathtub, if you choose automatic operation, you can basically think that the bathtub is empty and no people are taking a bath, The inconvenience of giving a bather discomfort due to a rise in temperature does not usually occur. Similarly, even if a transient phenomenon occurs in which the bathtub temperature slightly exceeds the bathtub set temperature at the time of completion of heating due to hysteresis due to full reheating, there is no significant problem since there are no bathers in the transition period.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the automatic operation can be said to include at least a series of operations from automatic dropping into a bath tub to heating, but after the heating is completed once. In some cases, reheating may be included as a heat retaining operation for preventing a decrease in bath temperature. In the second feature, a case is shown in which the automatic operation includes the operation of keeping the temperature. In this case, in the reheating in the heat retention operation, returning to the principle, when the bath temperature is within a certain temperature range with respect to the set bath temperature, reheating is performed in the mild reheating mode.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a bath apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the bath apparatus.

The bath apparatus basically includes a bathtub 10, a bath kettle 20 having a hot water supply function, a controller 40, and a kitchen remote controller 41.
And remote controls of the bath remote controller 42 and the like. A return pipe 51 from the bathtub 10 to the bathtub 20 is provided between the bathtub 10 and the bathtub 20 as a reheating circuit 50 for circulating bathtub water and heating the bathtub water.
And a going pipe 52 from the bath kettle 20 to the bathtub 10 are provided. During the reheating operation, the hot water in the bathtub 10 is led out of the circulation port 11 provided on the side wall of the bathtub 10 and returns to the bath kettle 20, where it is heated by the bath kettle 20 and then passes through the going pipe 52. Inlet 1 provided on the side wall of bathtub 10
From 2, it returns to the bathtub 10 again.

The outgoing pipe 52 has a bathtub cleaning pipe 61 branched on the way. A detergent tank 63 is connected to the bathtub cleaning tube 61 through a venturi tube 62, and a spout 64 for discharging a cleaning liquid from the bottom of the bathtub 10 to the inner wall of the bathtub 10 is provided at the tip of the bathtub cleaning tube 61. Is provided. Reference numeral 65 denotes an opening / closing valve for the bathtub cleaning pipe 61.

The outgoing pipe 52 is divided into two parts by a three-way valve 53 at the distal end, and further divided into two parts at the distal end, and communicates with the inlet 12 through four conduits. When the bubble bath operation is performed, air is supplied to the four inlets 12 from the air inlet pipe 71, and bathtub water mixed with air is jetted into the bathtub 10.

Further, the bath kettle 20 has a reheating heat exchanger 21 for reheating the bathtub water, and a hot water supply heat exchanger for automatically dropping into the bathtub and for supplying the bathtub water. The return pipe 51 and the forward pipe 52 are connected to the reheating heat exchanger 21. For the reheating heat exchanger 21, a reheating burner 22 that can be switched between two types of reheating modes, a full reheating mode with a maximum combustion capacity and a mild reheating mode with reduced combustion capacity, is provided. The bath water circulated in the reheating heat exchanger 21 heated by the reheating burner 22 is subjected to heat exchange heating. It should be noted that the full refueling mode is not necessarily required to be the combustion with the maximum combustion capacity, and the combustion with the high combustion capacity may be the full refueling mode.

In the middle of the return pipe 51 connected to the reheating heat exchanger 21, a bathtub water level sensor 23, a reheating circulation pump 24, a water flow switch 25, and a bathtub temperature sensor 2 are provided.
6 are provided. 27 is a two-way valve. Bathtub 1
A tub drainage path 32 to zero is connected in the middle of the return pipe 51. Further, 28 is a bypass pipe, 29
Is a two-way valve provided in the bypass pipe 28.

The controller 40 controls the entire bath apparatus, inputs commands and other signals from the kitchen remote controller 41 and the bath remote controller 42, and inputs information signals from sensors provided at various parts of the apparatus. And hot water supply operation,
In order to perform independent operation such as reheating operation, warming operation, automatic dropping operation, etc., automatic operation such as automatic dropping and subsequent automatic reheating to the bath set temperature, or automatic operation including warming operation, etc. In order to perform a necessary operation, a predetermined operation is instructed to each unit of the apparatus, and a display signal or the like is output to each of the remote controllers 41 and 42.

The kitchen remote controller 41 is a remote controller mainly for supplying bathtub water to the kitchen, and the bath remote controller 42 is a remote controller for mainly instructing operations necessary for using the bath. In addition to the hot water supply operation switch, the kitchen remote controller 41 is provided with a reburning operation switch and the like as a switch for bath operation. Further, the bath remote controller 42 is provided with, for example, an automatic operation switch, a reheating switch, a bath hot water supply switch, an automatic drop-in switch, and a heat retention operation switch. In the automatic operation performed by turning on the automatic operation switch, in the reheating operation mode therein, the full reheating mode and the mild reheating mode are selected by the controller according to conditions. ing. Of course, a switch in a full reheating mode or a switch in a mild reheating mode may be provided on the bath remote controller or the like as a manual switch.

When the reheating operation switch is turned on,
The two-way valve 27 is opened, the two-way valve 29 of the bypass pipe 28 is closed, and the on-off valve 65 is closed. In this state, the circulation pump 24 is turned on. When the circulation pump 24 is turned on, the bathtub water returns to the return pipe 51.
When the water flow switch 25 detects more than the minimum working water amount, combustion of the reburning burner 22 is started. The degree of combustion of this reburning burner 22 is switched to full combustion (full reburning) or mild combustion (mild reburning) in which the combustion capacity is appropriately reduced compared to full reburning according to the conditions. Of course, if necessary, the full reheating mode and the mild reheating mode may each include two or more stages of fine modes. Hot water in the bathtub 10 passes through the return port 51 from the circulation port 11 and enters the reheating heat exchanger 21 of the bath kettle 20, where it is heated, and then passes through the outflow pipe 52 through the inlet port 12. Return inside.

Next, the operation of the bath apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Now, when the automatic remote control switch is turned on by operating the bath remote controller 42 (Yes in step S1), hot water heated to, for example, a bath set temperature (for example, 40 ° C.) by the hot water supply heat exchanger 31 passes through a predetermined pipe. Hot water is dropped into the bathtub 10 and automatic dropping is started (step S).
2). In this case, it is not always necessary to drop the hot water at the bath set temperature.

Then, when the bath water level reaches the bath set water level due to the dropping (YES in step S3), the automatic dropping is completed and the process ends (step S4). Then, reheating is started (Step S5). Of course, the reheating may be started after the automatic dropping is completed before the automatic dropping is completed.However, when the reheating is started before the automatic dropping is completed, the bath water level by the automatic dropping is set. Must be above the circulation fitting 11. It is not always necessary to drop the hot water into the bathtub 10 with hot water at the bath set temperature, but when dropping using hot water at the bathtub set temperature, the temperature of the hot water accumulated in the bathtub 10 is: The temperature is close to the bath set temperature within a certain temperature range (for example, 3 ° C.) with respect to the bath set temperature. For example, when the bath temperature is set to 40 ° C. and the hot water of 40 ° C. is dropped, the temperature of the hot water in the bathtub 10 when the drop is completed is
The temperature decreases slightly due to natural heat radiation on the way.
Hot water of 9 ° C. will accumulate in the bathtub 10. Therefore,
When the temperature of the hot water accumulated in the bathtub 10 is within a certain temperature range with respect to the set temperature of the bath, the reheating is basically a mild reheating, but in the present invention, even in this case, full reheating is performed. The reheating is performed in the reheating mode (step S6). Of course, when the temperature of the hot water dropped into the bathtub 10 is not within a certain range with respect to the bath set temperature, the reheating is naturally started in the full reheating mode. Then, even when the bath temperature rises to a certain temperature range with respect to the bathtub set temperature due to the reheating, the present invention continues the full reheating mode as an exception of the principle.

In the reheating, the valves 27, 29,
65, a passage for reheating circulation is secured, the circulation pump 24 is driven, and the water flow switch 25 is turned on, so that the reburning burner 22 is ignited, and reheating in the full reheating mode is actually performed. Be started.
After the reheating in the full reheating mode is started, if the bathtub temperature sensor 26 detects the bath set temperature (Yes in step S7), the reheating burner 2
2 is extinguished, reheating is completed, and a notification is made by an alarm sound such as a buzzer (step S8). In this way, the person who is going to take a bath is notified of the preparation for bathing. In the above, a certain amount of hot water (for example, 180 liters) in the bathtub 10 is changed from the hot water temperature (for example, 39 ° C.) at the start of the reheating to the bath set temperature (for example, 40 ° C.) by starting the full reheating operation shown in step S5. The time required to reach (approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds when the output of the burner in full reheating mode is 6500 kcal / h) is the time required for reheating in the mild reheating mode under the same conditions (3 minutes and 40 seconds) This is a sufficiently short period of time.

In addition, even if the automatic operation includes the operation of maintaining the temperature after the bath temperature is once raised to the bath setting temperature by the additional heating in addition to the above-described dropping and additional heating, the exception to the principle is that the additional heating is performed. Until the completion of heating, and the subsequent heat retention is controlled in principle. Therefore, usually, the heat retention operation after the heating is performed in a range in which the bath temperature is set to the mild reheating mode in which the bath temperature is within a certain temperature range from the set temperature of the bath. It becomes slow reheating.

According to the bath apparatus of the above embodiment, in the automatic operation, the reheating after the automatic dropping is always performed in the full reheating mode. The time can be reliably reduced, and the time from the start of the automatic dropping to the state where the bath can be taken can be shortened as compared with the conventional case. In addition, since the temperature of the hot water in the bathtub 10 reaches the target bath set temperature and the alarm sound is not generated until the full reheating operation is completed, it is generally considered that a person does not take a bath. The bath temperature may slightly exceed the bath set temperature due to the temperature of the bath, or the temperature of the hot water in the bathtub 10 may suddenly rise to the bath set temperature. Does not occur. On the other hand, even after automatic heating, once the bath is heated up to the bath set temperature, even if there is reheating for keeping heat, in that case, in accordance with the principle, reheating is performed in a mild reheating mode etc. Therefore, the temperature of the hot water only slowly rises to the set temperature, and a comfortable bathing feeling can be obtained.

[0023]

According to the present invention, there is provided the above construction.
According to the bath device described in the above, in addition to the stand-alone operation such as a normal reheating operation or an automatic dropping operation, at least the bath is automatically dropped to a set water level and automatically reheated to a bath set temperature. It has a function of automatic operation, and also has a full refueling mode in which the burner is burned with a high combustion capacity as a reheating mode and a state in which the combustion capacity is appropriately lowered than in the case of the full refueling mode A bath apparatus which has a mild reheating mode for burning a burner, and is controlled to automatically enter the mild reheating mode when the bath temperature is within a certain temperature range with respect to the bath set temperature in principle. And
In the reheating following the drop during the automatic operation, the controller is provided to perform the reheating in the full reheating mode until the bath set temperature is reached regardless of the above-described principle, so when performing the automatic operation of the bath. Can reduce the time required for setting the bath temperature to the bath set temperature, and can reduce the time required from the start of the automatic dropping to the state where the bath can be taken as a whole as compared with the related art. Moreover, in automatic bath operation,
Normally, the bath is started from a state close to empty, so no one has taken a bath during the reheating following the drop, so the sudden rise in hot water temperature due to performing the full reheating operation makes the bathers uncomfortable. Never give. According to the bath apparatus of the second aspect, in addition to the effect of the configuration of the first aspect, the automatic operation is an operation including a heat retaining operation after the bath temperature once reaches the bath set temperature. The effect described in claim 1 can be enjoyed even in automatic operation including warming operation after once heating to the bath set temperature. That is, in the automatic driving, after the reheating in the full reheating mode is completed, the reheating for keeping the heat is performed in the mild reheating mode, so that the bather can enjoy a comfortable bathing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a bath apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of the bath apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a conventional bath apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Bathtub 20 Bath kettle 21 Heating device for reheating 22 Burner for reheating 26 Bathtub temperature sensor 40 Controller 50 Reheating circuit 51 Return pipe 52 Outgoing pipe

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kimiaki Asano 93 Edo-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Pref.

Claims (2)

[Claims] An automatic operation in which at least a bath is automatically dropped to a set water level and automatically reheated to a bath set temperature, in addition to an independent operation such as a normal reheating operation or an automatic dropping operation. It has the function of,
In addition, as a mode of reheating, it has a full reheating mode in which the burner is burned with a high combustion capacity and a mild reheating mode in which the burner is burned in a state in which the combustion capacity is appropriately reduced compared to the case of the full reheating mode. And a bath device that is automatically controlled to be in the mild reheating mode when the bath temperature is within a certain temperature range with respect to the bath set temperature in principle. In subsequent reheating,
A bath apparatus comprising a controller that performs reheating in a full reheating mode until the temperature reaches a bath set temperature regardless of the above principle. 2. The bath apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic operation is an operation including a warming operation after the bath temperature once reaches a bath set temperature.