JPH11332766A - Sterilizing method for piping annexed to bathtub - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely suppress generation of a biological film within a piping by adding a sterilizing mode operation for sterilizing by hot air in a state with no hot water to the piping communicated with a bathtub. SOLUTION: When an operation switch provided on a bathtub 1 is turned on, air is normally jetted from a nozzle 3 by an air pump 9, and when the operation switch is continued to be pushed, a sterilizing mode operation is set. In this sterilizing mode, the presence or absence of hot water within a piping 4 is detected by a water level detection sensor 15. In the case of no hot water, the air pump 9 is turned on. Next, a temperature within the piping 4 is detected by a piping temperature detection sensor 16, and when a temperature within the piping 4 is not 60 deg.C or more, for instance, a heater 11 is turned on and air from the air pump 9 is blown as hot air within the piping 4. The inside of the piping 4 is held at 60 deg.C or more for 5 minutes and the inside of the piping 4 is sterilized. Subsequently, the heater 11 and the air pump 9 are successively turned off and a sterilizing mode operation is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of disinfecting a pipe which sterilizes a pipe attached to a bathtub to prevent the growth of bacteria in the pipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a bubble bath apparatus or the like, a piping is provided in a bathtub so as to communicate with each other, and bubbles are jetted into the bathtub through hot water or air in the piping. It is difficult to drain the water from the pipe, especially when the pipe is provided on the bottom side of the bathtub, and bacteria grow by the water remaining in the pipe. There was a risk that a biofilm would form gradually within.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has a method for sterilizing a pipe attached to a bathtub, which can favorably prevent the growth of bacteria in the pipe. The first gist of the present invention is to sterilize the piping communicating with the bathtub by passing hot air in the absence of hot water. A second gist is to provide a valve in the pipe, open the valve to drain the hot water in the bathtub and the pipe, and then blow the hot air into the pipe.

[0004]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of a bathtub device capable of ejecting air bubbles into hot water of a bathtub from a blowout port provided on the bottom surface of the bathtub. A drain port 2 is provided on the bottom side of the bathtub 1. It is open and has multiple fumes 3,3,3
Are opened, and each of the blowout ports 3, 3, 3 has a pipe 4
Is connected, and the pipe 4 forms a trap portion T and is connected to the pump device 5.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic piping configuration diagram of the bathtub apparatus. More specifically, a filter 6 is attached to the upper surface side of a case 8 constituting the pump apparatus 5 via a cover 7, and the filter 6 is attached. It is configured such that outside air can be sucked into the through hole, and an air pump 9 is disposed in the case 8. Further, in this example, a heater 11 is provided in the case 8. Further, a water level detection sensor 15 and a pipe temperature detection sensor 16 are disposed in a portion of the pipe 4 on the bottom side of the bathtub 1 connected to the fuze ports 3, 3, 3. A drain valve 17 composed of a valve is connected and arranged.

The filter 6 in the pump device 5
A control board 10 is provided below the control board 1.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic wiring diagram of FIG.
Is connected to an operation switch 12 for operating the air pump 9, and the heater 11 is connected via a safety device such as a pi-metal 13 and a temperature fuse 14. Sensor 15
Are connected, and the pipe temperature detection sensor 16 is connected, and the drain valve 17 is further connected. In the figure, reference numeral 10a denotes a power transformer.

The water level detection sensor 15 has a pair of electrodes 15a, 1a as shown in an enlarged sectional view of FIG.
5b is passed through the inside of the pipe 4, and this electrode 15
By measuring the resistance value between a and 15b, the presence or absence of water in the pipe 4 can be detected. In addition,
In addition, a pressure sensor can be used as the water level detection sensor 15.

Further, the pipe temperature detecting sensor 16 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, the thermistor 16a can be constituted by a thermistor 16a attached to the wall surface of the pipe 4, and a temperature several mm inside the pipe 4 can be arranged so as to be measurable. The air pump 9 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, diaphragms 93 and 93 provided with a permanent magnet 92 with respect to an electromagnet 91 are disposed at both ends so as to be able to move laterally, and this diaphragm 93,
8 is reciprocated from the position shown in FIG. 7 to the position shown in FIG. 8, so that the outside air introduced through the filter 6 is pressure-fed into the pipe 4 and the air is blown from the jet ports 3, 3, 3 into the bathtub 1. It can be spouted inside.

The heater 11 may be provided inside the case 8 of the pump device 5 as shown in FIG. 2, or may be provided outside the case 8 as shown in FIG. In any case, it is preferable to arrange the heater 11 upstream of the trap portion T of the pipe 4.

An example of the control in the control board 10 in the apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 9. When the operation switch 12 provided at a corner portion on the upper surface of the bathtub 1 is turned on, a normal operation is performed. In the instantaneous pressing operation, the normal operation is started. That is, the air pump 9 is actuated and air is blown out from the blast port 3. If the operation switch 12 is pressed for 5 seconds or more in step S1, the operation is set to be in the sterilization mode operation in step S2. When the sterilization mode is selected, in step S3, the inside of the bathtub 1 or the pipe 4
It is determined whether there is hot water inside. That is, the presence / absence of water in the pipe 4 is detected by the water level detection sensor 15 shown in FIG. If hot water is present in the bathtub 1 or the pipe 4, the drain valve 17 is opened in step S5 to perform drainage, and the presence of water is determined again in step S3, and it is confirmed that water has run out. At the time, the drain valve 17 is closed in step S4, and then the air pump 9 is turned on in step S6.
Let it.

Next, it is determined whether or not the temperature is higher than 60 ° C. by the detection of the pipe temperature detecting sensor 16 composed of the thermistor 16a. O in step S8
N. As a result, the air from the air pump 9 is heated by the heater 11 and becomes hot air to be blown into the pipe 4.
While detecting whether the temperature is higher than or equal to ° C., as shown in step S10, it is detected whether or not 5 minutes have elapsed with a timer. That is, the pipe 4 is maintained at a temperature of 60 ° C. or more for 5 minutes or more to surely sterilize the inside of the pipe 4. After the temperature of 60 ° C. or more has passed for 5 minutes or more, the heater 11 is turned off in step S9. Then, in step S11, it is determined whether or not the signal from the pipe temperature detection sensor 16 has become 30 ° C. or less, that is, whether or not the inside of the pipe 4 has been cooled properly is determined. 9 for O
FF is performed to end the sterilization mode operation.

As described above, in this embodiment, with the water in the pipe 4 being drained, air is pressure-fed from the air pump 9, the air is heated by the heater 11 and blown into the pipe 4, and the inside of the pipe 4 is heated to 60 ° C. By maintaining the above for more than 5 minutes, the bacteria proliferating in the pipe 4 can be surely killed, and a certain sterilizing effect can be obtained. Further, when water remains in the bathtub 1 or the pipe 4 at the start of the sterilization mode operation, after the water is surely drained from the drain valve 17, the hot air is sent into the pipe 4 to satisfactorily flow through the pipe 4. Can be sterilized.

By periodically performing such a sterilization mode operation, generation of a biofilm in the pipe 4 can be reliably eliminated. Further, when the bathtub 1 is not used for a long time and is reused, if such a sterilization mode operation is performed, the inside of the pipe is surely sterilized and clean air is blown into the bathtub 1 from the blowing port 3. Can be done.

In this embodiment, the sterilization mode operation is performed when the operation switch 12 is pressed for a certain period of time or more. However, another switch dedicated to the sterilization mode may be provided and can be selected. The sterilization mode may be set to one of the switches, or the program may be such that a plurality of switches are pressed to perform the sterilization mode operation.

In this embodiment, a bathtub apparatus having a jet port 3 provided on the bottom side of the bathtub is exemplified. However, a similar configuration is employed for sterilizing a pipe in a jet bath or a 24-hour bath. By blowing hot air into the pipe, the inside of the pipe can be satisfactorily sterilized.

[0016]

According to the method of the present invention for sterilizing pipes attached to a bathtub, pipes communicating with the bathtub are sterilized by passing hot air in the absence of hot water. By periodically passing such hot air, the generation of biofilm in the pipe can be surely suppressed.

Further, a valve is provided in the pipe, and after opening the valve to drain the hot water in the bathtub and the pipe, the hot air is blown into the pipe. By opening the valve, the hot water in the bathtub and the piping is drained reliably, and then the hot air is sent, so that the bacteria in the piping can be reliably sterilized by the hot air.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective configuration diagram of a bathtub device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic piping configuration diagram of a bathtub device provided with a heater.

FIG. 3 is a piping configuration diagram of a bathtub device when a heater is externally attached.

FIG. 4 is a schematic wiring diagram of a control board of the pump device.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional configuration diagram of a water level detection sensor provided in a pipe.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional configuration diagram of a mounted state of a pipe temperature detection sensor provided in the pipe.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the air pump.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the air pump.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing control contents of a sterilization mode operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bath tub 3 Fume port 4 Piping 5 Pump device 6 Filter 8 Case 9 Air pump 10 Control board 11 Heater 12 Operation switch 15 Water level detection sensor 16 Pipe temperature detection sensor (thermistor) 17 Drain valve T Trap section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of sterilizing piping associated with a bath tub, wherein hot air is passed through the piping communicating with the bath tub in the absence of hot water. 2. The bathtub according to claim 1, wherein a valve is provided in the pipe, and after opening the valve to drain hot water in the bathtub and the pipe, the hot air is blown into the pipe. How to sterilize the associated plumbing.