JPH1190457A - Water treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply mineral-adjusted water having constantly stabilized mineral concentration by installing an additive addition amount-detecting means which detects the decrease of mineral additive in a mineral adding means with the lapse of time and installing an informing means to inform the decreasing state of the mineral additive based on the judgment by the former means with the lapse of time. SOLUTION: This water treatment apparatus comprises an additive housing container 17 in the inside of a mineral adding means 6 and an additive amount-detecting mean to detect the filling amount of the mineral additive is installed in the additive housing means 17. The additive amount-detecting means detects the volumetric change of the additive with the lapse of time and the detected value is informed by display by turning on and off a lamp in a control circuit or by conversion into sound. The volumetric decrease state of the additive detected with the lapse of time is displayed on a remaining additive amount-displaying apparatus installed in an operational part. As the informing method, a method by successively turning on and off a lamp., a method by changing the display by turning on a lamp, slowly turning on a lamp, and quickly turning on a lamp may be employed and further a method for informing with sound by installing a sound generating part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water treatment apparatus mainly used in ordinary households, and more particularly to a water treatment apparatus provided with a mineral addition means for making it possible to obtain mineral water by using a mineral additive or the like. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mineral water purifiers for obtaining mineral water by adding a mineral agent have been widely used. Mineral addition promotes the generation of electrolyzed water (acidic and alkaline water) in the electrolyzer in an electrolyzer produced with an electrolyzer comprising a diaphragm, anode plate and cathode plate. Or as a mineral replenishing means for ingestion from cooking water including drinking of minerals suitable for living organisms.

[0003] As a method of addition, tap water is passed through a mineral addition tank filled with natural active minerals such as barley stone, Ioite and coral stone to elute mineral components into the tap water. There is a method using an artificial mineral-eluting substance such as calcium lactate formed into granules, plates, or granules instead of minerals, or a method of injecting a liquid in which minerals are concentrated into water.

[0004]

In the above case, the mineral content contained in the mineral additive also decreases as the use of mineral adjustment water increases. However, an electrolyzed water generator equipped with a conventional mineral adding device, In the mineral water purifier, since there is no means for the user to know the decrease in the amount of mineral eluted, even if the mineral content is reduced, the user may continue to use the mineral water and obtain water to which no mineral is added.

As a method for solving this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-3 is disclosed.
Japanese Patent No. 23286 discloses an alkali ion water conditioner that determines a remaining mineral amount by detecting a temporal change of a current flowing in an electrolytic cell or a temporal change of an electric conductivity, and notifies a user of a residual mineral amount of zero to a user. ing.

[0006] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-254559 discloses a method for detecting a change in electric characteristics between a pair of electrodes provided in a flow path connecting a calcium addition cylinder and an electrolytic cell.
And an electrolyzed water generator that detects the presence or absence of a calcium additive by a pair of a light emitting element and a light detection element installed in a calcium addition cylinder.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-222981 discloses an integrated value of a flow rate, an electric conductivity, or a light transmittance,
Alternatively, an ionized water generator has been proposed which informs a user whether calcium supplementation is required by weight.

However, in these alkaline ionizers, electrolyzed water generators, or ionized water generators,
It detects the presence or absence of the additive in the calcium-added cylinder, and merely informs the user that the mineral remaining amount has become zero. Therefore, the user has to prepare a replacement additive after the additive becomes zero, and in some cases, it is difficult to continuously collect the mineral water.

[0009] Accordingly, the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and does not cause the above-mentioned insufficiency, and notifies the user of the decrease in the amount of mineral additives over time by It is an object of the present invention to provide a water treatment apparatus for supplying mineral-conditioned water having a stable mineral concentration at any time.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems The water treatment apparatus of the present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a mineral-regulated water is stored in an additive storage container containing a mineral additive. Water purifying means comprising activated carbon and hollow fiber membranes, or an electrolytic cell for generating acidic and alkaline ionized water by electrolysis, or a water softening means filled with an ion exchange resin or the like. In a water treatment apparatus provided in combination with or in combination with mineral addition means, an additive amount detection means for detecting a decrease in the amount of the mineral additive in the additive storage container, and the addition amount is detected by the additive amount detection means. Informing means for notifying the remaining amount of the additive is provided.

The invention according to a second aspect is the invention according to the first aspect, wherein the additive storage container for storing the mineral additive and an external device inscribing the additive storage container in a transverse cross-sectional direction. A removable press cover, a projection protruding from the press cover, and several contacts connected to a control circuit outside the middle abdomen of the additive storage container are disposed in the mineral adding apparatus.

[0012] The third aspect of the present invention provides the first aspect.
In the described invention, an ultrasonic transmitting element that transmits ultrasonic waves, an ultrasonic receiving element that receives the ultrasonic waves, and until the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitting elements are received by the ultrasonic receiving elements And calculating means for calculating the distance from the time to the object.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a lid opening / closing detecting means connected to the upper lid of the additive storage container, and the mineral adjustment water is selected by the detecting means. A power supply control circuit for controlling the input of the operation unit is provided.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of an embodiment of a water treatment apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a box-shaped body of the water treatment apparatus. A water supply port 2 connected to a water pipe faucet is formed on the side surface so as to open inside and outside. The water treatment apparatus 1 includes a water softening means 3 filled with a material having an ion exchange function for deionization such as an ion exchange resin or an adsorbent, and a water purification means filled with an activated carbon tank 4 and a hollow fiber membrane tank 5 (see FIG. (Not shown), mineral addition means 6 for storing a mineral additive for the purpose of increasing the mineral content in water, and a plurality of electrode plates opposed to each other via a plurality of partition walls. By applying a direct current to the plate, an acidic water is formed on the anode compartment side and an alkaline cell is formed on the cathode compartment side, which is formed by the partition wall, by the electrolytic cell 7.

Next, the flow of water in the water treatment apparatus of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to FIG.

First, tap water 4 supplied from a water pipe faucet
0 is supplied to the water softening means 3 through a three-way valve 10 provided between the water supply pipes 8 and 9. Here, if the user does not select deionized water, the three-way valve 1
By the control of 0, the water is supplied directly to the activated carbon tank 4 and the hollow fiber membrane tank 5 without passing through the water softening means 3. From the tap water 40 supplied to the water purification means, impurities and residual chlorine chlorine odor contained in the tap water 40 are removed in the activated carbon tank 4. Further, by passing through the hollow fiber membrane 5, turbid components and various germs are collected and purified.

Next, when the user selects the mineral adjustment water, the purified water flows into the mineral addition means 6 under the control of the three-way valve 11 provided in the communication pipe connecting the hollow fiber membrane tank 5 and the mineral addition means 6. You. Here, the flow meter 12 disposed at the inlet of the mineral addition means 6 and the mineral addition means 6
The flow rate detected by the flow meter 13 disposed at the outlet of the above is calculated by the control unit 14, and by adjusting the flow rate control valve 12 according to the calculated value, the amount of purified water flowing into the mineral addition means is controlled. The amount of minerals per unit volume is adjusted to maintain a constant mineral concentration. The purified water supplied to the mineral adding means 6 in this way becomes mineral-conditioned water containing a large amount of mineral components eluted from the additive. The structure of the mineral addition means 6 will be described later.

When no mineral component is required,
Under the control of the three-way valve 11, the purified water flows from the hollow fiber membrane tank 5 directly into a communication pipe connected to the electrolytic tank 7 in the next step.

Next, the mineral water adjusted to the optimum mineral concentration is continuously flowed into the electrolytic cell 7. The electrolytic cell 7 is provided with a diaphragm and an electrode plate. When a DC voltage of several to several tens of volts is applied between the electrode plates by the operation of the DC power supply 16, the mineral adjusted water supplied into the electrolytic cell 7, or The purified water can be separated into acidic water and alkaline water by electrolysis. When the electrolyzed water is not required, the mineral adjusted water obtained in the mineral adding means 6 can be collected as it is by not supplying a current.

The water treatment apparatus of the present invention does not need to include all of the above-described water treatment means. If the water treatment apparatus includes the mineral addition means, the other means is independently provided in parallel with the mineral addition means. You may.

FIG. 2 et seq. Show a further embodiment of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention, wherein the same reference numerals are given to the same elements as those of the water treatment apparatus, and those other than the mineral addition means according to the present invention. The description of the parts is omitted.

Here, in the water treatment apparatus of the present invention, an additive storage container 17 is provided inside the mineral addition means 6, and the additive storage container 17 is provided with an additive storage for detecting the filling amount of the mineral additive. A medicine amount detecting means (not shown) is provided. The additive amount detecting means detects a change in the volume of the additive over time, and the detected value is converted into a display such as blinking of a lamp or a sound by a control circuit and notified.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation section of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention. Here, the amount of decrease in the volume of the additive detected over time as described above is displayed on the additive remaining amount display section 18 arranged on the operation section. As a notification method by display,
As shown in the figure, a method of turning on the lamp sequentially or a method of changing the lamp display such as “lighting → slow blinking → fast blinking” may be used.

As a sound notification method, a sound generator 19 is provided on the front or upper surface of the main body including the operation unit as shown in FIG. "A method of notifying" additive replenishment "may be used.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of the mineral addition means of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

The water treatment apparatus shown in FIG.
An additive storage container 13 is provided therein, and a holding cover 20 for holding the added mineral additive therein is provided therein.
Is arranged. The holding cover 20 is connected to the upper lid 22 of the additive storage container 17 by a spring 21. Top lid 2
Numeral 2 is formed at the upper part of the main body of the water treatment apparatus 1 as a screw type that can be opened and closed.
1 is relaxed, and the holding cover 20 is raised. Therefore,
Since the stored mineral additive is always held down by the spring 21 via the holding cover 20, the holding cover 20 is also lowered with a decrease in the volume of the additive.

A projection 23 circumscribing the additive storage container 17 is integrally formed on the holding cover 20.
This detects the position of the mineral additive in the additive storage container 17 by contacting several contacts 24, 25, 26 connected to a control circuit arranged outside the middle abdomen of the additive storage container 17. Then, the user can know how much the mineral additive has decreased by displaying the blinking of the lamp or the like in the control circuit or converting the sound into a sound and notifying it. For example, when the protrusion 23 comes into contact with the contact 24, it notifies “the decrease of the additive by ３”. Similarly, when it comes into contact with the contact 25, it sends “the decrease of the additive by」 ”to the contact 26. When it comes into contact, it notifies that there is no additive (replenishment time).

As described above, the amount of dissolved mineral is controlled by the flow control valve 15 so that the amount of dissolved mineral per unit volume of the additive is adjusted. The mineral concentration of the conditioned water may be considered to be constant irrespective of the volume in the additive storage container 17.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a main part of another embodiment of the mineral adding means of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

The water treatment apparatus shown in FIG.
An additive storage container 13 is provided inside the container 13.
Has an upper lid 22 formed at the upper part of the main body of the water treatment apparatus 1 so as to be openable and closable. Further, the upper lid 22 is provided with an ultrasonic transmitting element 29 for transmitting an ultrasonic wave and an ultrasonic receiving element 30 for receiving the ultrasonic wave, and the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitting element is transmitted by the ultrasonic receiving element. The remaining amount of the mineral additive is detected by a calculation unit (in the control unit 14 in FIGS. 1 and 4) that calculates the distance to the object from the time until the reception. For example, the control unit 14 supplies an ultrasonic pulse to a transmission circuit (not shown). The transmitting circuit that has received the pulse transmits the transmitting wave for a predetermined time to the ultrasonic transmitting element 2.
Send to 9.

Thus, the ultrasonic wave is transmitted from the ultrasonic wave transmitting element 29 downward. The transmitted ultrasonic wave hits the object, and the reflected wave is received by the ultrasonic receiving element 30. At this time, the value obtained by multiplying the time required for the ultrasonic wave to reciprocate between the ultrasonic transmitting element 29 and the ultrasonic receiving element 30 by the velocity of the ultrasonic wave by the arithmetic unit in the control unit 14 is 1 /. Double the distance to the object. The detection of the remaining amount of the additive is performed periodically, and a lamp display or a sound notification is performed several times according to the detected value.

Further, the water treatment apparatus of the present invention calculates and controls operation based on signals from input / output key circuits such as a power switch and a water selection switch of an operation unit, and a lid open / close detecting means 27 shown in FIG. And the lid of the additive storage container 17 is opened by the lid opening / closing detecting means 27.
Is detected, it is recognized that the lid has been opened by the work of replenishing the additive, and the hard water selection switch 2
It has a function of invalidating the input of 8 (mineral adjustment water).

[0034]

Since the water treatment apparatus of the present invention has the above-described configuration, the inventions according to claims 1 to 3 can notify a decrease in the amount of a mineral additive over time by providing notification.
It is possible to inform the user of the replenishment of the additive before the performance of the mineral adjusted water is completely reduced, and to prepare an additive for replenishment in advance, so that it is possible to obtain mineral adjusted water of an appropriate concentration forever. .

Further, in addition to the above-mentioned effects, the invention according to claim 2 has the advantage that the means for detecting the amount of the additive in the water treatment apparatus is a mechanical method, so that a precise sensor or the like is not required. This also leads to cost reduction of the product.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the mineral additive is replenished, the input of the operation section for selecting the mineral adjustment water is invalidated, whereby the water to which the mineral is not added is erroneously removed. Can be collected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part showing an embodiment of a water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an operation unit showing an embodiment of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a mineral addition means showing an embodiment of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of another example of the mineral addition means showing the embodiment of the water treatment apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Water treatment apparatus main body 3 Water softening means 4 Activated carbon tank 5 Hollow fiber membrane tank 6 Mineral addition means 7 Electrolysis tank 14 Control part 17 Additive storage container 18 Additive remaining amount display part 19 Sound generation part 20 Press cover 21 Spring 22 Top lid 23 Projection 24, 25, 26 Contact 27 Lid Open / Close Detecting Means 28 Hard Water Selection Switch 29 Ultrasonic Transmitter 30 Ultrasonic Receiver

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI C02F 1/68 530 C02F 1/68 530K 530L 540 540A 540B 540C 540D 1/28 1/28 F 1/36 1/36 1/42 1/42 A 1/44 1/44 B 1/46 1/46 A (72) Inventor Takeo Abe 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Sharp Corporation (72) Inventor Rie Tamaru Abeno, Osaka-shi, Osaka (22) Inventor Shinsuke Amano, 22-22 Nagaikecho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A water purification means comprising activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane, or an electrolytic cell for generating acidic and alkaline ionized water by electrolysis or the like, as a mineral addition means for obtaining a mineral adjusted water by a mineral addition cartridge or the like.
Alternatively, in a water treatment apparatus provided with a water softening means filled with an ion exchange resin or the like or in combination with a mineral adding means, an addition for detecting a decrease in the mineral additive in the mineral adding means over time. A water treatment apparatus, comprising: an agent amount detecting means; and an informing means for informing a decrease in the amount of a mineral additive over time in accordance with the judgment of the detecting means. 2. The mineral addition means provided in the water treatment device includes: an additive storage container for storing a mineral additive; and a detachable presser which is inscribed in a cross-sectional direction of the additive storage container from the outside. 2. The water treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cover, a projection protruding from the holding cover, and several contacts connected to a control circuit on the outside of the middle abdomen of the additive storage container. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mineral addition means disposed in the water treatment device includes: an ultrasonic transmission element for transmitting ultrasonic waves; an ultrasonic reception element for receiving the ultrasonic waves; and an ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transmission element. 2. The water treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a calculating unit that calculates a distance to the object from a time until the sound wave is received by the ultrasonic wave receiving element. 4. When replenishing the mineral additive, when no mineral additive is present in the mineral adding means,
2. The water treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an input of an operation unit for selecting mineral adjustment water is invalidated.