KR102262980B1 - Water Generator with Improved Performance to Condense Rrefrigerant - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for generating drinkable water from water vapor contained in air. The apparatus for generating water in accordance with the present invention comprises: a condenser in which a high-temperature gaseous refrigerant is liquefied into a low-temperature liquid refrigerant to releases heat to the outside; an evaporator which converts the water vapor in the air into liquid water by absorbing the external heat while the liquid refrigerant supplied from the condenser is vaporized into a gaseous refrigerant; a compressor which compresses the gaseous refrigerant supplied from the evaporator and transfers the compressed gaseous refrigerant to the condenser; a water collecting tank which collects and stores the water generated in the evaporator; a filter unit which purifies the water in the water collecting tank; a purified water supply tank which stores the water purified by the filter unit; and a wastewater recycling unit for cooling the condenser by spraying wastewater generated in the filter unit onto the condenser. In accordance with the present invention, the condenser is cooled by spraying the wastewater discharged from the filter unit onto the condenser, such that cooling efficiency is increased compared to conventional cooling using only outside air, thereby reducing energy consumed for water generation.

Description

Water Generator with Improved Performance to Condense Refrigerant

The present invention relates to a water generating apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for generating drinkable water from water vapor contained in air.

In general, air contains a lot of water in the form of water vapor, and when water vapor meets a relatively low temperature object, it is condensed and converted into water.

The device for generating water by condensing water vapor contained in air includes a compressor that compresses a refrigerant, a condenser that condenses the compressed refrigerant to dissipate heat to the surroundings, and an evaporator that absorbs heat from the surroundings by evaporating the condensed refrigerant. Consists of. When the air containing moisture is introduced from the outside and passes through the evaporator, the moisture in the air is condensed and collected by the evaporator, and the moisture-removed air is discharged as hot and dry air while passing through the condenser. The condenser is usually cooled by external air, but the cooling efficiency is not high, so there is a problem in that energy consumption is increased to drive the cooling cycle.

On the other hand, in order to use the water condensed in the evaporator as drinking water, it is necessary to remove harmful components in the water, so a reverse osmosis filter is usually used. In this reverse osmosis filter, 4 liters of water must be discarded to obtain 1 liter of purified water. That is, although water vapor in the air is converted using energy, a lot of water is consumed in the process of making drinking water by purifying, so there is a problem in that water generation efficiency is low compared to the energy consumed.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1305891 (Air water system equipped with an air purifier)

An object of the present invention, derived to solve these conventional problems, is to provide a water generating device having high water generating efficiency compared to energy consumed.

One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is a device for generating water by collecting water vapor in the air, a condenser for discharging heat to the outside while a high-temperature gas refrigerant is liquefied into a low-temperature liquid refrigerant, and from the condenser An evaporator that absorbs external heat while the supplied liquid refrigerant is vaporized into a gaseous refrigerant to convert water vapor in the air into liquid water, a compressor that compresses the gaseous refrigerant supplied from the evaporator and sends it to the condenser; A water collecting tank for collecting and storing water, a filter unit for purifying the water in the water collecting tank, a purified water supply tank for storing water purified by the filter unit, and spraying the wastewater generated in the filter unit to the condenser. Includes a wastewater recycling unit for cooling the condenser.

Preferably, the wastewater recycling unit includes a wastewater storage tank for storing the wastewater generated by the filter unit, and a wastewater supply pipe for supplying the wastewater from the wastewater storage tank to the condenser.

Preferably, it further comprises a nozzle unit for spraying the waste water at the end of the waste water supply pipe. In addition, it is installed in the water discharge supply pipe further includes a water discharge pump for supplying the discharge water stored in the water discharge storage tank to the condenser. In addition, it further includes a water vapor supply pipe for providing the vaporized wastewater supplied to the condenser to the evaporator. In addition, it is installed in the water vapor supply pipe further includes an on-off valve for controlling that the vaporized discharge water is provided to the evaporator. In addition, it further includes an ultrasonic vibrator for vaporizing the wastewater in the wastewater storage tank. In addition, in the filter unit, a micro filter, a pre-carbon filter, a hollow fiber filter, a reverse osmosis filter, and a post-carbon filter are sequentially connected. In addition, it further includes an ozone sterilizer installed in the water collecting tank, and an ultraviolet sterilizer installed in the purified water supply tank. In addition, it further includes a resupply pipe for re-supplying the water that has passed through the filter unit to the water collecting container.

According to the present invention, since the condenser is cooled by spraying wastewater discarded from the filter unit on the condenser, the cooling efficiency is high compared to the conventional cooling using only outside air, and thus energy consumed for water generation can be reduced. Since the cooling efficiency of the condenser is increased, it is possible to use a condenser with a small capacity, so that the water generating device can be miniaturized. In addition, the wastewater sprayed on the condenser for cooling the condenser is vaporized, and when it is mixed with intake air and supplied to the evaporator, the relative humidity of the intake air increases, so that the water generation efficiency can be increased compared to energy consumption. In addition, since the amount of water stored in the wastewater storage tank is minimized by recycling the wastewater, the water generating device can be maintained in a cleaner state.

1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for generating water according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Specific structural or functional descriptions presented in the embodiments of the present invention are only exemplified for the purpose of describing embodiments according to the concept of the present invention, and the embodiments according to the concept of the present invention may be implemented in various forms. In addition, it should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, terms such as first and/or second may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited to the above terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components, for example, within the scope not departing from the scope of the rights according to the concept of the present invention, the first component may be named as the second component, Similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component.

When a component is referred to as being “connected” or “connected” to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but other components may exist in between. something to do. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “in direct contact with” another element, it should be understood that no other element is present in the middle. Other expressions for describing the relationship between elements, that is, expressions such as "between" and "immediately between" or "adjacent to" and "directly adjacent to", should be interpreted similarly.

The terms used herein are used only to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, terms such as "comprises" or "have" are intended to designate the presence of an embodied feature, number, step, action, component, part, or combination thereof, one or more other features or numbers, It should be understood that the possibility of the presence or addition of steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof is not precluded in advance.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a water generating apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the water generating device 100 includes an evaporator 102 , a compressor 104 , and a condenser 106 sequentially connected by a refrigerant pipe 101 . In addition, the water generating device 100 includes a water collecting tank 118 , a filter unit 130 , a purified water supply tank 138 , and a waste water recycling unit 200 .

The condenser 106 liquefies the gaseous refrigerant into a liquid refrigerant so that the refrigerant radiates heat to the outside. The expansion valve 108 expands the liquid refrigerant made in the condenser 108 so that it becomes low-temperature and low-pressure, and supplies it to the evaporator 102 . The evaporator 102 vaporizes the liquid refrigerant supplied from the expansion valve 108 into a gaseous refrigerant so that the refrigerant absorbs external heat to convert water vapor in the air into liquid water. The compressor 106 compresses the gaseous refrigerant supplied from the evaporator 102 to a high pressure and sends it to the condenser 106 .

The electrostatic precipitation filter 114 reduces the degree of contamination of the water generated in the evaporator 102 by dust or the like by removing dust or the like in the air introduced from the outside. The fan 116 introduces air from the outside and exhausts it through the evaporator 102 and the condenser 108 .

A water collecting tank 118 for storing the water collected by the evaporator 102 is installed at the lower portion of the evaporator 102 inside the housing 150 . The water collected in the water collecting tank 118 is supplied to the evaporator 102 via the evaporator 102 and the activated carbon fiber filter 122 . Water from the evaporator 102 is supplied to the filter unit 130 through a pump 128 . The evaporator 102 is provided with an ozone sterilizer 126 .

In the filter unit 130 , a micro filter, a pre-carbon filter, a hollow fiber filter, a reverse osmosis filter, and a post-carbon filter may be sequentially connected. The water that has passed through the filter unit 130 is supplied back to the evaporator 102 by a resupply pipe 134 . A mineral supply unit 136 for supplying minerals to filtered pure water is connected to one side of the filter unit 130 . A purified water supply tank 138 for storing filtered water is installed at one side of the mineral supply unit 136 . In the purified water supply tank 138 , a water purification processing unit 142 and an ultraviolet sterilizer 140 for heating or cooling water and supplying it are connected and installed. The water passing through the filter unit 130 may be supplied back to the evaporator 102 by a resupply pipe 134 connected through the three-way valve 132 .

The filter unit 130 is connected to the wastewater recycling unit 200 for storing the wastewater generated in the water purification process and then supplying it to the condenser 108 . The wastewater recycling unit 200 cools the condenser 106 by spraying the wastewater generated by the filter unit 130 on the condenser 106 . The wastewater recycling unit 200 includes a wastewater storage tank 204 for storing the wastewater generated by the filter unit 130 and a wastewater supply pipe 208 for supplying the wastewater from the wastewater storage tank 204 to the condenser 106 . . The wastewater storage tank 204 collects the wastewater generated in the filter unit 130 through the wastewater discharge pipe 202 .

A nozzle unit 210 for spraying wastewater is installed at the end of the wastewater supply pipe 208, which is installed on the condenser 106 side. A water discharge pump 206 is installed in the water discharge supply pipe 208 , and the water discharge pump 206 supplies the water stored in the water discharge storage tank 204 to the condenser 106 .

The water vapor supply pipe 212 is supplied to the condenser 108 to provide vaporized wastewater to the evaporator 102 . The opening/closing valve 214 is installed in the water vapor supply pipe 212 and controls that the discharged water vaporized in the condenser 108 is provided to the evaporator 102 .

The condenser 106 is installed inside the condenser water tank 109 , and the ultrasonic vibrator 216 is installed close to the bottom surface of the condenser water tank 109 . After being sprayed on the condenser 106 , the wastewater accumulated in the condenser water tank 109 is vaporized by the ultrasonic vibrator 216 , and is supplied to the evaporator 102 through the water vapor supply pipe 212 .

The gas vaporized in the condenser 106 and provided to the evaporator 102 through the water vapor supply pipe 212 is in a high temperature and high humidity state. The refrigerant absorbs heat from the outside while passing through the evaporator 102 and becomes an expanded gaseous state, but some refrigerants in a liquid state exist. When the steam supply pipe 212 is brought into contact with the refrigerant pipe 101 between the evaporator 102 and the compressor 104 to exchange heat, the temperature of the gas passing through the steam supply pipe 212 is lowered, so that the condenser 106 is more condensed. it goes well On the other hand, since the refrigerant absorbs heat and becomes more gaseous, the compression efficiency in the compressor 104 is improved. In FIG. 1 , for convenience, the water vapor supply pipe 212 is shown to be in contact with the rear end of the evaporator 102 to exchange heat.

A solar panel 144 and a battery 146 are installed outside the housing 150 . The battery 146 stores power generated by the solar panel 144 , and power to the compressor 104 , the pumps 120 , 206 , the water purification unit 142 , the ultraviolet sterilizer 140 , the ultrasonic vibrator 216 , etc. to supply

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail.

When the air flowing through the electrostatic precipitation filter 114 comes into contact with the evaporator 102 during the operation of the fan 116 installed inside the housing 150 , the gaseous water vapor in the air is converted into liquid water. The water thus generated falls and is collected in the water collecting tank 118 .

The gaseous refrigerant compressed to a high pressure in the compressor 104 is converted into a solid liquid refrigerant in the condenser 106 . The high-pressure liquid refrigerant is expanded by the expansion valve 108 to become a low-pressure liquid refrigerant and is supplied to the evaporator 102 , while the phase transition to the gaseous refrigerant in the evaporator 102 is lowered by lowering the temperature of the external air. Water vapor contained in the air turns into water.

When supplied to the water storage tank 124 using a pump 201 installed on one side of the water collecting tank 118, it is first filtered through an activated carbon fiber filter 122, and an ozone sterilizer 126 is installed in the water storage tank 124. The provided and stored water is sterilized by ozone.

The water in the water storage tank 124 sequentially passes through the micro filter, the free carbon filter, the hollow fiber filter, the reverse osmosis filter, and the post carbon filter constituting the filter unit 130 through the pump 128 to remove foreign substances. The filter unit 130 filters only a portion of the water supplied from the water storage tank 124 and then delivers it to the purified water supply tank 138 .

Most of the water is discharged from the filter unit 130 , and the discharged water is stored in the water discharge storage tank 204 through the discharge discharge pipe 202 installed on one side of the filter unit 130 . The wastewater stored in the wastewater storage tank 204 is sprayed to the condenser 106 by the nozzle 210 via the wastewater supply pipe 208 by the pump 206 . The wastewater flowing down after being sprayed is collected in the lower part of the condenser water tank 109 . The ultrasonic vibrator 216 is installed on the bottom surface of the condenser water tank 109 and vaporizes the wastewater collected in the lower part of the condenser water tank 109 . The vaporized wastewater is supplied to the evaporator 102 together with the outside air via the water vapor supply pipe 212 . Since the air supplied to the evaporator 102 contains vaporized wastewater, it is easily condensed in the evaporator 102 due to high humidity to produce water. That is, since a relatively large amount of water is generated even when the temperature of the evaporator 102 is decreased to a small extent, the water generation efficiency is increased compared to the energy consumed.

Since the water that has passed through the filter unit 130 is pure water that does not contain nutrients, it passes through the mineral supply unit 136 to dissolve the minerals in the pure water. The mineral supply unit 136 is filled with mineral balls sintered into a mixture in which various components are mixed inside the cylinder. The mineral ball is formed by mixing a magnesium (Mg) piece with a mixed powder of carbon powder and magnetite ore, kneading it with water, and then sintering it. Magnetite, also called magnetite, has strong magnetism, so it not only makes water molecules into hexagonal shapes, but also contains manganese and magnesium, so it is advantageous for converting water into reduced water. When the water passing through the mineral supply unit 136 is supplied to the purified water supply tank 138 and then supplied to the user through the water purification processing unit 142 that heats or cools the water, the purified water supplied with minerals is supplied to the user. will become Part of the water that has passed through the filter unit 130 is supplied back to the water storage tank 124 by the resupply pipe 134 connected through the three-way valve 132 to solve the problem of contamination of purified water when not in use. .

The present invention described above is not limited by the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and it is common in the technical field to which the present invention pertains that various substitutions, modifications and changes are possible without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be clear to those who have the knowledge of

100: water generating device 101: refrigerant pipe
102: evaporator 104: compressor
106: condenser 108: expansion valve
109: condenser tank 114: electric dust filter
116: fan 118: water tank
120: pump 122: activated carbon fiber filter
124: water tank 126: ozone sterilizer
128: pump 130: filter unit
132: 3-way valve 134: resupply pipe
136: mineral supply unit 138: purified water supply tank
140: UV sterilizer 142: water purification processing unit
144: solar panel 146: battery
150: housing 200: wastewater recycling unit
202: wastewater discharge pipe 204: wastewater storage tank
206: drain pump 208: drain supply pipe
210: nozzle unit 212: water vapor supply pipe
214: on-off valve

Claims (10)

An apparatus for generating water by collecting water vapor in the air, the apparatus comprising:
A condenser that emits heat to the outside while high-temperature gas refrigerant is liquefied into low-temperature liquid refrigerant
an evaporator for absorbing external heat while the liquid refrigerant supplied from the condenser is vaporized into a gaseous refrigerant to convert water vapor in the air into liquid water;
a compressor that compresses the gas refrigerant supplied from the evaporator and sends it to the condenser;
A water collecting passage for collecting and storing the water generated in the evaporator;
a filter unit for purifying the water in the water collecting tank;
a purified water supply tank for storing water purified by the filter unit;
A wastewater recycling unit that supplies wastewater generated in the filter unit to the condenser to cool the condenser, and vaporizes the wastewater in the condenser.
Water generating device, characterized in that it comprises.
According to claim 1,
The water waste recycling unit includes a water discharge storage tank for storing the water discharge generated by the filter unit, and a water discharge supply pipe for supplying the discharge water from the water discharge storage tank to the condenser.
3. The method of claim 2,
The water generating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a nozzle for spraying wastewater at an end of the wastewater supply pipe.
3. The method of claim 2,
and a water discharge pump installed in the water discharge supply pipe and supplying the water discharge stored in the water discharge storage tank to the condenser.
3. The method of claim 2,
and a water vapor supply pipe for supplying the vaporized wastewater supplied to the condenser to the evaporator.
6. The method of claim 5,
and an opening/closing valve installed in the water vapor supply pipe and controlling that the vaporized wastewater is provided to the evaporator.
3. The method of claim 2,
The water generating device according to claim 1, further comprising an ultrasonic vibrator installed close to the bottom surface of the water tank of the condenser to vaporize the wastewater accumulated in the water tank of the condenser.
According to claim 1,
The filter unit is a water generating device, characterized in that the micro-filter, pre-carbon, hollow fiber, reverse osmosis, and post-carbon filter are sequentially connected.
According to claim 1,
The water generating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an ozone sterilizer for ozone sterilizing the water stored in the water collecting tank; and an ultraviolet sterilizer for sterilizing the water stored in the purified water supply tank by ultraviolet rays.
According to claim 1,
and a resupply pipe for supplying the water that has passed through the filter unit back to the water collecting container.

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