KR20040074441A - Water filtering device for refrigerator and refrigerator using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A water purifier for a refrigerator and the refrigerator with the same are provided to supply edible water by sufficiently and securely filtering calcareous components and foreign matters from water, and to replace the water purifier timely and easily in the refrigerator according to use time of the filter. CONSTITUTION: A water purifier for a refrigerator is composed of a first filter(120) having a first filter unit(122) composed of polyphosphate to remove calcareous components and a second filter unit(124) composed of active carbon to remove impurities in a casing(110) having an inlet(112) for moving water in and an outlet(114) discharging purified water, and a second filter(140) having a filtering unit(144) composed of ion exchange resin in a casing(110a) having an inlet(112a) for moving water in and an outlet(114a) discharging purified water. Water is streamed from the outlet of the first filter into the inlet of the second filter. The first and second filters are detachably mounted to the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator, and water is purified with the first and second filters.

Description

Water filtering device for refrigerator and refrigerator using the same}

The present invention relates to a refrigerator. More particularly, the present invention relates to a refrigerator water purifier capable of purifying tap water to a degree that is drinkable by sufficiently filtering out components and foreign substances that generate scale.

First, a water supply structure of a conventional general refrigerator will be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown, the water supplied from the water supply source Ws such as the faucet is purified while passing through the water purification device 12 through the pipe Pa, and then supplied to the valve 14 through the pipe Pb. The valve 14 is usually installed in a machine room provided at the lower end of the rear side of the refrigerator, and installed to supply water supplied through the pipe Pb to both sides of the ice maker 22 and the dispenser 20 as described below. will be. In addition, the water purifier 12 installed between the pipes Pa and Pb is substantially installed at the rear of the refrigerator main body.

One side of the valve 14 supplies water to the ice maker 22 through the pipe Pc, and the other side supplies water to the water tank 16 through the pipe Pd. In the water tank 16, water at a constant level is always standing, and such water can be supplied to the dispenser 20 through a pipe Pe.

The dispenser 20 is provided on the front of the door 18 (for example, a freezer compartment door), and is configured to draw water from the water tank 16 to the outside of the refrigerator without opening the door 18. Device.

In the conventional configuration as described above, when water is supplied from the water supply source into the refrigerator, the water is purified through the water purifier 12 installed in the pipes Pa and Pb on the path through which the water is supplied. However, the conventional water purifier 12 is installed at the rear of the refrigerator main body in which the pipe is located, as described above, and there are many difficulties in replacement and repair. In particular, considering the recent trend of larger refrigerators, it will be readily understood that there are many difficulties in the replacement and repair of the water purifier 12 as described above.

In addition, with the conventional filter device, there is a difficulty in the pure water as a whole, for example, it is difficult to filter the calcareous components dissolved in the water provided through the water pipe, it is difficult to provide substantially drinkable water It is pointed out. Water supplied through the water pipes, although regional differences, it is apparent that there is a calcite component that generates a scale on the inner surface of the pipe, it is difficult to drink if the calcite component is not completely filtered. In addition, the water provided through the dispenser of the refrigerator to which the conventional water purifier described above is applied does not substantially filter the calcareous components, which may be a problem in drinking.

In the conventional water purifier, as described above, since the calcareous components that generate the scale are not removed from the inner surface of the pipe, the scale may substantially grow on the inner surface of the pipe inside the refrigerator, thereby causing various problems. There is a concern. For example, when scale is generated and grows inside a pipe, which is a passage for supplying water from inside the refrigerator, the A / S of such a portion becomes difficult, as well as the possibility of corrosion of components inside the refrigerator. . When the scale grows and falls, there is a fear that a mass of foreign matter is present in the water or ice supplied from the inside of the refrigerator, thereby lowering the reliability of the product to the consumer. It is also pointed out that the scale generated inside the pipe lowers the thermal conductivity of the equipment, thereby increasing the amount of power used.

As described above, the conventional water purifier of the refrigerator does not remove the calcareous components that generate scale, and thus has various problems as described above.

An object of the present invention is a refrigerator water purifier capable of providing drinkable water by sufficiently purifying water supplied through a water pipe inside the refrigerator, in particular by sufficiently purifying the calcareous component, and a water supply apparatus using the same. To provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator water purifier that is convenient for replacement and repair after use for a certain period of time.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a water purifying apparatus configured to enable normal replacement according to a replacement cycle suitable for each filter when using a plurality of filters.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator water purifier configured to smoothly flow water through each filter when using a plurality of filters.

1 is a schematic view showing a schematic configuration of a water supply device of a typical refrigerator.

Figure 2 is a schematic view showing a schematic of the water purifying apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the filter assembly of the first embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100 ..... Filter 110 ..... Casing

112 ..... Entrance 114 ..... Exit

120 ..... First Filter 140 ..... Second Filter

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a water purifier for a refrigerator, including: a first filter part formed of polyphosphate in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; A first filter having a second filter part formed of activated carbon; A second filter having a filter part formed of an ion exchange resin in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; Water discharged through the outlet of the first filter is installed to be introduced into the inlet of the second filter, it is possible to purify by the first filter and the second filter, the first filter and the second filter is a refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator Removably installed on one side of the inside.

The first filter and the second filter may further include a prefilter composed of a nonwoven fabric and having a predetermined mesh.

In addition, the prefilter of the first filter preferably has a smaller mesh than the prefilter of the second filter.

The inlet and the outlet of the casing of each filter are preferably formed on the same side of the casing.

And the casing is formed in a cylindrical shape, the outlet is formed in the center of one side of the cylindrical casing, the inlet is preferably formed along the outer peripheral surface of the outlet.

And the casing is formed in a cylindrical shape, the outlet is formed in the center of one side of the cylindrical casing and the inlet is formed along the outer circumferential surface of the outlet, each filter portion is disposed in a cylindrical shape on the outside in the casing, the outlet of the casing Communicate with a central passage formed in the longitudinal longitudinal direction of the central passage and an end of the central passage located inside each filter portion; The water introduced through the inlet is preferably configured to be discharged to the outlet through the central passage after passing through the filter from the outside to the inside.

The refrigerator according to the present invention includes: a guide passage for guiding water from a water supply source into the refrigerator; A filter for filtering the water supplied from the guide passage; And a dispenser and an ice maker supplied with the water filtered by the filter. The filter; A first filter having a first filter part made of polyphosphate and a second filter part made of activated carbon in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; ; A second filter having a filter part formed of an ion exchange resin in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; Water discharged through the outlet of the first filter is installed to be introduced into the inlet of the second filter, it is possible to purify by the first filter and the second filter, the first filter and the second filter is a refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator It is detachably installed on one side of the inside.

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

First, a basic water supply device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2. As illustrated, the refrigerator according to the present invention includes a filter assembly 100 for purifying water supplied from a water supply source Ws such as a faucet, and a dispenser using purified water via the filter assembly 100. (D) and an ice maker (I).

The dispenser (D) and the ice maker (I) are substantially the same as the conventional configuration, and are configured to receive ice water filtered by the filter 100 to perform ice making or to supply water to the outside. Naturally, the dispenser D and the ice maker I can be applied to a variety of products that are currently in use or deformable.

In addition, the filter assembly 100 according to the present invention includes a first filter 120 and a second filter 140. The first filter 120 and the second filter 140 are portions that generate a purified water by removing foreign substances contained in the water.

Next, a specific embodiment of the first filter 120 and the second filter 140 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the first filter 120 is substantially included in water, and the first filter part 122 capable of removing the calcite component, which is a source of scale generation, and is included in water. It is composed of a second filter unit 124 for filtering the bad smell and taste caused by the foreign matter by removing the underlying foreign matter.

That is, the first filter 120 may perform a specific filtering function so that a scale formed by adhesion of calcium and magnesium ions contained in the water to the inner surface of the pipe and the component is not generated. It can be seen that it is configured to simultaneously filter foreign substances caused by activated carbon.

Here, the first filter unit 122 will be described. The first filter part 122 is made of polyphosphate. These polyphosphates coat the inner surface of the pipe and around the calcium ions and magnesium ions contained in the water (as the polyphosphate reacts with the calcium and magnesium cations), preventing them from agglomerating as lime as they flow through the inside of the pipe. Therefore, when the first filter unit 122 is formed by using polyphosphate having a particle size or a porous shape, water flows through the pores between the particles. The calcium and magnesium cations contained in the flowing water react with the polyphosphate and become substantially incapable of aggregation with lime.

The second filter unit 124 basically filters out foreign substances in water by using activated carbon which is widely used as a water filter. Currently, activated carbon filters have been developed and applied in various forms. For example, various kinds of substances that can filter certain foreign matter components contained in water at the same time have been developed by using the activated carbon as a basic composition and impregnating a component having a specific effect on the foreign matter filtration of water. In the present specification, the second filter part composed of activated carbon is substantially defined as a concept including active carbon as the main raw material as described above, and including all of impregnated with other components capable of removing certain foreign substances.

Furthermore, each of the filters 120 and 140 of the filter assembly 100 according to the present invention is installed in the internal storage space of the refrigerator. For example, it is installed on the side or rear of the upper end of the refrigerating compartment, so that the user can easily replace it. Therefore, after a certain period of time, if the effective filtering function is degraded, it is installed so that the user can easily open the refrigerator compartment door and replace the filter.

As described above, various modifications can be made to the configuration in which the respective filters 120 and 140 are detachably installed on one side of the storage space inside the refrigerator, preferably on one side of the refrigerator compartment.

Next, the second filter 140 will be described. The filter unit 144 used in the second filter 140 is formed of an ion exchange resin. The ion exchange resin can collect calcium ions and magnesium ions that cause scale generation from the inside, and can be said to be a filter partially used in water softeners and the like. Therefore, when the supplied water passes through the filter unit 144 of the second filter 140 formed of an ion exchange resin, calcium and magnesium ions dissolved in the water may be removed. In addition, by the filtering action, it is possible to prevent the scale occurring inside the various parts and pipes for guiding the water in the refrigerator, and to provide drinking water.

As such, it can be seen that both the first filter unit 122 of the first filter 120 and the filter unit 144 of the second filter 140 perform the same function. In other words, calcium ions and magnesium ions contained in the tap water may generate scale while passing through pipes and parts inside the refrigerator. Therefore, the first filter unit 122 prevents the scale from being generated by coating the ions using polyphosphate, and the filter unit 144 uses the ion exchange resin to generate the scale in the flow path inside the refrigerator. It can be seen that it is configured to prevent.

As such, separately embedding the filter units 122 and 144 that perform the same function into the other first filter 120 and the second filter 140 are based on the following reasons. In practice, filters made of polyphosphate have a relatively long life, while filters made of ion exchange resins have a short life. Therefore, when installed inside the same filter casing, it is difficult to determine the appropriate replacement time because the lifetimes of the two are different. In addition, since the amount of foreign matter and calcite contained in the water of each region is also different, by mounting each inside the separate filter casing (110,110a), it is possible to enable more efficient filtering and filter replacement.

In addition, the filtering capacity and size required for each filter will be set differently. In this case, by installing each filter separately, replacement and repair will be more convenient depending on the life of the filter.

Next, the internal structure of each filter 120 and 140 will be described with reference to FIG. 3.

The filters 120 and 140 are composed of casings 110 and 110a having inlets 112 and 112a and outlets 114 and 114a, respectively. It can be seen that the configuration of the casing 110, 110a of the pair of filters is substantially the same. The casings 110 and 110a are preferably cylindrical.

The casings 110 and 110a of the respective filters 120 and 140 are detachably installed on one side surface of the refrigerating chamber. As described above, in order to be detachably configured in the refrigerator, as illustrated, the inlets 112 and 112a into which the water enters and the outlets 114 and 114a from which the purified water is discharged through the inside are preferably formed in the same direction. . Therefore, in the illustrated embodiment, outlets 114 and 114a are formed at the central portion of one end of the filter casings 110 and 110a, and inlets 112 and 112a are formed around the outlets 114 and 114a. By forming the inlets 112 and 112a and the outlets 114 and 114a to be concentrated on one side in this way, when the part is coupled to one side of the inner side of the refrigerating compartment, the formation of the supply passage may be simpler.

In the flow path of the water purification device according to the present invention, the water supplied from the water supply source Ws through the pipe P1 first passes through the first filter 120 and then flows back into the second filter 140. While the first filter 120 and the second filter 140, the foreign matter contained in the tap water will be filtered, the purified water, through the pipe (P2) to the dispenser (D) and the ice maker (I). Will be supplied.

In the illustrated embodiment, the first filter part 122 of the first filter 120 is a portion communicating with the inlet 112, and it can be seen that it is provided on the outer side surface of the central passage 115. have. Therefore, water flowing from the inlet 112 and passing through the first filter part 122 flows to the second filter part 124. And at the center of the second filter portion 124 is formed in a cylindrical, it will be able to be discharged to the outlet 114 through the end of the central passage (115).

The second filter portion 124 is supported between the flange portion 117 formed on the innermost side of the central passage 115 and the innermost support portion 119 of the casing 110. The interior of the auxiliary filter unit 124 communicates with the central passage 115 formed along the longitudinal direction at the inner center of the casing 110, as described above. Therefore, the water purified while passing through the auxiliary filter unit 124 will be discharged to the outlet 114 along the central passage 115.

Next, the second filter 140 will be described.

As shown, water exited through the outlet 114 of the first filter 120 enters the inlet 112a of the second filter 140 via the connection flow path P. Therefore, the first purified water is passed through the first filter unit 122 made of polyphosphate and the second filter unit 124 made of activated carbon in the first filter 120, the second filter 140 is again After being purified while passing through the interior of the second filter 140, the outlet 114a exits. Then, the purified water over the first and second will be supplied to the dispenser (D) and the ice maker (I) inside the refrigerator.

The second filter 140 is provided with a filter portion 144 composed of ion exchange resins. The function of the filter unit 144 composed of an ion exchange resin is as described above. The outlet 114a of the second filter 140 is formed at the end of the central passage 115a, and the central passage 115a is installed to communicate with the inside of the filter unit 144. Accordingly, the purified water flowing from the outside to the inside of the filter unit 144 may be discharged from the inner center of the filter unit 144 to the outlet 114a through the central passage 115a. In addition to the arrangement as described above, the filter unit 144 of the second filter 140 is different in the range configured such that the water introduced into the inlet 112a is discharged to the outlet 114a after passing through all the filters. Many variations are possible, of course.

In addition, it is natural to install a pre-filter having a fine mesh, such as a nonwoven fabric, inside the first filter 120 and the second filter 140 as described above. In the case of using such a preliminary filter, the preliminary filter of the first filter may be more useful for preventing stagnant water of purified water.

According to the present invention having the configuration as described above, after the components that generate the scale and the foreign matter by the activated carbon is removed by the first filter 120, the scale generation component in the water by the second filter 140 in succession It can be seen that clean water completely removed can be supplied to the dispenser (D) and the ice maker (I).

And it is obvious that the water purifier of the refrigerator according to the present invention cannot be limited by the above-described embodiment. For example, the first filter and the second filter as described above are provided, but of course, other modifications are possible with respect to the arrangement of the purified water.

Within the scope of the basic technical idea of the present invention as described above, many other modifications are possible to those skilled in the art, and the present invention should be interpreted based on the appended claims. something to do.

When the water purifying apparatus according to the present invention is applied as described above, it is possible to completely filter the calcareous substances present in the tap water, and at the same time, it is understood that the foreign substances are filtered using an activated carbon filter. Such purified water can be expected to have an advantage that it is possible to purify the tap water to a drinking level.

In addition, the water purifier according to the present invention is installed inside the storage space of the refrigerator, so that the user can easily exchange the same. Therefore, it is expected that the convenience of being able to exchange to an appropriate level according to the use time of the filter part which is built in a filter and filters.

In addition, by separately installing the first filter and the second filter, it is also expected that the replacement and repair of the filter can be performed substantially appropriately for the life of each filter unit. The first filter and the second filter are independently installed. As a result, it will be possible to implement the most efficient filtering depending on the kind and somewhat of the foreign matter contained in the water supplied to the refrigerator.

Claims (7)

A first filter having a first filter part made of polyphosphate and a second filter part made of activated carbon in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; ; A second filter having a filter part formed of an ion exchange resin in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; Water discharged through the outlet of the first filter is installed to be introduced into the inlet of the second filter, it is possible to purify by the first filter and the second filter, the first filter and the second filter is a refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator Water purifier of the refrigerator, characterized in that detachably installed on one side of the inside. The water purifier of claim 1, wherein the first filter and the second filter further include a prefilter composed of a nonwoven fabric and having a predetermined mesh. The water purifier of the refrigerator of claim 2, wherein the prefilter of the first filter has a smaller mesh than the prefilter of the second filter. The water purifier of a refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the inlet and the outlet are formed on the same side of the casing. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the casing is formed in a cylindrical shape, the outlet is formed in the center of one side of the cylindrical casing, and the inlet is formed along the outer circumferential surface of the outlet. Device. The casing according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the casing is formed in a cylindrical shape, the outlet is formed in the center of one side of the cylindrical casing, and the inlet is formed along the outer circumferential surface of the outlet, and each filter part is formed inside the casing. A cylindrically disposed on the outer side in which the outlet communicates with a central passage formed in the longitudinal direction of the central portion of the casing and an end of the central passage is located inside each filter portion; The water flowing through the inlet is passed through the filter from the outside to the inside, and the water purifier for a refrigerator, characterized in that discharged to the outlet through the central passage. A guide passage for guiding water from the water supply source into the refrigerator; A filter for filtering the water supplied from the guide passage; And A dispenser and an ice maker supplied with the water filtered by the filter; The filter; A first filter having a first filter part made of polyphosphate and a second filter part made of activated carbon in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; ; A second filter having a filter part formed of an ion exchange resin in a casing having an inlet through which external water is introduced and an outlet through which purified water is discharged; Water discharged through the outlet of the first filter is installed to be introduced into the inlet of the second filter, it is possible to purify by the first filter and the second filter, the first filter and the second filter is a refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator Refrigerator, which is installed detachably on one side of the inside.