KR20050095422A - Soft-water washing machine capable of auto filter refresh - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a soft water washing machine capable of regenerating automatic ion exchange resin, comprising: a water supply pipe for supplying water to the washing machine, a water supply valve for controlling water flowing through the water supply pipe, and wash water supplied through the water supply valve. A soft water treatment unit for receiving soft water treatment and supplying the washing tank through a washing water supply pipe and mixing salt and water introduced through a salt inlet pipe to produce a predetermined concentration of salt water to regenerate the ion exchange resin by itself; A soft water selection valve for converting a supply path of the wash water supplied to the soft water treatment unit and supplying the wash water directly to the washing tank through the wash water supply pipe; The soft water treatment unit is configured to include a discharge valve for discharging the salt water used for the ion exchange resin regeneration selectively through the discharge pipe. The present invention configured as described above automatically generates a certain concentration of salt water when a user inputs a certain amount of salt, and performs a series of processes for automatically regenerating an ion exchange resin using the salt water, so that the user directly controls the concentration of salt water. There is no need to match the effect is easy to use.

Description

Soft-Water Washing Machine Capable Of Auto Filter Refresh}

The present invention relates to a soft water washing machine capable of automatic ion exchange resin regeneration, and more particularly, to a soft water washing machine capable of automatically regenerating ion exchange resin according to the concentration of salt water and regenerating ion exchange resin when a certain amount of salt is added. .

In general, a washing machine using soft water is provided with a water softener in the washing machine, and after washing the wash water using an ion exchange resin, the washing machine is used to wash the soft water.

However, the conventional soft water washing machine is configured to regenerate the ion exchange resin by the user to make the salt water of the appropriate concentration into the soft water washing machine, the user has to make the salt water of the appropriate concentration, such as the inconvenience of use is not only inconvenient. Since the large amount of soft water required for washing was not produced repeatedly, it was practically impossible to use.

Such an example is described in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0176676, which will be described in detail with reference to the conventional soft water washing machine.

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view of a washing machine described in the prior patent No. 10-0176676. A water container 7 is installed inside the washing machine, a water supply pipe 25 is provided on the upper rear side of the washing machine, and a salt water container 1 is installed on the upper part of the water supply pipe 25. Ion exchange resin is contained in the soft water tank (7) to adsorb Mg ²⁺ , Ca ²⁺ ions and the like contained in the introduced wash water to reduce the hardness of the wash water to make soft water. The brine 1 is housed in an independent casing 3, and the casing 3 is fixedly supported by the support 31. The upper part of the support 31 is fixed by the casing 3 and the plurality of screws 33, and the lower part of the support 31 is fixed to the rear of the washing machine to fix the washing machine and the casing 3 to each other.

When washing is started, the water supply valve 15 is opened to start water supply from the outside through the water supply pipe 25, and the washing water is introduced into the soft water container 7. At this time, the soft water tank drain valve 11 is closed and the soft water feed valve 13 is open, and the inflow of the wash water into the washing tank 8 through the soft water feed pipe 23 is started.

After washing through this process, the operation of regenerating the ion exchange resin for the next washing is started. The regeneration operation consists of washing the ion exchange resin by introducing the brine in the brine (1) into the soft water tank (7). When the regeneration valve 17 for opening and closing the regeneration water supply pipe 27 connecting the salt water tank 1 and the soft water tank 7 is opened, the salt water in the salt water tank 1 flows into the soft water tank 7 to wash the ion exchange resin. do. At this time, the soft water tank drain valve 11 is open and the soft water feed valve 13 is closed so that the brine washed with the ion exchange resin is discharged to the outside through the drain pipe (1).

Salt bucket (1) is less space-constrained than the installation inside the washing machine can be manufactured and installed larger. Therefore, it is not necessary to change the brine frequently because the capacity to accommodate the brine is large.

When the salt water is to be added, remove the salt bucket (1) from the casing (3), mix the salt and water through the inlet (4), and then put the inlet (4) down to accommodate the casing (3). At this time, the inlet is formed in the same way as is applied to the water tank used in the humidifier, and closed before the salt water container is accommodated in the casing (3), even if turned upside down when it is accommodated in the casing (3) when housed in the casing (3) Preferably, the protruding regenerative water supply pipe 27 is opened by an extension of the pipe.

The casing 3 is supported and fixed by the support 31, but may be fixed by attaching to the wall surface where the washing machine is installed. In this case, a separate fixing means is required to be fixedly attached to the wall surface, and the fixing means can be simply configured by using a method of fixing a casing to a nail nailed to the wall. The method of attaching to the wall and the method of fixing using the support 31 may be combined and used to fix the wall more firmly, or the method of fixing the support 31 to the wall may be used.

The salt bucket 1 has a see-through portion 6 having a predetermined width in the vertical direction and formed of a transparent material. Through the see-through part 6, the user can know whether the brine is depleted, and thus it is possible to resupply the brine at an appropriate time.

The softening device of the above washing machine is convenient to use because the salt bucket is installed outside the washing machine to increase the capacity of the salt bucket so that the salt water is not frequently supplied, and the amount of the salt water can be easily seen through the see-through portion formed in the salt bucket. .

However, in the conventional soft water washing machine as described above, the user directly mixes salt and water to make salt water at an appropriate concentration, and thus, puts the washing water into a washing machine, which causes inconvenience in its use.

In addition, since the user must make the brine by hand, the salt residue may remain in the ion exchange resin when the brine concentration is above the proper concentration, and the washing water may become the brine. When the concentration is below the proper concentration, the ion exchange resin is completely There was a problem that can not be practical because it can not be repeatedly produced a large amount of soft water required for washing because it is not recycled.

In view of the above problems, the present invention combines a soft water production apparatus capable of regenerating an ion exchange resin to a washing machine by automatically making an appropriate concentration of brine when a user inputs a predetermined amount of salt, and regenerating the ion exchange resin using the same. The purpose of the present invention is to repeatedly produce a large amount of soft water required for washing to provide a soft water washing machine without any inconvenience in washing.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a water supply pipe for supplying water to the washing machine, a water supply valve for controlling the water flowing through the water supply pipe, and the soft water treatment by receiving the wash water supplied through the water supply valve, A soft water treatment unit for supplying a washing tank through a washing water supply pipe and mixing salt and water introduced through a salt input pipe to produce a predetermined concentration of salt water to regenerate an ion exchange resin by itself; A soft water selection valve for converting a supply path of the wash water supplied to the soft water treatment unit and supplying the wash water directly to the washing tank through the wash water supply pipe; The soft water treatment unit is characterized in that it comprises a discharge valve that can discharge the brine used for ion exchange resin regeneration selectively through the discharge pipe.

When described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings an embodiment of the present invention configured as described above are as follows.

2 is a configuration diagram of a soft water treatment unit applied to a soft water washing machine capable of regenerating automatic ion exchange resin according to the present invention, and as shown therein, a water supply pipe 100 for supplying water to a washing machine, and the water supply pipe 100 is introduced through Water supply valve 110 for controlling the water, and the wash water supplied through the water supply valve 110 is treated with soft water, and supplied to the washing tank 130 through the wash water supply pipe 160 and the salt input pipe ( A soft water treatment unit 200 which mixes the salt and water introduced through 220 to produce salt water of a predetermined concentration and regenerates the ion exchange resin by itself; A soft water selection valve 120 capable of supplying the washing water to the washing tub 130 through the washing water supply pipe 160 by converting a supply path of the washing water supplied to the soft water treatment unit 200; The soft water treatment unit 200 is composed of a discharge valve 140 for selectively discharging the salt water used for ion exchange resin regeneration through the discharge port (150).

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of the soft water treatment unit 200, as shown therein is coupled to the salt bucket 210 of the case, the inner top of the salt bucket 210, with a plurality of solenoid valves, The head assembly 250 for flowing the wash water flowing through the water supply pipe 100 to the ion exchange resin 270 to be softened and sent to the washing tank 130 or to control the supply and circulation of water required for regeneration of the ion exchange resin. And, coupled to the lower portion of the head assembly 250, the bucket 260 for storing soft water, and the ion exchange resin 270 located inside the bucket 260; Located on the side of the head assembly 250, salt inlet tube 220 extending to the upper side of the washing machine; A salt net 280 fixed to a position spaced a predetermined distance from an inner bottom surface of the salt water tank 210 and loaded with salt injected through the salt input pipe 220; A salt water pipe 230 for spraying water into the salt net 280 to allow salt to be easily melted, and introducing salt water into the ion exchange resin 270 by controlling the head assembly 250; The salt is composed of a water level sensor 240 to detect the level of dissolved brine to match the exact concentration of brine.

Hereinafter, the present invention as described above will be described in more detail.

First, the head assembly 250 has a plurality of channels different from each other in the center, and a plurality of solenoid valves operated by the control of the control unit 300 in the washing machine are positioned in the respective channels, so that the wash water, which is hard water, is supplied. Discharge soft water or inject water into the salt bucket 210 through the salt water pipe 230, and after the salt water of the correct concentration is completed, the salt water is injected into the ion exchange resin 270 side of the bucket 260, etc. Enables the operation of.

That is, it is possible to automatically perform backwashing, needle washing, medicine pouring, extrusion, and washing steps of the ion exchange resin regeneration process.

In addition, the salt bucket 210 is made of a plastic material, has a structure that can hold water by having an integral structure, so that the salt net 280 and the like is easy to install.

In the present invention having such a configuration will be described a process for performing the washing.

First, the user puts the laundry in the washing tank 130, and automatically or manually put the detergent, and then press the automatic washing button.

The controller 300, which senses such an operation, determines the amount of laundry, determines the amount of water to be supplied, and opens the water supply valve 110 to allow the washing water to flow through the water supply pipe 100.

At this time, the overall operating process of the washing machine can be thought of divided into washing, primary rinse, secondary rinse, dehydration process, in the present invention, taking into account the life of the ion exchange resin, etc. Soft water should be used only in the washing process and the second rinsing process where the cleaning effect can be increased the most.

That is, in the washing process and the second rinse process, the state of the soft water selection valve 120 is controlled so that the washing water introduced through the water supply pipe 100 flows into the soft water treatment unit 200.

Next, the soft water treatment unit 200 softens the wash water through the head assembly 250, and softens the wash water through the ion exchange resin 270 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. It is treated softly.

The wash water treated as described above is introduced into the washing tank 130 through the washing water supply pipe 160. When the washing water suitable for washing is introduced into the washing tank 130, the controller 300 closes the water supply valve 110 to remove water. Shut off the supply.

Next, the controller 300 rotates the washing tub 130 to perform washing.

After the washing process is performed for a predetermined time, the rotation of the washing tank 130 is again stopped, and the washing water is discharged.

Then, the control unit 300 performs a rinsing process in the discharge of the washing water is completed.

Water is also required in the rinsing process, and the water used as the first rinsing water uses hard water, not soft water. However, the secondary rinse uses soft water.

In order to enable the primary rinsing operation using hard water, the controller 300 controls the soft water selection valve 120 to directly wash the water introduced through the water supply pipe 100 by opening the water supply valve 110. Through the water supply pipe 160 to be introduced into the washing tank 130.

As such, when the hard water is sufficiently introduced into the washing tank 130, the first rinsing process is performed.

Then, when the first rinsing process is completed, the second rinsing process blocks the hard water and allows the soft water to flow in the same manner as the washing process.

Then, when all the rinsing process is completed, the dehydration process of rotating the washing tank 130 without supplying water is performed.

In the present invention through the above-described operation process, soft water is used only in the washing process and the second rinsing process during the washing, the first rinsing, the second rinsing, and the dehydration process, and the hard water is used in the first rinsing process to extend the life of the ion exchange resin. You can increase it.

Hereinafter, the backwashing step, the precipitation step, the medicine pouring step, the extrusion step, the washing step, which is a characteristic operation of the ion exchange resin regeneration process, will be described in detail.

First, when the user presses the play button located at a predetermined position in front of the washing machine, the controller 300 sequentially performs the set operation in consideration of the flow velocity, and the controller 300 controls the valve corresponding to the backwashing step. .

In the backwashing step, the solenoid valve provided in the head assembly 250 is operated by the control of the control unit 300 so that the water supplied through the water supply pipe 100 is supplied to the bucket 260 in the soft water treatment unit 200. . At this time, the flow of water in the bucket 260 flows in the opposite direction as when the soft water treatment is performed.

That is, in the process of performing the soft water treatment, the flow of water that flowed in the direction of 실 indicated by the solid arrow flows in the direction of 표시된 indicated by the dotted arrow in the backwashing step.

The colloidal or suspended substance accumulated in the ion exchange resin 270 is suspended by the backwash.

In the backwashing step, the controller 300 may detect a water temperature to determine an appropriate flow rate.

To this end, it may be configured to further include a water temperature sensor connected to the control unit 300.

After performing the backwashing step according to the flow rate and duration according to the water temperature set as described above, and performing the tacking step.

At this time, in the sedimentation step, the control unit 300 blocks all the solenoid valves in order to sediment the colloid or the suspended matter suspended in the backwashing step so that water does not flow in the water softener. This process can block the supply of water by blocking the solenoid valve or the water supply valve (110).

This precipitation step is a process for enhancing the medicinal effect of the ion exchange resin layer suspended in the backwashing step, and set the sedimentation time of the suspended matter to about 5 minutes to block the flow of water during that time.

Next, in the medicine pouring step, the user injects the salt through the salt inlet 220.

In this case, the salt injected into the salt inlet 220 uses 500 g, 1 Kg, or the like, packaged salt sold on the market, and the amount of the salt injected is determined according to the capacity of the soft water treatment unit 200.

By using the salt packed in this way, the user can easily make a brine of the correct concentration by injecting a certain amount of salt sachet without the need to separately measure the amount of salt.

The injected salt may be injected before the user presses the regeneration button to regenerate the ion exchange resin, and may be injected during the sedimentation step.

The salt injected by the user through the salt inlet 220 is placed on the salt net 280 installed inside the salt bucket 210.

In this state, after the control unit 300 completes the tacking step, the water is introduced into the salt water tank 210 through the salt water pipe 230.

At this time, the end of the salt water pipe 230 is attached to the injection cap 231 having a plurality of fine holes that can spray the introduced water, the introduced water is sprayed with salt placed on the salt net 280 of the salt Make the dissolution better.

In this way, the incoming water automatically dissolves salt to make brine, and when the brine level is sensed by the water level sensor 240, it is possible to obtain the brine of the correct concentration by blocking the inflow of water.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 290 denotes the surface of the brine, and when the introduced water melts the salt and reaches the position indicated by reference numeral 290, the water is sensed by the water level sensor 240 to block the inflow of water, thereby preventing the brine of the correct concentration. You can make

That is, in the present invention, if a user inputs only a certain amount of salt, the salt is automatically dissolved, and salt water of the correct concentration can be obtained.

As such, after obtaining the designated concentration of brine, the brine is discharged through the brine tube 230, and sent to the ion exchange resin 270 to regenerate the ion exchange resin 270.

The structure of the salt water pipe 230 is that the end portion of the injection cap 231 is coupled to be used to the upper side, may be configured separately from the tube for making the brine and the pipe for draining the brine.

After performing the medicine step as described above, the extrusion step is performed.

At this time, in the extrusion step, the solenoid valve is operated under the control of the controller 300 to allow water to flow through the ion exchange resin 270 to remove salt remaining in the ion exchange resin 270.

Next, in the washing step, water is introduced through the water supply pipe 100 to pass through the ion exchange resin 270, and the water passing through the ion exchange resin 270 is discharged according to the state of the discharge valve 140. To be discharged through 150.

Through this process it is possible to clean the ion exchange resin (270).

The duration of the washing step is determined by the hardness of the soft water discharged through the discharge pipe 150, which can be measured by attaching a separate sensor.

Through the above process, the user can simply make a predetermined amount of salt into the washing machine, and automatically create a constant concentration of salt water, and use this to automatically regenerate the ion exchange resin.

Although the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and has ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from the concept of the present invention. Various changes and modifications are possible by the user.

As described above, the present invention uses only about 20% of detergent consumption compared to the conventional washing machine by using soft water in the washing process, and is economical as well as reducing environmental pollution caused by excessive use of detergent, and does not require life by improving washing power. It saves energy. In addition, the use of soft water in the second stage of the arch, maintains a flexible fiber state without the use of fiber softeners, and has the effect of preventing skin problems of sensitive skin patients, such as atopic dermatitis.

According to the present invention, when a user inputs only a certain amount of salt, the user automatically generates a predetermined concentration of brine, and performs a series of processes for automatically regenerating the ion exchange resin using the brine. There is no convenient effect.

In addition, by always using the correct concentration of the brine, there is an effect that can solve the problem that the residual salt is left in the ion exchange resin due to the high concentration, or the concentration is insufficient to completely regenerate the ion exchange resin.

Another benefit of using the correct concentration of brine is that it can be automated by setting the time and other conditions of the entire regeneration process to an optimized state.

In addition, the present invention has the effect of making the appearance of the washing machine more aesthetically pleasing and easier to install than the conventional brine tank is provided separately to the outside of the washing machine.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional soft water washing machine.

2 is a block diagram of the present invention soft water washing machine.

FIG. 3 is a detailed configuration diagram of the soft water treatment unit in FIG. 2. FIG.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: water supply pipe 110: water supply valve

120: soft water selection valve 130: washing tank

140: discharge valve 150: discharge pipe

160: washing water supply pipe 200: soft water treatment unit

210: salt bucket 220: salt input pipe

230: salt water pipe 240: water level sensor

250: head assembly 260: bucket

270: ion exchange resin 280: salt network

300: control unit

Claims (3)

A water pipe for supplying water to the washing machine, A water supply valve controlling water flowing through the water supply pipe; The washing water supplied through the water supply valve is treated with soft water, supplied to the washing tank through the washing water supply pipe, and mixed with the salt and water introduced through the salt input pipe to make a certain concentration of salt water to regenerate the ion exchange resin. And soft water treatment unit to; A soft water selection valve for converting a supply path of the wash water supplied to the soft water treatment unit and supplying the wash water directly to the washing tank through the wash water supply pipe; And a discharge valve for selectively discharging the brine used for the ion exchange resin regeneration in the soft water treatment unit through the discharge pipe. According to claim 1, wherein the soft water treatment unit salt water passage constituting the case, It is coupled to the inner upper portion of the salt bucket, and provided with a plurality of solenoid valves, the washing water flowing through the water supply pipe flows to the ion exchange resin to be softened and sent to the washing tank, or to supply and circulate the water required for regeneration of the ion exchange resin Head assembly to control the action, A water tank coupled to a lower portion of the head assembly to store soft water; An ion exchange resin located inside the bucket, Located on the side of the head assembly, the salt inlet pipe extending to the upper side of the washing machine, The salt net is fixed at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the inner bottom side of the salt bucket, the salt in which the salt injected through the salt inlet tube is placed, A salt water pipe to inject salt into the salt net so that salt can be easily dissolved, and to introduce salt water into the ion exchange resin side by controlling the head assembly; Soft water washing machine capable of regenerating automatic ion exchange resin, characterized in that consisting of a water level sensor for detecting the salt level of the salt dissolved dissolved salts to match the correct concentration of salt water. According to claim 2, The brine pipe is located long from the head assembly to the bottom side of the salt bucket, the end is bent toward the salt net, the end of the injection cap having a plurality of fine perforations for injecting water is Soft water washing machine capable of regenerating automatic ion exchange resin, characterized in that combined.