KR20120047139A - Water purifier with self cleaning means and cleaning method for a water furifier using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A water purifier with an automatic cleaning unit and an automatic cleaning method of the water purifier using the automatic cleaning unit are provided to prevent the contamination of a purified water bath regardless of the generation of impurities. CONSTITUTION: A filtering part(110) is in connection with a water feeding source and includes a plurality of filters purifying feed water. The filters are sediment filters and membrane filters. A purified water bath(120) stores purified water generated by the filtering part. A sterilizing water generating unit feeds sterilizing water to at least part of the filters by generating the sterilizing water. A sterilizing water feeding unit feeds the sterilizing water to the purified water bath. A drain tube and a water discharging pump are further prepared for draining the purified water from the purified water bath.

Description

WATER PURIFIER WITH SELF CLEANING MEANS AND CLEANING METHOD FOR A WATER FURIFIER USING THE SAME}

The present invention relates to a water purifier having automatic cleaning means and an automatic cleaning method of the water purifier using the same, and more particularly, to a water purifier having a function capable of cleaning the inside of the water purifier itself.

In the case of a water purifier used for home or commercial use, it generally includes a filter part for filtering raw water and a tank part for storing purified water. In addition, a plurality of pipes are connected between the filter part and the tank part and a nozzle for supplying purified water.

As is well known, when the water purifier is used for a long time, foreign matters contained in the water may be deposited on the inner wall of the tank part and the pipe, or bacteria may breed, so it is necessary to clean it at regular intervals.

Since the cleaning work belongs to a highly difficult work that needs to be performed by disassembling the water purifier, it is generally performed by professional service personnel rather than by a general user. To this end, a schedule must be negotiated with the service personnel in advance, and a considerable time is required for the cleaning operation. This inconvenience of management causes the general user to be reluctant to use the water purifier.

Looking at the process of the above-described cleaning operation, the process of the so-called "cody" visited to remove the water purifier, the cleaning chemical is put into the water filled in the existing water purifier, and the process of draining it after a predetermined time Will go through. Therefore, there is a inconvenience that the service personnel have to wait for a long time until the cleaning by the cleaning chemicals sufficiently occurs, and there may be a case where the customer is asked to drain the water due to the nature of the service personnel who are chased by time. In this case, there is also a concern that the user may drink water without completing the drainage due to an accident or inadequate operation.

As a solution to this problem, there is a case where the water purifier is cleaned using sterilizing water such as chlorine water. The sterilizing water is purchased separately and the user directly puts it into the water purifier, or the sterilizing water generator is provided inside the water purifier so that the water purifier can be cleaned through this, so that the cleaning work is performed without the visit of a service agent. However, direct injection of sterile water is still difficult and cumbersome for ordinary consumers.

In case of using sterilizing water generator, this troublesomeness can be eliminated, but there is a possibility that foreign substances are generated in the process of generating sterilizing water in the sterilizing water generator, and the foreign substances thus generated may contaminate the water purification tank. There was.

The present invention has been made in order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art as described above, the technical problem to provide a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means that can prevent contamination of the water purification tank caused by the foreign matter generated by the sterilizing water generator. It is.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic cleaning method for a water purifier having the above automatic cleaning means.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, the filter unit having a plurality of filters connected to the water supply source to purify the raw water; A water tank for storing the purified water generated by the filter unit; A sterilizing water generator which generates sterilizing water and supplies sterilizing water to at least some of the plurality of filters; And a sterilizing water supplying means for supplying the sterilizing water generated by the sterilizing water generator to the water purification tank.

In the above aspect of the present invention, the sterilizing water generated by the sterilizing water generator is not directly put into the water purification tank, but is supplied after passing through the filter unit provided in the water purifier, so that foreign substances that may be generated in the sterilizing water generation process are supplied to the filter unit. To be filtered by. Through this, the cleaning power of the automatic cleaning operation can be improved.

In this case, the automatic cleaning process may be performed only when there is an instruction of a user's selection, for example, pressing an operation button, or automatically performed when a predetermined time elapses or a predetermined or more constant is made even without a separate operation. You can do that. To this end, counting means for counting the use time of the water purifier or the quantity of purified water supplied through the water purifier; And a controller configured to perform the cleaning operation by controlling the sterilizing water generator and the sterilizing water supply means based on the data measured by the counting means.

Here, the sterilizing water generator may be used any one, and as an example may be used a chlorine water generator for generating chlorine water by electrolysis of the supplied purified water. In addition, it is also possible to use a form in which the powdered drug is automatically mixed.

On the other hand, the water purification tank is further provided with a concentration measuring means for measuring the concentration of the chlorine water supplied, the control unit is set to control the concentration of the chlorine water generated based on the value measured by the concentration measuring means Can be. For example, when sterile water is generated by circulating only a part of the water in the purified water tank, the concentration of chlorine water may be increased to have an appropriate level of concentration even if the existing purified water and the sterilized water are mixed.

The water supplied to the sterilizing water generator may be configured to directly supply raw water, such as a tap water source, or to supply water passing through at least one of the plurality of filters. Using filtered water reduces the likelihood of debris.

The filter unit may include a sediment filter, wherein the sterilizing water generator may be supplied with water passing through the sediment filter.

In addition, the filter unit may include a membrane filter, wherein the sterilized water generated by the sterilizing water generator may be supplied to the water purification tank via the membrane filter. Here, the membrane filter serves to physically filter out the foreign matter contained in the water passing through. In this case, since the filtered foreign matter remains in the filter, it is necessary to replace it regularly, but passing through the sterilizing water can minimize the contamination of the filter due to residual foreign matter, which can help to improve the life of the filter.

The membrane filter may be positioned at the downstream of the plurality of filters so that the purified water discharged from the membrane filter is supplied to the water purification tank. In some cases, a filter such as a post carbon filter may be additionally installed downstream of the membrane filter. In this case, a sterilizing water passing through the membrane filter may include a bypass flow passage that bypasses the post carbon filter and is supplied to a water treatment tank. Can be.

In addition, in order to shorten the time required for the drainage process, it may further include a drain tube and a drain pump for draining the water stored in the water purification tank.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for automatically cleaning a water purifier including a sterilizing water generator, the method comprising: draining part or all of water remaining in a water purification tank; Supplying raw water to the sterilizing water generator; Supplying the generated sterilized water to the water treatment tank at a predetermined level via at least some of the plurality of filters; Leaving the sterilizing water in the purified water tank for a predetermined time; And it provides an automatic cleaning method of the water purifier further comprising the step of draining the sterilizing water.

Here, in the step of supplying the sterilizing water to the purified water tank, the sterilized water may be supplied to the purified water tank via the membrane filter.

In addition, at the step of draining the sterilizing water, at least some of the sterilizing water may be drained through the purified water outlet for supplying purified water to the user. This makes it possible to clean not only the purified water tank but also the entire flow path from the purified water tank to the purified water outlet.

In addition, the step of filling the purified water tank with water after sterilization water drainage; Maintaining a state in which the purified water is supplied for a predetermined time; And draining the purified water after a predetermined time has elapsed.

On the other hand, the water purification tank may include a cold water tank for storing cold water and a hot water tank for storing hot water. In this case, since the hot water tank is maintained at a relatively high temperature, the possibility of contamination is relatively lower than that of the cold water tank. Thus, each of the above steps may be performed only for the cold water tank, or may be performed at a higher frequency for the cold water tank.

In addition, in order to reduce the water consumption required for the cleaning operation, it is possible to drain only a part of the remaining water immediately after the start of the cleaning operation so that the generated sterilizing water is mixed with the remaining water. In this case, the sterilizing water generated by the sterilizing water generator The concentration of is relatively high compared to the case of draining all of the remaining water so that sufficient cleaning can be achieved.

According to the aspects of the present invention having the configuration as described above, even without the visit of the service personnel, the water purifier itself can facilitate the cleaning operation itself can be eliminated inconvenience and can be generated by the sterilizing water generating device As it can filter out foreign substances, it is possible to keep the water purifier cleaner.

1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a flow path structure of an embodiment of a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means according to the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing automatic cleaning in FIG. 1.
3 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a flow path structure of another embodiment of a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described in detail an embodiment of a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means according to the present invention.

1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a flow path structure of an embodiment of a water purifier having automatic cleaning means according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process in which automatic cleaning is performed in FIG. 1. 1 and 2, the embodiment 100 is primarily connected to the raw water side, such as a water supply pipe, the filter unit 110 for purifying the raw water supplied and the water purified by the filter unit 110 is primary It includes a water purification tank 120 is stored as. An electrode sensor 122 is provided inside the water purification tank 120 so as to measure the concentration of chlorine water generated and supplied by the chlorine water generator 170 to be described later.

The purified water stored in the purified water tank 120 may be provided to the user as drinking water without additional treatment, or may be provided by cooling or heating. To this end, the cold water tank 130 and the hot water tank 140 is connected to the purified water tank 120, respectively, the cold water tank 130 is a cooling device (not shown) driven by a thermoelectric element or a steam compression cycle device Is provided to cool the water supplied from the water purification tank to a predetermined temperature. Similarly, the hot water tank 140 is provided with a heater (not shown) to store the purified water heated to a predetermined temperature. Since the cooling device and the heater may adopt the conventionally known matters, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The cold water tank 130 and the hot water tank 140 is installed so that the cold water cock 132 and the hot water coke 142 is installed on the outside of the water purifier body to supply cold water and hot water to the user, respectively. In addition, the opening and closing valves 134 and 144 for opening and closing the flow path are respectively installed in the discharge pipe 130a of the cold water tank 130 and the discharge pipe 140a of the hot water tank 140, respectively. Both downstream sides of the 144 are connected to the drain pump 150. Therefore, the flow path is configured such that either or both of the cold water tank and the hot water tank can be drained by the drain pump in accordance with the opening and closing of the open / close valves. The discharge side of the drain pump 150 is connected to the drain pipe not shown to discharge the water to the outside of the water purifier.

Now, the filter unit 110 will be described. The filter unit 110 includes four filters each having different functions and uses, and are sequentially connected to the sediment filter 112 and the downstream side of the sediment filter 112 directly connected to raw water. It will include a precarbon filter 114, a postcarbon filter 116 and a membrane filter 118. In detail, the sediment filter 112 is a filter made of high-density polypropylene of 5 μm or less, and filters water and contaminants of 5 μm or more to pass the water path through the filter. It serves to protect all the components on the membrane and the membrane filter described below.

The sediment filter 112 is a filter centered on a thorough mechanical filtration, and has an excellent effect of removing dust and complex particles present in water. In general, the constants contain numerous invisible sands, iron particles, and other soil components. In addition, the sludge flowing through the pipe of the old tap water (I) and the contaminants formed in the tap water (I) pipe, etc. are included in a large amount. These types of particles belong to a relatively large group of contaminants in the total water contained in the water, which are first filtered by the assembly sediment filter 112 to help filter the smaller particles and finer components connected behind it. Done.

Since the pre-carbon filter and the membrane filter installed after the sediment filter 112 serve to filter out the ultrafine particles, the ability of the filter may be impaired in an instant when directly exposed to a relatively large size of contaminants. The role of the filter 112 also serves to protect a fine filter such as a membrane filter.

The precarbon filter 114 connected to the discharge pipe 112a of the sediment filter 112 removes chemical substances harmful to the human body, such as chlorine, carcinogens, pesticides, and synthetic detergents, by using activated carbon adsorption. Activated carbon included in the precarbon filter 114 is a special carbon mainly fired at high temperature using coconut shell, wood, coal, etc. as a raw material of amorphous carbon having a fine pore of a molecular size well formed during the activation process. Means an aggregate. In general, activated carbon is an adsorbent having an internal surface area of 800 to 1200㎥ per gram. Partial chemical adsorption occurs, but most adsorption is performed by the attraction of carbon atoms in the activated carbon to the surrounding liquid or gas. Physical adsorption that traps molecules. In addition to the function of the sediment filter 112, in addition to the function of absorbing and removing contaminants of a smaller scale, the sediment filter 112 also has a function of improving water taste.

The post carbon filter 116 connected to the discharge pipe 114a of the precarbon filter 114 may further increase the purity of the water by removing unpleasant tastes, odors and pigments remaining in the purified water. Like the precarbon filter 114, the post carbon filter 116 contains activated carbon.

The membrane filter 118 connected to the discharge pipe 116a of the post carbon filter 116 may include a reverse osmosis (R / O) filter or a hollow fiber membrane filter (UF, Hollow Fiber Membrane). The hollow fiber membrane filter of the membrane filter 118 is a pore filter having pores of several tens to hundreds of nanometers (nm), and contaminants present in the water by passing only water through a myriad of micropores distributed on the membrane surface. Remove it. The hollow fiber forming the hollow fiber membrane of the hollow fiber membrane filter refers to an aggregate of filter yarns formed like a thread having a central hole. The reverse osmosis (R / O) type water purifier is excellent by the hollow fiber membrane filter in terms of removing foreign matters, but has a disadvantage in that a large amount of water is discarded in the water purification process and removes components such as minerals remaining in the water.

In addition, a filter having various purposes (for example, a UV filter using ultraviolet light) may be further added.

On the other hand, the chlorine water generating device 170 is installed adjacent to the filter unit 110 is configured to receive the water filtered by the sediment filter 112 is filtered. At this time, the discharge pipe 112 ㅁ of the sediment filter 112 is provided with a first flow path switching valve 180 to allow water to flow into the free carbon filter 114 when purified water, and when the water is washed, The flow path may be converted to flow into the water generating device 170.

The discharge pipe 170a of the chlorine water generator 170 is connected to the discharge pipe 116 ㅁ of the post carbon filter 116, which is also cleaned and cleaned by the second flow path switching valve 182. The passage is configured to allow different flow paths. In addition, the discharge pipe (170 ㅁ) is provided with a check valve 172 to prevent the back flow. The discharge pipe 118 ㅁ of the membrane filter 118 is extended to the purified water tank so that purified water or sterilized water can be supplied to the purified water tank.

The operation of this embodiment will now be described with reference to FIG.

In the above embodiment, the cleaning operation may be started by the user pressing an operation button (not shown) provided in the water purifier main body, and may be automatically performed without the user's instruction when the water purifier usage is more than a predetermined level. . In order to prevent misuse by the user in this process, the display device (not shown) provided in the water purifier may be configured to notify the user that the water purifier is currently being cleaned. Usage of the water purifier may be measured by counting the use time or counting the quantity of purified water flowing into the water treatment tank.

In any case, when the cleaning operation is started, some or all of the water remaining in the water purification tank, the cold water tank, and the hot water tank is drained (step S01). This drainage process is performed by opening the two on-off valves 134 and 144 and operating the pump 150. Here, an example in which drainage is performed by natural drainage by gravity without providing the pump 150 may be considered. In addition, the washing may be performed by draining only a part of the water rather than draining it and mixing it with chlorine water supplied in a step to be described later. This can reduce the amount of water used, but higher concentration of chlorine water needs to be supplied to maintain the cleaning power. In other words, in the case of draining water leaving only half of the water level, it is necessary to set the concentration of chlorine water to twice the normal level.

When the drainage process is completed, the first and second flow path switching valves are controlled to allow the raw water to flow into the water purification tank through the sediment filter 112, the chlorine water generator 170, and the membrane filter 118. (Step S02). At this time, the two on-off valves 134 and 144 are closed, and the chlorine water supplied is filled in all flow paths leading to the on-off valve in addition to the purified water tank, the cold water tank and the hot water tank. That is, chlorine water is also supplied to the flow path between the cold water tank and the hot water tank and the cold water coke and the hot water coke.

Here, as described above, it is necessary to adjust the concentration of the chlorine water supplied in accordance with the amount of water to be drained, this concentration control can be controlled by the value of the current applied to the chlorine water generator, the integer An example of measuring the concentration of the actual mixed water through an electrode sensor installed inside the tank and controlling the concentration of the chlorine water generated based on this may be considered.

The chlorine water supplied in this way is not discharged immediately but remains for a predetermined time (step S03). Through this, the cleaning operation for the purified water tank, the cold water tank and the hot water tank by the chlorine water is made, and the inside of each flow path corresponding to the movement path of the chlorine water is also cleaned.

When the step S03 is completed, all the chlorine water present in the water purification tank, cold water tank and hot water tank is drained (step S04). In this drainage process, some of the chlorine water also flows into the side of the cold water and the hot water coke to clean the inside of the two cocks and the corresponding flow paths. An example of draining by may be considered.

When the draining process is completed, the raw water is introduced from the outside in a state in which the two open / close valves are closed to refill the purified water in the purified water tank, the cold water tank, and the hot water tank (step S05). The purified water thus supplied is for washing away the chlorine water remaining in the water purifier, and is drained again after remaining for a predetermined time (step S06). The cleaning operation is completed.

In the above-described example, the water purification tank, the cold water tank, and the hot water tank are configured in the same manner, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and in the case of the hot water tank, the frequency of contamination or microbial propagation is relatively low due to the characteristics of high temperature. An example may be considered in which only the cold water tank is cleaned or the hot water tank is washed at a relatively low frequency compared to the cold water tank.

In addition, it is also possible to consider an example in which the raw water flows directly into the chlorine water generator, rather than the water passing through the sediment filter to the chlorine water generator.

To this end, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the chlorine water may be generated by the raw water by directly connecting the water supply source and the inflow side of the chlorine water generator 170.

Meanwhile, in the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the membrane filter is located at the rear end, but in some cases, the membrane filter is located downstream of the precarbon filter, and the post carbon filter is disposed at the rear end. In this case, the chlorine water passing through the membrane filter may have a separate bypass flow path extending between the discharge pipe of the membrane filter and the discharge pipe of the post carbon filter. An example of bypassing the post carbon filter to be introduced into the water purification tank may be considered.

Claims (16)

A filter unit having a plurality of filters connected to a water supply source to purify raw water;
A water tank for storing the purified water generated by the filter unit;
A sterilizing water generator which generates sterilizing water and supplies sterilizing water to at least some of the plurality of filters; And
And a sterilizing water supply means for supplying the sterilizing water generated by the sterilizing water generator to the water purification tank. The method of claim 1,
Counting means for counting the usage time of the water purifier or the quantity of purified water supplied through the water purifier; And
And a controller for controlling the sterilizing water generator and the sterilizing water supplying means by the data measured by the counting means to perform a cleaning operation. The method of claim 1,
The sterilizing water generator is a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means, characterized in that to generate chlorine water by electrolysis of the supplied purified water. The method of claim 3,
The water purification tank is further provided with a concentration measuring means for measuring the concentration of the chlorine water supplied, wherein the control unit controls the concentration of the chlorine water generated based on the value measured by the concentration measuring means Water purifier with automatic cleaning means. The method of claim 1,
The sterilizing water generator is a water purifier having automatic cleaning means, characterized in that water is supplied from an external water source. The method of claim 1,
The sterilizing water generator is a water purifier having automatic cleaning means, characterized in that receiving the water passed through at least one of the plurality of filters. The method of claim 6,
The filter unit includes a sediment filter, wherein the sterilizing water generator is a water purifier having an automatic cleaning means, characterized in that receiving the water passing through the sediment filter. The method of claim 1,
The filter unit includes a membrane filter, wherein the sterilized water generated by the sterilizing water generator is supplied to the water purification tank via the membrane filter, characterized in that the water purifier having automatic cleaning means. The method of claim 8,
The membrane filter is located at the most downstream of the plurality of filters, the water purifier having automatic cleaning means characterized in that the purified water discharged from the membrane filter is supplied to the water purification tank. The method of claim 1,
And a drain tube and a drain pump for draining the water stored in the water purification tank. As an automatic cleaning method of a water purifier including a sterilizing water generator,
Draining some or all of the water remaining in the water treatment tank;
Supplying raw water to the sterilizing water generator;
Supplying the generated sterilized water to the water treatment tank at a predetermined level via at least some of the plurality of filters;
Leaving the sterilizing water in the purified water tank for a predetermined time; And
Automatic cleaning method of the water purifier further comprising the step of draining the sterilizing water. The method of claim 11,
In the step of supplying the sterilizing water to the water purification tank, the sterilizing water is automatically supplied to the water purification tank via a membrane filter. The method of claim 11,
At least a part of the sterilizing water in the step of draining the sterilizing water is an automatic cleaning method of the water purifier, characterized in that drained through the purified water outlet for supplying purified water to the user. The method of claim 11,
Filling the purified water tank with purified water after draining the sterilizing water;
Maintaining a state in which the purified water is supplied for a predetermined time; And
And draining the purified water after a predetermined time has elapsed. The method of claim 11,
The water purification tank includes a cold water tank for storing cold water and a hot water tank for storing hot water,
Wherein each of the steps is performed only for a cold water tank. The method of claim 11,
In the case of draining only a part of the remaining water immediately after the start of the washing operation, the concentration of the sterilizing water produced by the sterilizing water generator is relatively high compared to the case of draining all of the remaining water.

Images