WO2021203313A1

WO2021203313A1 - Water softening device

Info

Publication number: WO2021203313A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/083801
Authority: WO
Inventors: Maciej KOBIELSKI
Original assignee: Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls Co., Ltd.; Sanhua Aweco Appliance Systems Gmbh
Priority date: 2020-04-08
Filing date: 2020-04-08
Publication date: 2021-10-14
Also published as: EP3962867A4; CN112351955A; EP3962867A1

Abstract

A water softening device includes a bottom wall, a top wall, a circumferential wall, an internal pipe and a water softening medium. The top wall includes a top toroid sieve for water to flow out. The circumferential wall includes a bottom inlet sieve for water to flow in. The internal pipe includes an internal channel and a throttling hole. The internal channel includes a first channel located below the throttling hole and a second channel located above the throttling hole. The first channel and the second channel are in fluid communication with each other via the throttling hole. The internal pipe includes at least one communicating slot to communicate the first channel and the annular space. The internal channel serves as a counter pressure regulator so that the water flow distribution can be evened in the water softening medium.

Description

WATER SOFTENING DEVICE

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to a water softening device which can be applied in household appliances, such as dishwashers etc.

BACKGROUND

Water softening devices of relevant technologies normally include a bottom wall, a top wall, a circumferential wall connected between the bottom wall and a top wall, a water softening medium located inside the circumferential wall and a horizontal sieve located on top of the water softening medium. Either the bottom wall or the circumferential wall includes an inlet sieve for water to flow in. The top wall acts as an outlet sieve for water to flow out of the water softening device. However, as water flows from the inlet sieve to the outlet sieve, because of pressure differences along radial and axial directions of the water softening device, the water flow distribution can be not so well evened when the water flows in the water softening medium. As a result, the efficiency of the water softening medium can not be used effectively.

SUMMARY

An object of the present application is provide a water softening device which improves per volume use of the water softening medium.

In order to achieve the above object, the present application includes a water softening device including a bottom wall, a top wall, a circumferential wall connected between the bottom wall and the top wall along a vertical direction and an internal pipe at least partially surrounded by the circumferential wall. The top wall includes a top toroid sieve for water to flow out and an opening in communication with an exterior space outside of the water softening device. The circumferential wall includes a bottom inlet sieve for water to flow in. An annular space is formed between the circumferential wall and the internal pipe to fill in a water softening medium. The internal pipe includes a tubular wall, an internal channel in the tubular wall and a throttling hole inside the internal channel. The internal channel serves as a counter pressure regulator and includes a first channel located below the throttling hole and a second channel located above the throttling hole. The first channel and the second channel are in fluid communication with each other via the throttling hole. The tubular wall includes at least one communicating slot to communicate the first channel and the annular space. The second channel is in fluid communication with an outlet.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, there are two flow paths available, of which a first flow path is a path where the water flows through the water softening medium and further flows through the top toroid sieve; and a second flow path is a path where the water flows into the first channel through the communicating slot and the water further flows into the second channel through the throttling hole. The internal channel of the internal pipe according to the present application allows to even the stochastic pressure drop of the water flow at both alternative first flow path and second flow path, resulting in an evened water flow distribution in the water softening medium and allowing for maximization of use per volume of the water softening medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a water softening filtration device in accordance with an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is another schematic view of the water softening filtration device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the water softening filtration device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the water softening filtration device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the water softening filtration device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective view of the water softening filtration device shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the water softening filtration device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An illustrated embodiment of the present application is described in detail below, examples of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The embodiment described below with reference to the drawings is intended to be illustrative of the application and is not to be construed as limitation of the present application. In the description of the present application, it is to be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by terms, such as “axial” , “circumferential” , “upper” , “lower” , “vertical” , “horizontal” , “top” , “bottom” , “inside” , “outside” or the like, are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are merely for the convenience of the description of the present application and the simplified description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or component referred to has a specific orientation. It is constructed and operated in a particular orientation and is therefore not to be construed as limitation of the present application.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, an illustrated embodiment of the present application discloses a thin-walled water softening device 100 which is of a cylindrical shape in general. The water softening device 100 of the present application is adapted for continuous or pulsed, steady-state flow, ion exchange for tap water softening in use of household appliances, such as dishwaters etc. The water softening device 100 of the present application can not only be used in white-goods areas, but also be used in water-filter market for household, i.e., in resin-activated charcoal mixed applications.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the water softening device 100 according to the illustrated embodiment of the present application includes a bottom inlet sieve 31 for water to flow in, a top toroid sieve 210 for the water to flow out, a bottom section 101, a top section 102, a circumferential wall 3 located between the bottom section 101 and the top section 102 along a vertical direction, and an internal pipe 4 surrounded by the circumferential wall 3. The bottom section 101 includes a bottom wall 1. The top section 102 includes a top wall 2, an inlet 103 and an outlet 104. The circumferential wall 3 is connected between the bottom wall 1 and the top wall 2. An annular space 5 is formed between the circumferential wall 3 and the internal pipe 4. The water softening device 100 further includes a water softening medium 6 filled in the annular space 5 for water to flow through and softening the water accordingly. The water softening medium 6 includes but not limited to ion exchange resin.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the bottom wall 1 includes a tapered surface 11 located at the bottom of the annular space 5 and a bulging center portion 12 extending upwardly towards the top wall 2. The tapered surface 11 is an upper surface of the bottom wall 1. According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the bottom wall 1 is of a cone shape and the height of the cone is in a certain relation to the geometry of the internal pipe 4. According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the bottom wall 1 includes a recessed bottom surface 13. However, in other embodiments, the bottom surface 13 can also be flat. The tapered surface 11 is introduced for guiding the flow of water and is also for exclusion of potentially preferable flow path, so that the water flow distribution can be evened in the water softening medium 6.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 and 6, the top wall 2 includes a tapered top portion 21 located on top of the annular space 5 and a top recessed center portion 22 extending downwardly towards the bottom wall 1. The top recessed center portion 22 includes an opening 221 which is in communication with an exterior space outside of the water softening device 100. The tapered top portion 21 includes the top toroid sieve 210 which serves as one of outlets for water to flow out of the water softening device 100. According to the illustrated embodiment, the top toroid sieve 210 is integrally formed with the circumferential wall 3 by injection molding. However, it is understandable to those of ordinary skill in the art that in other embodiments, the top toroid sieve 210 is possibly assembled to the circumferential wall 3. According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the top toroid sieve 210 includes a first annular section 211, a second annular section 212 surrounding the first annular section 211 and a third annular section 213 surrounding the second annular section 212. However, it is understandable to those of ordinary skill in the art that the geometry of the top toroid sieve 210 should not be limited only to this 3-section geometry. The top toroid sieve 210 can be used with any sieve geometry, as long as it is possible to have an approximation of even sieve gap distribution per unit of sieve surface, along the whole upper sieve surface. According to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the first annular section 211 defines a plurality of first outlet slots 2111 each of which extends along a radial direction of the top wall 2. The second annular section 212 defines a plurality of second outlet slots 2121 each of which extends along the radial direction. The third annular section 213 defines a plurality of third outlet slots 2131 each of which extends along the radial direction. Along the vertical direction, the first outlet slots 2111 are lower in position than the second outlet slots 2121, and the second outlet slots 2121 are lower in position than the third outlet slots 2131. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, in order to ensure the structural strength of injection parts, according to the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the tapered top portion 21 further includes a first circled wall 214 to separate the plurality of first outlet slots 2111 and the plurality of second outlet slots 2121 along the radial direction, and a second circled wall 215 to separate the plurality of second outlet slots 2121 and the plurality of third outlet slots 2131 along the radial direction. In other words, the plurality of first outlet slots 2111 and the plurality of second outlet slots 2121 are not in direct communication along the radial direction because of the first circled wall 214, and the plurality of second outlet slots 2121 and the plurality of third outlet slots 2131 are not in direct communication along the radial direction because of the second circled wall 215. However, it is understandable to those of ordinary skill in the art that as long as the injection of the tapered top portion 21 can even the slot distribution along the surface, either radial, concentric, spiral, parallel or a mix of above, could be applicable. In the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the top toroid sieve 210 is of a horizontally-tangent curved shape. It is understandable that in other embodiments, the top portion 21 can be of a flat shape as well.

In the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the circumferential wall 3 includes the bottom inlet sieve 31 which is located at the bottom circumference of the circumferential wall 3. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bottom inlet sieve 31 includes a plurality of inlet slots 311 which are in fluid communication with the inlet 103 for water to flow inside of the water softening device 100. The bottom inlet sieve 31 is adjacent to the bottom wall 1 so that a lower position can be provided for water to flow through. In the illustrated embodiment of the present application, each inlet slot 311 extends along the vertical direction. By setting the inlet slots 311 being circumferentially distributed on the circumferential wall 3, it facilitates the uniformity of the water flow when it flows into the annular space 5. However, it is understandable to those of ordinary skill in the art that in other embodiments, the bottom inlet sieve 31 also can be integrally formed with the bottom wall 1, thus the inlet slots 311 could be formed on the bottom wall 1.

The internal pipe 4 is located between the bulging center portion 12 and the top recessed center portion 22. The internal pipe 4 includes a tubular wall 41, an internal channel 42 in the tubular wall 41 and a flow control device inside the internal channel 42. In the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the internal pipe 4 extends along a concentric axis A-A(as shown in FIG. 1) of the water softening device 100. A bottom end of the internal channel 42 is blocked by the bulging center portion 12 and a top end of the internal channel 42 is in communication with the opening 221. The flow control device could be a valve which has a throttling hole 43. The internal channel 42 includes a first channel 421 located below the throttling hole 43 and a second channel 422 located above the throttling hole 43. The first channel 421 and the second channel 422 are in fluid communication with each other via the throttling hole 43. Besides, the tubular wall 41 includes a plurality of communicating slots 411 at a circumference thereof, so as to make the first channel 421 in fluid communication with the annular space 5. In the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the communicating slots 411 extend along the vertical direction. The internal channel 42 serves as a counter pressure regulator which can be used to balance the pressure of the water flow. In an embodiment of the present application, the bottom wall 1, the top wall 2 and the internal pipe 4 can be mass-produced by injection process, therefore the amount of injection parts or tools can be reduced accordingly for saving cost.

When the water flows from the inlet 103 into the water softening device 100, the water will flow into the annular space 5 through the inlet slots 311 of the bottom inlet sieve 31. The water is permitted to flow through the bottom inlet sieve 31 due to a reasonably high density of the inlet slots 311 formed at the bottom of the circumferential wall 3. Then, the water flows on the tapered surface 11 and through the water softening medium 6. After that, depending on the pressure of the water flow, there are two flow paths available, of which a first flow path is a path where the water flows through the water softening medium 6 and further flows through the top toroid sieve 210; and a second flow path is a path where the water flows into the first channel 421 through the communicating slots 411 and the water further flows into the second channel 422 through the throttling hole 43. The water flows through the annular space 5 along a bottom-to-top direction. According to an embodiment of the present application, the water flows from the inlet 103 to the outlet 104 through the inlet slots 311 of the bottom inlet sieve 31, the water softening medium 6 and/or the internal channel 42, and the outlet slots and/or the opening 221 of top toroid sieve 210. The required pressure drop is regulated by the throttling hole 43. The top toroid sieve 210 can be used to even the pressure drop in between every possible connection in the first flow path between the bottom inlet sieve 31 and the top toroid sieve 210. A diameter of the throttling hole 43 can be experimentally or mathematically deducted from given operation pressure and given filtration coefficient of the water softening medium 6. Preferably, the pressure drop of the water when it flows into the second channel 422 from the first channel 421 is between 40%to 50%of the pressure drop of the water in the first flow path. The geometry of the top toroid sieve 210 is radial by the approximated wall height to allow for isobaric radial flow in the first flow path, whereas the flow excluded from the first flow path flows into the second flow path and is artificially regulated by the throttling hole 43 for pressure regulation.

The internal channel 42 of the internal pipe 4 according to the present application allows to even the stochastic pressure drop of the water flow at both alternative first flow path and second flow path, resulting in an evened water flow distribution in the water softening medium 6, allowing for maximization of use per volume of the water softening medium 6, and making the use of a parallel sieve unnecessary. The present application allows for even stochastic pressure distribution in a steady-state flow according to the geometry of the water softening device 100. The water softening medium 6 does not allow for pipe flow modeling, the internal channel 42 allows for such modeling, and the pressure regulation principle for the throttling hole 43 is based on the pipe flow modeling.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present application and not to limit the technical solutions described in the present application. Those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the application, and all technical solutions and improvements that do not depart from the spirit and scope of the application should be covered by the claims of the application.

Claims

A water softening device (100) comprising:

a bottom section (101) comprising a bottom inlet sieve (31) for water to flow in;

a top section (102) comprising a top toroid sieve (210) with an opening (221) in fluid communication with an outlet (104) to communicate with an exterior space outside of the water softening device (100) ;

a circumferential wall (3) located between the bottom section (101) and the top section (102) along a vertical direction; and

an internal pipe (4) at least partially surrounded by the circumferential wall (3) , an annular space (5) being formed between the circumferential wall (3) and the internal pipe (4) to fill in a water softening medium (6) , the water softening medium (6) being fluidly communicated between the bottom inlet sieve (31) and the top toroid sieve (210) ;

wherein the internal pipe (4) comprises a tubular wall (41) and an internal channel (42) in the tubular wall (41) , the internal channel (42) serving as a counter pressure regulator, the tubular wall (41) comprising at least one communicating slot (411) to communicate the internal channel (42) and the annular space (5) , the internal channel being in fluid communication with the opening (221) and the outlet (104) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the internal pipe (4) comprises a flow control device inside the internal channel (42) , the internal channel (42) comprising a first channel (421) located below the flow control device and a second channel (422) located above the flow control device, the first channel (421) being in fluid communication with the annular space (5) , the second channel (422) being in fluid communication with the opening (221) , the first channel (421) and the second channel (422) capable of being in fluid communication with each other via the flow control device.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the bottom section (101) comprises a bottom wall (1) and the top section (102) comprises a top wall (2) , and wherein the bottom wall (1) comprises a tapered surface (11) located at the bottom of the annular space (5) and a bulging center portion (12) extending upwardly towards the top wall (2) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 3, wherein the top wall (2) comprises a tapered top portion (21) located above the annular space (5) and a top recessed center portion (22) extending downwardly towards the bottom wall (1) , the top recessed center portion (22) comprising the opening (221) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 4, wherein the internal pipe (4) is located between the bulging center portion (12) and the top recessed center portion (22) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 5, wherein the bottom wall (1) , the top wall (2) and the internal pipe (4) are produced by injection process.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 4, wherein the tapered top portion (21) comprises a plurality of outlet slots which are evenly distributed along an upper sieve surface of the tapered top portion (21) and fluidly communicated to the outlet (104) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 7, wherein the top toroid sieve (210) comprises a first annular section (211) , a second annular section (212) surrounding the first annular section (211) and a third annular section (213) surrounding the second annular section (212) , the first annular section (211) defining a plurality of first outlet slots (2111) each of which extends along a radial direction of the top section (102) , the second annular section (212) defining a plurality of second outlet slots (2121) each of which extends along the radial direction, the third annular section (213) defining a plurality of third outlet slots (2131) each of which extends along the radial direction, the outlet slots comprising the first outlet slots (2111) , the second outlet slots (2121) and the third outlet slots (2131) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 2, wherein the tubular wall (41) comprises a plurality of the communicating slots (411) at a circumference of the tubular wall (41) ; wherein each of the communicating slots (411) extends along the vertical direction.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 7, wherein the bottom inlet sieve (31) comprises a plurality of inlet slots (311) formed at a bottom circumference of the circumferential wall (3) for the water to flow into the annular space (5) of the water softening device (100) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 10, wherein each of the inlet slots (311) extends along the vertical direction, the top section (102) comprises an inlet (103) fluidly communicating to the inlet slots; the water flows from the inlet (103) to the outlet (104) through the inlet slots (311) of the bottom inlet sieve (31) , the water softening medium (6) and/or the internal channel (42) , and the outlet slots and/or the opening (221) of top toroid sieve (210) ; and the water flows through the annular space (5) along a bottom-to-top direction.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 9, wherein the water softening device (100) comprises a first flow path where the water flows through the water softening medium (6) and further flows through the top toroid sieve (210) , and a second flow path where the water flows into the first channel (421) through the communicating slots (411) and the water further flows into the second channel (422) through the flow control device, the first channel (421) and the second channel (422) being communicated or discommunicated under control of the flow control device.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 12, wherein the second channel (422) of the internal pipe (4) is adapted to even pressure drop of the water in the first flow path between the bottom inlet sieve (31) and the top toroid sieve (210) .
The water softening device (100) according to claim 12, wherein pressure drop of the water when it flows into the second channel (422) from the first channel (421) in the second flow path is between 40%to 50%of pressure drop of the water in the first flow path.
The water softening device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the water softening medium (6) comprises ion exchange resin.