JP3756217B2 - Water purifier - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a water purifier for purifying raw water by a filtering means, and more particularly to a water purifier for separately supplying purified water and residual water containing impurities.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, this type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-86891 and US Pat. No. 5,296,148. The whole schematic block diagram of this conventional water purifier is shown in FIG.
[0003]
In the figure, a conventional water purification apparatus is connected to a tap 100 such as tap water or a raw water tank, and the raw water discharged from the tap 100 is directly supplied to the outside (non-purified side) and supplied to the subsequent stage (purified side). And a primary filter 2 that is disposed on the rear stage side of the raw water switching valve 1 and removes impurities of raw water supplied from the raw water switching valve 1 to the rear stage side to generate primary purified water. A secondary filter 3 that is disposed on the downstream side of the primary filter 2 and absorbs and removes the odor and fine impurities of the generated primary purified water to generate secondary purified water; and the downstream side of the secondary filter 3 The purified secondary water is further purified to produce water that is substantially pure water (hereinafter referred to as pure water) by reverse osmosis and is supplied from the pure water supply port 41, and vice versa. Residual raw water after infiltration is discharged from the residual raw water outlet 42 Reverse osmosis membrane (hereinafter RO membrane; Reverse Osmosis) to output a configuration and a filter 4.
[0004]
The primary filter 2 is formed of, for example, a precipitation filter or the like, and is configured to remove impurities mainly having a size of 10 μm or more such as impurities contained in the raw water. The secondary filter 3 is formed of, for example, a carbon filter, a hollow fiber membrane, a microfilter, or the like, and removes impurities having a size of up to 0.01 μm from impurities contained in raw water.
[0005]
Next, operation | movement of the conventional water purifier based on the said structure is demonstrated.
First, when the lever 1a of the raw water switching valve 1 is adjusted and selectively switched to the purified water side, the faucet 100 is operated to supply the raw water to the primary filter 2 at a predetermined pressure. The primary filter 2 generates primary purified water by removing large impurities by, for example, precipitating, and further filters the primary purified water with a secondary filter 3 to generate secondary purified water.
[0006]
This secondary purified water is supplied to the RO membrane filter 4 at a predetermined pressure, and this RO membrane filter 4 applies a pressure P (P> P0) higher than the osmotic pressure P0 to the side to which the secondary purified water is supplied. The pure water is moved to the water and supplied, and the remaining secondary purified water (residual raw water) from which the pure water has been removed is discharged.
Thus, the pure water contained in the raw water can be supplied separately from the remaining raw water.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Since the conventional configuration is as described above, the remaining raw water other than pure water generated by the RO membrane filter is discharged without being used at all, and the water resource is wasted. Have In particular, when pure water is generated using an RO membrane or the like, a large amount of residual raw water is generated.
This invention was made | formed in order to solve the said subject, and it aims at providing the water purifier which utilizes effectively the remaining residual raw | natural water containing the impurity after purification | cleaning.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The water purifier according to the present invention includes a raw water switching valve that takes in raw water from the intake port and switches whether the taken raw water is directly supplied from the raw water supply port to the outside or supplied to the subsequent stage, and the raw water switching The raw water supplied from the valve to the downstream side is filtered to supply pure water, and the reverse osmosis membrane that discharges the remaining residual raw water filtered from the pure water and the residual raw water discharged from the reverse osmosis membrane A recirculation flow path to be supplied to the outside from the raw water supply port of the raw water switching valve, and disposed between the raw water switching valve and the reverse osmosis membrane, to filter the raw water supplied from the switching valve to produce purified water, In a water purifier provided with a pre-stage filtration means for supplying the purified water to the reverse osmosis membrane, between the pre-stage filtration means and the reverse osmosis membrane, the purified water supplied from the pre-stage filtration means is supplied to the purified water storage tank or filtered. Purified water switching that switches whether to supply to the means It is those with a.
[0013]
[Action]
In the present invention, the raw water is directly switched between the raw water supply port side and the purified water side by the raw water switching valve, and the raw water supplied by switching to the purified water side is generated by separating it into pure water and residual raw water by the reverse osmosis membrane , By supplying this residual raw water to the raw water supply port of the raw water switching valve via the reflux channel, the residual raw water generated by filtration of the reverse osmosis membrane can be used effectively without being discarded.
[0014]
In the present invention, since the so disposing the pre-stage filtration means for generating a purified water by filtering the raw water upstream of the reverse osmosis membrane, the residual raw water that is produced by the reverse osmosis membrane is a very close water water purification Thus, the residual raw water from the reflux channel can be used as purified water, and the deterioration of the reverse osmosis membrane can be suppressed as much as possible.
[0015]
In the present invention, a water purification switching valve is arranged between the pre-stage filtration means and the reverse osmosis membrane, and whether the purified water generated by the pre-stage filtration means is directly supplied to the outside or the reverse osmosis membrane side. Since switching is performed, purified water can be generated from the pre-filtration means even when pure water is not generated by the reverse osmosis membrane .
[0016]
In the present invention, since the purified water generated by the pre-filtration means is stored in the purified water reservoir, the purified water generated by the pre-filtration means is stored in advance even when the reverse osmosis membrane does not generate pure water. Can do.
[0018]
【Example】
(First embodiment of the present invention)
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This FIG. 1 is the whole schematic block diagram of the water purifier concerning a present Example.
In each of the drawings, the water purifier according to the present embodiment is the raw water switching valve 10 (corresponding to 1 in FIG. 4), the primary filter 2, the secondary filter 3, and the RO membrane filter as in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 4 and the structure of the raw water switching valve 10 and the configuration of discharging the residual raw water from the residual raw water discharge port 42 of the RO membrane filter 4 are different. A reflux channel 6 is connected between the residual raw water discharge port 42 of the RO membrane filter 4 and the raw water supply port 10 b of the raw water switching valve 10, and the reflux channel 6 is discharged from the residual raw water discharge port 42. The remaining raw water is supplied to the raw water switching valve 10 side. The raw water switching valve 10 is a raw water mode in which raw water discharged from the faucet 100 is directly supplied to the outside from the raw water supply port 10b, and the raw water from the faucet 100 is supplied to the primary filter 2 and the remaining raw water is returned to the primary filter 2. Is switched and supplied from the raw water supply port 10b of the raw water switching valve 10 to the purified water mode.
[0019]
Next, the operation of the apparatus according to this embodiment based on the above configuration will be described. First, when performing the water purification operation, the lever 10a of the raw water switching valve 10 is switched to the water purification mode, and the cock of the faucet 100 is operated in the same manner as in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. Supply to the primary filter 2 by pressure. Further, the primary filter 2, the secondary filter 3 and the RO membrane filter 4 perform the filtering operation in the same manner as in the conventional apparatus, thereby supplying pure water from the pure water supply port 41 of the RO membrane filter 4 and remaining raw water. Residual raw water is discharged from the discharge port 42. The discharged residual raw water is fed back to the raw water supply port 10 b side of the raw water switching valve 10 through the reflux passage 6.
[0020]
Thus, while supplying the pure water generated by the RO membrane filter 4, the residual raw water can be supplied from the raw water switching valve 10, and the residual raw water can be effectively used without being simply discharged and discarded. . In addition, when receiving supply of raw | natural water directly from the said tap 100, it can carry out by switching the lever 10a of the raw | natural water switching valve 10 to raw | natural water mode.
[0021]
(Second embodiment of the present invention)
FIG. 2 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a water purifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the same figure, the water purifier according to the present embodiment is the raw water switching valve 11 (corresponding to 10 in FIG. 1), the primary filter 2, the secondary filter 3 and the RO as in the embodiment apparatus shown in FIG. A membrane filter 4 is provided in common, the raw water switching valve 11 is configured differently, a path for supplying purified water constituted by the secondary filter 3 to the subsequent stage is different, and the RO membrane filter 4 It is the structure which adds the pure water storage tank 7 which stores the pure water supplied.
[0022]
The raw water switching valve 11 supplies raw water directly from the faucet 100 to the outside, and supplies the raw water to the purified water side of the primary filter 2, and the residual raw water from the RO membrane filter 4 or the secondary filter 3. It is the structure switched by the electromagnetic switching valve 11a and the electromagnetic switching valve 11c arrange | positioned in the front | former stage of the primary filter 2 with the built-in purified water mode which supplies the purified water of the outside. The electromagnetic switching valve 11a is configured to detect the full water detection signal by calculation control of a full water sensor 71 for detecting the water level of the pure water storage tank 7 and a control unit (not shown) based on detection signals for full water and water supply from the water supply sensor 72. Is output, and the drive is controlled so as to be in the open state when the water supply detection signal is not output. The electromagnetic switching valve 11c is configured such that the water supply detection signal is obtained by calculation control of an unillustrated control unit based on detection signals of full water / water supply of the full water sensor 71 and the water supply sensor 72 for detecting the water level of the pure water storage tank 7. And is controlled so as to be in an open state in a state where the full water detection signal is not output. Further, an electromagnetic switching valve 31 is disposed between the secondary filter 3 and the RO membrane filter 4, and this electromagnetic switching valve 31 is not shown when the operator needs clean water from the supply port 10b. It is activated by depressing the water purification button, and from the purified water supply (pure water generation mode) to the RO membrane filter 4 side to the raw water switching valve 11 through the purified water recirculation flow path 60 to the raw water switching valve 11 (purified water generation mode). Switching to is performed. When the water purification button is pressed down, simultaneously with switching to the water purification generation mode, a signal for closing the electromagnetic switching valve 11a and opening the electromagnetic switching valve 11c is output to the control unit. .
[0023]
The pure water storage tank 7 includes a full water sensor 71 that detects when the level of pure water supplied from the RO membrane filter 4 reaches a full water level and outputs a full water detection signal, and the pure water level is a water supply level. And a water supply sensor 72 that outputs a water supply detection signal by detecting a case where the water content is detected, and the stored pure water is sucked and supplied by the water supply pump 9. The detection signals for full water and water supply are input to a control unit (not shown), and the switching operation of the electromagnetic switching valves 11a and 11c is controlled by the arithmetic control operation of the control unit.
[0024]
Next, the operation of the apparatus of this embodiment will be described based on the above configuration. First, when the operator does not press the water purification button and the full water detection signal is not output from the full water sensor 71, the electromagnetic switching valve 11a is closed in the normal pure water generation mode. In addition, the electromagnetic switching valve 11c is opened, and the raw water from the faucet 100 is supplied to the primary filter 2 side at a predetermined pressure. Moreover, since the electromagnetic switching valve 31 arrange | positioned in the back | latter stage of the secondary filter 3 is not pressed down, the purified water produced | generated by the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3 is supplied to the RO membrane filter 4 side. It is in the pure water production | generation mode state switched to.
[0025]
In such a state, the raw water from the raw water switching valve 11 is purified through the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3 and supplied to the RO membrane filter 4 as purified water. The RO membrane filter 4 generates pure water and residual raw water (which is obtained by removing pure water from purified water) by reverse osmosis, and generates the supplied purified water from the pure water supply port 41 to the pure water storage tank 7. While supplying pure water, residual raw water is supplied from the residual raw water discharge port 42 to the raw water switching valve 11 through the reflux channel 6. Since this residual raw water has been filtered by the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3, it has a value that is slightly higher in water quality than the raw water. The residual raw water having this water quality level is supplied to the raw water switching valve 11 via the reflux channel 6 and supplied from the supply port 10 b of the raw water switching valve 11.
[0026]
When the pure water stored in the pure water storage tank 7 reaches the full water level, the full water sensor 71 outputs a full water detection signal to the control unit, and the control unit switches the electromagnetic switching valves 11a and 11c to the raw water supply mode. When the electromagnetic switching valve 11a is opened and the electromagnetic switching valve 11c is closed, the supply of the remaining raw water supplied through the reflux flow path 6 is stopped, and instead of this stop, the faucet 100 is directly connected. Raw water is supplied through the supply port 10 b of the raw water switching valve 11.
[0027]
Next, when the operator depresses the water purification button, the control unit switches the electromagnetic switching valve 31 to the water purification production mode, and the water produced by the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3 is switched to the raw water via the water purification recirculation flow path 60. The water is returned to the valve 11, and purified water is supplied from the supply port 10 b of the raw water switching valve 11. Furthermore, after the generation of pure water is completed, that is, when the pure water in the pure water storage tank 7 reaches the full water level, purified water is supplied from the purified water recirculation flow path 60 through the supply port 10b according to the operator's selection. It will be possible.
[0028]
Further, an automatic valve 6a is interposed in the reflux flow path 6, and a flushing release valve 6b is arranged in parallel with the automatic valve 6a. By opening the flushing release valve 6b, the purified water supply pressure on the primary side of the RO membrane filter 4 can be instantaneously reduced so that foreign matters such as dust attached to the RO membrane can be washed and removed.
[0029]
In this embodiment, the raw water switching valve 10 is configured to be switched to either the raw water mode or the purified water mode by automatically switching the electromagnetic switching valves 11a and 11c. However, the raw water mode or the purified water can be arbitrarily selected by the operator. A switching cock for switching to the mode is provided in the raw water switching valve 11, and the raw water from the faucet 100 is switched to either the supply port 10b or the primary filter 2 (purified water mode), and the reflux flow while operating in this purified water mode. It can also be set as the structure switched selectively so that either the residual raw | natural water from the path 6 or the purified water from the purified water recirculation flow path 60 may be supplied from the supply port 10b.
[0030]
(Third embodiment of the present invention)
FIG. 3 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a water purifier according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
In the same figure, the water purifier according to the present embodiment is the raw water switching valve 12 (corresponding to 11 in FIG. 2), the primary filter 2, the secondary filter 3, and the RO as in the embodiment apparatus shown in FIG. The membrane filter 4, the pure water storage tank 7, the water supply pump 9 and the electromagnetic switching valve 31 are provided in common, and a purified water storage tank 8 for storing purified water from the electromagnetic switching valve 31 is additionally provided. The purified water storage tank 8 has a full water sensor 81 that detects a case where the level of purified water supplied from the secondary filter 3 reaches a full water level and outputs a full water detection signal, and the water level of the purified water becomes a water supply level. The water supply sensor 82 which detects the case and outputs a water supply detection signal is provided, and the stored purified water is sucked and supplied by the water supply pump 9 via the supply switching valve 91.
[0031]
An electromagnetic switching valve 12a (corresponding to 11a in FIG. 2) incorporated in the raw water switching valve 12 and an electromagnetic switching valve 12c (FIG. 2) disposed between the raw water switching valve 12 and the primary filter 2. Is equivalent to 11c.) Is a detection signal of the full water sensor 71 in the pure water storage tank 7, a detection signal of the full water sensor 81 in the purified water storage tank 8, or a signal output by pressing a raw water button (not shown). The switching operation is activated. The raw water button is in a raw water mode in which raw water is supplied from the supply port 10b of the raw water switching valve 12 when the operator performs a pressing operation, and when the pressing operation is not performed by the operator, the raw water is primarily supplied from the raw water switching valve 12. It is the structure which outputs each signal controlled to become the water purification mode supplied to the filter 2 side to a control part.
[0032]
Next, the operation of this embodiment based on the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows an operation flowchart in the embodiment apparatus shown in FIG.
First, roughly, if the operator operates the cock of the faucet 100 and does not press the raw water button (not shown), purified water is generated. That is, when the faucet 100 is operated, the level of the purified water in the purified water storage tank 8 is always detected by the full water sensor 81, and if the detection result does not reach the full water level, the purified water is automatically generated. Further, if the cock of the faucet 100 is operated and the raw water button is pressed, the pure water level in the pure water storage tank 7 is detected by the full water sensor 71, and if the full water level is not reached, the remaining raw water is supplied from the supply port 10b. Pure water is stored in the pure water storage tank 7. When the pure water storage tank 7 reaches the full water level, the raw water from the faucet 10b is directly supplied from the supply port 10b.
[0033]
Further, the supply operation will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. An operator operates the cock of the faucet 100 to supply raw water from the faucet 100 to the rear side (step 1). At this time, the control unit determines whether or not the raw water supply signal is output by pressing the raw water button by the operator (step 2). When it is determined that this raw water supply signal is not output, that is, when the raw water button is not pressed, whether or not a full water detection signal is output from the full water sensor 81 in the purified water storage tank 8, That is, the control unit determines whether or not the purified water storage tank 8 is at a full water level (step 3). If the controller determines that the full water level has not been reached, the electromagnetic switching valve 31 is switched to the purified water generation mode (step 31). Since the electromagnetic switching valve 12a is in the closed state and the electromagnetic switching valve 12c is in the open state by this purified water generation mode, the raw water from the faucet 100 is supplied to the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3, and the primary filter 2 And the purified water produced | generated by the secondary filter 3 is supplied to the purified water storage tank 8, and is stored.
[0034]
If the control unit determines that the full water level has been reached in step 3, the process returns to step 2 and the operations are repeated.
If the control unit determines that the raw water button is pressed in step 2, whether or not a full water detection signal is output from the full water sensor 71 in the pure water storage tank 7, that is, the pure water storage tank. The control unit determines whether 7 is at a full water level (step 4). If the controller determines that the full water level has not been reached, the electromagnetic switching valve 31 is switched to the pure water generation mode (step 41). After switching to the pure water generation mode, the purified water generated by the primary filter 2 and the secondary filter 3 is supplied to the RO membrane filter 4 at a predetermined pressure. The purified water is separated into pure water and residual raw water. The generated pure water is supplied to and stored in the pure water storage tank 7, and the remaining raw water is supplied to the raw water switching valve 12 through the reflux channel 6 and supplied to the outside from the supply port 10 b of the raw water switching valve 12. Will be.
[0035]
When the control unit determines that the pure water storage tank 7 has reached the full water level in Step 4, the electromagnetic switching valve 12a of the raw water switching valve 12 is switched to the open state and the electromagnetic switching valve 12c is switched to the closed state. The raw water mode is set (step 5). By switching to this raw water mode, the supply of raw water from the raw water switching valve 12 to the primary filter 2 is cut off, and the raw water can be supplied to the outside from the supply port 10b of the raw water switching valve 12.
[0036]
If the supply switching valve 91 is switched to the pure water side in order to receive the supply of pure water, the pure water stored in the pure water storage tank 7 is supplied by the suction of the pump 9. In addition, when it is desired to receive the supply of purified water, when the supply switching valve 91 is switched to the purified water side, the purified water stored in the purified water storage tank 8 is supplied by the suction force of the pump 9.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the present invention, the raw water is directly switched between the raw water supply port side and the purified water side by the raw water switching valve, and the raw water supplied by switching to the purified water side is divided into pure water and residual raw water by the reverse osmosis membrane. This residual raw water is supplied to the raw water supply port of the raw water switching valve via the reflux flow path, so that the residual raw water generated by filtration of the reverse osmosis membrane can be effectively used without being discarded. . In the present invention, since the so disposing the pre-stage filtration means for generating a purified water by filtering the raw water upstream of the reverse osmosis membrane, water remaining raw water is very close to the purified water produced by the reverse osmosis membrane Thus, the residual raw water from the reflux channel can be used as purified water, and the deterioration of the reverse osmosis membrane can be suppressed as much as possible.
In the present invention, a water purification switching valve is disposed between the pre-filtration means and the filtration means, and the purified water generated by the pre-filtration means is supplied directly to the outside or supplied to the reverse osmosis membrane side. Therefore, even when pure water is not generated by the reverse osmosis membrane , it is possible to generate purified water from the pre-stage filtration means .
Further, in the present invention, since the purified water generated by the pre-filtration means is stored in the purified water reservoir, the purified water generated by the pre-filtration means is stored in advance even when the reverse osmosis membrane does not generate pure water. It has the effect that it can be done .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a water purifier according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a water purifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a water purifier according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
4 is an operation flowchart in the water purifier shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a conventional water purifier.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 10, 11, 12 Raw water switching valve 2 Primary filter 3 Secondary filter 4 RO membrane filter 6 Return flow path 7 Pure water storage tank 8 Purified water storage tank 9 Water supply pumps 11a, 11c, 31 Electromagnetic switching valve 41 Pure water supply port 42 Residual raw water discharge ports 71, 81 Full water sensors 72, 82 Water supply sensors 73, 83 Drought sensor 91 Water supply switching valve 100 Faucet

Claims (1)

  A raw water switching valve that takes in the raw water from the intake port and switches whether the taken raw water is directly supplied from the raw water supply port to the outside or supplied to the downstream side, and is supplied from the raw water switching valve to the subsequent stage side. The raw water is filtered to supply pure water, and the reverse osmosis membrane that discharges the remaining residual raw water that has been filtered through the pure water, and the residual raw water that is discharged from the reverse osmosis membrane is supplied to the raw water supply port of the raw water switching valve A recirculation channel that is supplied from the outside to the outside, and is disposed between the raw water switching valve and the reverse osmosis membrane, filters the raw water supplied from the switching valve to generate purified water, and supplies the purified water to the reverse osmosis membrane In the water purification apparatus comprising the preceding filtration means, the purified water is switched between supplying the purified water supplied from the preceding filtration means to the purified water storage tank or to the filtration means between the preceding filtration means and the reverse osmosis membrane. It is provided with a switching valve Water purification equipment.

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