JP7308398B2 - bathroom cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a bathroom cleaning device.

As a specific example of the bathroom cleaning device, there is one described in Patent Document 1.
In the bathroom cleaning device described in the same document, a cleaning nozzle is attached to the bottom of the bathtub, and a detergent is supplied through a venturi section (detergent mixing section) in the middle of the hot water flow path connected to the cleaning nozzle. The supply line is branched and connected. When hot water flows through the hot water channel, the detergent is smoothly supplied to the venturi portion due to the action of generating negative pressure in the venturi portion, and washing water in which the detergent is mixed with the hot water is generated. The washing water is jetted from the washing nozzle toward the bathtub to wash the bathtub.

The detergent supply path is provided with an opening/closing valve (detergent valve) for switching ON/OFF of detergent supply to the hot water path. However, if the on-off valve malfunctions or is caught by foreign matter, there is a risk that the detergent will leak into the hot water flow path. Therefore, in Patent Document 1, two on-off valves are provided in series in the detergent supply path. According to such a configuration, compared with the case where only one on-off valve is provided, it is possible to make detergent leakage less likely to occur.

However, the prior art still has room for improvement as described below.

That is, as a bathroom cleaning process, there is a rinsing process, and in this rinsing process, only hot water is jetted toward the bathtub without mixing detergent with hot water. Here, in the conventional technology, when the rinsing process is performed, both of the two on-off valves are always closed.
On the other hand, even when the rinsing process is performed, since hot water flows through the hot water channel and the venturi portion, a negative pressure is generated in the venturi portion. This negative pressure acts on one of the two on-off valves on the downstream side in the detergent flow direction. As a result, the load acting on the valve body of one of the on-off valves is greater than that of the other on-off valve, causing problems such as deterioration of the rubber forming the valve body, for example. In this case, one of the two on-off valves has a shorter service life than the other, and there is room for improvement in ensuring detergent leakage prevention performance over a long period of time.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-175001

The present invention has been devised under the circumstances as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bathroom cleaning device capable of preventing or suppressing leakage and securing detergent leakage prevention performance for a long period of time.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical means.

The bathroom washing device provided by the present invention includes a venturi section provided in the middle of a hot water flow path connected to a washing nozzle and for mixing detergent with hot water and water to generate washing water, and a venturi section connected to the venturi section. first and second on-off valves provided in series with the detergent supply path and for switching on/off the supply of detergent to the venturi section, wherein the first and second on/off valves The bathroom cleaning device, wherein at least one of the on-off valves is closed to enable a rinsing process in which the hot water is supplied to the cleaning nozzle without being mixed with the detergent and is sprayed. of the first and second on-off valves, at least the second on-off valve on the downstream side in the flow direction of the detergent is not fixed in either the open state or the closed state during the rinsing process; The open state and the closed state during the rinsing process are switched at intervals, and the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve during the rinsing process are determined according to the rinsing process. It is characterized in that it is configured to switch each time it is executed .

According to such a configuration, the following effects are obtained.
That is, when the rinsing process is performed, a period in which the second on-off valve on the downstream side in the detergent flow direction is closed and a period in which the second on-off valve is open (in this case, the first on-off valve (closed state) and the period in which the second on-off valve is closed are switched at intervals of time, so that it is avoided that only the second on-off valve is closed under the negative pressure action of the venturi portion. According to the present invention, during the rinsing process, there is also a period in which the first on-off valve, instead of the second on-off valve, is closed under negative pressure. For this reason, one of the first and second on-off valves is more affected by the negative pressure action of the venturi than the other on-off valve. can be eliminated or reduced. As a result, unlike the prior art, the service life of one of the first and second on-off valves is appropriately prevented or suppressed from becoming shorter than that of the other, thereby extending the service life of both the on-off valves, Detergent leakage prevention performance can be ensured for a long period of time.

Furthermore, according to such a configuration, switching between the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve is appropriately executed by relatively simple control, and the service life of the first and second on-off valves is extended. This is more preferable in terms of accurately achieving uniformity.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows an example of the bathroom cleaning apparatus which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a main part of the bathroom washing device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an example of operation processing executed in the bathroom washing device shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing another example of operation processing executed in the bathroom cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

A bathroom cleaning device A shown in FIG. 1 is configured as a bathtub cleaning device for cleaning a bathtub 1 . Specifically, this bathroom cleaning device A includes a cleaning nozzle 2 attached to the bottom of a bathtub 1, a hot water channel 3 connected to this cleaning nozzle 2, and a A hot water pouring open/close valve V0 for switching on and off the supply of hot water, a venturi section 4 provided in the middle of the hot water flow path 3, and a detergent supply for supplying liquid detergent from the detergent tank 5 to the venturi section 4. channel 6, first and second on-off valves Va, Vb provided in this detergent supply channel 6 and serving as detergent valves for switching ON/OFF the supply of detergent to the venturi section 4, and this bathroom cleaning apparatus. A controller 7 is provided for controlling the operation of each part of A.

Hot water can be supplied to the hot water flow path 3 from a hot water supply device (not shown) or a hot water supply source such as a water pipe. The pouring opening/closing valve V0 is, for example, an electromagnetic opening/closing valve. A flow rate sensor S and a flow rate adjustment valve V1 are appropriately provided in the hot water flow path 3, and the valve opening degree of the flow rate adjustment valve V1 is appropriately controlled based on the value detected by the flow rate sensor S. As shown well in FIG. 2, the venturi portion 4 includes a narrowed portion 41 that partially narrows a flow path 40 that is connected to the hot water flow path 3 at both ends, and a series that intersects and connects the narrowed portion 41 . A passage 42 is provided, and a negative pressure is generated in the communication passage 42 by hot water flowing through the throttle portion 41 at high speed. The communication path 42 constitutes part of the detergent supply path 6 . Therefore, the action of the negative pressure causes the detergent to smoothly flow from the detergent supply passage 6 into the venturi portion 4, and the washing water is produced by mixing the detergent with hot water.

The first and second on-off valves Va and Vb are electromagnetic on-off valves similar to the pouring on-off valve V0, and are directly or indirectly connected in series. The first on-off valve Va is on the upstream side in the detergent flow direction, and the second on-off valve Vb is on the downstream side in the detergent flow direction. As shown in FIG. 2, the first and second on-off valves Va and Vb have a valve opening 80 and a valve body 82 facing a valve seat 81 formed around the valve chamber 83. In addition, the solenoid 84 is driven to allow the valve body 82 to reciprocate. The valve body 82 has a rubber seal portion 82a that comes into face-to-face contact with the valve seat 81 when the valve is closed.

The control unit 7 is configured using a microcomputer or the like, and includes a switch operation unit (not shown) and the like. When a predetermined switch operation is performed, the control unit 7 performs control to execute a bathtub cleaning process (corresponding to one example of the bathroom cleaning process referred to in the present invention) in a fixed procedure, the details of which will be described later. .

Next, while referring to the flow chart of FIG. 3, an example of operation processing in the bathroom cleaning apparatus A described above will be described, and the operation thereof will also be described.

When bath tub cleaning is started by a predetermined switch operation or the like, a preliminary rinsing process is first performed, and then a predetermined number of cleaning processes are repeatedly performed at appropriate intervals (S1: YES, S2 , S3). After that, the main rinsing process is performed (S4). Both the preliminary rinsing treatment and the main rinsing treatment correspond to the "rinsing treatment" referred to in the present invention.

Here, in each of the pre-rinsing and main rinsing processes described above, an operation of injecting hot water with no detergent mixed into the bathtub 1 from the washing nozzle 2 is executed. In the washing process described above, an operation of injecting washing water, which is hot water mixed with a detergent, from the washing nozzle 2 into the bathtub 1 is executed. Table 1 below shows an example of the open/closed states of the pouring open/close valve V0 and the first and second open/close valves Va and Vb before and after the start of bathtub cleaning.

In Table 1, the second on-off valve Vb is closed (the first on-off valve Va is , for example, in the open state, but may also be in the closed state). On the other hand, when the main rinsing process is executed, the second on-off valve Vb is opened and the first on-off valve Va is closed. Therefore, during the preliminary rinsing process, the valve body 82 of the second on-off valve Vb is pressed against the valve seat 81 while receiving the negative pressure from the venturi portion 4, and receives a large load. At times, the second on-off valve Vb is in an open state and is therefore not subjected to the aforementioned load. During the main rinsing process, the valve body 82 of the first on-off valve Va is pressed against the valve seat 81 under negative pressure.

According to the operation described above, in both the preliminary rinsing process and the main rinsing process, unlike the case where the second on-off valve Vb is always closed, the first and second on-off valves Va, It is appropriately avoided that the negative pressure acts only on the valve element 82 of the second on-off valve Vb. Therefore, the rubber seal portion 82a of the valve body 82 of the second on-off valve Vb is prevented from prematurely deteriorating due to the action of the negative pressure, and detergent leakage prevention performance can be ensured for a long period of time.

The bathroom cleaning apparatus A of this embodiment can be configured to further execute the operation process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, for example.

In the operation process shown in FIG. 4, when the bathtub cleaning is started and the preliminary rinsing process and the main rinsing process are performed, the second on-off valve Vb is in the open state or the closed state during the previous bathtub cleaning. is set to the opposite state (S1a: YES, S10).
To give a specific example, the hot water pouring opening/closing valve V0 and the first and second opening/closing valves Va and Vb were configured as shown in Table 1 at the time of the previous bath cleaning, whereas this time the bath was cleaned. Occasionally, the configuration shown in Table 2 below is used.

In Table 2, the second on-off valve Vb is open during preliminary rinsing and closed during main rinsing. The open/closed state of the second on-off valve Vb is the opposite of the above.
In the operation process shown in Table 1, for example, when the main rinsing process requires a considerably longer time than the preliminary rinsing process, the first on-off valve Va is more effective than the second on-off valve Vb. Since the closed state time becomes considerably long, the first on-off valve Va may deteriorate more easily than the second on-off valve Vb (however, compared with the conventional technology, it is considerably improved). On the other hand, as shown in Table 2, during the preliminary rinsing process and the main rinsing process, if the opening/closing state of the second on-off valve Vb is opposite to that shown in Table 1, the preliminary rinsing process and the main rinsing process can be performed. Regardless of the length of time required for each of the rinsing processes, the closed state times of the first and second on-off valves Va and Vb are the same during the two times of bath tub cleaning, which is the total of the previous and current times. Therefore, it is more preferable to prevent the problem that one of the first and second on-off valves Va and Vb is more easily deteriorated than the other.

The invention is not limited to the content of the embodiments described above. The specific configuration of each part of the bathroom washing device according to the present invention can be varied in design within the intended scope of the present invention.

According to the operation processing procedure shown in FIG. 3, as a result, the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve Vb alternate each time the rinsing process (preliminary rinsing or main rinsing) is performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The open state and closed state of the second on-off valve Vb may be alternately switched each time the rinsing process is performed twice or more times. Of course, instead of being based on the number of times of rinsing, the switching may be performed each time the execution time (cumulative time) of rinsing reaches a predetermined time.
According to the operation processing procedure shown in FIG. 4, the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve Vb are alternately switched each time one bath cleaning operation is completed. However, it is also possible to configure such that the switching is performed each time bathroom cleaning is completed a plurality of times.
However, in the present invention, the open state and the closed state during the rinsing process are separated by time so that the second on-off valve is not fixed in either the open state or the closed state during the rinsing process. It is only necessary to alternately switch between them, and the specific timing or conditions for the switching can be set in various ways.

The first and second on-off valves referred to in the present invention are not necessarily limited to electromagnetic valves, and other types of valves may be used. The same applies to the pouring open/close valve.
In the present invention, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a plurality of on-off valves, for example three or more, are provided in the detergent supply path. In such a case, if there are two on-off valves among the plurality of on-off valves that switch between opening and closing in the same manner as the first and second on-off valves intended by the present invention, these two on-off valves are: It corresponds to the first and second on-off valves in the present invention, and is included in the technical scope of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, the preliminary rinsing process performed before the cleaning process using cleaning water (detergent-mixed water) and the main rinsing process performed after the cleaning process are the rinsing process referred to in the present invention. Although it is a specific example, it does not matter when the rinsing process in the present invention is performed. In short, the process in which hot and cold water not mixed with detergent is supplied to the washing nozzles and sprayed corresponds to the rinsing process of the present invention.

The object to be cleaned by the bathroom cleaning apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the bathtub, but can be, for example, the floor surface, side wall surface, ceiling, bathtub lid, etc. of the bathroom.
The number of times the rinsing process and the cleaning process are performed in one bathroom cleaning process and the execution timing thereof are not limited. The specific type and ingredients of the detergent are also not limited.

A Bathroom cleaning device V0 Hot water pouring opening/closing valves Va, Vb First and second opening/closing valves 2 Cleaning nozzle 3 Hot water flow path 4 Venturi section 6 Detergent supply path

Claims (2)

a venturi portion provided in the middle of the hot water flow path connected to the washing nozzle and for mixing hot water with detergent to generate washing water;
first and second on-off valves provided in series with the detergent supply path connected to the venturi section and for switching ON/OFF of supply of the detergent to the venturi section;
and
By closing at least one of the first and second on-off valves, a rinsing process can be performed in which the hot water is supplied to the washing nozzle without being mixed with the detergent and sprayed. , a bathroom cleaning device,
Of the first and second on-off valves, at least the second on-off valve on the downstream side in the flow direction of the detergent is fixed in either an open state or a closed state during the rinsing process. The open state and the closed state during the rinsing process are configured to be switched at intervals of time,
The bathroom cleaning apparatus, wherein the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve during the rinsing process are switched each time the rinsing process is performed a predetermined number of times. A bathroom washing device according to claim 1,
The cleaning process of injecting the cleaning water from the cleaning nozzles and the rinsing process are executed in a predetermined procedure to complete one bathroom cleaning process,
The bathroom cleaning apparatus , wherein the open state and the closed state of the second on-off valve during the rinsing process are switched each time the bathroom cleaning process is performed a predetermined number of times.

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