JPH0674929B2 - Water heater - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a hot water supply device, and more particularly to a hot water supply device configured to heat water by storing heat in a heat storage device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, an electric water heater or a combustion water heater that burns gas, oil or the like has been widely used.

This water heater is configured so that the water introduced from the water supply pipe to the heat exchanger is heated by an electric heater or a gas burner or a petroleum burner and supplied to demand points such as faucets.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The electric water heater cannot instantaneously heat the feed water with the capacity of an ordinary electric heater. Therefore, a large hot water storage tank usually has to be installed, and the installation space is unnecessarily large. In addition, this hot water storage tank also requires a safety device such as a pressure reducing valve, and is easily expensive.

It is theoretically possible to construct an electric instant water heater by increasing the capacity of the electric heater, but for that purpose, the capacity of the electric heater must be enormous, which is not realistic. .

Water heaters that use gas burners, oil burners, etc. as heat sources can heat water instantaneously, but the problem is that the on / off operation noise of the burner and the noise of the fan are particularly noisy at midnight. There is.

It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems, and to provide a hot water supply device provided with a display for calculating and displaying the amount or time of hot water that can be discharged from the hot water supply state and the residual heat amount of the heat storage material.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a hot water supply apparatus that includes a heat storage material having a heat storage material and an electric heater for heating the heat storage material as a heating means, and a heat exchanger that heats water supply by heat storage of the heat storage material. Provided, water temperature detecting means for water supply, hot water temperature detecting means, flow rate detecting means, temperature detecting means for heat storage material, calculator for calculating time or quantity of hot water that can be discharged based on detection values of these detecting means, and display of calculation results It is characterized by the provision of a container.

[Operation] In the hot water supply device of the present invention, water can be instantaneously heated by appropriately selecting the capacities of the heat storage device and the heat exchanger, and the heat storage tank is not required. Further, since the volume of the heat accumulator is much smaller than that of the hot water storage tank, the hot water supply apparatus of the present invention requires a much smaller installation space than the conventional electric hot water supply apparatus.

The hot water supply device of the present invention heats water by the heat storage device and the heat exchanger, and the sound accompanying the operation is extremely small, and the operation sound is not noisy even at midnight. . Since the electric heater can be operated at night to store heat, it is possible to reduce the power cost by using the late-night power.

In the hot water supply device of the present invention, the subsequent hot water available time or hot water amount is calculated based on the remaining usable heat amount of the heat accumulator, the hot water temperature, and the flow rate, and the calculation result is displayed on the display.

Embodiments Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a hot water supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The leg pipe 12 of the faucet 10 is connected to the tap hole 14 of the heat exchanger 16 through the tap pipe 14.
Connected to 18. The water inlet 20 of the heat exchanger 16 is the water pipe 2
2. It is connected to a water main (not shown) via a water stopper 24. A pipe 26 is arranged in the heat exchanger 16, and a heat transfer tube 28 is inserted in the pipe 26. One end and the other end of the heat transfer tube 28 are respectively provided with a heat transfer tube 30,
It is connected to one end and the other end of the heat transfer tube 36 of the heat accumulator 34 via 32. A heat storage material 38 is filled in the heat exchanger 34, and an electric heater for heating the heat storage material 38.
40 and a temperature sensor 42 for detecting the temperature of the heat storage material 38
Are attached to the heat accumulator 34. A heat quantity control valve 44 is installed in the heat transfer pipe 32. The heat transfer tube 36 is filled with a heat medium, and the heated heat medium is the heat transfer tube 30,
It is circulated in the closed circuit of the heat transfer tube 28 and the heat transfer tube 32.

Reference numeral 46 is a control panel, which is provided with a temperature setting device 48, a flow rate setting switch 50, a display panel 52 of the amount or time of hot water that can be discharged, and a display changeover switch 54. The control board 46 is connected to a controller 58 via a signal line 56.

The display panel 52 has the hot water outflow state and the heat storage material at that time.
The heat storage state of 38 is for displaying how much time or how much hot water can be discharged, and by operating the switch 54, the time display and the amount display can be switched. . The setting signals of the temperature setting device 48, the flow rate setting switch 50 and the display changeover switch 54 are signal lines.
It is input to the controller 58 via 56. A signal indicating the calculation result of the controller 58 is output to the display panel 52 via the signal line 56.

The controller 58 includes a hot water temperature sensor provided on the hot water outlet pipe 14.
60, a water temperature sensor 62 and a flow rate sensor provided in the water supply pipe 22
64 detection signals are also input. In the controller 58,
Output a control signal to the heat quantity control valve 44 based on the signal from the temperature setter 48 and the detection signals of these sensors 60, 62, 64,
The flow rate of the heat medium in the heat transfer tube 28 is controlled so as to reach the set temperature. The water supply pipe 22 is provided with a flow rate adjusting valve 66, and based on a signal from the flow rate setting switch 50 and a signal from the flow rate sensor 64, the flow rate adjusting valve 66 is fed from the controller 58.
A control signal is output to the valve and the valve opening is adjusted so that the flow rate is as set.

In this hot water supply device, by operating the temperature setting device 48 and the flow rate setting switch 50, water or hot water having a desired temperature is discharged at a desired flow rate. And since the heating means of the water heater is composed of a heat storage device, the operating noise is extremely low,
The set area may be smaller than that of the hot water storage tank.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system centered on the controller 58.

This controller 58 is a microcomputer 68, A / D converter 7
0, D / A converter 72 is provided, and the detection signals of the temperature sensor 42, the hot water temperature sensor 60, the water temperature sensor 62 and the flow rate sensor 64 are
It is converted into a digital signal via the A / D converter 70 and input to the microcomputer 68. The microcomputer 68 includes a flow rate setting switch 50 and a display changeover switch 54.
Is also input. The control signals of the heat quantity control valve 44 and the flow rate adjusting valve 66 of the microcomputer 68 are converted into analog signals by the D / A converter and output to the valves 44 and 66.
The display signal of the display panel 52 is converted into a decimal signal by the decoder 74 and output to the panel 52.

By switching the display changeover switch 54, the display of the unit (time, amount) in characters on the display panel can be changed over.

The control program of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the water temperature of the supply water, the flow rate, and the temperature of the heat storage material are read from each sensor (steps 1, 2, and 3), and the set hot water temperature and the display setting (whether quantity display or time display) of the display are read (step 4, Five). Then, the calculation and the result thereof are displayed according to the display setting (steps 6 to 10), the timer is then activated (step 11), and the process returns to step 1 after a lapse of a predetermined time.

The microcomputer 58 is a well-known one mainly composed of a ROM, a RAM, a CPU, an input / output device, a data bus, etc., and a program for calculation and control is written in the ROM.

In the microcomputer 58 as a calculator, the amount of hot water that can be discharged or the time is calculated according to the following calculation formula.
First, the usable heat quantity H is set to the heat storage material temperature T _E at that time,
Using the lower limit temperature T _L of the heat storage material, volume specific heat a and the heat storage material of the heat storage material (e.g., volume) based on X calculated by the following equation _{H = (H E -T L)} · a · X.

Next, the available hot water amount V is the above-mentioned usable heat amount H and hot water temperature.
Based on the T _H and the water temperature T _W is calculated by the following equation _{V = H / (T H -T} W). When the display setting is the quantity display, the calculation result of V is displayed. The unit is displayed, for example, in (liter).

When the display setting is time, the available hot water amount V is divided by the flow rate f at that time to calculate the usable time M (that is, M = V / f), and the result is displayed. The unit is displayed in minutes or hours and minutes, for example.

In the above embodiment, the amount of hot water that can be discharged or the time is calculated based on the signal of the flow rate sensor 64, but in the present invention, the amount of hot water or the time is calculated based on the set value (set flow rate) of the flow rate setting switch 50. Is also good. In this case, the flow rate setting switch itself functions as the flow rate detecting means.

[Effect] As described above, the water heater of the present invention is configured such that the electric heater heats the heat storage material, and the heat exchanger heats the water to heat the water. It hardly occurs. Therefore, the surrounding environment can be kept quiet even when used at midnight.

The hot water supply device of the present invention can instantaneously heat water and can function as a so-called instantaneous water heater. Further, it is possible to reduce the power cost by using the midnight power.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The hot water supply device of the present invention has a small installation space and can be used in various fields from general household use to industrial use.

In the hot water supply device of the present invention, the amount or time of remaining hot water can be displayed, so that the water temperature can be prevented from dropping unexpectedly, which is extremely convenient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a control block diagram, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart. 10 …… faucet, 14 …… heat exchanger, 24 …… heat accumulator, 30, 32 …… heat transfer pipe, 44 …… heat quantity control valve, 28, 36 …… heat transfer tube, 52 …… display panel.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hot water supply apparatus comprising heating means for supplying water, wherein the heating means has a heat storage material and an electric heater for heating the heat storage material, and a heat exchanger for heating the feed water by the heat stored in the heat storage material. And a water temperature detecting means for the supply water, a hot water temperature detecting means, a flow rate detecting means, a temperature detecting means for the heat storage material, a computing unit and a computing result for computing the time or amount of hot water that can be discharged based on the detection values of these detecting means. A water heater provided with the indicator of.