JPH0693876B2 - Foam washer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a foam washer for foaming a detergent liquid to foam-clean objects such as dishes.

(Prior Art) Cleaning by a foam cleaning method, which consumes less detergent and water and is suitable for resource saving, has recently been in the spotlight as compared with a liquid cleaning method in which an object to be cleaned is immersed in a detergent solution. A washing machine of this type is, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 60-99222, a washing tank for containing an item to be washed, a foaming device for foaming a washing liquid, and an item to be washed, for example, a deep bottom concave container. , Which is supported downward, and the inside of the concave container and the outside of the washing tank are connected by a communication pipe, a defoaming device for defoaming the generated foam outside the cleaning tank, and the inside of the cleaning tank is washed. A structure provided with a watering nozzle, heating by a heater,
The defoaming device was made to defoam by vibrating with an ultrasonic generator.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the washing machine having the above structure, since the defoaming device is attached to the outside of the washing tank as a separate structure, the problem that the product shape becomes large and the defoaming device has a complicated structure There was a problem that the cost became high.

In view of such a problem, the present invention has a structure in which a sprinkling mechanism provided in a cleaning tank for rinsing after foam cleaning can be used also for defoaming during a cleaning process. It is intended to realize a compact structure and a low product cost.

(Means for Solving Problems) Therefore, as is apparent from the drawings showing the embodiments of the present invention,
By supplying air to the detergent liquid in the detergent liquid tank (3) to generate cleaning bubbles, and by feeding the cleaning bubbles into the cleaning tank (2), the object to be cleaned (22) in the cleaning tank (2) is removed. A foam cleaning step for cleaning foam, a nozzle (6) provided in the cleaning tank (2),
In a foam washer having a rinsing step of spraying rinsing water into the same tank (2) through (7) and rinsing the object to be cleaned (22), a cleaning tank (2) and a detergent liquid tank (3) The cleaning tank (2) as a substantially separate part through the partition part.
Is provided with a drainage means including a drainage channel for discharging the wash water to the outside of the tank, and further, in the cleaning tank (2) in place of the foam cleaning step by the foam cleaning step and the operation of the full foam detecting means (17). After repeating a cleaning step consisting of a defoaming step performed by operating the draining means while spraying rinsing water for a predetermined time, a set number of operation control means for performing the rinsing step are provided. Characterize.

(Operation) In the present invention, by repeating foaming → full foam → defoaming a set number of times, defoaming is not performed in the cleaning tank and the foam is not discharged to the outside of the cleaning tank (2). The replacement allows effective cleaning, thus eliminating the need for a separate defoaming mechanism. In particular, the cleaning tank (2) is provided with a drainage means for discharging the cleaning water to the outside of the tank, so that the rinse water in the cleaning tank (2) is drained without flowing into the detergent liquid tank (3), and the detergent is not contaminated. , It can be reused.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, (1) is the casing of the washing machine,
A cleaning tank (2), a detergent liquid tank (3), a foaming device (4), a rack (5), an upper nozzle (6), and a lower nozzle (7) are arranged therein and the cleaning tank (2 ), And an exhaust path (8) and a drain path (9) are provided respectively.

The cleaning tank (2) has a funnel-shaped bottom, and a small-diameter portion at the bottom is integrally formed with a detergent liquid tank (3) for storing a fixed amount of detergent liquid.

The cleaning tank (2) is formed as a closed container with a two-part structure consisting of a tank body (2 _A ) and an upper lid (2 _B ) and is located at an intermediate position in the tank and at the opening of the tank body (2 _A ). The rack (5) is horizontally installed so that it can be attached and detached in a horizontal state so as to be partitioned, and the upper nozzle (6) of the shower nozzle structure is further provided at the central portion of the upper lid (2 _B ). It is installed so that the rinse water can be diffused downward, and the lower nozzle (7) can be jetted upward at a location below the rack (5) and above the detergent liquid tank (3). Is attached to.

The pipe formed by connecting the upper nozzles (6) is the first
A water supply pipe having a water supply valve (10) and an exhaust passage (8) having an exhaust valve (19) are connected to form a water supply / exhaust pipe.

On the other hand, the lower nozzle (7) is connected to a water supply pipe in which a second water supply valve (11) is interposed, each fountain port is upward, and a foam ejection pipe (13) of a rack (5) described later. It is installed so that a fountain can be sprayed inside.

However, in the detergent liquid tank (3), the air supply pipe (16) and the liquid discharge pipe (20) of the foaming device (4) are connected to the bottom plate portion, respectively, so that hot air is sent from the air supply pipe (16). The drainage pipe (20) is provided with a drainage valve (21), and by opening the drainage valve (21), the detergent solution in the detergent solution tank (3) can be drained. ing.

Next, the foaming device (4) includes a fan (14) and a heater (15).
And the air pipe (16), and a fan (1
4) and the heater (15) are not shown in detail, but they are arranged above the detergent liquid tank (3) and the fan (1)
The air supply pipe (16) is provided between the air supply port of 4) and the connection port provided at the bottom of the detergent liquid tank (3), and the heater (15) is provided in the middle of the air supply pipe (16). Is provided so that the circulating air can be heated. For example, a heating wire is wound around the air supply pipe (16).

The rack (5) that can be placed in the washing tank (2) is a deep-bottomed concave container that collectively refers to deep-dish tableware such as cups and deep-bottom small bowls, and glassware for testing such as beakers and test tubes. The rack (5) is a dedicated rack for the item to be cleaned (2), and the concave container (22) is mounted face down. The structure of the rack (5) is one example shown in FIGS. 2 to 6. Is shown in detail, and is formed from a perforated plate (12) consisting of an uneven plate having raised ridges (23) and a foam jetting cylinder (13). The form is obtained.

The perforated plate (12) is a undulating plate body having convex ridges (23) extending straight and rising on the upper surface side in the form of lattice ridges, for example, in the form of vertical and horizontal bases, and the ridges (23) are orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. The cross section is in the shape of both hypotenuses of an isosceles triangle, and therefore the ridge line at the top is raised by several cm with respect to the flat plate portion corresponding to the concave portion of the perforated plate (12).

The foam jetting cylinders (13) are respectively provided upright on the convex portions where the longitudinally extending ones and the laterally extending ones of the convex strips (23) cross each other.

The foam jetting cylinder (13) has its lower end connected to the ridge of the ridge (23), and the lower end is opened (13) on the back surface side of the perforated plate (12).
_A ) and the opening (13 _B ) is opened with the upper end facing straight up, but this foam jetting cylinder (13) has the same depth as the concave container (22) mounted on the rack (5). On the other hand, it is formed into a cylinder having a length having a certain condition.

That is, when the concave container (22) is placed on the perforated plate (12) of the rack (5), the concave container (22) which is turned upside down as shown in FIG. The concave container (22) has a convex strip (23) whose opening edge extends in a cross shape in a concentric manner.
Therefore, the concave container (22) is stably supported in such a manner that the ridge line portion is transversely crossed at each of the four halves of the opening peripheral edge and is in partial contact such as line contact. The peripheral edge of the opening of the concave container (22) is in a state of being floated above the perforated plate (12) except for the portions that are supported at four points. Can be supported so as to smoothly flow between the inside and the outside of the concave container (22) without resistance.

Moreover, in such a state that the concave container (22) is mounted, the upper end of the foam jetting cylinder (13) is kept at an appropriate interval of about 1 to 2 cm with respect to the inner bottom surface of the concave container (22). ,
It is necessary to specify the height of the bubble jetting cylinder (13), and the horizontal cross-sectional area of the bubble jetting cylinder (13) is not so much smaller than the horizontal cross-sectional area of the concave container (22) and is several minutes. It is desirable to set it to about 1.

As described above, the lower nozzle (7) provided below the rack (5) having the above structure ejects rinsing water upward just below each of the bubble ejection cylinders (13). Are provided respectively so that the rinsing water can be spouted into the concave container (22) through each bubble spouting cylinder (13) at the time of rinsing and washing.

On the other hand, the drainage channel (9) is provided so that the liquid accumulated on the rack (5) can be discharged to the outside of the tank, and is connected to the connection port provided at the peripheral portion of the perforated plate (12) to have an appropriate length. Is extended and a drain valve (18) is provided in the middle thereof to form a drainage means.

The above-described washing machine is provided with a full-bubble detecting means (17) at an appropriate place in the washing tank (2). The full-bubble detecting means (17) uses, for example, a pressure sensor. Then, it detects that the inside of the cleaning tank (2) is slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure due to the filling of the cleaning bubbles, and operates so as to output an output.
In addition to this, the washing tank (2) is activated after the foaming device (4) is activated.
When it is possible to calculate in advance that the inside is full of bubbles as an elapsed time, a timer may be used instead of the pressure sensor.

Next, a mode of the cleaning operation by this cleaning machine will be described based on FIG. 1 and FIGS. 8 and 9 showing the operation control means.

The rack (5) is installed horizontally in the washing tank (2), and the concave container (22) is placed on the foam jetting cylinder (13) so as to cover it, and the detergent liquid (24) is appropriately placed. After supplying it into the cleaning tank (2) by means, the heater (not shown) is energized to heat the detergent liquid (24) at 55 to 65 ° C.

Next, the air blower (14) is started while energizing the heater (15) for heating air, and the air heated to 55 to 65 ° C is sent to the detergent liquid (24) stored in the detergent liquid tank (3). .

This is the operation of the foaming device (4) (step (a) in FIG. 8).
The exhaust valve (19) is opened in synchronism with this operation, and a foam washing step is performed in this way, whereby a large amount of foam is generated from the detergent liquid (24), and each foam jetting cylinder A large amount of washing foam continuously flows into each concave container (22) from (13), but the total horizontal cross-sectional area of the foam jetting cylinder (13) is larger than that of the washing tank (2). Since it is quite small, the flow velocity of the bubbles passing through the bubble jetting cylinder (13) is considerably high, and the bubbles can be generated by setting a proper distance between the upper end opening (13 _B ) and the inner bottom surface of the concave container (22). The inner wall surface of the concave container (22) can be cleaned reliably and in a short time because it can flow downward from the inner bottom surface along the inner peripheral wall without lowering the speed, and the higher the bubble speed, the higher the cleaning efficiency. It is possible.

When the bubbles reach the concave portion of the perforated plate (12) of the rack (5) in this way, they overflow from the opening of the concave container (22) and rise along the outer wall surface of the container (22). 22) Wash the outside with foam.

Then, since the bubbles involved in the bubble cleaning fill the cleaning tank (2), when the bubbles are slightly discharged from the exhaust passage (8) and reach the full bubbles, the full bubble detection means (17). Works. (Step (b)).

By this operation, the operations of the fan (14) and the heater (15) are stopped, and the first nozzle of the water supply valve (10) is opened and the upper nozzle (6) is actuated by the fountain and the drain valve (18) is opened. The opening of (9) is performed, and at the same time, the timer is operated (step (C)).

This step (c) corresponds to the defoaming step, and since water is jetted from the upper nozzle (6), the outer surface portion of the concave container (22) is rinsed and is above the rack (5). The bubbles in the cleaning tank (2) are defoamed by the spray of rinse water, and the rinse water containing bubbles is discharged into the drainage channel (9).
And then discharged to the outside of the tank.

When the timer for determining the time of this defoaming process counts up after the set time has elapsed (step (d)), the first water supply valve (10) is closed and the drain valve (18) is closed. Stop the defoaming process.

Thus, this washing process is repeated until one cycle of the washing process having the bubble washing process and the defoaming process in succession is reached (step (e)), and when the set number is reached, the first By closing the water supply valve (10) and the second water supply valve (11), the fountain operation of the nozzles (6), (7) on both sides and the drainage channel by opening the drainage valve (18) and the drainage valve (21) ( 9)
And the liquid is discharged from the drain pipe (20) to perform the rinsing process, and at the same time, the timer is activated to continue the rinsing operation until the set time is reached.

The rinsing water sprayed from the upper nozzle (6) rinses the outer surface of the concave container (22), while the rinsing water from the lower nozzle (7) almost completely escapes the bubble jetting cylinder (13) to form a concave shape. The inner surface of the container (22) is rinsed to perform a rinse operation at one time, and the rinsed water is drained from the drainage channel (9), and the rinse water spouted from the lower nozzle (7) falls down. The cleaning liquid and the detergent liquid in the detergent liquid tank (3) are discharged from the drain pipe (20), and the rinsing operation ends.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The one shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is not a deep-sea container but a washing machine suitable for washing general shallow-bottom dishes such as shallow dishes and soup bowls. The example shown has a structure in which a detergent liquid tank (3) communicates with the lower portion of the cleaning tank (2), and the detergent liquid tank (3) is provided in the middle portion of the drainage channel (9) which also serves as the drainage pipe (20). ) And the cleaning tank (2) are substantially separated from each other, and the detergent liquid tank (3) is connected thereto via a liquid trap pipe (25).

The lower end of the drainage channel (9) is provided with a drainage valve (18) which also serves as a drainage valve (21). With this structure, the cleaning foam sent from the detergent solution tank (3) is washed. Although it flows smoothly into (2), when the rinse water in the cleaning tank (2) is discharged to the outside of the machine through the drainage channel (9), this rinse water is used as the detergent liquid tank (3). The detergent can be reused without being contaminated because it never flows into the interior.

However, in the case of this washing machine, the defoaming step following the foam washing step is performed by opening the water supply valve (10) and spraying water from the upper nozzle (6) and the lower nozzle (7) for a short time. It is possible to operate the drainage means by performing the cleaning operation and simultaneously opening the drainage valve (18), and the aspect of the cleaning operation is the same as the example shown in FIG.

Next, in the example shown in FIG. 11, the cleaning tank (2) and the detergent liquid tank (3) are substantially the same as those in FIG. 1 so that the backflow of water from the cleaning tank (2) side can be prevented. The structure is basically divided into two chambers, and the perforated plate (12) 'for partitioning the two chambers is an intermediate bottom at the bottom of the washing tank (2) above the detergent liquid tank (3). The foam jetting cylinder (13) is erected from each hole, and the upper end opening (13 _B ) is not blocked by the foam jetting cylinder (13). In addition, the cap (26) consisting of a bottomed cylinder with a larger diameter than that is capped, and the cleaning foam generated in the detergent liquid tank (3) is washed through the foam ejection cylinder (13) and the cap (26). It is formed so that it can be fed into the tank (2).

The perforated plate (12) 'is laterally installed so as to have a slight downward slope toward the 1 side (the right side in FIG. 11).
A drainage channel (9) for discharging water accumulated on the perforated plate (12) 'during the defoaming step is provided in the same manner as in the example shown in FIG. 1, and the drainage channel (9) and the drainage channel are provided. The drainage means is constituted by the drainage channel (18) provided in the middle of (9).

Note that the mode of the cleaning operation in the example shown in FIG. 11 is the same as that in the case shown in FIG.

(Effects of the Invention) Next, the effects of the present invention are as follows.

(I) Since the water spray used for rinsing is defoamed in the cleaning tank (2) by performing it for a short time after foam cleaning, there is no need to provide a defoaming device separately, and the structure of the cleaning machine is simplified. It can be made compact as well.

(Ii) Since the cleaning bubbles do not overflow outside the machine, the surroundings are not contaminated and the handling is simplified.

(Iii) Since the number of structural parts is small and the device is compact, the device cost is reduced.

(Iv) Since the cleaning tank (2) and the detergent liquid tank (3) are substantially separated and a drainage means is connected to the cleaning tank (2), for defoaming and rinsing in the cleaning tank (2) The rinsing water is drained without flowing into the detergent liquid tank (3), the detergent liquid can be prevented from being contaminated, and the detergent liquid can be reused.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 9 show a mode of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a rack, FIG. 3 is the same front view, and FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential part of the rack, FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential part of a rack on which an object to be cleaned is mounted, FIG. 8 is a flowchart of operation control means, and FIG. The charts, FIGS. 10 and 11 are schematic front views of the foam cleaning machines according to the respective embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a main part of the perforated plate in FIG. (2) ... Cleaning tank, (3) ... detergent liquid tank, (17) ... full foam detection means, (22) ... cleaning object.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank (2) is supplied to the cleaning liquid tank (3) by supplying the cleaning liquid to the cleaning liquid to generate cleaning foam, which is then fed into the cleaning tank (2). A foam cleaning step of cleaning the object (22) with bubbles, and rinse water is sprayed into the tank (2) through the nozzles (6) and (7) provided in the cleaning tank (2) to clean the object to be cleaned (22). In a foam washing machine having a rinsing step of rinsing, the washing tank (2) and the detergent liquid tank (3) are substantially separated from each other via a partition, and washing water is put into the washing tank (2). Discharge path (9) for discharging outside the tank
A full-foam detection means (17) that is activated by providing a drainage means consisting of the cleaning tank (2) and filling the cleaning tank (2) with cleaning foam.
Instead of the foam cleaning step by the foam cleaning step and the operation of the full foam detection means (17), the drainage means is operated while spraying rinsing water in the cleaning tank (2) for a predetermined time. A foam washing machine comprising an operation control means for performing the rinsing step after repeating a washing step including a defoaming step a set number of times.