JPH0756409B2 - Method of determining water mixture ratio and determining other plug usage in water heater with automatic bath drop function - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water heater with an automatic bath drop function, which is capable of automatically dropping a bath in addition to general hot water, and is supplied through hot water supplied through a heat exchanger and a bypass. The present invention relates to a method for calculating and determining the mixing ratio of water to be stored and a method for determining whether or not a hot water tap other than the automatic dropping is used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a water heater with an automatic bath drop function will be described with reference to FIG. The water supplied through the water inlet passage 1 is discharged to the hot water outlet passage 5 through the heating passage 3 having the heat exchanger 2 and the bypass mixed water passage 4. Then, the hot water supply path 5 is branched into a general hot water supply path 6 and a bath automatic drop path 7, and the general hot water supply and the bath automatic drop are performed respectively. In such a pipe line configuration, the heating flow rate sensor 8 is provided in the heating path 3 and the drop flow rate sensor 9 is provided in the bath automatic drop path 7. 10 is a mixing valve. The water mixing valve 10 is moved to a constant valve position so as to have a constant water mixing ratio when, for example, a bath automatic hot water supply is performed, and when general hot water supply is performed, general hot water supply is performed. The valve position is controlled and adjusted to give priority to the hot water supply temperature for the general hot water supply. From this, it is necessary to judge whether or not the general hot water supply is started during the automatic bath hot water supply, that is, whether or not the other plug is used. Conventionally, as a method of determining whether or not the other plug is used, the total is calculated from the flow rate Q _K detected by the heating flow rate sensor 8 of the heating passage 3 and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ when the bath is automatically dropped by the water mixture valve 10. The flow rate is calculated, and this is compared with the flow rate Q _F detected by the drop flow rate sensor 9 of the bath automatic drop path 7, and if the calculated total flow rate is greater than the flow rate Q _F of the flow rate sensor 9, another It was judged that the stopper was used.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned nominal water mixing ratio is a controller which is obtained as a water mixing ratio that will be obtained when the water mixing valve 10 is set to the bath automatic drop-in side when manufacturing a product. Value stored in the microcomputer, etc., and is not necessarily the water mixing ratio of the product actually obtained. Therefore, the mixed water ratio varies from product to product and does not always match the nominal mixed water ratio. In addition, the water mixing ratio may change gradually during repeated use. Therefore, the total flow rate calculated using the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ does not always match the actual total flow rate,
Therefore, even if the flow rate Q _F detected by the drop flow rate sensor 9 is compared, the presence / absence of the use of the other plug cannot be determined with certainty, and there is a drawback of erroneous determination.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional water heater with the automatic bath drop function, and accurately obtains the accurate water mixing ratio at the present time by the heating path and the bypass water mixing path in the product. The purpose is to provide a method for determining the mixed water ratio. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining the use of other plugs that can accurately determine the presence or absence of other plugs other than the automatic bath drop by obtaining an accurate mixing ratio at the present time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of determining a water mixture ratio in a water heater with an automatic bath drop function according to the present invention has a heat exchanger for supplying water supplied through an inlet channel. It has a pipeline structure that branches into a heating passage and a bypass mixed water passage and then joins into a hot water outlet passage, and further branches the hot water outlet passage into a general hot water supply passage and a bath automatic dropping passage. A method of determining a water mixture ratio in a water heater with an automatic bath drop function, in which a flow sensor is provided on the heating path and the bath automatic drop path, each of the two flow rate sensors each time only the automatic bath drop is performed. Calculate the ratio between the actual water mixture ratio obtained from the detected flow rate and the nominal water mixture ratio stored in the controller in advance, and calculate the average value of the ratios of the actual water mixture ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio obtained so far. Calculation It is characterized in that for calculating the theoretical water mixture ratio at present from the average value of said ratio and said nominal water mixture ratio. In addition, in the above, "the average value of the ratio of the actual water mixture ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio obtained so far" is assumed to be the average value of all the ratios obtained up to the present time, It may be an average value of ratios obtained in a plurality of recent times close to the present time. On the other hand, in the method of determining the use of the other plug in the water heater with the automatic bath drop function of the present invention, the water supplied through the water inlet is temporarily branched into the heating passage having the heat exchanger and the bypass water mixing passage. After that, join the hot water outlet,
Furthermore, the bath automatic drop-in function has a pipeline structure that branches the hot-water outlet path into a general hot-water supply path and a bath automatic drop-in path, and a flow sensor is provided in the heating path and the bath automatic drop-in path. A method for determining whether or not a plug other than the automatic drop in a hot water heater is used, wherein the bath automatic drop is calculated from a theoretical total flow rate calculated from a detected flow rate detected by a flow rate sensor of the heating path and a theoretical water mixture ratio. When the value obtained by subtracting the detected flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor of the passage is equal to or greater than a certain value, it is determined that the other plug is to be used, and as the theoretical water mixture ratio, the two flow rates are calculated every time the bath is automatically dropped. It is characterized by using the average value of the actual water mixture ratio calculated from the flow rate detected by the sensor.

[0006]

According to the method of determining the water mixture ratio in the water heater with the automatic bath dropping function of the present invention, two flow rate sensors provided in the heating passage and the bath automatic dropping passage each time only the bath automatic dropping is performed. The actual mixed water ratio is calculated from each detected flow rate of, and the ratio between the actual mixed water ratio and the nominal mixed water ratio is calculated. Then, the average value of the ratios of the actual water mixture ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio obtained so far is calculated, and the theoretical water mixture ratio at the present time is calculated from the average value of the ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio. . This calculated theoretical water mixture ratio is close to the actual water mixture ratio at the present time, so it is possible to calculate the flow rate without a flow sensor almost accurately using this theoretical water mixture ratio. Become. Further, according to the method for determining the use of the other plug in the water heater with the automatic bath drop function of the present invention, the flow rate sensor of the heating passage detects using the average value of the actual water mixture ratios obtained so far. The theoretical total flow rate at the present time is calculated from the detected flow rate. Then, it is further determined whether or not a value obtained by subtracting the detected flow rate detected by the flow sensor of the bath automatic drop-in path from the theoretical total flow rate is above a certain level, and if it is above a certain level, it is determined that the other plug is used. . Since the theoretical total flow rate is calculated using the average value of the actual mixed water ratios obtained so far, the theoretical total flow rate value is an accurate value close to the actual total flow rate, and therefore whether other plugs are used or not. The judgment can be surely made.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a water heater with an automatic bath drop function that implements the method of the present invention.

The water supplied through the water inlet passage 1 is discharged to the hot water outlet passage 5 through the heating passage 3 having the heat exchanger 2 and the bypass water mixing passage 4. Then, the hot water supply path 5 is branched into a general hot water supply path 6 and a bath automatic drop path 7, and the general hot water supply and the bath automatic drop are performed respectively. In such a pipe line configuration, the heating flow rate sensor 8 is provided in the heating path 3 and the drop flow rate sensor 9 is provided in the bath automatic drop path 7. 10 is a mixing valve. The water mixing valve 10 is moved so as to have a constant valve position so as to have a constant water mixing ratio when, for example, a bath automatic hot water supply is performed, and when general hot water supply is performed,
The general hot water supply is prioritized, and the valve position is controlled and adjusted so as to reach the hot water supply temperature for the general hot water supply. 11 is a burner
12 is a fuel supply control valve. Further, 13 is an automatic bath drop valve, 14 is a controller, and 15 is a remote controller.

Now, the bath automatic drop-in operation is remote control 15
When instructed by, the controller 14 opens the automatic bath drop valve 13, controls the mixed water valve 10 to a fixed valve position dedicated to automatic bath drop, opens the fuel supply control valve 12, and burns the burner 11. As a result, the hot water heated by the heat exchanger 2 through the heating passage and the water passing through the bypass water mixing passage 4 are mixed through the mixing water valve 10 and tapped into the hot water passage 5. Then, it is dropped into a bathtub (not shown) through the bath automatic dropping path 7. When the hot water tap (not shown) of the general hot water supply path 6 is opened during the automatic bath drop, the controller 14 detects the use of the other hot water tap and the temperature is set to the temperature set in the general hot water supply. Adjust and change the valve position of the water mixing valve 10.

A method of determining the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T during the automatic bath drop operation by the water mixing valve 10 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the theoretical water mixture ratio R
_T is calculated by learning the actual water mixture ratio under certain conditions. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the controller 14 does not perform general hot water supply during hot water supply operation (no other plug is used) (NO in S1), and only performs automatic bath drop operation ( Yes in S2) 1 each time
Once, learning is performed to obtain the theoretical water mixture ratio (S3). The theoretical water mixing ratio R _T is calculated by the controller 14 by the heating flow rate Q _K by the heating flow rate sensor 8 and the automatic bath flow rate Q _F by the dropping flow rate sensor 9 and the nominal mixing rate stored in the microcomputer of the controller 14 at the time of product production. It is calculated from the water ratio R ₀ . That is, when only the bath automatic dropping is performed, the controller 14 firstly, the heating flow rate Q _K obtained from the heating flow rate sensor 8 and the bath automatic dropping flow rate Q _F obtained from the drop flow rate sensor 9.
From this, the actual water mixture ratio R is calculated by the equation 1.

[0011]

[Equation 1]

Then, the ratio r between the obtained actual water mixture ratio R and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ is calculated by the equation 2.

[0013]

[Equation 2]

Further, the average value r _M of all the ratios r calculated when only the automatic bath dropping so far is performed is calculated by the equation 3. This average value r _M represents the average deviation of the actual water mixture ratio R obtained so far with respect to the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ .

[0015]

[Equation 3]

The average value r _M and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀
From the above, the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T is calculated according to Equation 4.

[0017]

## EQU00004 ## Rr = r _M × R _O Rr: theoretical water mixing ratio

Although this theoretical water mixing ratio R _T is not the actual water mixing ratio at the present time, it can be said that it is a value close to that value. Therefore, at the time of the next automatic bath drop operation, by using this theoretical water mixing ratio R _T , the flow rate necessary for determining the other plug use, for example, the total flow rate when other plugs are also used (actual detection is Not possible) can be calculated accurately. The controller 14 stores the theoretical water mixture ratio R _T at the present time and the ratio r of the actual water mixture ratio R and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ for each time so far.

In the above, when calculating the average value r _M of the ratio r of the actual water mixing ratio R and the nominal water mixing ratio R ₀ , all the ratios r calculated from the first learning until now are used. Although the average is given, the average value r _M may be obtained by using the ratio r for a plurality of times calculated recently instead. Further, in the above, the mixed water ratio is the heating flow rate Q _K flowing through the heating passage 3.
However, the ratio between the heating flow rate Q _K and the flow rate flowing through the bypass mixed water passage 4 may be used instead. In the above embodiment, the average value r _M of the ratio r of the actual water mixture ratio R and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ is calculated, and from this and the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ , the theoretical water mixture ratio R at the present time is calculated. _{Although T} is calculated, the average value may be directly calculated by using the respective values of the actual water mixture ratio R, and the average value may be used as the theoretical water mixture ratio R _T at the present time. In any case, the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T is an average value of the actual water mixing ratio R. In addition, although the three-way valve is used as the water mixing valve 10 in the embodiment, an opening / closing control valve may be used in the bypass water mixing passage 4 instead. In addition, a water mixing valve 10 that can adjust the degree of water mixing
It is needless to say that the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T can be calculated in the same manner even when a fixed valve whose water mixing degree cannot be adjusted is used instead of the opening / closing control valve.

Next, with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 3, a method of determining whether or not another plug is used during the automatic bath drop operation will be described. First, the controller 14 determines whether or not the automatic bath drop operation is being performed (S11). This determination can be made based on whether or not the bath automatic drop valve 13 is open. When it is judged that the water is being dropped, it is further judged whether or not the theoretical water mixture ratio has already been learned (S12). In some cases, learning has not been performed in the initial stage of use, so in this case, the theoretical total flow rate Q _T at the present time is calculated using the nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ (S13). The calculation is performed by the theoretical total flow rate Q _T = heating flow rate Q _K × nominal water mixture ratio R ₀ . On the other hand, if the learning has already been performed even once, the theoretical total flow rate Q _T at the present time is calculated using the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T (S14). Calculation is theoretical total flow rate Q _T = heating flow rate Q _K × theoretical water mixture ratio R _T
Done in. The method of calculating the theoretical water mixing ratio R _T has already been described.

When the theoretical total flow rate Q _T is obtained, the bath automatic drop flow rate Q _F detected by the flow sensor 9 of the bath automatic drop path 7 is subtracted from the theoretical total flow rate Q _T , and the value is not less than a certain value. Or not (S1
Five). If it is a certain value or more, for example, 3 liters / minute, it is determined that another plug is used (S16). If it is less than a certain value, it is determined that the other plug is not used (S17).

[0022]

According to the method of determining the water mixture ratio in the water heater with the automatic bath dropping function according to the present invention, the present invention has the above-described structure and operation, and is used for heating each time only the automatic bath dropping is performed. Road and bath 2 for automatic drop-in
Calculate the ratio between the actual water mixture ratio obtained from each detected flow rate of the two flow rate sensors and the nominal water mixture ratio stored in the controller in advance, and calculate the actual water mixture ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio obtained so far. Since the average value of the ratios is calculated and the theoretical water mixing ratio at the present time is calculated from the average value of the ratios and the nominal water mixing ratio, the calculated theoretical water mixing ratio is Since the value is close to the mixed water ratio, the theoretical mixed water ratio can be used to calculate the flow rate without the flow rate sensor, the total flow rate that cannot be actually detected, and the like almost accurately. According to the other plug use determination method for the water heater with the automatic bath drop function according to claim 2, from the theoretical total flow rate calculated from the detected flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor of the heating passage and the theoretical water mixture ratio. When the value obtained by subtracting the detected flow rate detected by the flow sensor for the bath automatic drop channel is above a certain level, it is determined that the other plug is used, and as the theoretical water mixture ratio, each time only the bath automatic drop is performed. Since the average value of the actual water mixture ratio calculated from the detected flow rates of the two flow rate sensors is used, the value of the theoretical total flow rate can be made an accurate value close to the actual total flow rate. It is now possible to reliably and reliably determine whether or not other plugs have been used, due to manufacturing variations and aging changes for each water heater.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a water heater with an automatic bath drop function in which the method of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the timing of learning for obtaining a theoretical water mixture ratio.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining whether or not another plug is used during a bath automatic dropping operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method of determining whether another plug is used in a conventional water heater with an automatic bath drop function.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inlet channel 2 Heat exchanger 3 Heating channel 4 Bypass water mixing channel 5 Hot water channel 6 General hot water channel 7 Bath automatic drop channel 8 Heating flow rate sensor 9 Drop rate sensor 10 Mixed water valve 14 Controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. The water supplied through the water inlet is branched into a heating passage having a heat exchanger and a bypass mixed water passage, and then joined into a hot water outlet, and the hot water outlet is used as a general hot water supply passage. Determining the water mixture ratio in a water heater with an automatic bath drop function that has a pipeline configuration that branches into an automatic bath drop channel and has a flow rate sensor in the heating channel and the automatic bath drop channel The method calculates the ratio of the actual water mixture ratio obtained from the respective detected flow rates of the two flow rate sensors and the nominal water mixture ratio stored in the controller in advance every time the bath is automatically dropped. Characterized in that the average value of the ratio of the actual water mixture ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio obtained is calculated, and the theoretical water mixture ratio at the present time is calculated from the average value of the ratio and the nominal water mixture ratio. Automatic bath drop machine A method for determining the mixing ratio of water heaters with Noh. 2. The water supplied through the water inlet is branched into a heating passage having a heat exchanger and a bypass mixed water passage, and then joined into a hot water outlet, and the hot water outlet is used as a general hot water supply passage. Other than the automatic dropping in the water heater with a bath automatic dropping function, which has a pipeline structure that is branched into a bath automatic dropping path, and which has a flow sensor provided in the heating path and the bath automatic dropping path. A method for determining whether or not another plug is used, the detection detected by the flow sensor of the bath automatic drop-in path from the theoretical total flow rate calculated from the detected flow rate detected by the flow rate sensor of the heating path and the theoretical water mixture ratio When the value obtained by subtracting the flow rate is equal to or more than a certain value, it is determined that the other plug is used, and the theoretical flow rate of water is detected by the two flow rate sensors each time only the bath is automatically dropped. A method for determining the use of another plug in a water heater with an automatic bath drop function, which is characterized by using an average value of the actual water mixture ratio calculated from the amount.