JP2008002784A - Hot water supply device for bath - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a comfortable bath even if a user starts to take a bath right before the time is up in a bath automatic operation timer. <P>SOLUTION: In step 200, clocking by the timer is started. In step 220, if it is within 15 minutes until the time is up, YES is determined, and it is determined whether the user is taking a bath in step 230. If YES is determined in step 230 since the user is taking a bath in a bathroom on the basis of a detection signal of a bath sensor 47, the timer is extended a certain time in step 240. By this, bath automatic operation is continued throughout the extended remaining time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hot water supply apparatus for a bath that automatically performs additional hot water and heat insulation after hot water filling in a bathtub.

  Conventionally, in a hot water heater for bathtubs, a model called full-automatic operation, hot water is applied to the bathtub at any amount and temperature only by operating the remote control switch. Some have the function of automatic driving to add water.

  In this system, the duration of the automatic operation can be arbitrarily set by operating a remote control switch.

  Here, the purpose of regulating the duration of the automatic operation is to prevent wasteful use of electricity or heat energy by continuing the heat insulation operation despite the absence of a bather.

  However, in the above-described bath water heater, when the automatic bath operation continuation time is set with the remote control switch, when the remaining time of the automatic bath operation continuation time excluding the time when the automatic operation is performed is small (that is, the time If you start taking a bath just before the bathing), the time will be up during bathing, and there may be a problem that the function of the hot water and the hot water to be performed automatically stops and the user feels uncomfortable. .

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a water heater for a bathtub that can be comfortably bathed even if it starts bathing immediately before the time expires.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the timer means for setting the bath automatic operation continuation time, and hot water in the bathtub so as to keep the water level of the hot water in the bathtub at a constant level after performing the hot water filling in the bathtub. A hot water warming and replenishment control means for keeping the water temperature in the bathtub and replenishing, and a hot water hot water supply device for continuously performing the hot water warming and replenishment control means over the bath automatic operation continuation time, Time determination means for determining whether or not the remaining time of the bath automatic operation continuation time excluding the time when the hot water warming and replenishment control means has been performed is less than a certain time, and whether or not a person is taking a bath And when the time determination means determines that the remaining time is less than a certain time, and when the bath determination means determines that the person is taking a bath, an extension means for extending the remaining time is provided. To do.

  Therefore, when the remaining time is less than a certain time, even if the bathing starts, the remaining time is extended, so that it is possible to avoid interrupting the execution of the hot water warming and replenishment control means during the bathing. That is, even if it starts bathing immediately before time-up, it becomes possible to avoid time-up in the middle of bathing, so that bathing can be performed comfortably.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis of each means described in a claim and this column shows the correspondence with the specific means as described in embodiment mentioned later.

  In FIG. 1, the whole block diagram of this embodiment of the water heater for general household bathtubs which concerns on this invention is shown.

  The bath hot water supply apparatus includes a heating unit 10 and a hot water storage tank unit 20. The heating unit 10 is a well-known heat pump type heating unit and includes a heat exchanger that generates high-temperature hot water. In addition to the heat pump heating unit, an electric heating unit or a gas heating unit is used as the heating unit 10.

  The hot water storage tank unit 20 includes a vertically long hot water storage tank 21, and the high temperature hot water heated by the heating unit 10 flows into the hot water storage tank 21 from the hot water supply port at the top of the hot water storage tank 21 through the hot water pipe 80. The outlet of the bottom of the hot water storage tank 21 is connected to the inlet of the heat exchanger of the heating unit 10 through the hot water pipe 81. The heating unit 10 is provided with an electric pump (not shown) that generates a flow of hot water for circulating hot water between the hot water storage tank 21 and the heat exchanger of the heating unit 10.

  The hot water storage tank 21 is provided with a plurality of thermistors (temperature sensors) 30a, 30b, 30c,. A water supply inlet 82 for supplying tap water or the like is provided at the bottom of the hot water storage tank 21. A water supply pipe 84 is branched from the middle of the water supply pipe 83 connected to the water supply inlet 82. This water supply pipe 84 is connected to the mixing valve 27.

  The mixing valve 27 joins a water supply pipe 84 and a hot water supply pipe 85 through which high-temperature hot water flows from the hot water supply port at the top of the hot water storage tank 21, and the mixing valve 27 and tap water flowing through the water supply pipe 84 and hot water supply pipe The temperature of the hot water flowing toward the bathtub 74 through the hot water supply pipe 86 is adjusted by adjusting the mixing ratio with the high-temperature hot water flowing in 85.

  Here, in the hot water supply pipe 86, an on-off valve 25, a flow rate counter 51, and a three-way valve 24 are provided in series. The flow rate counter 51 is a flow rate sensor that detects the hot water flow rate.

  The three-way valve 24 connects one of the heat insulation heat exchanger 70 side outlet B and the bath outlet side outlet C to the inlet A, and shuts off the remaining outlets of the outlets B and C from the inlet A. To do. The bathtub outlet side C of the three-way valve 24 is connected to the outlet of the circulation adapter 74 a in the bathtub 74 through the hot water supply pipe 87. Here, a water temperature sensor 45 for detecting the temperature of the hot water in the hot water supply pipe 87 is provided on the upstream side of the outlet of the circulation adapter 74a. The water temperature sensor 45 is used to detect the temperature of the hot water in the bathtub 74.

  The circulation adapter 74 a is provided with a return port for returning the hot water in the bathtub 74 to the heat retaining heat exchanger 70, and the return port of the circulation adapter 74 a passes through the hot water supply pipe 88 and is located on the uppermost part of the three-way valve 24. It is connected to the A side. The hot water supply pipe 88 is connected in series with the pressure sensor 41, the on-off valve 26, and the circulation pump 61. The pressure sensor 41 is a sensor that detects the water pressure in the hot water supply pipe 88 (that is, the water pressure in the bathtub 74). The water pressure in the hot water supply pipe 88 changes depending on the water level in the bathtub 74 (that is, the amount of water stored in the bathtub 74), and the detected value of the pressure sensor 41 is the water level in the bathtub 74 (that is, in the bathtub 74). It is used to determine the amount of water stored.

  The on-off valve 26 is an electromagnetic valve that opens and closes the hot water supply pipe 88, and the circulation pump 61 generates a flow of hot water in the hot water supply pipe 88 in order to circulate hot water between the bathtub 74 and the heat retaining heat exchanger 70. This is an electric pump. In the hot water supply pipe 88, a temperature sensor 40 such as a thermistor for detecting a hot water temperature is provided.

  On the other hand, the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 is disposed in the hot water storage tank 21, and the outlet of the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 is connected to the hot water supply pipe 87. As will be described later, hot water in the bathtub 74 circulates in the heat retaining heat exchanger 70, and the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 heats the hot water circulated from the bathtub 74 with the hot water in the hot water storage tank 21. .

  Next, the electrical circuit configuration of the hot water supply apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  The hot water supply apparatus of the present embodiment includes an electronic control device 100. The electronic control device 100 includes a microcomputer, a timer, a peripheral circuit, a power supply circuit, and the like. Sensors 30a, 30b, 30c... 30g, 40, 45, pressure sensor 41, bathing sensor 47, flow rate counter 51, and remote control 50 are connected, and on the output side of electronic control device 100, three-way valve 24, The on-off valves 25 and 26, the mixing valve 27, and the circulation pump 61 are connected.

  Here, the bathing sensor 47 is a sensor for determining whether a person is bathing, and in this embodiment, an infrared sensor that detects a temperature distribution in the bathroom to detect the presence or absence of a person in the bathroom, etc. Is used. As the bathing sensor 47, in addition to the infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a person in the bathroom, a normally open switch (or normally closed switch) for detecting the opening / closing of the bathroom door, and the like are used. be able to. Further, it may be determined whether or not bathing in the bathroom is detected by detecting sound in the bathroom, and whether or not bathing in the bathroom is detected by detecting lighting in the bathroom. .

  The electronic control unit 100 controls the three-way valve 24, the on-off valves 25 and 26, the mixing valve 27, the circulation pump 61, and the like, and carries out bath automatic operation for keeping the hot water in the bathtub 74 and adding hot water. The remote controller (remote controller) 50 is operated to set the water level h in the bathtub 74, the hot water temperature tw, and the timer time T for the duration of the automatic operation, in addition to the operation for starting / stopping the automatic operation.

  Here, the timer time T for bath automatic operation can be arbitrarily set every hour from 0 hours to 6 hours by the remote controller 50. Hereinafter, automatic bath operation will be described.

  First, the electronic control unit 100 controls the heating unit 10 based on the detected temperatures of the water temperature sensors 30a... 30g, whereby hot water heated to a certain temperature or more by the heating unit 10 is stored in the hot water storage tank 21. Then, using the hot water in the hot water storage tank 21, hot water is filled into the bathtub 74, hot water is kept warm, and hot water is added.

  Hereinafter, specific control processing of bath automatic operation will be described with reference to FIGS. When the user operates the remote controller 50 to start the automatic operation, the electronic control device 100 alternately performs the hot water control shown in FIG. 3 and the timer control shown in FIG.

  First, the hot water control will be described with reference to FIG. In step 100, hot water filling is performed on the bathtub 74. Specifically, the mixing valve 27 is controlled in order to adjust the hot water temperature of the bathtub 74 to the hot water temperature tw, and the mixing ratio of the tap water flowing in the hot water supply pipe 84 and the high temperature hot water flowing in the hot water supply pipe 85 is set. To do.

  Further, the space between the inlet A and the bath outlet side C is opened by the three-way valve 24 and the space between the inlet A and the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 side B is closed. Thereafter, the hot water supply pipe 86 is opened by the on-off valve 25, and the hot water supply pipe 88 is closed by the on-off valve 26. Along with this, the temperature of the hot water from the hot water storage tank 21 is adjusted through the mixing valve 27, and the temperature-controlled hot water begins to flow into the bathtub 74 through the hot water supply pipes 86 and 87 as indicated by the arrow Y 1 in FIG.

  Thereafter, when a constant hot water flow rate is measured by the flow rate counter 51, the detected pressure of the pressure sensor 41 starts to be monitored instead of the detected hot water flow rate of the flow rate counter 51. When the detected pressure of the pressure sensor 41 becomes a constant pressure, it is determined that the hot water level in the bathtub 74 has reached the water level h set by the remote controller 50, and the hot water supply pipe 86 is closed by the on-off valve 25 to discharge the hot water. To stop. Thus, the hot water level in the bathtub 74 is reached and the hot water filling is completed.

  In the next step 110, if it is determined that the hot water level in the bathtub 74 has been reached based on the detected pressure of the pressure sensor 41, the process proceeds to step 120. Here, in order to determine whether or not the hot water temperature in the bathtub 74 is lower than the set temperature T, it is determined whether or not the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor 45 is lower than a certain temperature ta (<tw). When the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor 45 is lower than the constant temperature ta (<tw), it is determined as YES, and the operation of keeping warm water in the bathtub 74 is started (step 130).

  In other words, with the hot water supply pipe 86 closed by the on-off valve 25, the three-way valve 24 closes between the inlet A and the bath outlet side outlet C, and opens between the inlet A and the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 side outlet B. To do. Further, the hot water supply pipe 88 is opened by the opening / closing valve 26 and the operation of the circulation pump 61 is started. Along with this, the hot water in the bathtub 74 is circulated through the hot water supply pipe 88, the three-way valve 24 (A → B), and the hot water supply pipe 87, as indicated by Y2 in FIG. For this reason, the hot water in the bathtub 74 is heated by the heat retaining heat exchanger 70.

  Next, in step 140, it is determined whether or not the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor 40 (the inlet side hot water temperature of the heat retaining heat exchanger 70) is equal to or higher than a certain temperature ta (<tw). If it is determined that the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor 40 is lower than the predetermined temperature ta, the warming operation of the hot water in the bathtub 74 is continued. Thereafter, when the detected temperature of the water temperature sensor 40 becomes equal to or higher than the constant temperature ta, it is determined as YES, the circulation pump 61 is stopped, and the warm water heat retaining operation is stopped (step 150).

  Thereafter, in step 110, it is determined whether or not the hot water level in the bathtub 74 has reached the set water level h. When the hot water level in the bathtub 74 is less than the set water level h, it is determined as NO and the hot water is added (step 160).

  That is, the mixing valve 27 is controlled to adjust the mixing ratio of the high-temperature hot water and tap water in order to adjust the hot water temperature of the bathtub 74 to the hot water temperature tw. Furthermore, the space between the inlet A and the bath outlet side C is opened by the three-way valve 24, and the space between the inlet A and the heat retaining heat exchanger 70 side B is closed.

  Thereafter, the hot water supply pipe 86 is opened by the on-off valve 25, and the hot water supply pipe 88 is closed by the on-off valve 26. Along with this, hot water from the hot water storage tank 21 starts to flow into the bathtub 74 through the mixing valve 27 as indicated by an arrow Y1 in FIG. Thereafter, when the detected pressure of the pressure sensor 41 becomes a constant pressure, the open / close valve 25 is closed when the hot water level in the bathtub 74 reaches the set water level h. Thereafter, the process returns to step 110, and thereafter, the hot water or the heat retaining operation is performed according to the detection of the water temperature sensors 40, 45 and the pressure sensor 41.

  Next, timer control will be described with reference to FIG.

  In step 200, timing by a timer (that is, counting of the bath automatic operation time) is started (step 200). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the timer has expired (step 210). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the time measured by the timer (that is, the time elapsed after the timer starts counting) exceeds the timer time T (that is, the time set by the remote controller 50).

  If the time measured by the timer does not exceed the timer time T, it is determined in the next step 220 whether or not the current time is within a certain time (for example, 15 minutes) immediately before the timer is up. That is, it is determined whether or not the remaining time Tz excluding the time when the automatic bath operation is performed in the timer time T is less than a certain time (for example, 15 minutes).

  Here, when the remaining time Tz is equal to or longer than a predetermined time (for example, 15 minutes), it is determined as NO in step 220, and NO determination in step 210 and NO determination in step 220 until the remaining time Tz becomes less than the predetermined time. repeat.

  For example, when 15 minutes is set as the fixed time and 6 hours is set as the timer time T, when 5 hours and 50 minutes have elapsed since the start of automatic bath operation (performed time = 5 50 minutes) and the remaining time Tz (= 10 minutes) is less than a certain time (for example, 15 minutes), YES is determined in step 220, and it is determined whether or not bathing is performed in step 230. Specifically, when the average temperature detected by the infrared sensor as the bathing sensor 47 is less than a certain temperature, it is determined that the bath is not bathed in the bathroom, NO is determined in step 230, and the process returns to step 210.

  After that, it is determined as NO in step 210 and YES in step 220, and when the average temperature of the detection temperature of the infrared sensor as the bathing sensor 47 is equal to or higher than a certain temperature, a person is in the bathroom (that is, , Bathing) is determined as YES in step 230. In this case, in step 240, the remaining time Tz is extended by a certain time. For example, if it is determined that the bath is taking place when the remaining time Tz = 10 minutes, the remaining time Tz (= 10 minutes) is extended by 10 minutes (constant time) to 20 minutes (= 10 minutes + 10 minutes). To do.

  Thereby, the bath automatic operation is continued over the remaining time after extension (for example, 20 minutes). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the remaining time after extension (for example, 20 minutes) has elapsed (step 250). Thereafter, when the remaining time after the extension elapses, it is determined that the time is up and YES is determined, and the bath automatic operation is terminated (step 260).

  According to the present embodiment described above, when the remaining time Tz excluding the time when the automatic bath operation is performed in the timer time T is less than a certain time (for example, 15 minutes), the detection signal of the bathing sensor 45 is used. If it is determined that the user is taking a bath, the remaining time is extended, and then the bath automatic operation is continued for the extended remaining time. Therefore, even if the bath starts just before the timer expires (that is, when the remaining time Tz is less than a certain time), it is possible to avoid the automatic bathing operation from being terminated in the middle of bathing. It becomes possible to take a bath.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the remaining time Tz is extended by a certain time in step 240 has been described. Instead, the time to be extended according to the remaining time when YES is determined in step 230. May be changed.

  Hereinafter, the correspondence relationship between the above embodiment and the structure of the scope of the claims will be described. The remote controller 50 corresponds to the timer means, and the control processes in Steps 110 to 170 correspond to the hot water warming and replenishment control means. The timer time T of the automatic operation duration corresponds to the bath automatic operation duration, the bath automatic operation execution time corresponds to the hot water heat replenishment control means execution time, and the remaining time Tz corresponds to the remaining time. The control process of step 220 corresponds to the time determination means, the control process of step 230 corresponds to the bathing determination means, and the control process of step 250 corresponds to the extension means.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the whole structure of one Embodiment of the hot water supply apparatus for baths which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the electrical structure of the hot water supply apparatus for baths of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a part of control process of the electronic controller of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a part of control process of the electronic controller of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 ... heating unit, 20 ... hot water storage tank unit,
24 ... three-way valve, 25, 26 ... open / close valve, 27 ... mixing valve,
30a, 30b, 30c ... 30g, 40, 45 ... water temperature sensor,
44 ... Pressure sensor, 47 ... Bathing sensor, 51 ... Flow rate counter,
50 ... Remote Contraler,
61 ... circulation pump, 100 ... electronic control unit.

Claims (1)

Timer means for setting the bath automatic operation duration;
Hot water replenishment control means for replenishing the hot water in the bathtub so as to keep the water level of the hot water in the bathtub at a constant water level after performing the hot water filling in the bathtub, and for keeping the water temperature in the bathtub. ,
A hot water supply device for a bath that continuously performs the warm water heat replenishment control means over the bath automatic operation continuation time,
Time determination means for determining whether or not the remaining time excluding the performed time of the warm water heat replenishment control means in the bath automatic operation continuation time is less than a certain time;
Bathing determination means whether or not a person is bathing,
The time determination means determines that the remaining time is less than a certain time, and when the bath determination means determines that the person is bathing, an extension means for extending the remaining time;
A hot water supply device for a bath characterized by comprising:

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