JPH11226565A - Water purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a proper sterilization-purification for respective applications in a water purifier to supply purified water for drinking and other applications. SOLUTION: A water purifier 100 is equipped with a filter part 10 for catching various fungi in water and an ultraviolet sterilization part 20 formed downstream from the filter part 10. The ultraviolet sterilization part 20 is fitted with an ultraviolet lamp 24 and sterilizes/purifies water introduced into a case 23 by the irradiation of ultraviolet rays. The intensity of the ultraviolet rays of the lamp 24 is made greater while no drinking water is being supplied as compared with the intensity while drinking water is being supplied by an ultraviolet intensity change-over part 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water purification apparatus for supplying purified water to drinking water and other uses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a water purifier of this type, for example, there is a water purifier directly connected to a faucet. In this method, in order to obtain drinking water, odor contained in raw water and residual chlorine which is a substance causing a decrease in taste are removed by activated carbon or the like.

[0003]

However, when the water from the water purification device is used for water other than drinking water, for example, as washing water for dishes, vegetables, and the like, there is no residual chlorine in the washing water, so that the sterilizing power works. There is no problem. By the way,
When using raw water containing hypochlorous acid at the time of washing, sterilizing power can be secured, but there is a problem that vitamins are destroyed when washing vegetables and the like. Therefore, the washing is often performed with the above-mentioned washing water having no residual chlorine, and as a result, there is a risk of infection by bacteria (for example, pathogenic Escherichia coli) adhering to dishes and the like.

[0004] Therefore, in the conventional water purification apparatus, it is difficult to perform appropriate sterilization and purification for drinking water and other uses according to the respective uses. In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a water purification apparatus that supplies purified water to drinking water and other uses, thereby enabling appropriate sterilization and purification according to each use.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have found that when water is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, OH generated by decomposition of H ₂ O or the like is generated.
Focusing on the fact that the radical (.OH) has a bactericidal activity and a property that the remaining time is short, the following technical means were adopted. That is, claim 1
In the invention described, an ultraviolet sterilizing section (20) for sterilizing and purifying water introduced from the outside by irradiating ultraviolet light is provided so that the irradiation amount of ultraviolet light is larger at times other than drinking water supply than at the time of drinking water supply. It is characterized by being switchable.

[0006] As a result, the water introduced from the outside is irradiated with ultraviolet light by the ultraviolet sterilizing section (20), and
OH is generated and sterilizes various bacteria in water. In addition, since OH is short-lived and immediately disappears, there is no harm to the human body even when used for drinking water. On the other hand, at times other than drinking water supply, such as at the time of washing, the amount of ultraviolet rays generated is increased since the amount of ultraviolet irradiation is larger than at the time of drinking water supply, so that OH is increased, and water having sufficient sterilizing power as washing water as well as disinfecting various bacteria in the water. Can be supplied.

Therefore, in a water purification apparatus for supplying purified water to drinking water and other uses, it is possible to perform appropriate sterilization and purification according to each use. The present invention specifically relates to an ultraviolet lamp (2) as an ultraviolet sterilizer (20).
This can be achieved by using means for switching the ultraviolet intensity of the ultraviolet lamp (24).

In the invention according to the second aspect, a filter section (10) is provided upstream of the ultraviolet ray sterilizing section (20) for capturing various bacteria contained in water introduced into the ultraviolet ray sterilizing section (20). The water introduced into the sterilizing section (20) can be reduced in germs in advance, and the purification performance can be further improved. In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis of each said means shows the correspondence with the concrete means of embodiment mentioned later.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a water purification apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of FIG. The water purifier 100 of the present embodiment is applied to a water purifier that purifies well water or water from a river.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a filter unit, which is a container 1 having an inlet 11 for introducing water and an outlet 12 for discharging water.
3 is provided. Inside the container 13 is an activated carbon fiber layer 14.
Is stored, and a positive electrode 15 is electrically connected to the activated carbon fiber layer 14. Further, a negative electrode 16 paired with the positive electrode 15 is provided in a portion other than the activated carbon fiber layer 14 in the container 13.

An electric current flows between the activated carbon fiber layer 14 and the negative electrode 16 via water flowing in the container 13. Reference numeral 20 denotes an ultraviolet sterilizer disposed downstream of the filter unit 10. The case 23 is made of a metal such as stainless steel and has an inlet 21 through which water is introduced and an outlet 22 through which water is introduced. And an ultraviolet lamp 24 for irradiating the water passing through the case 23 with ultraviolet light.

Further, the ultraviolet lamp 24 is provided with an ultraviolet lamp intensity switching unit 25 for switching the ultraviolet intensity of the ultraviolet lamp 24. In the present embodiment, the switching of the ultraviolet intensity is performed by manually operating a switch (not shown) connected to the ultraviolet lamp intensity switching unit 25 for drinking water and other uses. here,
In the switching of the ultraviolet light intensity, the irradiation amount of the ultraviolet light is set to be larger at times other than drinking water supply than at the time of drinking water supply. Specifically, the irradiation amount at times other than the supply of drinking water is determined based on the amount of ultraviolet light necessary to sterilize various bacteria as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this embodiment based on the above configuration will be described. First, river water or well water is introduced into the container 13 of the filter unit 10 from the inlet 11 by a pump or the like (not shown). At this time, the potential between the activated carbon fiber layer 14 and the negative electrode 16 is set to a predetermined potential (for example, 0.7
(About 10 V), the various bacteria (for example, 10 ⁷ cells / cc order) contained in the introduced river water and well water are negatively charged and are electrically sucked and captured by the activated carbon fiber layer 14. is, water of bacteria is reduced (e.g., 10 ² / cc order). Then, the water is led out of the container 13 from the outlet 12.

Subsequently, water containing reduced bacteria is introduced into the inlet 21.
Then, the water is introduced into the case 23 of the ultraviolet sterilizing section 20, and the introduced water is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet lamp 24 according to the use (during supply of drinking water and other cases). At the time of drinking water supply, the irradiation amount is set to a level that can sterilize bacteria remaining in the water. The intensity switching unit 25 sets the ultraviolet intensity of the ultraviolet lamp 24.

Then, the sterilized and purified water is supplied to the case 23
And is used for drinking water or washing water. Here, at the time of supplying drinking water, the intensity of ultraviolet light is set to be weaker, but since bacteria in water are reduced in advance by the filter unit 10, it can be sterilized to a sufficient extent as drinking water by the OH generated in the water. . Since the generated .OH has a short remaining time and disappears immediately, there is no harm to the human body even when used for drinking water.

On the other hand, at times other than the supply of drinking water, such as during washing,
Since the amount of ultraviolet irradiation is increased as compared with the supply of drinking water, the generated .OH also increases, and water having a sufficient sterilizing power can be supplied as washing water. It should be noted that, even if water other than the supply of drinking water is used for drinking, .OH is not harmful unless it is used regularly because of its short radical life. By the way, in living cells, the epidermis covering the cytoplasm extends from the cytoplasm side to the surface,
The cell membrane, peptidoglycan, outer membrane, and lipopolysaccharide form a multilayer film in this order. OH affects only the lipopolysaccharide on the surface side. However, various bacteria (bacteria) contained in the water have a weak cell membrane and can be sterilized by .OH.

In the water purifier 100, since the water flow does not stagnate, the amount of ultraviolet irradiation to the water does not increase until hydrogen peroxide is generated, and there is no harm to the human body due to the hydrogen peroxide. . As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to provide purified water that has been appropriately sterilized and purified according to the intended use of drinking water and other uses.

(Other Embodiments) As shown in FIG.
A photocatalyst 26 for improving the sterilization efficiency of ultraviolet rays may be provided in the case 23 of the ultraviolet sterilizer 20. As the photocatalyst 26, for example, a photocatalyst such as TiO ₂ supported on a honeycomb member such as cordierite can be used.

The photocatalyst body 26 generates holes (holes) in the photocatalyst by irradiating ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet lamp 24, and exchanges electric charge with H ₂ O in contact with the photocatalyst to generate .OH. To promote. Therefore, .OH can be efficiently generated with a small irradiation intensity. In the above-described embodiment, the water purification device is configured to purify well water or water from a river. However, the water purification device 100 may be directly connected to a faucet to be applied as a water purification device that purifies raw water of tap water. In this case, it is not necessary to use raw water containing hypochlorous acid in washing, and vitamins are not destroyed in washing vegetables and the like.

In addition, for example, the position of the cup is different between when drinking water and other times, so that such a position is detected by an infrared sensor or the like, and the ultraviolet lamp intensity switching unit 25 can be automatically switched. Is also good. In the water purification device 100, the filter unit 10 may not be provided. Also in this case, the object of the present invention can be achieved by switching the amount of ultraviolet irradiation in the ultraviolet sterilizing section 20 according to the application.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a water purification device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a chart showing the amount of ultraviolet light necessary to sterilize various bacteria.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of an ultraviolet sterilizing unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Filter part, 20: Ultraviolet sterilization part.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A water purification apparatus for supplying purified water to drinking water and other uses, comprising: an ultraviolet sterilizer (20) for irradiating water introduced from the outside with ultraviolet to sterilize and purify the water; Characterized in that it can be switched so that the number of times other than when drinking water is supplied is greater than when drinking water is supplied. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a filter section (10) upstream of said ultraviolet sterilizing section (20) for capturing various bacteria contained in water introduced into said ultraviolet sterilizing section (20). The described water purification device.