JPH03202191A - Regeneration control method for water softener - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make water softener operation surely even if a flowmeter has a trouble by involving operation of regeneration when an integrated value of water flow amount reaches a prescribed value as well as operation of regeneration at the time when it reaches a prescribed time after the previous regeneration time which is measured by a timer. CONSTITUTION:Normally, water flow amount is measured by a flow meter 3 by a flow amount regeneration method and when the integrated value of the water flow amount reaches a prescribed value, a water softener 1 is regenerated and once the regeneration is done, the integrated value 6 is cleared. If the flow meter 3 is found having a trouble by a trouble detecting means 2, a relay contact 14 is closed and switched to timer method and regeneration method is carried out a prescribed time after the previous regeneration time. By this method, even if the flow meter has a trouble, the water softener is regenerateel surely and thus highly safe water softener which does not leak hard substances can be regenerateel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a regeneration control method in a water softener that performs ion exchange treatment on raw water containing hardness needles to soften water.

[Prior Art] As is well known, hardness needles contained in water supply lines to cooling and heating equipment such as boilers, water heaters, and coolers are removed from the water supply lines to prevent scale buildup within the cooling and heating equipment. Among them, automatic regeneration water softeners that use ion exchange resin to remove hardness needles are widely used. This type of water softener uses Na'' type ion exchange resin to reduce Ca'' or Mg contained in the water.
The hardness needles are removed by replacing metal cations such as 2 with Na'' and removing the hardness needles.When the resin is replaced with cations and reaches a saturated state and loses its ability to remove hardness needles, it is replaced with salt water. It is designed to react and regenerate abilities.

By the way, in order to perform the regeneration operation efficiently, it is necessary to detect the degree of saturation of the ion exchange resin and supply the minimum amount of regeneration salt water according to the condition, or to supply the appropriate amount of salt water according to the degree of saturation. It is desirable to perform the playback operation during actual operation. In this case, the method of detecting the degree of saturation of the ion exchange resin is to measure the amount of raw water flowing through the ion exchange resin layer (water flow rate), and combine that value with the hardness needle M contained in the raw water (usually approximately constant). There is a way to calculate it from. When regeneration is performed using such a flow rate regeneration method, the amount of regeneration salt water used can be saved and running costs can be reduced compared to the timer type, which regenerates at fixed intervals regardless of the water flow rate. There is an effect.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when using the flow rate regeneration method, if the flowmeter that measures the amount of water passing through malfunctions, it becomes impossible to integrate the amount of water passing through, and the ion exchange resin is incorrectly assumed to be in an unsaturated state when it is actually in a saturated state. This may cause a delay in the regeneration operation and cause the hardness to flow out. If this water is used in a boiler, scale will build up inside the can, causing overheating and damage to the can.

[Means to solve the problem]

In view of the above-mentioned problems, this invention combines a flow rate regeneration method and a timer type to ensure that the water softener can regenerate even if the flow rate 31 fails. The water softener is equipped with an operation that integrates the amount of water flowing through the water softener using a flow meter, and performs a regeneration operation on the water softener when the integrated value reaches a predetermined value, and a failure detection means for the flow meter. The water softener is characterized by including an operation of regenerating the water softener when a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous regeneration operation using a timer when the water softener malfunctions.

[Effect]

According to this invention, normally, the flow rate regeneration method is used to integrate the amount of water flowing through the water softener using a flowmeter, and when the integrated value reaches a predetermined value, a regeneration operation is performed, and when the flowmeter malfunctions, the system switches to a timer method. Therefore, the reproducing operation can be performed when a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous reproducing operation.

〔Example〕

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, the water softener shown in parentheses ( ]) has a resin cylinder (11) and a control valve 021.The ion exchange resin in the resin cylinder (11) removes the hardness in the raw water and softens the water. The water is now being sent to the soft water tank (5). At that time, if the ion exchange resin becomes saturated, the flow path configuration is switched using the control valve 02) to transfer the salt water to the resin cylinder 01.
) and performs a regeneration operation that regenerates the capacity of the ion exchange resin. (3) is a flow meter that measures the water flow and sends the detection signal to the totalizer (6). When the integrated value of the water flow reaches a predetermined value, the regeneration controller (7) controls the regeneration signal. It is designed to output to valve 02).

(2) is a failure detection means for the flowmeter (3), for example,
The discriminator (9) compares and discriminates the signal from the controller [8] that controls supply/stop of soft water to the soft water tank (5) and the (i) from the flow meter (3), and determines whether soft water is supplied.・This is to determine whether a normal detection signal is output from the flow meter (3) when the flow meter stops. 00) is the electric valve inserted in the water flow line, 03) is the soft water tank ( 5) Shows the water level sensor that detects the water level inside.

Other methods include installing a switch in the water line that operates at a flow rate above a certain level, or installing a means to detect the pressure difference in the water line before and after the water softener, and comparing these detection signals with the signal from the flow meter. , it may be determined whether a normal detection signal is output from the flow meter depending on the presence or absence of water flow. It is also possible to provide a spare flowmeter and determine that the flowmeter is malfunctioning when there is a large difference between the measured values of the two flowmeters.

(4) is a timer which starts counting using the reproduction signal from the reproduction controller (7) as a reset signal, and sends a signal to that effect to the reproduction controller (7) when a predetermined time has elapsed. However, a relay contact 04) is inserted between the timer (4) and the regeneration controller (7), and the relay contact is activated only when a flowmeter failure signal is received from the failure detection means (2). The regeneration controller (7) receives the output signal from the timer (4) only when the flowmeter fails.
outputs a playback signal.

In the above configuration, normally, the flow rate regeneration method is used to measure the amount of water flowing with the flow meter (3), and when the integrated value of the amount of water flowing reaches a predetermined value, the water softener (1) performs a regeneration operation. When regeneration is performed, the value of the totalizer (6) is cleared. if,
If the failure detection means (2) detects that the flowmeter (3) has failed, relay contact 04) is closed and the timer is switched to one-way mode, and when a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the previous regeneration operation. Perform playback operation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

This invention has the above-mentioned configuration, and by combining the flow rate regeneration method and the timer type, the TS'/j'+ adopts the flow rate regeneration method to regenerate the water softener, and when the flowmeter fails, Since the regeneration operation is performed by switching to a one-timer type, the water softener can reliably regenerate even if the flow meter fails, making it an extremely safe water softener that does not leak hard water. Playback control is possible. Moreover, since the flow rate regeneration method is normally adopted, the amount of regeneration salt water used can be saved and running costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] The amount of water flowing through the water softener (1) is integrated by a flow meter (3), and when the integrated value reaches a predetermined value, the water softener is regenerated, and a failure of the flow meter (3) is detected. Means (2)
A water softener regeneration control method, comprising the step of: performing a regeneration operation of the water softener when a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the previous regeneration operation using a timer (4) when a flowmeter fails.