JPH0515941B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic hot water supply control method for a bath pot with a water heater that has a function of automatically supplying hot water to a bath.

[Conventional technology]

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the operating principle of a bath pot with a water heater having an automatic bath water supply function, which is the object of control of the present invention. The following explanation will be mainly based on FIG. 4, but the same applies to FIG.

This appliance is a so-called two-can, two-channel bathtub with water heater, in which a water heater and a bathtub are each housed in one interior 1. It consists of a burner 25 and a hot water supply heat exchanger 4 that heats water with its combustion heat.A water control valve 2 is provided on the water supply side of the heat exchanger 4, and a hot water outlet side is provided at the outlet of the heat exchanger 4. It is branched into two pipes, a pipe 7 for automatic bath water supply and a pipe 17 for general hot water supply, and the pipe 7 for automatic bath water supply is provided with a water flow sensor 5 and a water shutoff valve 6. On the other hand, the bath pot basically consists of a burner 26 and a reheating heat exchanger 1.
4 and a pump 12 for forcibly circulating hot water in the bathtub 19.

Furthermore, this appliance has an automatic hot water supply function,
A separation tank 8 with a separate structure is provided downstream of the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 7, and the outlet of the separation tank 8 is connected to the pump 1 located in the middle of the reheating circulation pipe 13.
It is connected to one connection port of a three-way switching valve 11 provided on the suction side of the valve 2.

Further, a control circuit 37 for controlling combustion, automatic bath water supply, etc. is provided within the appliance, and is electrically connected to a remote control 38 for remotely controlling it.

The above is the basic configuration of a bath pot with a water heater that has an automatic bath water supply function.

Next, these operations will be explained below.

First, when using it as a normal water heater, it is as follows. Issue a hot water supply command using the remote control 38, open the faucets at each hot water supply location, and let water flow into the hot water supply side waterway.
The hot water supply gas main valve 22 opens, and the gas adjusted to an appropriate amount by the gas proportional valve 23 is burned in the burner 25. The supplied water passes through a water control valve 2 and a water flow sensor 3, is heated by a hot water supply heat exchanger 4, passes through a general hot water supply pipe 17, and is discharged from each hot water tap.

Next, in the case of automatic hot water supply for baths, in this case, when a command for automatic hot water supply for baths is issued using the remote control 38, the water stop valve 6 provided in the pipe 7 exclusively for automatic hot water supply for baths opens. When water flows into the hot water supply side waterway, combustion on the hot water supply side starts as in the normal hot water supply described above, and the separation tank 8
Hot water is supplied inside. On the other hand, reheating circulation piping 13
The three-way switching valve 11 provided in the water shutoff valve 6
Before opening, the A and C sides are open and the B side is closed, and the hot water supplied into the separation tank 8 is supplied to the bathtub 19 by the pump 12 along the route of the arrow shown in FIG. Fill with hot water.

Finally, when using the bathtub as a normal bathtub, in this case as well, when the command to reheat the bathtub is issued using the remote control 38, the three-way switching valve 11 closes on the A side and opens on the B and C sides, and the pump 12 closes the bathtub 19. The hot water inside starts circulating, the reheating gas main cock 24 opens, and the burner 26 on the reheating side starts combustion. The hot water in the bathtub 19 is heated by the reheating heat exchanger 14 while being circulated by the pump 12, and the hot water in the bathtub 19 is boiled.

The structure and operation of the bathtub with water heater have been explained above based on the operating principle diagram shown in Fig. 4.
The same is true in the figure; in this case, the flow path switching during bath automatic hot water supply and bath reheating is performed by the three-way switching valve 11 in FIG.
This is done in step 2.

Next, a conventional technique related to a control method for starting automatic bath water supply in this bath pot with water heater will be explained based on FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. remote control 38
When the bath automatic hot water supply command is issued by the operation, first, the three-way switching valve 11 connects sides A and C in FIG. 4, and closes side B. This operation is performed using the remote control 38.
This is omitted if the A and C sides have already been connected before the operation. Next, the water shutoff valve 6 is opened, the water heater starts combustion, and hot water at an appropriate temperature is supplied into the separation tank 8. Furthermore, the pump 12 starts operating,
Automatic hot water supply of hot water in the separation tank 8 to the bathtub 19 is started using a part of the reheating circulation piping 13. Thereafter, the water control valve 2 is driven so that the water level in the separation tank 8 is constant, and the amount of water flowing into the separation tank 8 is adjusted. Specifically, the water control valve 2 is automatically driven by the signal from the water level sensor 5 installed in the bath automatic hot water supply pipe 7 and the water level sensors 9 and 10 installed in the separation tank 8. The amount of inflow to 8 is the amount of outflow from separation tank 8, that is, pump 1
The amount of hot water supplied to the bathtub 19 is controlled to be equal to the amount of hot water supplied to the bathtub 19 by 2. On the other hand, the water flow sensor 5 integrates the flow rate passing through the bathtub automatic hot water supply pipe 7, and when this integrated value reaches the automatic hot water supply setting value to the bathtub 19, combustion is automatically stopped and automatic hot water supply is also stopped. .

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The conventional control method shown in FIG. 3 has the following two problems at the start of automatic hot water supply. The first problem is that even if the water control valve 2 is fully open, when a bath automatic hot water supply start command is issued by operating the remote controller 38, the water shutoff valve 6 is immediately opened.
In this conventional control method, a large flow of hot water suddenly flows into the separation tank 8 when the water stop valve 6 opens, and the ability of the pump 12 to suck air from the separation tank 8 at startup is reduced. Since it takes time to return to normal capacity, the water level in the separation tank 8 rises rapidly, causing an overflow. This overflow wets surrounding electrical components and causes problems such as shortening and electrical leakage, so it must be drained out of the main body 1. From these points, it is necessary to increase the size of the separation tank 8 and to provide an overflow pipe 16. Moreover, the overflowing hot water is not used and is simply discharged, resulting in energy loss and being uneconomical. If overflow to the outside of the body is to be prevented, the capacity of the separation tank 8 must be further increased, which not only increases the size of the body of the bathtub with water heater and increases costs, but also requires a large installation space. There was a problem in that the installation conditions for the equipment were also poor. Note that this separation tank 8 is
This is absolutely necessary to separate clean water and waste water.

The second problem is that the pump 12 starts operating almost at the same time as the water stop valve 6 opens. This is because when the inside of the separation tank 8 is empty during automatic bath water supply, the pump 12 will naturally be operated with air mixed in, which will adversely affect the life of the pump 12 and cause reliability problems. Furthermore, operating the pump while mixing air caused problems as it became a source of large noise.

[Means for solving problems]

A control method of the present invention for solving the above problems is shown in FIG. In the control method shown in FIG. 1, when a bath automatic hot water supply command is issued from the remote controller 38, the three-way switching valve 11 is first switched to open the A and C sides and close the B side. This operation is the same as the conventional one, but the following operations are different. That is, in order to prevent a sudden inflow of hot water, after the water control valve 2 is once throttled to a certain opening degree, the water shutoff valve 6 is opened and the burner 25 on the water heater side starts combustion. Next, in order to prevent the pump 12 from sucking in air, the pump 12 starts operating after the water level in the separation tank 8 reaches a certain level.

[Effect]

According to the control method of the present invention, since a small flow of hot water is first injected into the separation tank 8 when automatic bath water supply starts, the water level in the separation tank 8 gradually rises. Further, since the operation of the pump 12 is started after a certain amount of hot water has accumulated in the separation tank 8, air is prevented from entering the pump 12.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the control method of the present invention. When starting automatic bath water supply using the remote control 38, the water control valve 2 is throttled down to about half the flow rate when fully opened, and then the water shutoff valve 6 is opened. Furthermore, when the water level in the separation tank 8 reaches or exceeds the water level sensor 10 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the pump 12 is started to operate, and automatic hot water supply to the bathtub 19 is started. According to this control method, the flow rate flowing into the separation tank 8 when the water shutoff valve 6 opens is controlled by the water control valve 2.
The water level in the separation tank 8 rises gradually because the water level becomes about 1/2 of that when the tank is fully opened. Furthermore, when the water level in the separation tank 8 reaches or exceeds the water level sensor 10, the pump 1
Since the operation of step 2 is started, air mixing by the pump 12 does not occur.

In addition, in this embodiment, the flow rate when the water stop valve 6 is open is reduced to about 1/2 of that when it is fully open, but this is because the separation tank 8
It is determined by the size of the pump 12, the capacity of the pump 12, etc., and is not particularly limited to this value. Furthermore, the timing for starting the operation of the pump 12 is determined by the size of the separation tank 8, the number and position of water level sensors, the pump capacity, etc., and is not particularly limited to when the number of water level sensors reaches 10 or more. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

In the conventional control method, an overflow from the separation tank 8 occurs at the start of automatic bath water supply, and it is necessary to increase the size of the separation tank 8 in order to prevent the occurrence of this overflow.

According to the present invention, since the separation tank 8 can be downsized, the body of the bathtub with water heater can also be downsized, reducing costs and requiring less installation space. Moreover, since the occurrence of overflow can be prevented, overflow piping is not required and energy loss due to overflow is also eliminated.

Furthermore, in the conventional technology, the life of the pump 12 was adversely affected and the reliability was reduced due to air being mixed into the pump 12, and the noise caused by the mixing of air was large, but according to the present invention, the life of the pump 12 is reduced. It is longer, which improves reliability and reduces noise.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a procedure diagram showing a control method for automatically starting bath water supply according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is an embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a procedure diagram showing a conventional control method for starting automatic bath water supply, and Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams of the operating principle of a bath pot with a hot water heater that has an automatic bath water supply function. 1... Body of bathtub with water heater, 2... Water control valve,
4... Heat exchanger for hot water supply, 6... Water shutoff valve, 7...
Bath automatic hot water supply pipe, 8...Separation tank, 9,1
0... Water level sensor, 12... Pump, 14... Heat exchanger for reheating, 19... Bathtub, 37... Control circuit, 38... Remote control.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A water control valve 2 is provided on the inlet side of the heat exchanger 4 for hot water supply, and a hot water outlet pipe is branched on the outlet side, one of which is a pipe 7 exclusively for bath automatic hot water supply, and a water flow sensor 5,
A separation tank 8 is equipped with a water shut-off valve 6, and on the downstream side there is a separation tank 8 which is separated from this pipe and connected to a reheating circulation pipe 13 having a pump 12, and the pump 12 is connected to the water circulation path on the suction side. In a bath pot with a water heater that automatically supplies hot water to a bathtub 19 by connecting the separation tank 8 to the three-way valve 11, the water control valve 2 is throttled to a certain opening degree at the start of automatic bath water supply. After that, the water shutoff valve 6 is opened, and after the water level in the separation tank 8 reaches a certain level, the pump 12 is driven, and the three-way valve 11 is connected from the separation tank 8 to the pump 12 before opening the water shutoff valve 6. A method of controlling a bathtub with a water heater, characterized in that only the bathtub is opened.