JPH0883673A - Heater safety device and circulating hot bath - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Object] The present invention is capable of using a small-capacity thermal fuse, is low in cost, and is a heater safety device that can reliably ensure safety, and a compact circulating hot bath that does not cause overheating accidents. The purpose is to provide. According to the heater safety device of the present invention, a control relay and a cutoff relay are connected in series with a heater, and a control relay operation circuit and a cutoff relay operation circuit that share a temperature fuse are provided. The heater control means is connected to the operation circuit and the temperature fuse is arranged in the vicinity of the heater. Further, the circulating warm bath according to the present invention is characterized in that the heater for safety is provided with the above heater safety device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heater safety device capable of reliably preventing an overheating accident when a heater is used, and to constantly circulate bath water for cleaning and heating.
The present invention relates to a safe circulating hot water bath that can be bathed at any time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A circulating hot water bath that circulates bath water through a filtration tank, an activation tank, etc. using a circulation pump and removes and activates slime and dust of bath water is used in household baths, etc. Has also been used in the past.

Recently, however, so-called 24-hour baths have been developed in which the temperature is controlled by using a heater for heat retention, and the bath is not limited to simply removing slimms and dusts and activating them, but can be bathed for 24 hours.

In addition, hygiene is also important in the circulating warm bath. BACKGROUND ART In order to sterilize bath water, remove slimy odor, and remove bad odor, an ultraviolet sterilizer and a small ozone generator are provided to perform sterilization treatment.

In addition, in order to give comfort to the circulating hot water bath, a new function has been added. For example, in order to give the bathtub a massage effect, air is sucked into the bathtub and jetted into the bathtub to generate bubbles. The jet is a moderate pressure on the human body while bathing,
It is a rhythm that provides a bathing environment with an excellent massage effect.

Therefore, the conventional circulating hot water bath having the above-mentioned functions and the heater for keeping warm are used as follows.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system of a circulating warm bath according to an embodiment of the present invention. However, since the circulating warm bath of the present invention and the conventional circulating warm bath are basically the same in terms of system, the conventional circulating warm bath will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a heater safety device for keeping heat of a conventional circulating hot water bath.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a bathtub, 2 is a suction port, 3
Is a circulation pump. 4 is an injector, 5 is an ozone generator, 6 is an ozone on-off valve, 7 and 23 are all three-way valves, and 8 is a filtration tank. A separation chamber 9 is provided in the filtration tank 8. 10 is an exhaust valve, 11 is a bypass valve, 12 is a discharge port, 13 is a drain port, and 14 is a sub-circulation pipe. As will be described later, the bypass valve 11 is a valve for sending bath water from the bypass passage as well as water from the injector 4. Reference numeral 15 is a heat retention heater, and 16 is a flow switch. 24 VAC is supplied to the heat retaining heater 15. Reference numeral 17 is a water intake pipe, and 18 is an intake port. 19 is a part of the filtration tank 8, the injector 4,
This is a bathtub water circulation passage unit in which the ozone on-off valve 6, the three-way valve 7, and the exhaust valve 10 are housed, and the outer casing of the bathtub water circulation passage unit 19 is made of plastic. In addition, the injector 4 and the circulation pipe inside the bath water circulation passage unit 19 are all made of plastic. This is because these devices need to be placed near the bath tub 1, and corrosion resistance and water resistance are required. 20 is a priming valve, 21 and 22 are all three-way valves 7,
It is a common mouth of 23. The priming valve 20 is provided on the priming pipe 17 branched from the circulation pipe.

As shown in FIG. 1, the circulation pipe in which the suction port 2 is inserted into the bath water stretched over the bath 1 is the heater 1 for keeping heat.
5 and then to the circulation pump 3.
Since the circulation pump 3 is a turbo type pump, priming water is required in the initial stage of startup, and the priming pipe 17 equipped with the priming valve 20 is provided.
Is called from. After the circulation pipe is drawn out from the circulation pump 3, it is connected to the filtration tank 8 via the flow switch 16 in the bath water circulation passage unit 19.

The structure of the bath water circulation unit 19 will be described. In the circulation pipe provided with the flow switch 16, the downstream side of the flow switch 16 is connected to any of the injector 4, the bypass valve 11 and the three-way valve 7. To be done. Of these, the injector 4 is also connected to an ozone generator 5 via an ozone opening / closing valve 6. The ozone generator 5 sucks air from the intake port 18, generates ozone gas, and then mixes ozone gas into the bath water with the injector 4 according to opening / closing of the ozone opening / closing valve 6. The circulation pipe coming out of the injector 4 is a three-way valve 23.
Connected to. One of the connection ports of the three-way valve 23 is the drain port 13
The common port 22, which is another connection port, is connected to the filtration tank 8. Similarly, the common port 21, which is one of the connection ports of the three-way valve 7, is connected to the water conduit extending to the bottom of the filtration tank 8 via the auxiliary circulation pipe 14. The circulation pipe connected to the other connection port extends into the bathtub 1 and opens the discharge port 12 inside. Further, in this vicinity, the circulation pipe and the separation chamber 9 in the filtration tank 8 communicate with each other via an exhaust valve 10. All of these devices are housed in the plastic casing of the bath water circulation unit 19.

Next, how the circulating warm bath operates will be described. When the circulation pump 3 is driven in the normal circulation mode, the bath water is sucked from the suction port 2, heated by the heat-retaining heater 15 to an arbitrary set temperature and kept warm, and then discharged from the circulation pump 3 and sent to the injector 4. To be At this time, the bypass valve 11 is closed. The three-way valve 7 connects the auxiliary circulation pipe 14 and the circulation pipe on the discharge port 12 side, and the three-way valve 23 is switched so that the injector 4 and the common port 22 are connected. When the flow switch 16 detects that the bath water is flowing, a controller (not shown) commands the ozone on-off valve 6 to open, and the ozone gas generated in the ozone generator 5 is sucked into the injector 4 by its negative pressure. To be done. The bath water and ozone gas are vigorously mixed in the injector 4,
It is jetted into the filtration tank 8 via the three-way valve 23. However, this ozone mixing is not performed continuously, but intermittently. That is, the ozone generator 5 is operated for 15 seconds
ec and stop are repeated at a cycle of about 7 minutes. This is because operation in this cycle is the most balanced operation from the two aspects of sterilization and operation cost.

The bath water and the ozone gas that have entered the filtration tank 8 are once strongly mixed, and then again separated into gas and liquid in the separation chamber 9. The bath water that has been sterilized by contact with ozone gas is purified through the filter material in the filtration tank 8, passes through the water pipe inserted to the bottom of the filtration tank 8, and then the three-way valve 7
And is discharged from the discharge port 12 to the bathtub 1. In addition to the filter material, a mineral material such as barley stone is stored in the filtration tank 8 so that the bath water can be activated in addition to the purification.

By the way, when it is desired to increase the amount of water circulated in the circulation mode, the bypass valve 11 may be opened during the period in which the ozone generator 5 is stopped by the periodic operation. Then, the bath water is jetted into the filtration tank 8 through the two paths through the injector 4 and the bypass valve 11, and the bath water is sterilized by vigorous mixing with the ozone gas in the separation chamber 9. After being purified by the filter medium, the water in the bathtub has a discharge port 12
Is discharged into the bathtub 1. When the stop period of the ozone generator 5 ends, the exhaust valve 10 is opened to discharge the ozone gas remaining in the separation chamber 9, and the next cycle is started. Since ozone gas is poor in stability, some ozone is changed to oxygen.

Next, the backwash mode will be described. If filtration is continued in the filtration tank 8, the filter medium will become clogged, slimy, etc., and the filtration capacity will decline. Therefore, in this mode, the filter medium in the filtration tank 8 is periodically backwashed to recover the filtration capacity. In backwash mode,
The three-way valve 7 is switched, and the circulation pipe on the flow switch 16 side and the sub circulation pipe 14 are connected. The common port of the three-way valve 23 communicates with the drain port 13 side, and the bypass valve 11
Is closed. When the circulation pump 3 is operated in this state,
Bath water enters the three-way valve 7 through the flow switch 16,
From here, bath water is jetted to the bottom of the filtration tank 8. The jetted bath water is washed back through the filter medium in the filtration tank 8 and then drained from the drain port 13 through the three-way valve 23. This removes dirt and slime from the filter medium.

Now, a detailed description will be given of the heater 15 for keeping heat used in the conventional circulating warm bath with reference to FIG. A low-voltage AC 24 V is applied to the heat-retaining heater 15 for reasons such as low-voltage safety design and measures against leakage. For this reason, the power is supplied from the commercial voltage of AC 100 V down to 24 V by the insulating transformer 28. The 24 volt power supply output from the insulating transformer 28, the heat-retaining heater 15, the control relay 26, and the temperature fuse 25 are all connected in series to form a heater circuit. The control relay 26, which is inserted to control the heater circuit, has its exciting coil connected to a DC power source, which is a relay driving power source, and a heater control means. Although not shown, the heater control means controls the heater by a controller that controls the entire circulating hot water bath. Since the voltage applied to the heater circuit is as low as 24 VAC and the allowable current is large, the thermal fuse 25 is not a general-purpose fuse but a large capacity special one.

When the bath water is sent to the heat retaining heater 15,
The control relay 26 is opened / closed by the heater control means, an electric current flows through the heater circuit, the heat-retaining heater 15 generates heat, and the bath water is heated to a set temperature and kept warm. If the heat-retaining heater 15 is overheated due to an abnormality such as welding of the control relay, the thermal fuse 25 detects the overheat abnormality and generates heat to cause a disconnection. Due to this melting disconnection, power supply to the heat retaining heater 15 is cut off, and the heat retaining heater 15 can be made safe.

[0016]

However, as described above, the heater safety device for the conventional heater for keeping warm of the circulating hot water bath has a large-capacity thermal fuse in order to prevent abnormal overcurrent and overheat and ensure safety. Must be used, which was expensive compared to what is commonly used. Moreover, since only thermal fuses are used, reliability for safety is another problem, and there is a risk of causing failure or overheating. This is not limited to the heat retaining heater of the circulating hot water bath, and the same applies to devices using heaters such as water heaters and electric heaters.

Further, in the circulating warm bath using the heat retaining heater, the temperature is controlled by using the heat retaining heater.
You can take a bath at any time, but if the heat-retaining heater overheats abnormally, there is a risk that the plastic moldings and parts around the heat-retaining heater will be melted by the heat and break down.

Therefore, the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a heater safety device which can use a small-capacity temperature fuse and can ensure safety at low cost. To do.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a compact circulating hot water bath which is compact and does not cause a failure.

[0020]

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, a heater safety device of the present invention is a control relay in which a control relay and a cutoff relay are connected in series with a heater and a temperature fuse is shared. An operating circuit and a disconnecting relay operating circuit are provided, a heater control means is provided in the control relay operating circuit, and a temperature fuse is arranged in the vicinity of the heater.

In the heater safety device of the present invention, the control relay and the cutoff relay are connected in series with the heater, one end of the exciting coil of the control relay is connected to the heater control means, and the other end is connected via the temperature fuse. It is characterized in that it is connected to a relay driving power source, the exciting coil of the breaking relay is connected to the other end of the temperature fuse through a safety control circuit, and the temperature fuse is arranged in the vicinity of the heater.

The circulating warm bath according to the present invention includes a bathtub, a circulation pump for circulating the bathwater in the bathtub through a circulation path, a heater for keeping the bathwater at a set temperature, and bathwater in the bathtub. And a filtration tank for filtering the same, and the heater is provided with the above heater safety device.

[0023]

In the heater safety device of the present invention, the control relay and the cutoff relay are connected in series with the heater, and the control relay operation circuit and the cutoff relay operation circuit that share the temperature fuse are provided. Since it is arranged in the vicinity, the heater circuit can be cut off by the two relays for control and the cutoff relay to ensure double safety. Since the thermal fuse is not directly connected to the heater circuit, a small capacity thermal fuse can be used.

In the heater safety device of the present invention, one end of the exciting coil of the control relay is connected to the heater control means and the other end is connected to the relay driving power source through the temperature fuse, and the exciting coil of the breaking relay is Since it is connected to the other end of the thermal fuse via the safety control circuit, the control relay can be used not only for controlling the heater but also for shutting off the heater circuit. The heater circuit can be cut off twice by controlling the relay.

Since the circulating warm bath according to the present invention is provided with the above heater safety device in the heater for heat retention, it can be made compact.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A heater safety device and a circulating hot water bath according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system of a circulating warm bath according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a heater safety device for keeping warm of a circulating hot water bath in one embodiment of the present invention.

The circulating warm bath of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is basically the same as the conventional circulating warm bath in terms of system.
Since this conventional circulating hot water bath has already been described, the description thereof will be omitted and the description thereof will be omitted here.

A warming heater for a circulating warm bath according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 2, 15 is a heater for heat insulation, 26 is a control relay, 27 is an interruption relay, 28 is an insulation transformer, and 2
9 is a safety control circuit, and 30 is a thermal fuse. A low voltage of 24 V AC instead of 100 V AC is applied to the heater 15 of the present embodiment for reasons such as low voltage design and measures against leakage. The shutoff relay 27 and the insulation transformer 28 are a metal and resin coated power supply box 2
4 is compactly housed, and these are further connected to the heat retention heater 15 and the control relay 26 to form a heater circuit. Therefore, the control relay 26 and the cutoff relay 2
7 is connected in series with the heater 15 for heat retention. The thermal fuse 30 has a generally used small capacity and is directly attached to the surface of the heater 15 for heat retention. The heater 15 for heat retention may be arranged anywhere as long as it can be melted by overheating.

Next, the control relay 26 and the breaking relay 27
The operation circuit will be described. One end of the temperature fuse 30 is connected to the exciting coil of the control relay 26 and also to the safety control circuit 29. The safety control circuit 29 includes a current amplifier circuit in which transistors are connected in Darlington, and controls the breaking relay 27 when the temperature fuse 30 is melted. The other end of the temperature fuse 30 is connected to a DC power source which is a relay driving power source for driving the control relay 26. The safety control device 29 is further connected to the exciting coil of the breaking relay 27. The other end of this exciting coil is grounded. The control relay operation circuit for operating the control relay 26 is composed of heater control means for controlling the exciting coil of the control relay 26 and the temperature fuse 30, and the interruption relay operation circuit for operating the interruption relay 27 is interrupted. A safety control circuit 29 for controlling the exciting coil of the relay 27 and a temperature fuse 30. The thermal fuse 30 is shared by both operating circuits. The current flowing through both operation circuits can be made considerably smaller than the current flowing through the heater circuit which is the main circuit.

Next, how the heater safety device of the heat retaining heater 15 of this embodiment operates will be described. When the temperature of the bath water is controlled by the heat-retaining heater 15 at a set temperature, the contact portion of the control relay 26 connected in series with the heat-retaining heater 15 is melted and short-circuited, or the controller that is the heater control means runs away. When the contact portion of the control relay 26 is in the normal contact state, an abnormal overcurrent flows through the heat retaining heater 15 and the heat retaining heater 15 is overheated. However, in this embodiment, since the temperature fuse 30 is attached to the surface of the heater 15 for heat retention, this is immediately detected and melted. Then, the control relay operation circuit is opened, the power supply from the DC power supply is cut off, and the control relay 26 is cut off. Similarly, the temperature fuse 30
When the power is cut off, the safety control circuit 29 of the cutoff relay operation circuit
Are simultaneously actuated to shut off the relay 27 for shutting off the current flowing through the heater circuit.

As described above, the heater safety device for heat retention of this embodiment uses the control relay operating circuit to control the relay 26 for control.
Can be used not only for controlling the heat retaining heater 15 by the heater control means, but also for cutting off the heater circuit. Then, the shutoff relay operating circuit can doubly shut off the heater circuit by the safety control circuit 29. Thus, when overheating of the heat retention heater 15 is detected by the temperature fuse 30, the heater circuit is double cut off, so that either the control relay 26 or the cutoff relay 27 is broken. Even in such a case, safety can be surely ensured. Further, unlike the conventional heater safety device, the heat generated by the heat retaining heater 15 is detected in the vicinity without being connected in series with the heat retaining heater 15.
The capacity of the heat retention heater 15 can be reduced. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a large-capacity special temperature fuse, and the cost can be reduced.

By the way, since the circulating hot water bath of this embodiment handles water and ozone, many parts are made of plastic moldings resistant to water and corrosion. Also bathtub 1
Since the bathroom space in which the room is placed is generally small, the circulating warm bath is often required to be compact in order to effectively use it. Therefore, the heat retaining heater 15 of the present embodiment has a structure in which many plastic molded products are arranged around the heater 15. However, in the conventional circulating hot water bath, if such an arrangement is adopted, there is a risk that the heat retaining heater 15 is overheated and the surrounding plastic molded articles and parts are melted by the heat, causing a failure or an overheating accident. However, in the circulating hot water bath of this embodiment, the heater safety device that can double ensure the safety is used, and it is very safe and will not cause a failure or an accident. Further, in the conventional circulation warm bath, the heater 15 for heat retention and the plastic molded product and the like must be provided with a margin in order to ensure safety, and the size must be increased. The heater safety device can make the structure of the circulating hot bath more compact.

Although the heater for keeping warm of the circulating warm bath has been described above, the risk of causing an accident due to overheating of the heater is not limited to the heater for keeping warm of the circulating warm bath. Devices that generally use heaters, such as water heaters and electric heaters that use midnight power, have the same problem. The present invention can be used as a heater safety device that can reliably ensure safety even for such a commonly used heater.

[0034]

According to the heater safety device of the present invention, the control relay and the breaking relay are connected in series with the heater, and the control relay operating circuit and the breaking relay operating circuit, which are connected to the common temperature fuse, are provided, Since the fuse is arranged in the vicinity of the heater, the heater circuit can be cut off at two locations, that is, the control relay and the cutoff relay, to prevent double overcurrent and abnormal heating. Even if either the control relay or the cutoff relay is broken, the safety can be reliably ensured with a simple configuration. Since the temperature fuse is not directly connected to the heater circuit in series, a small capacity temperature fuse can be used, and the cost can be reduced.

Further, in the heater safety device of the present invention, one end of the exciting coil of the control relay is connected to the heater control means and the other end is connected to the relay driving power source through the temperature fuse, and the exciting coil of the breaking relay is connected. Since it is connected to the other end of the thermal fuse via the safety control circuit, the control relay can be used not only for controlling the heater but also for shutting off the heater circuit. It can be used to shut off.

Since the circulating warm bath according to the present invention is provided with the above heater safety device in the heat retaining heater, it is possible to have a safe and compact structure without causing a failure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a system of a circulating hot water bath according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a heater safety device for keeping warm of a circulating hot water bath in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram of a heater safety device for keeping heat of a conventional circulating hot water bath.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Bathtub 2 Suction port 3 Circulation pump 4 Injector 5 Ozone generator 6 Ozone opening / closing valve 7,23 Three-way valve 8 Filtration tank 9 Separation chamber 10 Exhaust valve 11 Bypass valve 12 Discharge port 13 Drain port 14 Sub circulation pipe 15 Heat retention heater 16 Flow switch 17 Water intake pipe 18 Intake port 19 Bath water circulation circuit unit 20 Water intake valve 21, 22 Common port 24 Power supply box 25, 30 Temperature fuse 26 Control relay 27 Breaking relay 28 Insulation transformer 29 Safety control circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A control relay and a breaking relay are connected in series with a heater, and a control relay operating circuit and a breaking relay operating circuit that share a temperature fuse are provided, and a heater control means is provided in the control relay operating circuit. And a thermal safety device characterized in that the thermal fuse is disposed in the vicinity of the heater. 2. A control relay and a cutoff relay are connected in series with a heater, one end of an exciting coil of the control relay is connected to a heater control means, and the other end is connected to a relay drive power source through a temperature fuse. A heater safety device is characterized in that the exciting coil of the breaking relay is connected to the other end of the temperature fuse via a safety control circuit, and the temperature fuse is arranged in the vicinity of the heater. 3. A bathtub, a circulation pump for circulating bathwater in the bathtub through a circulation path, a heater for keeping the bathwater at a set temperature, and a filtration tank for filtering the bathwater in the bathtub. And a heater safety device according to claim 1, wherein the heater is provided with the heater safety device.