JPH10235355A - Ion water generator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An ion water generator for performing electrode cleaning by switching the polarity of an applied voltage to an electrode enables discharge of ion water during electrode cleaning. When an electrode cleaning start signal is received, a controller switches the polarity of a DC voltage applied from a power supply to the electrodes by a polarity switching circuit, performs electrode cleaning, and starts a built-in timer. Then, the washing time is measured. Then, when there is a water discharge start input from the water discharge start switch 5 during the cleaning, the measured value of the cleaning time up to that time is stored in the storage unit 18, the electrode cleaning is stopped, and the ion water is discharged. Thereafter, when there is a water discharge end input from the water discharge end switch 6, the water discharge is stopped and the electrode cleaning is restarted, and the electrode discharge is performed only for the remaining time obtained by subtracting the measurement value stored in the storage unit 18 from the predetermined cleaning time set in advance. Perform cleaning.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ionic water generator for electrolyzing water to generate ionic water, and more particularly to an ionic water generator for cleaning an electrode by switching the polarity of a DC voltage applied to an electrode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art While supplying tap water to an electrolytic cell provided with an electrode, a DC voltage is applied to the electrode to electrolyze water in the electrolytic cell to continuously produce acidic water or alkaline water. In the ionized water generator that discharges water, if the electrolysis is continued, calcium ions and the like in the water are deposited on the electrodes, and the properties of the generated ionized water are reduced. Therefore, in this case, the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the electrode are exchanged for a certain period of time, and a DC voltage is applied to remove the deposit (called electrode cleaning).

[0003]

In this case, the conventional ionic water generator has a disadvantage that the ionic water cannot be used during the electrode cleaning because the ionic water discharge request cannot be accepted during the electrode cleaning. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to use ion water at any time even during electrode cleaning.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The performance of the electrode due to the adhesion of the deposit is gradually reduced, and the characteristics of the ionized water generated by electrolysis by the electrode are also slowly reduced. Therefore, based on the judgment that a certain amount of ion water can be used even when the cleaning time has arrived, the present invention according to claim 1 stops the electrode cleaning if there is a request for ion water discharge during electrode cleaning. In addition, a control means for discharging the ionic water is provided so that the ionic water can be discharged even during the electrode cleaning.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ionized water generator, a control means is provided for automatically restarting the electrode cleaning when the discharge of the ionized water which has been performed by stopping the electrode cleaning is completed. Allow electrode cleaning to continue.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned ionic water generator, means for setting a necessary electrode cleaning amount,
Means for measuring the amount of electrode cleaning, means for storing the amount of electrode cleaning measured by the measuring means before stopping the electrode cleaning, and restarting the electrode cleaning when the discharge of the ionized water performed by stopping the electrode cleaning is completed. And control means for performing the electrode cleaning in a quantity obtained by subtracting the electrode cleaning quantity before stopping the electrode cleaning from the required electrode cleaning quantity. Thus, even when the electrode cleaning is interrupted, the remaining electrode cleaning amount can be completed. The electrode cleaning amount can be measured by the cleaning time or the amount of water (either the flow rate of raw water or the discharge amount of ionized water).

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ion water generator, comprising: means for setting an allowable amount of ion water spouting to be performed by suspending electrode cleaning; means for measuring the amount of ion water spouting; A control means is provided for stopping the discharge of the ionized water and restarting the electrode cleaning when the discharge amount of the ionized water during the cleaning stop reaches the allowable amount. As a result, the amount of ionized water to be discharged by interrupting electrode cleaning can be limited, and the discharge of ionized water whose characteristics are excessively reduced can be prevented.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ionized water generator, a means for issuing a warning at the same time as the stoppage of the discharge of the ionized water is provided, and the stoppage of the discharge of the ionized water is because the discharge amount has reached an allowable amount. Notify. As the alarm means, a buzzer, a lamp, a display, or the like can be used.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention in an ion water generator in which saline is used as an electrolysis assistant and alkaline water is taken out will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 2 is a front view showing the external appearance of an ion water generator, in which a water supply port 2 for taking in tap water from a water tap (not shown) is provided at an upper portion of a main body 1, and one of generated alkaline water and acidic water is provided at a lower portion. And a drain port 4 for discharging the other as waste water. And
On the front surface of the main body 1, a water discharge start switch 5 for starting water discharge of ion water, a water discharge end switch 6 for stopping water discharge,
A display section 7 for displaying various information is arranged.

FIG. 3 shows the internal configuration of the ion water generator. In FIG. 3, tap water entered from the water inlet 2 enters the electrolytic cell 9 via a water valve (solenoid valve) 8 as shown by an arrow A. At the same time, the saline solution stored in the saline solution tank 10 is sent to the electrolytic cell 9 by the saline solution pump 11 as shown by the arrow B, and merges with the tap water at the inlet. Electrodes 12 and 13 are installed in the electrolytic cell 9, and the tap water into which the saline solution is injected is electrolyzed by a DC voltage applied to the electrodes 12 and 13 from the power supply 14 via the polarity switching circuit 15. Alkaline water is generated near the negative electrode 12, and acidic water is generated near the positive electrode 13. Three-way valve 16
Switches between flowing the ionized water near the negative electrode 12 to the water discharge port 3 as shown by the arrow C and flowing to the drainage port 4 as shown by the arrow D, and switches to the water discharge port 3 side during the generation of the ionized water. Have been. Ion water near the positive electrode 13 flows to the drain 4 as it is.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of the ion water generator. In a standby state, a control unit 17 comprising a microcomputer receives signals from a water discharge start switch 5 and a water discharge end switch 6, and receives a signal from a water valve 8, The salt water pump 11 and the power supply 14 are controlled to be on and off, respectively. Also,
The control unit 17 has a built-in timer, and when the total time of ion water generation reaches a certain time, for example, one hour, a certain time, for example, 5 hours.
Perform electrode cleaning for minutes. This electrode cleaning is performed by switching the polarity switching circuit 15 to invert the polarity of the voltage applied to the electrodes 12 and 13, and switching the three-way valve 16 to the drain port 4 side to supply the electrolytic tank 9 via the water valve 8. Is performed, and all generated ion water is discharged from the drain port 4. As shown in FIG. 1, the polarity switching circuit 15 is a circuit that combines two relays to exchange a positive electrode and a negative electrode. It is not necessary to operate the saline solution pump 11 at the time of electrode cleaning.

The control section 17 is provided with a storage section 18 composed of a semiconductor memory for storing control data when the electrode cleaning is stopped, as will be described later. In the RAM (not shown) of the control unit 17, a required amount of electrode cleaning every time, in this case, 5 minutes as a cleaning time is set and input, and the allowable amount when the electrode cleaning is stopped and ion water is spouted. In this case, 3 minutes is set and input as the water discharge time.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control program of the control unit 17 relating to electrode cleaning. In FIG.
When an electrode cleaning start signal is generated during the operation standby, the electrode cleaning is started, and at the same time, a cleaning timer for measuring the electrode cleaning amount (in this case, cleaning time) is started (step S).
1). Next, the measured value of the cleaning timer is set to 5 of the required cleaning time.
It is checked whether the number of minutes has exceeded (step S2). If the number of minutes has exceeded, all the timers are reset, the stored value of the storage unit 18 is cleared, and a standby state is set (step S11). If it does not exceed 5 minutes, it is checked whether there is an input from the water discharge start switch 5 (step S3), and if there is no input, the process returns to step S2.

If there is a water discharge start input in step S3, the measured value of the cleaning timer up to that time is stored in the storage unit 18, the electrode cleaning is stopped, and the water discharge of the ion water is started. A water discharge timer as a means for measuring is started (step S4). Next, it is checked whether or not the measured value of the water discharge timer has exceeded the allowable water discharge time of 3 minutes (step S5), and if not, it is subsequently checked whether there is an input from the water discharge end switch 6 (step S5).
6). If there is no input, the process returns to step S5.
If there is an input, after the ion water spouting is completed (step S
7), the electrode cleaning is restarted, and at the same time, a re-cleaning timer for measuring the cleaning time after restarting the cleaning is started (step S).
8).

Next, it is checked whether the measured value of the re-cleaning timer exceeds the remaining value obtained by subtracting the measured value of the cleaning timer stored in the storage unit 18 from 5 minutes (step S).
9) If all the timers are exceeded, reset all timers.
Is cleared and the process returns to the standby state (step S1).
1). On the other hand, if the measured value of the water discharge timer exceeds 3 minutes in step S5, the water discharge of the ionized water is terminated, an alarm is displayed on the display unit 7 (step S10), and step S10 is performed.
Move to 8 and restart the electrode cleaning.

In the above embodiment, the electrode cleaning amount and the ionized water discharge amount are measured by time, but may be measured by integrating the flow rates of raw water (tap water) or ionized water by a flow meter. Further, the electrode cleaning during the operation standby is automatically started by the timer control. However, the cleaning start switch may be manually operated based on the lighting of the lamp by the timer control or the judgment of the user.

[0017]

According to the present invention, since the ionic water can be spouted even during the electrode washing, the usability of the ionic water generator is improved, and the washing is automatically restarted after the spouting, thereby avoiding the insufficient washing. In addition, by restricting the amount of ionic water discharged during the suspension of cleaning, excessive use of ionic water with reduced characteristics can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of an ion water generator showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an external appearance of an ion water generator according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an internal configuration diagram of the ionized water generator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control program of a control unit in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 water supply port 3 ion water discharge port 5 water discharge start switch 6 water discharge end switch 7 display section 9 electrolytic cell 12 electrode 13 electrode 14 power supply 15 polarity switching circuit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. While supplying tap water to an electrolytic cell provided with an electrode, a DC voltage is applied to the electrode to electrolyze water in the electrolytic cell to continuously generate ionic water to discharge water. In an ion water generator configured to perform electrode cleaning by switching the polarity of a DC voltage applied to the electrode, if there is a request to discharge ion water during electrode cleaning, the electrode cleaning is stopped and ion water is discharged. An ion water generator provided with control means. 2. The ionic water generator according to claim 1, further comprising control means for automatically restarting the electrode cleaning when the discharging of the ionic water, which has been performed by stopping the electrode cleaning, is completed. Means for setting a required amount of electrode cleaning, means for measuring the amount of electrode cleaning, means for storing the amount of electrode cleaning measured by the measuring means before stopping the electrode cleaning, and stopping the electrode cleaning. Control means for restarting the electrode cleaning when the ionic water discharge performed is completed, and performing electrode cleaning of an amount obtained by subtracting the electrode cleaning amount before stopping the electrode cleaning from the required electrode cleaning amount. The ion water generator according to claim 2, wherein A means for setting an allowable amount of ionized water to be discharged by stopping the electrode cleaning; a means for measuring the amount of ionized water to be discharged; 4. The ionic water generator according to claim 3, further comprising control means for stopping the discharge of the ionic water and restarting the electrode cleaning when the ionic water is reached. 5. The ionic water generator according to claim 4, further comprising means for issuing an alarm at the same time as the stoppage of the discharge of the ionic water.