JPH0285620A - Hot water feed device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a sound caused by actuation low by making a hot water reservation tank unnecessary, by a method wherein an arithmetic unit operating feedable time and quantity of hot water based on a detected value of a detecting device and an indicator for an operation result are provided. CONSTITUTION:An indicating panel 52 indicating how long or how much hot water can be discharged for the future judging from an outflow state of the hot water and a regenerative state of a regenerative material 38 and time indication and quantity indication are changed to each other by operating a switch 54. A control signal is applied to a control valve 44 of amount of heat based on a signal from a temperature setting instrument 48 and detected signals of sensors 60, 62, 64 and a flow of a heating medium within a heat transfer tube 28 is controlled so that a temperature becomes an established one, in a controller 58. Then a flow control valve 66 is provided on a feed-water pipe 22, the control signal is applied to the flow control valve 66 from the controller 58 by the signals through a flow setting switch 50 and the flow sensor 64 and valve opening is controlled so that the flow is attained to an established one.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a water heater, and more particularly to a water heater that heats water by storing heat in a heat storage device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, electric water heaters or combustion water heaters that burn gas, oil, etc. have been widely used.

This water heater is configured such that water introduced from a water supply pipe into a heat exchanger is heated by an electric heater, a gas burner, or an oil burner, and then supplied to a demand point such as a faucet.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Electric water heaters cannot instantaneously heat supplied water with the capacity of a normal electric heater. Therefore, it is usually necessary to install a large hot water storage tank, which requires an unnecessarily large amount of space. Furthermore, this hot water storage tank requires a safety device such as a pressure reducing valve, which tends to be expensive.

Although it is theoretically possible to construct an electric instantaneous water heater by increasing the capacity of the electric heater, this would require an enormous capacity of the electric heater, making it impractical. .

Water heaters that use gas burners, oil burners, etc. as heat sources can heat water instantaneously, but the problem is that the sound of the burner turning on and off and the sound of the fan can be noisy, especially late at night. There is.

It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems and provide a hot water supply device equipped with a display that calculates and displays the amount or time of hot water that can be dispensed from the hot water supply state, condition, and residual heat of the heat storage material. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] The water heater of the present invention includes a heat storage device having a heat storage material and an electric heater for heating the heat storage material as heating means, and a heat exchanger that heats water supply by storing heat in the heat storage device. water temperature detection means, hot water temperature detection means, flow rate detection means, heat storage material temperature detection means, a computing device that calculates the hot water availability time or amount of hot water based on the detected values of these detection means, and display of the calculation results. It is characterized by having a container.

[Function] In the water heater of the present invention, water can be instantaneously heated by appropriately selecting the capacities of the heat storage device and the heat exchanger, and a hot water storage tank is not required. Furthermore, since the volume of the heat storage device is much smaller than that of the hot water storage tank, the water heater of the present invention requires much smaller installation space than the conventional electric water heater.

The water heater of the present invention heats water using a heat storage device and a heat exchanger, and the noise associated with its operation is extremely low, so even late at night you will not feel the operation noise being noisy at all. . Note that since the electric heater can be operated at night to store heat, late-night power can be used to reduce power costs.

In the hot water supply device of the present invention, the subsequent available hot water supply time or amount of hot water is calculated based on the remaining usable heat amount of the heat storage device, the hot water temperature, and the flow rate, and the calculation results are displayed on the display.

[Example] Examples will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a water heater according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The leg pipe 12 of the faucet 10 is connected to a heat exchanger 16 via a hot water outlet pipe 14.
It is connected to the outlet 18 of. A water supply port 20 of the heat exchanger 16 is connected to a water pipe (not shown) via a water supply pipe 22 and a water stop valve 24. A pipe 26 is disposed within the heat exchanger 16, and a heat transfer tube 2 is disposed within the pipe 26.
8 is inserted. One end and the other end of this heat transfer tube 28 are connected to a heat storage device 34 via heat transfer tubes 30 and 32, respectively.
are connected to one end and the other end of a heat transfer tube 36.

The heat exchanger 34 is filled with a heat storage material 38, and an electric heater 40 for heating the heat storage material 38 and a temperature sensor 42 for detecting the temperature of the heat storage material 38 are attached to the heat storage 34. ing. A heat amount control valve 44 is installed in the heat transfer tube 32 . The heat transfer tube 36 is filled with a heat medium, and the heated heat medium is circulated through a closed circuit of the heat transfer tube 30, the heat transfer tube 28, and the heat transfer tube 32.

A control panel 46 includes a temperature setting device 48, a flow rate setting switch 50, and a display panel 52 for displaying the amount or time of hot water that can be discharged.
and a display changeover switch 54 are provided. This control panel 46 is connected to a controller 58 via a signal line 56.

The display panel 52 is for displaying how much time is left or how much hot water can be discharged under the current thirst outflow state and heat storage state of the heat storage material 38.
By operating the switch 54, the time display and amount display can be switched. Setting signals for the temperature setting device 48, flow rate setting switch 50, and display changeover switch 54 are input to the controller 58 via a signal line 56. Further, a signal indicating the calculation result of the controller 58 is output to the display panel 52 via the signal line 56.

Note that detection signals from a hot water temperature sensor 60 provided in the hot water outlet pipe 14, a water temperature sensor 62 provided in the water supply pipe 22, and a flow rate sensor 64 are also input to the controller 58. Controller 5
8, the heat amount control valve 4 is activated based on the signal from the temperature setting device 48 and the detection signals from these sensors 60, 62, 64.
4 to control the flow rate of the heat medium in the heat transfer tube 28 so that the set temperature is achieved. The water supply pipe 22 is provided with a flow rate adjustment valve 66, and a control signal is output from the controller 58 to the flow rate adjustment valve 66 based on the signal from the flow rate setting switch 50 and the signal from the flow rate sensor 64, and the flow rate adjustment valve 66 is set. The valve opening degree is adjusted so that the flow rate is as expected.

In this water heater, water or hot water at a desired temperature is discharged at a desired flow rate by operating the temperature setting device 48 and the flow rate setting switch 50. Since the heating means of the hot water supply device is constituted by a heat storage device, the operating noise is extremely low, and the installation area is smaller than that of a hot water storage tank.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control system centered on the controller 58.

This controller 58 is equipped with a microcomputer 68, an A/D converter 70, and a D/A converter 72, and the detection signals of the temperature sensor 42, hot water temperature sensor 60, water temperature sensor 62, and flow rate sensor 64 are The signal is converted into a digital signal via the D converter 70 and input to the microcomputer 68. Signals from the flow rate setting switch 50 and the display changeover switch 54 are also input to the microcomputer 68 manually. The control signals of the heat quantity control valve 44 and the flow rate adjustment valve 66 of the microcomputer 68 are converted into analog signals by a D/A converter and outputted to the multi-valves 44 and 66. The display signal on the display panel 52 is converted into a decimal signal by a decoder 74 and output to the panel 52.

Note that by switching the display changeover switch 54, the display of units of characters (time, ri) on the display panel can be switched.

The control program of the present invention will now be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the water temperature, flow rate, and temperature of the heat storage material are read from each sensor (steps 1, 2.3), and the set water temperature and display setting of the display (amount display or time display) are read (step 4. 5). Then, calculations are made and the results are displayed in accordance with the display settings (steps 6 to 1o), after which the timer is activated (step 11), and after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the process returns to step 1.

The microcomputer 58 has ROM and RAM.

It is a well-known device mainly composed of a CPU, an input/output device, a data bus, etc., and programs for calculation and control are written in the ROM.

In the microcomputer 58 as an arithmetic unit,
The amount or time of hot water that can be tapped is calculated according to the following formula. First, we calculate the usable heat amount H by the heat storage material temperature T at that point.
5. Calculate using the following formula (%) based on the lower limit temperature T for use of the heat storage material, the specific heat a of the heat storage material, and the capacity (for example, volume) of the heat storage material.

Next, the amount of hot water V that can be tapped is calculated using the following formula (% formula %) based on the usable heat amount H1, hot water temperature TH, and water temperature T. When the display setting is for quantity display, the calculation result of this V is displayed. The unit is displayed in 1 (liter), for example.

, when the display setting is set to time, the usable time M is calculated by dividing the amount of available hot water V by the flow rate f at that time.
(M=V/f) and display the result.

The unit is displayed in minutes or hours and minutes, for example.

In the above embodiment, the amount of hot water or the time required for dispensing hot water is calculated based on the signal of the flow rate sensor 64, but in the present invention, the amount or time of hot water is calculated based on the set value of the flow rate setting switch 50 (set flow ff1). You may do so. In this case, the flow rate setting switch itself functions as the flow rate detection means.

[Effects] As described above, the water heater of the present invention heats a heat storage material using an electric heater, and uses the heat stored in the heat storage material to heat water using a heat exchanger, so it makes no noise during operation. Almost never occurs. Therefore, the surrounding environment can be kept quiet even when used late at night.

The water heater of the present invention can instantaneously heat water and function as a so-called instantaneous water heater.

Furthermore, by using late-night power, it is also possible to reduce power costs.

The water heater of the present invention requires only a small installation space and can be used in various fields ranging from general household use to industrial use.

The water heater of the present invention displays the remaining amount or time and whether or not hot water can be dispensed, which prevents the water temperature from dropping unexpectedly, making it extremely convenient.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a control block diagram, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart. 10...Water faucet, 14...Heat exchanger, 24...
・Regenerator, 30.32...Heat transfer tube, 44...
Heat quantity control valve, 28.36...Heat transfer tube, 52...Display panel. Agent: Patent Attorney Tsuyoshi Shigeno 1st
figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A water heater equipped with a heating means for water supply, which includes a heat storage device having a heat storage material and an electric heater for heating the heat storage material as the heating means, and a heat exchanger that heats the water supply by storing heat in the heat storage device. and means for detecting the temperature of the water supply;
The hot water temperature detecting means, the flow rate detecting means, the heat storage material temperature detecting means, a calculating unit that calculates the available time or amount of hot water based on the detected values of these detecting means, and a display of the calculation results are provided. Water heater.