JPH11277051A - Water purifier - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve miniaturization and the enhancement of efficiency and to enhance bacteria removing capacity. SOLUTION: A water purifier 1 is constituted by fixing a ceramic honeycomb filter 21 in an outer case 11 equipped with a raw water inflow port 12 and a purified water outflow port 13 and fixing an activated carbon cartridge 31 supporting activated carbon in this filter. The raw water supplied from the raw water inflow port 12 is passed through this activated carbon and the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 in this order to be purified and the purified water is taken out of the purified water outflow port 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water purifier used to obtain raw water by passing raw water through a ceramic honeycomb filter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has been strongly pointed out that tap water has become bad. The causes include chlorine, rust, odor, bacteria, and the like.
Furthermore, recently, it has been pointed out that trihalomethane, which is a carcinogen, exists in tap water. Under these circumstances, household water purifiers that remove harmful substances for the human body are attracting attention. There are many types of water purifiers currently known that use both activated carbon and a hollow fiber membrane filter, and rust and bacteria that cannot be completely removed by activated carbon are removed by the microfiltration action of the hollow fiber membrane filter. .

However, the water purifier using the above-described hollow fiber membrane filter has the following problems. That is, since the hollow fiber membrane also becomes clogged with time, it is necessary to periodically remove the clogging in order to maintain the filter function. In order to remove the clogging, it is conceivable to carry out a chemical cleaning or to remove the organic matter causing the clogging by incineration. However, since the hollow fiber membrane is an organic membrane made of plastic and has poor chemical resistance and heat resistance, such a method cannot be adopted at all.

[0004] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem of the hollow fiber membrane filter, the present applicant has proposed a water purifier in which a filtration layer made of activated carbon and a ceramic membrane filter are combined, for example, in JP-A-6-126279. I have. Since the water purifier using the ceramic membrane filter uses the ceramic membrane filter as a main filter medium for removing minute bacteria and rust, the problem of the hollow fiber membrane filter can be solved, and furthermore, the alkaline liquid It also has the effect that it can be regenerated and reused by backwashing with acid, backwashing with acid, heat treatment and the like.

[0005]

In recent years, there has been a demand for downsizing and high efficiency of water purifiers. In order to meet the demands of the present applicant, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-5747 discloses a high water permeability filter. A water purifier using a quantified ceramic membrane filter is proposed. However, since a ceramic membrane filter is used, there is a limit to the increase in water permeability, and a water purifier using a ceramic membrane filter may not be able to achieve the desired miniaturization and high efficiency.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a water purifier that can achieve miniaturization and high efficiency and that has improved sterilization performance.

[0007]

A water purifier according to the present invention comprises an activated carbon cartridge having a ceramic honeycomb filter fixed inside an outer case having a raw water inlet and a purified water outlet, and having activated carbon supported therein. , And the raw water supplied from the raw water inlet is purified by passing through the activated carbon and the ceramic honeycomb filter in this order, and is taken in as purified water from the purified water outlet.

According to the present invention, by forming a water purifier using a ceramic honeycomb filter, the membrane area through which raw water passes can be increased as compared with a conventional ceramic membrane filter, and the same volume can be obtained. When compared with the above, the water permeability can be increased, and the volume required to achieve the specified water permeability can be reduced to about 50 to 60% of that of the conventional ceramic membrane filter. As a result, sterilization performance can be improved.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a view showing an example of the structure of a water purifier according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view for explaining flows of raw water and purified water in the water purifier shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the water purifier 1 is configured by providing a ceramic honeycomb filter 21 and an activated carbon cartridge 31 in an outer case 11. The supplied raw water is configured to pass through the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 and the activated carbon cartridge 31 in order to obtain purified water. A feature of the water purifier 1 having the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is that the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 is used as a filter material. Hereinafter, each component will be described in detail.

The outer case 11 includes a case base 14 having a raw water inlet 12 and a purified water outlet 13, and a case base 1.
4. A cylindrical case body 15 which can be fixed by screwing to 4
And a case lid 16 that can be fixed to the upper part of the case body 15 by screws. At the upper center of the case base 14, a hole 14-1 is provided in which the raw water inlet 12 and the purified water outlet 13 communicate with each other. Further, a projecting portion 14-2 is provided on the upper outer peripheral portion of the case base portion 14, and a female screw portion 14-3 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the projecting portion 14-2. The case body 15 has a male screw 15
-1 and a female screw portion 15-
2 are provided. The outer case 11 is attached to the case lid 16.
Is formed, a protruding portion 16-1 is provided on the inner surface, and a male screw portion 16-2 is provided on the outer periphery of the protruding portion 16-1. The case lid 16 is provided with an air / water drainage mechanism 16-3.

The ceramic honeycomb filter 21 has an upper support member 22 on the upper side surface and a lower support member 23 on the lower side surface.

An activated carbon cartridge 31 internally supporting an activated carbon 32 includes a cartridge body 33 and an upper support 3.
4 and a lower supporting portion 35. A raw water outflow hole 34-1 is provided at the center of the upper support portion 34.
The raw water outflow hole 34-1 is provided with a filter 34-2 made of a water-permeable nonwoven fabric, for example, to prevent the activated carbon 32 from flowing out. Further, a protruding portion 34-3 protruding from the upper support portion 34 is provided on the outer periphery of the upper support portion 34. At the center of the lower supporting portion 35, a raw water inflow hole 34-4 for introducing raw water is provided. In the raw water inflow hole 34-4,
A filter 34-5 made of a water permeable nonwoven fabric, for example, is provided to prevent the activated carbon 32 from flowing out. Further, around the raw water inflow hole 34-4, a discharge pipe 36 for introducing raw water from the inside and flowing out purified water outside the same is integrally provided with the activated carbon cartridge 31 so as to protrude therefrom.

As shown in FIG. 1, after fixing each component, the case main body 15 and the case base 14 are fixed to the male screw part 15-1 and the female screw part 14-3.
And the case main body 15 and the case lid 16 can be performed by a simple operation of merely screwing the female screw 15-2 and the male screw 16-2. At this time, the upper supporting member 2 of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21
2 is liquid-tightly connected to the concave portion of the projecting portion 16-1 of the case lid 16. Further, the lower support member 23 of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 is liquid-tightly connected to a recess formed by the projecting portion 34-3 of the activated carbon cartridge 31 and the upper support portion 34. Further, the outlet pipe 36 of the activated carbon cartridge 31 is inserted into the hole 14-1 of the case base 14. Then, in the hole 14-1, the raw water inlet 12
And a raw water introduction section of the discharge pipe 36, and is provided with a purified water discharge section of the purified water discharge port 13 through another route. Reference numeral 17 denotes a raw water hose connected to the raw water inlet 12, and reference numeral 18 denotes a purified water outlet nozzle connected to the purified water outlet 13.

Next, the flow of raw water and purified water in the water purifier 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the raw water supplied from the raw water
6 and supplied to the activated carbon cartridge 31. The raw water supplied to the activated carbon cartridge 31 is once purified by coming into contact with the activated carbon 32. The raw water once purified by contact with the activated carbon 32 is then supplied to the ceramic honeycomb filter 21. In the ceramic honeycomb filter 21, the supplied raw water moves upward from the bottom and at the same time also moves in the outer peripheral direction. The raw water passes through the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 and becomes purified water. Gather between the inside. The collected purified water moves downward between the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 and the inner surface of the case main body 15, and moves between the activated carbon cartridge 31 and the case main body 15 and the case base 14, and the outer circumference of the outlet pipe 36 and the hole 14. -1 and is obtained as purified water from the purified water outlet 13.

Next, the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 used in the water purifier 1 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an example of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 includes a plurality of orthogonal cell walls 51 and cell walls 51.
Is formed of a ceramic honeycomb structure including a through hole 52 defined by the above formula and an outer peripheral wall 53. As shown in FIG. 4 in which a part of the cell wall 51 is enlarged, a first coating layer 54 and a second coating layer 55 are provided on the surface of the cell wall 51 of the ceramic honeycomb structure. By configuring the coating layer having a two-layer structure in this manner, the average pore diameter on the surface can be easily controlled.

The material constituting the ceramic honeycomb structure serving as the base material of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 is preferably a material mainly composed of alumina, and the first coating layer 54 and the second coating layer 55 are also made of the ceramic honeycomb structure. Are preferably composed of the same alumina. As an example of the ceramic honeycomb structure serving as a base material, alumina having an average particle diameter of 30 μm and a porosity of 40% can be given. Further, as an example of controlling the average pore diameter of the coating layer, the average pore diameter of the alumina constituting the first coating layer 53 is set to 0.5 μm, and the average pore diameter of the alumina constituting the second coating layer 55 is adjusted. Is 0.2 μm. As described above, the average pore diameter of the second coating layer 55 exposed on the surface is set to 0.2 μm
Then, 99.99% of bacteria such as Pseudomonas bacteria
Can be removed by order.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show another example of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21. FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 5, one or more raw water flow holes 61 larger than the size of the through hole 52 (here, one raw water flow hole is provided at the center) along the through hole 52. Is provided separately from the through hole 52. In the example shown in FIG. 6, along the through hole 52,
A plurality of raw water passage slits 62 are provided separately from the through holes 52. In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, compared to the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 shown in FIG. 3, the portion contributing to the filtration can be increased, and the amount of water permeation can be increased, thereby achieving the water purifier 1 with higher efficiency. Can be.

Next, the activated carbon 32 in the activated carbon cartridge 31 will be described. The activated carbon 32 has a particle size of 48
It is preferable to use 50 to 60 g of T-SB48 / 100 (trade name, manufactured by Kuraray Chemical Co., Ltd.) having a mesh size of 100 mesh. Further, by impregnating the activated carbon 32 with 0.03 to 1 wt% of silver, silver is added to the retained water in an amount of 10 to 50 ppb (μg) while the raw water to be purified is retained in the water purifier 1.
/ Liter) to elute antibacterial properties in the water purifier. The silver concentration is determined by the relationship between the amount of water retained in the water purifier and the structure of the water purifier. In a preferred embodiment, a coral sand may be provided in the activated carbon cartridge 31 on the downstream side of the activated carbon 32. As coral sand, RF-1 having a particle size of 10 to 24 mesh
(10/24) (trade name, Coral Biotech Co., Ltd.)
30 g) can be used, for example. This coral sand contains calcium carbonate as a main component, and elutes minerals such as Ca into purified water to make the purified water delicious water.

The water purifier 1 using the above-described ceramic honeycomb filter 21 of the present invention is superior to the water purifier using the conventional ceramic membrane filter in terms of the size of the water purifier and the sterilization performance. ing. That is, since the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 has a honeycomb structure, the water permeability can be increased, and the volume that can achieve the same target water permeability can be 50 to 60% of the volume of the ceramic membrane filter. Therefore, the water purifier can be made compact. In addition, by providing two coating layers, the average pore diameter on the surface of the ceramic honeycomb filter 21 can be reduced, bacteria can be more completely removed, and the configuration of the water purifier can be simplified, The dead space where water stays can be reduced, and the generation of bacteria can be reduced. Therefore, the removal of bacteria and the prevention of the generation of bacteria can be performed with high efficiency, and the high sterilization performance required in recent years especially for household water purifiers can be achieved. Further, by simplifying the configuration of the water purifier, the disassembly and assembly of the water purifier is simplified, and the replacement of the ceramic honeycomb filter is also facilitated.

[0020]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, since the water purifier is constituted by using the ceramic honeycomb filter, the raw water can be reduced as compared with the case of the conventional ceramic membrane filter. The membrane area to be passed can be increased, the water permeability can be increased when compared with the same volume, and the volume required to achieve the specified water permeability is reduced by 50% in the case of the conventional ceramic membrane filter. ~
The water purifier can be reduced to about 60%, so that the water purifier can be made more compact and the disinfection performance can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a water purifier of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining flows of raw water and purified water in the water purifier shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a ceramic honeycomb filter used in the water purifier of the present invention.

4 is an enlarged view showing a cell wall of the ceramic honeycomb filter shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of another example of the ceramic honeycomb filter used in the water purifier of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a configuration of still another example of the ceramic honeycomb filter used in the water purifier of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 water purifier, 11 outer case, 12 raw water inlet, 1
3 Purified water outlet, 14 case base, 14-1 hole, 1
4-2 Projecting portion, 14-3 internal thread portion, 15 case body, 15-1 external thread portion, 15-2 internal thread portion, 16
Case lid part, 16-1 projecting part, 16-2 male screw part,
16-3 air / water drainage mechanism, 17 raw water hose, 18
Clean water outlet nozzle, 21 ceramic honeycomb filter, 22 upper support member, 23 lower support member, 31 activated carbon cartridge, 32 activated carbon, 33 cartridge body, 34 upper support portion, 34-1 raw water outflow hole, 34
-2 filter, 34-3 projecting portion, 34-4 raw water inflow hole, 34-5 filter, 35 lower support portion, 51
Cell wall, 52 through hole, 53 outer peripheral wall, 54 first coating layer, 55 second coating layer, 61 raw water flow hole, 62 raw water flow slit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI C02F 1/50 531 C02F 1/50 531E 540 540F 540B 560 560B 560E

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A ceramic honeycomb filter is fixed inside an outer case having a raw water inlet and a purified water outlet, and an activated carbon cartridge supporting activated carbon is fixed inside the outer case, and supplied from the raw water inlet. A water purifier characterized in that raw water passes through an activated carbon and a ceramic honeycomb filter in that order, is purified, and is taken as purified water from a purified water outlet. 2. The water purifier according to claim 1, wherein said ceramic honeycomb filter is made of alumina, and a coating layer of the same material is formed on a cell wall thereof. 3. The water purifier according to claim 1, wherein the ceramic honeycomb filter has a raw water passage hole provided along the through hole. 4. The water purifier according to claim 1, wherein said ceramic filter has a raw water passage slit provided along a through hole thereof. 5. The water purifier according to claim 1, wherein 0.03 to 1% by weight of silver is impregnated on the activated carbon to add antibacterial properties to the purified water.