KR20140055170A - Water treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A water treatment apparatus in which the filtration means, the heating means and the cooling means are all made compact and the scale of the apparatus is miniaturized is disclosed.
The water treatment apparatus includes at least one water filter to filter raw water to be supplied; A hot water generating unit provided with an instantaneous heating means for receiving and heating the purified water filtered by the filtering unit; And a cold water generating unit for receiving the purified water filtered by the filtering unit and electronically cooling the purified water.

Description

[0001] WATER TREATMENT APPARATUS [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water treatment apparatus, and more particularly, to a water treatment apparatus in which the filtration means, the heating means, and the cooling means are all miniaturized and the size of the apparatus is reduced.

Generally, the water treatment apparatus is provided with a filtration function of supplying purified water by filtration by water, a cooling function of making cold water by cooling the water, and a heating function of making hot water by heating water to provide the user with purified water, It is a device that can provide water. These water treatment devices include various devices such as water purifier, water heater, water cooler, and cold / hot water heater.

Conventional water treatment apparatuses generally include several filter modules such as a pretreatment sedimentation filter, a pre-carbon filter, a hollow fiber membrane filter, and a post-carbon filter for filtering function.

Also, a cold water tank for exchanging heat with a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator and an evaporator for cooling function and a cold water tank for storing cold water, and a hot water tank for storing an electric heater and hot water for a heating function are provided.

However, such a conventional water treatment apparatus is disadvantageous in that it has a large number of parts, a large volume, and a large scale of the entire apparatus. In particular, recently, there is a great tendency to prefer small-sized household appliances that occupy a small space for installation so that they can be easily used in ordinary households.

Therefore, the miniaturization technology of a water treatment apparatus is also becoming a trend.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made based on the above-described conventional techniques, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a miniaturized water treatment apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a water treatment apparatus capable of stably providing water at a temperature desired by a user even in an installation environment in which the temperature of supplied raw water is varied.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a water purifier comprising: a filtering unit having at least one water filter for filtering raw water to be supplied; A hot water generating unit provided with an instantaneous heating means for receiving and heating the purified water filtered by the filtering unit; And a cold water generating unit for receiving and cooling the purified water filtered by the filtering unit.

The water treatment apparatus further includes a raw water inlet connected to an external raw water supply source to supply raw water to the filtration unit; And an extractor connected to the hot water generator and the cold water generator to extract the hot water and the cold water.

In one embodiment, the filtration unit may include a nanotrap filter and a carbon block filter, and preferably, the nanotrap filter may be disposed at a front end of the carbon block filter.

Also, preferably, the instantaneous heating means may be configured to have a plurality of heating parts, each of which independently performs a heating operation. In one embodiment, the instant heating means comprises a ruthenox heater having a plurality of heating parts Ruthenox Heater).

Meanwhile, in one embodiment, the hot water generator includes a flow control valve for regulating a flow rate of water supplied to the instantaneous heating means; And an outflow temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the hot water generated and delivered by the instantaneous heating means.

At this time, the water treatment apparatus may include a control unit for controlling the flow rate control valve, and the control unit may control the flow rate control valve based on the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor.

In one embodiment, the control unit may control the flow rate control valve so that the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means increases when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor is higher than the reference temperature.

Further, in one embodiment, the control unit may control the flow rate control valve so that the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means decreases when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor is lower than the reference temperature .

The hot water generator may include a water temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means.

In this case, the water treatment apparatus may include a controller for controlling the instantaneous heating means, and when the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor is higher than the reference temperature, Only some of the heating parts can be operated.

On the other hand, when the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor is lower than the reference temperature, the controller can operate all the plurality of heating parts of the instantaneous heating means.

Meanwhile, the cold water generating unit may include a tank body capable of receiving water in an inner space thereof; A thermoelectric module connected to the tank body to cool the water contained in the tank body; A heat sink connected to the thermoelectric module to discharge heat of the thermoelectric module; And a cooling fan for blowing air to the heat sink to assist cooling of the heat sink.

Preferably, the cold water generating unit may include a water supply valve in a flow path through which purified water flows into the tank main body.

Here, the tank main body may include a water inlet pipe and a water outlet pipe connected to the internal space at an upper end thereof.

Preferably, the water pipe may extend to a lower end of the inner space of the tank body.

Meanwhile, the raw water inflow section may include a regulator for adjusting the water pressure of the raw water flowing in from the raw water supply source; And a water supply valve that is opened and closed in accordance with an outflow and a water operation of the extraction unit.

In addition, a flow meter for measuring the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the hot water generating unit and the cold water generating unit may be provided at the rear end of the filtration unit.

According to an embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, by using a nanotrap filter and a carbon block filter for water filtration, using an instantaneous heating means for heating water, and using an electronic cooling system for cooling water, The effect can be obtained.

Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the instantaneous heating means can be constituted by a plurality of heating parts, each of which independently performs a heating operation, so that the effect of efficiently operating according to the installation environment of the apparatus can be obtained.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the temperature of the generated hot water is measured and the amount of water supplied to the instantaneous heating means is adjusted based on the measured temperature, so that the user can provide hot water of a desired temperature, It is possible to obtain an effect of preventing heading.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the water supply and the number of stages of cold water are controlled by a single water supply valve provided at the front end of the cold water tank through a cold water tank structure having an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe at the upper end of the tank body So that the effect of miniaturization of the device can be obtained.

1 is a block diagram of a water treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the outgoing and incoming structure of the cold water tank included in the water treatment apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Furthermore, the singular forms "a", "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a configuration of a water treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 1 is a system diagram of a water treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a raw water inlet 110, a filtration unit 120, a hot water generation unit 140, a cold water generation unit 130, (150).

The raw water inflow part 110 is connected to an external raw water supply source 200 so that the raw water supplied from the raw water supply source 200 can be supplied to the filtration part 120 to be described later. Here, the raw water supply source 200 is a facility capable of supplying raw water as in the case of the water supply.

In one embodiment, the raw water inlet 110 may comprise an adapter 111, a regulator 112, and a water supply valve 113.

Here, the adapter 111 corresponds to a part where a flow path connected to the raw water supply source 200 outside the device is connected to the device.

Also, the regulator 112 can regulate the water pressure of the raw water flowing from the raw water supply source 200. As an example, the regulator 112 can regulate the incoming raw water at a constant water pressure (e.g., 3 kg / cm < ² > ).

The water supply valve 113 is provided at the rear end of the regulator 112 to open and close the flow passage. In one embodiment, this water supply valve 113 can be opened and closed in conjunction with the extraction unit 150, which will be described later, in accordance with the outgoing and singing operation of the water outlet. In other words, when the user desires water supply in the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention and operates the extraction unit 150, the water supply valve 113 can be opened, and the extraction unit 150 The water supply valve 113 can be closed.

This indicates that the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention employs a direct water system.

The filtration unit 120 may include at least one water filter and may be connected to a downstream end of the raw water inlet 110 to generate purified water by filtering the raw water supplied from the raw water inlet 110.

In one embodiment, the filtering unit 120 may include a nano trap filter 122 and a carbon block filter 124.

Here, the nanotrap filter 122 can filter raw water by adsorbing toxic substances in raw water using static electricity, and has a surface area that is larger than the volume including a new material of 2 nm (one billionth of a billion) But it also has the ability to remove 99.95% of viruses and bacteria.

Accordingly, the nanotrap filter 122 can be substituted for a conventional hollow fiber membrane filter, and electric and water charges can be reduced.

The carbon block filter 124 is composed of a plurality of carbon grains compressed by heat and pressure to form a block shape. Since the amount of carbon is much larger than that of the filling type (powder type) carbon filter, chlorine, organic compounds, heavy metals Is excellent.

As described above, the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention does not have three or four filter modules as in the conventional water treatment apparatus, but comprises only the nanotrap filter 122 and the carbon block filter 124, It is possible to achieve miniaturization of the apparatus while ensuring filtration performance.

In one embodiment, the nanotrap filter 122 included in the filtration section 120 may be disposed at the front end of the carbon block filter 124.

The hot water generating unit 140 is provided at the rear end of the filtering unit 120 and can receive the filtered purified water from the filtering unit 120 to generate hot water by heating. The hot water generating unit 140 includes an instantaneous heating means 142 for instantly heating the supplied water to a high temperature.

In one embodiment, such instantaneous heating means 142 may have a plurality of heating parts, each of which independently performs a heating operation. Here, the plurality of heating parts can be configured so that the water supplied to each heating part can be heated independently from the other heating parts.

In one embodiment, the instantaneous heating means 142 may comprise a Ruthenox heater, which may have a plurality of heating plates to have a plurality of heating parts. Here, the heating plate included in the Ruthenox heater is configured to instantaneously heat the supplied water, and the heating operation can be performed independently of the other heating plates.

As an example, when the instantaneous heating means 142 is constituted by a ruthenox heater, the ruthenox heater may be composed of two heating plates, one of the two heating plates being 1400 W and the other heating plate being 1000 W . Here, the 1400 W heating plate and the 1000 W heating plate can be operated independently.

Through this, the instantaneous heating means 142 can control the degree of heating of the supplied water.

Also, in one embodiment, the hot water generator 140 may include a flow control valve 144 and an outflow temperature sensor 147.

Here, the flow rate control valve 144 is provided on the flow path of the preceding stage of the instantaneous heating means 142, so that the flow rate of the water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142 can be adjusted.

The outflow temperature sensor 147 is provided on the flow path at the rear end of the instantaneous heating means 142 so as to measure the temperature of the hot water generated and delivered by the instantaneous heating means 142.

In this case, the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a controller (not shown) that can control the operation of the components, and the controller may control the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor 147 It is possible to control the flow rate control valve 144 based on

According to the instantaneous heating means 142 included in the water treatment apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the flow rate of the supplied water and the temperature of the generated hot water may be generally in inverse proportion.

When the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor 147 is higher than a predetermined reference temperature, the control unit controls the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142 Can be controlled.

That is, when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor 147 is higher than the reference temperature (for example, 100 ° C or higher), the control unit increases the flow rate of the water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142, By raising the flow rate of the water passing through the heating means 142, it is possible to reduce the heating time of the heated water to generate hot water of a relatively low temperature.

Accordingly, the temperature of the hot water supplied to the user becomes higher than the reference temperature, and a safety accident that may be caused by discharging a large amount of steam to the extraction unit 150 can be prevented.

On the contrary, when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor 147 is lower than a preset reference temperature, the control unit controls the flow rate control valve 144 so that the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142 decreases can do.

That is, when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor 147 is lower than the reference temperature (for example, 85 ° C or lower), the control unit reduces the flow rate of the water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142, By reducing the flow rate of water passing through the heating means 142, the heating time of the heated water can be increased to generate hot water at a higher temperature.

This allows the user to provide hot water of a desired temperature.

On the other hand, when the environment in which the water treatment apparatus 100 is installed is an environment in which the raw water supplied from the raw water supply source 200 is high, such as in the summer or the Middle East, the hot water generated by heating the high- There arises a problem that the temperature can not be provided to a user to such an extent that the temperature can not be provided to the user, and further, an excessive amount of energy is consumed in heating. Therefore, under such an environment, it is desirable to lower the degree of heating in the hot water generator 140 of the water treatment apparatus 100.

On the contrary, when the environment in which the water treatment apparatus 100 is installed is an environment in which the raw water supplied from the raw water supply source 200 is low, such as winter or cold, it is preferable to increase the degree of heating in the hot water generating unit 140 Do.

In order to solve such a problem, in one embodiment, the hot water generating unit 140 includes a water temperature sensor (not shown) provided at the front end of the instantaneous heating means 142 and capable of measuring the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142 Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 146 < / RTI >

In this manner, the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142 is measured to control the heating operation of the instantaneous heating means 142 in accordance with the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means 142. That is, the heating operation can be appropriately performed according to the environment in which the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed.

To this end, in one embodiment, the control section is configured to control the operation of the instantaneous heating means 142.

When the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor 146 is higher than a preset reference temperature, the controller may operate only a part of the plurality of heating parts of the instantaneous heating means 142 to lower the degree of heating .

For example, when the instantaneous heating means 142 is composed of a ruthenox heater having a 1400 W heating plate and a 1000 W heating plate, when the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instant heating means 142 is 40 ° C or higher, The controller can turn ON only the 1400W heating plate and turn off the 1000W heating plate.

On the other hand, when the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor 146 is lower than the reference temperature, the control unit operates all of the plurality of heating parts of the instantaneous heating means 142 to raise the heating degree, Of hot water can be generated.

On the other hand, an extraction valve 145 may be provided at the rear end of the instantaneous heating means 142 to allow the generated hot water to flow.

1, the flow control valve 144 and the water supply temperature sensor 146 may be integrally formed, and the extraction valve 145 and the outflow temperature sensor 147 may also be integrally formed, So that the size of the apparatus can be reduced.

The cold water generating unit 130 includes a tank body 131, a thermoelectric module 132, a heat sink 133, and a cooling fan 134, and may be configured as an electronic cooling type cooling unit.

Here, the tank body 131 may be configured to receive water in the internal space. The water inlet pipe 131a and the water outlet pipe 131b connected to the inner space of the tank main body 131 may be provided at the upper end of the tank main body 131 as shown in FIG. Water can be discharged to the water outlet pipe 131b by the water pressure received by the water inlet pipe 131a and water can not be discharged through the water outlet pipe 131b if water does not flow into the water inlet pipe 131a .

At this time, a water supply valve 136 for controlling purified water supply to the tank main body 131 may be provided on the flow path connected to the water supply pipe 131a. In contrast, no separate valve is provided between the water outlet pipe 131b and the extraction unit 150. [

This is because the water inlet pipe 131a and the water outlet pipe 131b are provided at the upper end of the tank main body 131 so that the water pipe 131 can be connected to the tank main body 131 It is possible to control the outgoing operation of the received cold water.

Thus, the water treatment apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention realizes the water supply operation of the cold water through one valve, so that the configuration is simple and the apparatus can be further miniaturized.

The water pipe 131b may be a pipe extended to the lower end of the inner space of the tank body 131 as shown in FIG. Accordingly, the cold water of the relatively low temperature present in the lower end of the tank main body 131 can be extracted as the first cup, thereby providing the user with the first cold water of the desired temperature.

The tank main body 131 may be provided with a drain pipe for discharging the water contained in the tank main body 131 to the outside for maintenance.

The thermoelectric module 132 is connected to the tank main body 131 so that the heat absorbing surface is attached to the tank main body 131 to exchange heat with the tank main body 131 to cool the water contained in the tank main body 131 .

The heat sink 133 may be connected to the heat generating surface of the thermoelectric module 132 to emit heat of the thermoelectric module 132. Such a heat sink 133 may be composed of a plurality of heat dissipating fins for widening the heat dissipating area.

Also, the cooling fan 134 blows air to the heat sink 133 to assist cooling of the heat sink 133. [

As described above, in the water treatment apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cold water generating unit 130 is configured by the electronic cooling system, so that the scale of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

The extraction unit 150 is connected to the filtration unit 120, the hot water generation unit 140 and the cold water generation unit 130 so that the generated purified water, hot water, and cold water can be extracted by the user's operation. The extraction unit 150 is not limited to a specific configuration. However, in order to reduce the size of the apparatus, the extraction unit 150 may extract purified water, hot water, and cold water through one outlet, (Or coke).

Here, when the extraction unit 150 is operated by the user, the water supply valve 113 provided in the raw water inlet 110 may be opened. At this time, if the user performs the constant extraction operation, And the water supply valve 170 provided on the flow path between the extraction unit 150 and the extraction unit 150 is opened.

When the user performs the cold water extraction operation, the water supply valve 136 provided in the cold water generation unit 130 is opened. When the user performs the hot water extraction operation, the extraction valve 145 provided in the hot water generation unit 140, Is opened.

Meanwhile, in the water treatment apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the amount of water filtered in the filtration unit 120 is measured to determine the filter replacement period, and the amount of water extracted from the extraction unit 150 is automatically A flow meter 160 may further be provided at the rear end of the filtration unit 120. [ The flow meter 160 can measure the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the hot water generator 140 and the cold water generator 130.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to particular embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims I would like to make it clear.

100: water treatment apparatus 110: raw water inlet
111: Adapter 112: Regulator
113: water supply valve 120:
122: Nano trap filter 124: Carbon block filter
130: cold water generating unit 131: tank body
131a: Water inlet pipe 131b: Water outlet pipe
132: thermoelectric module 133: heat sink
134: cooling fan 136: water supply valve
140: hot water generating unit 142: instantaneous heating means
144: Flow control valve 145: Extraction valve
146: water supply temperature sensor 147: outflow temperature sensor
150: Extractor 160: Flowmeter
170: water supply valve 200: raw water supply source

Claims (19)

A filtration unit having at least one water filter for filtering raw water supplied thereto;
A hot water generating unit provided with an instantaneous heating means for receiving and heating the purified water filtered by the filtering unit; And
A cold water generating unit for receiving the purified water filtered by the filtration unit and electronically cooling the filtered purified water;
. The method according to claim 1,
A raw water inflow portion connected to an external raw water supply source for supplying raw water to the filtration portion; And
An extracting unit connected to the hot water generating unit and the cold water generating unit to extract the generated hot water and cold water;
Wherein the water treatment system further comprises: The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the filtration unit comprises a nanotrap filter and a carbon block filter. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the nanotrap filter is disposed at a front end of the carbon block filter. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the instantaneous heating means has a plurality of heating parts, each of which independently performs a heating operation. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the instantaneous heating means comprises a Ruthenox heater having a plurality of heating parts. The method according to claim 1,
The hot-
A flow rate regulating valve for regulating a flow rate of water supplied to the instantaneous heating means; And
And an outflow temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the hot water generated and discharged from the instantaneous heating means. 8. The method of claim 7,
And a control unit for controlling the flow rate control valve,
Wherein the control unit controls the flow rate control valve based on the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein,
And controls the flow rate control valve so that the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means increases when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor is higher than the reference temperature. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein,
And controls the flow rate control valve so that the flow rate of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means decreases when the temperature of the hot water measured by the outflow temperature sensor is lower than the reference temperature. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the hot water generator comprises a water temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the purified water supplied to the instantaneous heating means. 12. The method of claim 11,
And a control unit for controlling the instantaneous heating means,
Wherein,
Wherein only a part of the heating parts of the plurality of heating parts of the instant heating means is operated when the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor is higher than the reference temperature. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein,
And when the temperature of the purified water measured by the water supply temperature sensor is lower than the reference temperature, the plurality of heating parts of the instantaneous heating means are operated. The method according to claim 1,
The cold water generating unit includes:
A tank body capable of receiving water in an inner space;
A thermoelectric module connected to the tank body for cooling water contained in the tank body;
A heat sink connected to the thermoelectric module to discharge heat of the thermoelectric module; And
And a cooling fan for blowing air to the heat sink to assist cooling of the heat sink. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the cold water generating unit has a water supply valve in a flow path through which purified water flows into the tank main body. 16. The method of claim 15,
Wherein the tank body includes a water inlet pipe and a water outlet pipe connected to an inner space at an upper end thereof. 17. The method of claim 16,
Wherein the water pipe extends to a lower end of the inner space of the tank body. 3. The method of claim 2,
The raw-
A regulator for adjusting the water pressure of the raw water flowing from the raw water supply source; And
And a water supply valve that is opened and closed in accordance with an outgoing and a water operation of the extraction unit. The method according to claim 1,
And a flow meter for measuring a flow rate of the purified water supplied to the hot water generating unit and the cold water generating unit is provided at a rear end of the filtration unit.

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