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EP-3441059-B1 - METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CARBONIC-ACID-GAS-MICROBUBBLE-MIXED WATER

EP3441059B1EP 3441059 B1EP3441059 B1EP 3441059B1EP-3441059-B1

Inventors

  • KOBOSHI SHIGEHARU
  • YOSHIMOTO HIROSHI

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20170406

Claims (11)

  1. A method for producing micro-bubbles mixed water, the method comprising: (a) guiding hot water through a water channel having a micro-bubble generating portion between an inlet port and an ejection port of the water channel, wherein in the micro-bubble generating portion the micro-bubbles are obtained by dissolving in the hot water a carbonated bathing agent accommodated in the micro-bubble generating portion, and (b) ejecting from the ejection port micro-bubbles mixed water, wherein the carbonated bathing agent is a compression molded tablet formed by compression molding in the presence of bicarbonate, an organic acid and polyethylene glycol, wherein the carbonated bathing agent is a tablet which is 7 mm or more both in tablet diameter and tablet thickness, 15 kg or more in tablet hardness as determined by a digital tablet hardness tester, New Speed Checker TS75NL made by OKADA SEIKO CO., LTD., 5 wt% or less in tablet friability as determined by putting 31 g or more of the tablet into a tablet friability tester made by Kayagaki Irika Kogyo KK, rotating the tablets for two minutes, removing the powder on the surface of the tablet and applying the formula: [(Sum of tablet weight in grams before defacement - Sum of tablet weight in grams after defacement) / Sum of tablet weight in grams before defacement] × 100 = Tablet friability (wt%), and from 5.5 to 9.0 in pH immediately after dissolution of the tablet in hot water, and wherein the carbonated bathing agent contains (i) at least one body rendering agent wherein the body rendering agent is alkane sulfonate with a carbon number 6 to 18, olefin sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18, sucrose fatty acid ester, sodium sulfate, or magnesium sulfate and (ii) at least one chlorine neutralizing compound wherein the chlorine neutralizing compound is L-ascorbic acid, L-ascorbate, thiosulfate, sulfite, erythorbic acid, or erythorbate, wherein micro-bubbles are bubbles with a diameter of 0.05 mm or less.
  2. The method according to Claim 1, wherein the body rendering agent is contained at a ratio of 1:10 to 1:1000 in relation to the organic acid.
  3. The method according to Claim 1, wherein the chlorine neutralizing compound is contained at 8 wt% or less in relation to the organic acid.
  4. The method according to any one of Claim 1 to Claim 3, wherein the body rendering agent is alkane sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18 and olefin sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18.
  5. A carbonated bathing agent for producing micro-bubbles mixed water by dissolving in hot water, the carbonated bathing agent comprising: (a) a compression molded tablet formed by compression molding in the presence of bicarbonate, an organic acid and polyethylene glycol, wherein the tablet is 7 mm or more both in tablet diameter and tablet thickness, 15 kg or more in tablet hardness as determined by a digital tablet hardness tester, New Speed Checker TS75NL made by OKADA SEIKO CO., LTD., 5 wt% or less in tablet friability as determined by putting 31 g or more of the tablet into a tablet friability tester made by Kayagaki Irika Kogyo KK, rotating the tablets for two minutes, removing the powder on the surface of the tablet and applying the formula: [(Sum of tablet weight in grams before defacement - Sum of tablet weight in grams after defacement) / Sum of tablet weight in grams before defacement] × 100 = Tablet friability (wt%), and from 5.5 to 9.0 in pH immediately after dissolution of the tablet in hot water, and wherein the tablet contains (i) at least one body rendering agent wherein the body rendering agent is alkane sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18, olefin sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18, sucrose fatty acid ester, sodium sulfate, or magnesium sulfate and (ii) at least one chlorine neutralizing compound wherein the chlorine neutralizing compound is L-ascorbic acid, L-ascorbate, thiosulfate, sulfite, erythorbic acid, or erythorbate, wherein micro-bubbles are bubbles with a diameter of 0.05 mm or less.
  6. The carbonated bathing agent according to Claim 5, wherein the body rendering agent is contained at a ratio of 1:10 to 1:1000 in relation to the organic acid.
  7. The carbonated bathing agent according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein the chlorine neutralizing compound is contained at 8 wt% or less in relation to the organic acid.
  8. The carbonated bathing agent according to any one of Claim 5, Claim 6 and Claim 7, wherein the body rendering agent is alkane sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18 and olefin sulfonate with a carbon number of 6 to 18.
  9. An apparatus for producing micro-bubbles mixed water which is provided with a shower head portion and a shower body which are arranged integrally or arranged in a combined manner; the apparatus comprising: (a) a water channel having a micro-bubble generating portion between an inlet port and an ejection port, wherein the micro-bubble generating portion is disposed at any one of the following positions (1) to (6): (1) in the shower head portion, (2) in the shower body, (3) between the shower head portion and the shower body, (4) in a terminal end portion of the water supplying hose connected to the shower body, (5) in a leading end portion of the water supplying hose connected to the shower body, and (6) in a middle portion of the water supplying hose connected to the shower body; and (b) a carbonated bathing agent according to any one of Claim 5 to Claim 8 accommodated in the micro-bubble generating portion.
  10. The apparatus according to Claim 9, wherein the micro-bubble generating portion can be attached in a detachable manner by one-touch operation.
  11. The apparatus according to Claim 9 or Claim 10, wherein the micro-bubble generating portion is made with a transparent material, so that a state of dissolution of the tablet accommodated in the carbon micro-bubble generating portion and the presence or absence of the tablet can be visually observed from outside.

Description

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a method for producing carbon dioxide gas/micro-bubbles mixed water which remarkably improves blood flow promoting effects of a carbonated spring bathing agent and has excellent carbonated micro-bubble effects and relates to a device for easily producing the carbon dioxide gas/micro-bubbles mixed water. [Background Art] A mixture which contains bicarbonate (sodium hydrogen carbonate or potassium hydrogen carbonate) and an organic acid is formed by compression molding, tablet-making or others to provide a bubble-forming composition (solid substance), and this process is applied to products such as a cleaning agent, a bathing agent, a bath water detergent, a pool-water disinfectant, etc. These products (solid substances) are advantageous in that they will rapidly dissolve when put into water while generating carbon dioxide gas by reaction of their components and are also effective in enhancing commercial value as they impart a comfortable feeling from use to consumers. In particular, in bath salts (also referred to as bathing agents), the effect on promoting blood circulation due to generation of carbon dioxide gas is widely used in a proactive manner. On the other hand, very small bubbles, for example, those with a diameter of 0.05 mm or less, which are referred to as micro-bubbles, are considered to have a high cleaning ability in a shower unit, etc., and have been widely used. Micro-bubbles are also used because of their enhancing effect on promoting dissolution of oxygen into water and dissolution of a gas into water, where micro-bubbles are generated in closed water areas such as lakes, ponds and culture ponds. Conventionally, as a micro-bubble shower which uses the micro-bubbles, there is known a tap-water pressurebased shower which uses a swirl flow (refer to Patent Document 1). There is also known a combination which is obtained by using a technology which dissolves the carbon dioxide gas generating component in hot water with a technology which generates micro-bubbles to disinfect microorganisms in a liquid and purify the liquid (refer to for example, Patent Document 2). The technology of Patent Document 1 is such that a carbon dioxide gas generating article like one found in various types of bathing agents is disposed as a gas generating article inside a gas-liquid mixer and an ejection port side of the gas-liquid mixer is connected to a shower head, and thus hot water obtained by mixing a bathing component with micro-bubbles is ejected from the shower head, by which cleaning effects and health promoting effects such as improvement of blood circulation can be expected to be obtained. There is also available a shower head with water cleaning function in which a cartridge-type chlorine removing component is put into a grip portion of a shower head. And, it is also known that vitamin C is effective in removing chlorine (refer to Patent Document 3). In the technologies described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, however, conventional bathing agent components and tablets are rapidly dissolved by being dissolved by a water flow due to a pressure of tap water, a carbon dioxide gas generating bathing agent continues to dissolve in a very short period of time, generated bubbles are very large in diameter and less likely to exhibit effects on skin and the inside of blood vessels even when contacting the body, in particular, where hot water at the time of taking a shower flows freely, hot water ejected from a shower head flows down rapidly after contacting the body and, thus, as compared with bathing in a bathtub, hot water is short in the period of time and also small in area when contacting the body. Therefore, the present inventor and others have found that in order to obtain the health promoting effects such as improvement of blood circulation described above, a bathing agent having an acid pH range or that having a short duration of dissolution is small in warm bath effects and completely ineffective and, therefore, have provided a number of patented technologies for solving problems (refer to Patent Document 4). In subsequent experiments, the present inventor and others have, however, found that a carbon dioxide gas bathing agent or a bicarbonate ion bathing agent is severely suppressed for blood flow promotion and warming effects at the time of bathing by the presence of chlorine in tap water. A disinfectant such as chlorine in tap water is found to have such actions that it makes predominant all at once sympathetic nerves of autonomic nerves when absorbed through the skin and, as a result, cortisol is secreted from the adrenal cortex to contract the blood vessels, resulting in a decrease in blood flow. Thus, despite the development of carbonated bathing agents or systems of generating micro-bubbles of carbon dioxide gas that are high in warming effects at the time of bathing so that the body can be warmed only by taking a shower, the presence of chlorine is