JP-7854813-B2 - water heater

JP7854813B2JP 7854813 B2JP7854813 B2JP 7854813B2JP-7854813-B2

Inventors

湯浅直紀
寺口徹

Assignees

リンナイ株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20220125

Claims (14)

A housing having a housing opening that opens to the front and a roughly box-shaped housing body that is recessed toward the rear, and a front plate that covers the housing opening, A combustion device comprising a combustion chamber and a burner whose flame port is located within the combustion chamber, which generates high-temperature gas, is housed within the aforementioned enclosure. A heat exchanger is housed above the combustion chamber within the aforementioned housing and heats the water passing through it with the high-temperature gas to convert it into hot water. A water supply pipe is housed within the aforementioned housing, located on the first side which is one side of the heat exchanger in the width direction perpendicular to the front-rear and up-down directions, extending in the up-down direction, and connected to the heat exchanger. A hot water supply pipe is housed within the aforementioned housing, positioned to the first side of the heat exchanger in the width direction, extending in the vertical direction, and connected to the heat exchanger. A water supply connecting member located on the lower surface of the housing body, for connecting the water supply pipe and the water supply channel located outside the housing, A hot water supply connecting member located on the lower surface of the housing body for connecting the hot water supply pipe and the hot water supply passage located outside the housing, A water flow control unit is provided between the water supply connection member and the water supply pipe, which controls the flow rate of water flowing through the water supply pipe. In a water heater, The housing further comprises a microbubble generator connected in the middle of the hot water supply pipe , having a roughly cylindrical shape with an axial length greater than its outer width, which generates microbubbles in the hot water simply by the flow of hot water through it. The microbubble generator is located on one side in the axial direction and has an inlet into which the hot water flows in from the upstream side of the hot water supply pipe , It has an outlet located on the other side in the axial direction, which causes the hot water containing the fine bubbles to flow out to the downstream portion of the hot water supply pipe , The microbubble generator has the inlet and outlet located below the flame port . The aforementioned microbubbles originate from air already dissolved in the hot water, The microbubble generator is located on the first side of the heat exchanger in the width direction, A water heater characterized in that a portion of the water supply pipe is located below the flame port and directly above the microbubble generator .
The water heater according to claim 1, wherein the microbubble generator is made of a resin that has heat resistance to hot water.
The water volume control unit has a water supply connection port that opens toward the front side of the housing, The water supply pipe extends forward from the upstream end connected to the water supply connection port, then bends and extends upward, then bends backward to a position below the flame port and directly above the microbubble generator, then bends upward to extend above the flame port, according to claim 1 or 2.
The water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the inlet and outlet of the microbubble generator are located above the water volume control unit.
The water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein one of the inlet and the outlet is located behind the other of the inlet and the outlet.
The water heater according to claim 5, wherein one of the inlet and outlet is open in the vertical direction.
The water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the axial direction is inclined with respect to the vertical direction.
The water heater according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the angles between the upstream portion of the hot water pipe and the microbubble generator, and between the microbubble generator and the downstream portion of the hot water pipe , is obtuse.
The inlet is located above the outlet, The water heater according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the outlet is located at a height greater than or equal to the downstream hot water flow path from the portion of the hot water pipe connected to the outlet to the hot water connection member.
A housing having a housing opening that opens to the front and a roughly box-shaped housing body that is recessed toward the rear, and a front plate that covers the housing opening, A combustion device comprising a combustion chamber and a burner whose flame port is located within the combustion chamber, which generates high-temperature gas, is housed within the aforementioned enclosure. A heat exchanger is housed above the combustion chamber within the aforementioned housing and heats the water passing through it with the high-temperature gas to convert it into hot water. A water supply pipe is housed within the aforementioned housing, located on the first side which is one side of the heat exchanger in the width direction perpendicular to the front-rear and up-down directions, extending in the up-down direction, and connected to the heat exchanger. A hot water supply pipe is housed within the aforementioned housing, positioned to the first side of the heat exchanger in the width direction, extending in the vertical direction, and connected to the heat exchanger. A water supply connecting member located on the lower surface of the housing body, for connecting the water supply pipe and the water supply channel located outside the housing, A hot water supply connecting member located on the lower surface of the housing body for connecting the hot water supply pipe and the hot water supply passage located outside the housing, A water flow control unit is provided between the water supply connection member and the water supply pipe, which controls the flow rate of water flowing through the water supply pipe. In a water heater, The housing further comprises a microbubble generator connected in the middle of the water supply pipe, having a roughly cylindrical shape with an axial length greater than its outer width, which generates microbubbles in the hot water simply by hot water flowing through it. The microbubble generator is located on one side in the axial direction and has an inlet into which the hot water flows in from the upstream side of the water supply pipe, It has an outlet located on the other side in the axial direction, which causes the hot water containing the fine bubbles to flow out to the downstream portion of the water supply pipe, The microbubble generator has the inlet and outlet located below the flame port. The aforementioned microbubbles originate from air already dissolved in the hot water, The microbubble generator is located on the first side of the heat exchanger in the width direction, The aforementioned axial direction is inclined with respect to the vertical direction. A water heater characterized in that a portion of the water supply pipe is located below the flame port and directly above the microbubble generator.
The water heater according to claim 10, wherein the microbubble generator is made of a resin that has heat resistance to hot water.
The outlet is located behind the inlet. The water volume control unit has a water supply connection port that opens toward the front side of the housing, The upstream portion of the water supply pipe extends forward from the upstream end connected to the water supply connection port, then bends upward, and then bends backward to connect to the inlet. The water heater according to claim 10 or 11, wherein a portion of the water supply pipe located downstream of the water supply pipe is located below the flame port and directly above the microbubble generator.
The water heater according to any one of claims 10 to 12 , wherein a portion of the water supply pipe located downstream of the water supply pipe has a portion that extends horizontally.
The outlet is located above the inlet. The water heater according to any one of claims 10 to 13 , wherein the inlet is located at a height equal to or greater than the upstream water supply channel from the water supply connecting member to the portion of the water supply pipe connected to the inlet.

Description

This invention relates to a water heater. Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a conventional water heater. This water heater comprises a housing, a combustion device, and a heat exchanger. The enclosure has a main body. The main body has an opening at the front and is roughly box-shaped, concave towards the rear. Although not shown in Patent Document 1, the enclosure has a front plate covering the opening. The combustion device is housed within the enclosure. The combustion device has a combustion chamber and a burner with the flame port located within the combustion chamber, generating high-temperature gas. The heat exchanger is housed above the combustion chamber within the enclosure. The heat exchanger heats water passing through it with the high-temperature gas, converting it into hot water. As illustrated in Figure 1 of Patent Document 1, the water heater comprises a water supply pipe, a hot water supply pipe, a water supply connection member, and a hot water supply connection member. The water supply pipe and hot water supply pipe are housed within the enclosure and connected to the heat exchanger, respectively. The water supply connection members and hot water supply connection members are located on the underside of the enclosure. The water supply connection member connects the water supply pipe to the water supply channel located outside the enclosure. The hot water supply connection member connects the hot water supply pipe to the hot water supply channel located outside the enclosure. A water flow control unit is provided between the water supply connection member and the water supply pipe to control the flow rate of water through the water supply pipe. Patent Document 2 discloses an example of a conventional microbubble generator. This microbubble generator is placed, for example, in a shower system or in the piping leading to a faucet. This microbubble generator has a roughly cylindrical shape, with its axial length greater than its outer width. This microbubble generator generates microbubbles in the water flowing inside. Furthermore, the larger the axial length of the microbubble generator is compared to its outer diameter, the easier it becomes to produce finer microbubbles in the water. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2021-55929Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-171914 Figure 1 is a perspective view of the water heater of Example 1.Figure 2 is a perspective view of the water heater of Example 1, with the front panel removed.Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the water heater in Example 1.Figure 4 is a partial perspective view of the water heater of Example 1, showing the combustion chamber, burner flame port, microbubble generator, etc.Figure 5 is a perspective view of the water heater of Embodiment 1, showing the state after removing the housing body, combustion fan, first combustion device, second combustion device, first main heat exchanger, first auxiliary heat exchanger, second main heat exchanger, second auxiliary heat exchanger, etc., from Figure 2.Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view relating to the water heater of Example 1, showing the hot water pipe, microbubble generator, hot water connection member, hot water filling control unit, cold water connection member, water volume control unit, bypass pipe, etc.Figure 7 is a side view of the water heater of Example 1, showing the hot water pipe, bypass pipe, microbubble generator, water supply connection member, water volume control member, hot water filling control member, etc.Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view of the microbubble generator for the water heater of Example 1.Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the water heater in Example 2.Figure 10 is a side view of the water heater of Example 2, showing the water supply pipe, microbubble generator, water supply connection member, hot water supply connection member, water volume control unit, hot water filling control unit, etc. The following describes two embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings. (Example 1) As shown in Figure 1, the water heater 1 of Embodiment 1 is an example of a specific embodiment of the water heater of the present invention. In the following description, the front plate 8B side of the housing 8 of the water heater 1, that is, the front side of the paper in Figure 1, is defined as the front of the water heater 1, the left side of the paper in Figure 1 is defined as the left side of the water heater 1, and the top side of the paper in Figure 1 is defined as the top of the water heater 1. Furthermore, the front, back, left, right, and up and down directions shown in each of the figures from Figure 2 onward will all be shown corresponding to Figure 1. The components of the water heater 1 will be described below. <Cabinet> As shown in Figure 1, the water heater 1 is equipped with a housing 8. The housing 8 has a housing body 8A and a front plate 8B. As shown in Figure 2, the main enclosure 8A has an enclosure opening 8H tha