KR-20260067615-A - WATER PURIFIER

KR20260067615AKR 20260067615 AKR20260067615 AKR 20260067615AKR-20260067615-A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water purifier, comprising: a filter unit that filters incoming raw water to provide purified water; a flow channel that provides a passage for water to flow through; a heater that heats the purified water to provide hot water; a storage unit that stores one or more of purified water and hot water; a valve unit comprising one or more valves that are selectively opened or closed to control the flow of water in the filter unit, the flow channel, and the storage unit; a pump that causes water to flow so that water inside the filter unit is discharged to the outside; and a controller that controls the opening or closing of the valve unit based on a plurality of flow controls, wherein the plurality of flow controls include a hot water inflow control that introduces hot water stored in the storage unit into the filter unit, and a hot water stagnation control that causes hot water to stagnate in the filter unit for a certain period of time to loosen foreign substances in the filter unit with hot water.

Inventors

윤성한
문형민
김종철

Assignees

코웨이 주식회사

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20241106

Claims (15)

A filter unit that filters incoming raw water to provide purified water; A flow channel that provides a passage for water to flow through; A heater that heats purified water to provide hot water; A storage unit that stores one or more of purified water and hot water; A valve section comprising one or more valves that are selectively opened or closed to control the flow of water in the filter section, the flow channel, and the storage section; A pump that flows water so that the water inside the filter section is discharged to the outside; and It includes a controller that controls the opening and closing of the valve section based on multiple flow controls, and The above plurality of flow controls are, A hot water inflow control for introducing hot water stored in the storage unit into the filter unit, and a hot water stagnation control for stagnating the hot water in the filter unit for a certain period of time to loosen foreign substances in the filter unit with the hot water. water purifier.
In Article 1, The above plurality of flow controls are, Purified water discharge control for discharging purified water to the outside by flowing water in the forward direction in the flow channel so that purified water is provided to a user, and further comprising flushing control for backwashing the filter unit by flowing purified water in the reverse direction opposite to the forward direction. water purifier.
In Article 1, The above plurality of flow controls include compression control that compresses the stored air by introducing purified water into the storage unit. water purifier.
In Paragraph 3, The controller controls the opening and closing of one or more valves such that the valve section is sequentially placed in the compression control, the hot water inflow control, the hot water stagnation control, and the flushing control. water purifier.
In Paragraph 3, The above valve part is, An inlet valve that opens and closes to allow raw water to selectively flow from the outside into the flow channel; and It includes a connecting valve that opens and closes to allow purified water to flow selectively from the filter section to the storage section, and The above controller is, When the above compression control is performed, the inlet valve and the connecting valve are opened for a predetermined first control time from the time the compression control is initiated so that purified water flows into the storage unit and the air within the storage unit is compressed, and the inlet valve and the connecting valve are closed after the first control time has elapsed so that the hot water inflow control is performed. water purifier.
In Article 5, The above storage unit includes a hot water tank for storing hot water, and The above valve part is, An outlet valve that is selectively opened and closed to provide purified water to the user; A flushing valve that opens and closes to selectively discharge purified water, which has been backwashed from the filter unit, to the outside; and It further includes an intermediate valve that regulates the flow of hot water from the hot water tank to the filter unit, and The above controller is, When the hot water inflow control is performed, the hot water stored in the hot water tank flows into the filter unit and purified water stored in the filter unit is discharged to the outside; the outlet valve, the flushing valve, and the intermediate valve are opened for a predetermined second control time from the time the hot water inflow control is initiated, and after the second control time has elapsed, the outlet valve, the flushing valve, and the intermediate valve are closed so that the hot water stagnation control is performed. water purifier.
In Article 6, The above plurality of flow controls are, It further includes a purified water discharge control that discharges purified water to the outside by flowing water in the forward direction in the flow channel so that purified water is provided to the user, and a flushing control that backwashes the filter unit by flowing purified water in the reverse direction opposite to the forward direction. The above controller is, When the hot water stagnation control is performed, the valve section is closed for a predetermined third control time from the time the hot water stagnation control is initiated so that foreign substances in the filter section are flushed by the hot water flowing into the filter section during the hot water inflow control, and the outlet valve, the flushing valve, and the connecting valve are opened so that the flushing control is performed after the third control time has elapsed. water purifier.
In Article 7, The above controller is, When the flushing control is performed, the flushing valve and the connecting valve are controlled to be opened for a predetermined fourth control time from the time the flushing control is initiated, so that the purified water stored in the storage unit is backwashed by the compressed air in the storage unit. water purifier.
In Article 6, The above controller is, When the above hot water inflow control is in place, the intermediate valve is controlled so that the intermediate valve is repeatedly opened and closed so that the hot water stored in the hot water tank is intermittently flowed into the filter section. water purifier.
In Article 2, It further includes a water outlet that discharges purified water to the outside so that filtered purified water is provided to the user, and The above storage unit is, It includes an air tank connected to the above flow channel, in which air stored inside is compressed by incoming purified water, and In the above-mentioned water discharge control, the water introduced into the interior of the air tank does not flow into the flow channel, water purifier.
In Article 10, The above air tank provides a receiving space for accommodating at least one of air and purified water inside, and is configured to be sealed so that the receiving space is not connected to the outside. water purifier.
In Article 10, The above plurality of flow controls further include compression control that compresses the stored air by introducing purified water into the storage unit, and The above air tank is arranged so that water contained in the air tank in the above compression control is discharged to the outside via the filter section. water purifier.
In Article 2, The above controller is, Controlling the pump to operate so that purified water backwashes the filter section during the above flushing control, water purifier.
In Article 2, It further includes an outlet for discharging filtered purified water to the outside, and The above storage unit includes a hot water tank for storing hot water, and The above valve part is, An inlet valve that controls the flow of raw water from the outside into the above flow channel; An outlet valve that controls the discharge of purified water from the above flow channel to the outside; A flushing valve that controls the discharge of raw water flowing into the inlet valve or purified water that has been backwashed through the filter unit; An intermediate valve that regulates the flow of hot water from the hot water tank to the filter unit; and It includes a connecting valve that regulates the flow of purified water from the filter section to the storage section, and The above controller is, In the above-mentioned purified water discharge control, the inlet valve is opened so that raw water flows into the flow channel, and the outlet valve is opened so that purified water is discharged to the outlet section. water purifier.
In Article 2, The above pump is arranged so that, during the flushing control, the purified water stored in the storage unit is discharged to the outside via the filter unit. water purifier.

Description

Water Purifier The present invention relates to a water purifier. Generally, a water purifier is a device that receives water from a water supply source, such as tap water, filters it into purified water through an internal filter, and then provides the purified water to the user. Additionally, while a water purifier may provide purified water directly to the user, it may also provide cold water by cooling the water to a temperature below a predetermined level using a cooler, or provide hot water by heating it to a temperature above a predetermined level using a heater. A water purifier may be provided with multiple filters. Such a water purifier may be configured so that raw water is filtered by passing through multiple filters sequentially. Among the multiple filters, the filter positioned relatively upstream compared to the others can filter out relatively large impurities. The raw water is filtered again by these multiple filters and can be provided to the user as purified water. During the process of filtering raw water into purified water, a large amount of impurities may accumulate inside the upstream filter among multiple filters. When such a large amount of impurities accumulates inside the filter, the flow rate of water within the filter may decrease, even if the filter's filtration capacity (lifespan) remains. This reduction in water flow leads to a decrease in the overall purification capacity of the water purifier, resulting in a problem where the filter's lifespan is shortened. To address these issues, a method of separating the filter from the water purifier for cleaning has been used; however, this has resulted in another problem: it is not only inconvenient for users but also undesirable for the hygiene of the filter. In order to solve these problems, the applicant’s published patent application No. 10-2022-0111593 “Water purifier (Patent Document 1)” discloses flushing a reverse osmosis filter using pressure generated by the contraction of the water storage unit as the raw water storage unit expands, and a flushing tank storing purified water for flushing a reverse osmosis filter. However, Patent Document 1 has the problem of increasing the size of the water purifier by requiring a separate space for storing purified water needed to flush the reverse osmosis filter. In addition, since the reverse osmosis filter is flushed solely by the pressure generated by the contraction of the purified water storage unit, there is a problem that the reverse osmosis filter is not effectively flushed because the pressure is insufficient. In this regard, the applicant's published patent application No. 10-2023-0032611 "Water purifier (Patent Document 2)" discloses that treated water filtered by a filter unit is stored, and that the treated water is supplied back to the filter unit by a pump, thereby allowing the treated water to backwash the filter unit. Patent Document 2 differs from Patent Document 1 in that it provides power for backwashing the filter unit with treated water by arranging a pump. However, just like Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 requires a separate space to store the treated water used to backwash the filter unit, which causes the water purifier to become larger. Additionally, since the water used to backwash the filter unit in Patent Document 2 is purified water at approximately 5°C, there is a problem in that it cannot effectively wash away impurities accumulated in the filter unit over a long period of time. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a water purifier according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the first embodiment of the present invention when compression control is in place. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the first embodiment of the present invention when hot water inflow control and hot water stagnation control. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the first embodiment when water purification discharge control and flushing control are in place. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing a water purifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the second embodiment of the present invention when compression control is in place. FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the second embodiment of the present invention when hot water inflow control and hot water stagnation control. FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a water purifier according to the second embodiment when water purification discharge control and flushing control are in place. Figure 9 is a table showing the opening and closing of the valve section according to multiple flow controls. Hereinafter, specific embodiments for implementing the technical concept of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, in describing the