JP2000337648A - Hot water supply apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a hot water supply apparatus in which the hot water delivery passage can be changed without requiring additional time or labor by an arrangement wherein a section for switching a plurality of patterns of hot water delivery passage is controlled by a control section based on a signal for selecting a hot water delivery passage pattern from a selecting section. SOLUTION: A switching section 1 comprises a motor driven three-way valve operated by an operating signal from a control section 3. A selecting section 2 comprises a switch being operated by a user in order to make a switching to a desired hot water delivery passage. When the user selects a first setting 4 at the selecting section 2, the control section 3 receives an output signal from the selecting section 2 and delivers a signal for making a switch to a first hot water delivery passage at the switching section 1. Similarly, when a second setting 5 is selected, only switching to a second hot water delivery passage and display on a second display means 10 are executed. When the user selects a third setting 6, the control section 3 selects first or second hot water delivery passage based on a temperature detection signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to control of a water heater for automatically controlling hot water from an auxiliary heat source by a switching unit as required.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional water heater will be described with reference to FIG.
The water heater 11 shown in FIG. 2 may be used by installing two water heaters 11 and an auxiliary heat source 12 provided separately from the water heater 11. The switching valve 13 is connected to the outlet of the water heater 11 and the auxiliary heat source 12.
And the hot water supply device 11 has one tapping outlet. The switching valve 13 can manually switch between two types of hot water supply paths. In the first hot water supply path, hot water is supplied from hot water supply device 11 only from the hot water outlet. In another tapping path, tapping is performed only from auxiliary heat source 12. The user operates the switching valve 13 as needed to obtain hot water at a desired temperature.

[0003]

In the conventional water heater, since the user must manually operate the switching valve 13, it takes much time and labor and is very inconvenient.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a water heater according to the present invention is connected to a separately provided auxiliary heat source side, and switches a plurality of patterns of hot water supply paths; And a control unit for controlling the switching unit, wherein the control unit controls the switching unit based on a selection signal from the selection unit.

According to the above invention, if the tapping path is selected by the selecting section, the switching section is actually operated by the control section, so that the tapping path can be changed without any time or effort. An easy-to-use water heater can be obtained.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A water heater according to a first aspect of the present invention is connected to an auxiliary heat source provided separately and switches a plurality of hot water supply paths, and selects a hot water supply path pattern of the switching section. And a control unit that controls the switching unit, wherein the control unit controls the switching unit based on a selection signal from the selection unit.

[0007] Since the control unit controls the switching unit based on the selection signal from the selection unit, the hot water supply path can be changed without spending time and effort.

Further, in the water heater according to a second aspect, the switching section has a first hot water supply path not using the auxiliary heat source side and a second hot water supply path using only the auxiliary heat source side. .

Since the first and second hot water supply paths are provided, use of only a water heater and use of only an auxiliary heat source side can be easily selected as necessary, resulting in insufficient capacity and increased running cost. Can be prevented.

In the water heater according to a third aspect of the present invention, the switching section has a first hot water path that does not use the auxiliary heat source side and a second hot water path that also uses the auxiliary heat source side. It was done.

Since the first and second hot water supply paths are provided, the use of only the water heater or the combined use of the water heater and the auxiliary heat source side can be easily selected as necessary, which results in insufficient capacity or running. An increase in cost can be prevented.

In the water heater according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the selection section includes a first setting for selecting a first hot water supply path of the switching section;
One having a second setting for selecting the second hot water path of the switching unit and a third setting for automatically selecting either the first setting or the second setting by the control unit. It is.

Since the third setting for automatically selecting the hot water supply path is provided, the water heater can be operated optimally without the user's judgment.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the water heater, when the third setting is selected by the selection section, the control section responds to the temperature detection signal from the temperature detection section for detecting the tapping temperature. Alternatively, the second setting is selected.

[0015] Since the hot water supply path is selected according to the temperature detection signal of the temperature detection unit, the operation can be switched to an optimum operation in accordance with the hot water supply state of the water heater.

In the water heater according to a sixth aspect, the selection unit includes a display unit for displaying the selected hot water supply path,
The display unit is a first display unit that indicates that the first setting is selected, a second display unit that indicates that the second setting is selected, and the third setting is selected The third display means to indicate that the first or second display means is also displayed according to the tapping path automatically selected by the control unit when the display is performed by the third display means. It is something to do.

Since the present hot water supply route is displayed by the display means, the operating state of the water heater can be easily grasped.

In the water heater according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the control unit has operation signal output means for turning on and off the operation on the auxiliary heat source side, and when the hot water supply path using the auxiliary heat source side is selected, the operation is performed. The signal output means outputs a signal for turning on the operation of the auxiliary heat source.

Since the auxiliary heat source is turned on by the operation signal output means, it is possible to prevent the auxiliary heat source from being disabled due to forgetting to operate.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a water heater according to Embodiment 1. When the water heater is a hot water storage type water heater such as an electric water heater, the amount of usable hot water is limited. If the stored hot water is used up, the hot water cannot be used, so another hot water heater will be installed for the auxiliary heat source. As long as the first water heater can supply hot water, an auxiliary heat source is not required, so running costs are taken into consideration, and the switching unit 1 uses only the first water heater and only the auxiliary heat source. Switch between the hot water path and the hot water flow path. The switching unit 1 includes a three-way valve driven by an electric motor, and operates according to an operation signal from the control unit 3. FIG. 1 shows an example in which a first hot water supply route for supplying hot water from a hot water outlet and a second hot water supply route for supplying hot water from an auxiliary heat source are switched.

The switching unit 1 may be connected so as to switch between a path for supplying hot water from the tap of the water heater and a path for supplying hot water from the tap of the water heater to the auxiliary heat source for use. Absent. The selection unit 2 is an operation switch operated by a user to switch to a desired hot water supply path. The selection unit 2 is connected to the control unit 3 by a cable or a wireless unit, and can be installed at a location remote from the water heater main body. By enabling remote control, the user can switch the hot water supply route indoors without going to the hot water heater installed outdoors. The selection unit 2 has three types of settings, a first setting 4, a second setting 5, and a third setting 6. When the user wants to use the first tapping route, the user selects the first setting 4. If the user wants to use the second tapping route, the user selects the second setting 5. When the controller 3 automatically selects the hot water supply path, the third setting 6 is selected. The display unit 8 is a display for displaying the currently selected hot water supply route. The display unit 8 has a first display unit 9, a second display unit 10, and a third display unit 11 corresponding to the setting of the selection unit 2. When the user selects the first setting 4 of the selection unit 2, the control unit 3
And outputs a signal to switch the switching unit 1 to the first hot water supply path. At the same time, the control unit 3
Outputs a signal to the display unit 8 to light up and display only the first display means 9. Similarly, when the second setting 5 is selected, switching to the second hot water supply path and display of only the second display means 10 are executed.

The temperature detecting section 7 detects the temperature of hot water from the hot water supply device and outputs a temperature detection signal to the control section 3. The control unit 3 can confirm the hot water supply capacity of the water heater based on the temperature detection signal. That is, when the temperature of the hot water discharged from the water heater is low, it indicates that the hot water supply capacity of the water heater is insufficient. Therefore, when the user selects the third setting 6, the controller 3 selects the first or second tapping path based on the temperature detection signal. For example, if the temperature detection signal is 6
When the temperature is 0 ° C. or higher, the hot water supply capacity of the water heater is sufficient, so the first hot water supply path is selected and only the first water heater is used. At this time, the control unit 3 displays the third display means 11 and also the first display means 9 at the same time, so that the selection of the tapping path is automatic and the first tapping path is determined by the automatic determination. Indicates that was selected. Similarly, if the temperature detection signal is lower than 60 ° C., the hot water supply capacity of the water heater is insufficient, so that the second hot water supply path is selected and switched to use on the auxiliary heat source side. At that time, the control unit 3 causes the third display unit 11 to be displayed and the second display unit 10 to be displayed at the same time. As it is automatically switched to auxiliary heat source,
The problem that the temperature of hot water drops while the user is using hot water can be prevented.

Even if the hot water supply path is switched to the auxiliary heat source side, the hot water cannot be used if the operation switch on the auxiliary heat source side is turned off. Therefore, if the operation switch of the auxiliary heat source is always turned on, the energy consumed by the auxiliary heat source increases, which is uneconomical. The operation signal output means 12 outputs a signal for turning on and off the operation switch of the auxiliary heat source. When the hot water supply path is on the auxiliary heat source side, the control unit 3 causes the operation signal output unit 12 to output an operation “on” signal. When the hot water supply path is on the hot water supply side, an operation “OFF” signal is output. Since the operation of the auxiliary heat source is turned on only when the auxiliary heat source is used, it is possible to prevent the use of hot water due to forgetting to turn on the operation switch without wasting energy.

[0025]

According to the water heater according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the control unit controls the switching unit based on the selection signal from the selection unit, the hot water supply path can be established without spending time and effort. Can be changed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the first and second hot water supply paths are provided, it is easy to use only the water heater and only the auxiliary heat source as necessary. And running costs can be prevented from increasing.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the water heater has the first and second hot water supply paths, only the water heater is used as needed, and the water heater is used in combination with the auxiliary heat source. Can easily be selected, and insufficient capacity and running cost can be prevented.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the third setting for automatically selecting a hot water supply path, so that the water heater can be optimally adjusted without the user's judgment. Can drive.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the hot water supply path is selected in accordance with the temperature detection signal of the temperature detecting section, the operation can be switched to an optimal operation in accordance with the hot water supply state of the hot water supply apparatus.

Further, according to the water heater according to the sixth aspect, the present hot water supply path is displayed by the display means, so that the operating state of the water heater can be easily grasped.

According to the water heater of the present invention, since the auxiliary heat source is set to the operation-on state by the operation signal output means, it is possible to prevent the auxiliary heat source from being unusable due to forgetting to operate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a water heater according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of a conventional water heater.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Switching part 2 Selection part 3 Control part 4 First setting 5 Second setting 6 Third setting 7 Temperature detection part 8 Display part 9 First display means 10 Second display means 11 Third display means 12 Operation signal output means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masayuki Namba 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 72) Inventor Toshimoto Kajitani 1006 Kadoma, Kazuma, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. AA15 AC01 AD07 AE02 AE06

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A switching unit connected to a separately provided auxiliary heat source for switching a plurality of hot water supply paths, a selection unit for selecting a hot water supply path pattern of the switching unit, and a control unit for controlling the switching unit. A water heater, wherein the control unit controls the switching unit based on a selection signal from the selection unit. 2. The water heater according to claim 1, wherein the switching section has a first tapping path not using the auxiliary heat source side and a second tapping path using only the auxiliary heat source side. 3. The water heater according to claim 1, wherein the switching section has a first tapping path that does not use the auxiliary heat source side and a second tapping path that also uses the auxiliary heat source side. 4. A selection section includes: a first setting for selecting a first hot water path of the switching section; a second setting for selecting a second hot water path of the switching section; 4. The water heater according to claim 2, further comprising a third setting for automatically selecting one of the setting and the second setting. 5. The control section, when the third setting is selected by the selection section, selects the first or second setting in accordance with a temperature detection signal of a temperature detection section for detecting a tapping temperature. 5. The water heater according to claim 4, wherein: 6. The selection section has a display section for displaying a selected hot water supply path, wherein the display section has first display means for indicating that the first setting has been selected, and second setting means. Is provided with a second display unit that indicates that a third setting has been selected, and a third display unit that indicates that a third setting has been selected. The water heater according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the first or second display means is also displayed according to a hot water path automatically selected by the section. 7. An operation signal output means for turning on and off the operation of the auxiliary heat source side, and when selecting a hot water supply path using the auxiliary heat source side, the operation signal output means operates the auxiliary heat source. The water heater according to claim 1, wherein a signal for turning on the water is output.