JPH1194313A - Ice storage type chilled water supplying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent water having a temperature lower than required from being discharged for a long time by properly supplying water from an external water supply source to an ice storage type chilled water supplying device which supplies the chilled water utilizing regenerated heat of ice. SOLUTION: In an ice storage type chilled water supplying device comprising two tanks, inner and outer, in which water chilled by an evaporator in the outer tank 21 is introduced into the inner tank 22 through communication holes 22 and the water in the inner tank 22 is delivered from an external water plug 55, when the water level in the inner tank 22 lowers, a water supply valve 30 is opened to supply the water from an external water supply source 32 into the tank. At this point, the relatively high temperature water of the external water supply source 32 naturally drop downward from a water injection port 3 of the water supply valve 30 and the naturally dropping water splashes on a supplied water splashing plate 23 to be directly supplied to the inner tank 22 through the inside of the outer tank 21 and a notch part 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chiller for supplying chilled water required for washing fresh food and treating cold salt water in a supermarket or the like, and more particularly to a chilled water device utilizing ice heat storage. The present invention relates to an ice storage type cold water supply device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of ice storage type cold water supply apparatus is provided with two tanks consisting of an inner tank and an outer tank at the upper portion of a peripheral wall of an inner tank, as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-121193. The water in the outer tub is cooled by an evaporator, and the water in the inner tub is drawn out to recirculate into the inner tub and water is selectively discharged during the recirculation. An external recirculation system having an external water faucet is provided, and a water supply device is provided for externally supplying water to the outer tank when the water level in the inner tank becomes lower than a predetermined level. According to this structure, when a large amount of cold water is used and the water level in the inner tank becomes lower than a predetermined level, water from the outside is directly supplied only to the outer tank. Therefore, water from the outside is not directly supplied to the inner tank, but is once mixed with the water being cooled in the outer tank and then supplied through the communication hole in the inner wall of the inner tank. .

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since only the water in the outer tank is supplied to the inner tank, the temperature of the water in the inner tank is cooled by the evaporator. The water temperature becomes as low as the temperature of the water in the outer tub.For example, immediately after the use of water is started, a considerable amount of water in the inner tub is used, and Is supplied, and as a result, the water temperature in the inner tank does not increase until the water temperature in the outer tank increases. Therefore,
There has been a problem that the time during which the temperature of the used water (water in the inner tank) is lower than necessary is long.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to address the above-mentioned problems, and has been developed by appropriately supplying external water when cold water is used to lower the water level in a tank. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ice storage type cold water supply device capable of shortening the time during which the supplied water is at an unnecessarily low temperature.

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is to provide a water tank in which two tanks including two inner and outer tanks are communicated through a communication hole provided in a peripheral wall surface of the inner tank; A refrigerating device having an evaporator housed in one of the tanks and cooling water in the same tank, and an external lead-out system for leading water in the other of the two tanks to the outside. In the ice storage type cold water supply device, when the water level in the one or other tank becomes lower than a predetermined level, a part of water from an external water supply source is supplied to the one tank and the remaining water is supplied to the other tank. It is characterized by providing a water supply device to supply to the tank.

According to the first invention, when the water level in one or the other of the tanks becomes lower than a predetermined level, a part of the water from the external water supply source is supplied to the one of the tanks. Since the remaining water is supplied to the other tank, as a result, the water from the relatively high-temperature external water supply source is also directly stored in the other tank that stores the water that is drawn out from the outside lead-out system. Supplied. Therefore, the water temperature in the other tank can be raised without waiting for the water temperature in the one tank to rise, so that the time during which the used water is unnecessarily low can be shortened.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a water tank in which both tanks including two inner and outer tanks are communicated through a communication hole provided in a peripheral wall surface of the inner tank, and one of the two inner and outer tanks is accommodated in the tank. In a refrigerating apparatus having an evaporator and cooling water in the same tank, and an ice storage type cold water supply apparatus including an external lead-out system for leading water in the other tank of the two inside and outside tanks to the outside, A water supply pipe having one end connected to an external water supply source and the other end forming a water inlet opening downward above the water tank, and when the water level in the one or other tank becomes lower than a predetermined level, A water supply device that naturally drops water from a water supply source from a water inlet of the water supply pipe, and a supply water scattering member that is disposed to face the water inlet and scatters the falling water,
The scattered water is supplied from above the one and the other tanks to both the same and the other tanks.

According to the second aspect, when the water level in the one or the other tank becomes lower than a predetermined level, the water of the external water supply source falls naturally from the water inlet above the water tank. . The position above the water tank may be above either the one or the other tank, or may be above the boundary between the two tanks. Then, the water that has fallen naturally is scattered by the supply water scattering member, and is supplied into the two tanks from above the one and the other tanks. Therefore,
Relatively high temperature water from an external water supply is also supplied to the other tank without being mixed with the low temperature water in the one tank. As a result, the water temperature in the other tank rises without waiting for the water temperature in the one tank to rise, thus reducing the time during which the water supplied and used via the external outlet system is unnecessarily low. can do. Further, the water from the external water supply source is scattered and spreads in all directions, so that the water is supplied to a wide area of the one tank. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the water temperature in the same tank from being biased.

[0009] As a specific example of the second invention, in the ice storage type cold water supply device of the second invention, a water inlet of the water supply pipe is arranged above the one tank and the other tank is provided. A cutout portion may be provided on the upper end wall surface on the side of the supply water scattering member, and the scattered water may be supplied to the other tank via the cutout portion.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of an apparatus main body of an ice storage type cold water supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1 is a cross-sectional view of the main body taken along line 2-2 in FIG.
And a water tank 20 mounted thereon. The water tank 20 includes a cylindrical outer tank 21 and a cylindrical inner tank 22 erected at the center of the bottom wall of the outer tank 21.

The upper portions of the outer tank 21 and the inner tank 22 are open, and an upper lid 21a is provided at the upper end of the outer tank 21. The upper lid 21a has a water supply valve 3 as shown in FIGS.
0 is fixed. The water supply valve 30 supplies water supplied from an external water supply source 32 (for example, tap water) via a water supply pipe 31 to a water supply port 34 provided at the end of the valve water supply pipe 33 of the water supply valve 30 into which the upper lid 21a is inserted. Supply. The water injection port 34 is located vertically above the outer tub 21, and opens toward the bottom wall of the outer tub 21 (downward vertically), so that water from the external water supply source 32 falls naturally from the water injection port 34.

The water supply valve 30 is normally in a closed state as shown in FIG. 3, and is opened by turning the first lever 35 counterclockwise around the right end in the drawing to supply the water through the water supply pipe 31. The supplied water is dropped on a supply water scattering plate 23 (supply water scattering member), which will be described below, which is located below. As shown in FIG. 3, the first lever 35 of the water supply valve 30 is rotated by a second lever 37 via a link 36. One end of the link 36 is rotatably connected to one end of the first lever 35, and the other end of the link 36 is rotatably connected to the second lever 37. One end of the second lever 37 is rotatably connected to the outer peripheral wall of the housing of the water supply valve 30, and the second lever 37 extends obliquely downward and fixes a ball 38 (float) at the tip. . The ball 38 is formed in a hollow shape and floats on the water surface in the inner tank 22. These valve water pipes 33,
By a water supply valve 30 and a water supply pipe 31 including a first lever 35, a link 36, a second lever 37, a ball 38, and the like,
When the water level in the inner tank 22 becomes lower than the predetermined level L, a ball tap that allows water to be supplied from outside to the supply water scattering plate 23 (resulting in the outer tank 21 and the inner tank 22 as described later in detail). A water supply system of the type is constructed.

The height H of the upper end of the inner tank 22 is lower than the height of the upper end of the outer tank 21 and higher than the predetermined level L. In the peripheral wall near the bottom of the inner tank 22, a communication hole 22a (bottom cutout) for communicating the inner tank 22 and the outer tank 21 is provided.
Are provided. A similar communication hole 22b is provided above the peripheral wall of the inner tank 22 and below the predetermined level L.
Are provided. Furthermore, the outer tank 21 of the inner tank 22
A stay (mounting member) 2 extending diagonally upward is provided on the side peripheral wall.
4 is attached to one end of the stay 24.
The flat plate-shaped supply water scattering plate 23 having a flat surface portion extending in the horizontal direction is fixed to the above-described water inlet 34.
The upper surface height J of the flat portion of the supply water scattering plate 23 is a predetermined level L.
And lower than the height H at the uppermost end of the inner tank peripheral wall.

A cutout (opening) 25 is formed in the upper portion of the peripheral wall of the inner tank 22 on the side of the supply water scattering plate 23, which is cut out in a substantially rectangular shape. Further, the height K of the bottom (bottom side) of the notch 25 is set to a position higher than the predetermined level L and lower than the upper surface height J of the plane portion of the supply water scattering plate 23. In particular, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
Has a substantially rectangular flat portion extending in the horizontal direction, and is installed such that the long side direction of the rectangular shape is directed to the cutout portion 25. Further, the length w of the short side of the rectangle is substantially equal to the horizontal width d of the notch 25.

On the outer periphery of the inner tank 22, there is provided an evaporator 41 comprising three layers of cooling pipes 41a to 41c which are spirally coaxially arranged. The outflow upper ends of the cooling pipes 41a to 41c are connected to the connector 42 via the pipes penetrating the lid 21a, are united by the connector 42, and are connected to the refrigerator unit in the base 10 via the pipe P1. Forty compressors 43 are connected. The compressor 43 is a well-known compressor, and is cooled by a compressor fan motor (not shown), and sucks and compresses the refrigerant in the pipe P1 to apply the refrigerant to a condenser (not shown) of the refrigerator unit 40,
The refrigerator unit 40 applies the refrigerant compressed and condensed via a condenser fan motor, a receiver, a gas valve, a dryer and the like (not shown) to the temperature-sensitive expansion valve 44 through the pipe P2. The expansion valve 44 expands the inflow refrigerant and flows into the cooling pipes 41a to 41c via the respective pipes.
The cooling pipes 41a to 41c are connected to the outer tank 21 in accordance with the flow of the refrigerant.
The water inside is cooled, and ice I is applied to the outer peripheral wall of each cooling pipe 41a-41c.
Generate C. The refrigerator unit 40 and the pipes P1 and P
2. Evaporator 41, connector 42, and expansion valve 44
A refrigeration system is formed by such means.

The water in the outer tank 21 is jetted toward the evaporator 41 via the ice melting pump 51 and the jet pipe 52.
The ice melting pump 51 is driven by an electric motor for the ice melting pump 51 (not shown), and draws water in the outer tank 21 from a bottom wall of the outer tank 21 through a pipe P3 provided on the base 10 and a pipe P4. To the injection pipe 52 through the pressure. The injection pipe 52 has a large number of injection holes 52a arranged in a line in the vertical direction at a position facing the evaporator 41, and injects the pressure-fed water to the outer peripheral surface of the evaporator 41 at an angle.

The water in the outer tank 21 is guided to the inner tank 22 by an electric mixing pump 53. That is, the mixing pump 53 pumps water in the outer tank 21 from the bottom wall of the outer tank 21 via the pipe P5 provided on the base 10 and supplies the water into the inner tank 22 via the pipe P6. The water in the inner tank 22 is externally circulated by an electric circulation pump 54. The circulation pump 54 pumps cold water in the inner tank 22 from the bottom wall through a pipe P7 provided in the base 10 and a pipe P8.
Through the upper opening of the inner tank 22 through the inner tank 22.
The pipe P8 is provided in a backyard or the like of a supermarket, and a plurality of external faucets 5 are provided at an intermediate portion of the pipe P8.
5 is connected. The circulation pump 54, the pipe P7,
The pipe P8 and the external faucet 55 form an external lead-out system,
Further, if it includes the upper end opening of the pipe P8, an external recirculation system is formed.

The evaporator 41 is provided in the outer tank 21 by a bracket (not shown) having a flat portion in the horizontal direction.
a, a conductor piece 71 is provided between the evaporator 41b,
A conductor piece 72 is provided between the evaporator 41c and the inner peripheral wall of the outer tub 21 at substantially the same height between the evaporator 41c and the inner peripheral wall of the outer tub 21 (see FIG. 2). The distance between the evaporators 41a and 41b and the distance between the evaporators 41b and 41c are set to be substantially the same, the conductor piece 71 is disposed closer to the evaporator 41a than the evaporator 41b, and the conductor piece 72 is disposed , 41c. Therefore, the distance between the conductor piece 72 and the evaporator 41b or 41c is larger than the distance between the conductor piece 71 and the evaporator 41a, and due to this distance, the conductor piece 72 is more ice than the conductor piece 71. It is hard to be covered with. In other words, when melting ice,
The conductor piece 71 will land later than the conductor piece 72. Further, the conductor pieces 73 are arranged so as to maintain the ground potential,
Are connected, and as described later, the conductor pieces 71, 7
Numerals 2 and 73 detect the presence or absence of ice by using the difference between the electric conductivity of ice and water. In addition, separately from these conductor pieces, a temperature sensor 75 for detecting the temperature of water in the inner tank 22 is provided on the inner peripheral wall of the inner tank 22 and slightly above the center (see FIG. 1).
Is provided.

Next, an electric circuit system of the ice storage type cold water supply apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 5. The electric circuit 80 includes a return switch 81, an ice storage switch 83, a comparator 85, and a pump drive circuit 87. The return switch 81 is a conductor piece 7
Ice storage switch 83 is connected to the conductor piece 7
2, 73 for detecting the conductivity between the corresponding conductor pieces. Both switches 81 and 83 detect the presence or absence of icing (freezing) by detecting the electrical conductivity between the connected conductor pieces. That is, the return switch 81
Is the electric conductivity between the conductor pieces 71 and 73,
Generates an output when it comes into contact with water, and
Reference numeral 3 denotes a conductor piece 7 based on the conductivity between the conductor pieces 72 and 73.
Generates output when 2 is covered with ice. These switches 81 and 83 are connected to the refrigerator unit 40 so as to send out their outputs. The refrigerator unit 40 includes:
During the refrigeration operation stop, the refrigeration operation is started by receiving the output of the return switch 81, and the refrigeration operation is stopped when the output from the ice storage switch 83 is received, so that an appropriate amount of ice is always stored around the evaporator 41. Operate.

The above-mentioned temperature sensor 75 for detecting the temperature of water in the inner tank 22 is connected to one of the input terminals of the comparator 85. A reference voltage corresponding to a predetermined temperature is applied to another input terminal of the comparator 85. As a result, the comparator 85 is at a high level when the temperature sensor 75 is higher than a predetermined temperature (set temperature), and at a low level otherwise. Is output. The output terminal of the comparator 85 is connected to the pump drive circuit 87, and the pump drive circuit is connected to the mixing pump 53 described above. Therefore, the mixing pump 53 is operated when the water temperature in the inner tank 22 becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, and circulates the cold water in the outer tank 21 into the inner tank 22 to lower the water temperature in the inner tank 22.

Next, the operation of the ice storage type cold water supply device will be described. In normal use, ice grows around the evaporator 41 by the operation of the refrigerator unit 40 described above, and the ice cools the water in the outer tank to become low-temperature water. In addition, the inner tank 22 and the outer tank 21
a, 22b, so that the inner tank 22
The inside water temperature is as low as the inside water temperature of the outer tub 21. In this state, when the user turns on a pouring switch (not shown), the circulating pump 54 is driven so that water in the inner tank 22 is taken out to the outside via the pipes P7 and P8, and circulated to the inner tank 22. You. Further, when the user opens the external faucet 55, the cold water in the pipe P8 is supplied to the outside, and the water level in the inner tank 22 gradually decreases.

When the water level in the inner tank 22 falls below the predetermined level L, the water supply valve 30 is opened to allow the relatively high temperature (normal temperature) water from the external water supply source 32 to fall naturally from the water injection port 34 thereof ( (See FIG. 4). At this time, as described above, the dropped water hits the supply water splash plate (water splash plate) 23 and scatters on the upper surface of the splash water plate 23. The scattered water flows from the notch 25 at the upper part of the side wall of the inner tank 22, and
The inside of the inner tank 22 is entered through the upper opening of the inner tank 22. That is, the water of the external water supply source 32 is directly supplied to the inner tank 22 without being mixed with the low-temperature water in the outer tank 21. in this case,
The low-temperature water in the outer tank 21 flows into the inner tank 22 through the communication holes 22a and 22b. However, as described above, the water from the external water supply source 32 is directly supplied to the inner tank 22, and as a result, The water temperature in the tank 22 rises relatively quickly. In addition, outer tank 21
The water that has been scattered also enters the upper part (opening) of the outer tank 21, but is scattered in four directions by the supply water scattering plate 23, so that the water is dispersed and supplied over a wide range of the upper part of the outer tank 21. Therefore,
The deviation of the water temperature in the outer tank 21 can be reduced, and the evaporator 4
One ice can be melted more uniformly over a wide range.

In a conventional apparatus without a water supply splash plate, water from outside is supplied to the water inlet 3 of the water supply valve 30.
4 area, the ice is melted at a specific location of the evaporator 41 (near the lower part of the water injection port 34) earlier than at other locations, and the above-mentioned conductor piece is If it is arranged in a specific location, the refrigerator unit 40 will be operated even though the amount of ice is not so small as to operate the refrigerator unit 40 as a whole. There was a risk that ice would overgrow at other locations and harm the device, but this device has the advantage that such problems can also be solved. Further, when the supply water scattering plate 23 is not provided, and the conductor piece is placed in a place other than the specific location, the ice near the conductor piece is less likely to melt than the specific location. Therefore, conversely, there could have been a problem that the refrigerator unit 40 did not operate even when the refrigerator unit 40 was operated to store ice, but this device solves such a problem.

Thereafter, when the water level in the inner tank 22 rises due to the water supply from the external water supply source 32, the water supply valve 30 is closed,
Water supply is stopped. The electric circuit 80 is connected to the temperature sensor 7.
When it is determined from the output of FIG. 5 that the water temperature of the inner tank 22 is higher than the set value, the mixing pump 53 is operated and the outer tank 21 is operated.
The low-temperature water inside is circulated into the inner tank 22, and the temperature of water supplied from the inner tank 22 to the outside via the external faucet 55 is kept constant. Further, as described above, when the ice around the evaporator 41 in the outer tank 21 is melted by the supply of water from the external water supply source 32 and the return switch 81 detects that the conductor piece 71 has landed, the refrigeration unit 40 starts to operate. The operation is started by the output of the return switch 81 to grow ice, and when the ice storage switch 83 detects that the ice has sufficiently grown around the conductor piece 72, the freezing operation is stopped. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated, and cold water of a predetermined temperature is supplied to the outside.

Referring to FIG. 6, the effect of the present apparatus will be described. The solid line in FIG. 6 shows the discharge water (water from the external faucet 55,
The dashed line indicates the temperature change of the discharge water of the conventional ice storage type cold water supply device without the supply water scattering plate. In the conventional apparatus, the water level in the inner tank 22 decreases after the start of discharge, and as a result, relatively high-temperature water is supplied only to the outer tank 21 from the outside. However, the rise of the water temperature of the outer tank 21 in which the ice is stored is slow, and the water temperature in the inner tank 22 is about the same as the water temperature in the outer tank 21, so that the water temperature in the inner tank 22 also rises only moderately. (Until time t2).

On the other hand, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, when the water level in the inner tank 22 decreases after the start of discharge, the outer tank 2
Since the relatively high-temperature water from the external water supply source is directly supplied to not only 1 but also the inner tank 22, the water temperature in the inner tank 22 rises to the discharge water set temperature relatively quickly (time t1). Therefore, the time during which the unnecessarily low temperature water is supplied is (t)
2-t1) It can be shortened by the time. In addition, the conventional apparatus melts a considerable amount of ice in the outer tank by time t2, so that the heat storage energy of the ice is wasted.
For this reason, when the use of water continues after time t2, even if the refrigeration unit operates and cools the water in the outer tub 21, the water temperature in the outer tub 21 rises. While the water temperature also increases, the apparatus according to the present embodiment operates at time t1.
From then on, it becomes possible to supply the set temperature water for a long time extending to time t3.

In the present embodiment, a notch 25 is provided on the upper end wall surface of the inner tank 22, and water scattered by the supply water scattering plate 23 is supplied to the inner tank 22 through the notch 25. It is supplied to the inside. With this configuration,
When the device is inclined or vibrated, when the wavefront is wavy, etc., as compared with the case where the upper end height H of the inner tank 22 is the same as the height K of the bottom of the notch over the entire circumference. In addition, it is possible to prevent a situation in which a large amount of cold water in the outer tank 21 enters the inner tank 22.

In this embodiment, the water supply valve 3
0 indicates that the external water supply 32
Is supplied to the outer tank 21 and the inner tank 22. Therefore,
The outer tank 2 whose water level is delayed by the resistance of the communication holes 22a and 22b is delayed with respect to the inner tank 22 that supplies water to the external faucet 55.
1 has an advantage that the required water can be supplied promptly. In this embodiment, the supply water scattering plate 23 is provided.
The water inlet 34 of the water supply valve 30 is connected / branched to two pipes, and the water inlets of the respective pipes are arranged on the outer tub 21 and the inner tub 22, and the water of the external water supply source 32 is connected to the outer tub 21. Inner tank 2
2 may be supplied directly from the same pipe. In addition, the supply water scattering plate 23 has a flat plate shape, but is not limited to this, and any shape may be used as long as it is a member that opposes the water injection port 34 and scatters water from the water injection port 34. Can be adopted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an ice storage type cold water supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway view showing the water supply valve of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a water supply valve, a supply water scattering plate, and an upper part of an inner tank of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an electric circuit diagram of the ice storage type cold water supply device.

FIG. 6 is a grab showing a change in discharge water temperature of the ice storage type cold water supply device and the conventional ice storage type cold water supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 20: water tank, 21: outer tank, 22: inner tank, 22a: communication hole, 22b: communication hole, 23: supply water scattering plate, 25: notch, 32: external water supply source, 33: water supply valve, 34:
Water inlet, 40 ... Refrigerator unit, 41 ... Evaporator,
51: ice melting pump, 52: injection tube, 53: mixing pump, 54: circulation pump, 55: external faucet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A water tank in which both tanks composed of two tanks are connected through a communication hole formed in a peripheral wall of the inner tank, and an evaporator housed in one of the two tanks. A refrigeration unit that cools water in one of the tanks; and an ice storage cold water supply device that includes an external lead-out system that leads water in the other of the inner and outer tanks to the outside. A water supply device that supplies a part of water from an external water supply source to the one tank and supplies the remaining water to the other tank when the water level in the tank becomes lower than a predetermined level. Ice storage type cold water supply device. 2. A water tank in which both tanks comprising two inner and outer tanks are communicated through a communication hole provided in a peripheral wall surface of the inner tank, and an evaporator housed in one of the two inner and outer tanks. An ice storage type cold water supply device having a refrigerating device for cooling water in one of the two tanks and an external lead-out system for leading water in the other of the two inner and outer tanks to the outside. A water supply pipe connected to a water source, the other end of which forms a water injection port opened downward above the water tank; and when the water level in the one or other tank becomes lower than a predetermined level, the water supply pipe from the external water supply source A water supply device for allowing water to naturally fall from a water supply port of the water supply pipe, and a supply water scattering member that is disposed opposite to the water supply port and scatters the falling water are provided, and the scattered water is one and the other. From the top of the tank to both the same and the other tanks.蓄氷 type chilled water supply system, characterized in that the so that configuration. 3. The ice storage type cold water supply device according to claim 2, wherein a water inlet of the water supply pipe is arranged above the one tank and a water supply port of the other tank is provided on a side of the supply water scattering member. An ice storage type cold water supply device, wherein a cutout portion is provided on an upper end wall surface, and the scattered water is supplied to the other tank via the cutout portion.