Liquid purification or separation – Flow – fluid pressure or material level – responsive – Maintaining stream pressure or flow
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-30
2003-06-17
Drodge, Joseph (Department: 1723)
Liquid purification or separation
Flow, fluid pressure or material level, responsive
Maintaining stream pressure or flow
C426S477000, C261S005000, C222S189060, C210S205000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06579449
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carbonated water supply system, and in particular, to a carbonated water supply system in which carbonated water with a high pressure produced in a carbonator is supplied to and is purified in a water purifier while retaining a high pressure of carbonated water, thereafter carbonated water is discharged out of the system through a pressure releasing valve, thereby breeding of bacteria and the like in the water purifier can be suppressed and bacteria in carbonated water discharged out of the system through the pressure releasing valve can be disinfected.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in a carbonated water supplier such as a drinking water dispenser, carbonated water is produced by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in water supplied from a water supply under a high pressure condition by using a carbonator and such carbonated water is utilized for preparing various drinks.
However, recently, pollution of water supply is progressed due to urbanization according to a high growth of economy and amount of chlorine agent used for disinfection in a water purifying plant is increasing more and more due to drafty water flow often occurring in summer season. As a result, there occur problems that residual chlorine amount in water increases and water becomes poor taste. Further, people who want to drink safe water with good taste are increasing.
To solve above problems, there have been developed various systems for producing carbonated water in which water is charged into a water purifier having hollow yarn membranes or activated carbon, thereafter is charged into a carbonator.
Conventional carbonated water supply system will be described according to FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
is a schematic block diagram indicating a conventional carbonated water supply system.
As shown in
FIG. 2
, the carbonated water supply system
15
, to which water is supplied through a water supply
16
and a supply conduit
17
, comprises a water purifier
18
having hollow yarn membranes or activated carbon, a carbonator
19
producing carbonated water by dissolving carbon dioxide gas in supplied water under a high pressure condition, a carbon dioxide gas bomb
20
supplying carbon dioxide gas with a high pressure to the carbonator
19
, a water supply valve
21
arranged in a conduit connecting both the water purifier
18
and the carbonator
19
to adjust water quantity by opening or closing and a pressure releasing valve
22
arranged in a conduit to discharge carbonated water out of the system
15
, the pressure releasing valve
22
adjusting a pressure of carbonated water to a lower pressure.
Based on the above construction of the carbonated water supply system
15
, when water supplied from the water supply
16
to the supply conduit
17
passes through the hollow yarn membranes or activated carbon in the water purifier
18
, chlorine components and bacteria included in water is adhered to membranes or carbon and removed. Thereafter, water purified by the water purifier
18
is charged into the carbonator
19
through the water supply valve
21
. In the carbonator
19
, carbonated water with a high pressure is produced and discharged out of the system
15
as carbonated water with a low pressure through the pressure releasing valve
22
.
Thereby, according to the above system
15
, carbonated water with good taste and without chlorine smell can be safely supplied since carbonated water is produced from water purified by the water purifier
18
.
However, in a case that the water supply valve
21
is closed for a long time and supply of carbonated water is stopped, bacteria adhered to hollow yarn membranes or activated carbon in the water purifier
18
breed in membranes or carbon since a pressure in the water purifier
18
is 50 kPa as same as a pressure of the water supply
16
. Therefore, when the water supply valve
21
is opened again, water indicating a live bacteria value far exceeding a water quality standard value will be charged into the carbonator
19
. And if such water with a high live bacteria value passes through the carbonator
19
in a short time, survival rate of bacteria becomes high though number of bacteria slightly decreases. Thus, there is a problem that carbonated water not satisfying the water quality standard is discharged out of the system
1
through the pressure releasing valve
22
.
In order to avoid the above problem, when the water supply valve
21
is opened again after the water supply valve
21
is closed for a long time and supply of carbonated water is stopped, it is necessary to cast away a certain quantity of carbonated water until the live bacteria value in carbonated water becomes lower than the water quality standard value. In this case, consumption of water remarkably increases and product cost of carbonated water inevitably increases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made to accomplish the above problems and has a purpose to provide a carbonated water supply system in which carbonated water is purified in a water purifier while retaining a pressure of carbonated water supplied from a carbonator to a high pressure, thereafter carbonated water is discharged out of the system through a pressure releasing valve, thereby breeding of bacteria and the like in the water purifier can be suppressed and bacteria in carbonated water discharged out of the system can be disinfected, as a result, carbonated water with good taste and without chlorine smell can be safely produced.
Further, the present invention has another purpose to provide a carbonated water supply system in which consumption of water can be reduced by eliminating waste of carbonated water when supply of carbonated water is restarted after stopped for a long time, thereby product cost of carbonated water can be efficiently reduced.
In order to accomplish the above purposes, according to one aspect of the present invention, it is provided a carbonated water supply system comprising:
a carbonator producing carbonated water having a predetermined pressure from water supplied through a first water supply conduit;
a water purifier to which carbonated water with the predetermined pressure is supplied from the carbonator, the water purifier purifying carbonated water while retaining the predetermined pressure; and
a pressure releasing valve lowering a pressure of the carbonated water supplied from the water purifier while lowering the predetermined pressure to a pressure lower than the predetermined pressure.
In the carbonated water supply system, the carbonator produces the carbonated water having the predetermined pressure by using water supplied through the first water supply conduit and carbonated water is supplied to the water purifier. The carbonated water supplied to the water purifier is purified through hollow yarn membranes or activated carbon in the water purifier while retaining the predetermined pressure, thereafter carbonated water is discharged out of the system through the pressure releasing valve.
Therefore, carbonated water in the carbonator and the water purifier is retained in a state that highly concentrated carbon dioxide gas is dissolved therein while retaining the predetermined pressure, as a result, breeding of bacteria and the like in the carbonator and the water purifier can be efficiently suppressed and a live bacteria value can be retained a value lower than a water quality standard. Further, in this case, if there will exist bacteria and the like which can breed under such a high pressure condition, when carbonated water is discharged out of the system through the pressure releasing valve, carbon dioxide gas dissolved in cells of bacteria and the like rapidly expands, thus cells are exploded. As a result, bacteria and the like becomes extinct and carbonated water is disinfected. Therefore, the live bacteria value of carbonated water always becomes lower than the water quality standard, thus carbonated water with good taste and without chlorine smell can be safely produced.
Accordin
Cecil Terry K.
Drodge Joseph
Hoshizaki Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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