Water Purifier Heater Control for Latent Heat Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing direct water purifiers face challenges in generating hot water at multiple set temperatures due to excessive latent heat, leading to inefficient heating and increased size, as they often require a drain flow passage for heat relief, which complicates miniaturization and installation.
Innovation Solution
A water purifier with a control unit that stops the heater based on remaining water discharge quantity or time, allowing for continuous discharge at set temperatures, eliminating the need for a drain flow passage and optimizing heater operation by varying the stopping criterion based on water temperature and flow rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a drain flow passage is added to discharge high temperature water for heat relief, then the problem of excessive latent heat is solved, but the device size increases and installation becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the heat relief function from a separate drain flow passage and integrates it into the existing hot water flow passage. By stopping the heater during hot water discharge, the latent heat is naturally dissipated through the discharge process itself, eliminating the need for a separate drain structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The hot water flow passage is given multiple functions: it serves both as the discharge path for hot water and as the heat relief pathway. By controlling the heater to stop during discharge, the same passage handles both water delivery and latent heat dissipation, reducing overall device complexity.
2Productivity
If the heater operates continuously to maintain high temperature, then hot water generation is efficient, but the temperature cannot be quickly reduced for low temperature hot water requests
Solution Approach 1:
The heater operates periodically rather than continuously. The control unit stops the heater at specific moments during hot water discharge, creating a periodic on-off pattern. This allows the system to efficiently generate hot water when needed while quickly adapting to temperature changes by interrupting heating when discharge is occurring.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit monitors discharge conditions and provides feedback to the heater control. When hot water discharge is detected, the system automatically stops the heater, creating a closed-loop control that adapts the heating operation to real-time discharge requirements, enabling both efficient generation and quick temperature adjustment.
3Temperature
If the heater is stopped early to prevent latent heat overheating, then temperature control is improved, but the hot water discharge quantity may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The heater is stopped partially (not completely) or stopped at an optimal point during discharge. The control unit determines the precise moment to stop heating based on discharge parameters, applying partial action by maintaining heating for part of the discharge cycle while preventing overheating, thus balancing temperature control with adequate discharge quantity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient hot water discharge at varied temperatures without further heating, reducing the purifier's size and improving installation efficiency by eliminating the need for a drain flow passage, while maintaining set temperatures through feedback control.
Implementation Method 1
a heater for heating the purified water stored in the storage member
Implementation Method 2
to prevent further heating of hot water due to latent heat by stopping a heater before completion of discharging hot water
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a water purifier characterized by including: a purified water supply unit for supplying purified water produced by filtering raw water; a hot water generation unit for generating hot water by heating the purified water supplied from the purified water supply unit; a hot water discharge unit for discharging the hot water generated by the hot water generation unit to the outside; and a control unit which receives a set temperature and a set water discharge quantity of the hot water as input and controls the purified water supply unit, the hot water generation unit, and the hot water discharge unit such that the hot water is discharged at the set temperature in the set water discharge quantity, wherein the hot water generation unit includes a storage member for storing the purified water and a heater for heating the purified water stored in the storage member, and the control unit operates the heater when the hot water is being discharged to the outside by the hot water discharge unit, and stops the heater according to a predetermined criterion before the water discharge quantity of the hot water reaches the set water discharge quantity and the water discharging is terminated.