TWI869173B - Electrolyzed water production system - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for producing electrolyzed water includes a water treatment device, a treated water storage tank, a sterilization unit, and an electrolysis device. The water treatment device is suitable for treating raw water to make the raw water treated water. The treated water storage tank is fluidly connected to the water treatment device and is suitable for containing the treated water. The sterilization unit is fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank and is suitable for sterilizing the treated water flowing out of the treated water storage tank with ultraviolet rays. The electrolysis device is fluidly connected to the sterilization unit and is suitable for electrolyzing the sterilized treated water into electrolyzed water. The present invention replaces the existing ozone sterilization method with ultraviolet sterilization. Since the present invention does not need to use ozone sterilization, the present invention will not have the problem of excessive bromate.

Description

Electrolyzed water production system

The present invention relates to a production system for drinking water/packaged water, and in particular to a production system for electrolyzed water.

Water is the most abundant substance in the human body, accounting for about 70% of the human body, so drinking water every day has become an important part of life. Alkaline ion water is believed to have the function of regulating the body due to its alkaline properties. Alkaline ion water is produced by adding electrolytes for electrolysis. Under the action of electrolysis, water molecules become smaller, so drinking alkaline ion water is believed to promote health.

Among them, drinking water such as alkaline ion water needs to be disinfected during production to ensure hygiene and safety and comply with regulations. Currently, most existing disinfection methods use chlorine or oxygen disinfectants for disinfection. However, chlorine disinfectants will make the taste of drinking water unpleasant due to residual chlorine, so the more popular disinfection method nowadays is ozone disinfection.

See Figure 1. Figure 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an existing electrolyzed water production system. The electrolyzed water production system includes a water treatment device 11, a storage tank 12 located downstream and connected to the water treatment device 11, and an electrolysis device 13 located downstream and connected to the storage tank 12. The ozone disinfection is mostly carried out by introducing ozone disinfection into the storage tank 12 after the water treatment device 11 has completed the water treatment.

After the water in the storage tank 12 is introduced into the ozone disinfection, there will be residual ozone in the water, so it can be ensured that the water will be sterile when it flows in the pipeline, electrolyzes or even fills. However, ozone disinfection is not foolproof because the bromine ions ( ^Br- ) in the water are easily oxidized by ozone to form bromate ( ^BrO3- ) and combine with the cations in the water to form bromate with carcinogenic risk. Therefore, there are news reports that the drinking water produced by ozone disinfection has excessive bromate and needs to be recycled, which needs further improvement.

The purpose of the present invention is to improve at least one disadvantage of the prior art.

The electrolyzed water production system of the present invention is suitable for producing electrolyzed water with raw water, and comprises a water treatment device, a treated water storage tank, a sterilization unit, and an electrolysis device.

The water treatment equipment is used to treat the raw water so that the raw water becomes treated water. The treated water storage tank is fluidly connected to the water treatment equipment and is used to contain the treated water. The sterilization unit is fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank and is used to sterilize the treated water flowing out of the treated water storage tank by at least one of filtering and ultraviolet rays. The electrolysis equipment is fluidly connected to the sterilization unit and is used to electrolyze the sterilized treated water into electrolyzed water.

The effect of the present invention is that the existing ozone sterilization treatment method is replaced by a sterilization method such as filtration or ultraviolet rays. Since ozone sterilization is not used, there will be no problem of excessive bromate.

Referring to FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the electrolyzed water production system of the present invention is applicable to producing electrolyzed water with raw water. The raw water refers to water from a water source that has not been treated. The water source that has not been treated can be, for example, surface water sources or underground water sources such as river water, lake water, reservoir water, underground stream water, spring water, and well water. The electrolyzed water refers to water that has been electrolyzed during the production process. The water treatment, for example, but not limited to, one or more of the treatment methods such as sedimentation, softening, filtration, and sterilization.

The electrolyzed water production system includes a water treatment device 2, a treated water storage tank 3 fluidly connected to the water treatment device 2, a sterilization unit 4 fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank 3, an electrolysis device 5 located downstream and fluidly connected to the sterilization unit 4, a control unit 6 located downstream and fluidly connected to the electrolysis device 5, a storage device 7 fluidly connected to the control unit 6, a filling device 81 located downstream and fluidly connected to the control unit 6, an in-situ cleaning device 82 (clean in place) fluidly connected to the water treatment device 2, and an ultra-high temperature sterilization device 83 (ultra-high temperature) fluidly connected to the filling device 81.

2 and 3 , the water treatment device 2 is suitable for treating the raw water, and includes a raw water storage tank 20 suitable for storing the raw water, and a first water treatment unit 21 and a second water treatment unit 22 located downstream and fluidically connected to the raw water storage tank 20 .

The first water treatment unit 21 includes a first laminate filter 211, a first activated carbon filter 212, a soft water filter 213, a first filter 214, a reverse osmosis filter 215 (Reverse Osmosis, RO), a first water storage tank 216, and a micron filter 217 which are fluidly connected in sequence.

The first multilayer filter 211 is located downstream and fluidly connected to the raw water storage tank 20. The first filter 214 is a filter with a pore size of about 1 micron. The first water storage tank 216 is fluidly connected between the reverse osmosis filter 215 and the micron filter 217. The micron filter 217 is fluidly connected between the first water storage tank 216 and the treated water storage tank 3. The micron filter 217 is a filter with a pore size of about 0.2 micron.

The second water treatment unit 22 does not include any soft water filter 213, and includes a second laminate filter 221, a second activated carbon filter 222, a second filter 223, an ultrafiltration filter 224 (Ultra Filtration, UF), and a second water storage tank 225 which are fluidly connected in sequence.

The second multilayer filter 221 is located downstream and is fluidly connected to the raw water storage tank 20. The second filter 223 is a filter with a pore size of about 1 micron. The second water storage tank 225 is fluidly connected to the super filter 224 and the treated water storage tank 3.

The treated water storage tank 3 is fluidly connected to the first water storage tank 216 downstream through the micron filter 217, and the treated water storage tank 3 is directly fluidly connected to the second water storage tank 225 downstream. The treated water storage tank 3 can store treated water that is raw water treated by the first water treatment unit 21 and the second water treatment unit 22 and mixed with each other.

The sterilization unit 4 includes two sterilizers 41 connected in parallel. The sterilizers 41 are located downstream and fluidically connected to the treated water storage tank 3. Each of the sterilizers 41 uses a low-pressure ultraviolet lamp to sterilize the treated water using ultraviolet light with a wavelength of about 254 nm. In other embodiments of the present invention, each of the sterilizers 41 can also use a medium-pressure ultraviolet lamp, and the ultraviolet wavelength generated can be between 200 and 400 nm. For example, ultraviolet lamps with a wavelength of 240 to 400 nm produced by Atlantium, Israel, can be used.

The low pressure and medium pressure mentioned above are industry terms, which refer to the pressure of the ultraviolet generating medium (such as inert gas) filled in the ultraviolet lamp. Ultraviolet lamps with different pressures can generate different ultraviolet wavelengths.

2, 3, and 4, the electrolysis device 5 includes two electrolysis units 51 which are fluidically connected to the treated water storage tank 3 and are connected in parallel to each other and can electrolyze the treated water, an addition tank 52 and a by-product tank 53 which are fluidically connected to the electrolysis units 51, two sterilization units 54 which are located downstream and are fluidically connected to the electrolysis units 51, and a pipe valve unit 55 for connecting various components and controlling the flow of liquid.

Each of the electrolysis units 51 includes a plurality of (three in this embodiment) electrolyzers 511 connected in parallel. Each of the electrolyzers 511 can electrolyze the treated water into electrolyzed water (alkaline water) and acidic water.

Each of the sterilization units 54 can sterilize the electrolyzed water by filtering the electrolyzed water in several steps and irradiating the electrolyzed water with ultraviolet rays in several steps. Specifically, each of the sterilization units 54 includes a first micron filter 541, a first ultraviolet sterilizer 542, a second micron filter 543, a second ultraviolet sterilizer 544, and a third micron filter 545 connected in series.

Each of the first micron filters 541 is a filter with a pore size of about 0.45 microns. Each of the second micron filters 543 and the third micron filters 545 is a filter with a pore size of about 0.2 microns. Each of the first ultraviolet sterilizers 542 uses a low-pressure ultraviolet lamp tube, and the wavelength of the ultraviolet light generated is about 254nm. Each of the second ultraviolet sterilizers 544 uses a medium-pressure ultraviolet lamp tube, and the wavelength of the ultraviolet light generated is 200-400nm. For example, each of the second ultraviolet sterilizers 544 can use an ultraviolet lamp tube with a wavelength of 240-400 nm produced by the Israeli Atlantium company as mentioned above.

The pipe valve unit 55 comprises two water inlet pipes 551 respectively located at the downstream fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank 3 for the treated water to flow into the electrolyzers 511 of the electrolysis units 51, two water inlet valves 552 arranged on the water inlet pipes 551, two water outlet pipes 553 respectively for the electrolyzed water to flow out of the electrolyzers 511 of the electrolysis units 51, two water outlet valves 554 arranged at the ends of the water outlet pipes 553, and two water outlet valves 555 arranged at the ends of the water outlet pipes 553. The downstream fluid connects the sterilization pipeline 555 between the outlet liquid valves 554 and the sterilization units 54, two control liquid valves 556 respectively arranged on the sterilization pipelines 555, an addition pipeline 557 connected to the addition tank 52 and the outlet liquid valves 554, a cleaning pipeline 558 connected to the addition tank 52 and the inlet liquid valves 552, and two discharge pipe valve groups 559 connected to the by-product tank 53 and the electrolysis units 51.

Referring to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the control unit 6 includes a first control valve 61, a second control valve 62, and a third control valve 63 that are spaced apart from each other, a connecting pipeline 64 that connects the first control valve 61, the second control valve 62, and the third control valve 63 to each other, and two water inlet pipelines 65 that connect the first control valve 61, the second control valve 62, and the sterilization units 4. , a storage pipeline 66 connected between the first control valve 61 and the storage device 7, two return pipelines 67 connected to the first control valve 61, the second control valve 62 and the treated water storage tank 3, a steam pipeline 68 connected to the first control valve 61, the second control valve 62 and the third control valve 63, and a steam source 69 connected to the steam pipeline 68.

The storage device 7 includes an electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71 and a sterile gas source 72 fluidly connected to the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71. The sterile gas source 72 can be used to control the internal pressure of the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71.

2, 3, and 5, the filling device 81 is fluidly connected to the third control valve 63 of the control unit 6 via a filling pipe 811. The filling device 81 can fill and package the electrolyzed water into a packaging bottle to produce bottled water.

The on-site cleaning device 82 is fluidly connected to the first water storage tank 216 and the second water storage tank 225 of the water treatment device 2, the treated water storage tank 3, and the storage device 7 through a cleaning pipe 821.

The ultra-high temperature sterilization device 83 is fluidly connected to the filling device 81 via a sterilization pipeline 831 (see FIG. 2 ), so that the filling device 81 can be sterilized.

Referring to Figures 3, 4, and 5, when the present embodiment is in operation, raw water from a water source will be stored in the raw water storage tank 20, and then respectively input into the first water treatment unit 21 and the second water treatment unit 22 for water purification. Since the first water treatment unit 21 includes a soft water filter 213 and a reverse osmosis filter 215, the raw water will become pure water without minerals after being softened and reverse osmosis treated by the first water treatment unit 21, and will be stored in the first storage tank. Since the second water treatment unit 22 does not perform water softening treatment, the raw water becomes clean water containing minerals after being treated by the second water treatment unit 22 and is stored in the second water storage tank 225. Then, the pure water and clean water are mixed into the treated water and stored in the treated water storage tank 3.

In this embodiment, the treated water is a mixture of the pure water and the clean water. The advantage of this is that the treated water has a better taste when drunk. However, if the taste is not a concern, the treated water may also be the pure water or the clean water after water quality treatment.

Before the treated water enters the electrolysis unit 51 through the water inlet pipe 551 of the electrolysis device 5 and is electrolyzed, it first passes through the sterilization unit 4 and is sterilized by ultraviolet rays in the sterilizers 41 of the sterilization unit 4. Therefore, the first feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that ultraviolet rays are used for sterilization instead of ozone sterilization, so there will be no problem of excessive bromate caused by using ozone sterilization.

After the treated water is input into the electrolysis units 51 through the water inlet pipes 551 of the electrolysis units 51, it will be electrolyzed into alkaline electrolyzed water and acidic acidic water by the electrolyzers 511 of the electrolysis units 51. The second feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that the electrolyzers 511 are connected in parallel with each other through the water inlet pipes 551, and can electrolyze the treated water into electrolyzed water at the same time, thereby increasing the production per unit time.

The alkaline electrolyzed water produced after electrolysis will flow to the sterilization units 54 through the outlet pipes 553 and the sterilization pipes 555, while the acidic water will flow to the byproduct tank 53 through the discharge valve sets 559. The third feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that the byproduct tank 53 is suitable for containing the acidic water produced after the treated water is electrolyzed, which can be used to further produce byproducts such as hypochlorous acid (water) to increase revenue.

The fourth feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that the addition tank 52 is fluidly connected to the water outlet valves 554 through the addition pipelines 557, so the addition tank 52 can add additives (such as calcium salt) into the electrolyzed water. In addition, the addition tank 52 is fluidly connected to the water inlet valves 552 through the cleaning pipelines 558, so the addition tank 52 is also suitable for introducing cleaning agents (such as citric acid) into the electrolyzers 511 of the electrolysis units 51 to clean the scale stuck in the electrolyzers 511.

After the electrolyzed water flows into the sterilization units 54 of the electrolysis device 5, it can be sterilized again through the sterilization units 54 to ensure a sterile state. Among them, the first micron filter 541 of each sterilization unit 54 has the effect of preventing scale from being stuck. The second micron filter 543 and the first ultraviolet sterilizer 542 of each sterilization unit 54 are the first checkpoint for filtering/killing bacteria. The second ultraviolet sterilizer 544 and the third micron filter 545 of each sterilization unit 54 are the second reinforcement checkpoint for filtering/killing bacteria.

After the electrolyzed water is sterilized by the sterilization units 54 of the electrolysis device 5, it will flow to the first control valve 61 and the second control valve 62 through the water inlet pipelines 65 of the control unit 6. Under normal conditions, the electrolyzed water flowing to the first control valve 61 and the second control valve 62 will flow to the third control valve 63 through the communication pipeline 64 of the control unit 6, and finally flow into the filling device 81 through the filling pipe 811 of the filling device 81. At this time, the steam source 69 of the control unit 6 will provide steam to the first control valve 61, the second control valve 62 and the third control valve 63 through the steam pipeline 68, blocking the electrolyzed water from flowing into the storage pipeline 66 and the return pipelines 67.

When the filling device 81 located downstream has a problem and cannot be filled immediately to consume the electrolyzed water, the steam source 69 of the control unit 6 will provide steam to the third control valve 63 through the steam pipeline 68, so that the third control valve 63 blocks the electrolyzed water from flowing into the filling pipeline 811, and at the same time, the first control valve 61 will switch to connect the storage pipeline 66 with the communication pipeline 64. In this abnormal state, the electrolyzed water continuously delivered by the electrolysis device 5 can flow to the electrolyzed water temporary tank 71 through the communication pipeline 64 and the storage pipeline 66 for temporary storage. When the problem of the filling device 81 is eliminated and the packaged water can be filled normally, the third control valve 63 can be opened again, so that the electrolyzed water temporarily stored in the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71 can be transported to the filling device 81 for filling. When the electrolyzed water in the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71 is consumed, the first control valve 61 can use steam to switch to prevent the electrolyzed water from flowing into the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71.

Among them, if the filling device 81 still cannot eliminate the problem after a period of time, resulting in the electrolyzed water temporary tank 71 being full and unable to continue to store, the first control valve 61 will switch so that the electrolyzed water cannot flow to the storage pipeline 66 and the communication pipeline 64, and can only flow to one of the return pipelines 67, and the second control valve 62 will switch so that the electrolyzed water cannot flow to the communication pipeline 64, and can only flow to the other return pipeline 67. In this way, the electrolyzed water that cannot continue to be temporarily stored in the electrolyzed water temporary tank 71 will flow back to the treated water storage barrel 3 through the return pipelines 67 (see Figure 3 for a schematic diagram).

The fifth feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that through the unique layout design of the pipeline and control valve of the control unit 6, in combination with the storage device 7, a first line of defense can be established when a problem occurs with the filling device 81, and the electrolyzed water temporary storage tank 71 can be used to accommodate the continuously produced electrolyzed water without directly discharging the excess electrolyzed water, thereby avoiding waste of water resources and increasing production costs.

The sixth feature of the electrolyzed water production system is that when the first line of defense, i.e., the electrolyzed water temporary tank 71, is insufficient to continuously accommodate more electrolyzed water, the electrolyzed water can flow back to the treated water storage tank 3. In this way, the electrolyzed water flowing back to the treated water storage tank 3 will be sterilized/filtered by the sterilization unit 4 and the sterilization units 54 as described above, thereby ensuring hygiene and safety. At the same time, it can also avoid the waste of water resources.

Before the electrolyzed water production system starts operation, or during annual maintenance, or when there is other need, the on-site cleaning device 82 can be used to introduce hot water or steam sufficient to kill bacteria into the aforementioned pipeline/pipeline/pipeline, and the first water storage tank 216, the second water storage tank 225, the treated water storage tank 3, and the storage device 7 connected to the on-site cleaning device 82 can be cleaned to disinfect and sterilize.

In summary, the effect of the electrolyzed water production system of the present invention is that it replaces the existing ozone sterilization treatment method with filtration or ultraviolet sterilization methods. Because ozone sterilization is not used, there will be no problem of excessive bromate.

The above is only an embodiment of the present invention, and cannot be used to limit the scope of the patent application of the present invention. In addition, simple equivalent changes and modifications according to the scope of the patent application of the present invention and the patent specification should also be covered by the scope of the patent application of the present invention.

2: Water treatment equipment 20: Raw water storage tank 21: First water treatment unit 211: First multilayer filter 212: First activated carbon filter 213: Soft water filter 214: First filter 215: Reverse osmosis filter 216: First water storage tank 217: Micron filter 22: Second water treatment unit 221: Second multilayer filter 222: Second activated carbon filter 223: Second filter 224: Superfiltration filter 225: Second water storage tank 3: Treated water storage tank 4: Sterilization unit 41: Sterilizer 5: Electrolysis equipment 51: Electrolysis unit 511: Electrolyzer 52: Addition tank 53: Byproduct tank 54: Sterilization unit 541: First micron filter 542: First UV sterilizer 543: Second micron filter 544: Second UV sterilizer 545: Third micron filter 55: Valve unit 551: Inlet pipeline 552: Inlet liquid valve 553: Outlet pipeline 554: Outlet liquid valve 555: Sterilization pipeline 556: Control liquid valve 557: Addition pipeline 558: Cleaning pipeline 559: Discharge valve group 6: Control unit 61: First control valve 62: Second control valve 63: Third control valve 64: Connecting pipeline 65: Water inlet pipeline 66: Storage pipeline 67: Return pipeline 68: Steam pipeline 69: Steam source 7: Storage equipment 71: Electrolyzed water storage tank 72: Sterile gas source 81: Filling equipment 811: Filling pipeline 82: On-site cleaning equipment 821: Cleaning pipeline 83: Ultra-high temperature sterilization equipment 831: Sterilization pipeline

Other features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the implementation method of the reference drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an existing electrolyzed water production system; Figure 2 is an equipment circuit diagram illustrating an implementation example of the electrolyzed water production system of the present invention; Figure 3 is an equipment circuit diagram, which enlarges and illustrates a water treatment device, a treated water storage tank, and a sterilization unit in Figure 2, and simplifies the complex circuit design in the figure, mainly illustrating the connection relationship between the various devices; Figure 4 is an equipment circuit diagram, which enlarges and illustrates an electrolysis device in Figure 2, and simplifies the complex circuit design in the figure, mainly illustrating the connection relationship between the various devices; and Figure 5 is a device circuit diagram, which enlarges a control unit and a storage device in Figure 2. The figure simplifies the complex circuit design and mainly illustrates the connection relationship between the devices.

2: Water treatment equipment

20: Raw water storage tank

21: First water treatment unit

211: First layer filter

212: First activated carbon filter

213:Soft water filter

214: First filter

215: Reverse osmosis filter

216: The first water storage bucket

217: Micron filter

22: Second water treatment unit

221: Second layer filter

222: Second activated carbon filter

223: Second filter

224:Over filter

225: Second water storage bucket

3: Treat water storage tank

4: Sterilization unit

41:Sterilizer

5:Electrolysis equipment

551: Water inlet pipe

6: Control unit

67: Reflux pipeline

82: Cleaning equipment in place

821: Cleaning pipes

Claims (8)

A system for producing electrolyzed water is applicable to producing electrolyzed water from raw water, and comprises: a water treatment device, applicable to treating the raw water to make the raw water into treated water; a treated water storage tank, fluidly connected to the water treatment device and applicable to containing the treated water; a sterilization unit, fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank and applicable to sterilizing the treated water flowing out of the treated water storage tank by at least one of filtering and ultraviolet rays; and an electrolysis device, fluidly connected to the sterilization unit and applicable to sterilizing the treated water after sterilization. Treated water is electrolyzed into electrolyzed water; wherein the electrolysis equipment includes a plurality of electrolysis units which are fluidly connected to the treated water storage tank and are connected in parallel to each other and can electrolyze the treated water into electrolyzed water, and a plurality of sterilization units which are located downstream and are fluidly connected to the electrolysis units; wherein the electrolyzed water production system also includes a filling device, a control unit which is fluidly connected between the filling device and the sterilization units, and a storage device which is fluidly connected to the control unit, and the control unit can control the electrolyzed water flowing out of the sterilization unit to flow to the filling device or the storage device. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 1, wherein the water treatment equipment includes a raw water storage tank suitable for storing the raw water, and a first water treatment unit and a second water treatment unit fluidly connected between the raw water storage tank and the treated water storage tank, the first water treatment unit includes water softening treatment, and the second water treatment unit does not include water softening treatment. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 1, wherein each of the electrolysis units includes a plurality of electrolyzers connected in parallel. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 1 or 3, wherein each sterilization unit can sterilize the electrolyzed water by filtering the electrolyzed water in multiple passes and irradiating the electrolyzed water with ultraviolet rays in multiple passes. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 1 is suitable for use with an additive, wherein the electrolysis device also includes an additive tank connected to the electrolysis units by fluid, and the additive tank is suitable for the additive to be input into the electrolysis units. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 1, wherein the control unit includes a first control valve and a second control valve that are fluidly connected to the sterilization units and are separated from each other, a third control valve that is fluidly connected to the first control valve, the second control valve and the filling device, and a connecting pipeline that connects the first control valve, the second control valve and the third control valve to each other. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 6, wherein the control unit further includes a steam source that fluidly connects the first control valve, the second control valve, and the third control valve. The electrolyzed water production system as described in claim 6, wherein the first control valve and the second control valve fluid are connected to the water treatment equipment.

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