WATER PRODUCING APPARATUS

Abstract: A water producing apparatus comprises a container (1) for holding an adsorbent for adsorbing a moisture in air; a device (2) for feeding air containing a moisture into said col­ umn; a heating device (3) for heating said adsorbent to desorb the adsorbed water during a desired period; a device (5) for condensing steam desorbed by said heating device; and a mineral adding device (11) for dissolving a mineral compo­ nent with a hot water obtained by condensing it by said con­ denser.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION: FIELD OF THE INVENTION: The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing liquid water from moisture in air by using an adsorbent. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ARTS: The apparatus shown in Figure 1 has been proposed as such water producing apparatus. In Figure 1, the reference numeral (1) designates a container for holding a layer (la) of a solid adsorbent such as silica gel and molecular sieve; (2) designates an air feeding device; (3) designates a heating device for desorption; (4) designates a blower for feeding air for desorption; (5) designates a condenser; (6) designates a water storage tank; (6a) designates liquid water; (7), (8) designate respectively directional control valves for adsorption and (9), (10) designate respectively directional control valves for desorption. The operation will be illustrated. When the directional control valves (7), (8) for adsorption are opened, air containing moisture is fed into the container (1) by the air feeding device (2) and is passed through the layer (la) of the solid adsorbent to adsorb the moisture on the adsorbent in the layer. After adsorbing the moisture as desired on the adsorbent, the directional control valves (7), (8) for adsorption are closed and the directional control valves (9), (10) for desorption are opened and hot air is fed by the blower for feeding desorption air (4) and the heater (3), to evaporate water from the adsorbent and the air containing a large'amount of desorbed steam is fed into the condenser (5) wherein the steam is cooled by the environment and the condensed water is stored in the storage tank (6). The conventional apparatuses have such fundamental structure. The condensed water is substantially the same as a distilled water which has no taste and does not contain a mineral component. Therefore, the condensed water is not suitable as a drink water to cause trouble of digestive organs such as diarrhea if it is used for a long time. Various improvements of the water producing apparatus for improving the efficiency of water production have been proposed by the inventors as disclosed in European Patent Application Nos. 80.100588, 80.102317.7, 80.102689.9 and 80.303087. These apparatuses also have the same trouble. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: It is an object of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages and to provide a water producing apparatus equipped with a compact mineral adding device. The foregoing and other objects of the present invention have been attained by providing a water producing apparatus having a structure wherein the mineral adding device is placed between a condenser and a water storage tank so as to feed a hot water obtained by a condensation into the mineral adding device The water producing apparatus of the present invention has such structure and accordingly, velocity for dissolving the mineral component into the condensed water is fast and the mineral adding device can be compact to be remarkably effective for reducing a size of the apparatus. This is especially effective for a design of the transferrable type water producing apparatus. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: Figure 1 is a schematic view of the conventional water producing apparatus; Figure 2 is a schematic view of one embodiment of the water producing apparatus of the present invention; Figure 3 is a graph of characteristic curves of dissolution of the minerals; and Figure 4 is a schematic view of the other embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS: Referring to the drawings, one embodiment of the present invention will be illustrated. Figure 2 shows one embodiment of the water producing apparatus of the present invention. In Figure 2, the same references designate identical or corresponding parts shown in Figure 1. The reference numeral (11) designates a mineral adding device and (lla) designates a marble. The apparatus having the structure has the same fundamental water producing effect as that of Figure 1. The hot water obtained by condensing it in the condenser is fed immediately into the mineral adding apparatus whereby the mineral is dissolved into water to obtain a mineral water and the mineral water is stored in the water storage tank (6). In an addition of a mineral component, it is usual to wait a dissolution of the mineral component from a mineral mass immersed in water. As shown in Figure 3, the velocity of dissolution of the mineral component from the marble into the hot water is remarkably high. When it is shown by the electroconductivity as the index of the solubility of the mineral component, it takes only about 0. 5 hour at 750C to reach 1002 /cm whereas it takes about 5 hours at 50 C. Therefore, if the hot water obtained by the condensation in the condenser (about 80 C) is immediately fed into the mineral adding device, the mineral component is dissolved into water for a short time in high efficiency. The residence time for the addition of the mineral component can be short and the capacity of the mineral adding device can be decreased to about 1/10 of the capacity of the same device for dissolving at 50 C. Thus, a compact, economical water producing apparatus can be obtained. Figure 4 shows the other embodiment, when the water passed through the mineral adding device (11) is immediately cooled to the ambient temperature, a cooling device (12) is connected for forcible cooling whereby the water in the water storage tank (6) can be at the ambient temperature. When a passage (13) for discharging water passed through the mineral adding device is connected and a valve (14) is opened or closed, the hot water from the passage (13) and the cool water from the water storage tank (6) can be selectively fed as desired. As the mineral for the mineral adding device, the marble having high velocity for dissolution at high temperature is used It is also possible to use other minerals suitable for drinking such as BAKURAN-SEKI. The size of the mineral can be selected as desired to control the velocity for dissolution. The velocity for dissolution can be further improved by a forcible convection or a stirring in the mineral adding device. These examples are provided for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to be limiting the present invention and various modifications can be applied in the scope of the present invention. For example, the fundamental structure of the water producing apparatus shown in Figure 4 is simple, and the apparatus may not be satisfactory in view of heat efficiency. In order to improve the heat efficiency and the time efficiency for producing water, various modifications can be applied, for example, the structures of the water producing apparatuses disclosed in European Patent Application Nos. 80.100588, 80.102317.7, 80.102689.9 and 80.303087 can be combined with the present invention connecting the mineral adding device between the condenser and the water storage tank. These modifications are usually preferable. In accordance with the present invention, the hot water obtained by the condensation is immediately fed into the mineral adding device whereby the mineral component can be dissolved into the condensed water for remarkably short time and. the compact water producing apparatus equipped with the mineral adding device for dissolving the mineral component at high velocity is obtained to produce a desired drink water.

Claims: CLAIMS: 1) A water producing apparatus which comprises a column for holding an adsorbent for adsorbing a moisture in air; a device for feeding air containing a moisture into said container; a heating device for heating said adsorbent to desorb the adsorbed water during a desired period; a device for condensing steam desorbed by said heating device; and a mineral adding device for dissolving a mineral component with a hot water obtained by condensing it by said condenser. 2) The water producing apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said mineral adding device contains a pulverized marble to contact the marble with said hot condensed water. 3) The water producing apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein said adsorbent is a silica gel or molecular sieve. 4) The water producing apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein a cooling device is connected between said mineral adding device and said water storage tank to forcibly cool the water containing the mineral component. 5) The water producing apparatus according to Claim 1 wherein water is forcibly flowed in said mineral adding device to improve a velocity of dissolution.

Inventors: IKEDA, AKIRA, TAKEYAMA, TETSU, YAMAMOTO, TOSHIE
Applicants: MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1981
Main classification: E03B3
IPC codes: E03B3, C02F1, B01D53, C02F9