Patent FR-2891164-A1 (FR)
Title: Water softener apparatus comprises an ion exchange resin tank with an inlet and an outlet, a brine storage unit and a distribution valve having a body with a controllable piston and a cylinder head surmounted on the body of the valve
IPC: C02F1/42
Filed: 2005-09-27
Abstract: The water softener apparatus comprises an ion exchange resin tank (12) with an inlet and an outlet, a brine storage unit (16), and a distribution valve (18) having a body with a controllable piston and a cylinder head surmounted on the body of the valve. The distribution valve is mounted on the tank, where the tank is connected to the body of the valve. The body (20) of the valve comprises a raw water inlet and a water outlet. The distribution valve comprises two regeneration canals and an evacuation canal. The water softener apparatus comprises an ion exchange resin tank (12) with an inlet and an outlet, a brine storage unit (16), and a distribution valve (18) having a body with a controllable piston and a cylinder head surmounted on the body of the valve. The distribution valve is mounted on the tank, where the tank is connected to the body of the valve. The body (20) of the valve comprises a raw water inlet and a water outlet. The distribution valve comprises two regeneration canals and an evacuation canal. The regeneration canals circulate the raw water to absorb the brine in the storage unit, and allows the flow of raw water mixture and the brine through the resin to regenerate. The distribution valve comprises a derivation unit releases regeneration canal while sealing into the first and second position of the derivation and the piston. The regeneration canal injects the mixture through the inlet tank in a co-current direction and connects the outlet tank with the evacuation canal. The derivation unit comprises an interchangeable cylinder head gasket having open and flat portions. The gasket is placed between the cylinder head, the body of the valve and the first portion of derivation. The flat and open portions are adjusted across the canals. The cylinder head has two regeneration passages for constituting a portion with respect to the regeneration canal. The regeneration passage forms a venturi unit that connects to the brine storage unit. The cylinder head has a traverse orifice that constitutes a portion of the evacuation canal. The cylinder head longitudinally extends by a plane unit and has a plane of symmetry that cuts the cylinder head into two longitudinal parts, which is perpendicular to the plane unit. The cylinder head has a contact face obtained from the body of the valve. The regeneration passage forms a first loop into the cylinder head and crosses by a first central orifice of the contact face. The regeneration passage forms a second loop into the cylinder head and crosses a first contact face by a first orifice in the back part of the symmetry plane side. The cylinder head gasket extends on to the contact surface in which the open portion has two pairs of openings. Two heads of the piston are oppositely placed and separated by a groove. The body of the valve has an axial chamber divided by five coaxial caps, which are uniformly spaced. The pistons are mounted in a sliding motion to isolate annular chambers. The axial chamber has a first annular chamber and a terminal annular chamber placed opposite to the first chamber. The first annular chamber is connected with the raw water inlet and the water outlet. Central annular chamber is connected to the evacuation canal and two intermediate annular chambers.