Water purifier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12291468-B2
Application number	US-202017642586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 21, 2020
Priority date	Sep 23, 2019
Publication date	May 6, 2025
Grant date	May 6, 2025

Abstract

A water purifier capable of stably discharging residual water from an extraction unit is disclosed. The water purifier ( 100 ) comprises: a filter unit ( 110 ) having a reverse osmosis membrane filter ( 113 ) for filtering incoming water; an extraction unit ( 160 ) for providing purified water filtered by the filter unit ( 110 ) to a user; and a residual water drainage unit ( 150 ) configured to drain, through the reverse osmosis membrane filter ( 113 ), residual water remaining in the extraction unit ( 160 ), by using an osmotic phenomenon of the reverse osmosis membrane filter ( 113 ) after completion of the extraction through the extraction unit ( 160 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A water purifier, comprising:
a filter unit including a reverse osmosis membrane filter configured to filter incoming water;
an extraction unit configured to provide purified water filtered by the filter unit to a user; and
a residual water drainage unit configured to, after extraction through the extraction unit is finished, drain residual water remaining in the extraction unit through the reverse osmosis membrane filter using an osmotic phenomenon of the reverse osmosis membrane filter;
a purified water discharge flow path through which purified water filtered by the reverse osmosis membrane filter is discharged; and
a drainage flow path through which concentrated water not filtered by the reverse osmosis membrane filter is discharged are connected to a rear end of the reverse osmosis membrane filter;
wherein the residual water drainage unit includes a residual water drainage flow path connecting the extraction unit to the purified water discharge flow path, and
wherein the residual water in the extraction unit flows into the reverse osmosis membrane filter through the residual water drainage flow path and the purified water discharge flow path by an osmosis phenomenon of the reverse osmosis membrane filter, and is drained through the drainage flow path;
the extraction unit is connected to an extraction valve for extracting purified water;
the residual water drainage unit further includes a residual water drainage valve installed in the residual water drainage flow path and opened during an operation of draining the residual water, and
the extraction valve is configured to include a plurality of unit valves in a complex manner to perform a function of extracting purified water and a connection function between the extraction unit and the residual water drainage flow path.

2. The water purifier of claim 1 ,
wherein the residual water drainage flow path connects the extraction valve to the purified water discharge flow path.

3. The water purifier of claim 2 , wherein the extraction valve is configured to operate to connect the extraction unit to the residual water drainage flow path when the residual water is drained.

4. The water purifier of claim 1 , wherein the residual water drainage valve is configured to be opened for a predetermined operation time to discharge the residual water.

5. The water purifier of claim 4 , wherein the residual water drainage valve is configured to open after a predetermined standby time is elapsed after extraction of the extraction unit is finished.

6. The water purifier of claim 1 , wherein the residual water drainage unit further includes a non-return valve installed in the residual water drainage flow path and configured to prevent backflow of water from the purified water discharge flow path in a direction of the extraction unit.

7. The water purifier of claim 1 ,
wherein the drainage flow path includes a concentrated water flow path through which concentrated water not filtered by the reverse osmosis membrane filter is discharged, and a flushing flow path for flushing the reverse osmosis membrane filter, and
wherein a flushing valve configured to open the flushing flow path when the reverse osmosis membrane filter is flushed is installed in the flushing flow path.

8. The water purifier of claim 7 , wherein the flushing valve is configured to be open when the residual water is drained.

Assignees

• Coway Co Ltd

Inventors

• Moon Hyoung-Min
• Kim Chul-Ho
• Hong Young-Hoon
• Park Si-Jun
• Shin Hyun-Soo

Classifications

• C02F2201/005

  Valves · CPC title

• C02F1/001

  Processes for the treatment of water whereby the filtration technique is of importance (C02F1/44 takes precedence; construction of filters in general B01D24/00 - B01D41/00) · CPC title

• B01D65/02

  Membrane cleaning or sterilisation {; Membrane regeneration} · CPC title

• B01D35/153

  Anti-leakage or anti-return valves · CPC title

• B01D35/1573

  Flow control valves · CPC title