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Disclosed is a water softener capable of producing soft water at
various temperatures and facilitating the regeneration of an ion
exchange resin thereof. The water softener includes a water softening
tank in which an internal region containing therein the ion exchange
resin is partitioned into a plurality of water softening regions
which are individually assigned into a predetermined temperature;
a regeneration tank integrated with the water softening tank into
a single body and containing the regeneration material of the ion
exchange resin; a cold/hot control valve to supply raw water to
a selected one of the plurality of water softening regions according
to the temperature of the raw water to rapidly supply the soft water
at a desired temperature to a user, and a regeneration valve to
facilitate the periodic regeneration of the ion exchange resin through
a simple manual operation.
A water softener particularly for use in a dishwasher. The water
softener is located in the dishwasher water supply (238) between
the primary supply valve and the wash chamber. The softener includes
a resin container (207) with an ion exchange resin (290). Water
supplied to the wash chamber optionally passes through the resin
container (207). Regenerating brine is developed in a brine container
(203). The brine container (203) is supplied manually with solid
salt (270) and water diverted into the container from the main supply
at an air break (201). In the regenerating cycle brine is delivered
from the brine container (203) to the resin container (207) by a
pump (206). The duty cycle of the pump (206) determines the degree
of regeneration of the resin (290).
System and method for purifying and recycling spent brine in a
water softener are provided. The system may be made up of a cation
exchange resin tank fluidly coupled for passing spent brine comprising
monovalent and divalent ions. A fluid mixer valve is coupled to
the resin tank and to a water tank to dilute the spent brine to
a desired concentration of a regenerant salt, e.g., NaCl. An ion-separation
device is fluidly coupled to the fluid mixer valve to receive the
diluted spent brine and separate the diluted spent brine into first
and second streams. The first of the streams comprises monovalent
ions and the second of the streams comprises divalent ions.
A portable point-of-use water softener. Settings of a valve put
the water softener into three different modes: an "off"
mode that excludes water from the water softener, a water softening
mode, and a regeneration mode. In water softening mode, water passes
from a source of the water through a water softening element to
a sink for the softened water. A plurality of water softening elements
operate in parallel in water softening mode to increase the flow
of water through the water softener. In regeneration mode, a brine
solution flows through the water softening element. The solution
is made in a chamber in which water from the source flows at a controlled
rate over salt tablets and from there through the water softening
elements. The number of salt tablets determines the percent of salt
in the brine. The valve includes a number of tubes which connect
the components as required for the three modes. The valve selects
a mode by pinching tubes as required by the mode. The valve uses
a cam with a handle to pinch the tubes, and a position of the handle
corresponds to each of the modes.
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