A.o. Smith Corporation

Zhaoshan Cheng

David J Averbeck

Hai-Feng Zhang

Haifeng Zhang

Yaohua He

Shi Shuai

A point-of-use water filtration system having an idle mode and a filtration mode, the water filtration system including a feed water inlet, a pump in fluid communication with the feed water inlet via a feed water line, and a semi-permeable membrane having an upstream side and a downstream side. A first portion of the upstream side is in fluid communication with a membrane inlet and a second portion of the upstream side is in fluid communication with the concentrate outlet, and the downstream side is in fluid communication with a permeate outlet. The point-of-use water filtration system also includes a permeate line in fluid communication with the permeate outlet and a filtered water outlet, a concentrate line in fluid communication with the concentrate outlet, a flow path configured to selectively connect the permeate line to the feed water line; and a controller configured to anticipate demand for the filtration mode based on operator habit information stored in a memory of the controller when the water filtration system is in the idle mode and to recirculate water in the permeate line through the pump and the semi-permeable membrane in response to the anticipated demand for the filtration mode.

Water filtration system with recirculation to reduce total dissolved solids creep effect

The present invention discloses a water purifier and a water production method thereof, relating to the technical field of water processing, the water purifier comprising: a reverse osmosis membrane device comprising a raw water port, a purified water port and a waste water port; a water storage device which is provided therein with a first chamber of which a volume can be adjusted, the first chamber being communicated with the raw water port and the purified water port, respectively; in the cleaning mode, the first chamber is disconnected from the purified water port, the first chamber is communicated with the raw water port, and the purified water flows into the first chamber from the raw water port of the reverse osmosis membrane device and is discharged from the waste water port of the reverse osmosis membrane device; in the water production mode, and the first chamber is communicated with the purified water port, the first chamber is disconnected from the raw water port. In the present invention, the purified water is stored in the water purifier so as to flush the reverse osmosis membrane device, such that the total dissolved solid (TDS) of a first glass of purified water that flows out of the water purifier at the beginning of use is reduced, and meanwhile lifetime of a reverse osmosis membrane in the reverse osmosis membrane device is effectively improved.

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Nanjing, China

Zhaoshan Cheng