WO2014048884A1

WO2014048884A1 - Shower head

Info

Publication number: WO2014048884A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/069748
Authority: WO
Inventors: Florian M. Witt
Original assignee: Hansgrohe Se
Priority date: 2012-09-25
Filing date: 2013-09-23
Publication date: 2014-04-03
Also published as: DE102012018878A1; CN104822462B; EP2900381A1; EP2900381B1; CN104822462A

Abstract

The invention relates to a shower head. According to the invention, the shower head comprises a water guide, which conducts supplied shower water onto at least one dripping surface (5) pointing substantially downward in the direction of gravity aided by adhesive force, and a dripping structure (6) on the dripping surface, through which dripping structure shower water (3) guided to the dripping surface drips from the dripping surface.

Description

showerhead

The invention relates to a shower head. Showerheads exist in a wide variety of shapes and designs, but operate almost exclusively on the same principle: the showering water is channeled from the waterline into a manifold cavity from which it exits through one or more openings, thereby directly shaping the shower jet. In the simplest case, there is only one large opening, through which the water pours like a shower on the showering person, so-called flood shower heads.

However, shower heads with several small openings, hereinafter referred to as nozzle shower heads, which either generate a shower jet consisting of a plurality of individual jets with the aid of line pressure or allow the water to flow out largely without pressure from the interior of the shower head and thus produce a rain-like shower jet, are more popular in daily use , The latter type is particularly popular because of its soft, reminiscent of natural rain ray.

The disadvantages of this design with multiple nozzles are many. The best known is the problem of calcification. The water film remaining on the nozzles after each shower cycle dries off, whereby the minerals dissolved in the water precipitate and irreversibly deposit. This leads to several showering events to a significant constriction of the nozzles to their constipation, with a corresponding influence on the shaping of the shower jet.

For the causal prevention of calcification nozzle shower heads are known in which by means of compact nozzle arrangements high flow velocities and turbulence are generated, whereby limescale deposits are mechanically prevented. However, these shower heads, which are widely used in public institutions, produce a hard shower jet that is far removed from popular rainfall.

In the case of nozzle showerheads, therefore, secondary measures are usually used for the simple removal of calcium deposits. Most common is the method to produce the individual nozzles of an elastomer with good non-stick properties, such as silicone rubber, so that limescale deposits can be solved by sweeping the nozzles with your finger. However, the mechanical removal of the hard chunks causes damage to the soft material and contributes to a relatively rapid aging. Furthermore, water remains behind after every showering process in the hollow interior of a nozzle shower head, which only dries very slowly due to the relative closeness of the cavity and thus promotes the growth of germs and biofilms. These germs can be entrained in a subsequent showering process partly by the shower water and reach due to sputtering effects in the beam shaping as aerosols deep into the respiratory tract of the showering person and trigger infections.

In the case of rain showerheads with nozzles, if no further constructional measures are taken, there are also continuous water jets, so-called spaghetti jets, on the nozzles, as a result of which the spray pattern has only a limited resemblance to natural rain. In order to make the spray pattern more rain-like, the jets need to be broken up into individual drops, e.g. can be achieved by admixing air in the inlet. However, this addition of air generates in return a bubbling noise, which may adversely affect the acoustics of the shower head.

In addition, the need to create a cavity with small orifices as nozzles during manufacture significantly limits the choice of economically useful materials. For the mass production of such shower heads, in principle, only materials are suitable from which economically viable hollow bodies with small bores can be produced. Stone, glass or wood, for example, generally do not meet these requirements. The above-mentioned surge shower heads do not have the disadvantages mentioned in a favorable design, but the shower jet generated by them does not meet the wishes of the broad mass of consumers. The compact surge meets only individual, limited areas of the body and exerts on the site of action relatively large forces. This, together with the absence of any air in the jet, tends to be unpleasant, especially when exposed to the face. In addition, showers generally have a very high water consumption.

One embodiment of a surge shower describes the publication US 2006/0226255 A1. It is proposed to direct the shower water into a vessel from which it passes over the edge and runs off in random distribution from the bottom of the vessel. This partially breaks up and dynamizes the waterfall, making it more similar to a waterfall than normal splash showerheads. However, it remains in the mentioned disadvantages of showers and beyond the problem of the showering in the vessel remaining water, which promotes germination or must be drained by means of additional functional elements after showering.

In summary, nozzle showerheads, which produce a shower jet that is perceived as pleasant by most people in everyday use, clearly have problems. By contrast, the splash showerheads are not suitable in principle to produce a pleasant shower jet.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a showerhead that emits a soft, rain-like jet of shower without the above-mentioned difficulties of the prior art. This object is achieved by a shower head having the features of claim 1. Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims, the wording of which is hereby incorporated by reference into the description. The shower head according to the invention does not require a distributor cavity with nozzles. In order to produce a rain-like shower jet without these construction elements, it is proposed to carry out the shower head as a body with at least one draining surface pointing downwards essentially in the direction of gravity. The shower water is directed to this surface by utilizing the adhesion forces of the water. On the drainer there are e.g. geometric or surface physical structure that causes the water to drip locally, so that by suitable design and distributed arrangement of the elements of the drip structure of the desired rainy shower jet can be generated. Geometric drip structures can be formed on the part of the shower head itself or on it.

Due to the principle, this results in a very similar jet of individual drops of natural rain without further constructive measures. This design effectively counteracts the problem of calcification. Although limescale deposits can continue to form, they occur on the dripping structures and thus do not disturb their functional principle, but can even support it, eg if the structures are geometrically similar to the stalactites of a stalactite cave. In addition, lime deposits on shower heads are based on this principle on the outside and not in fine holes, so much more accessible for effective removal with mechanical or chemical measures. The elimination of the need for a distributor cavity opens up the possibility of designing without interior or poorly accessible water-wetted surfaces, which promotes rapid drying of the entire shower head and thus prevents the proliferation of germs and biofilms. Furthermore, the selection of useful and economically usable materials shower heads according to this invention is considerably expanded. Due to the possibility of designing as a solid body with external structures on the one hand, for example, luxury designs made of granite or marble conceivable, on the other hand, but also very inexpensive or lightweight designs such as plastic blow molding or foam. In addition, with shower heads according to this invention, gravity alone can provide for the distribution of the water and the distributed dripping, so that no overpressure is necessary for the generation of a uniform jet pattern distributed over a surface. This shower heads are on this principle better than conventional rain showerheads suitable for installations in which only a very low water pressure in the supply line is available.

Claim 2 also proposes to first direct the water to a surface adjacent or adjacent to the drainer where it may spread so that the transfer to the drainer occurs in the desired manner. This simplifies the construction in that the water is very simply e.g. can be directed to the top of the part, which has the draining surface, and can run around a rounded edge of the body distributed on the draining surface.

Claim 3 additionally proposes a structure on the distribution surface, e.g. geometric or surface-physical (hydrophobic / hydrophilic) type to provide the desired distribution of the water for the functional principle. Such structures can be advantageous in order to influence the distribution of the water before the transfer to the drainer surface.

Claim 4 proposes to give geometric Abtropfstrukturen at least partially a stalactite-like shape. This form, borrowed from the structures of a stalactite cave, works very reliably and enables an aesthetically valuable, natural design. Claim 5 proposes to make the drainer at least partially ajar against a rock fracture surface. This design also provides an aesthetically desirable appearance similar to a rough, unhewn piece of stone. Claim 6 proposes to integrate in one or more of the water-wetted surfaces light sources. The integrated light sources are flooded with water, which dynamically refracts the light and creates caustics and other lighting effects similar to those of a swimming pool with underwater lighting.

Claim 7 proposes to assemble the drainer part of the shower head to the part containing the water inlet. In combination with a design according to claim 2, this design corresponds in appearance to the closest to that of shower heads according to the prior art, in which the shower head with cavity and nozzles is mounted on the water inlet pipe. Due to the new functional principle, however, there is no need to provide a seal at the transition point between the water pipe and the shower head. This is advantageous because the soft seals commonly used at this point age and become leaky over time.

Claim 8 refers to designs in which the shower head also contains the water inlet. Such a design results, for example, when an installation with a high degree of integration is made of one part or when a large, overhanging wall installation also absorbs the channels required for the water inlet in order to hide it in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Claim 9 goes beyond claim 7, the fact that with the seal omitted and the need to generate a contact pressure on this seal, which very simple assembly of the shower head, for example. enabled by magnetic attraction. A magnetically attached showerhead could be removed very easily for cleaning purposes, or it could easily be changed as desired from a selection of variously designed compatible showerheads.

Claim 10 describes the possibility to attach the shower head directly to a wall or ceiling. With such a design, for example, embedded in the ceiling or massive, overhanging from a wall installations are possible. Patent claim 1 1 describes a design in which can be switched by changing the water volume flow between two different types of spray. For this purpose, the transition between the water inlet and the draining surface can be designed, for example, with a tear-off edge such that when a certain threshold value of the water volume flow is exceeded, the adhesion breaks off and the water flows directly into the showering person in a surge, instead of continuing on to the draining surface , In this way, the showering person can start the shower process with a pleasant rain jet, which results in economical, low flow rates, and at any time, for example, to flush out shampoo from the hair, increase the flow. At the shower head, the result is automatically a surge jet, which is ideal for this purpose. Lowering the flow causes a return to the rain jet. To provide the two spray modes, no switching valve and no second water riser to the shower head is necessary, which simplifies the installation compared to the prior art and makes the operation more intuitive.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and will be described below. 1 is a sectional view of a shower head,

2 is a perspective view obliquely from above of the shower head of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a shower head according to Figure 1 with integrated light source, Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a wall-mounted shower head and

Fig. 5 is a side view of another wall-mounted shower head.

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment whose outer shape comes close to round rain showerheads according to the prior art, but based on the new functional principle described. A part 1 of the shower head having a draining surface 5 is here by way of example designed as a biconvex disk, which is fastened to a pipe which leads vertically downwards from the ceiling. The tube represents a water inlet 2. Water 3 flows out of the tube end onto an upper surface 4 of the disc 1, where it is distributed. For even distribution, it is helpful if the water is low-turbulence and can escape evenly in all directions. The distributor surface 4 can be largely arbitrary Topography can be designed with the restriction that concave points from which water can not drain after completion of a shower process are less expedient. Simple and effective for a uniform distribution of water topographies are flat or convex. Starting from the distributor surface 4, the water 3 flows around the edge of the pane 1 onto the draining surface 5 of the shower head, making use of its adhesion forces. The surface 5 is designed to be convex overall, so that the water 3 runs from the edge of the surface 5 to the lowest point of the surface 5. On the way there are in this example a plurality of distributed on the surface 5 arranged elements of a corresponding Abtropfstruktur 6. These are geometrically similar to the stalactites of a stalactite cave and together cause the distributed dripping of the water 3, so that there is a rain-like shower jet. The exact shape and size of the elements of the drip structure 6 influences the local water drainage and the dripping. As an alternative to the stalactite-like structure 6, essentially needle-shaped, cylindrical, rib-shaped or wholly irregular structures are conceivable. As an alternative to such geometric dripping structures, a distributed dripping can also be achieved with surfaces having a locally hydrophobic design.

FIG. 2 shows elements of a distributor structure 7 arranged on the distributor surface 4. With such structures, the distribution of the water 3 on the distributor surface 4 can be influenced in a targeted manner. As a result, for example, irregularities or turbulence can be compensated, resulting in the leakage of the water 3 from the water inlet 2. 3 shows by way of example a variant with a light source 8 integrated in the distributor surface 4. As shown, the light source 8 is flooded with water. Irregularities on the surface of the water film dynamically refract and scatter the light, creating caustics and other lighting effects similar to those of a swimming pool with underwater lighting on the illuminated surfaces. The term light source refers to the place where the light rays exit. This can be identical to the location where the light is generated, but it is also conceivable to provide the light generation elsewhere and to direct the light via the light guide to the desired location of the light exit. In addition, it is conceivable to carry out the entire shower head 1 made of transparent material and to make it with the help of a light source entirely to the luminous object. Fig. 4 shows another possible embodiment of the shower head. The shower head 1 with the draining surface 5 is shown here attached by way of example to a wall 9. It is also conceivable to attach the shower head 1 to a ceiling, to let him into this, or even perform a part of the ceiling itself as a drainer 5. In the embodiment shown, the water serzulauf 2 not provided via a separate pipe, but is provided in the shower head 1 itself.

Finally, FIG. 5 shows a design of the shower head 1 in which a surge jet 10 can be generated by altering a volume flow Q of the water flow 3 as an alternative to a rain jet originating from the drip structure 6. For this purpose, the water 3 exits from a slot nozzle 1 1, from which it continues to exploit its adhesion to the draining surface 5, when the volume flow Q falls below a certain, predetermined threshold value Q _crit . If the threshold is exceeded, the adhesion at the transition between slit nozzle 1 1 and 5 draining tap rips off, so that the water pours as a flood jet 10 directly to the showering person.

Claims

claims

1 . Shower head, characterized by

- A water supply, the adhesive supplied by showering water supplied to at least one substantially in the direction of gravity down drainer (5) passes, and - a drip (6) on the drainer (5), through the drainer (5) guided shower water (3) from the drainer (5) drips.

2. Shower head according to claim 1, further characterized by at least one of the draining surface (5) adjacent or merging into them distributor surface (4) for distributing the supplied shower water before passing on the draining surface (5).

3. Shower head according to claim 1 and 2, further characterized in that the distributor surface (4) has a distributor structure (7) for supporting the distribution of the shower water.

4. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 3, further characterized in that the Abtropfstruktur (6) at least partially has a stalactite structure.

5. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 4, further characterized in that the Abtropfstruktur (6) of the draining surface (5) at least partially has a rock fracture surface shape.

6. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 5, further characterized in that at least one water-wetted surface are associated with one or more light sources (8).

7. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 6, further characterized in that a draining surface (5) exhibiting part (1) is mounted on a part which contains a water inlet (2).

8. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 6, further characterized in that a draining surface (5) exhibiting part (1) contains a water inlet (2).

9. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 8, further characterized in that a draining surface (5) exhibiting part is tool-free disassembled and assembled.

10. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 9, further characterized in that a draining part exhibiting part (5) on a wall (9) or ceiling is mountable.

1 1. Shower head according to one of claims 1 to 10, further characterized in that a passage of the shower water on the drainer (5) has a Adhäsionsabreißform by the exceeding of a certain water volume flow threshold, the adhesion of the supplied shower water breaks off and the supplied shower water as a flood jet (10) replaces.