EP3352636B1

EP3352636B1 - Sanitary set with braked folding system

Info

Publication number: EP3352636B1
Application number: EP16741220.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nadja RAWA; Artus RAWA; Hynek PAKOSTA
Original assignee: Rawa Design SRO
Current assignee: Rawa Design SRO
Priority date: 2015-09-22
Filing date: 2016-04-14
Publication date: 2020-12-16
Anticipated expiration: 2036-04-14
Also published as: WO2016146088A2; EP3352636A2; CZ29913U1; WO2016146088A3; PL3352636T3

Description

Field of the technical solution

This invention relates to a sanitary set with a braked folding system according to the preamble of claim 1. In particular, it relates to a sanitary set which includes magnetic connections and allows slow folding of the toilet seat.

Background of the technical solution

There are several technical solutions known at the present, which use magnetic force for attachment of parts. They namely include the solutions described in patent files Nos. US2009/064402 , FR2915667 , EP2861118 , WO2008/06572 , JP2011167238 and US4561130 .
These technical solutions address, to a certain extent, the system of connection between a toilet seat, a toilet bowl cover and a toilet bowl using magnetic elements; however, they do not allow braked folding of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover. Slow folding is a very important feature as this solution ensures silent use of the sanitary set, also protecting the sanitary set against damage namely by preventing the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover while folding from hitting the toilet bowl and chipping or damaging the ceramic toilet bowl or loosening the magnetic elements.
The technical solution described in FR2915667 addresses, to a certain extent, slow folding of the toilet seat, but this solution is based on a detachable mechanical brake of a complicated design, which suppresses, namely by its external design, the basic advantages of using magnetic connection in a sanitary set, i.e. easy cleaning and absence of external elements, which can get contaminated.
Other known solutions to slow folding for traditional sanitary sets equipped with traditional hinges include DE3718705 or US6009568 , which are focused on the hinge braking elements in the sanitary set.
Document FR2898033 A1 discloses a toilet with a bowl provided with at least one bearing with open cross-section and, preferably, with a curved wall, in particular in the general shape of "C", against which is engaged in a pivoting movement at least one piece forming a pivoting part, integral with a movable element such as a flap forming a lid, a telescope or a urinal. The pivoting part and the bowl each comprise mutual magnetic attraction means arranged in such a way that the movable element can be moved between a low position resting on the bowl or substantially parallel to the upper plane of the bowl and a raised position, wherein a pin is engaged in the bearing, and that pin can be separated from said bearing as soon as said movable element is subjected to sufficient traction to overcome the attractive magnetic force. The mutual magnetic attraction means in the movable element and in the bowl are kept at a constant distance between them during the pivoting movement. As a consequence, the magnetic force is the same regardless of the position of the movable element (raised or low).
Document WO2013/189469 A2 (corresponding to EP2861118 B1 ) discloses a sanitary set consisting of a toilet seat and a lid on a toilet bowl where the toilet seat and the lid are connected to the upper edge of toilet bowl by means of rolling joints around a horizontal axis. The rolling joints are formed from magnets arranged on or in a horizontal bar in the rear end of the upper plane of toilet bowl and oppositely polarized magnets in the rear end of the toilet seat and oppositely polarized magnets in the rear end of the lid. The magnets in the rolling joints each have a common pivoting and folding axis, thereby the magnetic force between the toilet seat and the toilet bowl, or the lid and the toilet bowl, is the same regardless of the position of the toilet seat or the lid.
Document US2010/0115688 A1 discloses a motorized lavatory seat assembly with a motorization device for a lavatory seat assembly including at least one magnetic attraction unit moved by an actuator, separated by at least one wall supporting another unit of magnetic attraction connected to a seat assembly comprising a rotary base, which enables the lavatory seat and a lid to be moved from a horizontal position to at least a vertical position, and the actuator being activated by a control. The lavatory seat assembly prevents the movement of the lavatory seat and the lid by hand by means of a motorized actuator which moves the magnetic attraction unit.
Document JP201116738 A discloses a toilet seat and a toilet lid 20 being supported at a support body in such a state that an inward end face 12a of a hinge 12 is opposed to an end face 31a of a projection 31, that an inward end face 22a of a hinge 22 is opposed to an outward end face 12b of the hinge 12, and that the outer peripheral surfaces of the hinges 12 and 22 are engaged with linear recesses 32. The toilet seat and the toilet lid are held to the support body as a plurality of magnets and a plurality of iron pieces are attracted to each other with magnetic attraction force. Similarly, the magnets and the iron pieces each have a common pivoting and folding axis, thereby the magnetic force between the toilet seat and the support body, or the toilet lid and the support body, is the same regardless of the position of the toilet seat or the toilet lid.
The purpose of this technical solution is to find a new design of a sanitary set, consisting of a toilet seat, a toilet bowl cover and a toilet bowl and a magnetic joint in such a manner that the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover can be separately detached and attached by simply drawing away/approaching one another, wherein the toilet seat as well as the toilet bowl cover are braked during closing without the use of an external braking mechanism, which would prevent easy cleaning and would be prone to corrosion and wear.

Summary of technical solution

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a sanitary set having the features of claim 1. with respect to their folding axes in such a manner that, with the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover in a vertical (upright) position, the distance between the cylindrical magnets of the pivoting elements and the cylindrical magnets of the toilet bowl, which hold the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover in contact with the toilet bowl, is larger than in a horizontal (folded) position of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover.
The contact faces of the pivoting elements and the toilet bowl are made of materials with enhanced sliding coefficient. At moderate speed (0.5-5 m/s), sliding friction is independent of the speed and size of contact face. The friction force depends solely on the compressive force perpendicular to the substrate, i.e. normal force, and on the material and quality of the contact forces. As a reaction to this force, the N force is created, which acts in the opposite direction at the point of contact between the body and substrate. The dependence on material and quality of contact faces is expressed by the sliding coefficient f, which is constant at common speed. The value of the dynamic sliding coefficient is determined by measurement and is different for various substances and various types of contact faces (smooth, rough etc.). The enhanced dynamic sliding coefficient in combination with the retaining force of the magnetic field, in the case of sanitary set, brings a braking effect during folding of the toilet seat and toilet bowl cover as it increases the friction between the contact faces of the toilet bowl cover and toilet bowl, or of the toilet seat and toilet bowl.
In a convenient embodiment, the toilet seat and toilet bowl cover or its part adjacent to the toilet bowl or its extension, will be made of such a material so as to achieve the resulting sliding coefficient of contact face materials in the joint higher than 0.2. Suitable combinations of materials of contact faces of the joint between pivoting elements and toilet bowl include soft plastics/soft plastics, plastic/rubber, rubber/ceramics etc. Enhancement of the sliding coefficient can also be achieved by sole surface treatment of the existing material, mostly ceramics, e.g. by plating or coating the contact faces. A suitable folding progress can be often achieved with the sliding coefficient between 0.6 and 1.3; in principle, the value of the sliding coefficient can be even higher, e.g. 1.5. The pivoting elements in the form of toilet seat and toilet bowl cover can be made of various materials such as light thermoplastic or heavy wood. With respect to the weight of the pivoting elements, it is necessary to optimize the magnetic connection force or the surface treatment of the pivoting elements and toilet bowl to achieve the required braking effect.
The magnetic pivoting joints between the toilet bowl cover and the toilet seat and between the toilet seat and the toilet bowl, consisting of the cylindrical magnets, are of sliding type, where the pivoting element overcomes the static and dynamic friction and pivots in a sliding movement. There is not any rolling movement, which is namely ensured by the retaining force of the magnetic connection and, at the same time, by the shape of the contact faces; suitable solutions include e.g. L-shaped contact faces on the toilet bowl, where the pivoting elements with U-shaped contact faces and the toilet bowl are only in contact along two line segments, or U-shape contact faces on the toilet bowl as well as on pivoting faces.
Magnets of the pivoting element and/or magnets of the toilet bowl are in the form of a cylinder. In such a case, it is preferable that these magnets are magnetized perpendicularly to a cylinder base. Preferably, the cylindrical magnets of the pivoting element in the toilet seat and in the toilet bowl coverage situated in horizontal cavities at the magnetic joint either freely or on the pivoting axes, while the cylindrical magnet of the toilet bowl in the body of the toilet bowl situated at the upper edge adjacent to the magnetic joint is either fixed or pivoting. The cylindrical magnets of the pivoting elements in the toilet seat and in the toilet bowl cover can freely pivot in the horizontal cavity to maintain connection and pole-to-pole attraction between the magnets during opening and closing. The magnets can also be of another cross section, e.g. an ellipse. Convenient embodiment involves the use of NeFeB magnets.
In a preferred embodiment, the toilet bowl can be equipped with an extension, in which the cavities for the magnets are arranged and on which surface there are contact faces; this extension is attached to the toilet bowl using e.g. standard toilet seat fasteners. This solution can be used for production of sanitary sets without the need for creation of a new mold for the toilet bowl, or when the technical solution according to the present technical solution is applied to existing toilet bowls.
The braking effect during folding of the toilet seat and toilet bowl cover can be further improved by the following mechanisms.
As far as the eccentric arrangement of the pivoting axes of the cylindrical magnets in the toilet seat and toilet bowl cover with respect to their folding axes, a preferred progress of the braking effect is achieved by the fact that the retaining force of the magnetic joint increases during closing of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover with respect to the toilet bowl, thanks to the approach between the cylindrical magnets of the pivoting elements and the toilet seat. Since the friction force depends on this retaining force, the friction between the toilet bowl cover and the toilet bowl, or between the toilet seat and the toilet bowl, increases during closing, this friction enhancing the required braking effect. By suitable combination of materials of the contact faces influencing the sliding coefficient, parameters of the magnets used and their distances, it is possible to control the progress of folding of the toilet seat and toilet bowl cover, achieving a slowdown of the closing process from 0.5-1 s (without braking) to 5-10 s (with braking).
Another mechanism consists in that the cylindrical magnets attached on the pivoting axes in the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover are interconnected with a brake. The brake (damper) is a standard part used at present for damping the folding process of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover. This is a component which can be either of mechanical type (i.e. spring) or of hydraulic type (piston) wherein it has the shape of a cylinder with the braked axis protruding from it. The spring or hydraulic assembly inside the brake allows free rotation of the axis in one direction, while the movement in the other direction is braked. In this technical solution, the brake is an integral part of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover, i.e. is fixed (cast or screwed) in the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover in such a manner that the brake body is fixed and its axis is attached to a pivoting magnet. When folding of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover, a braking effect is thus achieved thanks to the fact that the brake body pivots with the pivoting movement of the toilet seat and the toilet bowl cover and this pivoting movement is braked by the magnet attached to the braked axis of the brake, which remains, thanks to the magnetic joint, in a fixed position with respect to the other magnet in the toilet bowl.

List of figures in drawings

In the following text, the principle of the technical solution is clarified using examples of its embodiments, which are described based on the attached drawings:

Fig. 1 discloses the first embodiment of the sanitary set in side view.
Fig. 2 discloses the first embodiment of the sanitary set in top view.
Fig. 3 discloses the second embodiment of the sanitary set in side view.
Fig. 4 discloses the third embodiment of the sanitary set in top view.

Examples of embodiment of technical solution

The sanitary set according to the first embodiment of the technical solution, which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is arranged in such a manner that in the extension attached to the toilet bowl 6, as is illustrated in the Figures 1 and 2, there are two fixed cylindrical magnets 1 of the toilet bowl magnetized perpendicularly to the cylinder base, one on each edge of the toilet bowl 6, while in the horizontal cavities of the toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5 , which are made of a thermoplastic material, there are cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements, also magnetized perpendicularly to the cylinder base. In each pivoting element, there is one magnet 2 on each edge of the pivoting element adjacent to the magnetic joint, wherein these cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements are attached on the pivoting axes 3 (in an alternative embodiment, they can be freely inserted in the cavities which allows their free rotation in these cavities), which allows free rotation of the cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements around their own axes. In this embodiment, magnets NeFeB are used with N42 magnetization, 20 mm in diameter and 30 mm in length. The magnets are arranged in such a layout that the pivoting axis of the cylindrical magnet in the toilet seat as well as in the toilet bowl cover is situated eccentrically with respect to their folding axis, which means that with the pivoting elements in the vertical position, the proposed distance between the cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements and the cylindrical magnets 1 of the toilet bowl is 7 mm, while with the pivoting elements in the horizontal position, the distance between the magnets is 3.5 mm. The pivoting axis of the cylindrical magnet of the toilet bowl is preferably placed in bearings. It must withstand the tensile force of the magnetic joint, and it can be made of steel, a composite material or a duroplastic material. With the pivoting elements in the vertical position, the attractive force of the magnets amounts to 160 N; after pivoting to the horizontal position, the magnets approach each other, increasing the attractive force to 410 N. The toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5 , or their contact parts only, adjacent to the extension, are made of a soft plastic, rubber or another material to achieve the resulting sliding coefficient over 0.6. The increase in the attractive force during closing in combination with sufficiently high sliding coefficient of the materials used causes the lowering movement of the toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5 to slow down; in this specific example, it slows down to 7.6 s.
The sanitary set according to the second embodiment of the technical solution, which is shown in Fig. 3, is arranged in such a manner that in the extension attached to the toilet bowl 6 , as is illustrated in the Figure 3, there are two fixed cylindrical magnets 1 of the toilet bowl magnetized perpendicular to the cylinder base, one on each edge of the toilet bowl 6 , while in the horizontal cavities of the toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5 , which are made of a thermoplastic material, there are cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements, also magnetized perpendicularly to the cylinder base. In each pivoting element, there is one magnet 2 on each edge of the pivoting element adjacent to the magnetic joint, wherein these cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements are attached on the pivoting axes 3 , which allows the cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting element to pivot freely around their own axes, wherein this pivoting axis 3 of the cylindrical magnets 1 of the toilet bowl 6 is not identical to the pivoting axes of the toilet seat 7 or the toilet bowl cover 5. For each of the cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting element, the hydraulic brake 4 on the pivoting axis 3 is further installed in such a manner that this brake 4 is always fixed in the pivoting part (pivoting with the pivoting element when opening and closing), wherein it is interconnected with the pivoting axes 3 of the cylindrical magnets 2 of the pivoting elements by its braked axis. The brake 4 in the toilet seat 7 has a braking effect of 3 Nm, while the brake 4 in the toilet bowl cover 5 has a braking effect of 2 Nm. In this embodiment, NeFeB magnets with N42 magnetization, 20 mm in diameter and 30 mm in length are arranged at such a distance that the toilet seat 7 is attracted to the toilet bowl 6 by a force of 240 N over the design distance 5 mm between the magnets, and the toilet bowl cover 5 is attached to the toilet bowl 6 with somewhat less force due to the longer distance between magnets, the force amounting to 126 N. Since the toilet seat 7 must withstand a higher load when used (seated person), it is usually stronger and more massive than the toilet bowl cover 5 and, therefore, heavier. That is why in the typical embodiment, the toilet bowl cover 5 is attached with less force than the toilet seat 7 . In this exemplary embodiment, the folding process is braked by adjustment of the braking effect of the brake; nevertheless the average value ranges from 8 to 10 s.
The sanitary set as per the third embodiment of the technical solution, which is shown in Fig. 4, is arranged in such a manner that the fixed cylindrical magnet 1 is installed in the toilet bowl 6 with magnetization perpendicular to the cylinder base, while in the toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5, there are cylindrical magnets 2 in the horizontal cavities, also magnetized perpendicularly to the cylinder base. These are installed on the pivoting axes 3, which allow the cylindrical magnets 2 to freely pivot around their own axis, while these axes are linked with the brake 4 , which is an integral fixed part of the toilet seat 7 and the toilet bowl cover 5. This technical solution uses both principles at the same time - friction and brake - but the friction plays a minor role here, the braking effect being ensured by the brake.

List of reference numerals

1 -: Magnet of toilet bowl
2 -: Magnet of pivoting element
3 -: Pivoting axis
4-: Brake
5-: Toilet bowl cover
6-: Toilet bowl
7-: Toilet seat

Claims

A sanitary set with a braked folding system, consisting of a toilet bowl (6) and pivoting elements in the form of a toilet seat (7) and a toilet bowl cover (5), wherein the toilet bowl cover (5), the toilet bowl (6) and the toilet seat (7) each comprise a plurality of cylindrical magnets (1, 2) arranged in rear parts thereof, wherein the toilet seat (7) and the toilet bowl cover (5) are attached to the rear part of the toilet bowl (6) by magnetic joints consisting of the cylindrical magnets (1, 2), wherein each magnet (2) of the pivoting elements is pivotable around a horizontal pivoting axis (3), wherein contact faces of the pivoting elements and the toilet bowl (6) produce friction in the magnetic joint during the pivoting movement of the toilet seat (7) and/or the toilet bowl cover (5), characterized in that the pivoting axes (3) of the cylindrical magnets (2) in the toilet seat (7) and toilet bowl cover (5) are situated eccentrically with respect to their folding axes in such a manner that, with the toilet seat (7) and the toilet bowl cover (5) in a vertical position, the distance between the cylindrical magnets (2) of the pivoting elements and the cylindrical magnets (1) of the toilet bowl (6), which hold the toilet seat (7) and the toilet bowl cover (5) in contact with the toilet bowl (6), is larger than in a horizontal position of the toilet seat (7) and the toilet bowl cover (5) .
The sanitary set according to claim 1, characterized in that the cylindrical magnets (2) of the pivoting elements are situated in horizontal cavities of the toilet seat (7) and the toilet seat cover (5) at the magnetic joint either freely or on the pivoting axes (3), and the cylindrical magnet (1) in the body of the toilet bowl (6) at the upper edge adjacent to the magnetic joint is either fixed or pivotable, wherein the cylindrical magnets (2) of the pivoting elements and the cylindrical magnets (1) of the toilet bowl (6) are magnetized perpendicularly to a cylinder base.
The sanitary set according to claim 2, characterized in that the cylindrical magnets (2) of the pivoting elements in the horizontal cavities are attached along their pivoting axes (3) to brakes (4), which are integral parts of the toilet seat (7) and the toilet bowl cover (5).