FIELD OF THE INVENTION
-
This disclosure relates to a sewer relief system, in particular to such systems wherein a floater element is configured to not extend below an airtight connection for more than 30% of its height when it is in an odor sealing position
BACKGROUND
-
Sewer relief systems, for example as disclosed by
US5,209,257 , function to protect sewers from overflowing in buildings when the pressure in the sewers becomes too high. Without a sewer relief system, if the pressure in the sewers becomes too high, sewage liquid may for example exit through a toilet that is positioned in a building at ground level, which is of course problematic and unhygienic.
-
Typically, sewer relief systems comprise a floater element, also referred to as a float, that will rise due to increased pressure in the sewer system and herewith create a passageway through which sewage liquids can be discharged on the street. When the pressure in the sewer system returns to normal values again, the float will move downwards and will typically form an airtight seal to prevent gases from the sewer system from escaping through the sewer relief system.
-
An important aspect of such float is that its weight is sufficiently high for forming the airtight connection. The buoyancy of the float must be sufficiently high to compensate for this weight so that the float experiences a net upward force when sewage liquids rise.
-
Preferably, sewer relief systems are flexible in that they can be used in a variety of circumstances. This is especially important if a sewer relief system is added to an existing sewer system. In that case, the properties of the already present sewer system may vary greatly, for example in terms of how far the sewer system is installed below ground.
-
There is a need in the art for an improved sewer relief system that better meets at least some of the above requirements.
SUMMARY
-
Therefore, one aspect of this disclosure relates to a sewer relief system. The sewer relief system comprises a chamber. The chamber comprises, at a bottom part of the chamber, a connection opening for connecting the chamber to a sewer system and, at a top part of the chamber, a relief opening for discharging water from the chamber. The sewer relief system further comprises a floater element at least part of which is positioned in the chamber. The floater element is configured to move relative to the chamber back and forth between an odor sealing position and a sewer relief position. Further, the floater element is configured to form an airtight connection when it is in the odor sealing position for preventing odors from the sewer system from escaping through the relief opening and configured to allow passage of sewage liquids when it is in the sewer relief position for allowing discharge of sewage liquids from the sewer system through the relief opening. The floater element has a height extending in a vertical direction. Further, the floater element is configured to not extend below the airtight connection for more than 30% of its height when it is in the odor sealing position.
-
Thus, in this sewer relief system, when the floater element is in the odor sealing position, the floater element only extends below the airtight connection for a relatively small distance or does not extend below the airtight connection at all. This is highly advantageous as this aids to reduce the total height of the sewer relief system. A small total height of the sewer relief system is advantageous because that allows to install the system also when the sewer system sits relatively close to the ground level. Understandably, the distance between the pipe of the sewer system to which pipe the sewer relief system is to be attached, and ground level is larger than the total height of the sewer relief system. If that is not the case, then the sewer relief system will stick out of the ground to a position above ground level, which increases the risk of persons tripping over the system and/or of for example a car driving into the system and damaging it.
-
In the disclosed sewer relief system, the airtight connection is thus somewhere positioned at a bottom part of the floater element. This is advantageous as it allows the floater element to have a large diameter over a substantial part of its height, which is beneficial for its buoyancy. Typically, the chamber comprises some protruding element, such as a sealing ring and/or a shoulder on its inner surface to enable the formation of the airtight connection. The part of the floater element that sits below the airtight connection when the floater element is in the odor sealing position, should fit through the opening that is defined by the protruding element, else the floater element cannot move upwards towards the sewer relief position. Hence, the lower part of the floater element must be relatively thin with respect to the part of the floater element that sits above the airtight connection when the floater element is in the odor sealing position. Such a thin part of the floater element is disadvantageous because it requires the floater element to have a significant height so that it still has sufficient buoyancy. Such a significant height of the floater element is undesired as it means that the sewer relief system as a whole should also have a significant height, which is undesired as explained above.
-
In principle, the part of the floater element that sits above the airtight connection when the floater element is in the odor sealing position can be wider than for example the opening defined by the protruding element referred to above. After all, this upper part does not need to pass through this opening when the floater element moves upwards towards the sewer relief position. Since, in the sewer relief system disclosed herein, most of the floater element sits above the airtight connection, most of the floater element can be relatively wide. This allows for the floater element to have a small height while still having sufficient buoyancy.
-
Hence, the sewer relief system disclosed herein enables to reduce the height of the system without having to significantly reduce the buoyancy nor the weight of the floater element.
-
As referred to herein, a height of an element is a distance along the vertical direction between a lowest part of the element and the highest part of the element. Typically, the floater element moves upwards when it moves from the odor sealing position to the sewer relief position and downwards when it moves from the sewer relief position to the odor sealing position.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element is configured to not extend below the airtight connection for more than 10% of its height when it is in the odor sealing position.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element is configured to not extend below the airtight connection for more than 5% of its height when it is in the odor sealing position.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element is configured to not extend below the airtight connection when it is in the odor sealing position.
-
In principle, the less the floater element extends below the airtight connection when in the odor sealing position, the smaller the part is of the floater element that needs to thin enough to fit through for example an opening as defined by a sealing ring. Such a thin part of the floater elements are disadvantageous as such thin part has a relatively small buoyancy versus height ration. Such thin part will have a height yet contributes relatively little to the buoyancy of the floater element.
-
Having the floater element not extend below the airtight connection at all is beneficial as it obviates the need for the floater element to have a variable diameter at its bottom part and thus allows for relatively easily manufacturable floater elements.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element is configured to not extend through the relief opening to a position outside of the chamber when it is in the sewer relief position. This embodiment is advantageous in that it reduces the risk of person tripping over the floater element and or cars driving into the floater element when it is in the sewer relief position.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element and/or the chamber comprises one or more spacers that are configured to maintain one or more gaps between an inner surface of the chamber and an outer surface of the floater element for allowing passage of the sewage liquids when the floater element is in the sewer relief position. The one or more spacers are configured to cause the floater element to have an orientation suitable for forming the airtight connection when it moves from the sewer relief position to the odor sealing position.
-
The one or more spacers for example prevent a rotation of the floater element around a horizontal axis so that the floater element remains upright at all times.
-
In an embodiment, wherein the one or more spacers are configured to slidably engage the outer surface of the floater element and/or, respectively, the inner surface of the chamber.
-
In an embodiment, each of the one or more spacers has a height that is at least 35% of the floater element's height, preferably at least 40% of the floater element's height. This embodiment is advantageous as such spacers are quite effective for causing the floater element to have an orientation suitable for forming the airtight connection when it moves to the odor sealing position.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element comprises a hollow element. Such floater element is easy to manufacture and it is relatively easy for such floater element to have sufficient buoyancy.
-
It should be appreciated that any element that is attached to the hollow element and that moves back and forth with the hollow element may be understood as part of the floater element.
-
In an embodiment, the sewer relief system comprises a sealing ring provided in the chamber for forming the airtight connection between the floater element and an inner surface of the chamber. This embodiment provides for a convenient manner of forming the airtight connection.
-
Typically, the sealing ring is fixed to the inner surface of the chamber. However, it may also be that the inner ring is part of the floater element.
-
In an embodiment, the floater element is configured to form the airtight connection along a closed curve, the airtight connection defining a mathematical cylindrical surface consisting of all points on all lines that pass through the closed curve and are parallel to the vertical direction. In this embodiment, along at least 60%, preferably along at least 70%, more preferably along at least 75%, of the floater element's height, the floater element has a horizontal cross section that extends through the cylindrical surface.
-
This embodiment is advantageous in that it a significant part of the floater element is "wider" than the airtight connection, which increases the buoyancy versus height ratio of the floater element.
-
As referred to herein, a curve may be understood as a line that may or may not be straight and that may or may not comprise several line segments.
-
In an embodiment, the sealing ring is circular and the closed curve is a circle having a first diameter. In this embodiment, along at least 60%, preferably along at least 70%, more preferably along at least 75%, of the floater element's height, the floater element has a horizontal cross section that spans a horizontal distance greater than the first diameter.
-
In an embodiment, the sewer relief system comprises a cover element that is configured to cover the relief opening, wherein the cover element comprises one or more openings for allowing water to pass through the cover element and the cover element comprising one or more reinforcement ribs.
-
This embodiment is highly advantageous in that the reinforcement ribs strengthen the cover element and therefore allow to one or more one or more openings to be relatively large. Such large one or more openings are beneficial in that they increase the discharge capacity.
-
In an embodiment, each reinforcement rib out of the one or more reinforcement ribs is a raised section that runs along a bottom surface of the cover element.
-
In an embodiment, the one or more reinforcement ribs are configured to sit close to an inner surface of the chamber when the cover element covers the relief opening so that the one or more reinforcement ribs prevent that the cover element tilts out of position when it covers the relief opening.
-
Sometimes when a tire of a car passes over the sewer relief system, the cover element may adhere to the tire due to a sucking force exerted by the tire on the cover element. As a result, the cover element may tilt out of position while being adhered to the tire. In this embodiment, the reinforcement ribs sit close to the inner surface of the chamber so that the cover element cannot tilt out of position. Hence, the problem of the cover element tilting out of position due to vehicle tires passing over it is reduced. Preferably, each reinforcement rib out of the one or more reinforcement ribs extends into the chamber.
-
A distinct aspect of this disclosure relates to a further sewer relief system comprising a cover element that is configured to cover the relief opening, wherein the cover element comprises one or more openings for allowing water to pass through the cover element and the cover element comprising one or more reinforcement ribs.
-
Preferably, the further sewer relief system comprises a chamber that preferably comprises, at a bottom part of the chamber, a connection opening for connecting the chamber to a sewer system and, at a top part of the chamber, a relief opening for discharging water from the chamber. The further sewer relief system preferably comprises a floater element at least part of which is positioned in the chamber and configured to move relative to the chamber back and forth between an odor sealing position and a sewer relief position. Further, the floater element is preferably configured to form an airtight connection when it is in the odor sealing position for preventing odors from the sewer system from escaping through the relief opening and configured to allow passage of sewage liquids when it is in the sewer relief position for allowing discharge of sewage liquids from the sewer system through the relief opening. The floater element has a height extending in a vertical direction.
-
In this further sewer relief system, it is not necessary that the floater is configured to not extend below the airtight connection for more than 30% of its height when it is in the odor sealing position.
-
In this further sewer relief system, each reinforcement rib out of the one or more reinforcement ribs is preferably a raised section that runs along a bottom surface of the cover element.
-
Further, in this further sewer relief system, the one or more reinforcement ribs are preferably configured to sit close to an inner surface of the chamber when the cover element covers the relief opening so that the one or more reinforcement ribs prevent that the cover element tilts out of position when it covers the relief opening.
-
The further sewer relief system may comprise any feature or element of the sewer relief system disclosed herein.
-
Elements and aspects discussed for or in relation with a particular embodiment may be suitably combined with elements and aspects of other embodiments, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Embodiments of the present invention will be further illustrated with reference to the attached drawings, which schematically will show embodiments according to the invention. It will be understood that the present invention is not in any way restricted to these specific embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
-
Aspects of the invention will be explained in greater detail by reference to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:
- FIG. 1 illustrates a sewer relief system according to an embodiment as installed in a sewer system;
- FIG. 2A shows a front view of a sewer relief system according to an embodiment;
- FIG. 2B shows a cross section of the sewer relief system of figure 2A;
- FIG. 3A shows a cross section of a sewer relief system according to an embodiment in which the floater element is in the odor sealing position;
- FIG. 3B shows a cross section of a sewer relief system according to an embodiment in which the floater element is in the sewer relief position;
- FIG. 4A shows the cross section of figure 2A;
- FIG. 4B shows a detail of the cross section of figure 4A;
- FIG. 5A is a front view of a sealing ring according to an embodiment;
- FIG. 5B is a perspective view of the sealing ring of figure 5A;
- FIG. 6 shows two perspective views of a floater element according to an embodiment;
- FIG. 7 shows various vies of the floater element of figure 6;
- FIG. 8 shows a horizontal cross section of the sewer relief system of figure 2A;
- FIG. 9 shows two perspective views of a cover element according to an embodiment;
- FIG. 10 shows various views of the cover element of figure 9;
- FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the cover element as it covers the relief opening;
- FIG. 12A schematically shows a cross section of the system that illustrates how the cover element sits in the housing according to an embodiment;
- FIG. 12B illustrates how, according to an embodiment, the reinforcement ribs prevent the cover element from tilting completely out of the sewer relief system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
-
In the figures, identical reference numbers indicate identical or similar elements.
-
Figure 1 schematically illustrates how a sewer relief system 2 disclosed herein may be installed to prevent sewage liquids 4 from flowing out of for example a toilet 8 that is present in a house 6 when the pressure in the sewer system 14 becomes too high.
-
For example, if it is raining very hard for a long time, the sewage liquid 4 in the sewer system 14 end up flowing back in the direction of arrow through pipe 12 that connects the house 6 to the sewer system 14. However, since the relief opening of the sewer relief system sits at ground level 10, which is lower than toilet 8, the sewage liquids 4 are discharged through the relief opening of sewer relief system 2 rather than discharged through the toilet 8 which would be highly undesired.
-
The sewer relief system 2 disclosed herein, as explained in the Summary section, can have a relatively small height H. Preferably, the depth D of the sewer system 14, in particular of the pipe 12 of sewer system 14 to which the sewer relief system 2 is to be connected, is larger than the height H of the sewer relief system so that the sewer relief system 2 does not need to extend above ground level 10. As a side note, it should be prevented at all times that floater element 24 extends into pipe 12 as this may cause clogging of pipe 12. Thus, a small height H is advantageous as it allows to connect the sewer relief system 2 to sewer pipe 12 even if distance D is small, i.e. even if pipe 12 is positioned relatively close to ground level.
-
Figure 2A illustrates a sewer relief system 2 according to an embodiment, while figure 2B shows the cross section along line A-A shown in figure 2A. The sewer relief system 2 comprises a housing 15 that defines a chamber 16. Preferably, the housing essentially consists of polypropylene, which improves the recyclability of the housing 15. The housing 15 would typically be roughly shaped as a cylinder having circular base and/or at least part of the housing 15 would typically be shaped as a cylinder having a circular base. The chamber 16 comprises, at a bottom part of the chamber, a connection opening 18 for connecting the chamber to a sewer system 14. At a top part of the chamber, the chamber 16 comprises a relief opening 20 for discharging water from the chamber 16. In figures 2A and 2B, a cover element 22, which will be described in more detail below, covers the relief opening 20. The sewer relief system 2 further comprises a floater element 24 at least part of which is positioned in the chamber 16. In the depicted embodiment, the floater element 24 comprises a hollow element 32 and a hook element 34, in this case an eye. The hook element 34 is advantageous as it eases taking out the floater element 24 from the chamber 16 for maintenance, for example. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the hollow element 32 substantially forms the floater element 24. However, in principle, any element that is connected to the hollow element 32 and moves with the hollow element 32 may be understood as part of the floater element 24. The floater element for example essentially consists of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).
-
In the embodiment depicted in the figures, the floater element 24 also comprises a plurality of spacers 36a, 36b, 36c (36c is not visible in figure 2B) that will be described in more detail below.
-
The floater element 24 is configured to move relative to the chamber 16 back and forth between an odor sealing position and a sewer relief position, which is illustrated by figures 3A and 3B. Figure 3A shows a cross section of the sewer relief position in which the floater element 24 sits in the odor sealing position. In this odor sealing position, the floater element 24 forms an airtight connection 26 which will be described in more detail below. This airtight connection 26 prevents odors from the sewer system 14 from escaping through the relief opening. In the depicted embodiment, odors from the sewer system may have reached sub-chamber 28 of chamber 16. However, the airtight connection 26 prevents odors from travelling from sub-chamber 28 to sub-chamber 30 of chamber 16 herewith preventing odors from exiting the sewer relief system 2 via the relief opening 20. As can be seen in figure 3A, the floater element 24 does not, or only to a limited degree, extend below the airtight connection 26 when it is in the odor sealing position depicted in figure 3A.
-
In the depicted embodiment, if the sewage liquids 4 rise, they will push the floater element 24 upwards. In the depicted embodiment, the floater element 24 will move relative to chamber 16 upwards over a distance d until it is stopped by cover element 22 and reaches the sewer relief position. Thus, the floater element 24 does not extend through the relief opening 20 to outside of the chamber 16 when in the sewer relief position. In the sewer relief position as shows in figure 3B, the floater element 24 allows passage of sewage liquids through the relief opening 20 as indicated by the thick arrow. In this way, sewage liquids are discharged from the sewer relief system and thus from the sewer system 4.
-
Figure 4A shows the same cross-section as figure 2B. Box 38 is shown enlarged in figure 4B. The embodiment of the sewer relief system depicted in the figures comprises a sealing ring 40 that is provided in the chamber for forming the airtight connection between the floater element 24 and an inner surface 44 of the chamber 16 defined by housing 15. The sealing ring 40 is for example made out of a rubber material, such as SEBS rubber. In the depicted embodiment, the sealing ring is attached to the inner surface 44 of the chamber 16 so that it is fixed relative to the chamber 16 and does not move with the floater element 24. In figure 4B, it is clearly visible that the sealing ring 40 is engaged with and/or makes a form-fit connection with a protrusion element 42 of inner surface 44. In the depicted embodiment, the protrusion element 42 is a circular rim.
-
The floater element 24 forms the airtight connection 26 along a closed curve. In the depicted example the floater element 24 forms the airtight connection 26 along the circle where the sealing ring 40 and the floater element 24 contact with each other. As such, the airtight connection defines a mathematical cylindrical surface consisting of all points on all lines that pass through the circle and are parallel to the vertical direction. In figure 4A, dashed lines 46a and 46b indicate the position of the mathematical cylindrical surface in this cross section. As can be seen in figure 4A, along height h does the floater element 24 has a horizontal cross section that extends through the mathematical cylindrical surface indicated by lines 46a and 46b. Preferably, h / HF >= 60%, wherein HF indicates the height of the floater element. More preferably h / HF >= 70%. In the depicted embodiment h / HF ≈ 83%. If the floater element 24 is wider than the airtight connection along a significant part of its height, then the floater element 24 will have a relatively high buoyancy versus total height ratio, which aids to keep the height of the floater element 24 relatively small.
-
Figure 5A is a side view of the sealing ring while figure 5B shows the sealing ring 40 in perspective view. As can be seen, the sealing ring 40 has a sloped surface 48 for guiding the floater element 24 to the appropriate odor sealing position. The sloped surface 48 also functions to form the airtight connection even if the floater element 24 is slightly tilted.
-
Figure 6 shows two perspective view of the floater element 24 that is also shown in figures 2, 3 and 4.
-
Figure 7 shows a top view (top), front view (middle), bottom view (bottom), left-side view (left), and right-side view (right) of the floater element 24 of figure 6.
-
As can be seen in the front view, for example, each of the one or more spacers has a height 54 that is at least 35% of the floater element's height HF. A significant height of the spacers renders them quite effective for keeping the floater element 24 in a correct orientation in which forms the airtight connection when it reaches the odor sealing position.
-
The depicted floater element 24 comprises a plurality of spacers 36a, 36b, 36c. As clearly visible in figure 8, which shows a horizontal cross section along line B-B indicated in figure 2A, the spacers 36a, 36b, 36c maintain a number of gaps 50a, 50b, 50cm between the inner surface 44 of the chamber 16 (and thus of housing 15) and an outer surface 52 of the floater element 24 for allowing passage of the sewage liquids when the floater element 24 is in the sewer relief position.
-
In the embodiment of figure 8, there is a small space between each protrusion and inner surface 44. Of course, the smaller this space is, the less room the floater element 24 will have to tilt. Preferably, the spacers 36a, 36b, 36c slidably engage the inner surface 44 of the chamber 16.
-
Figure 9 shows a top perspective view (left) and bottom perspective view (right) of a cover element 22 according to an embodiment. The cover element 22 is configured to cover the relief opening as for example shown in figure 2A. It comprises a plurality of openings, in this case 16 openings (only openings 56a, 56b, 56c are indicated) for allowing water to pass through the cover element 22. Further, in the depicted embodiment, the cover element comprises a plurality reinforcement ribs, in this case 8 straight reinforcement ribs ((only ribs 58a, 58b, 58c are indicated), and once circular reinforcement rib 60. The straight reinforcement ribs radially extend from the circular reinforcement rib. In the depicted embodiment, each reinforcement rib is a raised section that runs along a bottom surface 62 of the cover element 22.
-
Figure 10 shows a front view (top left), top view (bottom left), and bottom view (bottom right) of the cover element 22 that is shown in figure 9.
-
Figure 11 is a bottom perspective view showing how the cover element 22 covers the relief opening of housing 15. The reinforcement ribs sit closely to the inner surface 44 of the chamber. This is beneficial as illustrates by figures 12A and 12B. In figure 12A, the cover element 22 lies horizontally while covering the relief opening of housing 15. In particular, the cover element 22 rests on a shoulder 70 that is provided in housing 15. Further, preferably, cylindrical surface 68 clamps the cover element 22 to some extent to fixate the cover element 22 to some extent. Note that housing 15 does not extend over the cover element 22. This has been found disadvantageous as this may bring the risk of damaging the housing, in particular the part that would sit above the cover element 22, when the cover element 22 is taken out.
-
The cover element 22 may comprise, e.g. essentially consist of, stainless steel, which renders the cover element 22 very durable.
-
However, in figure 12B, the cover element is sucked by a tire (not shown) that passes over the cover element 22 which causes the cover element 22 to tilt. Because the reinforcement rib 58 sits close to the inner surface 44 of the housing 15, when the cover element 22 is tilting, the reinforcement rib 58 meets the inner surface 44, namely at position 64, at some point, as a result of which the cover element 22 cannot tilt completely out of the sewer relief system. Hence, the reinforcement ribs as shown in the figures not only provide strength and rigidity herewith allowing for relatively large openings, the reinforcement ribs also function to keep the cover element 22 in place.