GB2166049A - Shower apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A shower apparatus arranged when required to produce a pulsating flow of water from the showerhead, comprises a cold water inlet 11 which is connected to a pair of inlet valves 12 and 13. The valve 12 is arranged to remain open both when the apparatus provides a pulsating flow of water and when it provides a substantially constant rate of flow of water whereas the valve 13 only remains open when the apparatus is producing a constant rate of flow of water, said valve 13 being arranged to open and close in succession when the apparatus is set in a pulsating mode of operation. The valves 12 and 13 have outlets which are connected to a heat exchanger (17) for heating water which subsequently passes to the showerhead and there is also provided a third valve 23 which is conveniently controlled by means of a solenoid and which is arranged to be open when the shower apparatus is in its pulsating mode and thereby maintain the total volume of water flow and therefore the temperature thereof, said valve 23 being closed when the shower is set to produce a constant rate of flow of water. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Shower apparatus This invention relates to a personal shower apparatus which is especially intended for domestic use. Hitherto, most of such shower units have operated on the basis of supplying water at a predetermined temperature and at a rate of flow which is adjustable but which, when set, is more or less constant. Thus the rate of flow might be adjusted by a tap operating simply as a flow control valve or it might be adjusted by means of a control which effectively also adjusts the temperature of the dishcharged water by varying the amount of inflowing cold water which passes over a heating element so that for example a slight reduction in the flow rate of the inflowing cold water will result in an accompanying rise in temperature of the discharged water.In the latter case therefore the rate of flow of discharged water will depend on the temperature selected but thereafter said rate of flow will be substantially constant until it is desired to alter said temperature.

There is however a market for a kind of shower unit which is capable of providing a pulsating (high/low pressure) flow and such units are in fact available although they do tend to be somewhat expesnive to manufacture and instal and they are not altogether simple to operate. One object of the present invention is therefore to provide a relatively simple (and therefore relatively inexpensive) shower unit which is capable of being operated in either a pulsed manner or in a steady, constant flow manner.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a shower apparatus which comprises a cold water inlet which is connected to a pair of inlet valves, namely a first valve which is arranged to remain open in both a pulsating mode of operation of the shower apparatus and in a mode which provides a substantially constant rate of flow, and a second valve which is arranged also to remain open in said constant rate of flow mode but which is arranged to open and close in succession in said pulsating mode, said valves having outlets which are connected to the heat exchanger of a heater unit whereby water flowing through said heat exchanger will be heated when the heater unit is energised before passing on to and through a shower outlet, there being also provided a third valve having an inlet which in use is also connected to a supply of cold water and an outlet which is connected to said shower outlet, said third valve being arranged to be open when the shower is set in the pulsating mode and closed when the shower is set in the constant flow mode.

The aforesaid third valve may be manually operable but is conveniently electrically operated as by means of a solenoid. The first and second valves are also preferably operated respectively by a pair of solenoids, the second valve solenoid acting to switch the second valve on and off in succession when the shower apparatus is in its pulsating mode. If desired, the rate of such switching may be arranged to be adjustable by the shower user so as to vary the pulse rate in the pulsating mode. Conveniently, the aforesaid cold water supply for the third valve is taken from the downstream side of said first valve and preferably water flowing in use through said third valve is arranged to pass through said heat exchanger as well.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a somewhat diagrammatic view of one form of shower apparatus in accordance with the invention.

Referring now to the drawing there is shown therein a shower apparatus which includes a casing or housing 10 within which various components are located and which would be mounted in use on a wall or other support in a shower cabinet or above a domestic bath.

At the lower end of said housing or casing 10 there is provided an inlet connection 11 which in use would be connected to a pressurised cold water supply, said inlet 11 serving to feed each of two valves namely a first valve 12 and a second valve 13 which are each conveniently electrically operated as by means of a suitable solenoid. From the outlet 14 of said first valve 12 a connection is made to a flow control device 15 which incorporates a user operable knob and which combines in effect a stabiliser and a regulator, the stabiliser being a preset member which permits a user-determined volume of flow of water from said first valve 12 and the reguiator being controllable by rotation of the aforesaid knob so as to permit a degree of "fine tuning" by the user in order to adjust the temperature of the water issuing from the shower head.Said flow control device 15 is however of a conventional form. From said flow control device a connection 16 leads into the interior of a water heater 17 in which are mounted two electrically energised heating elements 18 and 19 which are controlled by a thermostat 20 and a pressure switch 26.

The second valve referred to above namely valve 13 receives a cold water supply from the inlet 11 as previously mentioned and its outlet 21 is connected by a pipe 22 to the aforesaid heater 17 so that when said valve 13 is open water can flow through it directly into the heater 17. Conveniently said pipe 22 also contains a preset regulator for governing the flow of water through the valve 13.

There is also provided a third valve 23 which is also conveniently operated by an electric solenoid and which is connected to a cold water supply by means of a connecting pipe 24 which is conveniently connected to the outlet side of the valve 12. The outlet 25 from said third valve 23 also contains a regulator and extends upwardly so as also to enter at its upper end into the aforesaid heater 17.

There is also provided user operable controls which include an on/off switch and heat selector swich 26 connected to heater 17, and a pulse control switch (not shown). Thus either one or both of said heating elements 18 and 19 can be energised as required to give either a relatively low or relatively high level of heat input.

In use and if a pulsing operation is not required then the control 26 is operated in order to activate the solenoids controlling said valves 12 and 13 in order to open both of said valves so that a continuous and relatively constant flow of water will pass into the heater 17 from the outlets of said valves 12 and 13. Said heater 17 is provided with an outlet 27 which leads to an outlet connection 28 which in use will be connected to any conventional instantaneous shower head fitting (not shown). As previously mentioned, after the level of heat input has been selected for the heat 17, a fine tuning may be accomplished by utilising the flow control device 15 in order to vary slightly the volume of water passing through the heater, thereby affecting the temperature of the water passing from the heater outlet.Once this temperature has been set however the flow of water through the shower apparatus is, as mentioned above, relatively constant.

If however it is desired to produce a pulsating action then the pulse control switch is operated so that the solenoid controlling the valve 13 is set into a switching mode which in effect will produce opening and closing of said valve 13 in succession, thereby producing a pulsating action in the heater water issuing from the outlet connection 28. However, the effect of using an on/off mode of operation so far as the valve 13 is concerned would be to reduce the total amount of water flowing through the unit in a given time, thereby affecting the temperature of the outlet water, and accordingly, to avoid this disadvantage, the third valve 23 is brought into operation by the opening of its controlling solenoid when the solenoid controlling the valve 13 is put into the pulsating mode. Cold water then taken via the connection 24 will be able to pass through the third valve 23 and thence through its outlet 25 and into the heater device 17 in order to restore the total volume of water flowing through the heater. The temperature of the outlet water will therefore remain substantially constant without having to effect a major adjustment on the flow control device 15.

The housing or casing 10 can also conveniently include an electronic circuit board 29 which is utilised to connect all the electrical components necessary to create the pulsating effect. Furthermore, if desired the pulsating action of the solenoid controlling the second valve 13 may be arranged to provide a substantially constant rate of pulsating or alternatively the arrangement may be such that it is possible, by means of a suitable control, to adjust the rate of pulsing as required by the user.

Claims (7)

1. A shower apparatus which comprises a cold water inlet which is connected to a pair of inlet valves, namely a first valve which is arranged to remain open in both a pulsating mode of operation of the shower apparatus and in a mode which provides a substantially constant rate of flow, and a second valve which is arranged also to remain open in said constant rate of flow ,mode but which is arranged to open and close in succession in said pulsating mode, said valves having outlets which are connected to the heat exchanger of a heater unit whereby water flowing through said heat exchanger will be heated when the heater unit is energised before passing on to and through a shower outlet, there being also provided a third valve having an inlet which in use is also connected to a supply of cold water and an outlet which is connected to said shower outlet, said third valve being arranged to be open when the shower is set in the pulsating mode and closed when the shower is set in the constant flow mode.

2. A shower apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the first, second and third valves are all respectively electrically operated.

3. A shower apparatus as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the second valve is operated by means of a solenoid which is arranged to switch said second valve on and off in succession when the apparatus is operating in its pulsating mode.

4. A shower apparatus as claimed in Claim 3 wherein rate of said switching of the second valve is adjustable by the shower user for the purpose of varying the pulse rate in the pulsating mode.

5. A shower apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the cold water supply for the third valve is taken from the downstream side of the first valve.

6. A shower apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the outlet from the third valve is connected to said heat exchanger.

7. A shower apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.