GB2336604A

GB2336604A - Toilet ventilation assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2336604A
Application number: GB9808376A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Khodayar Rashidi
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-04-22
Filing date: 1998-04-22
Publication date: 1999-10-27
Also published as: GB9808376D0

Abstract

A toilet ventilation assembly comprises a toilet seat (21) provided with apertures (1), ducting (2) and skirting (31) attached via a hollow hinge means (3) to a toilet bowl. Odours in the bowl are extracted via said seat and hinge by means of a fan or other extracting means mounted externally of said toilet or in the toilet cover/lid.

Description

INTEGRATED WATER CLOSET BOWL-SEATING AND FUME EXTRACTION SYSTEM This invention relates to a water closet bowl-seating arrangement and the covering lid, incorporating a fume extraction system. Some bathrooms and water closets have an extraction fan installed into the wall or a window for the purpose of ventilation and removal of damp air and/or unpleasant odour from human discharge. This method of removing unpleasant odours is most inefficient, due to the fact that the air in the room becomes contaminated first, before it is removed by the fan. This means that foul air can linger on for a considerable amount of time after flushing the waste. Sometimes a perfumed spray is used to dilute the offensive odour, but this can make matters worse, especially for people with breathing problems, such as asthma, etc. The installation of an extraction fan in the wall, windows or even in the cistern as part of the water siphoning device for flushing the waste, can also be an expensive process. The installation of an electric fan in the water siphon device can be dangerous and subject to corrosion. Most bathrooms and toilets have windows that can be opened in order to ventilate the room, but have the disadvantage that it can cause discomfort to the young and elderly person, especially in winter conditions and it would not ventilate the room quickly and efficiently. The object of this invention is to provide means for efficiently and quietly ventilating the toilet closet by a very simple and direct replacement of the existing seating arrangement of the toilet bowl by using a relatively low flow rate (low voltage) fan incorporated in the toilet bowl covering lid or alternatively the fan can be mounted externally (to a nearby wall for instance) but using the special seating rim described in this invention with ducting in such a manner that offensive odours generated from human discharge in the bowl can be expelled via the over-flow pipe to the outside of the room without permeating into the room. According to the present invention there is provided a fume extraction fan (low voltage) incorporated in the cover lid part of the toilet seating arrangement or alternatively the extraction fan mounted externally, but connected via a flexible pipe to the seating rim that is normally placed upon the ceramic bowl to sit upon. A special ducting arrangement is provided via the pivoting hinge joint to the seating rim. The seating rim has special ducting arrangements underneath the seating face to extract foul odours evenly from all around the rim of the toilet bowl directly. A pressure sensitive switch incorporated in the seating rim and in conjunction with a tilt switch in the cover lid part of the seating arrangement and using a timer will allow a controller to operate the extraction fan automatically. Alternately the extraction fan can be mounted on the nearby wall and connected via a flexible pipe to the toilet seat rim, thus extracting the offensive gases from human discharge directly from the toilet bowl. The offensive gases are then expelled through the external section of cistern overflow pipe, using a special vessel or a T-piece with water trap or by drilling and installing a small hole in the nearby wall or window. A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: - Figure 1 shows side elevation of the seating rim part as a section A-A shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows bottom view of the seating rim with holes and ducting channels inside the rim section. Figure 3 shows side elevation of the lid arrangement with extraction fan and ducting incorporated to extract and expel foul air. Figure Z shows bottom view of the lid arrangement. Figure 3a shows side elevation of an alternative arrangement for the top lid, when extraction fan is fitted externally. Figure 4a shows the bottom view of Figure 3a. Figure 5 shows top view of the fixing post that allows the rim and the lid to be attached to the toilet bowl. Figure 6 shows the side elevation of Figure 5. Figure 7 shows the stop plug screw. Figure 8 shows the detachable exhaust connection piece. Figure 9 shows the hinge insert. Figure 10 shows a vessel with oil and water trap in order to prevent offensive gases escaping into the cistern and subsequently into the room. Figure 11 shows one possible arrangement of the toilet seat with fan incorporated in the lid that is mounted on the toilet bowl, with air extraction pipe connected to over-flow pipe of the cistern reservoir using a T-piece . Figure 12 shows an alternative arrangement to that shown in Figure 11, whereby the extraction fan is mounted externally to the seating arrangement. Figure 13 Shows schematically the path for electrical connections to sensors, control unit and the fan motor without exposure of any wiring (Except the low voltage power feed wire). Referring to Figure 1 and 2 a toilet rim 21 is provided with air inlet holes 1 underneath the seating face leading to channels 2 running along the inside section of the rim that joins the hinge post 3. Figure 3 and 4 shows the lid arrangement, whereby exhaust gases are drawn through holes in the hinge post 3 which is channelled through holes in hinge post 4 and subsequently through ducting 5 into the centrifugal extracting fan 6 and expelled through ducting 7 and passed through aperture hole 8 that has both left and right hand opening. Electrical connection 10 to controller 9 is fed through aperture hole 8, on either left or right hand side (as per convenient requirement) and exhaust gases are discharged through the opposite aperture opening using connection piece 11 shown in Figure 8. Alternatively a simple lid 12 as shown in Figure 3a and 4a, is used to channel exhaust gases from hinge post 3 through hinge post 13 and aperture 14 of fixed post 15 as shown in Figure 5 and 6. One of the aperture opening end 14 of simple lid and seat arrangement is blocked by screw plug 16 shown in Figure 7 and exhaust gases are expelled through connection piece 11 shown in Figure 8 that is screwed into aperture 14. The fixed post 15 is secured to the toilet bowl basin by metal or plastic screw rods 17 and nuts 23 driven into slotted and hollow hinge pin 18 shown in Figure 9. Slotted hollow hinge pin 18 has orthogonal aperture opening 19 and 20 in order to allow exhaust gases to pass through from the seating rim 21 into the extraction fan arrangement in the lid part 22. A small slot 24 in the slotted hollow hinge pin allows the sensor wire 31 mounted in the seating rim as shown in Figure 13 to be passed through aperture 19 and 20 as shown in Figure 9 to the electronic controller 9 mounted in the inside section of cover lid 22. If an alternative arrangement using the simple lid 12 is used, then aperture 20 becomes redundant and exhaust gases are channelled through holes 19 and 14 through to the connection piece 11. The exhaust gases are then passed through a T-piece 32 and using a water trap, either in the form of a U-tube 25 shown in Figure 11 or a device such as that shown in Figure 10, whereby the external part of the over-flow is fed into tube 26 immersed under water 27 and a small quantity of oil 28 in order to prevent evaporation. In the unlikely event of the cistern over-flowing, the water is passed through pipe 29 to the outside wall. Resting pads 30 as shown in Figure 11 and 1 provides a gap between the ceramic bowl and the seating rim in order to facilitate passage of air from underneath the rim 21 that has continuous skirting 31 on the outside part to channel air flow from the bowl into ducting 1 and 2. Alternative arrangement using a simple lid and an external fan 33 is shown in Figure 12. A transformer 34 converts the high mains voltage to a safe value and connected to lid 22 by cable 35 through aperture 8 shown in Figure 3 and subsequently connected to controller 9 shown in Figure 13. From controller 9, wire 36 is connected to motor and fan 6 incorporated in the cover lid.

Claims

1. A fume extraction system incorporated in the seating and cover-lid arrangements of water closet bowl, comprising a seating rim with extraction holes, channels, ducting and skirting in order to directly remove offensive odours/gases produced by discharge of human waste in the water closet bowl that is passed through aperture opening in the hollow hinge joints mechanism and extracted by means of centrifugal fan (low voltage) or other air extracting means either mounted in the cover-lid section or externally to it which is subsequently exhausted to outside atmosphere through connection to the external portion of cistern over-flow pipe via a water and oil trap.

2. A water closet seating rim as claimed in Claim 1 wherein holes, channel and ducting are provided to directly remove offensive odours from the water closet bowl before it can permeates into the room.

3. A water closet seating rim as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 2 wherein the rim is provided with skirting arrangement in order to confine the passage of offensive odours from the water closet bowl into ducting channels provided in the seating rim.

4. A hollow hinge joint mechanism as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the hinge joint between the ducting seating rim and the cover-lid section of water closet bowl is provided with aperture opening in order to facilitate passage of air.

5. A water closet bowl covering lid as claimed in Claim 1 wherein air extraction fan is incorporated for the purpose of removing foul odours from the toilet bowl.

6. A fume extraction system as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 5 and any preceding claims wherein offensive odours from water closet bowl are removed by means of ducting air though the seating rim, the hinge joint mechanism and the covering lid part of water closet bowl by means of extraction fan incorporated in the said cover-lid section.

7. A fume extraction system as claimed in any preceding claims wherein air extraction fan connected by means of flexibly coupling pipe to hollow hinge joint mechanism of the seating rim and covering lid part of water closet bowl that removes offensive odours directly from the water closet bowl.

9. A fume extraction system as claimed in any preceding claims wherein offensive gases from water closet bowl are discharged to outside atmosphere through the external portion of the cistern over-flow pipe.

10. A water and oil trap device as claimed in Claim 1 and Claim 7 wherein the discharge gases are exhausted through it to the outside atmosphere by making use of the external portion of cistern over-flow piping.

11. A fume extraction system as claimed in any preceding claims wherein, sensors and electronic controllers are provided in the seating rim and cover lid section in order to start the extraction fan automatically and prevent it's false starting.

12. A fume extraction system as claimed in claim 11 and any preceding claims wherein sensors are provided in the seating rim and cover lid part of the water closet bowl such that pressure has to be exerted on the seating rim and that the lid be in the upright position for the extraction fan to operate.

13. A fume extraction system substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1-13 and Figures 3a and 4a of accompanying drawings.