JPH0474978B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a droplet device suitable for use in automatic watering of garden trees, flowerbed flowers, potted flowers, fertilizer supply, etc.

This invention can also be used for automatic watering and nutrient solution replenishment in hydroponic cultivation, automatic watering of farmland, and nutrient solution replenishment, and can also be used as a humidifier and a water supply device for the humidifier. Further, the present invention is extremely suitable for use as a cooling device for sprinkling water outdoors in summer, or as a device for injecting chemical liquid into a tank or the like.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, most of the watering and fertilizing of ornamental plants at home has been done manually using a watering can or hose, or automatically using a combination of sprinklers, timers, and solenoid valves.

For garden trees, flowerbeds, farmland, etc., there is a watering method in which PVC pipes or hoses are routed from the water supply and small holes are drilled at the plants, but if the pipes are long or there are many plants, the amount of water will be low near the water source. There is too much water coming out, and the water stops coming out in far away areas.

In addition, piping is troublesome and indoors, the piping spoils the aesthetic appearance.

Furthermore, in order to continuously water a small amount of water, it is necessary to make the trifice very small or to squeeze it with a needle valve, but even with this, the amount of water is too much for potted flowers, and it is impossible to adjust the very small amount of water. It was difficult.

Another problem was that it was easily clogged with dirt.

It should be noted that since micro-volume pumps and regulating valves are very expensive, there are no examples of them being put to practical use for the above purpose.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) This invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and eliminates the need for expensive electrical appliances such as timers, solenoid valves, and pumps, as well as expensive pressure reducing valves and minute adjustment valves. First, we provide a small, low-cost droplet device that can maintain an almost constant, extremely small flow rate despite a wide range of fluid pressure fluctuations from 0.1 to 5 kg/cm ² by simply connecting it directly to a water supply or tank. Its purpose is to.

(Means and effects for solving the problem) The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and a small hole is provided at the bottom of a cylindrical case having a U-shaped cross section with an open top. Screw the flanged cylindrical one-touch joint that connects to the water supply tube into the opening from above, insert the flanged pin into the small hole, screw the adjustment screw member into the tip of the flanged pin with the threaded part of the pin, and screw the flanged pin into the small hole. An elastic body is interposed between the collar of the pin and the bottom of the case, a minute gap is provided between the outer periphery of the elastic body and the inner surface of the case, and a gap is formed between the threaded part of the pin and the small hole. By creating a structure in which one side of the elastic body receives water pressure and the other side is released to the atmosphere, the minute gap between the case and the elastic body is proportionally deformed by the water pressure applied to the elastic body. Because it has a shape that becomes smaller, it can drip a large amount of water at a constant amount regardless of water pressure.

Manual adjustment is also possible by manually tightening this elastic body using a screw or the like.

Therefore, it can be manufactured using inexpensive materials.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The figure shows a case in which potted flowers are watered, and FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment in which a water storage tank 1 is used to automatically water some potted flowers.

Note that it is also possible to directly connect the nylon tube 2 with an outer diameter of about 4 mm to a water faucet.

FIG. 2 is an external view of the unit, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the unit. A one-touch joint 3 that can connect the tube 2 with one touch, a case 4, an adjustment screw member 7 that manually adjusts the amount of water dripping, an elastic body 9 inside the case, a pin 8 that holds down the elastic body 9, and an installation rod 5.
Consists of a combination of

As is clear from FIGS. 2 and 3, the case 4 has a U-shaped cross section and is open at the top. A small hole 11 is provided at the bottom of the case 4, and the water supply tube 2 is connected to the upper opening of the case 4. A cylindrical one-touch case 3 with a flange to be connected is screwed together from above.

Then, the flanged pin 8 is inserted into the small hole 11, and the adjusting screw member 7 is screwed onto the tip of the flanged pin 8 with the screw part ₈₁ provided on the small diameter side of the pin 8, and the flanged pin ₈ of the pin 8 and the case ₄₁ are screwed together.
An elastic body 9 is interposed between them.

A minute gap 11 is provided between the outer periphery of the elastic body 9 and the inner surface of the case 4, and a gap 12 is formed between the threaded portion ₈₁ of the pin 8 and the small hole 11.

In this way, one side (upper side in FIG. 3) of the elastic body 9 receives the water pressure P, and the other side (lower side) is exposed to the atmosphere.

The operation and principle of this unit will be explained below with reference to sectional views.

The water now supplied by the push-in joint 3 applies pressure to the pin 8 on the upper part of the elastic body, and at the same time passes through the minute gap 10 between the outer periphery of the elastic body 9 and the inner surface of the case 4, and enters the gap between the pin screw part 8 ₁ and the small hole 11. A fixed amount of water is dripped from the gap 12 to the outside via the play 13 of the water volume adjustment screw member 7. The force with which the elastic body 9 is pushed downward is the product of the cross-sectional area of the pin exposed to the atmosphere and the water pressure.

If the elastic body is made of general silicone rubber, it is possible to deform the elastic body to about 0 to 0.5 mm when subjected to a load of several hundred grams.

Normally, the amount of dripping increases as the water pressure increases, but in the case of the structure shown in Figure 3a, if the water pressure increases, the amount of dripping will increase as shown in Figure 3B.
As shown, the elastic body 9 deforms and the gap becomes smaller, so if the elastic force and shape of the elastic body are determined so that the area of the gap and the amount of displacement of the elastic body are proportional to the water pressure so that the amount of water is constant. good.

If you want to change the amount of dripping, just turn the adjustment screw to forcibly deform the elastic body.

Note that if the diameter of the case is about 10 mm, the inner diameter can be made about 8 mm, so the cross-sectional area released to the atmosphere can be set to a few ^mm2 , and a force of several hundred grams can be applied to an elastic body with a water pressure of several kg/ ^cm2 . As a result of experiments, it was confirmed that the elastic body can be made of ordinary rubber because it can be added to rubber.

The water pressure normally used is wide ranging from 0.1 to 5 Kg/ ^cm2 , and the drip volume is very small at several cc/min. It is only necessary to control the gap between the inner surface of the case and the outer circumference of the elastic body, which is several centimeters long, making it easy to manufacture.

In addition, the connection between the tube and the case of a micro-water dripping device has recently been widely used in pneumatic and hydraulic equipment, and if you use a commercially available small one-touch joint, the connection can be made by simply pushing it in without using any tools. Since it can be easily cut with a similar tool, it can not only be installed freely even if the distance between plants varies, but also can be easily changed and manufactured using inexpensive materials.

(Effects of the Invention) This invention is as described above, and can drip a large amount of almost constant amount of water regardless of the water pressure.
It is possible to provide a droplet device having a simple configuration that allows manual adjustment, easy piping, and does not spoil the aesthetic appearance. Therefore, for many applications where stable supply of small amounts of liquid conventionally required extremely high costs, the component configuration is simple, does not require much precision for individual parts, and can be manufactured in an ultra-small size and at low cost. Therefore, it is very practical.

It is natural to pay a considerable amount of money if there is a need to supply ultra-high precision, ultra-small amounts of liquid, and fully automatically, but in general, such applications are extremely rare. Conceivable.

However, although a certain degree of accuracy is required, as well as stability and reliability, there are likely to be many markets where semi-automatic, if not fully automatic, is sufficient.

If this invention is good, it can be supplied particularly to these markets at a very low cost. For example, the present invention is effective not only for plants but also for humidifiers, but humidifiers require relatively expensive water storage tanks and water supply devices, and also require a humidifying element.

In such cases, the present invention eliminates the need for a humidifying element, or only requires a combination of very inexpensive paper and water supply polymers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows one embodiment of the present invention, and schematically shows a side view of the external appearance in the installed state when water is supplied to potted flowers using a water tank, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the external appearance of a single unit. FIG. 3 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a single body, where a shows the state when the supplied water pressure is 0, and b shows the state where the water pressure is applied and the elastic body is deformed. 1... Water tank, 2... Water supply tube, 3... Push-in joint, 4... Case, 5... Installation rod, 6
... Potted flower, 7 ... Water volume adjustment screw, 8 ... Pin, 9
...Elastic body.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A small hole 11 is provided in the bottom part 4 ₁ of a cylindrical case 4 having a U-shaped cross section with an open top, and a flanged cylindrical joint 3 connected to the water supply tube 2 is connected upward to the upper opening of the case 4. The flanged pin 8 is inserted into the small hole 11, and the adjusting screw member 7 is screwed onto the tip of the pin 8 with the threaded portion ₈₁ of the pin 8, so that the flange ₈₂ of the pin 8 and the case bottom ₄₁ are screwed together. An elastic body 9 is interposed in the
There is a small gap 10 between the outer circumference of the elastic body 9 and the inner surface of the case 4.
At the same time, the threaded part ₈₁ of the pin 8 and the small hole 11
A droplet device in which a gap 12 is formed between the droplet device and the droplet device.