MXPA99011152A - Multiple discharge water faucet with self-contained filter - Google Patents

Abstract

A faucet with multiple water discharges includes a housing, an input water connecton for said housing, an unfiltered water discharge and a filtered water discharge. There is a water filter within the housing and a valve within the housing which is connected to each water discharge. There is an unfiltered water flow path from the input water connection to the valve and a filtered water flow path from the input water connection, through the filter, to the valve. A manual control element, accessible from the exterior of the housing, operates the valve to direct filtered water to the filtered water discharge and unfiltered water to the unfiltered water discharge. There is an electrical circuit positioned within the housing. The circuit includes a display and the circuit is responsive to operation of the manual control to cause the circuit to operatethe display only during the discharge of filtered water.

Description

MULTIPLE DISCHARGE WATER FAUCET WITH INTEGRATED FILTER DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to taps having an integrated water filter. Although the invention will be described in connection with faucets of the type commonly found in a kitchen environment, and which have multiple water discharges, it has a wider application. The tap can have an elongated nozzle with a jet discharge and a filtered water discharge. The invention can be applied in the same way to a tap rod which can be removed from the base and can be directed towards any portion of the sink. The tap includes a filter to provide filtered water for the discharge of filtered water. The filter can be formed of carbon granules and is positioned within the tap housing and forms a portion of the path and backflow of water from an inlet hose connection to the multiple water discharges described. The faucet includes a reliable valve element constructed in a simple movable manner in response to a manual control accessible from outside the faucet. The movable manual control can be tightened by spring to a position in which it normally closes the filtered water flow path. The manual control operation moves the valve element to a position in which it opens the filtered water flow path and closes the unfiltered water flow path. The valve element will remain in this position, due to the water pressure, until the water is closed and the valve element returns by means of the spring to the normal position. The tap includes a visual reading indicator of the condition of the filter and can only be operated when the water flows through the filtered water discharge. The indicator includes two iodine emitting light, each of different color. Either one of the light diodes can be operated by the electrical circuit that is part of the tap, or both diodes that emit light can be simultaneously operated, with the result that the indicator provides a reading of three different colors that indicate the condition of the filter and the need to replace the filter. This is a continuation in part of the application Serial No. 08 / 761,351, filed on July 27, 1998, which is a continuation of the application Serial No. 08 / 761,351 filed on December 6, 1996. The present invention relates to taps that are used in a kitchen environment and particularly with taps which provide both a discharge of filtered water and a discharge of unfiltered water.

A primary purpose of the invention is a tap as described, which has an integrated water filter and an indicator to indicate the condition of the filter. Another purpose is a tap as described, in which the indicator includes a pair of diodes that emit light, each of different color, and related circuit elements capable of displaying either or both of the LEDs to provide three different indications of filter condition. Another purpose is a faucet as described, which includes a reliable control valve constructed in a simple manner, which functions to direct the water to either the filtered water discharge or the unfiltered water discharge. Another purpose is a faucet as described, in which the control valve includes a valve element, which will close the unfiltered water flow path in response to a manual control button and will remain in such a closed position until the water be closed. Another purpose of the invention is to provide a faucet having both a filtered water discharge and an unfiltered water discharge and an integrated water filter, with the filtered water flow path being on the outside of the filter and the path of the filter. flow of filtered water being inside the water filter.

Another purpose of the invention is a tap as described, which will not work as designed unless the filter is properly installed. Another purpose of the invention is a filter for the described use, which includes a plug that normally closes a part of the unfiltered water flow path. Other purposes will appear in the following specification, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the following drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the nozzle assembly, in partial section; Figure 2 is an elongated vertical section of the nozzle head assembly; Figure 3 is an elongated section of the head valve; Figure 4 is an end view of the main valve body; Figure 5 is a section of the main valve body along plane 5-5 of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a section of the valve sleeve indicating the filtered water outlet orifices; and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the indicator circuit.

• "- * * - ^^^. • * - * - *" - "• The present invention will be described in connection with a kitchen tap and one having an elongated nozzle that extends over the slotted water chambers of the sink . The concepts of the invention can be applied in the same way to a removable rod which is currently common in kitchen faucets. In Figure 1, the tap has an outer housing 10 which may be formed of multiple remote sections, some of which may be sonically welded to form a unitary body. The housing 10 has a bushing 12 which will be mounted on the cover of the sink and has a cavity 14 within which a control valve will be placed to provide hot and cold water to the filtered water control valve in the nozzle. A handle will be placed on the top of the hub 12 to manipulate the valve element positioned within the cavity 14. The water in the cavity 14 will enter an elongated tubular portion 16 of the housing 10 through an inlet port 18. Positioned within the tubular portion 16 of the housing 10 is a water filter 20 which can conveniently contain carbon granules or any other suitable filter medium which is effective to remove the desired impurities from the water and provide suitably filtered drinking water for the discharge of water filtered. The housing 10 includes a head 22 having a jet discharge 24 directed downward toward the sink and a filtered water discharge 26, once again directed downward toward the sink. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the head 22 can be manually removed relative to the tubular portion 16 to provide access to the filter change 20 when it is time to renew it. As clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2, the water entering the tubular portion 16 through the port 18 will flow around the outside of the filter 20. A portion of that water will flow through the filter 20 into a conduit 28 of flow path of filtered water and then through a passage 30 in a filter outlet cover 32. The cover 32 is an integral part of the filter, as well as the inlet cover 34, illustrated in Figure 1, with the inlet and outlet covers together holding the filter block 36 to form a single unitary replaceable filter. Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 illustrate the details of the tap head 22 and the valve mechanism which controls the flow of filtered water and unfiltered water to the respective discharges 26 and 24. Placed inside the head 22 is a valve body 40, which has a tubular passageway 42 in communication with the filtered water outlet 30 of the end cap 32 through a sealed filter boss 31. The passage 42 has an outlet 44 which is in communication with a flow restrictor 46 which will limit the flow of the filtered water through the tap. The outlet 44 is not in axial alignment with the flow restrictor 46, with such off-axis relationship providing flow dynamics that silence the flow of water through the tap. A flow retainer 48 holds the flow restrictor in one position and has an opening 50 which communicates with the flow restrictor and with a flow restrictor. cavity 52 in the front part 51 of the valve body. A reciprocally movable valve element 54 is placed in the cavity 52. In this way, the filtered water from the filtered water flow path passage 28 will pass through the described passage within the cavity 52 and into a chamber 56 inside of the valve element 54. The chamber 56 has a plurality of openings 58 which, in the position of Figure 2, are blocked to prevent discharge of filtered water into a filtered water passage 60 which communicates with the water discharge 26 filtered. The valve element 54 has a head 62 which is fixed by a pressure connection 63 with a button 64 which forms the manual operator to effect a discharge of filtered water from the tap. A cylindrical propeller spring 66 biases the button 64 and, thus, the valve element 54, to the release position shown in Figure 2.

The valve member 54 has a seal 68 surrounding its head which is sealed with a portion 60 of the front portion 51 of the valve body. The head 62 has a tapered portion 72, which is directly superimposed on the passage 60, at the position of Figure 2, and there is a seal ring 74 at the junction of the tapered portion 72 and the larger body portion of the body. valve element 54. In the position of Figure 2, the seal 74 prevents filtered water from within the chamber 56 from flowing through the openings 58 and reaching the filtered water discharge passage 60. The valve member 54 may have a plurality of seals 76, which may be quartet seals, the seals of which extend around its periphery and are in sealing contact with the portions of the front portion 51 of the valve body to prevent leakage of filtered water from the outside of the valve element 54. Figure 3 illustrates the position of the valve when the button 64 has been depressed to provide the discharge of filtered water. Note that the valve member 54 has been moved inward, compressing the spring 66, resulting in the seal 74 moving away from the surface 78 in the portion 70 of the valve body to open the communication between the openings 58 and the opening. chamber 80 within valve body portion 70 and outside valve member 54. In this way, the filtered water can now flow from the chamber 56 through the openings 58 into the chamber 80 and then down through the passage 60 of filtered water to the filtered water discharge 26. As will be described later, tap 5 will remain in a filtered water discharge position, once the valve member has been moved to the position of Figure 3, until the water is closed. The path for the unfiltered water starts on the outside of the filter, in a cylindrical passage 82, the which is outside the filter and inside the tubular portion 16 of the tap housing. Water will flow from passage 82 into a cylindrical passage 84 in valve body 40. From the passage 84 the water flows into a cavity 86 which is on the outside of the front part 51 of the valve body. From the cavity 86 the water flows into an annular groove 96 and then through a circumferential opening 98 towards the passage 100 which is directly above the aerator 102 which forms the discharge 24 of unfiltered water. Figure 2 illustrates the normal position of the tap when there is no operation of the button 64 to provide a discharge of filtered water. The water will flow through the chambers, slots, cavities and described passages until it reaches the aerator 102.

When the button 64 is depressed, moving the position valve element 54 in Figure 2 to the position of Figure 3, an edge 104 having a seal ring 106 moves in such a way that the seal contacts a surface 108 tapered on a portion of the front 51 of the valve, by cutting the flow of water through the passage 98 and towards the aerator 102. When the valve has moved to this position, the unfiltered water within the annular cavity 86 will exert pressure against the edge 104 and the seal 106 which maintain the valve element in the position of Figure 3. The pressure exerted by the water is sufficient to remedy the return force of the spring 66. In this way, the tap will remain in the filtered water position until it is closed, in which At this point, return spring 66 will move the valve member back to the unfiltered water discharge position of Figure 2, since there is no more pressure to hold the valve element in the filtered water or position position. of Figure 3. The cap 32 of the filter end has a plug 95 or cylindrical projection which is of a size and dimension to be placed within a passage 90 in a valve body 40. The passage 90 is connected to a passage 92 in the front portion 51 of the valve body, with the passage 92 connecting to the aerator 102 through the passage 100. If a filter is placed inside the faucet, no unfiltered water will flow from the passage 82. cylindrical outside the filter to the passage 90 and thus the discharge 24 of unfiltered water. The plug 95 and its seal 97 prevent such flow. However, if no filter is present, the unfiltered water will flow through this flow path, and if the button 64 is operated, the unfiltered water will flow from both the jet discharge 24 and the discharge 26 filtered water. When button 64 is released, there will be no filtered water flow, but water will not filtered will continue to be downloaded. Since this is not a normal tap operation, it will alert the user that there is no filter inside the tap. There is a printed circuit board 112 which is mounted on the projections 114 on the outside of the part front 51 of the valve body, with the printed circuit board holding the circuit elements in Figure 7. There is a battery tray 116 which holds a battery 118 which is connected by a contact 120 to the printed circuit board 112 . There is a second contact for battery which is not shown. A switch 122 is mounted on an extended arm 124 of the button 64 and is positioned to close a contact 126 when the button is moved from the position of Figure 2 to the filtered water position of Figure 3. The closure of the switch 124 in the contact 126 will connect the power of the battery to the circuit board printed to eliminate the diodes that emit light activated by the battery. There is a luminous tube 128 directly in alignment with a pair of diodes 130 that emit light. The diodes will be illuminated under certain prescribed conditions, depending on the remaining life of the filter. The circuit of Figure 7 includes a microprocessor 132 having an output connected to a red LED 134 and a green LED 136. The microprocessor receives power from the battery 118 when the momentary mechanical switch 122 is closed. The connection of the microprocessor to the power of the battery is maintained by an OSFET switch 138 which is in parallel with the switch 122 and which will be coupled as soon as the mechanical switch 122 applies battery power to the microprocessor. The use of the parallel combination of a MOSFET switch and a mechanical switch is effective to extend the life of the battery. As soon as the mechanical switch 122 is closed, the MOSFET switch 138 will be closed and the microprocessor 132 will determine when the MOSFET switch will be opened. In this way, the time of application of energy is determined by the microprocessor and not by the application of the mechanical switch. Also connected to the microprocessor 132 is a test port 140 and a non-volatile memory 142. The microprocessor 132, together with the control circuit operation, provides data storage in relation to the use of the faucet filter. Such data may include the available life of the filter currently in use, the number of switch activations to provide a filtered water discharge, and the use of prior filters within that specific tap. The circuit of Figure 7 is effective to selectively activate the red and green LEDs 134 and 136 to indicate the condition of the filter. The microprocessor will control the illumination of the LEDs and can only be operated when the mechanical switch 122 is initially closed by the activation of the button 64. In this way, the indicator will only be eliminated when the filtered water is being discharged by the tap. When the circuit is activated as described, the use of the filter and in this way the remaining life of the filter is determined by a time measurement which was activated in a microprocessor. The microprocessor accumulates the total time that has been activated and this accumulation of time will provide an initiation of the remaining life of the filter. As an example of a method of operation, and assuming that the filter has a capacity of 756.80 liters (200 gallons) and that it is represented by 400 minutes of filter life, when the filter is initially inserted inside the tap, and the button 64 is operated, both the green and red LEDs 136 and 134 will be active, providing a "j ^ -" »- * - * - * • - • _hJ_ yellow indicator light pipe signal 128 for a period of 5 minutes. This will be an intermittent indication, since it will pulse between a pure green indication and a yellow indication when both LEDs are activated. After the first five minutes, a subsequent activation of the indicator will only have a pulsing green indication of the LED 136, since it will be the only LED activated by the microprocessor. This condition will prevail, when the filter is operated, until only 32 minutes of filter life remain. At this time and during the next 16 minutes of filter usage, both the red LED 134 and the green LED 136 will be pressed when the indicator is operating. When 16 minutes of filter life remain, and the indicator is activated, only the red LED 134 will pulse. This condition will remain, until zero minutes of filter life remain, after which any activation of the filter will result in a pulsing red indication more quickly. The above is only an example of a possible sequence of filter indicators. What is important is that the filter can only be operated when there is a filter water discharge, to limit the use of the battery, and that the filter easily provides the user with an indication of the remaining life of the filter. While the preferred form of the invention has been demonstrated and described here, it should be understood that there may be many modifications, substitutions and alterations thereto. ^. ^,. <; ~ *? *** ~ **. É-td_-iM-_i __----- ^ áii..lB.ataa

Claims (26)

1. CLAIMS 1. A tap that has multiple water discharges including a housing, a water inlet connection for the housing, unfiltered water discharge means in the housing, filtered water discharge means in the housing, a water filter water inside the housing, valve means in the housing connected to each of the water discharges, an unfiltered water flow path from the water inlet connection to the valve means, the filtered water flow path of the water inlet connection, through the filter, to the valve means, manual control means of filtered water accessible from the outside of the housing to operate the valve means to direct the filtered water to the water discharge means filtered and to avoid the flow of unfiltered water to the unfiltered water discharge means and an electrical circuit placed inside the housing, filtered water indicator means in the l housing connected to the circuit, the circuit includes means responsive to the operation of the manual water control means to cause the circuit to operate indicating means during the discharge of the filtered water. The tap according to claim 1, characterized in that the valve means includes a valve element, movable by means of manual control of water, and located within the flow path of unfiltered water and the flow path of filtered water. The tap according to claim 2, characterized in that the valve element has a portion thereof within the unfiltered water flow path which closes the unfiltered water flow path when the valve element is moved by means of manual control. The tap according to claim 3, characterized in that the valve element portion has a pressing surface thereon, subject to the flow of water within the unfiltered water flow path, whose pressure surface serves to maintaining the valve element in position to close the unfiltered water flow path during the operation of and the subsequent release of the manual water control means. The tap according to claim 4, characterized in that it includes spring means that push the valve element towards a position in which it normally closes the flow path of filtered water. The tap according to claim 5, characterized in that the spring means extend around the valve element. . ^ - ^^^ ¿? F ^ ^ 7. The tap according to claim 4, characterized in that the filtered water path extends inside the valve element and the unfiltered water flow path extends around the valve element. The tap according to claim 7, characterized in that the valve element includes a chamber, the chamber is within the flow path of filtered water. The tap according to claim 8, characterized in that it includes a flow restrictor positioned within the flow path of filtered water. The tap according to claim 9, characterized in that the flow restrictor has an opening, said opening being axially out of place in the filtered water flow path. The tap according to claim 1, characterized in that the electric circuit includes a switch and a battery, closure of the switch that connects to the battery and indicator means, operation of the manual water control means that close the switch. The tap according to claim 1, characterized in that the indicating means includes a pair of LEDs, each emitting light of a different color. %. »** ^ ^ ^ ¿t"! 13. The tap according to claim 12, characterized in that the circuit includes means for applying battery power to either one or both LEDs to provide indicating means of three different colors. 14. The tap in accordance with the claim 1, characterized in that the water flow path extends around the exterior of the water filter, with the flow path of filtered water being through the water filter. 15. The tap in accordance with the claim 14, characterized in that the valve means includes two flow paths for unfiltered water from the outside of the water filter to the unfiltered water discharge means, the filter includes a plug, which normally closes one of the flow paths of the filter. water not filtered. 16. A tap that includes a housing, a water filter inside the housing, a water inlet connection for the housing, a discharge of filtered water in the housing, a discharge of unfiltered water in the housing, a flow path from unfiltered water from the water inlet connection to the unfiltered water discharge, a filtered water flow path from the inlet water connection to the filtered water discharge, i Valve means within the housing and located within each of the water flow paths, manual water control means which are accessible from the outside of the housing to control the valve means to direct the water to one of the filtered water discharges or the unfiltered water discharge, the valve means including a valve element, which can be moved by the manual water control means and located within the unfiltered water flow path and the filtered water flow path, the valve element has a portion thereof within the unfiltered water flow path, which closes the unfiltered water flow path when the valve element is moved by the control means manual. The tap according to claim 16, characterized in that the portion of the valve element has a pressing surface thereon, subject to the flow of water within the unfiltered water flow path, whose pressure surface serves to maintaining the valve element in position to close the unfiltered water flow path when operating and subsequently releasing the manual water control means. The tap according to claim 17, characterized in that it includes spring means that push the valve element towards a position in which it normally closes the flow path of filtered water. 19. The tap according to claim 18, characterized in that the spring means is a spring of cylindrical helices that extend around the valve element. The tap according to claim 19, characterized in that the filtered water flow path extends into the valve member and the The unfiltered water flow path extends around the valve element. 21. The tap according to claim 20, characterized in that the valve element includes a chamber, the chamber is placed within the path of 15 flow of filtered water, water passages in the valve element connecting the chamber and filtered water discharge means. 22. The tap according to claim 21, characterized in that it includes a flow restrictor in the filtered water flow path. The tap according to claim 16, characterized in that the unfiltered water flow path extends around the periphery of the filter, with the filtered water flow path extending to 25 through the filter. - "" - - i? íflÜlMi? fi? ''] alifl - * ti * - "-" '- j ^^^^^' "- * - -« • - «-» »-A- 24. The conformity tap with claim 23, characterized in that the valve means includes two flow paths for unfiltered water from the exterior of the water filter to the unfiltered water discharge means, the filter includes a stopper, which normally closes one of the unfiltered water flow paths. 25. A water filter that is used inside a faucet that has a filtered water discharge and an unfiltered water discharge, the filter includes an inlet end cap and an outlet end cap, a block of material filter located between the end caps, an inner conduit for filtered water in the block of filter material, an extension in the outlet end cap in alignment with the inner conduit for the passage of filtered water from the filter, and a stopper Seal extending outward from the outlet end cap adjacent to the extension, the seal plug functions to close the passage of unfiltered water in the faucet. 26. The tap according to claim 25, characterized in that the conduit is coaxial with the block of filter material.