US20230010617A1

US20230010617A1 - Blockable connector between sink drain and drainage stack.

Info

Publication number: US20230010617A1
Application number: US17/371,411
Authority: US
Inventors: Christopher Adam McLeod
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2021-07-09
Filing date: 2021-07-09
Publication date: 2023-01-12

Abstract

Toward the enabling of cleaning schedules involving one or more chemical treatments for the disinfection of healthcare room sink drainsets to avoid nosocomial infections arising from the vectoring of drain pathogenic bacteria, a blockable novel connector is presented to connect a sink drainset to an existing wall stub leading to a drainage stack behind the wall. Multiple chemical soaks for the drainset can be enabled through elaboration of the blocking plug temporarily inserted into the adapter. Two configurations, sideways and upward, are possible to connect the wallbend straight to the connector, the upward allowing for orthogonal connection between the straight and the receiving hub of the connector whatever the angle an existing wall stub has to the wall upon which the sink is hung. Additional blocking plug technology can be enabled.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This Invention relates generally to sink drain systems with control features against colonization by pathogenic bacteria, and specifically, to the connection of sink drain systems to vertical drain stacks behind the wall to which the sink is attached wherein the connection enables chemical scouring treatment as well as orthogonally aligned connections.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The healthcare sink enables health care providers to practice hand hygiene prior to, during, and after attending to their patient. A variety of biological material gets washed down healthcare sink drains, leading to colonization of the drain by bacteria and other microorganisms. Drain microorganisms can originate not only from the sink side, but also from vertical drainage stacks or pipes connecting sink drains from floor to floor. For this reason once one sink becomes contaminated with pathogenic bacteria arising from patient material such as blood or stool washed from the hands of a healthcare attendant, pathogens can travel by a plurality of means across, down, and even up drainage connections between sinks in neighboring rooms, to arrive at a neighboring patient room sink via the connection of the sink drain of that neighboring room to the vertical or horizontal drainage stack connecting the original contaminated room sink with the neighboring room sink.
When the drain of the newly colonized sink is colonized by pathogenic bacteria arising from a sick patient in a neighboring room, or from pathogenic bacteria from a previous patient of that room, bacteria have the opportunity to travel by a plurality of means including but not limited to aerosols, splash, and touch transmission. When sink drain bacteria travel to a patient in the newly colonized room, or from a previous patient in that room, a patient can become infected with this travelling pathogenic bacteria. This is called a nosocomial infection. Nosocomial infections can mean a patient can die from an infection that the patient did not have when entering the hospital. And a primary locus of nosocomial infection is the entire drainset of the sink from sink to wall, where drainset refers to all the components including but not limited to drain, tailpiece, trap, wallbend, and connector to the vertical drainage pipe. A sink drain, sometimes called a plug, is a flanged, externally threaded pipe suspended from the drainage hole in the internal bottom of the sink bowl. A tailpiece is a tube running vertically from the downstream outlet of a sink drain to the upstream outlet of a trap. A trap is a bent tube or cast or injected or forged fitting in which drainage water collects in order to prevent sewer gases rising up from the sewer in a vertical drainage stack from entering a patient room. To the downstream egress of the trap is attached a wallbend, a bent pipe or tube leading to the vertical drainage stack comprised of one or more pieces. The wallbend is connected to the stack by a connector, the focus of this Application.
An overlay on simple nosocomial infection is the ready sharing of mobile resistance genes between bacteria meeting somewhere in the drainset of a healthcare sink. As bacteria move along a connection offered by a drainage stack and drainsets, bacteria evolve and accumulate antibiotic resistance through the sharing of genetic information. This transformation of a hospital drainage system into a bioreactor for the evolution of pathogens with multiple resistances for a range of antibiotics was not intended, and needs to be managed to heighten patient safety. A plurality of tools to control drainset bacterial colonization include but are not limited to sink design, drain design, tailpiece length, trap technologies, and chemical disinfection procedures.
One tool would be to remove sinks entirely from healthcare rooms. This is inconvenient for healthcare attendants for a plurality of reasons. Another sink option is to improve sink design to minimize effects that lead to bacterial vectoring that include but are not limited to splash, poor housekeeping owing to the provision of flat surfaces on the sink inviting temporary placement of objects moved elsewhere later, and aerosolization arising from direct impact of a supply faucet water stream on a drain grid. Whether these changes have real impact on pathogen control is rarely tested in gold standard, double blind unbiased experimentation, but does encourage replacement of old sinks with new sinks of different geometries, including but not limited to offset sinks, where the drain in the sink bowl is located off center of a central drain spout, avoiding direct contact of a supply water stream with the drain. Usually there is limited wall width for a sink installation, meaning that the line up or orientation of the drain outlet of a new offset sink does not match the orientation of a pre-existing drainage connection at the wall. This situation can prevent an orthogonal connection, as defined below.
The term orthogonal in connecting plumbing tubes and hubs describes a joining of a tube to a hub where the centerlines of both hub and tube are coincident. Without orthogonality a wallbend tube might be crookedly inserted and fixed into a hub, but with strain captured by the connection in the form of stress in the wallbend, the connector, or the soldering or solvent cementing of the connection itself. While a difference in height of the connection relative to the bottom of the drain tailpiece can be matched by cutting down a long tailpiece, and while a difference in the length of separation between the centerline of the drain and the centerline of the vertical drainage stack behind the wall can also be adjusted by cutting down a long wallbend; in contrast, often the angle of an existing wallbend at the connector cannot be orthogonally matched to the angle of the wallbend connector port of a connector relative to the wall, leading to a plurality of quick fix solutions, including but not limited to flexible rubber connectors and application of torque to a wallbend to make it fit, with predictable impacts on drainage seal, provision of foci for bacterial growth, and the integrity of the drain system, as will be discussed below as a secondary design focus in this Application.
To continue with the drainset, drain design and tailpiece length are other potential tools to limit pathogen spread. Again, experimental evidence must be collected from designed experiments. The challenge is the same as with investigating the performance of changed sink geometries: the statistical sample size necessary to generate results with a high degree of confidence can run to many years of testing over hundreds if not thousands of sinks in busy ICU rooms. Furthermore, this also requires access to patient swab data, a legal barrier. Such studies are expensive and rare, and even if successful, may not apply to a pathogen newly emerging after the study.
Similarly, drain trap technologies can be used as tools to control bacterial colonization of traps with pathogenic microorganisms. The trap of a drain is a U-shaped bend of pipe or cast or injected or forged material through which drain water passes on its way to the vertical drainage stack. Technologies that can be added to the trap include but are not limited to heat, electrical potential difference, antimicrobial coatings, ultraviolet light, and removable traps for sterilization. All of these technologies introduce great capital and maintenance expense to what is otherwise a very inexpensive part.
Downstream to the trap of the sink drain system is the wallbend, a bent piece of tube (external diameter controlled) or pipe (internal diameter controlled) emanating vertically from the downstream end of the trap, bending ninety degrees to form a horizontal tube or pipe, finally connecting to the horizontal connection on the vertical, or at times horizontal, drainage stack. Wallbend infection management tools include but are not limited to antimicrobial materials and slippery internal coatings.
In hospitals around the world at the time of writing of this application, certain pathogenic bacterial species with multiple antibiotic resistance genes, called superbugs, colonize sink drain systems and cannot be eradicated by sink geometry, drain design, tailpiece length, trap technology, wall bend technology, or any combination of these tools. Standard disinfection regimes used in terminal cleaning of rooms, that is, the thorough cleaning of a healthcare room after a patient leaves it permanently, are also not effective against colonization by superbugs. Colonization of connecting drainage vertical stacks worsens this situation—cleaning one drain system leaves it open to re-infection by pathogenic bacteria lurking in the drainage stack.
Herein lies the primary focus of this Application. Even if a series of chemicals poured down the drain could effect albeit temporary kill of persistent bacterial colonization, the effect is limited as there is no significant residence time in the drainset. The chemicals merely flow through the drainset. A tool to increase residence time of chemicals within a drain system could include a drainage stop at the drainage connection between wallbend and the vertical drainage stack. This is a primary design focus of this Application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to at least partially overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
The key to sterilization of sink drainsets by chemicals is to add blockable functionality to the most downstream part of the sink drainset, in order that chemicals may be held long enough for them to kill bacteria lining the drain system between the sink and the wall. This can be accomplished using the connector Invention described in this Application. A secondary benefit of this connector is that it allows for orthogonal connection of the drainset wallbend to the connection attached to the downstream drainage stack, usually vertical. Key features of said connector are that it may be installed in an upward or sideways connection style depending on whether the wallbend has two or one ninety degree bends respectively, that the connector has a sealing cleanout port allowing for access for unblocking and optionally other technologies, and that the connector has a blocker that fits sealingly to the connector to block drainage of the sink drain system to enable extended chemical treatment.
A review of connection terminology is in order. A pipe is an outer diameter controlled hollow cylinder; a tube is an internal diameter controlled hollow cylinder; a hub or expansion is an expanded diameter terminus to a tube or pipe that allows for slidingly sealed insertion of a tube or pipe end; a thread ring is an external thread feature on the end of a hub; a basket nut is a compression nut adorned with a flat annular feature perpendicular to the centerline of a hub that encircles a piece of tube inserted into a connection hub and presses down onto the flange of an annular flanged seal provided in the internal diameter of the proximal hub end of an expansion hub during the process of threading said basket nut onto a thread ring provided around the proximal expansion terminus of the connector hub wherein the annular seal is placed; a solder joint being a heated metal seal between a tube and a hub, a solvent seal is a chemical bonding treatment between a plastic pipe and hub. More recently, an annular metal grip with seal has been added to connection technology used in plumbing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which illustrate embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a sink and trap in a side connection configuration;

FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in a side connection configuration with a cleanout cap on;

FIG. 3 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in a side connection configuration with cleanout cap off;

FIG. 4 shows an isometric view sink in trap in side connection configuration with a blocker out;

FIG. 5 shows an isometric view sink in trap in side connection configuration with a blocker inserted;

FIG. 6 shows a front view of sink and trap in an upward connection configuration;

FIG. 7 shows a side view of sink and trap in an upward connection configuration;

FIG. 8 shows a lateral cutaway of side detail of closeable connection showing blocked egress of upstream drain;

FIG. 9 shows a lateral cutaway of side detail of closeable connection showing open egress of upstream drain;

FIG. 10 shows a front detail view of connector in upward connection configuration;

FIG. 11 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in upward connection configuration with cleanout cap in;

FIG. 12 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in upward connection configuration with cleanout cap out;

FIG. 13 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in upward connection configuration with blocker out;

FIG. 14 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in upward connection configuration with blocker inserted;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In some embodiments, aspects of the invention described in this Application comprise a system with a water supply in the form of a faucet, a perforated vessel in the form of a sink, and a drain system connected to a usually vertical drainage stack pipe contained in the wall in front of which is installed the sink. In the figures following, the water supply is not pictured and the drainage stack, either horizontal or vertical behind the wall, is also left out, owing in both cases to the diversity of solutions not relevant to this Invention.
In FIG. 1 , a sink 3 is attached to a wall 1. The tailpiece of the sink drain 5 is attached slidingly with a compression seal tightened by a nut 7 threaded onto an external thread ring around the top of an upstream expansion hub 9 on a U-bend 11 of pipe or tube to allow adjustment of the vertical position of the trap and downstream drainset to the ideal position determined by the vertical position of the downstream connection to a stub of pipe protruding from the wall, also called a wall stub out, that leads to the vertical drainstack leading to a downstream sewer. The U-bend 11 is also equipped with a downstream rotating juncture 13 tightened with a nut 15 that allows for angle orientation of the downstream wallbend 17 in a nearly horizontal plane. A wallbend 17 is comprised of a ninety degree bend 19 and straight 21. Usually, the wall bend is one piece; in FIG. 1 the straight 21 is a separate piece slidingly attached to a upstream ninety degree elbow 23 with another compression seal tightened with a nut 25 contiguous with an expansion 27 that also allows for horizontal adjustment. The downstream end of the horizontal straight 21 is attached to the connector Invention 29 described in this Application by a plurality of means including but not limited to a compression seal (shown here) or soldering of brass or solvent cementing of plastic of the straight tube or pipe into the connector hub. A cleanout cap 31 is displayed in this configuration. The nut 35 tightens a sliding compression seal, just one of the many means of connecting a tube or pipe to a hub.
FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of sink and trap in a side connection where 1 is the wall upon which the sink 3 is mounted, and in the inner bowl 37 of the sink begins a drain system connected to the connector 29 Invention described in this Application stopped up by a sealing cleanout cap 31 providing a plurality of uses including but not limited to cleaning out of the drain system with plumbing cleaning tools. The downstream hub of the connector is connected to a wall stub out 39 of tube or pipe emanating horizontally from the wall 1 perforated by a hole 41 and connected to a usually vertical drainage stack pipe, not shown.
FIG. 3 shows an isometric view of a sink 3 the drain of which is ultimately connected to a connector 29 constituting this Invention. A cleanout cap 31 is threaded off an external thread ring 43 on the connector 29.
FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of a sink the drain of which is connected to the connector 29 in this Invention. The cleanout cap is replaced with a blocker that threads into the thread ring 43 on the connector 29. Here the blocker is not yet connected.
FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of a sink 3 the drain of which is connected to the connector 29 in this Invention. The cleanout cap is replaced with a blocker 45 that threads over the thread ring on the connector 29. Here the blocker 45 has been threaded over the connector, although a plurality of connection methods is possible. The effect of this blocker 45 is to block the downstream egress of chemical solutions poured into the sink. The sealing off of the drain need not be as thorough as with a valve, for the following reason. In order to get a near perfect seal such as found on a packed valve, the packing of the valve must be quite tight. Packing is comprised of seals that are compressed to effect seal on a rotary moving part. This makes the turning of the valve difficult. For tubes as large as the inch and one quarter or inch and one half found normally in sink plumbing, the amount of torque required to turn a handle under such sealing packing, particularly in older drainsets, is near the limit of hand strength to turn. This in itself is not a problem, but the reality of drainsets in any healthcare setting is that the drainset itself, the drainage stack behind the wall, and the various connections found within, were never designed to withstand torque. Indeed, with years of cleaning with strong cleaning chemicals, wallbend wall thickness can approach that of paper. Cracks in the drainset introduced by torqueing in front of the wall can be fixed, but cracks introduced behind the wall can result not only in leaks, but in the spread of drain pathogens along unknowable paths throughout a healthcare building. Additionally, valves are dirty—it is impossible to keep bacteria out of a valve and just as impossible to sanitize it. Accordingly, it is the intention of this Invention to supply a blocker 45 that temporarily connects to the connector 29 by a plurality of methods including but not limited to a sealing threadmate connection, where the sealing of drainwater egress can be effected by a cylinder within cylinder blocking of a side port of the connector 29, constituting a sufficient seal to keep the disinfectant chemicals within drainset for a matter of hours instead of the days or longer that can be achieved with a packed valve.
In FIG. 6 , a sink 3 is attached to a wall 1. The tailpiece of the sink drain 5 is attached slidingly with a compression seal tightened by a nut 7 threaded onto an external thread ring around the top of an upstream expansion hub 9 on a U-bend 11 of pipe or tube to allow adjustment of the vertical position of the trap and downstream drainset to the ideal position determined by the vertical position of the downstream connection to a wall stub out. The U-bend 11 is also equipped with a downstream rotating juncture 13 tightened with a nut 15 that allows for angle orientation of the downstream wallbend 17 in a nearly horizontal plane. A wallbend 17 is comprised of a ninety degree bend 19 and straight 21. Usually, the wall bend is one piece; in this figure the straight 21 is a separate piece slidingly attached to an upstream ninety degree elbow 23 with a compression seal tightened with a nut 25. The end of the straight 21 is attached to a distal downstream ninety degree elbow by a plurality of means including but not limited to a compression seal tightened by a nut 35. On the downstream, downward orientated port of a ninety degree elbow is another nut 33 that threads onto the thread ring on the sideport of the connector 29 Invention. A cleanout cap 31 is displayed in this configuration. There is a disadvantage to this configuration—the wall stub out position may be too high for the upward configuration of the connector to be used without placing the new sink on the wall too high off the floor. Otherwise, if the wall stub out is sufficiently low to accommodate the upward configuration of the connector 29, a great advantage is obtained by the introduction of a second rotating seal that is sealed by a compression nut 33. If the wall stub out is an angle originally introduced to accommodate the drainset of the sink 3 being replaced, this angle can be otherwise be impossible to match orthogonally, requiring poor plumbing practice such as flexible connectors to enable the straight 21 to be connected to the wall stub out. While not obvious in design, in practice this orientation challenge is common. In extreme cases, the entire wall 1 must be ripped out, and the hidden drainage stack rerouted with forty-five degree elbows to provide a wall stub out connection that lines up with the new sink. While possible, it is an expensive and time-consuming modification; as well, the disturbing of drywall is a risk for transmission of other airborne pathogens. Instead, use of the connector Invention described in this application can provide the three dimensional flexibility of orthogonal connectivity for a small price, with the advantage of the blockable functionality for chemical cleaning that works.
Toward an explanation of the blocking functionality, FIG. 7 shows a side view of sink and trap in the upward connection configuration. A wall 1 supports a sink 3, usually with additional support structures not shown here, and the connector 29 with a closed cleanout cap 31 is attached via a compression seal tightened with a nut 47 or other connection to a wall stub out 39 itself connected downstream to a usually vertical drainage stack. FIG. 7 also illustrates the three features of the connector 29: the cleanout port 61, the side upstream port 63, and the downstream port 65.
A detail of the same side view with a lateral cutaway 49 of the connector 29 described in this Application with a blocking plug 45 inserted into the cleanout port of the connector 29. The cutaway of the connector 29 wall reveals that the cylinder 51 of the blocking plug interrupts the flow of drainwater exiting the sink into the drain system. While the seal of an outer diameter controlled tube in an internal diameter controlled machined casting is a matter of the tolerance of machining chosen upon, with an appropriate tolerance an effective seal can be achieved that will keep a dose of chemical cleaners in the trap and wall bend for as long as takes to scour the bacteria off the internal walls of the drainset, avoiding the heavy torqueing as well as biofilm growth involved in a packed valve. The question of what to do with the blocker plug after cleaning depends on the materials used in the drainset. For example, a brass blocker plug can be sterilized in a bucket of chemicals, or in an autoclave, and then recycled.
FIG. 9 shows the same lateral cutaway 49 of the connector 29 where the plug connector has been removed, showing the upstream egress port 53 comprised by the internal diameter of the wallbend straight.
FIG. 10 shows a front detail of the connector invention in this Application in the upward connection configuration. A ninety degree elbow 49 is attached to the connector 29 in this Application by means of a nut 33 tightening against seal by threading with a clockwise tighten 55 onto a thread ring provided on the connector side port to supply a seal. This also allows for an orthogonal connection of the straight tube into the upstream hub 57 no matter what the angle of the wall stub out relative to the wall, without a flexible connection. In normal use the cleanout cap 31 threads in against a seal in the connector.
FIG. 11 shows an isometric view of the sink and drainset showing a cleanout cap 31 threaded onto the connector 29.
FIG. 12 shows an isometric view of the sink and drainset showing a cleanout cap 31 threaded out of the connector 29 to allow for insertion of a blocking plug.
FIG. 13 shows an isometric view of the sink and drainset showing a blocking plug 45 about to be inserted into the open port of the connector 29 described in this Application.
FIG. 14 shows an isometric view of the sink and drainset showing a blocking plug 45 inserted into the port of the connector 29 described in this Application, in preparation for cleaning treatment.
In practice, opening a drainset requires a bucket with bleach in the bottom to catch leaks when the blocking plug is removed and the cleanout cap is replaced.
Accordingly, this Application presents a connector invention that provides a blocking functionality that allows for a thorough soaking of the drainset with appropriate cleaning chemicals over the needed period of time. Since the wall bend is angled to drain, the blocking plug can be designed in a plurality of ways to allow for flow while still inserted. This would be important if a series of different chemical treatments is required. The blocking plug could be shifted from open to closed to open for each stage of chemical treatment without entirely removing the blocking plug until the end of the treatments. Additional technology such as pathogen diagnostic reagents, battery powered ultraviolet light are also possible.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A ninety degree connector to connect a downstream straight tube of a sink drainset to a horizontal wall stub of pipe emanating from a healthcare room wall connected on the downstream end to a drainage stack leading to a sewer, and,

a cleanout port on the connector sharing a centerline with the wall-stub and diametrically opposed to the downstream connection port of the connector, closed with either a cleanout cap or a blocking plug connected by one of a plurality of methods including but not limited to a sealing thread mate, where the blocking plug cylinder blocks egress of drainwater plug from the upstream port of the connector draining perpendicular to the centerline of the blocking plug.

2. As in claim 1, excepting that a second ninety degree elbow is attached to the upstream port of the connector using a rotating compression basket nut and seal threading to an external thread on the upstream port of the connector such that the center line of the upstream port is vertical and parallel to the heathcare room wall.

3. As in claim 1 or claim 2, with a blocking plug configured to block or allow egress of drainwater when the plug is inserted into and connected to the cleanout port, by means of rotation of the plug in its inserted position.

4. As in claim 1 or claim 2, with a blocking plug configured with a plurality of antimicrobial technology including but not limited to pathogen diagnostic technology or pathogen kill technology.