WO1989008749A1

WO1989008749A1 - Pressure intensifier reservoir for toilet quick-flush valves

Info

Publication number: WO1989008749A1
Application number: PCT/HU1988/000059
Authority: WO
Inventors: János ZSÁMBOK
Original assignee: Zsambok Janos
Priority date: 1988-03-16
Filing date: 1988-09-07
Publication date: 1989-09-21
Also published as: HUH3310A

Abstract

The invention relates to a pressure intensifier reservoir for toilet quick-flush valves wherein a closed tank connected to the water main supply and containing an air buffer is connected to the quick-flush valve and to the toilet bowl via a pipe whose cross-section is greater than that of the water main pipe, wherein the reservoir (1) is provided with a partition layer (6) between the air buffer and at least a part of the surface of the water being in the reservoir (1), said layer (6) being of a material of smaller specific weight than that of the water. The partition layer (6) may be a disk or made of grains, pieces, granulate etc. The reservoir may be connected to several quick-pressure valves (10) or toilet bowls, via flush pipe (3).

Description

PRESSURE INTENSIFIER RESERVOIR FOR TOILET QUICK-FLUSH VALVES

The present invention relates to a pressure intensifier reservoir for toilet quick-flush valves wherein a closed tank connected to the water main supply and containing an air buffer is connected to the quick flush valve and to the toilet bowl via a pipe whose cross-section is greater than that of the city service small pipe line.

Two main ways of flushing toilet bowls are known. One of them is applying a service box, wherein the pressure of the flushing water is independent from the pressure of the water supply system. The characteristics of that system is that a separate tank is filled up with water from the water supply system, and upon flushing the water in the tank is let into the toilet bowl. The pressure of the water in the tank depends on the arrangement of the tank, it is generally lower than that of the water supply system. At the same time, the water discharge of the tank is greater than that of the water supply system, that is the height energy is compensated by the kinetic energy.

There are many constructions known for filling up the tank, opening and shutting off the water supply system and for pre\enting the overflow. The structural elements, however, break down easily, so far no construction has been made which would safely function in the long term.

The other way of flushing is considerably simpler than applying a service box. By quick-flushing there is no separate tank, the flushing water is let into the toilet bowl directly from the water supply system. Consequently, the water consumption is about 40 % of a service box. The system consists only of a valve fitted into the pipe connected with the toilet bowl, which is manually operated delayed action valve, the service costs of which are about 10 % of that of a service box.

These constructions are extremely simple and cheap, however, their drawback is that the water discharge used for flushing is relatively low, because of the small cross-section (generally 1/2" or smaller) of the city service pipe line. Consequently, it can not produce adequate kinetic energy, as its nominal cross-section is generally 3/4" or greater. Their use is especially adverse in areas having low water pressure, for instance on the upper floors of buildings situated on flat districts of a town.

In view of above it is apparent that some of the known flushing methods produce adequate kinetic energy, the service boxes, however, are complicated and break down easily, while in case of others - though their construction is simple - no adequate kinetic energy can be produced.

For elimination of the described problems, the water tank according to the FR-PS 2 122 069 is applicable, although it was not designed primarily for the purpose of toilet flushing apparatus. This water tank is actually a pressure, tank provided with three connecting pipes. The water is conducted through one of the pipes into the lower part of the pressure tank, while another pipe extending from above into the tank provides the air supply. The outflowing water is drained from the bottom of the tank by a further pi pe .

Undoubtedly, this system - used as flushing tank - partly eliminates the mentioned shortcomings. Its construction is simpler than that of the ones provided with a service box and its kinetic energy is greater than that of the quick- flushing. At the same time, the several pipes connected to the tank and several valves providing the air inlet do not eliminate the possibilities of fault.

The most simple fulsh tanks are presented in the DE-PS 43 4600 and in the UK-PS 6280. The air buffer in these tanks, is produced by conveying the water into the tank at the bottom. The water inlet and outlet i s at the same pl ace and is provided with a three-way valve.

Another well-kncwn flush tank is provided with a delivery pipe that is part of the water main supply and its lower end is a little above the bottom of the tank. The flush tank is connected to a flush line that leads to the toilet bowl and its diameter is greater than that of the supply pipe (see HU-P5 174 528). The system is also extremely simple and the apparatus runs trouble-free.

Although these flush tanks are rather simple and reliable, their practical use is limited by a basic disadvantage: during the operation the water in the tank dissolves a certain amount of the air buffer being under pressure and first of all the intensive water flow carries air-bubbles off the air buffer during the drainage. As a consequence, the pressure of the air buffer gradually decreases during the operation and after a certain time the air buffer practically disappears. Therefore, the intensity of the flushing gradually decreases during use and in extreme cases it reaches the pressure value of the water main supply and becomes ineffective.

This is the reason of why such tanks need being disconnected off the main supply after some hundred drainages and the pressure tank has to be refilled by opening the drain valve. After this, the main valve can be reopened and the reservoir can be set under pressure.

After carrying out the procedure mentioned above, the flushing vessel can foe used with good efficiency. Howerver, it is obvious that the regular refilling of the air buffer is troublescme so it is not applied willingly in practice.

The same is the reason of why such pressure tanks are not applied together with quick-flush valves: without pressure intensifier rerservoirs these valves can be used only in such places where the cross-section of the main supply and the water pressure is high.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a pressure intensifier reservoir in which the decrease of pressure in the air buffer can be eliminated and in this way the reservoir can be used without maintenance and refilling practically without any time limit, which enables the wide use of the modern and water-saving quick-flush valves in such places where the small cross-section and the lew pressure of the water supply or the variation of pressure would hinder their use otherwise. According to the invention an improved a pressure intensifier reservoir is suggested wherein a closed tank connected to the water main supply and containing an air buffer is connected to the quick-flush valve and to the toilet bowl via a pipe whose cross-section is greater than that of the water main pipe, and the reservoir is provided with a partition layer between the air buffer and at least a part of the surface of the water being in the reservoir, said layer being of a material of smaller specific weight than that of the water.

The partition layer is a disk or granulated material that always floats on the surface of the water and separates the water layer from the air layer. If the partition element is a disk, 0.5 to 1 mm wide gap has to be between the mantle of the partition element and the internal wall of the reservoir in order to prevent the disk frcm being stuck.

Flush tanks (US-PS 3 029 443) or flush system provided with pressure tanks (DE-OS 26 34 248) containing an expansible and contractible bladder like elastic bag or a membrane are already known, though these are not aimed to separate water and air in the tank. Anyway, they could not be used for that purpose as well, because the rubber material of said bag or membrane quickly rubs away due to the intensive dynamic load. On the other hand, the material of the bag or membrane is more or less permeable, due to porosity, wear or manufacturing defect. Furthermere, a merbrane cannot produce pressure enough in a relativly small tank, like a flush reservoir.

The pressure intensifier reservoir according to the invention, has an extremely simple construction, it does not need maintenance and it is able to operate practically without any time limit. Its application enables the safe use of simple quick-flush valves irrespective of cross-section and the pressure in the main supply and the height of the place of application.

The pressure intensifier reservoir can be produced in any size according to choice. It is obvious that it can be used conventionally as a unique reservoir but in certain cases by means of a single central pressure intensifier reservoir several quick-flush valves can be operated. Therefore quck-flush valves of different kinds of institutions like hotels, schools, sports establishments etc. can be operated by a single central reservoir.

Further details of the invention will be apparent from the following examples and the accompanying drawings. On the drawings

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the invention where there is a partition disk between the water layer and the air layer,

Figure 2 shows another embodiment where the partition layer is made up of light granulated material,

Figure 3 shows a pressure intensifier reservoir which is suitable for operating several valves simultaneously.

Figure 1 shows a simple construction form of the invented solution. The pressure intensifier reservoir (1) is connectd to the main supply pipe (2) by the flush pipe (3) so that the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) has only one inlet for pipe.

The water of the main supply flows in the direction of the arrow from the main supply pipe (2) to the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) where the flushing water (4) gathers.

In the upper part of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) an air buffer (5) emerges which is compressed by the water according to the pressure of the main supply.

Between the flushing water (4) and the air buffer (5) is a partition layer (6) is placed. This is a disk made of a material (e.g. foam rubber) whose density is much less than that of the water and fits in the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) with a gap. The width of this gap between the mantle of the disk and the internal surface of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) is about 1 mm in order to prevent the partition disk frcm being stuck when the flushing water (4) flows out of the reservoir and to ensure that the disk follows the sinking of the water surface.

Regarding that in the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) the flushing water (4) and the air buffer (5) practically do not touch each other, at drainage the air bubbles do not flow out of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) and even in case of long-time inactive situation there is no measurable air dissolved in the flushing water (4).

Figure 2 shows another construction form of the invention. In this case the main supply pipe (2) protrudes into the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) from above and ensures the creation of the air buffer (5) by forming a siphon (7). It is to be remarked that it is practical to build a back-pressure valve (8) in the main supply pipe (2) right before the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) in order to preclude the possibility of inverted stream of contaminated water in case of a possible section effect during a pressure drop-out.

The flushing water (4) leaves the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) in the direction of the arrow through the flushing pipe (3) whose diameter is considerably greater than that of the main supply pipe (2).

In the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) the partition layer (6) between the flu-shing water (4) and the air buffer (5) is formed of granulated plastic foam.

It is obvious that in this case it is superfluous to ensure a gap between the wall of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) and the partition layer (6) because the granula.ted plastic foam particles cannot be stuck and they always follow the level of the changing water surface. However, in this case it is necessary to build a filter (9) between the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) and the flushing pipe (3) to ensure that the particles that form the partition layer (6) do not leave the reservoir together with the flushing water (4).

The embodiment shown in Figure 2 operates like the previous one with the difference that the partition layer (6) that separates the surface of the flushing water (4) from the air buffer (5) is made up of discrete or granulated material and not of continuous material.

An additional embodiment is shown in Figure 3. In this case the size of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) is relatively big in order to ensure the operation of the quick-flush valves of each toilet e.g. in a public institution.

In this solution the main supply pipe (2) connects directly to the pressure intensifier reservoir (1) from the side, while the flush pipe. (3) is connected from the bottcm. The flushing water (4) and the air buffer (5) areseparated by a partition layer (6) as in Figure 2.

There are many quick-flush valves (10) that ccnnects to the flushing pipe (3) which leads out of the pressure intensifier reservoir (1). Naturally, each valve is connected to the flushing pipe (3) via a pipe whose diameter is greater than that of the main supply pipe (2), and the pressure in.tensifier reservoir (1) is rated so that even the simultaneous operation of all the valves (10) can be possible in case of any main supply pressure.

On the base of the presented construction examples it can be seen clearly that the invented pressure intensifier reservoir has the same simple construction than the previously described toilet flushing rsservoirs that had not been applied in practice, but additionally the partition element of layer that is used in the invented reservoir eliminates the deficiency detailed earlier, namely the fact that the reservoir has to be refilled with air occasionally because of the pressure decrease of the air buffer. The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A pressure intensifier reservoir for toilet quick-flush valves wherein a closed tank connected to the water main supply and containing an air buffer is connected to the quick-flush valve and to the toilet bowl via a pipe whose cross-section is greater than that of the water main pipe, characterized in that the reservoir (1) is provided with a partition layer (6) between the air buffer and at least a part of the surface of the water being in the reservoir (1), said layer (6) being of a material of smaller specific weight than that of the water.

2. The pressure intensifier reservoir as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the partition layer (6) is a disk.

3. The pressure intensifier reservoir as claimed in claim

2, characterized in that a gap 0.5 to 1 mm wide is between the mantle of the disk and the internal wall of the reservoir (1).

4. The pressure intensifier reservoir as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the partition layer (6) is of grains, pieces, granulate etc.

5. The pressure intensifier reservoir as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it is connected to several quick-pressure valves (10) or toilet bowls, via flush pipe (3).