WO2022009916A1

WO2022009916A1 - Method for manufacturing a housing for a sanitary fitting, housing for a sanitary fitting, and sanitary fitting

Info

Publication number: WO2022009916A1
Application number: PCT/JP2021/025573
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carsten Romanowski
Original assignee: Lixil Corporation
Priority date: 2020-07-09
Filing date: 2021-07-07
Publication date: 2022-01-13
Also published as: DE102020118089A1

Abstract

Method for manufacturing a housing (1) for a sanitary fitting (2), comprising at least the following steps: a) providing a powdered material; and b) building up of the housing (1) layer-wise by partial irradiation of the material, wherein during the layer-wise building up of the housing (1) an aerator (4) of the housing (1) is formed, with which a liquid jet emerging from the housing (1) can be aerated. In addition, a housing (1) of a sanitary fitting (2) is proposed whose aerator (4) is formed integrally with the housing (1). Furthermore, a sanitary fitting (2) having a respective housing (1) is proposed.

Description

METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A HOUSING FOR A SANITARY FITTING, HOUSING FOR A SANITARY FITTING, AND SANITARY FITTING

The present disclosure relates to a method for manufacturing a housing for a sanitary fitting, in particular with an additive manufacturing method. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to a housing for a sanitary fitting and a sanitary fitting having a respective housing. Such sanitary fittings serve in particular to provide a liquid as required at a sink, wash basin, shower and/or bath.

Background

Sanitary fittings regularly have a housing which serves to accommodate functional elements of the sanitary fittings and/or to conduct a liquid. The liquid can be dispensed through the sanitary fittings via an aerator, for example in the manner of a mousseur, by which the dispensed liquid can be aerated. The aerators are separate components that must be attached to the housing with fasteners, such as a thread. However, the need to provide appropriate attaching means restricts the freedom of design of the housings.

Summary

On this basis, it is an object of the present disclosure to at least partially solve the problems described with respect to the prior art. In particular, a method for manufacturing a housing for a sanitary fitting shall be specified which allows greater freedom of design of the housing. In addition, a housing for a sanitary fitting and a sanitary fitting having a respective housing shall also be specified, which allows a high degree of design freedom.

These objects are solved by the features of the independent claims. Further advantageous features of the disclosure are indicated in the dependent claims. It should be noted that the features individually listed in the dependent claims can be combined in any technologically meaningful way and define further features of the disclosure. In addition, the features indicated in the claims are specified and explained in more detail in the description, with further preferred embodiments of the disclosure being presented.

This is supported by a method for manufacturing a housing for a sanitary fitting, which comprises at least the following steps:
a) providing a powdered material; and
b) building up of the housing layer-wise by partial irradiation of the material, wherein during the layer-wise building up of the housing an aerator of the housing is formed, with which a liquid jet emerging from the housing can be aerated.

Steps a) and b) can be performed consecutively, overlapping in time or simultaneously.

The method is used in particular for an additive manufacturing of a housing for a sanitary fitting. Such a sanitary fitting serves in particular to provide a liquid, especially water, at a wash basin, sink, shower and/or bathtub. For this purpose, the sanitary fitting can, for example, have a mixing valve with which cold water and hot water can be mixed to form mixed water with a desired mixed water temperature. Furthermore, the sanitary fitting can have a lever by means of which the mixing valve can be operated.

In step (a) a powdered material is provided. The powdered material can be powdered metal such as stainless steel, copper, copper alloy or brass. The powdered material comprises a large number of particles. The provision of the powdered material is carried out in particular on a base plate on which the workpiece is formed. In particular, the provision may take the form of a powder bed.

In step b), the housing is built up at least partially layer-wise by partial irradiation or exposure of the material. The irradiation can be carried out by a laser beam or electron beam, for example. Furthermore, the irradiation at an irradiated area of the powdery material leads to an at least partial melting of the material so that individual particles of the powdered material combine with each other. By building up the housing layer-wise, for example, it can be understood that several layers are formed one after the other on top of each other or layer by layer. A layer essentially describes a horizontal cross-section through the housing. In this context, it may also be provided that the layer-wise building up is carried out in or with a powder bed of the powdered material. This can also mean that the provision of the powdered material according to step a) is carried out simultaneously or overlapping in time with step b). In step b), for example, selective laser melting (SLM) or selective laser sintering (SLS) can be used. A 3D printer, for example, can be used for this purpose. The housing can, for example, be designed with at least one liquid channel and/or with a receiving space for functional components of the sanitary fitting, such as the mixing valve, a shut-off valve, an insert and/or at least one liquid line. Furthermore, the housing can be at least partly tubular. In addition, the housing can be designed in such a way that it can be attached to a support such as a sink, washbasin, worktop or wall. Furthermore, the housing can be designed with a mounting opening with which the housing can be attached to the support. Furthermore, the housing can be an outlet of the sanitary fitting, which for example can be attached to another housing component of the sanitary fitting in a rotatable or swivelling manner. The outlet is in particular tubular and/or includes at least partially the at least one liquid channel.

During the layer-wise building up of the housing or through the layer-wise building up of the housing, an aerator of the housing is formed. The aerator is used in particular to create a desired shape of a liquid jet with which the liquid leaves the housing or sanitary fitting. For example, the aerator can be used to form a full jet. For this purpose, the aerator is formed in particular at an end of the at least one liquid channel of the housing. Furthermore, the aerator can be used to unify, widen and/or slow down the liquid jet. In addition, the aerator can have at least one outlet opening. The at least one outlet opening connects in particular an interior space of the housing and/or the at least one liquid channel of the housing with an (external) environment of the housing. Furthermore, the at least one outlet opening can be at least partially tubular and/or extend along a longitudinal axis. The at least one outlet opening can have a diameter of 1 mm (millimetre) to 50 mm, for example. Furthermore, guiding structures for the liquid, at least one grid and/or at least one sieve can be formed in the at least one outlet opening. The aerator can be designed in the manner of a mousseur, bubbler, mixing nozzle or perlator, for example, and serves to aerate a jet of liquid emerging from the housing. The liquid jet can be aerated especially inside the aerator by the aerator. Due to the layer-wise building up or additive manufacturing of the housing, the housing with the aerator is formed in one piece. Furthermore, the housing is materially bonded to the aerator. This eliminates the need for connecting means for the aerator, thus increasing the design freedom of the housing. Furthermore, the aerator can be hidden so that it is not visible to the user during operation of the sanitary fitting.

The aerator can be designed with at least one chamber through which the liquid jet can be aerated. For this purpose, the liquid flowing through the at least one outlet opening during operation of the sanitary fitting can suck in air from the surroundings of the housing or sanitary fitting via the at least one chamber.

The at least one chamber can at least partially surround an outlet opening of the aerator. For this purpose, at least one of the chambers can be designed in the shape of a ring segment, for example.

The at least one chamber can be formed in a ring shape. In particular, the at least one chamber may extend around the at least one discharge opening and/or around the longitudinal axis of the at least one discharge opening.

The at least one chamber can be formed in the manner of a groove. This can mean that the at least one chamber is formed in the manner of a "trench", for example in a wall of the housing. Furthermore, the at least one chamber can be connected with the (external) environment of the housing and/or the sanitary fitting, for example. For example, the groove can have a depth of 1 mm to 20 mm. The depth is measured in particular parallel to the longitudinal axis of the at least one outlet opening.

The groove can have a width of 0.15 mm to 5 mm. The groove has preferably a width of 1 mm. The width is measured in particular in a radial direction which extends in particular orthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the at least one outlet opening.

The at least one chamber can be connected to an outlet opening of the aerator via at least one duct. The at least one duct can, for example, be designed in the form of a bore. The at least one duct is designed in particular in such a way that a negative pressure can be generated in the at least one duct by the liquid flowing through the at least one outlet opening during operation of the sanitary fitting. This allows air to be drawn in from the environment through the liquid via the at least one chamber. The at least one duct runs in particular at an angle of 0° to <90° to a cross-sectional plane of the at least one outlet opening. The cross-sectional plane runs in particular orthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the at least one outlet.

The at least one chamber can be connected to an outlet opening of the aerator via at least one tube, wherein the at least one tube extends into an inner region of the outlet opening. The at least one tube is designed in particular in such a way that a negative pressure can be generated in the at least one tube by the liquid flowing through the at least one outlet opening during operation of the sanitary fitting. This allows air to be drawn in from the environment through the liquid via at least one chamber. The at least one tube runs in particular at an angle of less than 90° to the cross-sectional plane of the at least one outlet opening. In particular, the at least one tube extends at least partially from an inner surface of the at least one outlet opening into the at least one outlet opening. This also allows ventilation of inner regions of the liquid jet formed by the at least one outlet opening.

The at least one chamber can be connected to an environment of the housing via at least one ventilation line. Air from the environment can be sucked into the at least one chamber via the at least one ventilation line. For example, at least one ventilation line can lead to an area of the housing that is not visible during operation of the sanitary fitting. For example, the at least one ventilation line can lead to an area of the housing that is located below the support when the sanitary fitting is installed. Furthermore, the at least one ventilation line may at least partially pass through the at least one liquid channel and/or through or along a wall of the housing.

At this point, it should be clarified that the housing and in particular all elements of the aerator, such as for example the at least one chamber, the at least one outlet opening, the groove, the at least one duct, the at least one tube and/or the at least one ventilation line are formed by the layer-wise building up or the additive manufacturing of the housing and are thus formed in one piece and/or are connected to one another with a material bond.

Following another aspect, a housing for a sanitary fitting is also proposed, which has an aerator that is formed in one piece with the housing by layer-wise building up of the housing.

In particular, the housing is manufactured according to a method described herein. For further details of the housing, please refer in full to the description of the method.

Following another aspect, a sanitary fitting comprising a housing described herein.

For further details of the sanitary fitting, please refer in full to the description of the method and housing.

The proposed disclosure and its technical environment are explained in more detail below with reference to the figures. It should be noted that the disclosure is not to be restricted by the shown embodiment. In particular, partial aspects of the facts explained with regard to the figures can be extracted and combined with other parts of the description. It shows exemplary and schematic:

A sanitary fitting with a housing in a perspective view. A first embodiment of the housing in a sectional view. A second embodiment of the housing in a sectional view.

Fig. 1 shows a sanitary fitting 2 with a housing 1, wherein the housing 1 was manufactured by a method described herein. The housing 1 has a spout 13, the underside 14 of which has an aerator 4 (which is not visible in Fig. 1) formed during additive manufacturing of the housing 1. Due to additive manufacturing, the aerator 4 is formed in one piece with the spout 13 or the housing 1. The Housing 1 can be attached to a support not shown here, such as a wash basin. In addition, the sanitary fitting 2 has a lever 15 by means of which a delivery quantity of a liquid and/or a temperature of the liquid can be adjusted.

Fig. 2 shows a first embodiment of the housing 1 in a sectional view along a cutting plane 16 shown in Fig. 1. During a layer-wise building up of the housing 1, the aerator 4 with an outlet opening 6 was formed. The outlet opening 6 has a tubular design and extends along a longitudinal axis 18. Furthermore, the outlet opening 6 connects a liquid channel 17 of the housing 1 with an environment 3 of housing 1. Thus, a liquid flowing through the liquid channel 17 can escape into the environment 3 via the outlet opening 6 of the aerator 4. The aerator 4 was also formed with a chamber 5, which extends annularly around the outlet opening 6 of the aerator 4. The chamber 5 is formed on the underside 14 of the spout 13 in a wall 20 of housing 1. Furthermore, the chamber 5 is formed in the manner of a groove 7, so that the chamber 5 is open to the environment 3. In addition, the chamber 5 has a width 8 in a radial direction 19 of the outlet 6 (i.e. orthogonal to the longitudinal axis 18). The chamber 5 is connected via ducts 9 with the outlet opening 6 of the aerator 4. The ducts 9 are designed in such a way that they form an angle 22 with a cross-sectional plane 21, which is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis 18. In addition, the chamber 5 is connected via tubes 10 to the outlet opening 6 of the aerator 4. The tubes 10 extend from the chamber 5 into an inner region 11 of the outlet 6 and also run at an angle to the cross-sectional plane 21. Outlets 23 of the ducts 9 and the tubes 10 opening into the outlet 6 are formed in a flow direction 24 of the liquid through the outlet 6 (i.e. parallel to the longitudinal axis 18) downstream to inlets 25 of the ducts 9 and the tubes 10. This allows the liquid flowing through the outlet opening 6 while using the sanitary fitting 2 shown in Fig. 1 to create a negative pressure in the channels 9 and the tubes 10, so that air from the environment 3 is sucked in via the chamber 5, which aerates the liquid flowing through the outlet opening 6 or a liquid jet formed by the aerator 4.

Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of the housing 1 in a sectional view along the cutting plane 16 shown in Fig. 1. The second embodiment of the housing 1 differs from the first embodiment shown in Fig. 2 only in that the chamber 5 of the aerator 4 is closed by wall 20 in the direction of the underside 14 of the spout 13. The chamber 6 is therefore not visible from the underside 14. Instead, the chamber 5 can be ventilated via a ventilation line 12. Ventilation line 12 opens into an area that is not visible when using the sanitary fitting 2 shown in Fig. 1.

The disclosure allows to increase the freedom of design of the housing of a sanitary fitting.

List of reference signs

1 housing
2 sanitary fitting
3 environment
4 aerator
5 chamber
6 outlet opening
7 groove
8 width
9 duct
10 tube
11 inner region
12 ventilation line
13 spout
14 underside
15 lever
16 cutting plane
17 liquid channel
18 longitudinal axis
19 radial direction
20 wall
21 cross-sectional plane
22 angle
23 outlet
24 flow direction
25 inlet

Claims

Method for manufacturing a housing (1) for a sanitary fitting (2), comprising at least the following steps:
a) providing a powdered material; and
b) building up of the housing (1) layer-wise by partial irradiation of the material, wherein during the layer-wise building up of the housing (1) an aerator (4) of the housing (1) is formed, with which a liquid jet emerging from the housing (1) can be aerated.
Method according to claim 1, wherein the aerator (4) is formed with at least one chamber (5) through which the liquid jet can be aerated.
Method according to claim 2, wherein the at least one chamber (5) at least partially surrounds an outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4).
Method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is formed annularly.
Method according to one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is formed in the manner of a groove (7).
Method according to claim 5, wherein the groove (7) has a width (8) of 0.15 mm to 5 mm.
Method according to one of claims 2 to 6, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected via at least one duct (9) to at least one outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4).
Method according to one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected via at least one tube (10) to at least one outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4) and wherein the at least one tube (10) extends into an inner region (11) of the at least one outlet opening (6).
Method according to one of claims 2 to 8, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected to an environment (3) of the housing (1) via at least one ventilation line (12).
Housing (1) for a sanitary fitting (2), comprising an aerator (4) which is formed integrally with the housing (1) by layer-wise building up of the housing (1).
Housing (1) according to claim 10, wherein the aerator (4) has at least one chamber (5) through which the liquid jet can be aerated, wherein the at least one chamber (5) at least partially surrounds an outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4).
Housing (1) according to claim 11, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is formed as a groove (7) and has a width (8) of 0.15 mm to 5 mm.
Housing (1) according any one of claim 11 or 12, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected via at least one duct (9) to at least one outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4).
Housing (1) according to claim 13, wherein the at least one duct (9) forms an angle (22) with a cross-sectional plane (21) of the outlet opening (6).
Housing (1) according to one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected via at least one tube (10) to at least one outlet opening (6) of the aerator (4) and wherein the at least one tube (10) extends into an inner region (11) of the at least one outlet opening (6).
Housing (1) according to one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the at least one chamber (5) is connected to an environment (3) of the housing (1) via at least one ventilation line (12).
Sanitary fitting (2), comprising a housing (1) according to one of claims 10 to 16.