Patent Application
20130000031
The present invention relates to an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath to eliminate the effect of coolness on the body of a user person immersed in hot water within the bath and in close proximity to air injecting orifices.
It is well known to inject air in the hot water contained in a bathtub to provide a turbulence of the water whereby a user person receives a massaging therapy by the turbulent water. A plurality of orifices are distributed in the side walls of the bathtub in areas where a water massage is required such as in the back wall and lower side wall areas of the bathtub. Various hydro massaging baths are known and such comprise adjustable nozzle assemblies mounted on the wall of a bathtub to discharge high velocity jets of water to impinge upon the body of a user person. However, when injecting air within the hot water, the user person is subjected to a sensation of coolness where the air jets impact its wet body. This sensation is the result of an adiabatic reaction which is caused by air which is relatively dry, and which enters in contact with the water. This sensation is felt even if the air is heated to about 60° C. Increasing the temperature of the air is not the solution to resolve the problem as this would burn a user person's skin. Accordingly, the prior art has opted to mix the air with recirculated water from the bathtub or with heated water such that the injectors comprise a large quantity of water mixed with air.
Another problem of injecting air in the water to cause turbulence is that the air cools the water in the bathtub prematurely because of the large surface contact area of turbulent water with the air. It is therefore desirable to eliminate this cool sensation when injecting air in a bathtub through air injecting orifices or air injectors.
In British Patent GB 2 224 203 published on May 2, 1990, there is disclosed a spa bath in which an air/water mixture is injected via injectors into the water contained within the bath. In that patent, water is taken from the bottom of the bath, heated in a heater and the heated water is supplied to jets within a manifold through which compressed air is blown. The water is injected through venturi orifices which cause water to be sucked through the jets to form fine droplets which are then discharged through the injectors. The droplets of heated water humidify and heat the air immediately before the air/water mixture is injected into the bath, therefore reducing discomfort to the user and maintaining the water temperature in the bath at a desired level. There are several disadvantages of this method, one being that the injector assembly is very expensive and troublesome. In a system as described, it is likely that the injectors will not all operate in a uniform fashion due to variation in pressure along the injector line. The clogging of the venturi gaps due to the fact that the recirculating water entering the nozzles may clog up the nozzles due to the various products and impurities in the water, particularly when water is extracted from the bottom end of the bathtub. Such decalibrates the operation of the injectors. However, this reference confirms that hot bath water is subjected to accelerated cooling when the water is agitated in contact with ambient atmosphere and that unless water is heated to about 50° C., injected air entering the bath will feel cool to a user person's body close to the nozzle creating a “chill effect” caused by blown air in contact with wet skin.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath which substantially overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath having air injecting orifices to which is fed hot humid air under pressure such that when the hot humid air is injected in the bathtub the cool sensation against a user person's body is eliminated or substantially reduced.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath wherein hot humid air is injected into the bathtub through an air distribution conduit in which is injected a waterspray to humidify air under pressure and wherein a heater is provided in the conduit to heat the hot humid air to a desired temperature for injection through air injecting orifices formed in the peripheral side walls of the bath.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath wherein water injected within the pressurized air in the air convecting conduit is regulated by a pressure reducing valve containing a removable filtered cartridge to remove impurities from the spray of water injected in the air to prevent clogging of the injection orifices.
Another feature of the present invention is to control the temperature of hot humid air injected in a hydro-massaging bath whereby to create a heat sensation in the area of the air jets provided in the peripheral side walls of the bath.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides an air injection system for a hydro-massaging bath. The bath has a bottom wall and peripheral side walls. A plurality of air injecting orifices are distributed in at least some of the peripheral side walls. An air convecting conduit is in communication with the air injecting orifices. An air blower is provided for injecting air under pressure and in an entry opening of the air convecting conduit. A water spray injector is provided in the air convecting conduit downstream of the entry opening and upstream of the air injecting orifices to inject a spray of a predetermined volume of water in the injected air. A water supply conduit is connected to the water spray injector and has a flow regulating valve to regulate the volume of water spray injected in the heated air to saturate the air with water. A shut-off valve is provided in the water supply conduit. A heater is provided in the air convecting conduit downstream of the water spray injector and upstream of the air injecting orifices.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to the drawings and more particularly to
As more clearly shown in
The water spray injector 19 is provided water from the domestic water line 25 via a flow regulating valve 27 and a solenoid valve 26 whereby to regulate the pressure and/or volume of water sprayed into the air flow 20 to assure that the air is fully saturated with humidity.
As also shown in
In
As also shown in
In order to completely saturate the air flow 20 it has been found that the flow regulating valve needs to be adjusted to inject between 4 GPH to 15 GPH of water into the air flow 20. By controlling the adjustment of the solenoid valve 26 the volume of water injected in the air flow can be controlled. The water spray injector 19 is herein constituted by a small air injecting orifice formed in a side wall of the air convecting conduit 15 and has an orifice size of about 2 mm. The controller 35 also controls the blower speed 16 to control the air flow displacement and therefore pressure of air injected in the bath through the air injecting orifices. Accordingly, the control circuit 35 can regulate the temperature and pressure of hot saturated air injected in the water 17 contained within the bath 11.
A thermostat 36 is conveniently secured to the air convecting conduit 15 to feed temperature signals to the control device 35 via its connection 37 whereby the control device 35 can automatically make the necessary adjustments to regulate the temperature and saturation of the air under pressure in the air convecting conduit 15. The temperature of the heated saturated air, when injected into the water within the bath, is in the range of about 35° C. to 45° C. and at such temperature there is no harm to the skin of a user person bathing in the bath while the “chill effect” sensation is substantially eliminated. In fact, when the temperature is in the higher range, a sensation of warmer water is felt on a user skin without fear of burning the skin of the user person.
Referring to
Another advantage of the present invention is that after use, the controller can automatically engage a cleaning and drying cycle wherein the solenoid valve 26 is shut-off and the air blower is engaged whereby to flush out any residual humidity within the air convecting conduit 15 and the injectors to dry out the air convecting conduit and injector orifices. The heater 28 may also be actuated to accelerate the drying cycle if the resistive heating elements 29 within the blower are not sufficient.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modification of a preferred embodiment described herein provided such modifications fall within this scope of the appended claims.
