Patent Application
20050205143
None.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to water treatment systems, sometimes commonly known as water softening systems, and more particularly to a unique bypass water valve for use with such systems.
Resin-type ion exchange devices have many uses, such as the softening of water. As the water to be processed is passed through the resin-filled tank, ions in the fluid to be processed, e.g., calcium, are exchanged with ions found in the resin, e.g., sodium, thereby removing objectionable ions found in the water. During this ion exchange process, the ability of the resin to exchange ions gradually is reduced. That is, the resin bed becomes exhausted and, thereafter, water will flow therethrough in unprocessed form.
The capacity of the ion exchange resin bed can be determined from the volume of resin used and the particular type of resin. The concentration of contaminant(s) in the water to be processed can be determined, at least on an average basis. Thus, the volume of water that can be processed by a particular water treatment unit is known. Once that capacity of water has been treated, the bed must be regenerated.
Regeneration of the ion exchange resins typically involves chemically replacing the objectionable ions from the resin with less objectionable ions, e.g., replacing calcium with sodium ions. This regeneration process requires the suspension of the treatment process; thus, necessitating the water to bypass the ion exchange resin tank. At the same time as the ion exchange resin is regenerated, the bed can be backwashed in order to remove trapped particulate matter, the resin tank can be rinsed to remove objectionable soluble materials, an application of sterilization agent to prevent bacterial growth can be accomplished, etc. All of these operations are known in the art.
Water flow into the unit is controlled by a bypass water valve, which as its name implies, must have the ability to permit the service water to bypass the water softening unit and pass directly into the building's water piping and manually on an as needed basis. The main reasons for bypassing the unit is for servicing the unit without cutting off the water supply to the building, or to permit large quantities of untreated water to be used, for example, for watering laws, washing cars, or the like.
Heretofore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,679 proposes a water system valve comprising a valve housing 20, supply and return lines, a pinion gear 75, a rack 81, an actuating arm 77, and a valve element 45 (
It is an improved bypass water valve that the present invention is directed.
The invention is a compact, lightweight, and easy-to-use bypass valve that is unique is its gear-driven, single turn operation. It is unlike push-pull type or double turn bypass valves currently available. A single 180-degree turn of one knob moves the valve between sending water through the softener/filter unit and bypassing it. The knob is attached to a geared shaft. The geared shaft mates with a geared piston. This piston contains 2 cylindrical sealing surfaces riding axially in an inner bore connected to the in and out ports for the plumbing. In service, one of the sealing surfaces seals in the middle of the inner bore, forcing flow down into the unit. Turning the bypass knob translates the piston so that one sealing surface seals one end of the inner bore while the other sealing surface seals the other end. This blocks flow from entering the unit and provides a flow path directly from the in port to the out port.
In detail the bypass water valve composed of a housing having a service water inlet and service water outlet, a tank inlet and a tank outlet, and an inner bore in flow communication with the service water inlet and service water outlet and with said tank inlet and tank outlet. A geared piston is slidably disposed in the housing inner bore and has a pair of ends that have sealing surfaces. A geared shaft knob is mated with the geared piston to urge the piston to slidably move axially within the housing inner bore by rotation of the knob. In a service mode, one of the sealing surfaces seals in the middle of the inner bore forces flow down into the unit. A bypass mode is achieved by rotation of the knob to translate the piston axially in the housing inner bore so that one sealing surface seals one end of the housing inner bore while the other sealing surface seals the other end of the housing inner bore, thereby blocking flow to the tank inlet and from the tank outlet, and providing a flow path directly from the water inlet to the water outlet.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The drawings will be described in detail below.
Referring initially to
Bypass water valve 10 also has a pair of interiorly threaded caps, 24 and 26, which provide access to the interior of bypass water valve 10, which interior will described in detail below in connection with
Geared piston 32 has a pair of ends, 40 and 42, which are sealed against bore 34 by sealing rings, 44 and 46, respectively. Other sealing mechanisms can, of course, be provided in conventional fashion, as is necessary, desirable, or convenient. In the service position as shown in
In the bypass position as shown in
Piston 32 is shown in greater detail in
Bypass water valve 10 advantageously will be manufactured from plastic, although metal, ceramic, laminate, or other material could be used. Injection molding of bypass water valve 10 and its parts is a convenient method of manufacture.
While the invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In this application all units are in the metric system and all amounts and percentages are by weight, unless otherwise expressly indicated. Also, all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
