Patent Application
20090174086
The present invention relates to localized cooling systems. This invention relates particularly to a durable hand-held apparatus for cooling a localized area through the evaporative cooling process.
It is a well known principle that introduction of humidity into a dry atmosphere lowers the ambient atmospheric temperature. Evaporative or “swamp” coolers served as effective refrigeration devices in desert climates for over fifty years. This principle has been applied in the development of devices to cool a more localized area by spraying a fine mist. Such devices are known in the art and an examination of these devices reveals that the water is pressurized by motor power, by attachment to a tank of pressurized gas, or by manual pumping. The motor-powered sprayers tend to be heavy, noisy, and cumbersome to use, and require fuel or an electrical cord connecting the sprayer to an electrical source. The air-pressurized sprayers require that the user has constant access to a source of pressurized air to recharge the container. These limitations severely inhibit the convenience and portability of the spraying apparatus.
Manually-pumped containers eliminate the requirement for a separate source of pressurization and enabled the development of portable misting systems. In essence, a hand-pump is directly attached to a small water tank, and the user manually reciprocates the pump handle to force air into the tank to pressurize it. The device is turned on by opening a flow valve, and a fine mist is emitted from a nozzle. However, in the prior art devices, the user could not tell if the container was sufficiently pressurized to emit a fine mist without testing it by opening the valve. A container that is insufficiently pressurized would release large drops of water slowly, often dripping big drops, rather than spraying a fine mist. Insufficient pressure therefore renders the apparatus useless for its purpose because the emission isn't a mist and, moreover, it is also messy. It would be desirable to know the amount of pressure inside the container before the valve is opened. Then, if the pressure is too low to create a mist, the container could be pressurized to a sufficient level before it is turned on, avoiding drips.
In previously disclosed portable devices, the flow of mist is controlled by a flow valve connected by a plastic tube to the outside of the tank at a water outlet. Usually the connections between the tank, flow valve and tube are friction fit. That is, the flow valve just squeezes into the end of the tube and the nozzle squeezes into the end of the flow control valve, all held in place by the friction. The distance between the flow valve and the water container makes it easy to snag the flow valve or nozzle and accidentally pull one off. This is especially a problem with portable misting devices. Further, when the nozzle is detached from the apparatus, the flow valve remains connected and will still release water if opened. Without a misting nozzle on the end, essentially a stream of water is released. This, again, is especially a problem with portable misting devices because the valve could be accidentally opened during transportation and cause the water to leak out. To increase the durability of a portable mister, it would be beneficial to provide a flow valve assembly that is more durable.
A similar problem plagues the known portable misting devices with the pump handle. The handle extends form the water container a sufficient distance to make the knob on the handle easy to grasp. Unfortunately, this extension makes it easy to snag the knob and accidentally pull out the handle, making the device bigger and unwieldy, and again making storage and transportation inconvenient and messy.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus which utilizes the evaporative cooling principle in a device that is more durable and less messy than those of the prior art. It is another object of this invention to integrate the flow valve assembly and handle into the device. It is another object to provide a misting device that minimizes the risk of water leaking out as a fluid, instead of spraying out as a mist.
The present invention is a misting apparatus that is more durable and leaks less than systems known in the art. The apparatus includes a durable, integral flow control assembly and handle, which are especially beneficial for portable misting systems. The apparatus further includes a pressure gauge for monitoring the pressure inside the tank.
is a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
is a rear perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
is a top view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
is a bottom view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
is a front perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.
is a rear perspective view of the second embodiment of the present invention.
is a top view of the second embodiment of the present invention.
is a bottom view of the second embodiment of the present invention.
is a cross-sectional view of the present invention along line 1-1 or 5-5, illustrating the handle in the extended position.
is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with the flow valve closed, taken along line 1-1.
is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with the flow valve open, taken along line 1-1.
is a perspective view of the upper portion of the preferred embodiment, illustrating the removable nozzle.
a is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the preferred embodiment, with the flow lever in the fully closed position.
b is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the preferred embodiment, with the flow lever in a partially open position.
c is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the preferred embodiment, with the flow lever in a fully open position.
a is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the second embodiment, with the flow lever in the fully closed position.
b is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the second embodiment, with the flow lever in a partially open position.
c is a perspective view of the flow assembly of the second embodiment, with the flow lever in a fully open position.
a is a perspective view of the pressure gauge integrated with the cap of the preferred embodiment.
b is a perspective view of the pressure gauge of the preferred embodiment
c is a rear view of a cross section of the pressure gauge of the preferred embodiment, showing the internal parts of the pressure gauge.
The present invention is a misting apparatus, designated generally as 10, used to evaporatively cool a localized area by emission of a fine mist spray. The misting apparatus 10 comprises generally a water tank 11 and a cap 15, which further comprises a pump, a flow control assembly and optionally a pressure gauge 28.
As shown in
The cap 15 connects to the water tank 11 at the water tank's mouth 13 in a watertight and substantially air-tight seal. To achieve the seal, the cap 15 is preferably threaded along its outer surface 16, and the water tank 11 is complementarily threaded along its inner surface such that when the threads of the pieces are fully engaged, the exterior surfaces of the water tank 11 and cap 15 are integrated to achieve a substantially smooth surface. In the preferred embodiment, an o-ring 19 may be used at the interface of the water tank 11 and the cap 15 to facilitate sealing the water tank 11.
The mist is controlled by a flow control assembly comprising an inner tube 25 to conduct water from the tank 11 through a flow valve 23 to a nozzle 27.
The water flow is partially or fully occluded by the operation of a flow lever 31 that opens and closes the flow valve 23 and, thus, the water path. While the flow lever 31 may act as a toggle, between only a fully open position to only a fully closed position, preferably the flow lever 31 enables a variable flow of pressurized water to the nozzle. That is, a variable flow lever 31 partially inhibits the emission of evaporative mist when the flow lever 31 is between the open position and the closed position, and the emission is increasingly inhibited as the flow lever 31 is moved toward the closed position.
Preferably the misting apparatus includes a pressure gauge 28. The pressure gauge 28 is operably connected to the water tank 11 so it can detect the pressure within the water tank 11 and is preferably integral with the cap 15. The pressure gauge 28 can be any gauge capable of sensing the pressure in the water tank 11, but is preferably an aneroid gauge such as the Bourdon gauge shown in
The pressure will change as the misting device is operated, and the user can read the pressure gauge 28 to determine when the inner water chamber is sufficiently pressurized. The readout on the pressure gauge 28 may display the pressure in any format useful to the user, such as a digital or analog display of the current pounds per square inch (PSI) of pressure, or a single indicator that activates when sufficient pressure is achieved. In the preferred embodiment, the readout displays an analog meter with a needle that rises through indicators, showing the pressure currently contained. For example, as shown in
While there has been illustrated and described what is at present considered to be the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that this invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
