Information
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Patent Grant
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6349921
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Patent Number
6,349,921
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Date Filed
Monday, July 3, 200024 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, February 26, 200222 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
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Examiners
- Shoap; Alan N.
- Keasel; Eric
Agents
- Cook, Alex, McFarron, Manzo, Cummings & Mehler, Ltd.
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CPC
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US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 251 12903
- 251 12904
- 251 12915
- 251 12919
- 004 302
- 004 305
- 004 313
- 004 406
- 004 410
- 004 DIG 3
- 004 DIG 15
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International Classifications
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Abstract
A toilet room flush valve for use in connection with urinals or water closets includes a body having a water inlet and a water outlet. There is a valve seat in the body between the inlet and outlet and a valve member is movable toward and away from the valve seat to control the flow of water through the valve body. An electric actuator is mounted on the valve body for causing movement of the valve member. There is a first opening in the valve body and a movable valve element extends in through the first opening into the interior of the valve body. A manually movable member, accessible from outside the valve body is used to cause movement of the valve element within the interior of the valve body. There is a second opening in the valve body and an electronic sensor positioned within the interior of the valve body for detecting movement of the movable valve element and an electrical lead which is connected to the electronic sensor and extends through the second valve body opening. The electrical lead is connected, through control circuitry, to the electric actuator whereby sensed movement of the movable valve element will affect controlled operation of the actuator and consequent movement of the valve member to operate the flush valve.
Description
THE FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a toilet room flush valve for use on urinals and water closets and more specifically to such a flush valve suitable for use in institutions, such as a prison. In a prison environment it is not unknown for those persons having urinals or water closets in their living quarters to cause unnecessary operation of a flush valve. This is not only wasteful of water, but is a subtle form of vandalism. The present invention provides a manual button for use by an individual to signal that a flush valve should be operated. Movement of this manual element is detected by an electronic sensor and provides a signal to an electrical control. The electrical control decides when and how often the flush valve will actually be operated and will cause operation of an electrical actuator on the flush valve.
The present invention specifically allows a totally manual fixture to be retrofitted for electronic operation without the necessity of re-piping the supply and vacuum breaker tubes which are normally connected to the flush valve. The purpose of the present invention is to easily convert a manual prison or institutional flush valve to an electronically activated flushometer in which electronics are used to process an input actuating signal, resulting from a manual operation, allowing the institution to program restrictions to flushing the fixture.
The present invention is particularly advantageous in that the existing flush valve body can be used and no water lines need to be broken or removed from the installed fixture. Existing flush valve bodies in this type of installation have two openings, one of which provides for the manual operating lever or push button currently being used. The other opening will provide access for an electronic sensor which will detect movement of the plunger actuated by the push button. The detection of this movement in turn will be electrically connected to a control circuit which in turn will determine when the electric actuator in the flush valve body will be utilized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to flush valves for use in operating toilets, water closets and urinals and more specifically to flush valves for use in an institutional or prison environment.
The invention is specifically directed to a flush valve which may be retrofitted, without any change in water connections, from totally manual operation to a hybrid electrical/manual operation.
Another purpose of the invention is to provide a flush valve for the described environment in which there is an electronic sensor to detect manual actuation of the flush valve, with the electronic sensor being connected to an electrical control circuit which controls operation of the flush valve through an electrical actuator.
Other purposes will appear in the ensuing specification, drawings and claims.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the attached drawing which is a section through a flush valve of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention relates to flush valves for use in connection with urinals and toilets and more specifically to a flush valve arrangement suitable for institutional use.
More particularly, the invention described herein has application in prisons in which there is a need to control use of the flush valve to prevent both vandalism and excessive water consumption. It is present practice for flush valves to be accessible by prison inmates from within their cell and there is a manual control for use by such individuals to flush the toilet or urinal. In order to avoid the excessive use of these devices, there is a clear need to control the number of times the flush valve may be operated in response to manual actuation by an individual. The present invention provides a retrofit to existing flush valves which are used in such an environment which will enable the flush valve to be changed from a pure manual operation to what may be termed a hybrid manual/electrical operation. This change may be brought about by replacing a portion of the existing valve operating components, but without affecting the water inlet and outlet pipes which are connected to the valve body. Since the flush valve is often located behind a partition, the ability to make this change without affecting the water connections is extremely important.
In the drawings, a flush valve body is indicated at
10
and has an outlet for
12
and an inlet connection, not shown, but conventional in valve assemblies of this type such as, for example, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,179 owned by Sloan Valve Company of Franklin Park, Ill., the assignee of the present application. The disclosure of the '179 patent is herein incorporated by reference.
The body
10
has a valve seat
14
which is closed by a diaphragm assembly indicated generally at
16
. The diaphragm assembly, again which may be more fully disclosed in the '179 patent is held in position upon the valve seat
14
through a volume of water contained within a pressure chamber
18
. The upper portion of the pressure chamber is defined by an inner cover
20
upon which will be positioned a solenoid
22
which will affect operation of the flush valve. The solenoid
22
is located within an outer cover
24
.
The diaphragm assembly
16
includes a diaphragm
26
having a bypass
28
whereby inlet water may flow into the pressure chamber
18
. There is a guide
34
centered in the valve body throat
32
by a flow control ring
36
. A refill ring
38
is positioned at the upper end of guide
34
and is mounted on an outwardly extending shelf
40
of the guide
34
. A piston disc
42
is threaded to the inside of guide
34
and is used to attach the assembly of the guide and refill ring to the diaphragm
26
. These elements all move in unison as the diaphragm moves between open and closed positions of the valve. The diaphragm assembly is completed by a piston screw
44
which is threaded to the inside of piston disc
42
and extends upwardly into a bore
46
in inner cover
20
. Piston screw
44
contains a passage
48
which is in communication with the valve outlet
12
for relief of chamber
18
when the valve is operated.
The solenoid
22
is mounted on top of inner cover
20
and controls water flow from chamber
18
through a passage
52
in inner cover
20
and into bore
46
in the inner cover.
Thus, the solenoid controls the venting of pressure chamber
18
through passages
52
,
48
and bore
46
to the outlet
12
of the flush valve.
Valve body
10
has a first side opening
60
to which is attached a pushbutton assembly indicated generally at
62
by means of a coupling nut
64
. The assembly
62
includes a plunger
66
which extends into the interior of the valve body
10
and is surrounded by a seal
68
. A spring
70
holds the plunger
66
in a normally retracted position. The plunger is operated by a pushbutton
72
which extends outwardly through a wall flange
74
. Typically, there will be a wall separating the pushbutton from the valve assembly. A socket
76
forms a connection between a collar
78
, mounting flange
74
, and a locknut
80
, which will be positioned on the concealed side of the divider wall. Operation of pushbutton
72
is effective to move the plunger
66
in an inward direction, against the retracting force of spring
70
. The pushbutton assembly
62
is held onto the valve body
10
by coupling nut
64
and a bushing
82
.
Directly opposite the opening
60
in the valve body
10
is a second opening
84
which holds a sensor assembly. The sensor assembly may include a mounting nut
86
, holding a tube
88
, with the tube extending generally into the valve body
10
and defining a chamber
90
for movement of the plunger
66
. There is a seal
92
which surrounds an electronic sensor
94
also positioned within the tube
88
. The electronic sensor
94
will detect inward movement of the plunger
66
and this detected movement will provide an electrical signal over wire lead
96
to a control box
98
. The sensor subassembly is completed by a washer seal
100
.
The tube
88
provides a sealed environment for the electronic sensor
94
to detect movement of the plunger
66
and the seals
68
and
92
prevent the entrance of water into that environment.
There is a connection from the control box
98
to the solenoid
22
and the operation of the solenoid will be controlled by the electronic logic within the control box. There are various process controls which are suitable for use in the control box
98
which will regulate operation of the solenoid and thus functioning of the flush valve. For example, there may be one operation of the flush valve for every 2, 3 or 4 operations of the pushbutton
72
or there may be a time based system or it may be otherwise. What is important is that operation of the pushbutton is detected by the electronic sensor
94
and the fact of pushbutton operation is communicated to the control box
98
which then in turn, will control operation of the solenoid as desired to both conserve water and insure that the flush valve only operates as needed.
Of particular importance in the invention is the fact that the flush valve body
10
may be a standard valve body which is used for manual operation and both the openings
60
and
84
are present in such a valve body. The valve itself may be operated by a diaphragm as shown, or it could be otherwise. If a diaphragm valve is to be used, then the manual diaphragm assembly is replaced by the described solenoid operated assembly without any need to change the valve body and the water inlet and outlet connections thereto. Similarly the pushbutton assembly, normally used in a manually operated valve of this type can remain. It is only necessary to add the proximity sensor and the solenoid and associated components along with the control box
98
to completely change a manually operated valve into one which is manually/electrically operated.
Whereas the preferred form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it should be realized that there may be many modifications, substitutions and alterations thereto.
Claims
- 1. A toilet room flush valve for use in connection with urinals or water closets including a body having a water inlet and a water outlet, a valve seat in said body between said inlet and outlet, a valve member movable toward and away from said valve seat to control the flow of water through said valve body, an electric actuator on said valve body for causing movement of said valve member,a first opening in said valve body, a movable valve element extending into said first opening and into the interior of said valve body, manual means accessible from outside said valve body for moving said valve element within the interior of said valve body, a second opening in said valve body, an electronic sensor positioned within the interior of said valve body to detect movement of said movable valve element within said valve body, an electrical conduit connected to said electronic sensor and extending through said second valve body opening, and electrical control means connected to said conduit and said electric actuator whereby sensed movement of said movable valve element within said valve body will affect controlled operation of said actuator and consequent movement of said valve member to operate said flush valve.
- 2. The flush valve of claim 1 including a tube within said valve body, said valve element being movable within said tube, and said sensor being positioned within said tube.
- 3. The flush valve of claim 2 wherein said first and second openings are in alignment and said tube extends from one opening toward the other.
- 4. The flush valve of claim 3 wherein said tube extends from said second opening toward said first opening.
- 5. The flush valve of claim 4 including seal means, within said valve body, and sealing said tube from water flowing within said valve body.
- 6. The flush valve of claim 1 wherein said movable valve element is a plunger.
- 7. The flush valve of claim 6 wherein said manual means for moving said plunger include a pushbutton mounted to the exterior of said valve body.
- 8. The flush valve of claim 6 including a seal positioned within said valve body and extending about said plunger.
- 9. The flush valve of claim 1 wherein said electric actuator is a solenoid mounted on said valve body above said valve member.
- 10. The flush valve of claim 1 wherein said valve member is a flexible diaphragm movable toward and away from said valve seat.
- 11. The flush valve of claim 10 including a pressure chamber located above said valve member in said valve body, operation of said actuator venting said pressure chamber permitting movement of said diaphragm away from said valve seat.
US Referenced Citations (21)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2 165 271 |
Apr 1986 |
GB |