Patent Application
20230012874
Embodiments of the invention relate to mikvah sanitation devices, in particular for improving sanitation conditions in a body of water of a mikvah in which believers bathe to achieve ritual purity.
Classical rabbinical literature dictates many rules relating to the construction of a mikvah (or mikveh). For example, a mikvah has to be connected to a source of naturally occurring water, it must contain sufficient water to cover the entire body of an average-sized person; and the required volume of water should be about 40 seah.
Additional requirements dictate the manner in which the water can be stored and transported to or within the mikvah. For example it is forbidden for the water to pass through any vessel which could hold water within it. If however a vessel has an ‘opening’ that is large enough to fulfill a criteria called ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ (shfoferes hanod)—then the vessel may be used for filling or channeling water in a mikvah.
The booklet “Understanding Mikvah: An Overview of Mikvah Construction” by the author ‘Rabbi Schneur Zaiman Lesches’; ISBN 0-9689146-0-8 (2001); specifies many of the requirement relating to a Mikvah. It specifies, inter alia, at pages 43 and in particular 44 and footnotes 67, 72 and 73 that an ‘opening’ in a vessel that qualifies as a ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ should be large enough for two average fingers to fit in and rotate.
The booklet further details that the dimension of such an ‘opening’ equals to a quarter of a tefach (the common measure for one tefach as used in modern mikvah's is 10 centimeters); and thus according to this measurement such an ‘opening’ could be as small as about 25 millimeters in width (see footnotes 67 and 72). In an enhancement (hiddur) that goes beyond the formal demands of rabbinical law—an ‘opening’ qualifying as a ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ should be at least 48 millimeters in width (see footnote 73).
Rabbinical rules relating to the purity and hence cleanliness and sanitation of the body of water in a mikvah are strictly followed, and thus to avoid unfit water, the water in a mikvah can often be completely drained away and refilled from scratch resulting in large quantities of water that are wasted. In cases where water in the Mikvah is heated, re-filling a Mikvah with new water requires re-heating the water, a process that is wasteful in energy. Thus, being able to use the water in the mikvah for longer periods of time, while maintaining water cleanliness and the required purity of the water for its intended religious ritual, is advantageous.
The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described and illustrated in conjunction with systems, tools and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope.
In an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a sanitation device for cleaning a body of water in an immersion pool of a mikvah, the sanitation device comprising a housing, a driving member and a bypass passageway, the housing defining an inlet, an outlet and internal liquid passages that communicate between the inlet and outlet, the driving member being arranged to urge flow of liquid through the internal liquid passages by exerting thrust upon liquid flowing through the driving member, wherein at least part of the liquid flowing through the liquid passages bypasses flowing through the driving member by flowing through the bypass passageway towards the device's outlet.
In an embodiment, a cross sectional extension, e.g. diameter, of the bypass passageway is sized to fulfill a criteria of ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ (shfoferes hanod) by being generally equal to or greater than about 25 millimeters, and in an enhancement (hiddur) preferably generally equal to or greater than about 48 millimeters.
In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the figures and by study of the following detailed descriptions.
Exemplary embodiments are illustrated in referenced figures. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative, rather than restrictive. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures, in which:
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated within the figures to indicate like elements.
Attention is drawn to
Top float 14 is arranged to have a buoyancy that maintains its upper edge 141 just above and/or generally flush with the upper surface 18 of the water. Upper edge may have recess bays 142 formed therein to provide passageways for water to flow passed the upper edge and into the device.
Sanitation device 10 in this example may be fixed via a fixture 20 to a side wall of the mikvah's immersion pool or to any other support available adjacent the immersion pool—and by that may be maintained fix in place within the water of the mikvah. Such fixing of the device may be in a removable manner to allow easy removal of the filter from the mikvah.
In order to compensate for relative slight changes (e.g. of up to about 25 centimeters) in the level of water in the mikvah—top float 14 may be arranged to slide with respect to middle housing section 12. Therefore, if the water rises slightly (e.g. due to a bather entering the water) top float 14 can slide upwards in relation to middle housing section 12 to maintain upper edge 141 suitably located just above and/or generally flush with the upper surface of the water.
Attention is drawn to the cross sectional view of
Attention is additionally drawn to the cross sectional view of
Within the bottom housing section 16, the sanitation device includes a motorized propeller 24. Propeller 24 is housed within section 16 in a housing block 241 that includes a first passageway 2411 and second bypass passageway 2412. First passageway 2411 generally surrounds the propeller 24 and second bypass passageway 2412 communicates between cavity 77 and a location within bottom housing section 16 that is downstream to the propeller. Therefore, bypass passageway 2412 serves as a route for water flowing through the filter to bypass flowing directly through the propeller.
The propeller when powered to revolve is arranged to urge a downstream directed flow of water, which in this example exits the sanitation device back into the main body of water of the mikvah via an outlet 161 formed in the bottom housing section 16.
The downstream flow of water formed by the propeller is arranged to draw water from the upper surface of the body of water of the mikvah into the device via top float 14. The water entering the device at its upstream side fills the peripheral gap 222 formed about the filter cartridge and then flows passed filter cartridge 22 into its passage 221 as illustrated by the ‘dashed’ arrows in
As seen by the ‘dotted’ arrows in
In at least certain sanitation device embodiments, bypass passageway 2412 may be sized to define a route towards the device's outlet 161 that has a cross sectional extension (e.g. diameter) of at least about 25 millimeters (or more); and in an enhancement (hiddur) at least about 48 millimeters (or more)—in order to provide an ‘opening’ between the main body of water of the mikvah and the water passages upstream of housing block 241, namely cavity 77 and passage 221—that fulfills the criteria of ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ (shfoferes hanod).
By maintaining a cross sectional extension (e.g. diameter) of water passages downstream to bypass passageway 2412 on route to outlet 161 and also upstream to bypass passageway 2412 (in particular passage 221)— of at least about 25 millimeters (or more); and in an enhancement (hiddur) at least about 48 millimeters (or more)—a full extension of the water passages from passage 221 to outlet 161 is available for fulfilling the criteria of ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ (shfoferes hanod).
Attention is drawn to
Similar to the embodiment in
In at least certain sanitation device embodiments, bypass passageway 2412 may be sized to define a route towards the device's outlet 161 that has a cross sectional extension (e.g. diameter) of at least about 25 millimeters (or more); and in an enhancement (hiddur) at least about 48 millimeters (or more)—in order to provide an ‘opening’ between the main body of water of the mikvah and the water passages upstream of housing block 241, namely cavity 77 and passage 221—that fulfills the criteria of ‘mouthpiece of a drinking pouch’ (shfoferes hanod).
Bypass passageway 2412 with respect to the embodiment seen in
During a cleaning operation of sanitation devices of the present disclosure (such as 10 and 100) and while propeller 24 is activated, the pressure at cavity 77 may be lower than at outlet 161 and therefore at least such pressure difference between outlet 161 and cavity 77 may not encourage such flow through bypass passageway 2412 in a downstream direction towards outlet 161.
Attention is drawn to
During operation of the sanitation device (such as 10, 100), propeller 24 rotates about rotational axis T in a rotational direction R in order to urge water flow through the device and downstream back to the body of water of the mikvah via outlet 161. Due to the rotational motion of the propeller, the water urged downstream towards outlet 161 may assume a generally turbulent flow pattern.
In experiments performed by the inventors it was observed that in certain cases, the turbulence in the water flow may reduce the efficiency of the sanitation device by encouraging back flow of water via bypass passageway 2412 towards cavity 77, where low pressure in any case may be present as discussed.
In order to mitigate or substantially avoid such reduction of efficiency in a sanitation device of the present disclosure, the vanes 91 of the truss may be designed to reduce the turbulence of the water.
In one example, the vanes may each be twisted about their respective axes C to assume a formation that counters the rotational turbulence formed by the propeller—so that the resulting water flow downstream towards the outlet may be more laminar. Increasing the speed of water flow may be another measure for mitigating the discussed loss of efficiency of the sanitation device.
As seen in
In certain embodiments, UV light sources (possibly LED UV light sources) may be positioned adjacent the propeller and/or in a vicinity of cavity 77 in order to act as a radiation disinfectant to the water flowing through the sanitation device. Optionally, electrical power provided to the motor may also be used in some cases to power such UV light sources.
In the description and claims of the present application, each of the verbs, “comprise” “include” and “have”, and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a complete listing of members, components, elements or parts of the subject or subjects of the verb.
Further more, while the present application or technology has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and non-restrictive; the technology is thus not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art and practicing the claimed technology, from a study of the drawings, the technology, and the appended claims.
In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures can not be used to advantage.
The present technology is also understood to encompass the exact terms, features, numerical values or ranges etc., if in here such terms, features, numerical values or ranges etc. are referred to in connection with terms such as “about, ca., substantially, generally, at least” etc. In other words, “about 3” shall also comprise “3” or “substantially perpendicular” shall also comprise “perpendicular”. Any reference signs in the claims should not be considered as limiting the scope.
Although the present embodiments have been described to a certain degree of particularity, it should be understood that various alterations and modifications could be made without departing from the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 284869 | Jul 2021 | IL | national |
