The present invention is directed to the field of waterless or non-flush urinals for use in commercial, residential and public facilities, more particularly for an electronic replacement cartridge that relies upon a pair of mechanical seals for such urinals that does not require oil seals for odor trapping of fluids. The cartridge hereof can be designed to fit all existing waterless urinal housings with liquid sealant or Duck Bill flexible membranes.
This invention is directed to a dual mechanical drain seal cartridge for use in a “green” waterless or non-flush urinal, particularly for reception within a cartridge housing associated with the urinal bowl. Waterless urinals are a relatively new development, especially in the United States. The use is not just for convenience, but is becoming critical as a result of the concern for access to water, hence part of the “green” movement. That is, with increasing emphasis on water conservation, there is renewed interest in toilets and urinals designed to minimize the amount of water consumed in flushing to mitigate excessive demands on water supplies as well as on wastewater disposal systems. This renewed interest has extended into designing toilet facilities at public venues, such as arenas and stadiums.
Sanitation codes require urinals to provide an odor seal to contain gasses and odors which develop in the drain system: this function is conventionally performed by the well known P-trap or S-trap in which the seal is formed by a residual portion of the flushing water. This seal effectively locks in sewer odors from the drainpipe beyond the trap, however, the upward-open facing liquid surface communicates freely with the user environment, so that the trap must be kept free of residual urine by frequent flushing to prevent unacceptable odor levels from the liquid in the trap. Thus, a large amount of water is consumed in flushing these conventional urinals. Especially in the U.S. over many years when water was cheap and plentiful, conventional flushing type urinals and water-wasteful toilets held an unchallenged monopoly. However more recently, threatened and real water shortages have aroused new environmental concerns and heightened conservation awareness as evidenced by the introduction of low flush toilets, and non-flush toilets.
Non-flush or waterless urinals can now be found in commercial and residential facilities, all of which use an oil sealant, in the patented prior art as reflected in the following U.S. Patents:
a.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,037, to Reichardt et al., discloses a waterless urinal. The urinal system includes an odor trap cartridge unit configured as a coaxial dual chamber bell trap that eliminates the need for conventional P or J type traps required in water-flushed urinals. In the odor trap, a body of oily liquid sealant, floating on a body of trapped residual urine, serves as an odor barrier but allows entering urine to immediately permeate downwardly through the sealant and proceed to a drain without requiring flushing. The odor trap is molded from two plastic parts that are assembled together to form a cartridge unit that fits readily into a receptacle cavity of the urinal bowl configured for wall mounting. The cartridge stays in place by friction and gravity, and can be easily removed with a special tool. A special low specific gravity sealant formulation, ensuring efficient operation, is made biodegradable to protect the environment against any traces escaping to the drain. Sealant replenishment, when required, is easily performed. For unusually frequent usage, maintenance may be reduced by the use of an auxiliary oil reservoir serving one or more urinals.
b.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,197, to Gorges, teaches a system for the retention of the oily liquid sealant in an oil-sealed odor trap for a waterless urinal. This as accomplished by making the liquid flow path substantially horizontal as a departure from conventional practice of substantially vertical flow. The trap is structured to realize the substantially horizontal liquid flow path and to locate the flow path immediately beneath the sealant layer or beneath a baffle portion that is sloped such that stray sealant droplets migrating upwardly to the upper surface of the flow path due to their buoyancy will be recaptured and returned to the main sealant layer. To accomplish substantially horizontal flow, the entry compartment can be made to have entry and exit openings substantially offset from each other. The baffle between the entry compartment and the discharge compartment, which has traditionally been made entirely vertical, is made to have a non-vertical portion that is preferably sloped for sealant recovery. A sealant sheltering region can be provided in the vicinity of the entry region to prevent catastrophic loss of sealant in the event of high pressure waste flushing.
c.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,339, to Gorges et al., is directed to an odor trap apparatus for a waterless urinal that includes a housing having an interior and an opening extending from the interior to the external drain, and a cartridge. The cartridge has an exit opening disposed to communicate with the housing opening. The cartridge and the housing have positions of final secured interconnection, when openings are aligned, and of initial unsecured interconnection, when the openings are not aligned. A lever is swivelably secured to the housing bottom wall and has a cap for closing the housing exit tube, and a projection engageable with the cartridge for effecting the closure when the housing opening is not aligned with the cartridge exit opening. Three L-shaped keyways in the housing interior are adapted to make with three keyways in the cartridge, and have corrugated surfaces to provide a ratcheted secure connection between the cartridge and the housing when in the secure orientation. A tool is used to insert and to remove the cartridge from the housing.
d.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,723, to Gorges discloses another system for the retention of the oily liquid sealant in an oil-sealed odor trap of a waterless urinal.
e.) U.S. Pat. No. 6,973,939, to Gorges et al., teaches a waterless urinal system that includes an exit opening in a cartridge alignable with an opening in a housing for communication to an external drain. The cartridge and the housing have positions of final secured and initial unsecured interconnection, when openings are respectively aligned and unaligned. A lever is swivelably secured to the housing bottom wall whose cap can close housing exit tube: a projection is engageable with the cartridge for effecting the closure when the housing and cartridge openings are not aligned. Three L-shaped keyways in the housing interior mate with three keyways in the cartridge, and have corrugated surfaces to provide a ratcheted secure connection between the cartridge and the housing when in the secure connection. A tool is used to insert and to remove the cartridge into and from the housing.
f) U.S. Pat. No. 7,111,332, to Hsia, relates to a waterless urinal system that can be flushed with liquid. The system consists of a urinal with a flushing liquid and urine separator and a flushing liquid recycling system: the flushing liquid and urine separator have three flow barriers which can guide urine to down-and-up type flow paths to a drain: two of the three flow barriers being able to serve as weirs: the flushing liquid recycling system being able to send flushing liquid from the lower portion of the urinal to the upper portion of the urinal: the flushing liquid recycling system being optionally a foot-operated pumping system which optionally have a paddle which connects to a bucket which can be tilted up or down by operations of the paddle: the foot-operated pumping system of the flushing liquid recycling system optionally having two paddles: the flushing liquid recycling system optionally being a pump, motor and piping system which has sensors, timer and power control and supply system.
The prior art, as described in the foregoing patents, confirm the widespread belief that waterless urinals require the use of oil sealants to effect odor control in such units. These prior art systems are always open meaning the oil surface is open to the atmosphere. When the oil becomes depleted through use, odors can begin to permeate the room. In contrast to these systems, the present invention is directed to a closed system, even when in use. Thus, the invention hereof is a uniquely different approach to odor control, and to present a system having a considerably longer life between changes or replacement. The manner of how this approach is accomplished will become more understandable hereafter.
This invention teaches an electronic waterless urinal system that relies upon dual mechanical seals in place of the conventional oily sealants. The system is environmentally sensitive in that it does not consume the water required by conventional flush toilet systems, and the adverse effects of oil being transferred to the waste treatment facilities. In any case, the system is intended to be wall mounted and is suitable for high traffic locations, such as sport complexes, military and commercial vessels, schools, by way of example, and not by way of limitation. The system comprises a urinal housing body featuring a splash portion and a bowl portion, where the bowl portion includes a generally circular, central recess in communication with a fluid drain line, and preferably a generally circular housing in a sealing relationship within said recess. A generally circular cartridge is provided and is sized for sliding receipt within the circular housing. The cartridge is divided into a pair of chambers. The housing is characterized by an annular groove having an O-ring mounted therein to provide the preferred fluid seal between the recess and the housing. Returning to the cartridge in a first embodiment, a first chamber has an inwardly and downwardly directed top wall with a central opening in fluid communication with the bowl portion, a bottom wall mounting a flexible, one-way valve to allow fluid flow from the first chamber to the drain line, while preventing sewer gases from entering the first chamber. Additionally, there is a latching solenoid piston rod or plunger extending from the second chamber, where the free end of the piston rod mounts a sealing cap to provide a fluid seal between the bowl portion and the first chamber. The second chamber is sealed against fluid and gas intrusion, and contains a latching solenoid operable to move the metal piston rod into a closed sealing mode. Finally, the system is provided with a sensor means in electrical communication with the latching solenoid, where the sensor automatically detects immanent use and non-use of the system. Optionally, the housing may incorporate a UV sanitizing light for added germicidal benefits, and an LED light for ease or targeting for the user, where a preferred color for the LED is green.
In a second embodiment for the cartridge of this invention, the cartridge housing is similarly sized to the first embodiment to preferably slide and seat within the bowl recess, but the cartridge includes a hybrid, latching solenoid without the traditional iron piston rod or plunger, but rather a magnetizable, levitating metal shunt, where the magnets thereof are momentarily energized to render the cartridge “opened” and “close
Accordingly, a feature of this invention lies in the use of a pair of mechanical fluid seals for a waterless urinal, without the need of traditional oil sealants and chemicals associated therewith.
Another feature hereof is the provision of a latching solenoid valve to effect closing and sealing of the system.
A further feature of this invention is the inclusion of a motion or proximity sensor to automatically turn the solenoid ON and OFF.
Still another feature of the invention is an environmentally sensitive, i.e. “green” waterless, non-flush urinal system that is closed in the non-use mode to eliminate odor release, a problem associated with conventional systems relying on oil seals.
These and other features of the invention will become more apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawings.
This invention is directed to an improved, normally closed, electronic waterless urinal system, primarily to improvements in wall mounted, upstanding urinals that include an odor trapping cartridge secured within the base of the urinal housing. The urinal fluids of conventional systems enter an open urinal cartridge or reservoir filled with a portion of odor trapping fluid, such as an oil, which acts as an odor trap. Replacing these cartridges can be timely and costly. The benefits of the closed system of this invention, which does not require oil seals, will become more apparent in the description and accompanying drawings, specifically a first embodiment in
Before discussing the unique improvements of the present invention, it may be helpful to first review the prior art commercial system of
The present invention, a first embodiment of which is illustrated in the
The cover member 82 is characterized by an annular rim 84 that overrides the upper peripheral edge 81 to form a unitary structure. The cover member 82 is further characterized by a central recess 84 having a downwardly tapered wall 86 terminating in a central opening 88 that may include a female key to maintain its position, i.e. not spin. The tapered wall 86 may be fabricated of a translucent or transparent plastic, such as acrylic, or other approved materials, to transmit light from the LED's, as noted above. When using the preferred color of green, there results in a continuous green ring. The user now has a lighted target. Note the urine fluid flow as indicated by the flow arrows,
While the foregoing discussions have been directed to the mounting of the electronic cartridge hereof within a separate housing body, which in turn is secured within the bowl recess, the modification of
Within the cartridge 72 is a is a hybrid latching solenoid 90 mounted within a frame 104, see
Fixed below the latching hybrid solenoid housing 91 is a one-way flexible membrane, ‘umbrella’ check valve 70, as described above, secured by a ring member 106 to anchor the check valve. As best illustrated in
The reciprocating, movable cap mechanism 110, see
The cartridge 72 may further include a UV light 78 to help sanitize the cartridge 72, a raised tamper proof cap 128 and a conductor conduit 130 to bring electrical power to the latching, hybrid solenoid housing 90, and appropriate O-ring 132 and connector housing plate and junction box 134, 136.
Though certain features have been illustrated with only a particular embodiment, it will be understood that many of such features are interchangeable between the respective embodiments.
It is recognized that changes, modifications and variations may be made to the dual valve waterless, no odor trapping fluids, urinals of this invention. Accordingly, no limitation is intended to be imposed thereon except as set forth in the accompanying claims.
This application relates to and claims priority of Provisional Application, Ser. No. 60/932,700, filed Jun. 1, 2007, under the title, Waterless Urinal, by the inventor hereof, where the contents are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60932700 | Jun 2007 | US |