Patent Application
20230381836
This application claims priority to European Patent Application No. 22461559.1 filed May 31, 2022, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to devices using for cleaning the interior of a tank such as, but not exclusively, a waste tank e.g. in an aircraft.
Tanks or reservoirs containing matter such as waste from a sanitation system or other matter which may be contaminated or hazardous or generally undesirable if left on the inner surfaces of the tank for a period of time often include a device that extends into and spray water or some cleaning fluid around the tank to clean the tank. This can avoid the need for manual cleaning of the tank which can be unpleasant or even dangerous. Furthermore, the tanks are often too small to enable a person to access the interior to clean it properly, or the tank may be vacuum sealed and so not accessible for manual cleaning and/or access to the tanks may be too difficult for the tank to be cleaned by a person. Passenger aircraft include large tanks for human waste from the aircraft toilets. These tanks are emptied after a flight and the inside of the tank is cleaned. This is usually done by means of a device, known as a rinse nipple, having nozzles through which pressurised water or a cleaning solution is sprayed around the interior of the tank.
A conventional rinse nipple includes a housing part to which a rinse hose providing the cleaning fluid is connected. The housing extends through the tank wall. A rinse head is provided at the end of the housing located inside the tank. The rinse head is provided with multiple openings or nozzles and the pressurised fluid is ejected out through the nozzles to clean the tank. Some rinse nipples have a rotatable rinse head. To avoid the need for power to be supplied to rotate the rinse head, the openings or nozzles are angled and offset relative to the axis of rotation of the head. This positioning provides momentum about the axis to cause the head to spin about the axis thus maximising the coverage of the fluid inside the tank.
Whilst the multiple nozzles and spinning head ensures that the fluid is sprayed as much as possible around the tank interior, due to the presence of various components and fitting that may be provided on the tank walls, extending to the tank interior, there may be some areas that are effectively obstructed or hidden by these components and are not reached by the spray from the spinning head. This can result in waste material or the like remaining in those areas and clogging or building up. The tank cannot, therefore, be fully purged of all of the waste which can cause contamination of the tank.
There is, therefore, a need for a rinse nipple that can ensure that a greater area of the tank interior is contacted by the spray of cleaning fluid even if such components are present.
According to the present disclosure, there is provided a rinse device comprising a housing part and a rinse head, the housing part having a first end configured to be attached to a supply of pressurised fluid and a second end to which the rinse head is attached, an axis X defined along the housing part from the first end to the second end, the housing part defining a cavity through which the pressurised fluid flows, in use, from the first end to the rinse head, the rinse head being provided with a plurality of openings through which the pressurised fluid is ejected; and wherein the housing part comprises an outer housing tube and an inner piston movable axially relative to the outer housing tube, and a spring attached at a first end to the outer housing tube and at a second end to the piston, and wherein the rinse head is attached to the piston at the second end of the housing part, such that the spring is biased to hold the piston at a first axial position relative to the outer housing tube until a pressure of the fluid inside the cavity exceeds an axial force of the spring, wherein when the pressure of the fluid inside the cavity exceeds the axial force of the spring, the piston is extended axially relative to the housing tube against the force of the spring to a second axial position relative to the outer housing tube.
A tank assembly and a cleaning method are also provided.
Examples of the rinse device according to this disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that these are merely examples and variations are possible within the scope of the claims.
A typical rinse nipple is shown in
The rinse head 14 is provided with a number of holes or nozzles 15 via which the pressurised fluid F forced through the housing is ejected into the tank. The nozzles can be positioned offset from the axis of rotation and at angles such that the ejection of the pressurised fluid F provides a force that causes the rinse head 14 to rotate relative to the housing about the axis X.
The pressurisation of the fluid and the rotation of the rinse head provides a good range of coverage of the interior of the tank with cleaning fluid. In some cases, however, areas O may exist, due to the presence of other components 20 on the inside of the tank, that fluid from the rinse head cannot reach.
The rinse device according to this disclosure is designed to address this problem as will be described with reference to
As seen in
The mechanism that enables the different axial positions will now be described further with reference to
The device of the present disclosure includes a housing part 120, 130, 180 and a rinse head 140. A first end 121 of the housing part is configured to be connected to a hose for supply of the cleaning fluid as described for the conventional device. The rinse head 140 is provided at the other, second end 122 of the housing part. There are various ways in which the end of the housing could be configured to attach to a hose and the invention is not limited to any particular manner. In the example shown, the housing includes a connector body 120 mounted to an end of a housing tube 130, preferably with a seal such as an O-ring 160 therebetween. A connector port 110 is received in the connector body 120 for attachment to a hose (not shown). This end of the housing is also configured to mount to the wall of the tank. For example, a flange 111 may extend radially outwards from the end or from the connector body 120 such that when the rinse device is fitted into an opening or port in the tank wall, for cleaning, the housing tube 130 extends inside the tank and the flange 110 extends outwards from the hole and secures to the outer side of the tank wall as best seen in
The housing part further includes a piston 180 mounted within the housing tube 130 and a spring 190. The spring 190 is attached at one end to the housing tube e.g. via a sealed bushing 175 and at its opposite end to the piston 180. The rinse head 140 is attached to the end of the piston furthest from the end of the housing configured to connect to the hose. The piston 180 is arranged for axial movement within and relative to the housing tube 130.
In the first position A1 of the rinse head, the spring 190 is in its default compressed state as shown in
As the tank is being rinsed, the cleaning fluid is provided from the hose at a certain minimum pressure p and flow Q. The rinsing fluid is flowing into the cavity 125 defined by the housing tube and the piston and the closed end of the rinse head. Although some of the fluid is being ejected from the nozzles, the pressure inside the cavity 125 will increase as fluid is provided from the hose.
Once the axial pressure of the fluid in the cavity 125, acting in the direction of arrow P, exceeds the force of the spring 190, the piston 180 and the rinse head 140 attached to the piston will extend axially as shown in
The speed at which the rinse head extends will depend on the spring force as well as the pressure p and flow Q of the fluid. In a preferred design, the device is configured such that the rinse head extends rapidly once the spring force is overcome.
When the rinsing or cleaning of the tank is completed and the supply of fluid is switched off, the pressure within the housing cavity 125 will reduce and the spring force will cause the piston and, therefore, the rinse head to retract relative to the housing tube back to axial position A1. The spring will hold the rinse head in this position until the next rinsing operation.
In the example shown, the rinse head 140 is secured to the piston 180 by means of a bushing 155 and a screw 165 that passes through the rinse head 140 and holds the head in position relative to the piston by means of a shoulder of the screw engaging with the rinse head. A spring pin may be provided that is inserted into the piston 180 to connect and secure the spring 190 to the piston 180.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this present disclosure, but that the present disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22461559.1 | May 2022 | EP | regional |
