The invention relates to a sanitary water-outflow fitting, in particular a bathtub-filling mixer unit, having a water-outflow housing and a jet former for a wide-surface-area water-outlet jet arranged therein.
In commercially known water-outflow fittings, such jet formers are used to produce a uniformly wide, homogenous water jet at the water outflow for aesthetic and/or functional reasons.
For example, known bathtub-filling mixer units have wide bath inlets which have a visually attractive design and, moreover, permit a large volumetric flow of discharged water, so that a bath may be rapidly filled.
Even in known surge flow shower heads it is desirable to pass a uniform water jet over the entire width of the flat, open water outflow which may be made of glass.
In order to produce a wide-surface-area jet, rectangular sieves have been hitherto used at the transition of a closed, flat, rectangular water outflow with the open water outflow. However, such sieves are very easily soiled.
For stabilising wide-surface-area jet formers it was hitherto required to pass the wide jet over a sufficiently long distance before it flowed further in the open water outflow. For flush-mounted fittings, for example for flush-mounted bathtub mixer units or flush-mounted surge flow shower heads, however, only a limited amount of space is available perpendicular to the mounting wall.
It is the object of the present invention to design a sanitary water-outflow fitting of the aforementioned type with an overall depth perpendicular to the mounting wall which is as small as possible and a visually attractive design, by means of which a uniform wide-surface-area water-outlet jet may be produced.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the water-outflow housing comprising an elongate supply channel extending substantially perpendicular to the water-outlet jet, which tapers in a funnel-like manner in the throughflow direction and is bounded by a intermediate wall which comprises a plurality of throughflow holes, via which the supply channel is connected to an elongate distributor chamber substantially parallel thereto, which has at least one water-outlet channel leading to the water outflow.
According to the invention, therefore, the supply channel and the distributor chamber are arranged transversely to the water-outlet jet, so that the water-outflow housing has a smaller overall depth. As a result of the tapering it is achieved that when the water flow is initially deflected in the water-outflow housing, the water is uniformly distributed along the intermediate wall, i.e. transversely to the water-outlet jet and the water pressure remains approximately constant along the supply channel. From there, it flows towards the distributor chamber, transversely to the water-outlet jet, through the throughflow holes, uniformly over the length of the distributor chamber. In the water-outlet channel(s) of the distributor chamber a second deflection of the water flow takes place in the direction of the water outflow.
In order to improve the homogeneity of the water-outlet jet, the supply channel, the intermediate wall and the distributor chamber may be approximately as long as the width of the water-outlet jet and the throughflow holes may be distributed over the entire surface of the intermediate wall.
Expediently, the throughflow holes may be located offset to one another on parallel lines, whereby a particularly uniform distribution of the throughflow holes may be produced over the surface of the intermediate wall.
Moreover, the throughflow holes may be of honeycombed configuration. In this manner, an almost uniform throughflow may be produced over the entire surface of the intermediate wall, which leads to the stabilising of the water flow.
In a further advantageous embodiment, the supply channel and the distributor chamber may have a rectangular cross section, the throughflow holes may extend perpendicular through the intermediate wall and the water-outlet channel may extend perpendicular to the throughflow holes. The rectangular supply channel and the rectangular distributor chamber are able to be arranged on top of one another in a particularly space-saving manner. As a result of the perpendicular arrangement of the throughflow holes, it is achieved that the flow direction is deflected by 90° and the water flows perpendicular to the intermediate wall in the distributor chamber, so that water flowing in the longitudinal direction of the distributor chamber and turbulence are substantially avoided. The water flows out of the distributor chamber through the water-outlet channel(s) extending perpendicular to the throughflow holes towards the water outflow; the water flow is in this case, therefore, again deflected by 90° into the plane of the water-outlet jet.
In order to permit a closed carpet of water, in particular in the water outflow, a plurality of, in particular rectangular, water-outlet channels may be arranged adjacent to one another. The rectangular shape permits an almost continuous arrangement in series.
In order to increase the flow velocity at the transition to the water outflow, the at least one water-outlet channel may comprise in the direction of water flow at least one, in particular step-like or funnel-shaped, narrowing.
The intermediate wall may be an insert which may be simply mounted in the water-outflow housing. In this manner, intermediate walls with different arrangements and/or sizes of throughflow holes may be inserted in a modular manner into the water-outflow housing. Also, the intermediate wall may, for example, be easily removed for cleaning purposes.
The water-outflow housing may have at least one lamp receiving space with at least one light window facing the water outflow. In the lamp space are arranged lamps for illuminating the emerging water and/or an in particular transparent water outflow, for example made of glass.
An embodiment of the invention is explained hereinafter in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which:
In
The water-outflow housing 1 is horizontally arranged in its longitudinal direction, for example in a flush-mounted receiver, not shown. The water-outflow housing 1 is compact perpendicular to the mounting wall, i.e. its horizontal depth in
The water-outflow housing 1 has, formed on the longitudinal side, on a vertical external wall 3, to the left in
In the fully assembled state, the plate-shaped water outflow, not shown, is inserted between the receiver 5 and the water-outflow strip 7 and fixed with a plurality of clamping lugs 17 which are located on the horizontal lower side 15 of the receiver 5. In this connection, upwardly projecting projections formed on the water outflow engage around the lateral front faces of the water-outflow strip 7.
As a whole, the water-outflow housing 1 fulfils the function of a jet former for a water-outlet jet which has a wide surface area in the horizontal direction which, indicated in
The inside of the water-outflow housing 1 is divided in the longitudinal direction substantially into three spaces extending parallel to one another and respectively rectangular in cross section, namely into a supply channel 21, in
The water-outflow housing 1 is closed on the side remote from the receiver 5 for the water outflow, to the rear in
In the water outflow housing 1 an ante-chamber 29 is arranged behind the feed pipe 27 extending over the entire vertical internal height of the water-outflow housing 1. The horizontal extension of the ante-chamber 29 in the longitudinal direction of the water-outflow housing 1 is approximately one fifteenth of the horizontal internal length of the water-outflow housing 1. Its horizontal depth is approximately half of the horizontal depth of the water-outflow housing 1.
The supply channel 21 with a rectangular cross section leads out of the ante-chamber 29, at the bottom in FIG. 1. Its horizontal depth corresponds to that of the antechamber 29. At its end opposing the ante-chamber 29 the supply channel 21 is defined by a vertical dividing wall 31, visible in
The base of the supply channel 21 is formed by a stop wedge 35, the surface thereof extending obliquely upwards away from the ante-chamber 29 and being sealed against the dividing wall 31 towards the hollow space 33 at the end of the supply channel 21 by means of the top thereof.
The top of the supply channel 21 is formed by a removable elongate intermediate wall 37 made as an insert, which has an almost square cross section. The intermediate wall 37 extends over the entire horizontal length of the supply channel 21 and separates said supply channel from the similarly long distributor chamber 11. The intermediate wall 37 is inserted from the rear face of the water outflow housing 1 with one of its short sides into a horizontal guide groove 39, visible in
On a defining vertical wall 45 of the supply channel 21 remote from the rear wall 25, are located two narrow horizontal guide projections 47 and 49 for the intermediate wall 37. The lower guide projection 49, visible in
The intermediate wall 37, visible in
The distributor chamber 11 is divided into two regions in the direction of the horizontal depth of the water-outflow housing 1. The region facing the rear wall 25 is located above the intermediate wall 37 and comprises the horizontal extension thereof. The region facing the water outflow has a plurality of vertical vertical dividing walls 53 extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the water-outflow housing 1, which respectively separate from one another two of the approximately square water-outlet channels 9 located adjacent to one another. The water-outlet channels 9 extend, therefore, perpendicular to the throughflow holes 51.
Each water-outlet channel 9 has over approximately half its length a beveled step which leads to a narrowing 55 penetrating the water-outflow strip 7.
Below the region of the distributor chamber 11 comprising the dividing walls 53, the cuboidal lamp receiving space 23 is located at the same height as the supply channel 21, in which lamps, not visible in the figures, are accommodated. The lamps are able to be controlled via control electronics 57 visible in
The lamp receiving space 23 has an elongate light window 61 facing the water outflow. The light window 61 is a transparent part of the vertical wall 3 visible in
The invention is not restricted to use in connection with a bathtub-filling mixer unit. Instead, it may also be used with other sanitary water-outflow fittings, for example a surge flow shower head.
The water-outflow housing 1 may also be arranged obliquely instead of horizontally. The water-outlet jet 19 may be of wide surface area in an oblique direction, rather than of wide surface area in the horizontal direction.
The intermediate wall 37 may also be fixedly connected to the water-outflow housing 1 instead of as an insert.
The distributor chamber 11 may also have just one single, wide water-outlet channel instead of a plurality of water-outlet channels 9.
The throughflow holes 51 may also be of honeycombed configuration or be arranged in an unstructured manner instead of being located in a linear manner.
The supply channel 21 and/or the distributor chamber 11 may also have a differently shaped cross section, for example a different polygonal, round or oval cross section instead of a rectangular cross section.
The throughflow holes 51 may also extend obliquely, rather than perpendicularly, through the intermediate wall 37. Similarly, the water-outlet channels 9 may also extend obliquely to the throughflow holes 51.
The throughflow holes 51 may also be of a different shape, for example polygonal, round or oval, instead of rectangular.
Instead of the step-shaped narrowings 55 the water-outlet channels 9 may also have no narrowings or a different type of narrowing, for example a funnel-shaped narrowing.
The lamp receiving space 23 may also be dispensed with. However, a plurality of lamp receiving spaces may also be provided at various points of the water-outflow housing 1. Each lamp receiving space 23 may also have a plurality of light windows in different directions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10 2005 061 974.6 | Dec 2005 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2006/010174 | 10/21/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/20/2008 |