Patent Application
20080006707
With reference to the drawing figures, specifically to the example in
The illustrated control assembly 1, also referred to as the mixer assembly, comprises a unitary body 3 mounted to a wall 4 proximate to water supply outlets 5 and 6 for cold and warm water, respectively.
The unitary body 3 may be mounted beneath a sink of conventional design, not shown, which would usually be installed level with or above said outlets 5, 6.
It should be understood that the unitary body 3 could be located elsewhere, for instance above the sink, or be recessed in the wall 4, optionally behind a door.
Likewise, the fluid delivery control assembly 1 according to this invention could be installed in a bathroom, beneath a washbasin or close by a bathtub.
The unitary body 3 has respective fluid inlets 11, 12 connected to outlets 5, 6 of a cold/warm water supply by flexible conduits 7 and 8, respectively.
The inlets 11, 12 are in fluid communication with a delivery outlet 15 formed in the unitary body 3 at an intermediate position equidistantly from said inlets 11, 12.
Advantageously in this invention, respective valves 9, 10 are provided in the fluid path from each fluid inlet 11 and 12 to the delivery outlet 15. The valves 9, 10 are fluid shut-off valves that also function to adjust the outflow rate according to the extent of an angular shift impressed on their stems.
More particularly, a first valve 9 is mounted in a respective seat formed in the body 3 aside the cold water outlet 5, and the second valve 10 is mounted in a respective seat formed in the body 3 aside the warm water outlet 6.
The valves 9, 10 are continual-action valves, and provided with respective actuating stems 19, 20 which extend from the valve seats and are made rigid with respective gears 29, 30 (
An electro-mechanic assembly is provided in the unitary block 3 for driving and mixing the fluid flow toward the showerhead. For instance a power drive means is provided for electrically operating the valves 9, 10. This power drive means comprises electric motors 23, 24 whose output shafts are rigidly coupled each to a respective one of the gears 33, 34 (
Each motor may be a DC gear motor connected to a power output of an electronic control unit to be described.
Specifically, the motor 23 rotates the drive gear 29 meshing with the gear 33 attached to the stem of the valve 9.
The motor 24 likewise rotates the drive gear 30 in mesh engagement with the gear 34 attached to the stem of the valve 10. The gears 30 and 34 are a predetermined drive step-down ratio enabling each gear motor to drive a corresponding valve to open in a fine continual movement.
Thus, each motor 23, 24 will control its respective valve 9, 10 to open, and hence the outflow rates of cold and warm water, respectively.
Advantageously in this invention, the fluid delivery control assembly 1 includes a showerhead 2 which is piped to the outlet 15 of the body 3 by a flexible conduit 27, and includes at least one electric control or command 28 that is electrically coupled to the motor means 23, 24 driving the valves 9, 10 in the control assembly 1.
As shown in
The electric signal generated by operating the control 28 is processed through the electronic unit 35, to be described in detail below, associated with the control assembly 1.
By providing the pushbutton 28 with a continual action feature, the fluid outflow rate can be controlled.
At least a second electric control or command 38 is mounted on the illustrated showerhead 2 for controlling the fluid temperature.
In a preferred embodiment, the first 28 and second 38 electric controls or commands are connected to the electronic unit 35 through an electric line 39 running along the flexible conduit 27 inside a protective sheath 32 of the flexible conduit.
Advantageously, the electronic unit 35 is mounted within a sealed portion 37 of a protective enclosure 26 of the control assembly 1, as shown in
The illustrated enclosure 26 is formed from a clear synthetic plastics material for convenient service inspection of the components of the mixer assembly 1. To one side of the enclosure 26 is the portion 37 housing the electronic unit 35 which is supplied a mains voltage via an external transformer 36 plugged in a wall-mounted socket 25 provided close by the water supply outlets 5, 6, as shown in
Respective electric connections 41,42 are established between the unit 35 and each motor 23, 24, as well as between the electronic unit 35 and each pushbutton 28, 38 on the showerhead 2. The last-mentioned connections are shown schematically in
It is worth mentioning that the cable 39 is not strictly necessary to the invention, since the pushbuttons 28, 38 may be coupled electrically to the electronic unit 35 by a wireless link. For this purpose, the showerhead may be provided with an RF signal transmitting device, and the unit 35 may incorporate a suitable receiver for such RF signals. This option is shown schematically in
With reference to the diagram of
A replaceable battery 47 is provided externally to also keep the electronic unit 35 operative on the occurrence of a main power shortage. A circuit portion 49 on the card of the unit 35 is arranged to regulate the power supply from the battery 47.
The control unit 40 may be an IC microcontroller having a plurality of control outputs for enabling respective output stages 57, 58 of the power transistor bridge or half-bridge type arranged to control the motors 23, 24 of the valves 9, 10.
Furthermore, an interface 52 is connected bi-directionally to the control unit 40 and the controls 28, 38 of the showerhead 2 by the cable 39.
Should the above description fall short of being exhaustive, it will be mentioned that the showerhead 2 can still be conventional as to its suitability for switching the water outflow between a solid stream mode through a central orifice and a spread stream mode through a plurality of tiny peripheral orifices around the central orifice.
This manual switching of the fluid outflow in no way affects the electric control arrangement described above and allowing the water outflow to be controlled on/off and adjusted for temperature and rate.
In a modified embodiment shown schematically in
In this modification, cooperating parts having the same construction and function as in the previously described embodiment carry the same reference numerals.
As explained below, this electric form of outflow switching is implemented by a novel design providing enhanced functionality for the control assembly 100, rather than being a mere adaptation of a conventional mechanical control.
For the purpose, two shut-off solenoid valves 44, 46 are incorporated in the control assembly 100 directly downstream of the delivery outlet 15.
Each solenoid valve 44, 46 is placed upstream of a respective flexible conduit 48, 50 conveying the fluid to the showerhead 2.
In particular, the two flexible conduits 48, 50 are paired longitudinally parallel to each other into a single, flexible water piping 56 (
More particularly, the flexible conduit 48 is in fluid communication with the central solid stream outflow orifice, while the other flexible conduit 50 is in fluid communication with the plurality of tiny orifices surrounding the central orifice in the showerhead 2.
In this modification, moreover, the electric line that runs under the protective sheath 32 along the flexible water conduit is led to a corresponding electrically operated outflow switching command or pushbutton 51 (
For this purpose, the electronic unit 55 comprises an additional output stage circuit portion 53, e.g. of the open collector type, which is connected to respective control outputs of the control unit 40 and drives each solenoid valve 44, 46.
Both electronic units, namely the units denoted 55 in
By just depressing the pushbutton 51 located on the showerhead 2, the user can switch between delivery through the central orifice or the peripheral ones by closing either one of the solenoid valves, 44 or 46, for example the valve associated with the conduit that is not to receive water from the outlet 15 of the body 3. In other words, by depressing the pushbutton 51, the two solenoid valves 44, 46 can be controlled to open or close such that one of them will close while the other is open.
This alternative embodiment of the electronic unit provides a wireless link between the controls on the showerhead 2 and the interface 52 to the control unit 40. The showerhead 2 is provided here with an RF signal transmitter, and the interface 52 includes a receiver for such RF signals. Additionally, a battery supply 62 is provided to the signal transmitter in the showerhead 2.
The above RF wireless link is generally shown at 54 in
It can be appreciated from the foregoing that the mixer assembly of this invention does solve the previously mentioned technical problem, and offers a number of advantages, foremost among which is the fact that the fluid outflow can be dispensed, at controlled temperature and rate, by just manipulating the pushbuttons on the showerhead 2.
The showerhead response to such a user's action is immediate, since the showerhead would be grasped in the user's hand anyhow, whenever there is a demand for water to be dispensed through it.
The invention eliminates the need of a mechanical control handle on the faucet holding the pull-out showerhead.
Also, controlling the water outflow is a simple and effective operation, wherein the only manual action in order to have the fluid dispensed essentially narrows down to grasping the showerhead with one hand.
All of the above U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet, are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety.
From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06014030.8 | Jul 2006 | EP | regional |
