Patent Grant
9844304
The present invention relates to a soap recycling device and method of operation of a soap recycling device that allow recycling remnant portions of soap bars, and in particular, to a soap recycling method and device that allow small leftover solid portions of soap to be either converted into sterilized, reconstituted solid soap, or into sterilized liquid soap.
Soap is a chemical product that is used in a wide variety of applications. The main use of soap is for the washing of objects such as clothes, dishes, vehicles or practically any other object, the cleaning of floors, walls or practically any other surface, and the bathing of the human or animal body. Soap is also used in textile spinning or as a component of lubricants.
Soap's cleaning ability is provided mainly by certain components known as surfactants, which are both hydrophobic and hydrophilic. The hydrophobic part of the surfactant bonds with the dirtiness, while the hydrophilic part is attracted to water, causing the surfactant to link water and insoluble dirtiness, allowing dirtiness to be carried by water and thus eliminated from the object, surface or body to be cleaned. In addition, soap reduces the surface tension of water, increasing water's ability to make things wet.
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid. Soaps for cleansing are obtained by threating vegetable or animal oils with a strongly alkaline solution. Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides; three molecules of fatty acids are attached to a single molecule of glycerol. The alkaline solution, which is called lye, brings about a chemical reaction known as saponification. In saponification, the fats are first hydrolyzed into free fatty acids, which then combine with the alkali to form crude soap. Glycerol is liberated and is either left in or washed out and recovered as a useful byproduct, depending on the process employed.
Cleaning, washing or bathing soap is generally marketed in solid form or in liquid form. Solid formed soap can be presented in dust-like particles and in larger sized portions known as soap bars. Soap bars are normally used for hand washing of clothes and of the human or animal body, as they are easy to handle and friction against the surface to be cleaned. However, soap bars present the drawback of becoming virtually unusable once they have been used down to a small size that makes them difficult to handle. For this reason, soap bar remnants are discarded before they are entirely used.
Soap bars are used in households, in the industry, in commercial facilities such as hotels or spas, and in institutional establishments such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, only to name a few. In these scenarios, a relatively large amount of money could be saved, and thus better invested in other enterprises, if soap bars were able to be used in their entirety.
Various attempts have been made to provide a soap bar recycling device that provides for reuse of soap bar remnants. Among these are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,867 to Don D. Everman, U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0127245 to Leon Burrus, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,390 to Stephen Lister. However, none of these attempts have successfully provided the market with cost-effective devices for recycling soap. In practice, households, commercial facilities, industrial facilities and institutional establishments continue to discard solid soap remnants and broken shards.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a soap recycling device that successfully transforms used soap bar remnants into sterilized, reusable soap, and that is also able to be constructed into a relatively compact and affordable product that is suitable for both the consumer market and the business market.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the known art and the problems that remain unsolved by providing a soap recycling device comprising a heat source and a UV emitter that respectively melt and sterilize solid soap remnants, and a directional valve that selectively delivers the molten soap fluid to a first receptacle capable of storing the soap in liquid form and delivering it for direct usage, for instance for hand washing, and a second receptacle where the molten soap fluid solidifies and turns into a reconstituted solid soap bar. The device includes a user interface that allows selecting the desired operation mode to either liquid or solid soap formation. The device according to the invention can be constructed in various shapes and sizes, including a counter-top, compact size that will make it most suitable for household environments allowing households to save money on soap. Businesses and institutions will also benefit from the device, whether it is in compact form or in a larger, non-compact form, as it will prevent indiscriminate waste of broken soap shards and provide significant economic savings. The device is also versatile, as it is capable of producing recycled soap in both liquid and solid format.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the invention consists of a soap recycling device comprising:
a housing, inside which a solid soap remnant receiving space is defined above a soap remnant receiving surface, wherein said receiving surface comprises a drainage opening;
at least one UV emitter arranged above said receiving space;
at least one heat source arranged to heat the receiving space;
a first receptacle, in downward fluid communication with the drainage opening;
a second receptacle, in downward fluid communication with the drainage opening;
a directional valve unit, operable to switch between a first position in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the first receptacle is not blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the second receptacle is blocked, and a second position in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the first receptacle is blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the second receptacle is not blocked;
a processor unit, comprising a storage memory storing computer executable instructions for operating the directional valve unit to switch between the first position and the second position.
In another aspect, the UV emitter comprises an array of UV-emitting LEDs.
In another aspect, the heat source comprises at least one heating coil arranged horizontally above the receiving space.
In another aspect, the UV emitter is arranged between the heating coil and the receiving space.
In a second aspect, the UV emitter is horizontally movable along the receiving space.
In another aspect, the housing comprises a main body and top cover assembly, wherein said heat source and said UV emitter are arranged inside said top cover assembly, and wherein the top cover assembly, the heat source and the UV emitter are jointly movable with respect to the main body from a closed position in which the heat source and the UV emitter are arranged on top of the receiving space, and an open position in which the heat source and the UV emitter are arranged separated from the receiving space and the receiving space is accessible from the outside allowing a user to place soap remnants in said receiving space.
In another aspect, the top cover assembly is hinged to the main body.
In another aspect, the housing comprises an open space arranged below the first receptacle, said open space being delimited by a top surface comprising a dispensing opening in fluid communication with the first receptacle.
In another aspect, the device further comprises a proximity sensor unit for detecting the presence of an object inside the open space, and a closure valve unit operable to switch between a closed position and an open position in which fluid communication between the first receptacle and the dispensing opening is respectively blocked and unblocked, the storage memory further storing computer executable instructions for operating the closure valve unit to switch between said closed position and said open position.
In another aspect, the second receptacle is accessible from outside the housing.
In another aspect, the device further comprises at least one cavity tray sized to fit inside the second receptacle, said cavity tray comprising at least one cavity for the formation of a soap bar.
In another aspect, the device further comprises a user interface, wherein the processor unit is responsive to user operation of the user interface and operates the direction valve to switch in dependency of user operation of the user interface.
Introducing another embodiment of the present invention, the invention consists of a soap recycling device comprising:
a housing, inside which a solid soap remnant receiving space is defined above a soap remnant receiving surface, wherein said receiving surface comprises a drainage opening;
at least one heat source arranged above the receiving space, for heating the receiving space;
at least one UV emitter arranged above said receiving space and beneath said heat source, said UV emitter being horizontally movable along the receiving space;
a first receptacle, in downward fluid communication with the drainage opening;
a second receptacle, in downward fluid communication with the drainage opening;
a directional valve unit, operable to switch between a first position in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the first receptacle is not blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the second receptacle is blocked, and a second position in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the first receptacle is blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the second receptacle is not blocked;
a processor unit, comprising a storage memory storing computer executable instructions for operating the directional valve unit to switch between the first position and the second position.
In a second aspect, the housing comprises a main body and top cover assembly, wherein said heat source and said UV emitter are arranged inside said top cover assembly, and wherein the top cover assembly, the heat source and the UV emitter are jointly movable with respect to the main body from a closed position in which the heat source and the UV emitter are arranged on top of the receiving space, and an open position in which the heat source and the UV emitter are arranged separated from the receiving space and the receiving space is accessible from the outside allowing a user to place soap remnants in said receiving space.
In another aspect, the top cover assembly is hinged to the main body.
Introducing yet another embodiment of the present invention, the invention consists of a method of operation of a soap recycling device comprising a housing inside which a soap remnant receiving space is defined above a soap remnant receiving surface provided with a drainage opening, said method being performed by a processor unit comprised in the device, the method comprising the steps of:
a) detecting a user command from a user interface;
b) switching at least one heat source to an activated state in which the heat source heats the receiving space;
c) switching at least one UV emitter arranged above said receiving space to an activated state in which the UV emitter emits UV radiation towards the receiving space;
d) selectively operating a directional valve to provide downward fluid communication between the drainage opening and either a first receptacle or a second receptacle, in dependence of the user command.
In a second aspect, the method comprises the step of switching a UV emitter arranged above said receiving space to an activated state in which the UV emitter emits UV radiation towards the receiving space, and in which the UV emitter moves horizontally along said receiving space.
In another aspect, the method further comprises the step of dispensing liquid soap from the first receptacle, through a dispensing opening, to an open space arranged below the first receptacle.
In another aspect, the method further comprises the step of sensing the proximity of an object inside the open space, and selectively operating a closure valve unit to switch between a closed position and an open position in which fluid communication between the first receptacle and the dispensing opening is respectively blocked and unblocked.
In another aspect, the method further comprises the steps of measuring the time elapsed since the directional valve unit has switched to the second position, in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the first receptacle is blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening to the second receptacle is not blocked, and providing a sensory indication to a user through the user interface upon expiration of a predetermined amount of time.
These and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the attached drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which follow.
The preferred embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate and not to limit the invention, in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the described embodiments or the application and uses of the described embodiments. As used herein, the word “exemplary” or “illustrative” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” or “illustrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations. All of the implementations described below are exemplary implementations provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the embodiments of the disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims. For purposes of description herein, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “rear”, “right”, “front”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and derivatives thereof shall relate to the invention as oriented in
The illustration of
The illustration of
The device 100 further includes at least one UV emitter 200 arranged above the receiving space 170, capable of emitting UV radiation that destroys bacteria and viruses, disinfecting solid soap remnants placed in the receiving space 170. In the embodiment shown, the UV emitter 200 is an array of UV-emitting LEDs 204 oriented towards the receiving space 170 when the cover assembly 130 is closed as shown in
Preferably, the UV emitter 200 is horizontally movable along the receiving space 170 when the cover assembly 130 is closed as shown in
In other words, in the present embodiment, the UV emitter 200 and the heat source 210 are arranged inside the top cover assembly 130. The UV emitter 200, the heat source 210 and the top cover assembly 130 are jointly movable with respect to the main body 120 from a closed position in which the UV emitter 200 and the heat source 210 are arranged on top of the receiving space 170, and an open position in which the UV emitter 200 and the heat source 210 are arranged separated from the receiving space 170 so that the receiving space 170 is accessible from the outside allowing a user to place soap remnants in said receiving space 170. Such an arrangement of the UV emitter 200 and the heat source 210 inside the cover assembly 130 contributes to reduce the total volume of the device 100.
The cross-sectional view of
In a preferred embodiment, the processor unit 270 is responsive to user operation of the user interface 150 and operates the directional valve 264 to switch from one position to another in dependency of user operation of the user interface 150. Therefore, the user can select whether soap remnants are to be recycled into disinfected liquid form or into disinfected, reconstituted solid soap bars.
The illustration of
The open space 124 of the present embodiment is arranged below the first receptacle 230, as best shown in
As shown in
In the present embodiment, the second receptacle 240 is accessible from outside the housing 110, to allow a user to easily collect reconstituted solid soap bars formed inside the second receptacle 240. The device 100 preferably also comprises at least one cavity tray sized to fit inside the second receptacle 240. For instance, as has been mentioned, the illustrations of
A block diagram is shown in
The flow chart of
The method can further comprise the steps of measuring the time elapsed since the directional valve unit 260 has switched to the second position, in which downward fluid communication from the drainage opening 190 to the first receptacle 230 is blocked and downward fluid communication from the drainage opening 190 to the second receptacle 240 is not blocked, and providing a sensory indication to a user through the user interface 150 upon expiration of a predetermined amount of time. For instance, the sensory indication can consist of a visual indication on the display 154 and an audible beeping sound. The device 100 is thus able to inform the user when a solid soap bar has finished hardening inside the cavity and is ready to be removed by the user.
The above-described embodiments are merely exemplary illustrations of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations, combinations, modifications or equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all the embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
This Non-Provisional Utility Patent Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/760,608, filed on Feb. 4, 2013, which is incorporated here in its entirety.
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