Patent Application
20250052040
The present invention relates to a highly water-efficient pre-rinse and pre-wash system for dishwashing.
Today highly water-efficient dishwashers are available in the market. However, before dishes are put in the dishwasher it is estimated 80% of the owners pre-rinse instead of scrapping food off the dishes and letting the dishwasher do the rest. This results in a significant waste of water estimated to be 20 Gallons per load in a residential setting. Two-thirds of water consumption in restaurants is estimated to be consumed in the pre-rinse of dishes. Many water-saving guidelines exist including scrapping off the food and letting the dishwasher do the rest instead of pre-rinsing. There are additional guidelines including using water-efficient faucets and appliances. Yet owners have not adopted these guidelines leading to water wastage in the pre-rinse of dishes whether at home or in restaurants. Additionally, a lot of large dishes and pots do not go into the dishwasher and are hand washed under free-flowing tap water. In many homes in the United States tap water is equivalent to drinking water. This adds tremendous waste at a time when the world is facing a scarcity of drinking water.
Over time many pre-rinsing appliances have been developed including newer dishwashers to have water-efficient pre-rinse cycles. In commercial space ideas for dishwashers that cycle the grey water to the pre-rinse stations have come however these are not widely adopted. Additionally, any changes in the existing household and restaurants to pipe the water from the dishwasher to the pre-rinse station is expensive and requires changes most owners may not be keen to do. Many apartments do not even have a dishwasher leading to all utensils being washed under fully running tap water. With the increase in global warming and many places undergoing active water crises, more towns and cities including in America are looking at a future where water is rationed and the days of free-flowing tap water are at risk.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a very simple solution for homeowners to be water efficient. The present invention involves a “pre-rinse pre-wash” unit assembled with readily available items in the market and using it to highly efficiently reduce water consumption for pre-rinse and pre-wash without making any changes to existing systems or buying a net new appliance. The present invention, while primarily being suggested for use by homeowners can easily be used by restaurant owners as well as other applications where water is used to rinse and wash any material or devices.
In such an embodiment, the present invention comprises a water pump attached to an inlet hose. The far end of the inlet hose has a strainer attached to it so any food debris is strained out and does not go into the water pump. The outlet hose of the water pump is attached to a water-efficient pre-rinse spray readily available in the market. The pump is powered by AC/DC adapter. This enables the DC water pump to run using a regular AC outlet of any configuration 110V or 220V available in different countries.
The far end of the hose with the strainer is intended to be placed in the kitchen sink filled with a very low volume of water such that the strainer is submerged example 1 Gallon. As the pump is run the water travels from the kitchen sink through the strainer into the pump and the pre-rinse sprayer with high pressure is used to pre-rinse dishes in the same sink recycling the water till all the dishes are pre-rinsed/pre-washed.
The present invention is a closed-end loop however it gives the owner full transparency into the quality of water being used in the pre-rinse, pre-wash, and the opportunity to use a fresh set of water if so desired. The present invention also allows the pre-rinse and pre-wash of large dishes not going into the dishwasher reusing the same water.
The present invention is very simple yet extremely innovative and practical and can be assembled by individuals or made available in kits to use. The present invention can be used independently as a kit by owners or can be installed under the sink providing the ability to refresh water and throw away reused water as and when desired. The present invention caters to the fact that it is hard to change habits. It provides owners with a low-cost solution that provides full transparency on the water being recycled and the control to use a fresh set of water for the recycling process as they choose can lead to changing habits and demand for more integrated systems. The present invention is not just for pre-rinsing dishes that go into the dishwasher but can be used for pre-rinse and pre-wash dishes that do not go into the dishwasher thereby significantly reducing water consumption. In the majority of the developing world, dishwashers are not in use. The present invention is estimated to reduce water consumption in such activities by 95%.
As heat waves and drought continue to stress water supplies and households find themselves working with a fixed amount of water for a day or many days, the present invention will provide owners under such conditions a simple tool to utilize the rationed water more efficiently. The present invention has huge scope in being adopted by owners who have become climate change aware and are willing to do their part. The invention will be further understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the drawings that are not to scale.
The invention has presently taken the form of a highly water-efficient pre-rinse and pre-wash system for residential homes as shown in
As seen in
The high-powered stream of water reduces the physical labor that would otherwise be required when cleaning with a hand and brush. It also increases the speed and degree to which the utensil gets cleaned. This invention can both use a hands-free pre-rinse sprayer or a fixed one.
As shown the system can be used very efficiently in areas where Day 0 has been reached and no municipal water is available in the taps. It can also be used in water-stressed areas to conserve drinking water. An embodiment of this simple yet inventive system is to give the owner the ability to use as many sets of fresh water as available and desired thus giving full control on defining where the owner draws the line of how much reuse of water is hygienic for their personal standards. Such a system helps the adoption of water-conservative systems while meeting personal whims and desires.
The described embodiment is illustrative only and is not restrictive to the use described here and the scope of the invention is therefore indicated by the claims rather than by the description above.
