Patent Application
20130298324
The present invention is in the field of sanitary equipment, and more particularly, waterless toilet systems that keep feces and urine separate. Our definition of ‘waterless toilet’ means that the toilet operates without the addition of external water i.e. the only water in the toilet is the water latent in the urine and feces.
Two and a half billion people in the world in 2010 do not have toilets. They rely on open defecation and open urination and in some cases, they use open latrines. Small children exposed to the ubiquitous feces can get dysentery and die, in fact, 1.3 million do so each year. Mosquitoes, flies, bugs, birds, and rats feed on the open latrines and unburied feces, then spread the viruses and bacteria to people through bites, stings, and contact with the human food supply. Diseases worse than dysentery are spread this way, too, for example the deadly Cholera and Typhoid fever.
These poor people cannot afford toilets with plumbing, water, or chemical disinfectants. They have no electricity, piped water, or piped sewage disposal, and very little money. Even the waterless toilet of this invention is too expensive for these poor people and will require subsidies from aid agencies and charities. Most of these people live in dense, squatter, shanty suburbs of major cities. Though they will urinate on the ground inside or outside their wall-to-wall shanties, they often defecate in a bag and hurl it as far as they can (so called ‘flying toilets’). Where it lands is the problem. Though splattering on the roofs and walls of other shanties or on pathways is most common, occasionally it hits a pedestrian.
The goals of this Waterless Toilet System invention are several:
The invention is based on some assumptions.
The invention is a waterless toilet that keeps urine and feces separate. The feces and urine are kept separate by a ridge separating the urine bowl from the fece chute. The waterless toilet of this invention has some additional important features. The first important feature is that the toilet system is sealed from the nearby environment when the lid is closed i.e when users are not defecating or urinating in it. This seal prevents vermin from entering the toilet system and spreading fece borne diseases. This seal prevents odorous gases from escaping the toilet system nearby. In summary, the invention is a waterless toilet that keeps feces separate from urine and is sealed against vermin ingress or egress and gas or odor release near the toilet when the lid is closed.
The toilet system seal is achieved several ways. Starting from the top, the Toilet Seat Lid, when closed, is temporarily sealed to the Toilet Seat by a gasket between the two. This gasket can be attached to the underside of the lid. The toilet seat lid is temporarily sealed between itself and the toilet seat.
The Toilet Seat (if moveable) is temporarily sealed between the Toilet Platform and Toilet Seat, when the seat is in the down position. The gasket can be attached to the seat (underside) or the toilet platform. Fundamentally, the toilet seat is temporarily sealed between the toilet platform and toilet seat. The gaskets for the seat and the lid can be made of rubber, foam rubber, fabric, polymeric or silicone solids or foam, etc.
The Impermeable Bag catching the feces is sealed to the toilet's Fece Chute by a clamp, tape, string, twist-ties, twine, or rubber band, etc, when in normal use. The clamp or band is removed when the bag is full. The full bag is removed from or pulled off the Fece Chute, and a new empty bag is mounted on the Fece Chute. The open end of the full bag is sealed by a zip-lock seal, twist-ties, tape, string, twine, rope, bands, Velcro, clamps, etc, or tying. The new bag is sealed to the Fece Chute by the clamp, tape, string, twist-ties, twine, or rubber band, etc. Fundamentally, the fece collection bag is temporarily sealed to the fece chute.
The Urine Bowl is temporarily sealed to the Urine Tank, which collects the urine, by a pipe or hose with appropriate friction or gasket fits, removable clamps, tape, string, twist-ties, twine, hose barbs, rubber seals, tape, or screw threads, etc. When the urine tank is full, the user opens the seal, lifts the urine bowl off the urine tank, and empties the tank. Basically, the urine receiving bowl or subsequent conduit are temporarily sealed to the urine collection tank.
When the user urinates, the urine flows down to the bottom of the Urination Bowl near the front of the toilet. The urine flows through the bottom hole to an attached pipe or hose that carries the urine to the Urine Tank. Every connection and component along this path is sealed to outside gases, liquids, and vermin. The connections are made with glue, adhesive tape, threaded fittings, friction or tight fittings, welding, caulk, plumbers putty, Teflon tape, etc.
The Fece Chute is sealed to the toilet platform by glue, welds, screws, bolts and nuts (with or without gaskets). Or the Fece Chute is integral to the toilet platform i.e. part of it.
When the user defecates, the feces fall through the Fece Chute to the bottom of the Fece Receptacle, preferably lined with a Fece Bag, or on top of the previous fece in the Fece Bag. If the feces do not fall directly to the Fece Bag, they will slide down the edge of the Fece Chute to the Fece Bag.
Because the bacteria will generate gases that might lift the Lid of the toilet, small hoses or pipes connected to the toilet system vent these gases from the toilet to the outdoors or a distance from the toilet. The distal ends of these hoses have mesh coverings or socks, whose edges are sealed to the hose. These mesh coverings keep out vermin e.g. bugs, fleas, flies, worms, mosquitoes, etc.
Two hoses aimed in opposite directions were chosen so that any wind would cause dry air to flow through the toilet chamber preferably the Fece Chute, and dry out the feces. The invention thereby de-waters the feces with evaporation and kills most of the bacteria and viruses in the feces. The surviving microorganisms are dormant for lack of water. The dead and dormant bacteria produce no smelly gas, hence the odor from the feces is reduced. Fundamentally, one or more conduits vent the gases inside the toilet to the outdoors or other distant locations. And, a mesh on the distal end of the conduits prevents the ingress of vermin.
The second important feature of our waterless toilet system invention is that the Fece Receptacle is thermally insulated and may have a solar heater. When fece bacteria eat sugars and proteins in feces, they generate metabolic heat. If that heat is prevented from escaping the fece receptacle, the temperature of the feces inside will rise. The temperature could rise above 104° F. and kill the human pathogens. The present invention prevents the heat from escaping the Fece Receptacle by thermally insulating the Fece Receptacle, thereby causing the temperature to rise inside above 104° F. and kill the pathogens in the feces. Fundamentally, the invention is a waterless toilet that keeps feces separate from urine and thermally insulates the fece receptacle.
The preferred insulation material for the Fece Receptacle is foamed polymer. It is lightweight, inexpensive, and appropriate to the temperature range. A thermal radiation reflecting material would keep the radiant heat inside the Fece Receptacle as well. The Fece Bag inside the Fece Receptacle is also insulated from the Fece Receptacle by an air gap. The top of the air gap is blocked from mixing with the exterior air, thereby reducing natural convection cooling and keeping the Fece Bag hot. In the preferred embodiment, the fece receptacle is thermally insulated by a foamed material and or a thermal radiation shield and or an air gap. And for the sake of fast, clean, and easy transporting, the fece receptacle is lined on the inside by a removable bag.
The solar heated Fece Receptacle option has two parameters: a) Solar Window type, and b) reflector-concentrator. The Solar Window type option refers to a window on the Fece Receptacle, most likely on the back side facing an exterior wall with an opening or window to the sun. The Solar Window on the Fece Receptacle is airtight and can have various transparencies to sunlight. It can range from sun wavelength, transparent glass or plastic to optically opaque material that absorbs the sun's radiation and heats up i.e. its temperature rises when the sun shines on it. The reflector-concentrator parameter is either some type of mirror or lens that aims additional light into the Solar Window. Fundamentally, the fece receptacle has a solar absorber or solar window. The invention also includes a solar reflector-concentrator or lens which directs additional sunlight onto the solar absorber or solar window.
The third important feature of the present invention is the use of phage, in particular bacteriophage, to kill and reduce human pathogenic (disease causing) organisms in particular bacteria in the feces in the toilet. These phages are specific to human pathogens, in particular bacteria like Vibrio (Cholera), Typhus (Typhoid Fever), Shigella, Clostridium, Salmonella, E. Coli, Bilharzia, etc. The invention is basically a waterless toilet that uses phage to kill micro-organisms in the feces. These phage can kill bacteria, protozoa, helminthes, and fungi that are toxic to humans or can decompose the combustible organic components of the feces, examples being E. Coli, Shigella, Salmonella, Vibrio (Cholera), Typhus, Clostridium, Bilharzias, etc.
These phages are more motile and effective in liquids than solids, which is good because the pathogens cause diarrhea. The phages are spread inside the toilet predominantly in the Fece Chute' and Urine Bowl at the factory. These phages survive dryness and dormancy. The phages are spread inside the Fece Bags at the factory, too.
The fourth important feature of the present invention is the Ozonator, which reduces odors inside the toilet. An Ozonator is any device that makes ozone in the air inside the toilet by making an electric arc in the air inside the toilet. The arc converts the O2 molecules into the highly reactive O3 radicals, which burn up the odorous gases in the toilet. Basically, the invention is a waterless toilet that uses an ozonator to deodorize the gases inside the toilet.
The Ozonator can be mounted on the Fece Chute or Urine Bowl near the top because most odors rise. The preferable embodiment is a hand operated Ozonator e.g. finger push or hand crank. These Ozonators typically impact a piezo-electric crystal that generates a high voltage which causes an electric arc. The user would operate the Ozonator before opening the Lid of the toilet, during defecation or urination, and after closing the Lid.
The waterless toilet system with fece and urine separation, odor and vermin seal, biological disinfection, and gas ozonation can be described as a system of components. Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that various modifications and changes could be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention disclosed.
