DEVICE FOR A SHOWER, CONSISTING OF A HOUSING, A TEMPERATURE CONTROLLER, AN LCD SCREEN, A LED RING, TWO OPENING TAPS; A HOT AND COLD WATER INLET; A THREE-WAY VALVE, A FLOWMETER CONNECTED TO A PUMP; A THERMOSTATIC VALVE, A SERVOMOTOR; AND AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CARD; METHOD

Abstract

A water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers, which allows the user to predetermine the water temperature required for any bathroom having cold water network and hot water network, whereby any water below the predetermined temperature is recirculated passing through the boiler of the house until it reaches the temperature preset in the device, wherein said device is composed of a housing, a temperature regulator, an LCD display, a LED ring, two water valves; a hot and cold water inlet; a three-way valve; a flowmeter connected to a pump; a thermostatic valve; a servomotor; and an integrated circuit board; and a method.

Claims

1. A water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers, which allows the user to preset the water temperature required for any bathroom having cold water network and hot water network, so that any water below the preset temperature is recirculated passing through the boiler of the house until it reaches the temperature preset in the device, CHARACTERIZED in that said device is composed of a housing (1) which is attached to the wall and constitutes the main body, comprising in its front part a temperature regulator (21), an LCD display (22), a LED ring (28), and two water valves (24) and (25); in its lower left part it contains the hot water inlet (2), which is connected on the inside to a temperature sensor (6) that connects to a three-way valve (7) containing a control knob (12) that is attached to a servomotor (8) that rotates its control knob (12) by 180°; at 180°, it diverts the water to the pipe (9) connecting to the flowmeter (10), which is connected to a pump (11); at 0° it diverts the water to the pipe (14) connecting to the hot water inlet (15) of the thermostatic valve (16); in the lower right part of the housing (1) it contains the cold water inlet (4) that connects to the cold water inlet (17) of the thermostatic valve (16) and to the pump (11); the control knob (18) of the thermostatic valve (16) is attached to a servomotor (20); the pipe (19) of the thermostatic valve connects to a flowmeter (23), which is connected to the water valves (24) and (25); the above mentioned components are interconnected to an integrated circuit board (29) contained inside the housing (1).

2. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the lower left part of the housing (1) contains the hot water inlet (2), which connects to the hot water network (3) of the house; and the lower right part of the housing (1) contains the cold water inlet (4), which connects to the cold water network (5) of the house.

3. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that it includes a three-way valve (7) and that its control knob (12) is attached to a servomotor (8) that rotates by 180°.

4. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED in that when the servomotor (8) rotates the control knob (12) by 180°, the pipe (9) is enabled.

5. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED in that when the servomotor (8) turns the control knob (12) by 0°, the pipe (14) is enabled.

6. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 3, CHARACTERIZED in that the three-way valve (7) and the servomotor (8) may be replaced by two solenoid valves for opening and closing the pipes (9) and (14).

7. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the LCD display (22) shows the liters of water measured by the flowmeter (10), and displays the liters of water measured by the flowmeter (23).

8. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 7, CHARACTERIZED in that the LCD display (22) shows the temperature preset by the user through the temperature regulator (21).

9. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the temperature regulator (21) is a potentiometer which contains a knob for regulating the temperature.

10. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the control knob (18) of the thermostatic valve (16) is attached to a servomotor (20) that rotates on its axis in proportion to the rotation made by the user of the knob of the temperature regulator (21).

11. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 9, CHARACTERIZED in that the temperature regulator (21) may be replaced by knobs representing different temperature ranges.

12. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the LED ring (28) represents through colors the water temperature measured by the temperature sensor (6).

13. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the water valve (24) connects to a handheld shower head (26) and the water valve (25) connects to a fixed shower head (27).

14. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the recirculation pump (11) returns the water to the boiler (31) through the cold water network (5), reintegrating the water to the device through the hot water network until the temperature sensor (6) detects that the water temperature is higher than the one predetermined by the user.

15. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the temperature sensor (6), servomotor (8), flowmeter (10), pump (11), servomotor (20), flowmeter (23), temperature regulator (21), LCD display (22), and LED ring (28) are interconnected to and are operated by an integrated circuit board (29).

16. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the device is switched on by a switch (30) located outside the shower and that is energized with the house power supply.

17. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 16, CHARACTERIZED in that the device may be turned on wirelessly via an application on mobile devices.

18. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 16, CHARACTERIZED in that the device may be energized with other energy sources such as solar energy.

19. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the thermostatic valve (16), through its control button (18), regulates the temperature preset by the user.

20. The water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers according to claim 19, CHARACTERIZED in that the thermostatic valve (16) may be replaced by a water mixing valve.

21. A method for obtaining the water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator for showers, which allows the user to predetermine the water temperature required for any bathroom having cold water network and hot water network, whereby any water below the predetermined temperature is recirculated passing through the boiler of the house until it reaches the temperature preset in the device, CHARACTERIZED in that it comprises: constructing a housing (1) that attaches to the shower wall and that constitutes the main body, adhering to its front part a temperature regulator (21), an LCD display (22), a LED ring (28), and two water valves (24) and (25); inserting in its lower left part the hot water inlet (2) and then connecting on the inside a temperature sensor (6), connecting a three-way valve (7) having a control knob (12), and connecting it to a servomotor (8) which rotates its control knob (12) by 180°; connecting a flowmeter (10) to a pipe (9) and connecting it to a recirculation pump (11), and connecting the other pipe (14) to the hot water inlet (15) of the thermostatic valve (16); inserting in the lower right part of the housing (1) the cold water inlet (4) and screw it to the cold water inlet (17) of the thermostatic valve (16), connecting the cold water inlet (4) also to the recirculation pump (11); attaching the control knob (18) of the thermostatic valve (16) to a servomotor (20); connecting the pipe (19) of the thermostatic valve to a flowmeter (23) and connecting it with the water valves (24) and (25); the above-mentioned components are interconnected to an integrated circuit board (29) by inserting it inside the housing (1). connecting the integrated circuit board (29) to a switch (30), feeding it to the house power supply.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0012] FIG. 1: Depicts a front view of the housing of the present application with the connections to the hot water mains and cold water mains.

[0013] FIG. 2: Depicts an inside view of the housing of the present application containing the piping system connected to the series of components.

[0014] FIG. 3: Depicts a front view of the housing of the present application connected to the schematic water heating circuit of a house.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0015] The described water recirculating device, liter counter, and temperature regulator that recirculates all water below the temperature preset by the user, is composed of a housing (1), which constitutes the main body containing the piping system and the mechanism to which the remaining components of the device are attached. The housing (1) contains in the lower left part of its cavity the hot water inlet (2), coming from the hot water network (3) of the house, and in the lower right part of its cavity the cold water inlet (4), coming from the cold water network (5) of the house. FIG. 2 describes the connection of the piping system and components inside the housing (1), wherein the hot water inlet (2) is connected to a temperature sensor (6), continuing this connection to a three-way valve (7). This three-way valve (7) is attached in its control knob (12) to a servomotor (8), whose function is to rotate the control knob (12) of the three-way valve (7) by 180°. From this point, there are two ways to continue. When the servomotor rotates to 180°, it enables the pipe (9) which follows its connection to a flowmeter (10), whose function is to measure how many liters of water circulate and are below the preset temperature measured by the temperature sensor (6), recirculating through a pump (11) this water back to the boiler (31) of the house through the cold water network (5) and returning the water to the device through the hot water network (3) described in FIG. 3. Once the temperature sensor (6) detects that the water temperature exceeds the temperature preset by the user, the servomotor (8) rotates to 0°, disabling the pipe (9) and deactivating the pump (11), enabling the pipe (14) that directs the water to the hot water inlet (15) of the thermostatic valve (16), and at the same time, the water coming from the cold water network (5) is redirected to the cold water inlet (17) of the thermostatic valve (16). The control knob (18) of the thermostatic valve (16) allows to regulate the temperature of the water coming out of the pipe (19) by rotating on its axis according to the rotation made by the servomotor (20) which is attached to the control knob (18). The rotation of the servomotor (20) is activated in proportion to the rotation of the temperature regulator (21) that is exposed on the front part of the housing (1), which is activated by the user according to the desired temperature to be preset. The water coming out of the pipe (19) has the temperature set by the user, wherein said temperature is displayed on an LCD screen (22), indicating how many liters of water are saved, measured by the flowmeter (10), and indicating how many liters are used, measured by the flowmeter (23) that connects the water to the water valve (24) and the water valve (25). When the water valve (24) is opened, water is supplied to the handheld shower head (26), and when the water valve (25) is opened, water is supplied to the fixed shower head (27). The user can tell when the water flows at the preset temperature by means of colors emitted by an LED ring (28) displayed on the front part of the housing (1). Blue, when the water temperature is lower than the preset temperature, and green, when the water temperature is higher than the preset temperature. The temperature sensor (6), servomotor (8), flowmeter (10), pump (11), servomotor (20), flowmeter (23), temperature controller (21), LCD display (22), and LED ring (28) are interconnected to an integrated circuit board (29) programmed to measure and activate the aforementioned components. The integrated circuit board (29) is turned on and off through a switch (30) located outside the device and attached to the wall.