Flatulence cleaning apparatus

Abstract

An apparatus is for cleaning flatulence of obnoxious odor, infectious virus and/or bacteria, and other contaminants. It can be mounted underneath a seat or bed provided with a flatulence collecting means. Flatulence is drawn through a series of chambers with charcoal provided in a first chamber for removing the obnoxious odor, copper wool provided in a second chamber having plurality of maze-like chambers for capturing and exterminating virus and/or bacteria; and a final chamber having sanitizing mist for eliminating contaminants.

Claims

1. A flatulence cleaning apparatus comprising: a housing having an inlet port for receiving incoming flatulence and an outlet port for releasing clean air from said housing into surrounding environment; an exterminating chamber formed in said housing, a plurality of partition walls spaced from one another and located within said exterminating chamber in a staggered manner forming a plurality of maze-like chambers in said exterminating chamber, neighboring maze-like chambers communicating with one another through gaps between a vertical side edge of one partition wall and an adjacent first side wall of said housing, and between an opposite vertical edge of the neighboring partition wall and a side wall opposite to said first side wall of said housing; said maze-like chambers being filled with copper wool; a blower fan located in said housing adjacent to said outlet port and being operative for drawing the flatulence to flow through said housing.

2. A flatulence cleaning apparatus comprising: a housing having an inlet port for receiving incoming flatulence and an outlet port for releasing clean sir from said housing into surrounding environment; an inlet chamber in said housing and located adjacent to said inlet port, an odor removing chamber located next to said inlet chamber; said odor removing chamber being filled with carbon particles operative for removing obnoxious odor of said flatulence; a sensor chamber located next to said odor removing chamber; a sulfur dioxide sensor and an inlet virus/bacteria sensor located in said sensor chamber; said sulfur dioxide sensor and said inlet virus/bacteria sensor being connected to a main control; an exterminating chamber located next to said sensor chamber; a plurality of partition walls spaced from one another and located within said exterminating chamber in a staggered manner forming a plurality of maze-like chambers in said exterminating chamber, neighboring maze-like chambers communicating with one another through gaps between a vertical side edge of one partition wall and an adjacent first side wall of said housing, and between an opposite vertical edge of the neighboring partition wall and a second side wall opposite to said first side wall of said housing, said maze-like chambers being filled with copper wool; a blower fan located in an outlet chamber of said housing adjacent to said outlet port and being operative for drawing the flatulence to flow through said housing; said main control regulating the speed of said fan.

3. A flatulence cleaning apparatus according to claim 2 including an injection nozzle and an outlet bacteria sensor located in a fog chamber of said exterminating chamber and adjacent to said outlet chamber, said injection nozzle being operative for injecting a mist of a sanitizing liquid onto said flatulence after said flatulence has flowed through said maze-like chambers for removing any remaining contaminants in said flatulence, said injection nozzle being regulated by said main control device depending on input signal receiving from said inlet bacteria sensor.

4. A flatulence cleaning apparatus according to claim 3 including a sanitizing fluid container supplying said sanitizing liquid to said injection nozzle.

5. A flatulence cleaning apparatus according to claim 4 including a fluid level sensor provided in said sanitizing fluid container for monitoring amount of sanitizing fluid in said sanitizing fluid container.

6. A flatulence cleaning apparatus according to claim 3 including a temperature sensor located in said inlet chamber, said temperature sensor being connected to said main control operative for actuating the entire cleaning device.

7. A flatulence cleaning apparatus according to claim 3 including a temperature sensor located in a flatulence collection device provided at a seat on which a person is resting and connected to the inlet port of the cleaning apparatus by a flatulence conducting duct.

8. A flatulence cleaning apparatus comprising: a housing having an inlet port for receiving incoming flatulence, and an outlet port for releasing clean air from said housing into surrounding environment; an inlet chamber in said housing and located adjacent to said inlet port; a temperature sensor located in said inlet chamber, said temperature sensor being connected to a main control for controlling all operations of the cleansing device, said temperature sensor being connected to a central control device for actuating the cleaning device; an odor removing chamber in said housing and located next to said inlet chamber; said odor removing chamber being filled with carbon particles operative for removing obnoxious odor of the flatulence; a sensor chamber located next to said odor removing chamber, a sulfur oxide sensor and an inlet virus/bacteria sensor located in said sensor chamber, said sulfur oxide sensor and said inlet virus/bacteria sensor being connected also to said main control; an exterminating chamber located next to said sensor chamber, and a plurality of partition walls spaced from one another being located within said exterminating chamber in a staggered manner forming a plurality of maze-like chambers in said exterminating chamber, neighboring maze-like chambers communicating with on another through gaps between a vertical side edge of one partition wall and an adjacent first side wall of said housing, and between an opposite vertical edge of the neighboring partition wall and a second side wall opposite to said first side wall of said housing, said maze-like chambers being filled with copper wool; a sanitizing chamber located at an exit end portion of said exterminating chamber, a sanitizing spray nozzle located in said sanitizing chamber and operative for spraying a mist of sanitizing fluid on the flatulence after passing through said copper wool, said sanitizing spray nozzle being connected to said main control operative for regulating said mist according to input signal received from said inlet virus/bacteria sensor, a blower fan located in an outlet chamber located next to said sanitizing chamber and adjacent to said outlet port, said blower fan being operative for drawing the flatulence through said housing, said blower fan being connected to said main control regulating speed of said blower fan.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which

[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective top and side elevation view of the seat portion of a chair having a flatulence collection well with a temperature sensor provided therein.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the system and operation of the apparatus of the present invention.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a perspective top and side elevation view of the apparatus with the top panel the casing removed to show the internal construction of the composite housing.

[0012] FIG. 4 is a perspective top elevation view of the apparatus with the top panel removed to show the location of various components therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] The components of the apparatus of the present invention as shown in the schematic block diagram of FIG. 2 can be provided in a composite housing. The apparatus can be conveniently mounted under seat portion of a chair or the mattress of a bed on which a person is resting. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a chair 7 having a flatulence collecting well 8 formed in its seat portion 9. The apparatus of the present invention can be mounted underneath the seat adjacent to the flatulence collecting well. As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the composite housing 10 of the apparatus of the present invention has an inlet port 11 located at one end panel 12 for connecting to the flatulence collecting device by a duct or tube. The incoming flatulence 13 is received in an inlet chamber 14. A temperature sensor 15 is located in the inlet chamber 14 adjacent to the inlet port 11 to detect the incoming flatulence 13. The temperature sensor 15 is connected to a main control unit 16 which may be physically located in the composite housing 10 or in a separate housing attached to the composite housing 10. The main control unit 16 upon receipt of the signal from the temperature sensor 15 will actuate or wake up the present device which is normally in a stand by stage so as to save the energy use of the device. Alternatively, the temperature sensor 15 may be located in the flatulence collecting device located at the seat or bed as shown in FIG. 1. The flatulence is then passed to an odor removing chamber 16 filled with carbon particles 17 for removing its obnoxious odor. After having de-odorized in the odor removing chamber 16, the gas is passed to a second sensor chamber 18 having a sulfur oxide sensor 19 and a virus/bacteria sensor 20 located therein. The sulfur oxide sensor 19 and the inlet virus/bacteria sensor 20 are connected to the main control unit 21 to determine the level of obnoxious sulfur oxide level and amount of virus/bacteria contained in the flatulence. Subsequently, the flatulence is passed to an extermination chamber 22 having a plurality of staggered partition walls 23 and 24 spaced from one another to form a plurality of maze-like chambers 25.

[0014] A vertical free side edge 26 of the partition wall 23 is spaced from the internal surface of the side wall 27 of the housing 10 to form a gap 28 therein and the opposite vertical free side edge 29 of the neighboring partition wall 24 is spaced from the opposite inside surface of the opposite side wall 30 of the housing 10 to form a gap 31 therein. Thus, the neighboring partition walls 23 and 24 are located in a staggered manner inside the extermination chamber 22 to form a plurality of maze-like chambers 25 with gaps 28 and 31 located at opposite sides of the extermination chamber 22. The neighboring maze-like chambers 25 communicate with one another through the gaps 28 and 31. The maze-like chambers 25 are filled with copper wool 32. The flatulence passes through the maze-like chambers 25 in a tortured zig zag manner and through the gaps 28 and 31 between the partition walls 23 and 24 to the side walls 27 and 30 such that any bacteria and/or virus in the flatulence will be captured and trapped in the copper wool 32. The copper wool 32 has a layer of copper oxide naturally formed on its surface. The copper oxide possesses biocidal properties to cause oxidative damage to virus/and bacteria captured on the copper wool and will result in desiccation and subsequent cell death of the bacteria and/or virus.

[0015] In a fog chamber 33 located at the end portion of the extermination chamber 22 the flatulence is further subjected to a sanitizing mist spray 34 provided by a spray nozzle 35 to ensure the removal of all possible contaminants in the flatulence. The sanitizing liquid of the spray 34 is supplied by a sanitizing liquid container which is preferably physically separate from the housing 10 so as to facilitate convenient filling and replenishment of the sanitizing fluid. A fluid level sensor 36 is provided in the sanitizing liquid container, and the fluid level sensor 36 is connected also to the main control 21 to monitor the amount of liquid in the sanitizing liquid container as well as the determine the amount of sanitizing mist spray 34 to be applied to the flatulence according to input signal received from the inlet virus/bacteria sensor 20. The complete removal of all bacteria and/or virus and contaminants is detected by an outlet virus/bacteria sensor 37 located also at the end of the extermination chamber 22. The second virus/bacteria sensor 37 is connected to the main control 16 which provides this determination. The flow rate of the flatulence through the apparatus is regulated by a blower fan 38 located in an outlet chamber 39 located adjacent to the outlet end of the housing 10. The main control 16 will adjust the speed of the blower fan 38 to regulate the flow speed of the flatulence through the apparatus according to the information received from the various sensors indicative of the amount of virus, bacteria, and contaminants in the flatulence. The clean gas, namely the flatulence devoid of obnoxious odor, virus/bacteria, and other contaminants, is released to the environment from the present apparatus through the outlet port 40.