VALVE FOR A WATER-SUPPLY SYSTEM

Abstract

A valve for a plumbing system has a housing with an inlet and an outlet and a valve body movable in the housing between a throttle position with a decreased a flow cross section and reduced flow between the inlet and outlet and an open position with a large flow cross section and free flow between the inlet and outlet. Structure in the valve body applies hydraulic pressure from the inlet or outlet to the valve body to shift same into the throttle position when a pressure differential between the inlet and the outlet exceeds a specified value and into the open position in the absence of a pressure differential between the inlet and the outlet.

Claims

1. A valve for a plumbing system, the valve comprising: a housing with an inlet and an outlet; a valve body movable in the housing between a throttle position with a decreased flow cross section and reduced flow between the inlet and outlet and an open position with a large flow cross section and free flow between the inlet and outlet; and structure in the valve body for applying hydraulic pressure from the inlet or outlet to the valve body to shift same into the throttle position when a pressure differential between the inlet and the outlet exceeds a specified value and into the open position in the absence of a pressure differential between the inlet and the outlet.

2. The valve defined in claim 1, wherein the valve body moves along an axis between the positions and has a first end face directed one axial direction and a second end face directed axially oppositely, the structure including a bypass conduit in applying pressure from the inlet to both of the faces, one of which is of smaller surface area than the other to shift the body into the throttle position when a significant superatmospheric pressure is present at the inlet.

3. The valve defined in claim 2, wherein the bypass conduit is a passage formed in the valve housing.

4. The valve defined in claim 2, wherein the bypass conduit is a passage formed in the valve body.

5. The valve defined in claim 2, wherein the valve body and housing define a compensation chamber surrounding the valve body between the faces and a passage connecting the compensation chamber to the outlet.

6. The valve defined in claim 5, further comprising: a seal between the compensation chamber and at least one of faces.

7. The valve defined in claim 1, further comprising: slide bushings in the housing slidably supporting the valve body therein.

8. The valve defined in claim 1, wherein the housing has a releasable closure removable for accessing the valve body.

9. The valve defined in claim 2, further comprising: a spring braced between the valve body and the housing and urging the valve body into the open position.

10. The valve defined in claim 9, wherein the spring is a coil spring surrounding the valve body.

11. The valve defined in claim 1, wherein the structure is constructed such that the valve body assumes the throttle position at a pressure differential between 0.5 bar and 3 bar between the inlet and outlet.

12. The valve defined in claim 1, further comprising: a pump having an intake port and an output port and operable to draw fluid in at the intake port and expel it under pressure at the output port; a water-supply conduit connected to a water supply and to the intake port and feeding water from the water supply to the intake port; an air-supply conduit connected to the water-supply conduit, provided with a flow-restricting air-intake valve, and feeding air to the intake port at a rate determined by the flow-restricting air-intake valve, whereby the pump mixes the water and the air, pressurizes the mixture and thereby dissolves the air in the water, and expels the air/water mixture at the output port; and a first output conduit leading from the output port to the inlet of the pressure relief valve and conducting the water/air-bubble mixture from the pump to the pressure-reducing valve without separation of the air from the water and such that the mixture is at least partially depressurized at the pressure-reducing valve such that the air forms microbubbles in the water.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0066] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

[0067] FIG. 1 is a perspective view with a bathwater circulating system according to the invention;

[0068] FIG. 2 a perspective detail view showing only the bathwater circulating system;

[0069] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the bathwater circulating system;

[0070] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the bathwater circulating system works;

[0071] FIG. 5A is a large-scale perspective view of the valve of the supply system in one end position;

[0072] FIG. 5B is a view like FIG. 5A but in an opposite end position;

[0073] FIGS. 6A and 6B are views like FIGS. 5A and 5b showing a second embodiment of the valve; and

[0074] FIGS. 7A and 7B are views like FIGS. 5A and 5b showing a third embodiment of the valve.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0075] As seen in FIG. 1, a bathtub 1 sitting on a base 3 has a bathwater circulating system 2 that circulates bathwater through the bathtub 1. This bathwater is provided according to the invention with small bubbles in order to increase well-being for a user and achieve a positive influence on the skin of a user.

[0076] FIGS. 1 and 2 show how a centrifugal pump 4 having an intake port 4 and an output port 4 draws bathwater out of the tub 1 through a floor drain 5 connected to the intake port 4. An air-supply conduit 6 having an intake valve 7 is also connected to the intake port 4. An intake valve 7 at an upstream end of the air-supply conduit 6 is below an upper edge of the tub 1, and is preferably a needle valve that makes possible a precise dosing of the ambient air that is drawn in there. Preferably, the intake valve 7 can be adjusted directly by hand or with a tool, and it is normally protected by an inspection flap or a cover, or can also be mounted to be freely accessible. In the case of free accessibility, the intake valve can be arranged for example at an upper section of the tub 1 (e.g. outer edge or upper flange). However, in principle, a mechanical or electronic remote adjustment is also possible so that the intake valve 7 can then also be mounted in an inaccessible location.

[0077] The subatmospheric pressure produced by the pump 4 is so large that not only bathwater is drawn out of the tub 1 and into the intake port 4, but also ambient air is drawn in through the air-supply conduit 6 and the intake valve 7. Thus a mixture of drawn-out bathwater and aspirated ambient air also forms at the intake port 4. The bathwater circulating system 2 is preferably operated such that the flow rate of the bathwater is between 10 l/min and 20 l/min, and the flow rate of ambient air relative to the volume in ambient pressure is between 0.5 l/min and 2 l/min. The mixture of bathwater and ambient air is pressurized by the pump 4 and accordingly at a superatmospheric pressure at the output port 4 of the pump 4.

[0078] A pressure-reducing valve 8 that serves to build up superatmospheric pressure is connected by a conduit 9 without a chamber for separating the bubbles to the output port 4 of the pump 4. That is, the output conduit 9 is of substantially uniform or the same flow cross section between the output port 4 and the valve 8 so that the mixture of water and air outputted by the pump 4 does not separate between the output port 4 and the valve 8. On the one hand, this pressure-reducing valve 8 serves to hold back the mixture of bathwater and ambient air from the pump 4 to a certain degree and thus to pressurize it with a predetermined superatmospheric pressure. The ambient air thus dissolves into the bathwater in the conduit 9 due to the superatmospheric pressure in the conduit 9 and the thorough mixing of the bathwater and the air in the pump 4. In comparison with ambient pressure, the superatmospheric pressure can for example be 2.5 to 7 bar, in particular 3.5 to 5 bar and particularly preferably 4 to 4.5 bar.

[0079] The pressure and flow conditions and the flow rates of bathwater and ambient air are chosen such that the ambient air can dissolve in the bathwater to a large extent, or preferably completely or almost completely, with the result that no, or only very few, air bubbles reach the pressure-reducing valve 8.

[0080] In order to achieve as thorough and as complete as possible mixing and dissolving, the conduit 9 in the form of a pipe or a tube is preferably more than 100 mm long, particularly preferably more than 300 mm long. In principle, to achieve as complete a solution as possible, a significant length is advantageous. An abrupt drop in pressure takes place at the pressure-reducing valve 8 so that the solubility of ambient air in the bathwater decreases accordingly and very small bubbles are formed. The mixture of bathwater and very small bubbles formed in the pressure-reducing valve 8 flows via a second output conduit 10 connected to the pressure-reducing valve 8 to a bubble-water outlet 11 of the tub 1, here located on a side wall of the tub 1. The mixture of bathwater and very small bubbles is ejected at the fluid outlet 11 into the tub 1 that is filled with bathwater above the level of this fluid outlet 11.

[0081] The particularly delicate bubbles are sensed by a user as pleasant and invigorating. Due to the large number of very small bubbles, the bathwater clouds up and becomes milky, and in the embodiment of FIG. 1 a lamp 12 is provided opposite the fluid outlet 11 such that light emitted by the lamp 12 is uniformly scattered to create a particularly harmonious color impression, and light refraction at the small bubbles also enhances this milky haze.

[0082] As shown in FIG. 3, the bathwater is then drawn out of the tub 1 at the outlet 5, and a flow-impeding effect is achieved either by the cross-section of a water-supply conduit 13 connecting the outlet 5 to the pump 4 or an additional diaphragm 14 is provided in the water-intake conduit 13 such that a subatmospheric pressure results in water-supply conduit 13 and as a result ambient air is drawn in through air-supply conduit 6 and the intake valve 7. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a return conduit 13 below the intake conduit 13 and serving to drain residual water from the pump 4 back into the tub at the outlet 5.

[0083] The pressure profile is shown in the different areas purely schematically in FIG. 4. There, a first pressure I that is slightly above ambient pressure is produced within the tub 1 due to the water column there. A subatmospheric pressure II of, for example, 0.1 bar, below ambient pressure, is then set in water-supply conduit 13 due to the suction of the pump 4, with the result that air is drawn in.

[0084] The mixture of ambient air and bathwater is then pressurized with superatmospheric pressure III by the pump 4 in combination with the downstream pressure-reducing valve 8, which pressure can for example be between 4 and 4.5 bar. Because of the superatmospheric pressure III, air within the conduit 9 dissolves into the bathwater and, according to the invention, due to the suitable matching of the interacting components, a separate fluid-settling chamber for separating excess ambient air is not needed.

[0085] An abrupt drop in pressure takes place at the pressure-reducing valve 8, accompanied by the formation of very delicate microbubbles, and pressure downstream of the pressure-reducing valve 8 corresponds approximately to the pressure inside the tub 1. In the purely schematic representation of FIG. 4, for reasons of simplicity, pressure differences due to the different heights of the water column at the floor drain 5 and outlet 11 are not taken into consideration.

[0086] FIG. 5A shows a preferred embodiment of the pressure-reducing valve 8 that has a hose connection 17 both at an inlet 15 and also at the an outlet 16. The pressure-reducing valve 8 is in a flow-impeding throttle position in which only a small annular gap 18 is opened up by a valve body 19. This valve body 19 is axially slidable on bushings 20a and 20b and a spring 21 presses against it to force it inside a valve housing 22 of the pressure-reducing valve 8 toward an open position away from the inlet 15 (see FIG. 5B).

[0087] In order that valve body 19 can assume the flow-impeding position against the force of the spring 21 according to FIG. 5A, the valve housing 22 has a bypass passage 23 extending from the inlet 15 to a rear face of the valve body 19 turned away from the inlet 15. The valve body 19 has a stepped shape between the bushings 20a and 20b so that it is brought into the flow-impeding position in the event of a superatmospheric pressure at the inlet 15, since its rear face pressurized through the passage 23 is much larger than its front face exposed at the inlet 15. To equalize pressure, the region of valve body 19 around the spring 21 is connected to the outlet 16 via a vent passage 24.

[0088] The valve body 19 can be accessed by removing a plug 25 for maintenance and cleaning purposes. This plug 25 is screwed into a rear end of the valve housing 22.

[0089] If the pump 4 is switched off so that superatmospheric pressure ceases to exist at the inlet 15, the spring 21 pushes the valve body 19 axially rearward into an open position shown in FIG. 5B, and a passage 26 of a greater flow cross-section is opened up within the pressure-reducing valve 8 for free flow between the inlet 15 and outlet 16. Impurities previously held back at the annular gap 18 can thus be discharged. In principle, in a modification of this embodiment, the valve body 19 can also be shaped such it is scraped clean on movement into the open position by interacting with the bushing 20a and valve housing 22.

[0090] Impurities initially held back at annular gap 18 can be discharged, for example when draining bathwater after opening the pressure-reducing valve 8 or when using the bathwater circulating system, before the valve body 19 moves into the flow-impeding position under pressure control.

[0091] FIGS. 6A and 6B or 7A and 7B show alternative designs of the pressure-reducing valve 8 in the flow-impeding position and in the open position.

[0092] In the second embodiment of FIGS. 6A and 6B, seals 27a, 27b are provided instead of slide bushings 20a and 20b, as a modification vis--vis the pressure-reducing valve 8 described above. Each such seals is set in a respective groove of the valve body 19. The slide bushings 20a and 20b or seals 27a, 27b are advantageously chosen such that valve body 19 can slide easily, as a small amount leakage past them is acceptable.

[0093] FIGS. 7A and 7B show that the bypass passage 23 is formed not in the valve housing 22 but in the valve body 19. The automatic cleaning effect described above takes place to the same degree.