JPH05140972A - Water saving valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve saving water unconsciously by exhausting water intermittently using a rotary member arranged in a space and rotating with the water feeding pressure, and thereby giving the user a sense of content about the water supplied state. CONSTITUTION:The body of a water saving valve is provided with a spherical space S, and further a water exhaust hole 22 and water feed hole 14 leading to this space S are equipped. A rotary shaft part 25 passing the center of the sphere and a rotary member 17 provided in parallel therewith a plurality of grooves are furnished at the periphery of the sphere. In the space S the rotary shaft part 25 is arranged in the direction perpendicular to the axes of the holes 14, 22, and the rotary member 17 is installed rotatably. The water fed into the space S from the water feeding hole 14 is intermittently exhausted from the exhaust hole 22 through the grooves in the rotary member 17 rotating with the water feeding pressure. The air is sucked from the exhaust hole 22 into the space S with rotation of the rotary member 17 and is mixed with the water to enlarge the apparent volume of the water.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water saving valve provided in a water pipe or the like for the purpose of saving water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In daily life, not all water discharged from a tap is used effectively.
Much water is wasted without contributing to any purpose. For example, when washing dishes or washing the face, it is not a troublesome thing to use water by discharging a necessary amount of water, and in most cases, water is left as it is.

Therefore, the amount of tap water used has expanded, and as a result, many human and physical resources have been put into the water supply facility. In addition, the increase in tap water consumption leads to an increase in the amount of sewage treatment, which is one of the causes of intensifying pollution of rivers, oceans, and air.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to reduce the waste of tap water as much as possible, a water saving valve is provided in the water pipe only for the purpose of reducing the cross section of water supply, and the tap is discharged when the water cock is opened. It has been proposed that the amount of water used is reduced.

[0005]

However, although the provision of the water-saving valve certainly has a water-saving effect, the reduction in the amount of water coming out of the faucet is clearly recognized by the user,
It is not popular because the user feels irritated and has not been used for a long time. Therefore, the present invention provides a water-saving valve in which water is not unnecessarily discharged even when the faucet is opened, and the decrease in the discharged amount does not significantly appear in appearance.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a water-saving valve, a main body having a spherical space portion, a water supply hole and a drain hole communicating with the space portion, A plurality of grooves are formed in the outer peripheral portion of the sphere in parallel with the rotation shaft portion passing through the center of the sphere, and the rotation shaft portion is arranged in the space portion in a direction orthogonal to the hole axes of the water supply hole and the drain hole. And a rotating member rotatably provided.

[0007]

The water-saving valve is attached in the middle of the water pipe or at the end of the water pipe by connecting the water supply hole to the water supply side. Then, in this state, when a water tap or the like is opened and water is supplied to the space from the water supply hole, the rotating member is rotated around the rotating shaft part by the water supply pressure of water. Further, the water supplied to the space is conveyed through the space by the groove of the rotating member and is intermittently and vigorously discharged from the drain hole. Furthermore, when the water in the groove is discharged to the drain hole, the negative pressure generated in the groove sucks air into the space, increasing the apparent amount of water.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2, a water faucet 1 is provided with a water passage 2 that extends horizontally from a rear end (left end in the figure) and is bent downward at a tip (right end in the figure). The water saving valve 3 according to the present invention is housed in the bent portion 2a of the water passage 2, and the foam metal fitting 4 is provided in the discharge portion 2b of the water passage 2.

The water-saving valve 3 comprises an upper housing 10, a rotating member 17, a lower housing 21, and a rotating shaft 25. Then, the upper housing 10 is
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the recess 1 extends upward from the lower surface.
1 is formed, the lower part of the recess 11 is a lower housing accommodating portion 12 having a circular cross section, and the upper part is a hemispherical rotating member upper accommodating portion 1 having a diameter slightly smaller than the lower housing accommodating portion 12.
3, the through holes 15, 15 are symmetrically provided in the boundary portion between the lower housing accommodating portion 12 and the rotating member upper accommodating portion 13 in the direction orthogonal to the center line of the recess 11.
Further, the through hole 1 is provided on the upper part of the upper housing 10.
Horizontal water supply holes 14 are formed which are orthogonal to 5, 15 and communicate with the rotary member upper housing portion 13.

As shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, the rotating member 17 has a through hole 18 formed in the spherical body 16 passing through the center thereof, and a plurality of groove portions 19 formed in the outer peripheral portion in parallel with the through hole 18. And the grooves 19 are partitioned by the blades 20.

As shown in FIG. 8, the lower housing 21 has a drain hole 22 formed upward from the lower surface,
The upper part of the drainage hole 22 is spherically widened to form a rotary member lower accommodating portion 23, and bearing concave portions 24, 24 are symmetrically provided at the upper end portion.

The water-saving valve 3 having the above structure accommodates the rotary member 17 in the rotary member upper housing portion 13 of the upper housing 10, arranges the through hole 18 on the same straight line as the through holes 15 and 15, and Shaft 2 in through holes 18, 15, 15
5, the rotary member 17 is rotatably fixed. Next, the lower housing 21 is fitted into the lower housing accommodating portion 12, and the shaft 25 is fitted into the bearing recesses 24, 24 for positioning. As a result, the rotating member 17 includes the rotating member upper housing portion 13 and the lower housing 2 of the upper housing 10.
It is rotatably supported in a spherical space S formed by one rotary member lower housing portion 23. The water-saving valve 3 thus assembled is fitted to the bent portion 2a of the water faucet 1 from the discharge portion 2b, and the foam metal fitting 4 is attached to the discharge portion 2b to prevent the water-saving valve 3 from falling off, as shown in FIG. To be done.

The water faucet 1 provided with the water saving valve 3 has a rear end connected to a water pipe. Then, when a water faucet (not shown) is opened to cause water to flow in the water passage 2, this water is sent to the space S in which the rotating member 17 is accommodated via the water feed hole 14, and the water feed pressure causes the water to flow. The rotating member 17 has an arrow a
Rotate in the direction. Further, the water supplied to the space S is held in the groove portion 19 of the rotating member 17 and conveyed in the direction of the arrow a, and is discharged from the groove portion 19 at the portion facing the discharge hole 22, and vigorously flows through the foam metal fitting 4. It drops intermittently. Further, the air in the discharge hole 22 is sucked into the groove portion 19 from which water has been discharged in the discharge hole 22, and the air and the water supplied from the water supply hole 14 are mixed and discharged from the discharge hole 22. That is, the water discharged from the faucet 1 contains air and expands, so that the apparent amount of water increases.

Therefore, the water is recognized as if it is discharged in excess of the actual discharge amount, and the consumer does not recognize the decrease in the water amount. In addition, the effect of washing the dishes and the like is improved by the intermittent momentum of water. Further, the cleaning effect such as washing is improved by the air contained in the water.

In addition, conventionally, from one water heater to a plurality of mixing faucets, for example, a kitchen mixing faucet and a shower mixing faucet,
In a hot water supply facility that supplies hot water to two, when two mixing faucets are used at the same time, closing one mixing faucet increases the water pressure and raises the temperature of the other hot water. , When using only one of the mixed faucets,
When the other remaining mixed faucet is also opened, there is a disadvantage that the water pressure is lowered and the hot water temperature is lowered. However, the water saving valve 3 above
In the hot water supply device including the water supply valve, the water supply valve is always closed by the water saving valve 3, so that the water pressure does not change even when the water tap is opened or closed. Therefore, if the water-saving valve 3 of the present invention is used in the hot water supply facility, hot water at a desired temperature can be stably supplied.

In the above embodiment, the upper housing 1
0 and the lower housing 21 form the space S for accommodating the rotating member 17, but as shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, the upper housing is formed integrally with the faucet 1 and the lower housing 21 is formed. It may be detachable from the faucet. In this case, the bearing hole 26 and the bearing recess 27 are formed in the faucet 1, and the rotary shaft 25 is inserted therethrough to support the rotary member 17.

Further, although the rotary shaft 25 is a separate member in the above embodiment, it may be formed integrally with the rotary member 17.
In this case, semi-cylindrical bearing recesses are formed in the joints between the upper housing and the lower housing, and the bearing shafts are supported by these bearing recesses.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the water saving valve is attached to the tip of the water faucet 1, that is, to the downstream side of the water faucet has been described, but this water saving valve may be provided to the upstream side of the water faucet.

A cock is opened for each of the water faucet (hereinafter referred to as "water-saving faucet"), the free water faucet without a foam metal fitting and a water-saving faucet, and the foam water faucet having only the foam metal fitting and having no water-saving valve. The relationship between the degree (see FIG. 13) and the amount of water flow was obtained by an experiment. The results are shown in Fig. 14. As is clear from FIG. 14, it can be understood that the water saving faucet has a smaller amount of water outflow than the other faucets even with the same cock opening. However, when the running water condition was visually observed at the same time, a decrease in the flow rate could not be recognized from the outflowing condition of the water for the same cock opening. On the other hand, in the case of the water-saving faucet, the water flowing out from the faucet had momentum, so it was thought that the amount of running water was large even if the opening was the same as that of the free faucet. Note that the shaded area in FIG. 13 represents the area used in the kitchen sink of a general household, and the corresponding area is shown in FIG.
Is shaded in.

Next, in three households of the same family structure, Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and Onojo City, Fukuoka Prefecture, the above-mentioned water faucet, foam water faucet, and water-saving faucet were each used for 2 months. They were used alternately every other time, and the total amount of water used was compared. As a result, the average water consumption during the period when the foam faucet was used decreased by 7% compared to the average water consumption during the period when the water faucet was used, and the average water consumption during the period when the water-saving faucet was used was 27. %Diminished.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, in the water saving valve according to the present invention, the water sent from the water sending hole to the space is
Water is discharged vigorously intermittently through the discharge hole by the groove portion of the rotating member that is rotated by the water supply pressure. Further, due to the rotation of the rotating member, air is sucked into the space from the drain hole, the air is mixed with the water discharged from the discharge hole, and the apparent volume of water expands.

Therefore, when the faucet equipped with the water saving valve and the faucet not equipped with the water saving valve are opened to the same extent, the amount of water discharged from the faucet equipped with the water saving valve is actually smaller. Regardless, it is recognized that the amount of water discharged from the faucet equipped with the water-saving valve is larger, both in appearance and in actual contact with water discharged from the faucet. Therefore, the user can obtain a satisfactory water supply state while saving water, and can save water unconsciously.

Further, since the water is intermittently and vigorously discharged by the water-saving valve, it is said that a device for directly applying water for cleaning can obtain a sufficient cleaning effect while saving water. There are advantages.

Furthermore, since the water discharged through the water-saving valve contains air, if the discharged water is used for washing or the like, the washing effect of the washing machine is improved, and the washing time and the amount of water can be reduced. There is an advantage that you can.

Further, in the hot water supply equipment provided with the water saving valve of the present invention, the water supply valve is always closed by the water saving valve, and there is no change in the water pressure even when the water tap is opened and closed. Even if the mixing stoppers are connected, there is an advantage that hot water at a desired temperature can always be stably obtained from the respective mixing stoppers, regardless of the usage mode of the mixing stoppers.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a water faucet provided with a water-saving valve according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the tip of a water faucet.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of an upper housing of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an upper housing of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a rotary member of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a rotary member of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a rotating member of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a lower housing of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 9 is a vertical sectional view of a water faucet showing another embodiment of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the tip of the water faucet.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the tip of the water faucet.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a lower housing of the water-saving valve.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a water supply cock opening.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a water saving amount.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Water faucet, 3 ... Water saving valve, 4 ... Foam metal fitting, 14 ... Water supply hole, 17 ... Rotating member, 19 ... Groove part, 22 ... Drainage hole, 25
… Rotation axis, S… Space part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main body having a spherical space portion, a water supply hole and a drain hole communicating with the space portion, and a plurality of groove portions are formed on an outer peripheral portion of the sphere in parallel with a rotating shaft portion passing through the center of the sphere. A water-saving valve, wherein the rotary shaft portion is rotatably provided in the space portion in a direction orthogonal to the hole axes of the water feed hole and the drain hole.