TRAPWAY OPTIMIZATION

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority benefit of Provisional Application No. 63/649,022 (Docket No. 10222-24025B) filed May 17, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present application relates generally to toilet trapways.

BACKGROUND

Generally speaking, plumbing fixtures, such as toilets and urinals include a sump in which liquid and/or waste are collected. The sump is fluidly connected to a bowl of the toilet or urinal through which liquid and/or other waste may enter the sump. The sump is also fluidly connected to a trapway leading to a drain or sewer. Liquid and/or other waste flow from the sump through the trapway to a drain or sewer during a flushing operation. Water supplied from the drain channel and to the sump facilitates the removal of liquid and/or other waste from the plumbing fixture during a flushing process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example gravity feed toilet.

FIG. 2 illustrates a toilet with a trapway having one or more structural components optimized for efficient water flow.

FIG. 3 illustrates another toilet with a trapway having one or more structural components optimized for efficient water flow.

FIG. 4 illustrates a rear view of the trapway of FIG. 2 or 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow of water withing the trapway of FIG. 2 or 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example controller for operation of the optimization algorithm for selecting dimensions of the trapway of FIG. 2 or 3.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart for selection of dimensions of one or more structural components optimized for efficient water flow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before turning to the figures, which illustrate certain exemplary embodiments in detail, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the details and methodology set forth in the description or illustrated in the figures. It should also be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description only and should not be regarded as limiting.

Generally speaking, sump waste removal fixtures, such as a toilet or urinal, include a sump in which liquid and waste in the toilet or urinal collect. The sump waste removal fixture generally includes an orifice, which may be a jet orifice, for introducing water into the trapway of the fixture. The water may be used to assist in the draining of the contents of the bowl and sump of the plumbing fixture. The contents of the bowl and sump may be drained through the trapway to a drain pipe or sewer line. Some plumbing fixtures are made from a vitreous material by a solid casting process, where a slip material or tube is utilized to form a hollow trapway within the plumbing fixture when the plumbing fixture is cast. A fluid channel directs fluid from a fluid supply source to the jet orifice to assist with draining

FIG. 1 illustrates a toilet 100 includes a base 110 (e.g., a pedestal, bowl, etc.) and a tank 120 is shown. The base 110 is configured to be attached to a flange of a soil pipe inlet of a soil pipe, floor, or another suitable object. The base 110 includes a bowl 111, a sump (e.g., a receptacle) disposed below the bowl 111, and a passageway fluidly connecting the bowl 111 to a drainpipe or sewage line. The base 110 also includes a pair of toilet mounting holes 112 through which corresponding bolts are inserted into and fastened with corresponding nuts such as to secure the toilet 100 to the floor. The tank 120 may be supported by the base 110, such as an upper surface of a rim 115. The tank 120 may be integrally formed with the base 110 as a single unitary body. In other embodiments, the tank 120 may be formed separately from the base 110 and coupled (e.g., attached, secured, fastened, connected, etc.) to the base 110. The toilet 100 may further include a tank lid 122 covering an opening and inner cavity in the tank 120. The toilet 100 may include a seat assembly 130 including a seat 131 and a seat cover 132 rotatably coupled to the base 110. The toilet 100 may further include a hinge assembly 135.

The toilet 100 is configured for a gravity fed flush in which water is released into a bowl under the force of gravity. As the water level in the bowl spills over a trapway, a siphon seal with the drainpipe or sewage line is broken, allowing water and other contents of the bowl to be flushed. Subsequently, the water in the bowl will return to an equilibrium level determined by a height of a weird of the trapway and the siphon seal with the drainpipe or sewage line is restored. The following embodiments provide examples for the trapway, weir, and surrounding structure that optimizes the flow of water and other bowl contents from the bowl, through the trapway, and into the drainpipe or sewage line.

FIG. 2 provides an example toilet including a toilet bowl 10 coupled to a sump 23 leading to a trapway 30. In FIG. 2, only the water passages of the toilet are illustrated. The water passages may be incorporated into ta gravity fed toilet as shown in FIG. 1 or other types of toilets such as pressure assisted toilets or washdown toilets. The sump 23 may be coupled to a sump jet 20. In some examples, the sump jet 20 includes an active jet such as a pump that is powered by an electrical signal and includes an impeller to propel water through the sump jet 20 from the sump 23 to the trapway 30. In some examples, the sump jet 20 is a passive jet that includes a narrow passage that cause the line pressure of water to be magnified in order to propel water through the sump jet 20 from the sump 23 to the trapway 30. The water supply 21, connected to a utility water source directly or indirectly through a tank may provide water through one or more arm passages 22 positioned around the bowl 10. The sump jet 20 may have various dimensions or sizes including a jet radius or a jet area Ajet.

Downstream of the sump 23, the trapway 30 includes an upleg 11, a downleg 13, and a dam portion 12 that divides the upleg 11 and the downleg 13. A weir or dam, external to the trapway 30 but supporting the trapway 30 may be positioned just below the upleg 11 and the downleg 13 (e.g., at weir peak 17). The upleg 11 may be positioned from the sump 23 to the weir peak 17 at an angle θ with respect to a horizontal line.

Downstream of the downleg 13 is a vertical portion 18 and a horizontal portion 15, joined by an ankle 14. Downstream of the horizontal portion 15, a spoon 16 connects the trapway 30 to an outlet 26. The outlet 26 may connect the trapway 30 to a drain pipe or sewer line for connection to a sewer system or a septic system. Additional, different or fewer components may be included.

Various lines or markers are illustrated along the trapway 30 to point out example divisions among these features of the trapway 30. The upleg 11 may include a first radius of curvature Rup extending from the line L1 to line L2 at the weir peak 17. The downleg may include a second radius of curvature Rdn extending from the line L2 to the line L3. The vertical portion 18 extends from line L3 to line L4.

A third radius of curvature Rak extends from line L4 to line L5. The third radius of curvature Rak defines the ankle 14 of the trapway 30. The horizontal portion 15 extends from line L5 to line L6. A fourth radius of curvature Rsp extends from the line L6 to the line L7 at the outlet 26. The fourth radius of curvature Rsp defines the spoon 16 of the trapway 30.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment where one or more of the dimensions and sizes of the trapway 30 and sump 20 have different values from the embodiment of FIG. 3. In FIG. 3 the first radius of curvature Rup is smaller than in FIG. 2. Accordingly, the angle θ with respect to a horizontal line for the upleg 11 is greater than in FIG. 2. Thus, the upleg 11 is steeper leading to the weir peak 17. Similarly, the second radius of curvature Rdn is also smaller than in FIG. 2, resulting in a steeper downleg 13.

FIG. 4 illustrates a rear view of the toilet to illustrate the various widths of the trapway 30. The sump 23 may include a first width W1, the upleg 11 may include a second width W2, and the downleg 13 may include a third width W3. Any of these widths may be adjusted. The width W2 of the upleg 11 may have a particular impact of the water flow through the trapway 30.

Table 1 summarizes the various sizes and dimensions for the trapway 30 and sump 20. An example high value and low values is provided in Table 1. Through experimentation, the sizes and dimensions may be adjusted in various combination to optimize a particular parameter of the trapway 30. Examples of optimized parameters include flow rate, flow acceleration, time to peak flow, and duration of a peak flow range. Other parameters are possible.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow of water within the trapway 30 of FIG. 2 or 3. In order to optimize the water flow through the trapway 30, the trapway 30 should be shaped to minimize the contact of the water with the walls of the trapway 30. Any turbulence or swirling with the trapway 30 disrupts the efficient flow of water through the trapway 30. In some examples, the flow of water W flows over the weir peak 17 and contacts only a single point, or area of points, along the vertical portion 18 of the trapway 30 before reaching the horizontal portion 15 of the trapway 30.

For some dimensions of the trapway 30 the water may travel over the weir peak 17 with too much momentum, causing multiple collisions with the sides of the downleg (e.g., vertical portion 18). The resulting turbulence disrupts the efficient flow of water through the trapway 30. In order to reduce this momentum and smooth out the flow of water through the trapway 30, dimensions of the upleg 11 and downleg 13 may be selected to set the momentum of the water. That is, the radius of curvature extending upstream of the weir peak 17 may be selected to control the momentum of the flow of water over the weir peak 17 and/or the radius of curvature extending downstream of the weir peak 17 may be selected to control the momentum of water over the weir peak 17.

Other dimensions of physical properties of the trapway 30 may be selected to control the momentum of the flow of water over the weir peak 17. Examples are described in Table 1 an included the jet area (Ajet), upleg angle (θ), first radius of curvature (Rup), second radius of curvature (Rdn), third radius of curvature (Rak), fourth radius of curvature (Rsp), width of sump (W1), width of upleg (W2), and width of downleg (W3).

FIG. 6 illustrates an example controller 301 for operation of the drive mechanism for seat 50 and cover 70. The controller 301 may include a processor 300, a memory 352, and a communication interface 353 for interfacing with devices or to the internet and/or other networks 346. In addition to the communication interface 353, a sensor interface may be configured to receive data from sensors (e.g., proximity sensors to trigger the operation of the seat 50 and/or cover 70; position sensors to detect the position of the seat 50 and/or cover).

The components of the control system may communicate using bus 348. The control system may be connected to a workstation or another external device (e.g., control panel) and/or a database for receiving user inputs, system characteristics, and any of the values described herein.

Optionally, the control system may include an input device 355 and/or a sensing circuit 356 in communication with any of the sensors. The sensing circuit receives sensor measurements from one or more sensors. The input device may include any of the user inputs such as buttons, touchscreen, a keyboard, a microphone for voice inputs, a camera for gesture inputs, and/or another mechanism.

Optionally, the control system may include a drive unit 340 for receiving and reading non-transitory computer media 341 having instructions 342. Additional, different, or fewer components may be included. The processor 300 is configured to perform instructions 342 stored in memory 352 for executing the algorithms described herein. A display 350 may be an indicator or other screen output device. The display 350 may be combined with the user input device 355.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example flow chart for selecting parameters for the trapway. Additional, different or fewer acts may be included.

At act S101, a first set of dimensions for the trapway 30 are selected. The first set of dimensions may include a value for each dimension in Table 1. The first set of dimensions may be selected by a user or automatically from a previous iteration.

At act S103, a flow rate and a duration are measured using the first set of dimensions. An example flow rate may be the maximum flow rate. The duration may be the time to a minimum or target flow rate. The duration may be the time above the minimum or target flow rate. Another example for the duration may be a flush cycle. The flush cycle may be defined as a time from the trigger of the flush cycle until the contents of the bowl are emptied.

At act S105, a second set of dimensions are selected and applied to the trapway 30. In most examples, a second trapway 30 is constructed. At act S107, a flow rate and a duration are measured using the second set of dimensions.

At act S109, the results from act S107 and act S103 are compared. The results may compared to determine the shortest time to the minimum or target flow rate or the longest duration above the minimum or target flow rate. Thus, when the second send of dimensions includes the shortest time to the minimum or target flow rate or the longest duration above the minimum or target flow rate, the first set of dimensions may be discarded.

At act S111, the selected set of dimensions are further incremented by adjusting one of the dimensions. Then, acts S101-109 are repeated one or more times to optimize all of the dimensions of the trapway 30.

Processor 300 may be a general purpose or specific purpose processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more programmable logic controllers (PLCs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processing components, or other suitable processing components. Processor 300 is configured to execute computer code or instructions stored in memory 352 or received from other computer readable media (e.g., embedded flash memory, local hard disk storage, local ROM, network storage, a remote server, etc.). The processor 300 may be a single device or combinations of devices, such as associated with a network, distributed processing, or cloud computing.

Memory 352 may include one or more devices (e.g., memory units, memory devices, storage devices, etc.) for storing data and/or computer code for completing and/or facilitating the various processes described in the present disclosure. Memory 352 may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive storage, temporary storage, non-volatile memory, flash memory, optical memory, or any other suitable memory for storing software objects and/or computer instructions. Memory 352 may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities and information structures described in the present disclosure. Memory 352 may be communicably connected to processor 300 via a processing circuit and may include computer code for executing (e.g., by processor 300) one or more processes described herein. For example, memory 298 may include graphics, web pages, HTML files, XML files, script code, shower configuration files, or other resources for use in generating graphical user interfaces for display and/or for use in interpreting user interface inputs to make command, control, or communication decisions.

In addition to ingress ports and egress ports, the communication interface 353 may include any operable connection. An operable connection may be one in which signals, physical communications, and/or logical communications may be sent and/or received. An operable connection may include a physical interface, an electrical interface, and/or a data interface. The communication interface 353 may be connected to a network. The network may include wired networks (e.g., Ethernet), wireless networks, or combinations thereof. The wireless network may be a cellular telephone network, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, or WiMax network, a Bluetooth pairing of devices, or a Bluetooth mesh network. Further, the network may be a public network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as an intranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety of networking protocols now available or later developed including, but not limited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

While the computer-readable medium (e.g., memory 352) is shown to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” includes a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein.

In a particular non-limiting, exemplary embodiment, the computer-readable medium can include a solid-state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non-volatile read-only memories. Further, the computer-readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re-writable memory. Additionally, the computer-readable medium can include a magneto-optical or optical medium, such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmission medium. A digital file attachment to an e-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a distribution medium that is a tangible storage medium. Accordingly, the disclosure is considered to include any one or more of a computer-readable medium or a distribution medium and other equivalents and successor media, in which data or instructions may be stored. The computer-readable medium may be non-transitory, which includes all tangible computer-readable media.

In an alternative embodiment, dedicated hardware implementations, such as application specific integrated circuits, programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices, can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein. Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems. One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be communicated between and through the modules, or as portions of an application-specific integrated circuit. Accordingly, the present system encompasses software, firmware, and hardware implementations.

As utilized herein, the terms “approximately,” “about,” “substantially”, and similar terms are intended to have a broad meaning in harmony with the common and accepted usage by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter of this disclosure pertains. It should be understood by those of skill in the art who review this disclosure that these terms are intended to allow a description of certain features described and claimed without restricting the scope of these features to the precise numerical ranges provided. Accordingly, these terms should be interpreted as indicating that insubstantial or inconsequential modifications or alterations of the subject matter described and claimed are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure as recited in the appended claims.

It should be noted that the term “exemplary” and variations thereof, as used herein to describe various embodiments, are intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible examples, representations, or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such terms are not intended to connote that such embodiments are necessarily extraordinary or superlative examples).

The term “coupled” and variations thereof, as used herein, means the joining of two members directly or indirectly to one another. Such joining may be stationary (e.g., permanent or fixed) or moveable (e.g., removable or releasable). Such joining may be achieved with the two members coupled directly to each other, with the two members coupled to each other using a separate intervening member and any additional intermediate members coupled with one another, or with the two members coupled to each other using an intervening member that is integrally formed as a single unitary body with one of the two members. If “coupled” or variations thereof are modified by an additional term (e.g., directly coupled), the generic definition of “coupled” provided above is modified by the plain language meaning of the additional term (e.g., “directly coupled” means the joining of two members without any separate intervening member), resulting in a narrower definition than the generic definition of “coupled” provided above. Such coupling may be mechanical, electrical, or fluidic.

The term “or,” as used herein, is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list. Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is understood to convey that an element may be either X, Y, Z; X and Y; X and Z; Y and Z; or X, Y, and Z (i.e., any combination of X, Y, and Z). Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, and at least one of Z to each be present, unless otherwise indicated.

References herein to the positions of elements (e.g., “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below”) are merely used to describe the orientation of various elements in the FIGURES. It should be noted that the orientation of various elements may differ according to other exemplary embodiments, and that such variations are intended to be encompassed by the present disclosure.

Although the figures and description may illustrate a specific order of method steps, the order of such steps may differ from what is depicted and described, unless specified differently above. Also, two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence, unless specified differently above. Such variation may depend, for example, on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, software implementations of the described methods could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps, and decision steps.

It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the system as shown in the various exemplary embodiments is illustrative only. Additionally, any element disclosed in one embodiment may be incorporated or utilized with any other embodiment disclosed herein. Although only one example of an element from one embodiment that can be incorporated or utilized in another embodiment has been described above, it should be appreciated that other elements of the various embodiments may be incorporated or utilized with any of the other embodiments disclosed herein.

When a component, element, device, or the like of the present disclosure is described as having a purpose or performing an operation, function, or the like, the component, device, or element should be considered herein as being “configured to” meet that purpose or to perform that operation or function.