U.S. patent application number 11/920810 was filed with the patent office on 2009-05-21 for odor seal.
This patent application is currently assigned to SCHLUTER-SYSTEMS KG. Invention is credited to Werner Schluter.
Application Number | 20090126102 11/920810 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36940383 |
Filed Date | 2009-05-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090126102 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schluter; Werner |
May 21, 2009 |
Odor Seal
Abstract
The invention proposes an odor seal for use in or on the
drainage channel of sanitary installations or the like, or on the
outflow thereof, comprising a housing (101) provided with an
inflow, and also comprising a helical inner wall (114) which is
arranged on the housing, at a spacing apart therefrom, and forms an
annular space (106) with the inner housing wall (113), and this
annular space (106) is connected to an upper overflow (115), formed
by way of the inner wall (114), into an outflow chamber (106) with
an outwardly directed overflow connection (103), the housing (101)
being an elongate conduit component which is closed at the ends on
both sides and in which the helical inner wall (114) is arranged in
the longitudinal direction, at a spacing apart, to form the annular
space (105), which is connected to the inflow (102) and/or an
inflow chamber (104).
Inventors: |
Schluter; Werner; (Iserlohn,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COLLARD & ROE, P.C.
1077 NORTHERN BOULEVARD
ROSLYN
NY
11576
US
|
Assignee: |
SCHLUTER-SYSTEMS KG
Iserlohn
DE
|
Family ID: |
36940383 |
Appl. No.: |
11/920810 |
Filed: |
July 4, 2006 |
PCT Filed: |
July 4, 2006 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2006/063830 |
371 Date: |
November 20, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
4/679 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E03F 2005/0416 20130101;
E03C 1/28 20130101; E03F 5/0408 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
4/679 |
International
Class: |
E03C 1/12 20060101
E03C001/12 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Aug 3, 2005 |
DE |
10 2005 036 464.0 |
Claims
1. Odor seal for use in or on the outflow line of sanitary
installations or the like, or on their outflow, consisting of a
housing equipped with an inflow, and a spiral-shaped inner wall
disposed within it, at a distance from the wall, which forms a ring
space with the inner housing wall, and this ring space empties into
an outflow chamber within the inner wall, with an upper overflow
formed by the inner wall, whereby this outflow chamber stands in
connection with an outflow connector that leads to the outside,
wherein the housing is an elongated channel piece (1, 101) that is
closed on the end side on both sides, in which the spiral-shaped
inner wall (14, 114) is disposed in the longitudinal direction, at
a wall distance, forming the ring space (5, 105) that stands in
connection with the inflow (2, 102) and an inflow chamber (4, 104),
respectively.
2. Odor seal according to claim 1, comprising pipe-like channel
piece (1) that is continuously closed at its circumference, having
an inflow-side inflow chamber (4) that empties into the ring space
(5) between spiral-shaped inner wall (14) and channel wall (13),
whereby the spiral-shaped inner wall (14) is closed off on the face
side, on the inflow side, at least up to the height of the overflow
(15).
3. Odor seal according to claim 2, wherein the pipe-shaped channel
piece (1) has an approximately oval or approximately rectangular
cross-section, whereby the axes of the inflow connector (2) and of
the outflow connector (3) are disposed with lateral offset.
4. Odor seal according to claim 2, wherein the ring space (5)
widens from the deepest point towards the overflow (15).
5. Odor seal according to claim 2, wherein a continuous crosspiece
(16) that delimits the ring space (5), or the like, is disposed in
the longitudinal direction, parallel at a distance from the
spiral-shaped inner wall (14), having a height (H) that is greater
than the height (h) of the ring space at its deepest point.
6. Odor seal according to claim 2, wherein the spiral-shaped bent
inner wall (14) is formed onto the channel wall (13) on the inside,
from the top.
7. Odor seal according to claim 1, comprising a gutter-like channel
piece (101) having one or more upper entry openings (102), which
empty into the ring space (105) that is closed on the face side, on
both sides, and the outflow chamber (106), which is also closed on
the face side, stands in connection with an outflow connector
(103).
8. Odor seal according to claim 7, wherein the entry opening is a
continuous slit (102).
9. Odor seal according to claim 7, wherein lateral attachment
flanges (116) are disposed in the upper region of the channel piece
(101).
10. Odor seal according to claim 9, wherein the attachment flanges
(116) are provided with perforations at regular intervals.
11. Odor seal according to claim 1, wherein the attachment flanges
(116) have a gradient in the direction of the entry openings (102).
Description
[0001] The invention relates to an odor seal in accordance with the
preamble of claim 1. Such odor seals are disposed in or ahead of an
outflow line behind sanitary installations, such as shower stalls,
bathtubs, kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, or also as floor drains.
Because of their corresponding design, a level of water remains in
such devices, which seals off the connected installations with
regard to gases that come from the sewer line.
[0002] An odor seal referred to as a siphon is known from FR 2 791
372 A1, which seal is to be disposed exclusively directly under the
corresponding sanitary installation, for example on the outflow of
a sink. It consists of a pot-like housing, at the upper open side
of which an attachment flange is provided, with which such an odor
seal can be directly attached underneath the corresponding sanitary
installation. A spiral-shaped inner wall with wall spacing is
disposed in this pot-like housing; it separates an inflow chamber
that is open towards the top from an outflow chamber formed in the
interior of the inner wall, which stands in connection with an
outflow connector, which is to be connected with the outflow line
of the sewer system. In this connection, this inner wall forms a
ring space having an upper overflow from the entry chamber to the
outflow chamber. With this design structure, the result is achieved
that when water runs out of a sanitary installation, a water level
in the housing that serves as an odor seal is always maintained, up
to the level of the overflow. As compared with U-shaped siphons,
this odor seal has the possibility of lesser structural heights at
the same outflow flow cross-sections. Such an advantage is of
particular significance if such an odor seal is to be accommodated
in a floor structure, for example under a shower stall, and only a
slight structural height is available.
[0003] However, there are only limited possibilities for reducing
the structural height of an odor seal formed in such a manner,
because of the ring space required in a housing and in the entry
chamber, in order to guarantee sufficient through-flow
cross-sections. Furthermore, in the case of minimized corresponding
cross-section ratios, there is the risk that the ring space in such
an odor seal, which forms the odor seal with its water level, will
be emptied by suction in the case of a partial vacuum in the
outflow line, because of the merely slight amount of water, so that
an odor seal is no longer effective.
[0004] The task of the invention consists in proposing an odor seal
of the type stated initially, which permits a lower structural
height, taking the minimum diameter cross-sections into account,
and which additionally is able to offer increased security with
regard to the risk of being emptied by suction as the result of a
partial vacuum in the outflow line.
[0005] This task is accomplished with an odor seal having the
characteristics of claim 1. In contrast to the known prior art,
such an odor seal according to the invention utilizes the
possibility of the width and length dimension that is generally
available in the floor structure, so that the height dimension can
be restricted to a minimum dimension. In place of a pot-like
housing, the odor seal according to the invention uses an elongated
channel piece, which can have an oval cross-section or a
rectangular cross-section, for example.
[0006] Such an odor seal according to the invention can have both a
face-side connector that can be installed, with a corresponding
molded piece, in the immediate vicinity of the sanitary facility or
a floor drain. However, it can also be implemented directly as a
gutter-like channel piece according to claim 7 and the following
claims, and can be mounted on the outflow line. Such an odor seal
can therefore also be used as an elongated outflow gutter, e.g. as
a floor drain, or also can be used on a sanitary object having a
slit-like outflow opening.
[0007] Attachment flanges on which sealing materials can also be
applied serve to accommodate a floor inflow grid or for attachment
to a sanitary object. The attachment flange can be equipped with
holes or other attachment means.
[0008] To enlarge the residual water volume that serves as the odor
seal in the device according to claim 5, and to reduce the suction
effect in the case of a partial vacuum, it is proposed, according
to claim 4, to widen the ring space from the deepest point towards
the overflow, in order to prevent emptying by suction in the case
of a partial vacuum. This enlargement also makes use of the width
dimension, whereby the structural height of such an odor seal is
not changed.
[0009] A minimum water storage chamber of the ring space can be
formed by means of a barrier crosspiece.
[0010] The invention will be explained in greater detail in the
following, using exemplary embodiments that are shown. The figures
show:
[0011] FIG. 1: a view of the inflow-side face side of a
channel-like odor seal,
[0012] FIG. 2: a top view of an odor seal having an approximately
oval housing, in cross-section, in a section according to the line
II-II FIG. 1,
[0013] FIG. 3: the face view of the outflow-side housing side,
[0014] FIG. 4: a section along the line I-I in FIG. 2,
[0015] FIG. 5: a top view of a gutter-like odor seal, and
[0016] FIG. 6: a perspective sectional representation according to
the line III-III in FIG. 5, through the odor seal in FIG. 5.
[0017] FIGS. 1 to 4 show an odor seal that can be connected either
with an outflow line, for example as a floor drain, or directly
with an angled piece on a sanitary installation, such as a sink,
bathtub, shower stall, floor inflow, or the like, whereby the
structural height only has to be slightly greater than the diameter
of the outflow line, so that such odor seals are particularly
suitable for installation in a floor in which only a slight
structural height is available, or also under bathroom vanities,
for example, in order to leave as much room as possible for
cabinets or the like. It consists of a housing 1 formed in the
manner of a channel piece, having an approximately oval
cross-section. The face wall 11 that ends the housing on the inflow
side is penetrated by the inflow connector 2, which is to be
connected with the sanitary installation or a floor inflow. The
downstream-side face wall 12 has the outflow connector 3, laterally
offset from the axis. In the interior, a spiral-shaped inner wall
14 is provided, at a distance from the inner housing wall, i.e. the
channel wall 13, forming a ring space 5. This spiral-shaped inner
wall 14, which is open towards the top, forms an overflow 15 to the
inner chamber of the inner wall 14, and thereby to an outflow
chamber 6, which is connected with the outflow connector 3. The
waste water that enters by way of the inflow connector 2 two
reaches the ring space 5 by way of the inflow chamber 4, and, after
it reaches the overflow 15, gets into the outflow chamber 6, and
from there, it is drained into the connecting outflow line by way
of the outflow connector 3. A water level that serves as an odor
seal remains in the ring space 5, after the water has flowed in;
this level is determined by the height of the overflow 15. In order
to guarantee a sufficient residual water level in case of a
possible partial vacuum in the connecting outflow line, a
continuous crosspiece 16 that delimits the ring space 5 is disposed
in the longitudinal direction, at a distance from the spiral-shaped
inner wall 14, having a height H that is greater than the height h
of the ring space at its deepest point.
[0018] FIGS. 5 and 6 show an odor seal in the manner of a
gutter-like channel piece 101 having the face walls 111 and 112. A
spiral-shaped inner wall 114 is disposed in this channel piece 101,
which can be provided with additional outer side walls and a
stand-on floor surface, also in the interior, at a distance from
the wall, forming a ring space 105. This gutter-like channel piece
can be used directly in the floor of a sanitary installation, for
example a shower at floor level, as a floor outflow gutter, or
under a sanitary part having a slit-shaped outflow. The outflowing
water enters into the inflow chamber 104, which can be widened in
width, by way of the slit 102, and from there reaches the outflow
chamber 106 by way of the ring space 105 and the overflow 115. This
channel piece 101 can be attached under a sanitary part with
lateral attachment flanges 116 formed onto the top, by means of
corresponding attachment means. In the case of use as a floor
drain, the attachment flange 116 can serve as the contact surface
for an inflow grid and for embedding in thin-bed mortar, for which
purpose the attachment flange can be equipped with perforations at
regular intervals, so that the projecting shanks can also be
anchored under floor tiles, using the thin-bed method. The
attachment flange also serves to accommodate sealing means.
[0019] In the case of this design, as well, the ring space 105
formed between channel wall 113 and inner wall 114 can constantly
widen from the lowest point to the overflow 115, in order to
enlarge the water volume that serves as the odor seal.
TABLE-US-00001 Reference Symbol List 1 housing channel piece 102
entry slit 11 face wall 103 outflow connector 12 face wall 104
inflow chamber 13 channel wall 105 ring space 14 inner wall 106
outflow chamber 15 overflow H height 16 crosspiece h height 2
inflow connector 3 outflow connector 4 inflow chamber 5 ring space
6 outflow chamber 101 gutter-like channel piece 111 face wall 112
face wall 113 channel wall 114 inner wall 115 overflow 116
attachment flange
* * * * *