Valve-Controllable Urinal Drain Line and Plumbing Component Rinse Management System for Very Low Water and/or Non-Water Use Urinals

Abstract

A water-conserving system equipped to periodically rinse ultra high-efficiency urinal drainage plumbing of corrosive waste liquid and reduce associated gaseous odor is provided. A valve-controllable rinse-cycle supply of water is provided which can selectively be directed into a single drainage conduit which receives waste water from one or more ultra high-efficiency urinals. The system provides embodiments having mechanical valves, or electro-mechanical valves configured responsive to control-signals provided from one or more electronic components, or one or more types of microprocessor-enabled devices, networked devices or computer apparatus.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is a non-provisional application which relies on U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61 / 508,610 filed on Jul. 16, 2011, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention pertains generally to the field of water and energy conserving plumbing products, fixtures and systems. More specifically the invention relates to a valve-controllable urinal drain line and plumbing component rinse management system equipped to periodically convey a controllable supply of water or water solution (e.g., fresh, saline, alkali-enriched, rain water, grey water or water with one or more cleaning agents) as needed for rinsing the plumbing drainage line (and optionally one or more other plumbing components) of systems equipped with non-water urinals using no flush water per use-cycle, and / or ultra-high efficiency urinals (‘Ultra-HEU’) using less than...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a system for managing the drainage of non-water urinals and ultra-high efficiency urinals in a water and energy conserving manner. The system includes a valve-controllable urinal drainage line and plumbing component rinse management system. The system is designed to periodically rinse, flush or purge the non-water urinals and ultra-high efficiency urinals, which helps to prevent the buildup of corrosive waste liquid and other urinal-related or plumbing components. The system uses a valve-controllable supply of water that is selectable among a variety of water sources, such as fresh, potable, sea, or other suitable waste liquid or septic managing means. The system can be electronically automated and can be controlled based on the use-cycle monitoring of the urinals or user proximity sensors. The technical effects of the invention include water and energy conservation, improved hygiene, and reduced maintenance costs.

Problems solved by technology

It is projected that over 800 million people worldwide will not have a sufficient supply of water.

For example, in recent years water-conserving efforts made by manufacturers of plumbing fixtures have lead to significant decreases in the amount of water needed to flush toilets and urinals.

While such improvements have come relatively quickly and have contributed to significant reduction in water usage, they do not represent the best in what is attainable in urinal related water conservation.

For example non-water urinals, initially thought to be an ideal solution to reducing urinal water use, have been shown to have some undesirable outcomes.

One concern is a much higher and more costly degree of maintenance overhead than was initially predicted.

A second, more serious concern was finding that water free urinals retrofitted to, or newly installed with copper drainage plumbing did not have sufficient flushing of waste liquid to purge their copper pipes, which in turn produced urine-related corrosion and a much unwelcomed odor.

In a number of cases where non-water urinals had been installed they had to be entirely removed (due to unacceptable odor) and replaced with conventional water-flushing urinals.

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