Ceramic Valve Intermediate Section Cold Water Supply Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional dual-temperature faucets face issues with scalding hazards due to unintentional switching to hot water and insufficient water pressure, leading to gas leakage, and the design does not effectively meet user preferences for cold water supply.
Innovation Solution
A ceramic valve with an intermediate section featuring an off-center driven slot and biased rotary support unit, allowing the toggle end to toggle the driven slot and shift the rotary valve block, ensuring only cold water is supplied when the handle is pulled up, preventing scalding and aligning with user preferences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the handle is pulled up from the intermediate section in a conventional dual-temperature faucet, then the faucet supplies mixed water, but this creates scalding hazards when cold water pressure is weak and allows direct switching to hot water mode
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the water supply function by introducing a dedicated cold water supply slot (21) separate from the hot water supply path. When the handle is pulled up from the intermediate section, only the cold water supply slot connects cold water inlet (11) to the outlet, while the hot water inlet (12) remains disconnected. This physical segmentation ensures that cold water supply cannot accidentally activate hot water, eliminating scalding hazards while maintaining operational simplicity.
2Reliability
If the cold/hot water inlets are partially open when the handle is pulled up, then mixed water state is achieved, but insufficient water pressure makes it impossible to ignite gas for hot water, leading to gas leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cold water supply function from the mixed water supply mechanism by creating a独立的 cold water supply slot (21) with its own dedicated path from cold water inlet (11) to outlet. This separation ensures that when the handle is pulled up, only cold water flows through the extracted cold water path, while the hot water path remains completely closed. This eliminates the partial opening condition that causes pressure insufficiency and prevents the gas leakage hazard.
3Shape
If the swinging angles of warm/hot water modes differ very little, then the faucet structure is compact, but the user may accidentally shift to hot water mode causing scalding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a distinct structural feature at the intermediate section: the cold water supply slot (21) is specifically positioned and dimensioned to engage only when the handle is in the pulled-up position from the intermediate section. This localized structural arrangement ensures that the compact swinging angles do not compromise safety, as the cold water supply mechanism has a unique geometric configuration that prevents accidental hot water activation even with minimal angular difference between modes.
Data Source
AI summary
A ceramic valve with an intermediate section having cold water supply function, which comprising: a valve casing, rotary driving seat, braking valve rod, pedestal, fixed valve block, rotary valve block and coupling seat; of which the coupling seat is assembled securely on top surface of the rotary valve block; it is characterized by that: a driven slot, recessed into an off-center position on top surface of the coupling seat; the toggle end at lower end of the braking valve rod is inserted into said driven slot, and there is an active clearance between the driven slot and toggle end; a biased rotary support unit, comprising of a flanged axle and an axle hole that are sleeved together in a rotatable state; said flanged axle and axle hole are separately arranged at top surface of the coupling seat and an off-center position on bottom surface of the inner seating portion of the rotary driving seat; hence, a biased rotary support position is shaped between the rotary driving seat and coupling seat; when the braking valve rod swings to an oblique water supply mode from the preset intermediate section, the toggle end at lower end of the braking valve rod will linearly toggle the driven slot, then the coupling seat along with the rotary valve block may rotarily shift by taking the biased rotary support unit as a rotary pivotal point, so the water flow control slot is only connected with the cold water through-hole in a cold water supply mode. Hence, the cold water supply function of the ceramic valve's intermediate section could prevent scalding and meet the resetting habit of the user for the handle of the dual-temperature faucet with improved applicability.