Faucet Contact Guard with Auxiliary Flow Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional water faucets are prone to contamination from human contact and splashback, which can lead to the transmission of germs to the faucet's interior surfaces and biofilm, posing health hazards.
Innovation Solution
A contact guard is designed to be fitted onto a water faucet housing, featuring a central passageway and radial guard extensions that form auxiliary passageways, preventing splashback from entering the faucet's internal passageway and providing a physical barrier against contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional water faucets are used without additional protection, then the structure remains simple and easy to manufacture, but contamination from human contact and splashback occurs, compromising water safety
Solution Approach 1:
The contact guard acts as an intermediary component between the external environment (hands, splashback) and the faucet interior surfaces. It provides a physical barrier that prevents direct contact between contaminants and the faucet's internal passageways, thereby protecting the biofilm from contamination without modifying the faucet's core structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact guard is designed as a separate, detachable component that can be installed independently on existing faucets. This segmentation allows the contamination protection function to be added without redesigning the entire faucet system, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while enhancing safety.
2Reliability
If a contact guard with multiple body sections and guard extensions is installed, then protection against splashback and contamination is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The contact guard is divided into multiple functional sections (proximal body, intermediate body, distal body, proximal guard, intermediate guard, distal guard) that can be manufactured separately and then assembled. This segmentation enables each component to be produced using standard manufacturing processes, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while achieving comprehensive protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-section design allows smaller guard components to be nested within or between the body sections, creating a compact structure that provides extensive protection without requiring excessive material or space, thereby balancing manufacturing ease with protective effectiveness.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If guard extensions with overlapping configurations are used, then the physical barrier against splashback is enhanced, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The guard extensions are designed with varying lengths and positions tailored to specific locations around the faucet discharge. Each extension is optimized for its local position to effectively block splashback from that direction, while the overlapping configuration ensures comprehensive coverage without requiring extremely tight manufacturing tolerances across the entire assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A contact guard for use with a water faucet housing having a discharge end portion configured to discharge water along a discharge axis. The contact guard includes an inner surface extending about a central axis, with the inner surface defining a central passageway extending between a proximal end portion and a distal end portion along the central axis. A plurality of guard extensions may be arranged in spaced relation to each other. At least one pair of adjacent guard extensions form an auxiliary flow channel in fluid communication with the central passageway. The auxiliary flow channel includes a radial component extending radially outward relative to the central axis and a secondary component angled relative to the radial component. The at last one pair of adjacent guard extensions include at least one portion that overlaps each other along an axis perpendicular to the central axis.