Faucet Anti-Freeze Vacuum Breaking Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional anti-freeze faucets fail to achieve a vacuum breaking effect due to a limited air opening in the intake valve, leading to water accumulation and freezing in the chamber during frigid weather.
Innovation Solution
An anti-freeze vacuum breaking structure for a faucet is designed with a rod handle aperture communicating with the outflow orifice of the shaft bolt's control valve, creating an air feeding effect through the intake valve to prevent water accumulation by allowing air to enter the chamber, thereby breaking the vacuum.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the intake valve is used with a limited air opening, then the valve structure is simple, but the vacuum breaking effect is insufficient causing water accumulation and freezing
Solution Approach 1:
The air passage is divided into multiple segments: the first air passage through the rod, the second air passage through the shaft bolt, and the third air passage through the housing. This segmentation allows air to enter through multiple pathways simultaneously, significantly improving the vacuum breaking effect while maintaining reasonable structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single air opening to a three-dimensional network of air passages distributed throughout the valve structure. Air can enter through the rod, shaft bolt, and housing simultaneously, creating a multi-dimensional air intake system that dramatically enhances vacuum breaking capability
2Reliability
If the air opening diameter is increased to improve vacuum breaking, then the vacuum breaking effect is enhanced, but the valve structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the diameter of a single air opening, the invention segments the air intake function across multiple smaller passages distributed throughout the valve structure. This achieves equivalent or superior vacuum breaking effect while avoiding the complexity of a single large opening
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple components (rod, shaft bolt, housing) that already exist in the valve structure are given the additional function of providing air passages. This multi-functional design improves vacuum breaking without adding separate dedicated components, thereby limiting complexity increase
3Ease of manufacture
If water accumulates in the chamber during water supply stopping, then the chamber structure is simple, but water freezes in frigid weather
Solution Approach 1:
The air passages are pre-configured in the valve structure to automatically activate when water supply stops. Air enters through the passages before water can accumulate and freeze, preventing the harmful effect in advance while maintaining the simple chamber structure
Solution Approach 2:
Air acts as an intermediary substance introduced through the air passages to displace water from the chamber. This intermediary gas prevents water accumulation and subsequent freezing without requiring changes to the chamber structure itself
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The structure effectively prevents water from freezing in the faucet by establishing a vacuum breaking effect that allows air to enter the chamber when the water supply is stopped, ensuring the faucet remains functional in cold weather.
Implementation Method 1
an air feeding effect results from an intake valve of a tube body, thereby obtaining a vacuum breaking effect
Data Source
AI summary
An anti-freeze vacuum breaking structure for the faucet contains a tube body including a chamber, an inlet, an outlet, a connecting hole, and an intake valve; a control valve including a housing, a shaft bolt, a rod, a stopping sleeve, an upper ceramic piece, a lower ceramic piece, and a seat, the shaft bolt having a connecting segment and an actuating segment, a watering room, a through hole, the shaft bolt including an outflow orifice, the rod including an increased shoulder, the shoulder including a first stopping ring, the rod also including a decreased fitting section, the decreased filling section having a resilient element, an air channel, and an air bore, the rod including a second stopping ring; a handle including a rotating member coupling with a driving stem, the driving stem including one end with an aperture and another end fitted with the connecting segment.