Flat Trap Assembly for Barrier-Free Shower Drainage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Standard shower drain traps are too tall to fit in the limited joist space beneath a shower room floor, especially in barrier-free bathroom designs where the floor is lowered, leading to increased production costs and inaccessible internal surfaces for modification.
Innovation Solution
A flat trap assembly formed from two ninety-degree elbows with a flattened section, reducing the trap's height by changing from a circular to ovoid cross-section, allowing for reduced vertical space accommodation and internal coating accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standard circular trap is used to maintain proper weir height and drainage function, then the trap can effectively block sewer gases, but the trap height becomes too great to fit in the reduced joist space beneath barrier-free shower floors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the cross-sectional geometry parameter of the trap from circular to ovoid (flattened circular). This parameter change allows the trap to maintain the required weir height for blocking sewer gases while reducing the overall vertical height of the trap body, enabling it to fit in the limited joist space beneath barrier-free shower floors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a three-dimensional circular cross-section to a two-dimensional flattened ovoid cross-section. This dimensional change allows the trap to redistribute its volume more efficiently in the horizontal plane while minimizing vertical height, solving the space constraint problem without compromising the weir height necessary for gas blocking.
2Ease of manufacture
If a standard circular trap with constant cross-section is used, then the trap structure is simple to manufacture, but the internal U-bend surface becomes inaccessible for modification such as antimicrobial coatings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the trap into multiple segments or sections, particularly at the U-bend area. This segmentation creates accessible openings or removable sections that allow workers to reach the internal surfaces for applying antimicrobial coatings or performing maintenance, while still maintaining a relatively simple overall manufacturing process using standard pipe bending or molding techniques.
3Ease of operation
If the shower floor is lowered to create slope for drainage in barrier-free designs, then surface water can flow toward the drain, but the vertical space remaining in the joist area becomes insufficient to accommodate a standard trap
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies geometry parameter changes by flattening the trap's cross-section from circular to ovoid. This allows the trap to maintain adequate weir height for gas blocking while reducing overall vertical height, enabling installation in the compressed joist space that remains after the shower floor is lowered to create the necessary drainage slope.
Data Source
AI summary
A trap is formed from two instances of a standard part, the ninety degree elbow, and a two-part ninety degree elbow that has a cross-section that runs from circular at the upstream spigot to ovoid at the juncture of the two parts back to circular at the downstream hub. All of the rules that bind trap design in building codes can still be accommodated in this trap architecture. Moreover, the ability of the critical flattened elbow part to be formed from two plastic parts with standard line-of-draw cores reduces entry cost of fabrication. Access to the interior of the parts also allows for novel internal coating strategies. Most importantly for installation, the height of whole trap is reduced by squishing the trap diameter to a degree that a significant drop in trap height is achieved. This decrease in trap height can be sufficient to allow the trap to be accommodated in the reduced height of a vertical space between an underlying ceiling and the underside of the lowered subfloor.