Resilient Drain Insert with Snares for Clog Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toilet drain inserts are ineffective in preventing clogs caused by incontinence pads and diapers, particularly among the elderly with dementia, as they are obvious, distracting, and require expensive plumbing services to remove, and existing solutions fail to provide a simple, cost-effective, and discreet solution.
Innovation Solution
A resilient drain insert with a sheet made of flexible material, featuring snares and a retention feature, designed for easy installation and removal, that creates a frictional fit in the trapway to catch non-flushable items while allowing flushable materials to pass through, with a nearly universal fit and discreet design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a drain insert is installed to prevent clogs, then clog prevention effectiveness is improved, but the insert becomes obvious and distracting to users with dementia
Solution Approach 1:
The drain insert is designed to be transparent or translucent, allowing it to blend with the toilet bowl and become less visible to users with dementia. This optical property change reduces the distracting effect while maintaining the structural integrity needed for clog prevention.
2Reliability
If existing drain inserts are installed to catch non-flushable items, then clog prevention is improved, but they require expensive and time-consuming plumbing services to remove
Solution Approach 1:
The drain insert incorporates resilient material that allows it to be compressed for easy installation and removal. The dynamic property of the material enables the insert to be temporarily deformed to fit into and removed from the drain without requiring plumbing services, while maintaining its structural form during operation to effectively catch non-flushable items.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a drain insert is designed to be discreet and hidden, then user distraction is reduced, but installation and removal complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drain insert is constructed from resilient, flexible material that can be easily compressed and manipulated by hand for installation and removal. This flexibility allows the insert to be discreetly positioned in the drain while maintaining simplicity in operation, resolving the contradiction between being hidden and easy to install/remove.
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 drain insert effectively prevents clogs by catching buoyant non-flushable items while allowing non-buoyant matter to pass, is easy to install and remove, and requires minimal maintenance, providing a cost-effective solution that fits most trapways without being obtrusive.
Implementation Method 1
The sheet 102 is composed of a resilient material which is configured to be flexed/curled/rolled and then installed in a trapway of a toilet immediately downstream of the toilet bowl. Once installed, a resilience of the resilient material biases the sheet 102 outward against the trapway.
Implementation Method 2
Upon this expansion, the sheet 102 takes on a form-fit with the trapway which creates a geometric interlock between the sheet 102 and the trapway that helps hold the drain insert 100 in place. The outward force from the resilient creates a frictional force between the sheet 102 and the surface of the trapway that also helps hold the sheet 102 in place in the trapway.
Implementation Method 3
The snares 104 are configured via various hook shapes to catch select items/materials in the trapway such as textiles, diapers, and pads etc. while providing minimal obstruction to flushable matter.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus (100), including: a sheet (102) composed of a resilient material and configured to be flexed and then installed in a trapway of a toilet where the sheet takes on an installed shape in which a resilience of the resilient material biases the sheet outward against the trapway; at least one snare (104) protruding from a first side (142) of the sheet and thereby radially into the trapway once installed and configured to snare select items being flushed down the trapway; and a retention feature (106) extending from the sheet and configured to catch on a perimeter of an inlet of the trapway and thereby aid in holding the apparatus in place.