Rotatable Sump Pump Elbow for Flexible Leak-Safe Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional water-powered sump pumps are limited in their versatility and installation flexibility, as they are typically designed for a single fixed location associated with the sump, restricting their use in various positions and orientations.
Innovation Solution
A rotatable water-powered sump pump design that secures to the wastewater inlet via a rotatable elbow joint, allowing 360° rotation and adaptability for vertical or horizontal positioning, enabling installation at any convenient location relative to the sump, utilizing a venturi effect for wastewater evacuation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a conventional water-powered sump pump is designed for a fixed location, then the structure is simple and reliable, but the installation flexibility and adaptability to various positions are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The sump pump system is divided into separate modular components: a pump body and a rotatable elbow joint. This segmentation allows the elbow joint to be independently designed for rotation while the pump body remains simple, resolving the contradiction by enabling installation flexibility without compromising overall structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The elbow joint is designed with rotatable capability, transforming a static fixed-connection structure into a dynamic adjustable one. This allows the pump to adapt to various installation positions and orientations while maintaining a simple pump body structure, thus improving adaptability without significantly increasing device complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a water-powered sump pump uses a rotatable elbow joint for flexible positioning, then installation versatility is improved, but the sealing reliability and leakage prevention become more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
A seal ring is introduced as an intermediary element between the rotatable elbow joint and the pump body. This seal ring ensures reliable sealing at the rotation interface, preventing leakage while allowing the elbow joint to rotate freely. The intermediary seal component resolves the contradiction by maintaining sealing reliability despite the dynamic positioning capability.
3Ease of operation
If the elbow joint is made rotatable to accommodate various orientations, then ease of installation is improved, but the device complexity and potential points of failure increase
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable elbow joint is designed as a separate, self-contained module with integrated sealing components. This segmentation isolates the complexity to a single replaceable component, making the overall system easier to install and maintain. The modular design allows workers to rotate and position the elbow joint without affecting other parts, improving ease of installation while containing device complexity to a manageable level.
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
Enables flexible and secure installation of the water-powered sump pump in various positions and orientations, ensuring effective wastewater removal without leakage, and can be used in conjunction with conventional electric or battery-powered systems.
Implementation Method 1
water flows into a venturi, that is secured within the body of a water-powered sump pump, where a restriction or narrowing at the neck of the venturi causes an increase in the water's velocity and a decrease in water pressure. This negative pressure creates suction that draws wastewater up through piping from a sump basin into the water-powered sump pump through the venturi
Data Source
AI summary
A water-powered sump pump including a chamber with a water supply inlet, wastewater inlet and a discharge outlet, wherein a venturi is secured within the chamber, and an elbow joint, including a wastewater exit portion and a wastewater entrance portions. This elbow joint is rotationally securable to the wastewater inlet of the chamber to permit securing of the water-powered sump pump in any desired orientation in relation to the sump. In one embodiment the wastewater inlet includes a cylindrical ingress portion with an upwardly facing ridge around a circumference thereof. The securing system of the elbow joint includes tabs on an inner surface of the exit portion of the elbow, each tab containing an inwardly extending rib which rib extends beyond the upwardly facing ridge on the ingress portion of the wastewater inlet when the elbow joint is secured onto the wastewater inlet.