Rotating Sprinkler Head Valve with Adjustable Arc and Slip Clutch
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rotating sprinkler heads lack adjustable spray arc angles from zero to 360 degrees without altering nozzle height, and they do not have detents for preset settings or a mechanism to prevent damage from over-tightening, nor do they effectively flush debris.
Innovation Solution
A rotating sprinkler head valve with a cylindrical shaft, stationary rigid cone, and rotor, featuring a tubular bottom helix member, strainer adapter, and butterfly flow plate, which allows for adjustable spray arc settings, includes a slip clutch mechanism and debris flushing capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If the spray arc angle is adjusted from zero to 360 degrees, then the spray coverage area is improved, but the nozzle height changes which affects spray pattern consistency
Solution Approach 1:
The sprinkler head is divided into separate functional components: a stationary body housing and a rotatable nozzle assembly. This segmentation allows the nozzle to rotate independently to adjust spray arc from 0 to 360 degrees without requiring the entire assembly to move, thereby maintaining consistent nozzle height and spray pattern consistency while achieving full spray coverage area adjustment.
Solution Approach 2:
The nozzle assembly is made dynamically rotatable within the stationary body housing, allowing the spray direction to be adjusted from 0 to 360 degrees. This dynamic rotation mechanism enables full spray coverage area adjustment while the stationary body maintains fixed nozzle height, resolving the contradiction between spray coverage area and nozzle height consistency.
2Manufacturing precision
If the internal spray arc-setting elements are turned to adjust spray arc, then the spray pattern is improved, but the flags on the elements may break due to over-tightening
Solution Approach 1:
A slip clutch mechanism is introduced as an intermediary between the adjustment mechanism and the spray arc-setting elements. This slip clutch acts as a protective intermediary that slips or disengages when excessive force is applied, preventing the transmission of damaging over-tightening forces to the flags on the spray arc-setting elements, thereby maintaining component durability while preserving spray arc setting precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The slip clutch mechanism provides beforehand cushioning by being designed to fail safely through slippage before the flags on the spray arc-setting elements can break. This prior cushioning mechanism protects the fragile flags from damage during adjustment operations, ensuring component durability while maintaining the ability to achieve precise spray arc settings.
3Manufacturing precision
If the rotor and spray deflecting surface are made rotatable, then the spray pattern uniformity is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rotor and spray deflecting surface are merged into a single integrated rotatable nozzle assembly. This merging combines the rotational mechanism and spray deflection function into one component, reducing the number of separate parts and simplifying the overall valve mechanism while maintaining the spray pattern uniformity benefits of rotation. The integrated design achieves spray pattern improvement without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The rotating sprinkler head valve includes an upper assembly with a stationary rigid cone received in a conical interior chamber of a rotor, and a cylindrical shaft extending through the stationary rigid cone and rotor. A lower assembly includes a bottom helix member, a strainer adapter having an internal transverse slotted plate and a rotatable slotted flow plate to permit flow when the flow plate slots are aligned with slots in the internal transverse slotted plate. A base top member includes a downwardly extending inner tubular portion and a lower interior edge surface with a helical lower surface forming an adjustable helical aperture in cooperation with the bottom helix member, and a recessed inner helical lip is configured to receive the upper helical surface of the bottom helix member for adjusting a helical aperture.