Self-Cleaning Toilet Assembly with Periodic Flush Valve Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toilet systems require manual cleaning and often use excessive cleaning agents, which can be harmful to children and pets, and are not aesthetically pleasing, while also being complex and difficult to maintain without specialized tools.
Innovation Solution
A self-cleaning toilet assembly with a periodic cleaning system that allows users to initiate cleaning cycles using a user-activated actuator, minimizing exposure to cleaning agents and using a reservoir and flow control device to deliver a dose of cleaning agent with flush water, ensuring safety and ease of maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual cleaning systems are used, then cleaning effectiveness is achieved, but device complexity and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning system automatically delivers cleaning agents through the existing flush valve mechanism without requiring manual intervention or specialized maintenance tools. The system serves itself by using the flush valve's operational sequence to inject cleaning agents, eliminating complex external cleaning mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The flush valve is given multiple functions: it performs both the normal flushing operation and the cleaning agent delivery. By integrating the cleaning function into the existing flush valve mechanism, the system avoids adding separate complex cleaning delivery infrastructure.
2Reliability
If excessive cleaning agents are used, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but harmful factors to children and pets increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the concentration parameter of cleaning agents by delivering them in controlled doses mixed with flush water. The cleaning agent is introduced in a concentrated form but immediately diluted with flush water, creating a safe concentration level that is effective for cleaning but harmless to children and pets.
Solution Approach 2:
Flush water serves as an intermediary substance that carries the cleaning agent from the reservoir to the bowl while diluting it. This intermediary medium allows the cleaning agent to be delivered effectively while reducing its concentration to safe levels, preventing harm to children and pets.
3Reliability
If cleaning agents are continuously present in the bowl, then cleaning effectiveness is maintained, but aesthetic appeal and safety are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning agent is delivered periodically during flush cycles rather than being continuously present in the bowl. The cleaning agent is introduced only when the flush valve opens during a cleaning cycle, then flushed away, creating a periodic presence that maintains cleaning effectiveness without compromising aesthetics or safety during normal use.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning agent rapidly passes through the bowl during the flush cycle rather than remaining stationary. The quick flush action rushes the cleaning agent through the bowl and out the drain, limiting its exposure time and ensuring it doesn't remain in the bowl long enough to affect aesthetics or pose safety risks.
4Reliability
If complex cleaning systems are installed, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but ease of maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning system is segmented into simple, modular components: a reservoir that can be easily removed, a flush valve integration point, and a drain connection. This segmentation allows each component to be independently accessed, removed, or replaced without requiring disassembly of the entire toilet system or specialized tools.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to be self-maintaining by using the existing flush valve mechanism to deliver cleaning agents, eliminating the need for separate maintenance systems. The same mechanism that performs the cleaning function also facilitates maintenance by allowing easy access to the reservoir and cleaning agent delivery components through the flush valve structure.
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 system provides effective cleaning with minimal exposure to cleaning agents, is safer for households with children and pets, and is compact, easy to maintain, and visually appealing, while reducing the need for excessive cleaning agent usage.
Implementation Method 1
a flow control device capable of controlling flow through the supply conduit
Implementation Method 2
introduce flush water with the dose of liquid cleaning agent through the rim inlet and into the toilet bowl
Implementation Method 3
The siphon tube itself is an upside down U-shaped tube that draws water from the toilet bowl to the wastewater line
Data Source
AI summary
Toilet assemblies having various embodiments of a cleaning system are described herein which include a toilet assembly and a cleaning system. The toilet assembly has a toilet bowl, a toilet tank, a flush valve, a rim inlet port and a rim flow path (which may be an isolated rim path) extending from an outlet of the flush valve to the rim inlet port. The cleaning system has a reservoir for holding a liquid cleaning agent having an outlet port in fluid communication with the interior space of the reservoir body; a housing to receive the reservoir, a supply conduit in fluid communication with the interior of the reservoir; a flow control device capable of controlling flow through the supply conduit; and a control system activatable by an actuator feature, wherein upon activation of the actuator feature, the control system is adapted to initiate a clean cycle by: operating the flow control device for a first period of time sufficient to deliver a dose of a liquid cleaning agent from the supply conduit to an interior space of the flush valve in a closed position, the flush valve configured for delivery of fluid to the rim inlet port, and operating the flush valve to open the flush valve to introduce flush water to carry the dose of a liquid cleaning agent through the rim inlet port into the toilet bowl.