Shower Drain Heat Exchanger Layout for Easy Cleaning and Leak Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat exchangers for showers and bathtubs are difficult to clean, decalcify, and maintain, and they lack efficiency, reliability, and versatility, with potential issues related to leakage and damage.
Innovation Solution
A heat exchanger design with a low construction height and improved efficiency, featuring vertically compressed pipes, a multi-stage siphon, and connection locations that allow for easy assembly, disassembly, and leak containment within the drain trough, ensuring reliability and ease of maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If heat exchangers are designed with complex internal structures to improve heat exchange efficiency, then heat exchange efficiency is improved, but cleaning and decalcification become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The heat exchanger is divided into modular pipe sections that can be easily accessed and removed. The patent features a drain trough design where pipe sections are arranged vertically and can be individually accessed from above, allowing cleaning tools to reach all surfaces without disassembling complex structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the cleaning difficulty by providing direct access to all pipe surfaces from the top through the drain trough opening. This allows cleaning agents and tools to be applied directly to pipe interiors and exteriors, eliminating the need to disassemble complex internal structures for maintenance.
2Volume of moving object
If heat exchangers are designed with compact structures to reduce space occupation, then space efficiency is improved, but accessibility for maintenance and cleaning deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent arranges pipe sections vertically in a compact column within the drain trough, utilizing the vertical dimension to maximize heat exchange surface area while maintaining a small horizontal footprint. This vertical arrangement allows easy access from above for maintenance while occupying minimal floor space.
3Ease of manufacture
If connection points are made accessible for easy assembly and disassembly, then ease of assembly is improved, but potential leakage risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts connection points from hidden locations and places them at the top of the drain trough where they are easily accessible for assembly and disassembly. The connection pieces are designed to be manually operable from above, simplifying installation and maintenance while maintaining reliable sealing through proper gasket design.
4Ease of manufacture
If heat exchanger pipes are arranged horizontally to simplify construction, then construction simplicity is improved, but construction height increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from horizontal pipe arrangement to vertical arrangement within the drain trough. This vertical orientation reduces the horizontal space requirement and allows the heat exchanger to fit within standard drain trough heights, while maintaining construction simplicity through standardized vertical pipe section connections.
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 design enhances efficiency, simplifies maintenance, and improves reliability by containing leaks within the drain trough, preventing damage and facilitating easy cleaning and decalcification.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchanger for heating fresh water by way of heat from waste water
Implementation Method 2
a multi-stage siphon
Implementation Method 3
waste water flows one after the other and in this sequence
Data Source
AI summary
A heat exchanger for heating fresh water using heat from wastewater in a shower or bathtub. The heat exchanger has a drain pan, a heat exchanger unit that is arranged in the drain pan, and a distributing element for distributing draining wastewater over the heat exchanger unit. The heat exchanger unit has multiple tube portions that follow one another sequentially and are connected to one another by diverting portions. Each two horizontally running tube portions that follow one another and that are thus connected by a deflecting portion are arranged one over the other, and wastewater, which is dripping or flowing down, is sprinkled on or flows over the tube portions one after the other.