Shower Head Impingement Surface Nozzle Angles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional shower heads often fail to provide a satisfactory spray pattern at low flow rates and may have inadequate coverage, particularly with smaller droplets, which is preferred by users.
Innovation Solution
A spray head design featuring nozzles that direct jets of fluid onto impingement surfaces to break into elongate droplets with specific angles and orientations, ensuring wide coverage without central gaps, using a configuration of nozzles and surfaces that converge or diverge geometric centrelines of droplet streams to create a uniform spray pattern.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional shower heads use multiple apertures to produce water streams, then they can provide coverage, but they fail to produce satisfactory spray patterns at low flow rates and cannot create smaller droplets
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides each water stream into multiple smaller droplets by directing the stream onto an impingement surface at an angle. This segmentation creates a spray pattern with finer droplets that maintains quality at low flow rates, resolving the contradiction between flow rate and spray pattern quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces angular orientation as a new dimension by directing water streams onto impingement surfaces at specific angles (10-40 degrees). This angular approach transforms the one-dimensional stream into a two-dimensional spray pattern with improved droplet distribution and coverage at low flow rates.
2Shape
If shower heads direct water streams onto surfaces to break into smaller droplets, then smaller droplets are created, but the spray pattern becomes too small or has central areas with little coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies different local qualities to the impingement surface by creating multiple zones with different orientations and angles. Each local area of the impingement surface is configured to produce droplets with specific directional characteristics, ensuring both small droplet size and wide coverage area without central gaps.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses asymmetric angular orientations for the water streams relative to the impingement surface. By employing non-uniform angles (10-40 degrees) and asymmetric impingement point positioning (1-14mm from edge), the system creates a spray pattern that avoids central gaps while maintaining small droplet size throughout the coverage area.
3Area of stationary object
If nozzles are positioned to create wide spray coverage, then coverage area increases, but the spray pattern becomes uneven with central gaps
Solution Approach 1:
The invention performs preliminary action by pre-configuring the impingement surface geometry and nozzle positioning before water flow occurs. The impingement points are predetermined to be 1-14mm from the edge, and the angular orientations are pre-set to 10-40 degrees, ensuring that the spray pattern achieves uniform coverage without central gaps from the outset.
Solution Approach 2:
The impingement surface acts as an intermediary element between the water streams and the final spray pattern. By introducing this intermediate surface with specific geometric properties, the system transforms the raw water streams into a uniform spray pattern with wide coverage and no central gaps, mediating between coverage requirement and uniformity requirement.
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 achieves a satisfying spray pattern with smaller droplets at low flow rates, providing comprehensive coverage without central gaps, enhancing user experience by optimizing the angle and orientation of jets and impingement surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
each jet of fluid impacts on the respective impingement surface portion and breaks into a stream of droplets
Data Source
AI summary
A spray head has an inlet in fluid communication with a plurality of nozzles. The nozzles are adapted to produce, in use, a jet of fluid which is directed toward a respective impingement surface portion. The jet of fluid impacts on the respective impingement surface portion and breaks into a stream of droplets. The stream of droplets has an elongate transverse cross-section.