Shower Nozzle Aeration Design for Uniform Bubble Diameter Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional shower apparatuses fail to produce a comfortable, voluminous feel by discharging water droplets of uniform size, as they often result in nonuniform bubble diameters due to turbulence and air bubble collisions within the nozzle holes, leading to a mixed sensation of strong and weak showers.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a throttle unit that ejects water into an air-liquid interface in the aeration and nozzle units, creating bubbly water with substantially uniform bubble diameters, which then forms a bubble flow or slug flow, ensuring water droplets of relatively large, uniform size are discharged continuously, using a configuration that minimizes bubble diameter variations and reduces eddies to maintain uniformity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If water is aerated using a turbulence generation/expansion unit or by hitting inner walls, then bubbly water is produced and distributed to nozzle holes, but bubble diameters become nonuniform due to bubble collisions and turbulence
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful turbulence and bubble collision effects by eliminating the turbulence generation/expansion unit and the mechanism of water hitting inner walls. Instead, water flows smoothly through a flow channel that directly connects the water supply to the nozzle holes, preventing bubble collisions and maintaining uniform bubble diameters throughout the bubbly water.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a flow channel as an intermediary structure that mediates between the water supply and nozzle holes. This flow channel is designed to maintain smooth, laminar flow conditions, preventing turbulence and bubble collisions while still enabling effective water distribution to all nozzle holes.
2Adaptability or versatility
If water flows through a long path to reach nozzle holes, then water can be distributed to multiple nozzle holes, but bubble diameter uniformity deteriorates due to extended exposure to turbulence and bubble collisions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the flow channel into multiple pathways that branch from a common supply, allowing water to reach multiple nozzle holes simultaneously through separate, streamlined channels. This segmentation prevents the accumulation of turbulence and bubble collisions that would occur in a single long path.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow channel acts as an intermediary structure that provides direct, turbulence-free pathways from the water supply to each nozzle hole, eliminating the need for water to traverse long, turbulent paths while still achieving comprehensive distribution.
3Ease of operation
If conventional shower apparatuses discharge water through nozzle holes with nonuniform bubble diameters, then water droplets of varying sizes are produced, but the shower feel becomes mixed (strong and weak sensations alternately)
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies hydraulic principles to design a flow channel that maintains laminar flow conditions, preventing turbulence and bubble collisions. This hydraulic approach ensures uniform bubble diameters are maintained throughout the water flow, resulting in consistent water droplet sizes when discharged through the nozzle holes.
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
This approach allows for a consistent, comfortable shower experience with water droplets of uniform size, mimicking the sensation of being showered by large raindrops, while ensuring stable discharge through all nozzle holes.
Implementation Method 1
an aeration unit installed downstream of the throttle unit and provided with an opening adapted to produce the bubbly water by aerating the water ejected through the throttle unit
Implementation Method 2
the bubbly water thus generated is sprayed through the plurality of nozzle holes in the nozzle unit
Implementation Method 3
which then forms a bubble flow or slug flow, ensuring water droplets of relatively large, uniform size are discharged continuously
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A shower apparatus F1 includes a water supply unit 21; a throttle unit 22 installed downstream of the water supply unit 21 and adapted to eject passing water downstream; an aeration unit 23 provided with an opening 231 adapted to produce bubbly water by aerating the water ejected through the throttle unit 22; and a nozzle unit 24 provided with a plurality of nozzle holes 243 adapted to discharge the bubbly water, wherein a virtual water ejection straight line obtained by extending an ejection direction of the water ejected through the throttle unit 22 reaches a location where the nozzle holes 243 are formed, without interfering with inner walls of the aeration unit 23 and the nozzle unit 24.