Variable-Length Dip Tube Collar for Shower Drain Dirt Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drain fittings for showers and bathtubs often suffer from dirt accumulation in the cavity between the mounting flange and the sealing ring, leading to dirt pockets.
Innovation Solution
The drain fitting incorporates an adjustable annular collar on the immersion pipe, made of alternating sections with different material hardness and thickness, which can be shortened to cover the cavity between the drain housing and the fastening flange, preventing dirt accumulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a fastening flange with a cavity is used to secure the drain housing to the drain opening, then the drain housing can be firmly mounted, but dirt can accumulate in the cavity creating dirt pockets
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful cavity space is eliminated by extracting the problematic volume through the variable-length collar design. The collar can be shortened to eliminate the cavity between the fastening flange and drain housing, removing the space where dirt would accumulate while preserving the mounting function.
Solution Approach 2:
The collar length parameter is made variable to adapt to different mounting conditions. By changing the collar length, the system can eliminate the cavity space that causes dirt accumulation while maintaining the necessary mounting strength through optimal length selection.
2Device complexity
If the immersion pipe has a fixed-length collar, then the structure is simple, but it cannot adapt to different cavity heights and may leave gaps for dirt accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The collar is designed with dynamic length adjustability through alternating soft and hard sections. The soft sections allow the collar to be compressed to different lengths, enabling adaptation to various cavity heights while maintaining structural integrity through the hard sections.
Solution Approach 2:
The collar combines soft and hard materials in alternating sections. The soft material sections provide compressibility for length adjustment, while the hard material sections provide structural strength, creating a composite structure that is both adaptable and durable.
3Ease of manufacture
If the collar is made of uniform material, then manufacturing is simple, but it cannot provide both sealing pressure and structural strength simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the collar are assigned different material properties - soft material sections for sealing contact areas and hard material sections for structural support areas. This local differentiation of material quality enables both reliable sealing and structural strength while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing through modular design.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a drain assembly, in particular for showers or bathtubs, comprising a drain body (2) having an interior space (8) accessible from an upper inlet opening (9), a drain spout (10) projecting from the drain body, a partition (14) defining an overflow edge (15) between the interior space (8) and the drain spout (10), a dip tube (19) inserted into the drain body (2), removable from the same, forming part of a trap, and a mounting flange (5) for fixing the drain body (2) to a drain opening of a shower or bathtub, characterized in that the dip tube (19) has a collar (19.1) at its upper end, which has a plurality of annular collar sections (19.11, 19.12) alternating in a vertical direction.12) exhibits, which differ from each other by a different material hardness and/or by a different collar wall thickness.