Vertical Backflow Valve Guide Shielding for Dirty Wastewater
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing backflow preventers face issues with contamination from particularly dirty wastewater, such as feces, leading to impaired functionality due to dirt particles adhering to movable parts and sealing seals.
Innovation Solution
A backflow preventer designed for vertical installation with a wastewater passage path aligned with gravity, featuring a valve unit with a guide positioned on the outlet side of the valve seat opening, shielded by the valve tappet, and a cavity that protects the guide from contaminants, combined with a design that utilizes gravity for rapid flushing and a turbulence-reducing guide surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the guide is positioned in an exposed area near the valve seat opening, then the backflow preventer achieves a simpler structure, but the guide becomes contaminated by falling wastewater jet and dirt particles, impairing functionality
Solution Approach 1:
The guide is nested within the cavity of the valve tappet, which is positioned downstream of the valve seat opening. This nesting arrangement allows the guide to be shielded from the falling wastewater jet by the valve tappet itself, protecting it from contamination while maintaining a compact overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve tappet acts as an intermediary element that blocks the falling wastewater jet from reaching the guide. By positioning the guide within the cavity of the valve tappet, the tappet body serves as a protective barrier between the contaminated wastewater flow and the sensitive guide components.
2Reliability
If the backflow preventer is installed horizontally, then the structure is simpler, but contaminants adhere to parts due to lack of gravitational flushing
Solution Approach 1:
The backflow preventer is designed to be installed in a vertical orientation where gravity creates a consistent downward force on the wastewater flow. This gravitational equipotential alignment ensures that contaminants are continuously flushed through the device rather than settling on internal surfaces, maintaining functional reliability.
3Reliability
If the guide is positioned entirely within the cavity open away from the valve seat opening, then the guide is maximally protected from contaminants, but the device size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide is nested within the existing cavity of the valve tappet rather than adding a separate protective housing. This utilizes the available space within the valve tappet structure, maximizing protection while minimizing additional volume.
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
Enhances operational reliability by reducing contamination-related malfunctions, allowing the backflow preventer to handle problematic wastewater effectively, and enables a compact design with high flow velocities and efficient wastewater transport.
Implementation Method 1
the vertical installation orientation of the backwater valve allows for high flow velocities within the backwater valve, aided by gravity, significantly reducing the unwanted adhesion of contaminants to parts of the backwater valve
Implementation Method 2
the cavity creates a diving bell effect in the event of backflow, protecting the cavity and the components within it from rising backwater levels
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a backflow preventer for vertical installation in a sewer pipe gradient, wherein the backflow preventer has a wastewater inlet followed by a wastewater outlet in the direction of its wastewater passage path, and the wastewater passage path in a vertical installation orientation of the backflow preventer points at least partially in the direction of gravity, wherein the backflow preventer has a closable valve unit between the wastewater inlet and the wastewater outlet, and the valve unit in a vertical installation orientation of the backflow preventer allows a wastewater flow in the direction of the wastewater passage path by means of a sealing interaction of a movably guided valve stem with a valve seat opening and blocks the flow in the direction opposite to the wastewater passage path in a backflow situation,The valve stem guide is arranged on the outlet side of the valve seat opening in an area shielded from the valve seat opening by the valve stem. Furthermore, the invention relates to an associated wastewater lifting system.