Abstract:
A unitary valve block assembly is interposed between a hot and cold water outlet and a faucet assembly including a hot and cold valve to convey the initially cold portion from the hot water outlet into an accumulator during all the times when the accumulator is substantially unfilled. This accumulated water is then emitted through the cold water valve each time cold water is demanded. When the pressure ratio between the accumulator and the water source indicates that it contains substantial quantities of un-evacuated stored water the subsequent demands of hot water are conveyed directly to the hot water valve regardless of the temperature thereof.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for collecting and thereafter recycling the initially cold portion of a household hot water stream that is usually wasted, and more particularly to a temperature sensing water flow diversion circuit that directs the initially cold part of the hot water flow into an accumulator for subsequent cold water use. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     With increasing population density prudence in the use of the world&#39;s resources has become a dominant concern. One resource that is central to all the functions of life is potable water, a resource that is growing scarce and is therefore now the primary concern of most municipalities. Simply, the availability of fresh water now limits most municipal growth and virtually all housing expansions are currently associated with costly water recycling or conservation measures, a cost exchange that will only continue to rise in a world that increases in its mean temperature. 
     For a long time it has been recognized that one substantial component of unnecessary water waste is the early, cool part of a hot water stream that is currently just dumped down the drain until the desired stream temperature is reached. In multiple dwelling structures these losses can become quite large and the economies of scale have led to the use of continuously circulating hot water loops which shorten substantially the length, and therefore the volume, of the branch circuits feeding each hot water valve. While these continuously circulating arrangements have obtained substantial savings in water use, the sheer number of the various circuits that branch off from the loop results in significant waste of fresh water nonetheless. 
     In the past various mechanisms have been proposed that in one way or another divert the initial part of the hot water stream into an accumulator or other storage cavity to be saved and thereafter drained with the cold water flow as cold water is demanded. While suitable for the purposes intended most of the prior mechanisms fail to fully address the volumetric requirements of such storage, i.e., the physical size and cost of the storage reservoir itself, and also its distribution throughout a household and therefore the necessary household space burden devoted thereto. 
     Those skilled in the art, of course, will appreciate that an exactly paired hot water—cold water demand sequence is rare in a household, just like exactly sequenced heads—tails pairings in any statistical process, and a typical residential bathroom will therefore need to accommodate several hot water demand initiation sequences in its reservoir sizing. Simply, any practical implementation will need a volumetric storage capacity surplus that will accommodate several hot water—hot water sequences in a row in order to be useful since a full storage reservoir cannot provide the needed diversion volume at all. In a busy household where the sequential morning hot water demands often exceed the water heater capacity, and little or no cold water is added to cool the stream, a practically sized accumulator needs to accommodate several hot water demands each of a volume equal to the volume of the utilized plumbing branch. 
     Moreover, to optimize the reservoir volume one must also consider the efficacy of the reservoir draining process itself, a process effected when cold water is demanded since the same statistical processes operate also on the cold water side. To obtain full benefit this draining rate should be maximized, i.e., should be at the full cold water flow demanded, thus limiting the usefulness of any drainage mechanism in which the draining flow is entrained with, and/or carried along by, the primary cold water flow. Simply, to assure maximal reservoir drainage rates and thus improve any statistical bias the drained volume in each of the cold water incidents needs to be maximized. 
     The foregoing volumetric concerns are not the whole of it. Like in any statistical process the probabilities of long sequences of uninterrupted repeating hot water demands are sufficiently significant that even a very large reservoir sizing will be quickly exceeded. To accommodate these real possibilities the water conserving system will either need to include very large and therefore costly reservoirs or must automatically revert to a by-passing state in order to retain the original basic water supply functions. 
     While these several concerns have perhaps had individual attention in the prior art, the complete combination of all these notions has not been fully accommodated. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,614 to Powers et al., while teaching a diversion into the accumulator of the initial hot water stream, does so by a manually effected selector. The collected water in the accumulator is thereafter drained by entrainment with a reduced pressure cold water flow. While suitable for the purposes intended this particular arrangement demands manual attention to effect its use while also protracting the accumulator drainage by the reduced flow therefrom. 
     By further example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,339,859 and 5,452,740, both issued to Bowman, while each replacing the manual selector with a temperature sensing flow control in the hot water circuit, similarly fail to optimize the draining part of the process, with the &#39;740 patent resolving the drainage paradox by directing the accumulated water to irrigate plants. While once more each of these references, and the many others, achieve their respectively intended purposes, the central concern of a convenient, fully automated conservation arrangement has not been fully addressed. 
     Thus the full hot and cold water use dynamics of a typical household are neither fully appreciated nor attended at all in the prior art and because of the complex interplay of these several functions the well appreciated benefits of water conservation have not been fully realized. An automated system that fully accommodates these several competing functions in a manner that is virtually imperceptible to the user is therefore extensively desired and it is one such system that is disclosed herein. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is the general purpose and object of the present invention to provide an automated flow control system which diverts the initially cold portion of the water flow in the hot water circuit into an accumulator and drains the accumulator with each opening of the cold water circuit. 
     Other objects of the invention are to provide an automated flow control system that diverts the initially cold portion from a hot water circuit into a closed storage reservoir in accordance with the temperature thereof and thereafter drains the diverted water from the reservoir into the cold water flow by way of a flow preference valve. 
     Yet further objects of the invention are to provide a fully automated household water flow control system that diverts the initially cold portion of the hot water flow for storage and that otherwise retains the customary hot and cold water controls when the storage capacity is reached. 
     Briefly, these and other objects are accomplished within the present invention by providing a temperature activated diverter valve in the hot water circuit that directs the initially cold portion of the hot water flow into an inlet mechanism on an accumulator once hot water is selected at the faucet assembly. When the accumulator is full, however, its inlet assembly redirects this initial flow into the open hot water outlet which, while defeating the water conservation aspects thereof, continues the operative functions of the faucet assembly. In this manner the basic functions of the faucet assembly are retained for the user even though the conservation aspects are temporarily lost. 
     To implement these functions the accumulator inlet assembly includes a branching connection controlled by a first and second check valve and an accumulator ratio shuttle where the first check valve directs the initial hot water flow either into the accumulator interior or, when the accumulator is full, across the second check valve into the opened hot water outlet, with this same ratio shuttle providing an accumulator draining flow preference when the cold valve is opened. 
     More precisely, the ratio shuttle resolves the pressures thereacross by the area ratio of its respective opposed faces, with the larger shuttle area exposed to the accumulator interior while the smaller face area sees the cold water circuit. When the accumulator begins to fill its internal pressure reaches that of the circuit with the larger area ratio resulting in a displacement bias to the smaller side to close the cold water path in favor of a draining path until the accumulator pressure is completely relieved. A similarly implemented demand shuttle is also rendered operative by presenting the outlet pressure at the hot water valve to its larger shuttle area while the smaller face sees the hot water source until it reaches the set temperature and is therefore passed across the temperature actuated shuttle. 
     In this manner the continued operation of the faucet assembly is assured at all the fill states of the accumulator, resolving the potential statistical paradox encumbering most of the prior art devices, a paradox that may occur when too many hot water initiations are demanded in a single sequence that heretofore was not effectively resolved. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these periods of repeated hot water demand tend to follow temporal patterns, e.g., the need for a morning hot shower by all those in a household will result in residual latent heat stored in the branch circuit which will bypass the accumulator cycle, thereby reducing the water accumulated, lowering the potential to fill and waste. The inventive by-pass therefore accommodates these use patterns by resolving what heretofore was an operational paradox but in a setting that minimizes waste. 
     It will be particularly appreciated by those skilled in the art that each of the operative aspects is obtained in response to the opening of a cold or hot water valve, an attribute that is particularly useful with faucet assemblies provided with a single selector arm. Moreover, each of the above operative functions are effected by shuttles or check valves that are completely confined with little or no prospective incidence of leakage to the outside. Simply, once hot or cold water demand begins the corresponding shuttles automatically select the operational state by the lower pressure that results in the particular circuit. Thus the usual operation of a conventional faucet assembly will be converted into a state selection by a hydraulic latch obtained by the area multiples across the several shuttles, thus eliminating most of the disadvantages that have plagued some of the conservation devices earlier proposed. 
     The effectiveness of the conservation system instantly described can be enhanced even further by interconnections between several accumulators within the household or by connecting several units to a single larger sized accumulator. Since most residential construction attempts to localize bathrooms and other water dispensing facilities to reduce the cost and losses of plumbing circuits the typical back-to-back arrangements are particularly convenient in effecting accumulator interconnections so that the statistical accumulator logjam in one bathroom is shared with another. Thus the unused guest bathroom can help to maintain the conservation efficacy in the busier bathroom across the wall, an attribute that is rendered convenient by the ease of installation and inherent reliability of the inventive system. 
     In this manner water conservation can be reliably and effectively assured in a device that is easily retrofitted to encourage its wide use, as more precisely described by specific reference to the illustrations below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic illustration of one exemplary plumbing circuit incorporating the inventive conservation system in a portion thereof; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view, separated by parts, of the respective operative portions of a temperature activated shuttle valve directing the flow through a plenum cage defining an alternative flow path in accordance with its first shuttle position corresponding to a sensed low temperature and a second position corresponding to a sensed high temperature to open a second flow path therethrough; 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional diagram of an integrated valve assembly including the several operative elements of the inventive conservation system interconnected by a manifold to form a unitary valve block; and 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective illustration, separated by parts, of a conventional faucet assembly adapted for connection to the inventive conservation system in its unitary form collectively arranged for installation convenience along with the replacement of the faucet assembly and including an interconnection between one or more accumulators serving plural inventive conservation systems deployed in adjacent proximity relative each other. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , the inventive water conservation system, generally designated by the numeral  10 , comprises a conventionally implemented faucet assembly  11  provided with a cold water valve  12  and a hot water valve  14  each conventionally conformed for connection by known water tight connectors  16  and  18  either directly to the local water supply WS or to the outlet of a conventional water heater WH that form the corresponding cold water and hot water plumbing branches CW and HW running through a household. By well known conventional practice valves  12  and  14  are either coordinated for operation by a single, manually articulated lever or by individually associated mechanisms that control the flow therethrough into a common outlet  15 . 
     Of course, ordinary prudence demands that all excess flow from each faucet assembly be confined by a tub, sink basin, shower pan or the like, and conveyed through a drain  17  into the sewer. In conventional practice this excess flow also included the wasted water stream released through the hot water valve  14  until the desired temperature was reached. 
     To limit this loss of clean water the inventive conservation system  10  interposes between connections  16  and  18  and the corresponding cold and hot water branches CW and WW a unitary valve block  20  respectively joined at its outlet connections  26  and  28  to the valve connections  16  and  18 , thereby completing the circuits to supply valves  12  and  14 , and by inlet connections  36  and  38  to the hot and cold water branches HW and CW to direct the heretofore wasted flow into an accumulator  40  also tied to the valve block to across a further outlet connection  27 . Of course, since the valve block  20  is intended for interposing connection between the faucet assembly that is usually fixed in its location and the locally available hot and cold water branches that are also fixed, all the inventive functions thereof need to be imperceptible to the user. 
     Simply, in order to be useful all the inventive functions need to be effected in response to conventional articulations of familiar valve mechanisms, without any direct mechanical connection with the user. Moreover, these same replacement constraints also impose a size limitation on the valve block to a size that will fit into the available spaces under a sink, or in spaces between wall studs, and the accumulator itself may also be similarly sized to fit in a sink console or between typical wall stud spacing. 
     All these constraints are inventively accommodated within block  20  by a set of manifolded and check valve regulated interconnections between two shuttle valve assemblies  120  and  140 , each including a shuttle defined by two differently sized opposing piston faces of a corresponding piston assembly  125  and  145  that are shuttled between the limits of corresponding bores in response to the force differentials across each shuttling piston assembly. It is these shuttling movements that then close and/or open the several alternative flow paths through the valve block, that resolve the flows through a temperature activated valve assembly  160  into or out of the accumulator and the respective faucet valves. 
     More precisely, within the accumulator ratio shuttle assembly  120  its piston assembly  125  includes a smaller piston  121  at one end that in the course of its stroke closes a valve seat  123  and a lateral port  127  and an opposed larger piston  122  that communicates with a check valve  126  and also with accumulator  40 . The accumulator ratio assembly  120  effectively amplifies the comparison of the pressure difference between the water supply WS and the accumulator by the piston area ratio, and if the accumulator has fluid the shuttle closes the cold water flow at seat  123  and replaces it by accumulator drainage flow across the check valve. 
     Similarly, shuttle assembly  140  also includes a piston assembly  145  comprising a smaller piston  141  closing a seat  143  and a lateral port  147  at the end of its stroke and an opposing larger piston  142  at the other end that communicates with the hot water faucet valve  14  but in this setting it is the pressure drop at the larger piston associated with the opening of valve  14 , as multiplied by the piston area ratio, that articulates the shuttling stroke. The hot water flow input to seat  143  originates at the temperature activated valve assembly  160  comprising a follower cage  162  mounted on a bias spring  163  and provided with a seal  164  axially mounted on a thermostatic actuator  165  that extends into the annular interior of a plenum cage  161  against which the sealing contact is made. 
     An axially aligned cylindrical plug  166  at the other end of the thermostatic actuator  165  then extends into the common annuli of the follower cage  162  and spring  163  to compress a sealing washer  168  on the exterior face of the seat  143  of shuttle assembly  140  when the thermostatically set temperature is reached. Accordingly, in this position of the thermostatic actuator  165  the hot water flow that enters into the valve assembly  160  through a lateral port  167  is conveyed through the follower cage  162  and across the open seal  164  into the plenum cage  161  to be then conveyed into the outlet  28  and then through the open valve  14 . 
     Before the set temperature is reached, however, the lower pressure level at piston  142  that is associated with the opening of the hot water valve  14  articulates the piston assembly  145  to open the seat  143  allowing the conveyance of hot water into the lateral port  147  from where it is branched to check valves  146  and  148 , the first feeding the accumulator and the latter opening a flow path through the plenum cage  161  to the outlet  28 , by-passing the conservation functions during those instances when the accumulator is too high. 
     The several flow paths that are thus formed are best appreciated by particular reference to  FIG. 1 . Focusing on the draining process of accumulator  40  first, the cold water flow CW follows the flow path FP 1  across inlet connection  36  to the inlet of the shuttle assembly  120  controlled by a valve seat  123  that is opposed by the smaller piston  121  of piston assembly  125  shuttling within its interior which, at the opposite side, includes the larger piston  122  that communicates directly through flow path FP 2  with accumulator  40 , and therefore is exposed to its internal pressure. Thus when the total force on the smaller piston  121  is greater than the total force on the larger piston  122 , i.e., when the accumulator is close to empty, piston  121  shuttles away from seat  123  allowing the water flow from path FP 1  to exit through a lateral port  127  now exposed and thence along path FP 3  to the open cold water faucet  12 . 
     If, however, the accumulator is begins to fill and its internal pressure increases, then the multiple of the piston ratios forces piston assembly  125  to close valve seat  123  directing the flow from path FP 2  to check valve  126  to form a draining flow path FP 4  each time valve  12  is opened. Once fully drained the drop in the pressure at the larger piston  122  opens seat  123  and also the port  127  and the cold water from branch CW then continues through valve  12 . Thus every time the cold water valve opens the accumulator is drained in a hydraulically latched operation that is obtained through the use of unequal pistons. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing latching articulation is essentially imperceptible to the user and will occur each time cold water is demanded. Simply, whenever the total force at the larger piston face  122  exceeds the total force at the smaller piston face  121  valve seat  123  is closed while a draining path from the accumulator opens to replace the blocked cold water stream. Since a conventional accumulator, and also accumulator  40 , typically include a pressure biasing membrane  41 , the net result is that virtually all the water in the accumulator will be drained whenever valve  12  remains open for a sufficient period. 
     On the hot water side the flow path FP 5  from the hot water circuit HW feeds both the valve seat  143  and also the follower cage  162 . Until the thermostatic actuator  165  opens the only path for the hot water flow is then along the flow path FP 5 - 1  that branches from path FP 5  through seat  143  and then through port  147  to the opposed check valves  146  and  148  which are biased such that if the accumulator pressure is low, indicating an empty accumulator, check valve  146  opens and the flow path FP 2  is then directed into the accumulator. When, however, the accumulator pressure is high, indicating a full accumulator, check valve  146  remains closed and the flow is then directed through check valve  148  into branch FP 6  to pass through the plenum cage  161  into the outlet flow path FP 7 . Of course, during all this time the initial low temperature of the hot water flow lifts plug  166  off of the sealing washer  168 , keeping seat  143  open. 
     Once the thermostatic actuator  165  opens seal  164  then a second flow path branch FP 5 - 2  is set up through the now open seal  164  to merge again with the flow path FP 7 , with the lower pressure at the open valve  14  then also communicated to the larger piston  142  of shuttle assembly  14  while at the same time the plug  166  closes seat  143 , dropping the pressure volume at the smaller piston  141  while the larger piston  142  is exposed to the flow, thus once again forming a latching bias by the unequal sides of a single piston assembly. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that when valve  14  is opened the reduced pressure on the larger piston  142  articulates the shuttle to open valve seat  143 , exposing the lateral port  147  to convey the hot water flow from the inlet connection  38  to both the check valves  146  and  148  and if the accumulator back pressure behind check valve  146  is lower than the hot water pressure plus the check valve spring bias the flow will be collected in accumulator  40 . Once this back pressure threshold is exceeded and no further water flow can be stored in the accumulator then check valve  148  opens directing the flow path through the plenum cage and thence directly out of the faucet valve  14 . In this manner the basic function of the faucet assembly  11  is retained even during those instances when accumulator  40  is full. 
     It will be appreciated that each of the shuttle assemblies  120  and  140  operate as bi-stable hydraulic latches operating between the water pressure in the supply WS, the intermediate pressures set by the various check valves  126 ,  146  and  148  and the pressures at the outlets  26  and  28  when the corresponding valves  12  or  14  are opened. Since the bias levels of the springs associated with the corresponding check valves are each fully selectable and since the local pressure levels of the municipal water supply WS are well known a well-defined set of pressures can be developed across each shuttle every time a valve is opened. Moreover, the fully confined nature of each of the shuttle assemblies within valve block  20  confines all leakage across the seals thereof to the flow out of the faucet assembly, resulting in a reliable and virtually imperceptible manner of operation. 
     It will be appreciated that the shuttling translation of piston assembly  125 , and by similar considerations also piston assembly  145 , each entail a trapped volume that varies in size while confined between the respective piston seals. More precisely, the shuttle assembly  120  and the substantially similar shuttle assembly  140  each entail the shuttling translations of the smaller pistons  121  and  141  within mating bores  221  and  241  that are each sealed by corresponding O-rings  321  and  341 . These shuttling strokes, of course, are each matched by linear strokes of equal length of the larger pistons  122  and  142  translating within their mating bores  222  and  242  across sealing O-rings  322  and  342  and since the bore volume trapped between both the seals  321  and  322  include an area transition from the smaller to the larger size the corresponding volumes of the piston assemblies  125  and  145  that are trapped between the seals change with the shuttling stroke times the piston area difference. 
     While the resulting pressure pulse consequent to this variation of the trapped volume can be minimized in known manners, e.g., by increasing the total trapped volume as compared to its change, or by allowing for controlled relieving leakages across the seals, the invention provides for a fully effected relieving arrangement of each of the trapped volumes. More precisely the invention includes a pair of opposed relief valves  421  and  422  at the ends of a common drilling  423  across shuttle assembly  120  communicating into the trapped volume between seals  321  and  322 , respectively relieving any negative pulse by admitting air from the exterior or by transferring a positive spike into the other trapped volume between seals  341  and  342  around piston assembly  145 . A further relief valve  444  across the larger piston  142  then allows any built up water in this trapped volume to be pushed out into the flow through valve  14 . 
     Each of the relief valves in this circuit are sized to accommodate only small volumetric changes therefore their flow rate capacities may be limited to result in some flow restriction that will then dampen the impacts at the ends of the strokes while also bringing its average pressure to a level between the two relieving pressures. In this manner quiet and virtually imperceptible shuttle translations are effected in a structure in which all the leakage paths are confined to the flow paths of the hot and cold flows. 
     While the inventive conservation system is described above with an accumulator  40  in a one-to-one association with a faucet assembly  11  and its associated valve block  20  such a rigorous association is not absolutely required. For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , a tee connection  42  may be included at the accumulator inlet which then, through a connection tubing  43 , can also service another faucet and valve block combination that is proximately deployed. Since construction economies are best effected when plumbing networks are branched to service adjoining areas this accumulator sharing convenience is particularly beneficial. These same clustered plumbing arrangements also reduce the effective volume of the plumbing branches to further enhance the conservation aspects obtained herein. 
     In this manner an easily installed and virtually imperceptible in use conservation system is devised that once widely distributed can obtain large reductions in clean water use. Simply, the user no longer needs to choose between an initially cold water flow and a conservative use of resources. 
     Obviously many modifications and variations of the instant invention can be effected without departing from the spirit of the teachings herein. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be determined solely by the claims appended hereto.