Patent Publication Number: US-9901940-B2

Title: Outlet device with hollow water curtain function

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an outlet device, especially to an outlet device with hollow water curtain function applied in a shower head. 
     BACKGROUND 
     People design different outlet devices with shower water, column water, bubble water or massage water to obtain different shower effect, there is a kind of outlet device that can have hollow water curtain function in the recent market. The existing outlet device with hollow water curtain function is applied with a simple trumpet structure to deflect the water, although it can achieve a hollow water curtain, the shower area of the water curtain is small, and it has bad water flowing feeling, it is just another shape of column water that doesn&#39;t change the shower quality. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention is provided with an outlet device with hollow water curtain function, which overcomes the disadvantages of the existing known technology. The technical proposal of the present invention is that: 
     An outlet device with hollow water curtain function, comprising a hollow housing and a deflecting column inserted in the housing, an annular passage is formed between the housing and the deflecting column, wherein the housing further comprises a plurality of arc-shaped inlet slots, the arc inlet slots are annularly arranged about the center of the annular passage, the internal port of the arc inlet slots is connected to the annular passage, water flows to the annular passage through the arc inlet slots to from a hollow annular water curtain with centrifugal force. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the arc inlet slot is arranged vertical to the inlet direction. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the arc inlet slots are disposed on the internal periphery surface of the housing, the arc inlet slots are spiral shape and extending downwardly. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the top end of the deflecting column is disposed with a cone frustum with small end down, the deflecting column is placed in the center of the cone frustum; the housing is disposed with a positioning groove having the shape coupled to the cone frustum, the arc inlet slots are disposed on the bottom surface of the positioning groove. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the top surface of the cone frustum is disposed with an annular water groove and an elastic ring disposed in the water groove, the bottom surface of the water groove is disposed with through holes connected to the arc inlet slots. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the annular passage comprises an upper flowing section and a lower flowing section, the lower flowing section is trumpet shaped with big end down, 
     In another preferred embodiment, the bottom surface of the deflecting column is located at the connecting position of the upper flowing section and the lower flowing section. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the upper flowing section is trumpet shaped with big end down, the taper of the upper flowing section is smaller than that of the lower flowing section. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the ratio of the length of the upper flowing section to the lower flowing section is equal or larger than 3. 
     In another preferred embodiment, the deflecting column is disposed with a hollow passage, the hollow passage has a spherical arc surface structure near to the outlet, the outlet of the hollow passage is slender shaped or a structure with two slender openings crossing. 
     Compared to the existing known technology, the technical proposal of the present invention has advantages as follow: 
     1. the housing is disposed with a plurality of arc inlet slots, the internal port of which is connected to the annular passage, water flows to the arc inlet slots vertically via the through holes, rotates along the arc inlet slots to flow to the annular passage and then flows out being a hollow annular water curtain with centrifugal force, when the tangential centrifugal force of the water curtain orienting the opening angle of the housing is larger than the surface tension thereof, the water curtain breaks open to make the water flowing break open and diffuse as particles after keeping itself in a certain length, the diffused water forms a water type continuous in a certain range, the shower area is large, and the water particle feels good. 
     2. The arc inlet slots are vertical to the inlet direction, on one hand, it changes the flowing direction that makes the water with centrifugal force after flowing out of the arc inlet slots, on the other hand, as the deflecting column must have a certain length, it can maximally prevent the limit to the structure thickness. 
     3. The arc inlet slots are spiral, and they are arranged on the internal periphery surface of the annular passage, the structure not only makes the water with centrifugal force, but also makes it with speeding up function. 
     4. the deflecting column is disposed at the center of the cone frustum; the housing is disposed with positioning groove coupled to the cone frustum, it ensures the coaxiality of the deflecting column and the annular passage to improve the outlet effect of the water curtain, on the other hand, more strong the water pressure is, more tightly the cone frustum is connected to the housing, it thus improves the coaxiality of both. 
     5. The bottom surface of the water groove is disposed with through holes connected to the arc inlet slots, the elastic ring is disposed in the water groove, the elastic ring automatically deforms with the water pressure, so that the flow volume can be controlled to be stable, it can prevent water pressure from influencing the water type, thus improving the stability of the water curtain. 
     6. The upper flowing section is trumpet shape with big end down, it thus improves the length of the water curtain and enlargers the shower area, the lower flowing section is trumpet shape with big end down, as the water flowing has certain centrifugal force, the lower flowing section can limit in a certain flare angle that can make it with better shower area and shower effect. 
     7. The deflecting column is disposed with a hollow passage, the hollow passage has a spherical arc surface structure near to the outlet, the outlet of the hollow passage is slender shaped or a structure with two slender openings crossing, the structure is coupled to the hollow passage at the internal ring and the annular passage at the external ring to make the outlet even and consistent. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be further described with the drawings and the embodiments. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exploded and schematic diagram of the outlet device of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exploded schematic and sectional diagram of the outlet device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a schematic assembling diagram of the outlet device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a sectional diagram of the outlet device of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a sectional diagram of the outlet device of  FIG. 1  in low water pressure. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a sectional diagram of the outlet device of  FIG. 1  in high water pressure. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a sectional diagram of a second kind of deflecting column of the outlet device of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a bottom view of the deflecting column of  FIG. 7 . 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a schematic diagram of a third kind of deflecting column of the outlet device of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the outlet device with hollow water curtain function of the present invention comprises a housing  20 , a deflecting column  40  and an elastic ring  60 . The housing  20  is hollow structural. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , the deflecting column is inserted in the housing  20 , an annular passage  22  is formed between the housing  20  and the deflecting column  40 , the annular passage  22  comprises an upper flowing section  222  and a lower flowing section  224 , the upper and lower flowing section are trumpet shape with big end down (a necking structure with big end down), and the upper flowing section  222  is much longer than the lower flowing section  224 , the taper of the upper flowing section  222  is smaller than that of the lower flowing section  224 . Preferred, the ratio of the length of the upper flowing section to the lower flowing section is equal to or lager than 3. The bottom surface of the deflecting column  40  is located at the connecting position of the upper flowing section  222  and the lower flowing section  224 . The top surface of housing  20  is disposed with a positioning groove  24 , which is trumpet structural with small end down, the positioning groove  24  is coaxially connected to the annular groove  22 . The housing  20  is disposed with a plurality of arc-shaped inlet slots  26 , the arc inlet slots  26  are spiral shape, the arc inlet slots  26  are annularly arranged about the center of the annular passage  22 , the internal port of the arc inlet slots  26  is connected to the annular passage  22 . 
     The deflecting column  40  is column shaped. The top end of the deflecting column  40  is disposed with a cone frustum  50  with small end down, the deflecting column  40  is disposed at the center of the cone frustum  50 . The top surface of the cone frustum  50  is disposed with annular water groove  52 , the bottom surface of the annular water groove  52  is disposed with through holes  54  connected to the arc inlet slots  26 , water flows vertically into the arc inlet slots  26  via the through holes  54 , that is to say, the arc inlet slots  26  are arranged vertically to the inlet direction. The elastic ring  60  is disposed in the annular water groove  52 . The side wall of the annular water groove  52  is disposed with a protruding block  56 , which can prevent the elastic ring from fully closing the through hole in high water pressure situation. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , when water pressure of the waterway is lower than 0.3 MPA, the elastic ring  60  deforms slightly, water flows to the arc inlet slots  26  vertically via the through holes  54 , rotates along the arc inlet slots  26  to flow to the annular passage  22  and then flows out being a hollow annular water curtain with centrifugal force. When the tangential centrifugal force of the water curtain orienting the opening angle of the housing  20  is larger than the surface tension thereof, the water curtain breaks open to make the water flowing break open and diffuse as particles after keeping itself in a certain length, forming a hollow rain to obtain the shower need in a larger shower area with particle feeling. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , when the water pressure of the water way is larger than 0.3 MPA, the elastic ring  60  deforms great, the flow volume in the arc inlet slots  26  is kept stable, the water type is not influenced to change by the water pressure, the water curtain and the hollow rain are kept well. 
     It can be understood that the arc inlet slots  26  can be disposed on the internal periphery surface of the housing  20 , the arc inlet slots  26  are spiral shape and extending downwardly, therefore, it can improve the flow rate. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , to improve the water curtain and make it more even, the deflecting column  40  is disposed with a hollow passage  42 , the hollow passage  42  has a spherical arc surface structure near to the outlet, the outlet  422  of the hollow passage  42  is slender shaped (as figured in  FIG. 8 ) or a structure with two slender openings crossing (as figured in  FIG. 9 ). 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof for carrying out the patent for invention, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the patent for invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.