Patent Publication Number: US-2023140780-A1

Title: Kitchen faucet

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to Chinese patent application number 202122636203.8, filed on Oct. 29, 2021. Chinese patent application number 202122636203.8 is incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates to a kitchen faucet. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The traditional faucet only has a single water path structure, and the single water path structure is controlled by a single valve to achieve switching, which has a relatively simple water outlet function. 
     For example, Chinese patent application number 201921346078.3 discloses a dual-purpose faucet for kitchen and water purification, comprising a faucet body, a water purifier, a touch screen assembly, a handle, and a control valve. The faucet body comprises a tap water path and a purified water path. The control valve is installed on the faucet body and can control a turning ON and OFF of the tap water path and a flow rate of water that is flowing in the tap water path. The handle can move relative to the faucet body and is operatively coupled to the control valve. The touch screen assembly comprises a touch screen, a control circuit for the touch screen, and a solenoid valve. The purified water path passes through the water purifier and the solenoid valve. The touch screen is fixed on the faucet body, is located outside the control valve, and is arranged coaxially with the control valve. The control circuit is installed on the faucet body and is electrically connected to each of the touch screen and the solenoid valve. The solenoid valve is electrically connected with the water purifier. Although the dual-purpose faucet has two independent water pipes, the faucet body is fixed, the two water pipes cannot be rotated according to the required positions, and the two water pipes cannot be pulled out for changing a water outlet direction of the two independent water pipes, which is inconvenient for a user. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure provides a kitchen faucet to solve the deficiencies in the background. 
     In order to solve the technical problem, a first technical solution of the present disclosure is as follows. 
     A kitchen faucet comprises a faucet body, a control valve, a solenoid valve, and a pull-out head. The faucet body comprises a first water inlet pipe, a second water inlet pipe, a first water outlet pipe configured to be in communication with the first water inlet pipe, and a second water outlet pipe configured to be in communication with the second water inlet pipe. The pull-out head is pluggably matched with the faucet body and is in communication with the first water outlet pipe. The control valve is disposed on the faucet body and is configured to control the first water outlet pipe to be opened and closed, and the solenoid valve is disposed on the second water inlet pipe to control the second water outlet pipe to be opened and closed. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the faucet body comprises a faucet housing, a bent tube, and a first dividing member. The bent tube is rotatably connected to the faucet housing. The first dividing member is located at a junction of the faucet housing and the bent tube and comprises a dividing sleeve and a dividing guide rail fixedly connected to the dividing sleeve. The first water outlet pipe extends toward the bent tube after passing through the dividing sleeve, and the second water outlet pipe extends toward the bent tube along the dividing guide rail after passing through the dividing sleeve. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the dividing guide rail is elastic. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the faucet body further comprises a second dividing member. The second dividing member is fixedly connected to a distal end of the bent tube and comprises a receiving cavity and an insertion hole. The pull-out head is pluggably matched with the receiving cavity, and the second water outlet pipe is connected with the insertion hole. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the faucet body further comprises a fixed sleeve and a bushing. The fixed sleeve is fixedly connected to the faucet housing, the bushing is rotatably sleeved on an outer periphery of the fixed sleeve and is snapped to and matched with the bent tube, and the first dividing member is located above the fixed sleeve. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the faucet body further comprises a sealing member. An outer periphery of a top end of the fixed sleeve comprises an annular groove, and the sealing member is sleeved in the annular groove and is sealingly connected to an inner wall of the bent tube. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the faucet body further comprises a valve body, and the valve body is fixedly connected to an inside of the faucet housing. Each of the first water inlet pipe and the first water outlet pipe is connected to the valve body, and the control valve is matched with a side surface of the valve body. 
     In a preferred embodiment, a water purifier is disposed on the second water inlet pipe. 
     Compared with the existing techniques, the technical solution has the following advantages. 
     1. The kitchen faucet not only has two independently controlled water outlet pipes, the first water outlet pipe is controlled by the control valve, and the second water outlet pipe is controlled by the solenoid valve, which are independent of each other, so that a control effect of the kitchen faucet is good and the kitchen faucet is convenient for users to use. Furthermore, the first water outlet pipe is connected with the pull-out head. That is, the kitchen faucet also has a pull-out function, which is more convenient for users to use. 
     2. The first water outlet pipe extends toward the bent tube after passing through the dividing sleeve, and the second water outlet pipe extends toward the bent tube along the dividing guide rail after passing through the dividing sleeve. That is, the dividing guide rail separates the first water outlet pipe from the second water outlet pipe to avoid interference of the second water outlet pipe with the first water outlet pipe while the pull-out head is being pulled out. At the same time, a structure of the first dividing member is relatively simple, does not occupy too much space in the bent tube, and is more concise. 
     3. The dividing guide rail is made of elastic material, which can avoid friction with the first water outlet pipe and improve the service life of the first water outlet pipe. 
     4. The second dividing member separates the pull-out head from the distal end of the second water outlet pipe, again ensuring that the first water outlet pipe and the second water outlet pipe do not interfere with each other. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    illustrates an overall, perspective view of a kitchen faucet in a preferred embodiment. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates an exploded view of the kitchen faucet in a preferred embodiment. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates an exploded view of the kitchen faucet in a preferred embodiment, illustrating a faucet housing, a bent tube, a first dividing member, a second dividing member, and a bushing. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a cross-sectional view of a faucet body in a preferred embodiment. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates a cross-sectional view of the faucet body in a preferred embodiment, illustrating the bent tube, the first dividing member, the second dividing member, a first water outlet pipe, and a second water outlet pipe. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present disclosure will be further described below in combination with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. 
     Unless otherwise clearly defined in the claims, description, and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, the terms “first”, “second”, “third”, and so on are used to distinguish different objects, not used to describe a specific order. 
     Unless otherwise clearly defined in the claims, description , and the above-mentioned drawings of the disclosure, for location words, such as the use of the terms “center”, “transverse”, “perpendicular”, “horizontal”, “vertical”, “top”, “bottom”, “inner”, “outer”, “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, and other indication orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations and positional relationships shown in the drawings, are provided to facilitate the description of the disclosure and simplify the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the indicated device or element must have a specific orientation or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Such words should not be understood as limiting the specific protection scope of the disclosure. 
     In the claims, the description, and the drawings of the present disclosure, unless otherwise explicitly defined, if the term “fixed connection” or “fixedly connected” is used, it should be understood in a broad sense. That is, any connection method without displacement relationship and relative rotation relationship between the two, that is, including non-removable fixed connection, removably fixed connection, connected as a whole, and fixed connection through other devices or components. 
     In the claims, the description, and the drawings of the present disclosure, the terms “including”, “having”, and their variations are intended to mean “including but not limited to”. 
     Referring to  FIGS.  1  to  5   , a preferred embodiment of a kitchen faucet is provided. The kitchen faucet comprises a faucet body  100 , a control valve  10 , a solenoid valve  20 , and a pull-out head  30 . 
     The faucet body  100  comprises a first water inlet pipe  16 , a second water inlet pipe  11 , a first water outlet pipe  12  configured to be in communication with the first water inlet pipe  16 , and a second water outlet pipe  13  configured to be in communication with the second water inlet pipe  11 . The pull-out head  30  is pluggably matched with the faucet body  100  and is in communication with the first water outlet pipe  12 . The control valve  10  is disposed in the faucet body  100  and can control the first water outlet pipe  12  to be opened and closed. The solenoid valve  20  is disposed on the second water inlet pipe  11  to control the second water outlet pipe  13  to be opened and closed. The kitchen faucet therefore has two water outlet pipes which are respectively, independently controlled by the control valve  10  and the solenoid valve  20 . The first water outlet pipe  12  is controlled by the control valve  10 , and the second water outlet pipe  13  is controlled by the solenoid valve  20 , which are independent of each other and have good control effect and are convenient for users to use. In addition, the first water outlet pipe  12  is connected with the pull-out head  30 , and the kitchen faucet also has a pull-out function that enables the pull-out head  30  to be pulled out to change a water outlet direction of the pull-out head  30 , which is more convenient for users to use. 
     In this embodiment, the first water inlet pipe  16  comprises a cold water inlet pipe  14  and a hot water inlet pipe  15 , and the control valve  10  is connected to each of the cold water inlet pipe  14  and the hot water inlet pipe  15  to have a function of regulating temperature and controlling a flow rate of water that flows from the control valve  10 . 
     In this embodiment, referring to  FIG.  3   , the faucet body  100  comprises a faucet housing  40 , a bent tube  50 , and a first dividing member  110 . The bent tube  50  is rotatably connected to the faucet housing  40 , and the first dividing member  110  is located at a junction of the faucet housing  40  and the bent tube  50 . The first dividing member  110  comprises a dividing sleeve  60  and a dividing guide rail  61  fixedly connected to the dividing sleeve  60 . The first water outlet pipe  12  passes through the dividing sleeve  60  and then extends toward the bent tube  50 . The second water outlet pipe  13  passes through the dividing sleeve  60  and then extends toward the bent tube  50  along the dividing guide rail  61 . Since the first water outlet pipe  12  needs to be pulled back and forth, the dividing guide rail  61  is made of elastic material, which can avoid large friction between the first water outlet pipe  12  and the dividing guide rail  61 , thereby improving a useful life of the first water outlet pipe  12 . 
     In this embodiment, the faucet body  100  further comprises a second dividing member  70 . The second dividing member  70  is fixedly connected to a distal end of the bent tube  50  and comprises a receiving cavity  71  and an insertion hole  72 . The pull-out head  30  is pluggably matched with the receiving cavity  71 , and the second water outlet pipe  13  is inserted into and matched with the insertion hole  72 . 
     Specifically, referring to  FIG.  3   , an outer periphery of the second dividing member  70  comprises an elastic latching protrusion  73 , and the distal end of the bent tube  50  comprises a latching groove  51 . The second dividing member  70  is fixedly connected to the bent tube  50  through the elastic latching protrusion  73  being snapped to and matched with the latching groove  51 . In addition, the second dividing member  70  further comprises a position-limiting groove  74 . The second water outlet pipe  13  passes through the position-limiting groove  74  and then is inserted into and matched with the insertion hole  72 . 
     In this embodiment, the faucet body  100  further comprises a fixed sleeve  80  and a bushing  90 . The fixed sleeve  80  is fixedly connected to the faucet housing  40 . The bushing  90  is rotatably sleeved on an outer periphery of the fixed sleeve  80 , and the bushing  90  is snapped to and matched with the bent tube  50 . The first dividing member  110  is located above the fixed sleeve  80 . The bushing  90  comprises an elastic buckle  91 , and the bent tube  50  comprises a buckle hole  52 . When a bottom end of the bent tube  50  is inserted into an outer periphery of the bushing  90 , the elastic buckle  91  and the buckle hole  52  can be snapped to each other to ensure that the bent tube  50  is fixed with respect to the bushing  90 . 
     In this embodiment, the faucet body  100  further comprises a sealing member  92 . An outer periphery of a top end of the fixed sleeve  80  comprises an annular groove  81 . The sealing member  92  is sleeved in the annular groove  81  and is sealingly connected to an inner wall of the bent tube  50 . 
     In this embodiment, the faucet body  100  further includes a valve body  93 , and the valve body  93  is fixedly connected to an inside of the faucet housing  40 . Each of the first water inlet pipe  16  and the first water outlet pipe  12  is inserted into and matched with the valve body  93 . The control valve  10  is matched with a side surface of the valve body  93 . 
     In this embodiment, a water purifier  94  is disposed on the second water inlet pipe  11 , and the water purifier  94  is located upstream of the solenoid valve  20 . 
     Although the kitchen faucet comprises two water outlet pipes which are independent of each other, through an effective separation of the first dividing member  110  and the second dividing member  70 , there will be no interference between the first water outlet pipe  12  and the second water outlet pipe  13 , which ensures a normal use of the pull-out head  30  and increases the useful life. 
     The aforementioned embodiments are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, and the scope of the disclosure is not limited thereto. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover any modifications and variations of the presently presented embodiments provided they are made without departing from the appended claims and the specification of the present disclosure.