Patent Publication Number: US-11649615-B2

Title: Lifeline system for compact house

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/871,918, filed on Jul. 9, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates generally to residential house construction and, more particularly, to a grey water system of a pre-installed installation panel for a compact house. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A residential house generally has plumbing, electrical and interior climate control installations. The plumbing installation may include a water supply system with water heater and filtration, etc., plumbing fixtures and a water recycling system. The electrical installation may include an electric meter, a main electrical panel with circuit breakers, power inverter/DC system for solar panels or other power generators. The interior climate control may include heating and cooling systems. In a conventional house, such mechanical equipment are typically scattered at various places, such as some of the plumbing equipment are installed in a crawl space or basement, and most electrical and interior climate control equipment are installed in a garage or a closet. However, such installation in a compact house that does not have either crawl space/basement or garage may pose a challenge. 
     No matter how small a compact house is, some basic installations are imperative. Such basic installations, which can be called a lifeline system, may include water supply and recycling system, electric meter and electrical panel, and heating and cooling system. In a compact house, all the interior space is essential for living and storages. In addition, compact houses may require speedy construction. 
     As such, it is desirable to provide a modular exterior lifeline system for compact houses. 
     SUMMARY 
     One object of the present invention to provide an easy and speedy way of constructing a compact house. 
     Disclosed and claimed herein is a compact residential house which includes a pre-fabricated installation panel serving as an outer wall of the residential house and a lifeline system pre-installed on an outer surface of the pre-fabricated installation panel, having a grey water system. 
     It is further disclosed a method of constructing a grey water system to a pre-fabricated installation panel of a compact residential house. 
     Other aspects, features, and techniques will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art in view of the following detailed description of the embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification are included to depict certain aspects of the present disclosure. A clearer conception of the present disclosure, and of the components and operation of systems provided with the present disclosure, will become more readily apparent by referring to the exemplary, and therefore non-limiting, embodiments illustrated in the drawings, wherein like reference numbers (if they occur in more than one view) designate the same elements. The present disclosure may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the description presented herein. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. 
         FIGS.  1 A and  1 B  illustrate an installation panel for mounting a lifeline system of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates a grey water system of a lifeline system of the present disclosure installed on the installation panel shown in  FIGS.  1 A and  1 B . 
         FIG.  3    is a cross-sectional view of a lifeline system shown in  FIG.  2    mounted to a base of a compact house. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates various components of a lifeline system of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     One aspect of the disclosure relates to a wall panel that supports a lifeline system. The idea of the Lifeline System is to build efficient compact houses for low income, homeless people or temporary home for ones who suffer loss of their home through natural disaster like earth quake, hurricane, fire, etc. Since there is a demand, and outside contractors will be constructing the houses, it&#39;s important to create a process that would simplify and speed up the construction. 
     For these purposes, a lifeline system installed on the exterior of a compact house is developed, which eliminates the need for drilling holes into the exterior walls, floor, and roof that can compromise the integrity of the home&#39;s airtight building envelope, causing a loss of cooled and heated interior air and drafts. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter with reference to the attached drawings. 
       FIGS.  1 A and  1 B  illustrate an installation panel  100  for mounting a lifeline system of the present disclosure. Referring to  FIG.  1 A , the installation panel  100  is made from a panel frame exemplarily built with 2×4 studs  112  and  115  reinforced by corner braces  124  and  126 . In exemplary embodiments, a ¾″ plywood panel  133  is nailed onto studs  112 ,  115  which together form the panel frame. Secured on top of the plywood panel  133  is a layer of heat and sound insulation aluminum foil  145 . The finished installation panel  100  must be strong enough to hoist a fully equipped panel with a crane. In exemplary embodiments, the installation panel  100  is pre-fabricated along with the lifeline system in a factory. The size of the installation panel  100  can be standardized and provided to compact house designers to design the compact houses accordingly. In embodiments, the installation panel  100  is pre-fabricated to a customer order in a factory, and transported to and received at a house site in time of construction. 
     Referring to  FIG.  1 B  which illustrates a cross-section of the installation panel  100 , the plywood panel  133  is layered on one side of the panel frame  112 ; and the heat and sound insulation aluminum foil  145  is layered on top of the plywood panel  133 , wherein plywood panel  133  is sandwiched between panel frame and insulation aluminum foil  145 . 
       FIG.  2    illustrates grey water system of a lifeline system of the present disclosure installed on the installation panel  100  shown in  FIGS.  1 A and  1 B . The grey water system includes a grey water tank  202 , a coarse filter  215  and an in-line pump  223 . Waste water drained from showers and bathroom sinks flow into the coarse filter  215  via a first pipeline  231 . The waster water may also be diverted to a sewer line  242  at the control of a valve  255 . The filtered waste water enters the grey water tank  202  via a pipeline  234 . The grey water tank  202  is equipped with an overflow pipeline  262  and an automatic valve  275  connected to the bottom of the grey water tank  202  and empties the grey water tank  202  to the sewer line  242  every 24 hours according to California Code of Regulation, Title  22 . The in-line pump  223  is connected to the grey water tank  202  via a second pipeline  266  and pumps filtered waster water to toilet fill line  282  as well as a hose spigot  287  for outside use, such as gardening, plant watering, car wash or driveway cleaning. As shown in  FIG.  2   , a vent pipe  291  connected to the sewer line  242  is exemplarily mounted to the installation panel  100 . 
       FIG.  3    is a cross-sectional view of the lifeline system shown in  FIG.  2    that is mounted close to a base of a compact house. The lifeline system mounted to the installation panel  100  includes a grey water tank  202  and an in-line pump  223 , etc. The installation panel  100  is aligned to a base  302  of a compact house. As shown in  FIG.  3   , a floor  315  of the compact house having an illustrative toilet  323  is higher in elevation than the grey water tank  202 . Such design allows the waste water tank  202  to be gravity fed; and also allows plumbing of the compact house such as drain pipeline  231  to enter through the insulated floor  315  and not the exterior walls. 
     As shown in  FIG.  3   , the grey water tank  202  is secured to the installation panel  100  by a rack structure  334 , which can be exemplarily made of a rust resistant metal as the entire lifeline system may be exposed to the outside. 
     Although  FIG.  3    only illustrates that the installation panel  100  serves as a wall structure of the compact house, in other embodiments, an additional wall structure may be added juxtaposing the internal surface of the installation panel  100  for added support. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates various components of a lifeline system of the present disclosure. The installation panel  100  can be designed to install various pieces of equipment according to a customer&#39;s order. As shown in  FIG.  4   , beside the grey water system shown in  FIGS.  2  and  3   , an electric panel  402 , an electric water heater  413 , a solar transformer  440 , a PEX plumbing manifold  424  and a whole-house water filter  435  are installed on the installation panel  100 . The electric panel  402  may be wired to a power grid (not shown) and has an electric meter  405  for recording electricity usage. The solar transformer  440  may be wired to the power grid through the electric panel  402 . In an exemplary embodiment, the solar transformer  440  may have built-in battery storage as well as a power inverter/DC system for solar panels. Electric power from the electric panel  402  is then supplied to the electric water heater  413  for providing hot waters to the compact house. In addition, a power outlet  441  wired to the electric panel  402  may also be built into the installation panel  100 . The water heater  413  exchanges water with the PEX plumbing manifold  424  through an inlet pipeline  416  and an outlet pipeline  418 . Water supplied to the PEX plumbing manifold  424  and the water heater  413  is supplied by a main pipeline  430  through a whole-house water filter  435 . 
     In other embodiments, the lifeline system shown in  FIG.  4    may include an air conditioning unit (not shown) also mounted on the installation panel  100 . By design the installation panel  100  may designate certain spot for certain equipment, but whether the equipment is installed is determined by a customer order. In exemplary embodiments, the installation panel  100  can be customized to fit a compact house design. The centralized lifeline system design is not limited to compact house, and may be fitted in an existing house as well as a new construction of regular houses. 
     The embodiments in the lifeline system shown in  FIG.  4    may be enclosed in a cabinet (not shown) to protect it from the environment, burglar and/or vandalism, as the lifeline system is mounted on the outer surface of the installation panel  100  and exposed to the outside. 
     As the lifeline system of the present disclosure can be pre-installed on the installation panel  100 , plumbers and electricians can quickly and easily install the rest of the plumbing and electrical utilities for the compact house. 
     While this disclosure has been particularly shown and described with references to exemplary embodiments thereof, it shall be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the claimed embodiments.