Patent Publication Number: US-2009236444-A1

Title: Sanitary system comprising a hand-held shower and a charging set

Description:
The invention relates to a sanitary system having
     a) a hand-held shower comprising:
       aa) a handle which can be connected to a shower hose;   ab) a shower head carried by the handle;   ac) at least one lighting means arranged in the shower head;   and   ad) at least one accumulator, by which the lighting means can be supplied with power and which is connected to connections accessible from outside for connection to a charging set;
 
and
   
       b) the charging set for charging the accumulator.   

     A sanitary system of this kind is described in WO 2005/118967 A1. Accumulator is understood to mean basically any rechargeable battery. To charge the accumulator, accommodated there in the handle, the hand-held shower in WO 2005/118967 A1 is plugged into a charging set mounted in the area of use of the hand-held shower. The charging set forms simultaneously the holder for the hand-held shower, in which the hand-held shower is normally accommodated when it is not in use. The charging set is coordinated in its visible design with the visible design of the hand-held shower, thus meeting the present-day demands of users as regards the external appearance of cooperating individual components of a sanitary system of the kind mentioned at the outset that they should always be seen to be matching. 
     The accumulator can only be charged by the user placing the hand-held shower as a whole in the charging station, which is situated in the wet area of the bathroom. The idea of electric current flowing in the wet area of a user&#39;s bathroom, namely the charging current for charging the accumulator, is, however, unpleasant to many users and is regarded as a source of danger. 
     There is therefore a need for a sanitary system of the kind mentioned at the outset in which the accumulator can be charged at a place remote from the wet area. At the same time, however, the observer is to be given an overall outward impression of uniformity of the individual components which reflects that they belong together in the system also when the accumulator is being charged. 
     This object is achieved in the case of a sanitary system of the kind mentioned at the outset in that
     c) the accumulator is accommodated in the shower head and the shower head has, in a coupling region, the connections for connecting the accumulator to the charging set;   d) the shower head can be detached from the handle;
 
and
   e) the charging set comprises a receiving region, into which the shower head can be introduced by its coupling region for charging the accumulator and which has an inner contour complementary to the outer contour of the coupling region of the shower head.   

     With this design, the shower head having the accumulator can be simply separated from the handle of the hand-held shower by the user and taken to the charging set, which does not have to be situated in the wet area of the bathroom. The charging set in turn has a receiving region which is adapted to be complementary to the outer contour of the shower head and by which the shower head introduced into the charging set can be received with a form fit. Owing to this form fit when the shower head is inserted into the charging set, the observer is given an overall outward impression which shows that the components belong together in the system. 
     Advantageous developments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims. 
    
    
     
       An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with the aid of the drawing, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows an isometric illustration of a sanitary hand-held shower of a sanitary system, the shower comprising a detachable two-part shower head; 
         FIG. 2  shows a view from below of the, in  FIG. 1 , upper part of the two-part shower head; 
         FIG. 3  shows a section through the shower head of  FIG. 1  along the section line III-III in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows an isometric illustration of the shower head of the hand-held shower of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 5  shows a charging set of the sanitary system. 
     
    
    
       FIG. 1  shows a sanitary hand-held shower  10  comprising a handle  12  and a detachable shower head  14  which is separably connected to the handle  12 . For the separable connection of the shower head  14  to the handle  12 , there is provided in the end section  16  of the handle  12  adjacent to the shower head  14  a latching device  18 , which is of no further interest here and of which two mutually opposite actuating rockers  20  can be seen in  FIG. 1 . 
     Provided at the end of the handle  12  opposite the shower head  14  is a connecting nipple  22 , to which a shower hose can be fastened. Leading off from the connecting nipple  22  of the handle  12  is a water-guiding channel (not visible here) running inside the handle. Water can be guided by this channel by way of a switching device  24 , which is likewise of no further relevance here and which can be actuated from outside by the user, via inner channels in the handle  12  to respectively one of three inner waterways  26 ,  28 ,  30  in the shower head  14 , the course of which can be seen in  FIG. 2 . Each of the waterways  26 ,  28 ,  30  leads to in each case functionally different nozzles  32 ,  34  and  36 , respectively, which serve as water outlet openings. 
     The nozzles  32 ,  34 ,  36  are provided in one side, formed in a known manner as a nozzle plate  38 , of a two-part housing  40  of the shower head  14 . The nozzles  32 ,  34 ,  36  form three groups of nozzles in the exemplary embodiment illustrated. Quite hard water jets which normally have a massage effect can be produced by the radially inner nozzles  32 . These nozzles  32  are surrounded by a circular-arc-shaped nozzle  34 , from which a torrent-like water jet can be emitted. The slotted nozzle  34  for its part is surrounded, in an annular region extending close to the peripheral edge of the housing  40  of the shower head  14 , by a relatively large number of nozzles  36 . A multiplicity of relatively soft shower jets which produce a particularly pleasant sensation emerge from these nozzles  36  during the operation of the hand-held shower. 
     To connect the inner waterways  26 ,  28 ,  30  in the shower head  14  to the corresponding channels (not shown here) in the handle  12 , the waterways  26 ,  28 ,  30  open respectively into radially outer connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  which project beyond the peripheral edge of the housing  40 , as can be seen in  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4 . The shower head  14  is seated with each of these connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  in respectively one receptacle, complementary thereto, in the end section  16  of the handle  12 , the receptacle not being shown here in detail. For sealing with respect to this receptacle, each of the connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  has a peripheral groove  48 , in which an O-ring can be seated. In each of  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  4 , only the groove  48  of the connecting piece  38  is provided with a reference symbol. 
     The housing  40 , of two-part design, of the shower head  14  comprises a lower shell  50  forming the nozzle plate  38  already mentioned, and an upper shell  52  opposite the lower shell, the shells being subsequently tightly bonded or welded to one another. The waterways  26 ,  28 ,  30  in the shower head  14  are formed in both shells  50 ,  52 , whether already during a forming injection-moulding process or only subsequently by milling and/or drilling. 
       FIG. 2  shows a view of the upper shell  52  looking at its side facing inwards when the housing  40  is assembled. On this side, the upper shell  52  has a slot-shaped groove  54  on a circular arc which extends over an angle of about 315° and is arranged between the waterway  26  and the waterway  30 . The mutually opposite ends of this circular-arc-shaped groove  54  face the connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46 . Starting from each of these ends of the groove  54 , respectively one rectilinear slot-shaped groove  56  runs in the direction of the connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  and parallel to their longitudinal axis (cf.  FIG. 2 ). The circular-arc-shaped groove  54  has, in an angular region of about 240°, five sections  58  which are uniformly spaced from one another and in which the groove  54  is radially enlarged (wider). 
     On the side, facing inwards when the housing  40  is assembled, of the shell  50  forming the nozzle plate  38 , there is provided a groove corresponding to the groove  54 ,  56 ,  58 , so that when the housing  40  of the shower head  14  is assembled a receiving space  60 , which can be seen in the section in  FIG. 3 , is formed. This receiving space  60  serves for receiving a light emitting diode arrangement  62  which comprises a ribbon cable  64 . The course of the ribbon cable  64  corresponds to that of the receiving space  60 , i.e. the ribbon cable  64  has two mutually opposite rectilinear sections  66  and a circular-arc-shaped section  68 . Five light emitting diodes  70  are mounted on the circular-arc-shaped section  68  of the ribbon cable  64  in such a way that respectively one light emitting diode  70  is seated in an enlarged section  58  of the receiving space  60  when the ribbon cable  64  with the light emitting diodes  70  is introduced into the receiving space  60 . 
     The rectilinear sections  66  of the ribbon cable  64  form terminals  72 ,  74  of the light emitting diode arrangement  62 . These terminals  72 ,  74  are connected to an electronics board  78 , visible in  FIG. 3 , accommodated in a cutout  76  of the lower shell  50 . The electronics boards  78  for its part is fed by an accumulator  82  mounted in a recess  80  in the opposite upper shell  52 . The accumulator  82  can be charged, when the shower head  14  is detached, via two connections  84 ,  86  which are designed as contacts and provided at the end side of the shower head  14  assigned to the handle  12 , as will be explained in more detail below. 
     Each of the connections  84 ,  86  of the shower head  14  is seated opposite the housing  40  fixedly in a respective opening  88  and  90  provided therein. The accumulator  82  has two pole terminals  92 , each of which is connected via respectively one spring contact  94  to respectively one of the connections  84 ,  86 . This can be seen in  FIG. 3  using the example of the pole terminal  92  of the accumulator  82  which is connected to the connection  86  of the shower head  14 . 
     During the operation of the hand-held shower  10 , the light emitting diodes  70  of the light emitting diode arrangement  62  are supplied with current from the accumulator  82  via the ribbon cable  64 , so that they emit light. The light emitting diodes  70  are oriented in such a way that they emit their light mainly radially outwards and this light radiates through the radially outer edge region of the housing  40 . For this purpose, the two shells  50 ,  52  of the housing  40  are produced from a transparent material, for which preferably polycarbonates (PC) or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are suitable. 
       FIG. 5  shows a charging set, denoted as a whole by the reference symbol  96 , for charging the accumulator  82  in the shower head  14 . The charging set comprises a free-standing housing  98 , in which the customary electronic components, known per se, of a charging set are accommodated. Emerging from the housing  98  is a power cord  100 , shown only partially in  FIG. 5 , by which the charging set  96  can be connected to the mains power supply. 
     On the upper side of the housing  98 , the charging set  96  has a receiving region  102  for receiving the shower head  14 . The receiving unit  102  is of fork-shaped design and has an inner contour which is complementary to the outer contour of a coupling region  114  of the shower head  14 . As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , the coupling region  114  of the shower head  14  is provided on the side of the latter facing the handle  12  during the operation of the hand-held shower  10 . It comprises a plane end face  116 , which runs perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  of the shower head  14 , which for their part project beyond the end face  116 . Seated in the end face  116  of the coupling region  114 , at the level of the upper shell  52  of the shower head  14 , are the connections  84 ,  86  for connecting the accumulator  82  to the charging set  96 . 
     The coupling region  114  of the shower head  114  additionally comprises a lower and upper lateral surface  118 ,  120 , which form respectively one section of the lower shell  50  and of the upper shell  52  of the housing  40  of the shower head  14  (cf.  FIG. 4 ) and have respectively one region  122  and  124  running parallel to the parting plane of the shells  50 ,  52 . Of these regions, only the region  124  can be seen in  FIG. 4 . 
     When the coupling region  114  of the shower head  14  is inserted into the charging set  96  or into the receiving unit  102  of the latter, the receiving unit  102  encompasses the shells  50 ,  52  of the housing  40  of the shower head  14 . As indicated in  FIG. 5 , the receiving unit  102  of the charging set  96  comprises three blind bores  104 ,  106 ,  108  which are designed in a manner complementary to the connecting pieces  42 ,  44 ,  46  of the shower head  14  and receive these pieces when the shower head  14  is inserted into the charging set  96 . 
     Adjacent to the blind bores  104 ,  106 ,  108  in the receiving unit  102  of the charging set  96 , two spring-mounted contact pins  110 ,  112  are provided, corresponding to the positions of the connections  84 ,  86  of the shower head  14 . Respectively one of the contact pins  110 ,  112  of the charging set  96  is connected to one of the connections  84 ,  86  of the shower head  14  when the latter is inserted into the charging set  96 , with the result that the accumulator  82  in the shower head  14  is supplied with a charging current via the connections  84 ,  86  and the spring contacts  84 . 
     The light emitting diodes  70  of the light emitting diode arrangement  62  can be activated during the charging process, for example via the electronics board  78  in the shower head  14 , in such a way that during the charging process they produce a flashing light, which changes to a permanent light when the charging process is completed. 
     Altogether, the hand-held shower  10  and the charging set  96  form a coordinated sanitary system for charging a hand-held shower having components fed via an accumulator, both from a technical point of view, as regards the charging current for example, and in terms of the design.