Patent Publication Number: US-6705548-B2

Title: Nozzle for spraying a surface and method of spraying

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This application claims the priorities of German application 100 33 190.4, filed Jul. 7, 2000 and German application 100 41 120.7, filed Aug. 22, 2000, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
     The invention relates to a nozzle for spraying a surface, having a housing with a feeding duct and with an outlet opening for the liquid to be sprayed, as well as having an impact plate for deflecting the jet emerging from the outlet opening. 
     Spraying nozzles of this type are known, in the case of which, for example, a liquid jet impacts on an impact plate arranged at a distance in front of the outlet opening and is distributed from there in the shape of a fan as a spray jet to the outside. When surfaces are to be cooled, such spraying nozzles are correspondingly arranged at a distance in front of the surface on a holding device. Other devices for cooling surfaces also provide spraying nozzles which are arranged at a distance from the surface and emit, for example, a conical spraying jet in the downward direction onto the surface. In all cases, it is necessary to fasten the spraying nozzles at a corresponding distance in front of the surface to be cooled on a holding device. The necessary distance of the nozzles becomes the larger, the larger the surface to be acted upon. In the case of such constructions, it is always necessary to lay, in addition to the holding devices for the nozzles, also the corresponding piping for feeding the corresponding cooling liquid. 
     It is an object of the present invention to further develop a nozzle of the initially mentioned type such that a holding device outside the surface and thus also the piping to be laid outside the surface become superfluous. 
     In the case of a nozzle of the initially mentioned type, preferred embodiments of the invention provides that the outlet opening is situated in the surface to be sprayed and the impact plate is arranged on a piston rod centrally guided in the feeding duct and closes off the outlet opening in one of its end positions, that the impact plate can be adjusted against the force of a restoring spring by the pressure of the liquid into a second end position defined by a stop, and in that, in this second end position, the impact plate is situated at a distance in front of the outlet opening. 
     As a result of this embodiment, the arrangement of a holding device outside the surface to be sprayed will be superfluous because the surface itself is used for accommodating the nozzle. The feed pipes required for the nozzle can be laid on the side facing away from the surface to be sprayed. 
     As a further development of preferred embodiments of the invention, the piston rod can penetrate a passage opening of a smaller cross-section than the outlet opening, which passage opening is situated in front of the outlet opening in the flow direction of the liquid, so that the liquid to be sprayed is guided to the outside essentially in the area along the piston rod and is then deflected on the impact plate. In this case, the impact plate can, on its side facing the outlet opening, extend at least in the radially exterior area in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod, and a rounding can be provided in the transition area between the piston rod and the impact plate, which rounding contributes to the fact that the liquid emerging from the nozzle is guided along the piston rod, is then continuously deflected into a direction extending perpendicular to the original outlet direction and is then deflected again to the surface to be sprayed as a backward-directed spray fan. 
     As a further development of preferred embodiments of the invention, the stop defining the second end position of the impact plate can be formed by a piston at the end of the piston rod facing away from the impact plate, which piston can be displaced in a guiding cylinder of a predetermined length. This guiding cylinder and the piston guided therein determine the distance of the impact plate from the surface to be sprayed. The piston itself has the purpose of pressing the piston rod as a result of the liquid pressure to the outside so that the impact plate takes up its second end position. 
     However, the piston can also be used as a resting device for a helical spring which is used as a restoring spring and is arranged around the piston rod and whose second end rests against a guide disk within the feeding duct, which guide disk is used as a guide for the piston rod. In this case, the piston and the guide disk are preferably provided with passage openings for the liquid to be sprayed. 
     As a further development of preferred embodiments of the invention, the housing can be provided with a flange whose side pointing away from the housing is aligned with the impact plate in its inoperative position. This flange can be inserted in such a manner into the surface to be sprayed that its exterior side aligned with the impact plate coincides with the surface to be sprayed. 
     Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partially sectional lateral view of a nozzle constructed according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view of the nozzle according to FIG. 1 shown, after its installation into the surface to the sprayed; and 
     FIG. 3 is a reduced schematic top view of the arrangement according to FIG. 2; however, three of the spraying nozzles according to the invention being arranged side-by-side and the overlapping of the mutual spraying ranges being illustrated. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The nozzle  1  according to FIG. 1, which can also be called a deflector nozzle, comprises a housing  2   a  with a flange  2   b  screwed to the housing  2   a  by way of a thread  10 , which flange  2   b  is provided with openings  11  distributed along its circumference and can be screwed into corresponding receiving bores  12  by way of screws which are not shown. The receiving bores  12  are, for example, provided on a ring  13  which is arranged in an opening of a wall  3  whose exterior side is to be sprayed for cooling purposes. 
     The housing  2   a  is provided with an offset cylindrical feeding duct  14  for the liquid to be sprayed which, in a manner not shown in detail, is fed from the connection part of the housing  2   a  in the direction of the arrow  15 . In a section  14   a  of the feeding duct  14  having a larger diameter, a piston  4  is arranged which is fixedly mounted at the lower end of the piston rod  16 . The piston  4  is provided with passage openings  4   a  for the flowing-through of liquid and is used as a stop for a helical spring  5  which is placed around the piston rod  16  and rests with its other end against a guide disk  7  which is fixedly arranged in the housing  2   a  and is also provided with passage openings  7   a  for the liquid to be sprayed. In this case, the guide disk  7  is held in the housing  2   a  by means of an insert  17  which surrounds the piston rod  16  with a ring gap  8 , which piston rod  16  is provided with an impact plate  6  outside the insert  17 . The impact plate  6  rests on the insert  17  in the position illustrated by a solid line and closes an outlet opening ending on the outside with the surface  2   c  of the flange  2   b . This top side  2   c  of the flange, as illustrated in FIG. 1, is situated in a plane with the exterior side  3   a  of the wall  3  which, in turn, represents the surface to be sprayed for cooling purposes. 
     The function of the nozzle is illustrated by means of FIG.  2 . It is shown that, when the supply of liquid is released in the direction of the arrow  15 , the piston  4  is pressed upward against the effect of the spring  5  until it strikes against the edge  18  of the cylindrical guiding area  14   a . In this position, the impact plate takes up the position  6 ′ in which, as illustrated by a dash-dotted line, the piston rod  16  is displaced in the upward direction. The liquid therefore exits through the ring gap  8  under pressure, is guided upward on the exterior surfaces of the piston rod  16 , and is deflected to the outside by way of the rounding  19  between the surface  20  extending perpendicular to the axis  21  of the piston rod  16  on the underside of the impact plate  6 ,  6 ′ in order to, as illustrated in FIG. 2, be sprayed in a flat spray fan  9 , whose reflection angle deviates only slightly from the horizontal line, in a large-surface manner to the outside approximately in the shape of a circle. FIG. 3 illustrates that, when several nozzles  1  are arranged on the surface  3   a , these relatively large spray fans  9  can mutually overlap, so that a surface-covering spraying can be achieved. 
     If the liquid pressure is switched off, the piston  4  is restored by way of the spring  5  into the starting position illustrated in FIG. 1, in which the impact plate is aligned with the surface  3   a  to be sprayed. The spring force is to be dimensioned such that the applied water pressure can overcome this spring force. 
     One usage possibility for the nozzle according to the invention is the spraying of side walls of ships for the purpose of cooling them in order to then make them invisible to infrared detection devices. Naturally, the nozzle can also always be used in situations when surfaces are to be sprayed and major superstructures for holding and supplying the nozzle are not desirable outside the surface. 
     The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.