Patent Publication Number: US-10774513-B2

Title: Aircraft vacuum toilet system splashguard

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/084,185, filed Mar. 29, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/140,260, filed Mar. 30, 2015, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates generally to vacuum toilet systems and, more generally, to a splashguard for such systems. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Designing a toilet for an aircraft poses challenges that do not generally occur in ground-based toilet designs. For instance, in an aircraft, space and weight are at a premium, and using regular water-flush toilets is not practical. There are additional drawbacks associated with existing systems. For instance, existing systems allow waste material to splash up under the shroud and over the toilet bowl, and producing an odor and potentially corrosion related damage. Also, performing routine maintenance and cleaning is much more difficult, since space restrictions make access to plumbing nearly impossible. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       While the appended claims set forth the features of the present techniques with particularity, these techniques may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a toilet system configured according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2A  is a bottom view of a toilet splashguard according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2B  is a partial cross-section view of the toilet splashguard taken across section line  2 B, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged view illustrating an interaction between the toilet splashguard and a rim of the toilet bowl, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4A  is a cross-section view of airflow between the splashguard and toilet shroud during a resting state of the splashguard according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4B  is a cross-section view of airflow between the splashguard and toilet shroud during a flushing sequence according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a toilet system including removable fasteners according to an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following discussion is directed to various exemplary embodiments. However, one possessing ordinary skill in the art will understand that the examples disclosed herein have broad application, and that the discussion of any embodiment is meant only be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure, including claims, is limited to that embodiment. 
     Certain terms are used throughout the following description to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but not function. The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features and components herein may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in interest of clarity and conciseness. 
     The disclosure is generally directed to a toilet bowl system for use on-board an aircraft. A toilet bowl body comprises a toilet shroud and a toilet bowl having a rim portion. A removable splash guard is positioned between the toilet bowl and the shroud and comprises a generally flat, flexible, planar shield having a central opening. The shield includes a top portion and a rear portion, where the top portion faces the shroud and the lower portion faces the toilet bowl. The lower portion is shaped to correspond with an upper portion of the rim of the toilet bowl and is configured to secure the removable toilet splash guard to the toilet bowl. In addition, the lower portion of the planar shield has the added benefit of sealing against the toilet bowl and thereby preventing waste migration from inside the toilet bowl to the outside. 
     Turning to  FIG. 1 , a toilet system configured according to an embodiment is shown. The toilet, generally labelled  100 , is configured to be deployed on an aircraft, and may be housed within an external housing (not shown). The toilet  100  includes a bowl  102  attached to a frame  104 . The bowl  102  includes a rim  110 . The toilet  100  also includes a fluid control valve  130  provided in the vicinity of the rim  110 . 
     The toilet  100  further includes a removable splash guard  160  positioned between the toilet bowl  102  and the shroud  410  (shown in  FIG. 4 ). The splash guard  160  is a generally flat, flexible, planar shield having a central opening O, a top portion A, and a bottom portion B (illustrated in  FIG. 2A ). Next, the structure of the splash guard  160  will be described in more detail with references to  FIGS. 2A, 2B and 3 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2A , a splash guard  160  configured according to an embodiment of the toilet system  200  is shown. The lower portion B of the splash guard  160  includes a first ridge  204  extending along an outside circumferential edge  210  of the shield and extending substantially perpendicular to the planar shield. As can be seen more clearly in  FIG. 3 , the first ridge  204  extends downward in a substantially perpendicular direction relative to the outside circumferential edge  210 . 
     Turning back to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the lower portion B of the splash guard  160  includes a second ridge  208  extending concentric to the first ridge  204  and also extending substantially perpendicular to the planar shield. As can be seen more clearly in  FIG. 3 , the second ridge  208  also extends downward in a substantially perpendicular direction relative to the outside circumferential edge  210 . According to an embodiment, the first ridge  204  and the second ridge  208  are axially spaced apart from each other. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the rim  110  of the toilet bowl  102  is configured to fit in the axial space between the first ridge  204  and the second ridge  208  according to one embodiment. According to some embodiments, the lower portion B along with the second ridge  208  helps seal the toilet splash guard  160  against the toilet bowl  102  in order to prevent waste from migrating outside the toilet bowl  102 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the first ridge  204  includes a lip  206  that extends substantially perpendicularly from a free end of the first ridge  204 . As can be seen more clearly in  FIG. 3 , the lip  206  extends towards the central opening O of the planar shield. According to one embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the lip  206  of the first ridge  204  is configured to overlap a portion of the rim  110  of toilet bowl  102  to secure the removable toilet splash guard  160  to the toilet bowl  102 . A person skilled in the art will understand that various other mechanisms for retaining the removable toilet splash guard  160  to the toilet bowl  102  may be used instead of or in addition to the mechanism discussed above. For instance, in an embodiment, a plurality of removable fasteners may be used to secure the removable toilet splash guard  160  to the toilet bowl  102  (e.g., removable fastener  500  as shown in  FIG. 5 ). 
     Turning now to  FIG. 4A , the removable splash guard  160  is configured to be positioned between the toilet shroud  410  and the toilet bowl  102 . In an embodiment, the lower portion B of the removable splash guard  160  is configured to substantially block waste disposed into the toilet bowl  102  from contacting the shroud  410 , as shown in  FIG. 4A . 
     In an embodiment, an air gap is present between the toilet shroud and the top of the vacuum toilet bowl to ensure that a negative pressure is not exerted on the passenger if they form a seal between their body and the toilet shroud in use. However, in conventional toilet systems, this air gap allows waste material to splash up under the shroud and over the bowl. If not properly or regularly cleaned, this build-up can produce a foul smell/odor behind the shroud. 
     According to an embodiment of the toilet system disclosed here, the removable splash guard  160  is configured to prevent both liquid and solid waste from splashing up under the toilet shroud  410 , and over the top of the toilet bowl  102 , while still providing adequate vacuum breaker (air gap) protection for the passenger. 
     More specifically, as illustrated in  FIG. 4A , the removable toilet splash guard  160  is designed to prevent waste material from splashing under the toilet shroud  410  by closing the gap between the toilet bowl  102  and the toilet shroud  410 . In an embodiment, the removable toilet splash guard  160  acts like a check valve and prevents waste from splashing up under the shroud  410  but allows air to enter the toilet if a seal has been formed between the occupant and the shroud  410 . As can be seen more clearly in  FIG. 4B , an airflow path (indicated by the arrows) connecting the outside and the inside of the toilet bowl  102  is created due to the flexibility of the removable toilet splash guard  160 , during a flushing sequence. 
     Moreover, the toilet splash guard  160  can be easily washed with the current toilet cleaning brush to remove any waste which splashes up to the toilet splash guard  160 . Over time, the toilet splash guard  160  may be replaced easily by replacing the removable plastic toilet bowl  102  or replacing the splash guard  160  directly. The splash guard  160  is designed for ease of assembly and removal to the top of the toilet bowl  102 . According to an embodiment, the flexible planar shield of the splash guard  160  may be customizable to meet the particular shroud opening. This may be done with specific tooling or trim tooling at the time of manufacture, or by producing templates for trimming in the field. 
     The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description of the invention but by the following claims, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the invention. 
     The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. For the sake of brevity, conventional electronics, control systems, software development and other functional aspects of the systems (and components of the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail. 
     The steps of all methods described herein are performable in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. No item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as “essential” or “critical”. It will also be recognized that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” and “having,” as used herein, are specifically intended to be read as open-ended terms of art. The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, it should be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms, which are only used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein.