Gravity filter designs configured for increased residence time

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10167204-B2
Application number	US-201615047455-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2016
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of water filters comprise a filter housing configured to be disposed in a pour tray of a water filter pitcher, wherein a filter media cartridge is disposed inside the filter housing. The filter housing includes a housing floor, housing sidewalls extending upwardly, away from the housing floor, and at least one filter housing outlet disposed in one or more of the housing floor or the housing sidewalls. The filter media cartridge includes filter media, where the filter media cartridge comprises a cartridge floor spaced above the housing floor, cartridge sidewalls extending upwardly, away from the cartridge floor, and at least one filter media cartridge outlet disposed along one or more of the cartridge floor or the cartridge sidewalls. The water filter pitcher further includes a riser extending upwardly, away from the housing floor, and spaced between the housing sidewalls and the cartridge sidewalls, where the riser extends a distance above the cartridge floor. The riser forms a conduit volume.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A water filter pitcher assembly comprising:
a pitcher body comprising a pitcher floor and a pitcher sidewall extending from the pitcher floor; and
a pour tray coupled to the pitcher body, the pour tray comprising:
a pour tray floor;
a pour tray sidewall extending upward from the pour tray floor; and
a filter housing extending below the pour tray floor, the filter housing comprising a housing floor, a housing sidewall extending between the housing floor and the pour tray floor, and at least one filter housing outlet disposed along one of more of the housing floor and the housing sidewall;

a filter media cartridge disposed inside the filter housing comprising filter media, wherein the filter media cartridge further comprises a cartridge floor spaced above the housing floor, a cartridge sidewall extending away from the cartridge floor, and at least one filter media cartridge outlet disposed along one or more of the cartridge floor and the cartridge sidewall; and
a riser spaced between the housing sidewall and the cartridge sidewall and extending vertically above the cartridge floor, and wherein the riser forms a conduit volume that surrounds a bottom portion of said cartridge sidewall.

2. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a water outlet flowpath defined from the filter media cartridge outlet to the filter housing outlet, and configured such that the water exiting the filter media cartridge must exit via the at least one filter media cartridge outlet into the conduit volume and then pass over the riser before exiting the filter housing via the at least one filter housing outlet.

3. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least some water remains in contact with the filter media after water is introduced to the pitcher body.

4. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein a vertical distance from the pitcher floor to the at least one filter housing outlet is less than about 50% of a vertical distance that the pitcher sidewall extends from the pitcher floor.

5. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the riser extends from the housing floor.

6. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the riser extends from the cartridge floor.

7. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 6 , wherein the riser is attached to the cartridge sidewall by at least one rib.

8. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a diffusion tray located below the at least one filter housing outlet, the diffusion tray comprising a diffusion tray floor comprising a plurality of depressions that form an undulating surface, and a plurality of weep holes passing through the diffusion tray floor at locations corresponding to at least one of the depressions, wherein the diffusion tray is configured such that water exiting from the at least one filter housing outlet is directed to the depressions and passes through the plurality of weep holes.

9. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a cavity disposed between the housing sidewall and the cartridge sidewall, wherein the cavity is configured to be in fluid communication with the conduit volume.

10. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the filter media further comprises a nonwoven filter media adjacent to the cartridge floor and loose fill filtration media adjacent to the nonwoven filter media and the cartridge sidewall.

11. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the filter media cartridge is coupled to the filter housing to form a water-right seal between the pour tray and the filter media cartridge, and is configured such that water introduced to the pour tray exits through the at least one filter media cartridge outlet.

12. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the filter media cartridge further comprises a retention lip that extends in a radial direction outward from the cartridge sidewall.

13. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 12 , wherein the retention lip is operable to interlock with the pour tray.

14. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 12 , wherein the filter media cartridge further comprises at least one key operable to engage at least one keyway of the pour tray.

15. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 14 , wherein the filter media cartridge is rotatable within the filter housing and is configured such that when the at least one key engages the at least one keyway and the filter media cartridge forms a water-tight seal with the pour tray, that water introduced to the pour tray exits through the at least one filter media cartridge outlet.

16. The water filter pitcher assembly of claim 1 , wherein the filter media cartridge contains granular activated carbon.

Assignees

• Helen Of Troy Ltd

Inventors

• Utsch Douglas Robert
• Breidenbach Vince

Classifications

• B01D27/02

  with cartridges made from a mass of loose {granular or fibrous} material · CPC title

• C02F1/283

  using coal, charred products, or inorganic mixtures containing them · CPC title

• C02F2307/04

  as part of a pitcher or jug · CPC title

• B01D27/14

  having more than one filtering element · CPC title

• C02F1/003 Primary

  using household-type filters for producing potable water, e.g. pitchers, bottles, faucet mounted devices (C02F9/20 takes precedence) · CPC title