Waterway switching mechanism and method for switching the waterway switching mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11433406-B2
Application number	US-202016870854-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2020
Priority date	May 8, 2019
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a waterway switching mechanism comprising a mounting portion, a water dividing plate, and a driving mechanism. The mounting portion comprises at least one water dividing passage, and the water dividing plate cooperates with the at least one water dividing passage to switch a waterway through rotation of the water dividing plate. A third upper guiding surface of the movable block contacts and couples to a first inner guiding surface of the water dividing plate to enable the movable block to move to drive the water dividing plate to rotate in a first direction. The movable block cooperates with a fixing guiding surface of an upper matching portion of the mounting portion to enable the push rod to move to drive the movable block and the water dividing plate to rotate in the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A waterway switching mechanism, comprising:
a mounting portion,
a water dividing plate, and
a driving mechanism, wherein:
the mounting portion comprises at least one water dividing passage,
the water dividing plate is disposed in the mounting portion and cooperates with the at least one water dividing passage to switch a waterway through rotation of the water dividing plate,
the mounting portion further comprises an upper matching portion and a lower matching portion,
the upper matching portion comprises a fixing guiding surface,
the water dividing plate comprises a first through passage,
the first through passage comprises a first inner guiding surface,
the driving mechanism comprises a push rod, a movable block, and an elastic body,
the push rod is slidably connected to the lower matching portion,
the push rod comprises a first upper guiding surface,
the movable block comprises a lower guiding surface and a third upper guiding surface,
the elastic body is connected to the driving mechanism and the mounting portion to drive the driving mechanism to be reset,
the first upper guiding surface of the push rod contacts and couples to the lower guiding surface of the movable block to enable the push rod to move to drive the movable block to move,
the third upper guiding surface of the movable block contacts and couples to the first inner guiding surface of the water dividing plate to enable the movable block to move to drive the water dividing plate to rotate in a first direction, and
the movable block cooperates with the fixing guiding surface of the upper matching portion to enable the push rod to move to drive the movable block and the water dividing plate to rotate in the first direction.

2. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein:
the movable block further comprises a fourth upper guiding surface,
a guiding direction of the third upper guiding surface is opposite to a guiding direction of the fourth upper guiding surface, and
the fourth upper guiding surface cooperates with the fixing guiding surface.

3. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein:
the push rod further comprises a second upper guiding surface, and
a guiding direction of the first upper guiding surface is opposite to a guiding direction of the second upper guiding surface.

4. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 3 , wherein:
the mounting portion further comprises a water dividing chamber,
the lower matching portion comprises a second through passage connected to the water dividing chamber, and
the push rod is slidably connected to the second through passage.

5. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 4 , wherein:
an inner wall of the second through passage comprises a guide groove extending inward,
an outer periphery of the push rod comprises a guide protrusion extending outward,
the guide protrusion couples to the guide groove to enable the push rod to be slidably connected to the second through passage,
the inner wall of the second through passage further comprises one or more first inner convex portions extending outward,
top portions of the one or more first inner convex portions comprise a second inner guiding surface,
the outer periphery of the push rod further comprises a first outer convex portion,
the first outer convex portion is disposed between two adjacent first inner convex portions of the one or more first inner convex portions, and
the first outer convex portion comprises the first upper guiding surface and the second upper guiding surface.

6. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 2 , wherein:
the movable block further comprises a body and a second outer convex portion extending outward from the body,
an upper portion of the second outer convex portion comprises a convex structure,
a top portion of the second outer convex portion comprises the third upper guiding surface and the fourth upper guiding surface, and
a bottom surface of the second outer convex portion comprises the lower guiding surface.

7. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 6 , wherein:
the upper matching portion further comprises a limiting portion, and
the second outer convex portion abuts the limiting portion to achieve positioning.

8. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 7 , wherein:
the upper matching portion further comprises a plurality of matching protrusions annularly arranged,
each of the plurality of matching protrusions comprises two side walls oppositely disposed,
a first side wall of the two side walls comprises the fixing guiding surface, and
a second side wall of the two side walls comprises the limiting portion.

9. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein:
the push rod further comprises a rotation limiting groove,
the movable block further comprises a rotation limiting protrusion,
the rotation limiting protrusion cooperates with the rotation limiting groove to prevent the movable block from rotating in a second direction, and
the second direction is opposite to the first direction.

10. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 9 , wherein the rotation limiting protrusion is disposed on the lower guiding surface of the movable block.

11. The waterway switching mechanism according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a central shaft, wherein:
an upper end of the central shaft is fixedly connected to the upper matching portion,
the push rod is slidably connected to the central shaft,
the movable block is rotatably and slidably connected to the central shaft, and
the elastic body surrounds the central shaft and is disposed between the upper matching portion and the movable block.

Assignees

• Xiamen Solex High Tech Ind Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lin Fengde
• Chen Wenxing
• Chen Donghai
• Cao Bin

Classifications

• B05B1/1636

  by relative rotative movement of the valve elements (B05B1/1672 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B05B12/002

  Manually-actuated controlling means, e.g. push buttons, levers or triggers (for single units B05B11/00) · CPC title

• B05B1/1663

  by relative translatory movement of the valve elements (B05B1/1672 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B05B1/3086

  the controlling element being a grooved body, which is movable in the outlet orifice · CPC title

• B05B1/1654

  about an axis parallel to the liquid passage in the stationary valve element · CPC title