Shower system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12259062-B2
Application number	US-202318473732-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2023
Priority date	Aug 9, 2018
Publication date	Mar 25, 2025
Grant date	Mar 25, 2025

Abstract

A shower system includes a shower waterway and a fluid control valve. The shower waterway is configured to be coupled to a shower device. The fluid control valve is coupled to the shower waterway and comprises a valve body and a piston. The valve body includes a chamber and a reservoir. The piston is slidably coupled to the valve body and fluidly separates the chamber from the reservoir. The chamber includes a compressible gas. The piston is configured to slidably translate within the valve body to compress the compressible gas in response to a water pressure fluctuation in the shower waterway.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A valve damper assembly comprising:
a valve body defining:
an interior cavity including a chamber and a reservoir, the chamber including a compressible gas;
a flange extending radially away from the interior cavity and disposed at an intermediate position between opposing ends of the valve body, the flange configured to engage an external surface of a fluid control valve to position the valve body within a waterway of the fluid control valve; and
a piston disposed within the interior cavity and movable with respect to the valve body, the piston including at least one seal that fluidly separates the chamber from the reservoir, the piston configured to compress the compressible gas in response to a water pressure change in the reservoir.

2. The valve damper assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a vent configured to control an amount of compressible gas in the chamber.

3. The valve damper assembly of claim 2 , wherein the vent includes a vent screw configured to be selectively adjusted to control the amount of compressible gas in the chamber.

4. The valve damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the piston is configured to slidably translate within the valve body based on a water flow rate in a range of about 2 gpm to about 5 gpm.

5. The valve damper assembly of claim 1 , wherein the piston is disposed entirely within the interior cavity when the reservoir is at atmospheric pressure.

6. A valve damper assembly comprising:
a valve body defining:
an interior cavity including a chamber and a reservoir, the chamber including a compressible gas;
a flange extending radially away from the interior cavity, the flange configured to engage an external surface of a fluid control valve to position the valve body within a waterway of the fluid control valve; and
a piston disposed within the interior cavity and movable with respect to the valve body, the piston including at least one seal that fluidly separates the chamber from the reservoir, the piston configured to compress the compressible gas in response to a water pressure change in the reservoir; and

at least one valve body seal engaged with the valve body and configured to sealingly engage the valve body with the fluid control valve, the flange extending radially outwardly from an outer perimeter of the at least one valve body seal.

7. A fluid control valve assembly comprising:
a fluid control valve including:
a water inlet;
a water outlet;
a waterway extending between the water inlet and the water outlet; and
a control valve configured to selectively fluidly couple the water inlet to the water outlet; and

a valve damper assembly including:
a valve body coupled to the fluid control valve and extending into the fluid control valve, the valve body defining a chamber and a reservoir, the valve body including a flange engaging an external surface of the fluid control valve, the flange disposed at an intermediate position between opposing ends of the valve body; and
a piston disposed within the valve body, the piston fluidly separating the chamber from the reservoir, the chamber including a compressible gas, the piston configured to slidably translate within the valve body to compress the compressible gas in response to a water pressure change in the waterway.

8. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the valve damper assembly includes a vent configured to control an amount of compressible gas in the chamber.

9. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 8 , wherein the vent includes a vent screw configured to be selectively adjusted to control the amount of compressible gas in the chamber.

10. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the piston is configured to slidably translate within the valve body based on a water flow rate in a range of about 2 gpm to about 5 gpm.

11. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the reservoir fluidly coupled to the waterway so that water may flow from the waterway into the reservoir to engage the piston.

12. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , further comprising at least one valve body seal engaged with the valve body and configured to sealingly engage the valve body with the fluid control valve, the flange extending radially outwardly from an outer perimeter of the at least one valve body seal.

13. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the water inlet is a cold water inlet, the fluid control valve further including a hot water inlet, the fluid control valve being a mixing valve operable to selectively control amounts of water passing through each of the cold water inlet and the hot water inlet.

14. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the fluid control valve further includes a connector, the valve damper assembly detachably coupled to the fluid control valve at the connector.

15. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , further comprising at least one valve body seal engaged with the valve body and configured to sealingly engage the valve body with the fluid control valve.

16. The fluid control valve assembly of claim 7 , wherein the piston is disposed entirely within the valve body when the reservoir is at atmospheric pressure.

17. A method, comprising:
receiving water from a waterway of a fluid control valve into a reservoir of a valve body of a valve damper assembly that is (i) coupled to the fluid control valve, (ii) extends into the waterway, and (iii) includes a flange engaging an external surface of the fluid control valve, the flange disposed at an intermediate position between opposing ends of the valve body; and
repositioning a piston of the valve damper assembly that is disposed within the valve body from a first position to a second position in response to a water pressure change in the reservoir to compress a compressible gas in the valve body and to increase a size of the reservoir.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising repositioning the piston from the second position to a third position that is entirely within the valve body in response to decreasing water pressure in the reservoir.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein in the first position the reservoir is at atmospheric pressure and the piston is disposed entirely within the valve body.

20. A valve damper assembly comprising:
a valve body defining:
an interior cavity including a chamber and a reservoir, the chamber including a compressible gas;
a flange extending radially away from the interior cavity, the flange configured to engage an external surface of a fluid control valve to position the valve body within a waterway of the fluid control valve; and
a piston disposed within the interior cavity and movable with respect to the valve body, the piston including at least one seal that fluidly separates the chamber from the reservoir, the piston configured to compress the compressible gas in response to a water pressure change in the reservoir, the flange spaced axially away from opposing axial ends of the interior cavity, the flange configured to determine a position of the valve body within the fluid control valve by preventing axial movement of the valve body further into the fluid control valve.

Assignees

• Kohler Co

Inventors

• Cochart Chad J
• Brouwer Douglas J
• Warning Jack Robert

Classifications

• E03C1/021

  Devices for positioning or connecting of water supply lines (connection to the tap body E03C1/0403) · CPC title

• E03C2001/1206

  Pipes with specific features for influencing flow characteristics · CPC title

• E03C1/1222

  Arrangements of devices in domestic waste water pipe-line systems · CPC title

• Y10T137/3118

  Surge suppression · CPC title

• F16L55/043

  specially adapted for protecting instruments from water hammer or vibrations · CPC title