Pilot valve switch mechanism and a combined shower applied with the pilot valve switch mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9587383-B2
Application number	US-201414151135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2013
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

A pilot valve switch mechanism and combined shower applied with the pilot valve switch mechanism includes a fixed portion and a valve spool. The fixed portion includes an inlet waterway, a first outlet waterway, a second outlet waterway and a control hole capable to connect to the outlet waterways. The first outlet waterway has a first outlet. The second outlet waterway has a second outlet. The valve spool is slidably assembled inside the fixed portion along the inlet waterway, with a slim hole connected to the inlet waterway. The valve spool and the fixed portion form a pressure cavity, which is connected to the control hole and the slim hole. The control hole controls the water pressure of the pressure cavity to drive the valve spool to close the first or second outlet, connecting the inlet waterway to the first or second outlet waterway. The control hole switches the waterways.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pilot valve switch mechanism, wherein comprising:
a fixed portion, which is disposed with an inlet waterway ( 10 ),
a first outlet waterway ( 20 ),
a second outlet waterway ( 30 ) and
a control hole ( 40 ) capable to connect to the outlet waterways ( 20 , 30 ),
the first outlet waterway ( 20 ) is disposed with a first outlet ( 21 ),
the second outlet waterway ( 30 ) is disposed with a second outlet ( 31 );
a valve spool ( 100 ) is slidably assembled inside the fixed portion along the inlet waterway ( 10 ), the valve spool ( 100 ) is disposed with a slim hole ( 110 ) connected to the inlet waterway ( 10 ),
the valve spool ( 100 ) and the fixed portion form a pressure cavity ( 50 ), and
the control hole ( 40 ) and the slim hole ( 110 ) are connected to the pressure cavity ( 50 );
the slim hole ( 110 ) and the control hole ( 40 ) are coaxially aligned with each other,
wherein, by opening or closing the control hole ( 40 ), a water pressure of the pressure cavity ( 50 ) is controlled to drive the valve spool ( 100 ) to move along the inlet waterway ( 10 ) to alternately close the first outlet ( 21 ) or the second outlet ( 31 ), so that the inlet waterway ( 10 ) is switched to connect to the first outlet waterway ( 20 ) or the second outlet waterway ( 30 ).

2. The pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein
the first outlet ( 21 ) and the second outlet ( 31 ) are spaced up and down along the inlet waterway ( 10 ),
the diameter of the slim hole ( 110 ) is smaller than the diameter of the control hole ( 40 ).

3. The pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein
the valve spool ( 100 ) comprising a spool body ( 120 ) with an internal cavity,
an external periphery of the spool body ( 120 ) is disposed with a first protruding sealing ring ( 121 ) and a second protruding sealing ring ( 122 ) respectively to close the first outlet ( 21 ) and the second outlet ( 31 ),
the external periphery of the spool body ( 120 ) is further disposed with a water hole ( 123 ) between the two protruding sealing rings,
the spool body ( 120 ) is disposed with a baffle ( 124 ) on a side of the water hole ( 123 ) opposing the first protruding sealing ring,
the baffle ( 124 ) divides the internal cavity into an upper cavity ( 125 ) and a lower cavity ( 126 ),
the slim hole ( 110 ) runs through the baffle ( 124 ),
the upper cavity ( 125 ) is connected to the inlet cavity ( 10 ), and
the lower cavity ( 126 ) and the fixed portion form the pressure cavity ( 50 ).

4. The pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 1 , further comprising
a button mechanism assembled to the fixed portion, including
a button ( 310 ),
a pushing rod ( 320 ) connected to drive the button ( 310 ), and
a plug ( 330 ) connected to drive the pushing rod ( 320 ) to open or close the control hole ( 40 ) and a restoring spring ( 340 ).

5. The pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein
the fixed portion comprising a valve housing and a valve body fixed inside the valve housing,
the inlet waterway ( 10 ) and the two outlet waterways are disposed in the valve housing and the first outlet waterway ( 20 ) is disposed at a side portion of the valve housing, and
the second outlet waterway ( 30 ) is parallel to the inlet waterway ( 10 ),
the first outlet ( 21 ) and the second outlet ( 31 ) are disposed at a side portion of the valve body and are respectively corresponding to the first outlet waterway ( 20 ) and the second outlet waterway ( 30 ),
the control hole ( 40 ) is disposed at a bottom of the valve body,
the valve spool ( 100 ) is slidably assembled inside the valve body,
the valve spool and the valve body form the pressure cavity ( 50 ).

6. A combined shower applied with the pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein comprising
a first outlet terminal,
a second outlet terminal and
a pilot valve switch mechanism,
the first outlet terminal and the second outlet terminal are respectively disposed with a corresponding first outlet cavity and a corresponding second outlet cavity,
the pilot valve switch mechanism is applied in the first outlet terminal,
the first outlet waterway and the second outlet waterway are respectively connected to the first outlet cavity and the second outlet cavity.

7. The combined shower with the pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 6 , wherein
the first outlet terminal is a head shower ( 500 ),
the second outlet terminal is a hand shower ( 600 ),
the head shower ( 500 ) comprising a main section ( 510 ) and a supporting section ( 520 ),
the first outlet cavity is disposed in the main section ( 510 ),
the pilot valve switch mechanism is assembled to the main section ( 510 ),
the main section ( 510 ) is connected to the hand shower ( 600 ) by a flexible pipe ( 60 ).

8. The combined shower with the pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 7 , wherein
the hand shower ( 600 ) comprising a body section ( 610 ) and a handle section ( 620 ),
the supporting section ( 520 ) of the head shower ( 500 ) is disposed with a first magnet ( 521 ),
a back side of the body section ( 610 ) is disposed with a second magnet ( 611 ),
with the cooperation of the first magnet ( 521 ) and the second magnet ( 611 ), the hand shower ( 600 ) is detachably assembled to the head shower ( 500 ).

9. The combined shower with the pilot valve switch mechanism according to claim 6 , wherein
the first outlet terminal is a head shower ( 500 ),
the second outlet terminal is a side sprayer ( 700 ),
the head shower ( 500 ) comprising a main section ( 510 ) and a supporting section ( 520 ),
the first outlet cavity is disposed in the main section ( 510 ),
the pilot valve switch mechanism is assembled to the supporting section ( 520 ),
the supporting section ( 520 ) is connected to the side sprayer ( 700 ) by a flexible pipe ( 60 ).

Assignees

• Xiamen Solex High Tech Ind Co Ltd
• Zhou Huasong

Inventors

• Wu Yulin
• Zhang Mingfu
• Qiu Yuehua
• Zhou Huasong

Classifications

• F16K11/0712

  comprising particular spool-valve sealing means · CPC title

• E03C1/0409 Primary

  Shower handles · CPC title

• B05B1/18

  Roses; Shower heads · CPC title

• B05B1/1681 Primary

  with a selecting mechanism comprising a gate valve, sliding valve or cock and a lift valve · CPC title

• B05B1/1663

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