US20060107449A1

US20060107449A1 - Fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer

Info

Publication number: US20060107449A1
Application number: US10/994,481
Authority: US
Inventors: Chih-Ming Lan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-11-23
Filing date: 2004-11-23
Publication date: 2006-05-25

Abstract

The present invention provides a fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer, which primarily users a small venting facility to suck in toilet odor, with various methods applied at a suction side of the small venting facility; with a pipe connecting a discharge side of the small venting facility with a mini-bubble generator below the liquid level of a water tank, odor will become mini odor bubbles; and with tank water absorbing primary ingredients of odor in the mini odor bubbles, toilet odor can be removed quickly and in an environmentally benign way, without using aromatics or deodorant.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer, and more particularly to a deodorizer which primarily uses a small venting facility to suck in toilet odor, with various methods applied at a suction side of the small venting facility, and with a pipe connecting a discharge side of the small venting facility with a mini-bubble generator below the liquid level of a water tank. When the small venting facility starts up, the odor sucked in will be transformed into mini bubbles via the mini-bubble generator, followed by the tank water to absorb primary ingredients of odor in the mini bubbles, so that the toilet odor can be quickly removed, and the tank water that absorbs the primary ingredients of odor will no longer form odor, due to the extremely low concentration of odor ingredients, and thus can be reused to flush the toilet, thereby quickly removing the toilet odor in an environmentally benign fashion, without using aromatics or deodorant.
b) Description of the Prior Art
In daily life, general public shares the same experience in using a toilet where odor generated from fart or excreta 1 will be spreading in an entire bathroom (as shown in FIG. 1), thereby causing uncomfortable feeling to the next user when he or she smells the odor upon entering the bathroom. Conventional approach to remove the odor generated from a bathroom toilet includes:
(1) dropping deodorant liquid into a toilet bowl 5;
(2) spraying vaporous deodorant; and
(3) using aromatics.
For the aforementioned approach (1), it primarily uses the features of low density and insolvability of deodorant liquid to isolate excreta with air, thereby preventing odor from spreading. However, for fart and uncovered excreta 1, it cannot prevent odor 2 from spreading. As for spraying vaporous deodorant, due to that the liquid sprayed contains organic solvent, it is not environmentally benign to mankind and environment.
In addition, the odor generated from using a toilet can be processed with a small venting facility 6 to suck in odor 2. This kind of method has been granted US patents, including:
(1) suction with overflow pipe (U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,634); and
(2) suction with porous ventilation exhaust line below a toilet seat (U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,040, U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,319).
For the aforementioned method of using a small venting facility 6 to suck in odor 2, aromatics or deodorant is used as a toilet deodorizer 3, at a rear part of discharge side of the small venting facility. However, for aromatics and liquid deodorant, there exists problems with high price, as well as organic solvent and allergy to scent, whereas for solid deodorant (e.g., activated carbon), problems exist in high price, unknown saturation condition of adsorption, and being inconvenient to use.
Accordingly, the present invention primarily uses tank water 4 as a deodorant, which has low price, low cost of operation, easiness of operation, and is without problem with organic solvent. Moreover, when toilet bowl 5 is flushed with the tank water 4 that absorbs primary ingredients of odor, it will be replenished with fresh water automatically. In addition, absorbent is always below the saturation point, therefore, there is no problem with frequent replacement of solid deodorant, thereby facilitating the convenience of usage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer, which primarily users a small venting facility 6 to suck in toilet odor 2, with various methods (e.g., overflow pipe 8, porous ventilation exhaust line 10 below a toilet seat 9) applied at a suction side of the small venting facility, and with a pipe 7 connecting a discharge side of the small venting facility with a mini-bubble generator 11 below the liquid level of a water tank 14. When the small venting facility 6 starts up, the odor 2 sucked in will be transformed into mini bubbles 12 via the mini-bubble generator 11, followed by the tank water 4 to absorb primary ingredients of odor in the mini bubbles 12, so that the toiled odor can be quickly removed, and the tank water 4 that absorbs the ingredients of odor will no longer form odor, due to the extremely low concentration of the ingredients of odor, and thus can be reused to flush the toilet, thereby quickly removing the toilet odor in an environmentally benign fashion, without using aromatics or deodorant.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of spreading toilet odor caused by a conventional venting facility.
FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of deodorizing process using porous ventilation exhaust line below a toilet seat, and a small venting facility located outside a water tank, of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of deodorizing process using porous ventilation exhaust line below a toilet seat, and a small venting facility located inside a water tank, of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of deodorizing process using an overflow pipe, and a small venting facility located inside a water tank, of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention primarily uses tank water 4 as a toilet deodorant to remove toilet odor, resulting from the high solubility of primary ingredients H₂S, NH₃, etc. of odor 2, generated from fart or excreta 1 in using a bathroom.
Referring to FIG. 2 (arrows indicating the flow path of odor), when a small venting facility starts up without flushing a toilet, toilet odor 2 will be sucked in via a porous ventilation exhaust line 10 below a toilet seat 9, to prevent odor from spreading. After expelled through the small venting facility 6, odor 2 will pass through a pipe 7, then a check device 13 (such as a check valve that can prevent tank water 4 from flowing back to the small venting facility), and finally enter a mini-bubble generator 11 (e.g., air stone, etc.) below liquid level of a water tank 14. Through the mini-bubble generator 11, odor 2 will become mini odor bubbles 12. Due to the small volume and high solubility of the ingredients of odor in these mini odor bubbles 12, the mass transfer rate of the ingredients of odor relative to the tank water 4 will be increased, so that the smell of odor 2 can be quickly removed. On the other hand, gas deodorized via the tank water 4 will first enter the top part of water tank 14, then be expelled out of the water tank 14 via a hole or gap 16 between the water tank 14 and a tank lid 15. Moreover, as the concentration of ingredients of odor of the tank water 4 that absorbs the ingredients of odor is extremely low, smell of odor will no longer be formed; therefore the tank water 4 can be reused to flush a toilet bowl 5.
Accordingly, upon flushing a toilet, odor 2 can be sucked in with or without activating a small venting facility. The operation will be the same as normal toilet flushing when not activating the small venting facility 6, whereas, upon activating the small venting facility 6, as tank water 4 flushed into a toilet bowl 5 contains mini bubbles 17, the perturbation of flushing bowl wall 18 with the tank water 4 can be increased, thereby enhancing the effect of flushing.
Accordingly, after flushing a toilet, a water tank can be replenished with or without activating a small venting facility 6. The operation will be the same as normal replenish of water tank when not activating the small venting facility, whereas, upon activating the small venting facility 6, not only a small amount of smell of residual odor 2 in the toilet can be continuously removed, but also the mini-bubble generator 11 can be automatically cleaned up.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3 (arrows indicating the flow path of odor), a small venting facility 6 can be located outside and inside a water tank 14.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4 (arrows indicating the flow path of odor), when using an overflow pipe 8 to suck in toilet odor, a small venting facility can also be located inside a water tank.
Accordingly, when using tank water 4, the problem with processing toilet odor 2 and flushing excreta 1 in a toilet bowl 5 can be solved, entirely without aromatics or deodorant, to remove toilet odor quickly and in an environmentally benign fashion.
To emphasize the advancement and practicability of the present invention, a comparison with a conventional implementation is provided as follow:
Shortcomings of a conventional implementation
The use of deodorizing liquid has no deodorizing capability for uncovered excreta and fart.
The use of vaporous deodorant is not environmentally benign, because some deodorant contains solvent.
The price of aromatics and liquid deodorant is high, and there exists problem with organic solvent and allergy to scent.
Solid deodorant (e.g., activated carbon) is expensive, and the saturation condition of adsorption is unknown, thereby causing inconvenience of usage.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

There is no problem with organic solvent.
It is more convenient to use.
There is no secondary contamination.
The cost of deodorizing is cheap.
There is no problem with allergy to scent.
The efficiency and speed of deodorizing is high.
It has advancement.
It has practicability.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer comprising a small venting facility to suck in toilet odor with various methods applied at a suction side of the small venting facility, and with a pipe connecting a discharge side of the small venting facility with a mini-bubble generator below the liquid level of a water tank.

2. The fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer according to claim 1, wherein a check device can be installed on a pipe between a discharge side of the small venting facility and the mini-bubble generator.

3. The fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer according to claim 1, wherein various methods including a conventional technique (e.g., porous ventilation exhaust line installed below a toilet seat, or using an overflow pipe for sucking) or new technique in which a small venting facility is used to suck in toilet odor, can be applied at a suction side of the small venting facility to suck in toilet odor.

4. The fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer according to claim 1, wherein the mini-bubble generator can be an air stone. The fast environmentally benign toilet deodorizer according to claim 1, wherein the small venting facility can be installed inside or outside the water tank.