WO2001028398A1 - Device for treating excrement without evacuating effluents or using running water - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a device for treating excrement using a leakproof pit (1) with constant liquid (9) level (40) communicating with the hole (5) of the perforated plank (6) in a water closet (27) through a vertical tube (4), whereof the base (8) is immersed in the liquid (9), and wherein the odours are blocked by a liquid-tight sealing joint, the excess liquid being transferred into an evaporating container (32) where it is periodically evaporated and evacuated into the atmosphere through a vent (39), the solid excrement being stored by decantation at the bottom of the leakproof pit (1).

Description

Device for treating faeces without discharging effluents and not using running water.

The invention relates to a device for treating faeces without discharging effluents and not using running water.

A device is known for collecting faeces consisting of solid matter and urine which consists in placing, under a board pierced with latrine, a grid inclined at about forty five degrees, this inclined grid is integrated in a pit capable of s' open wide on the side to facilitate unloading, the faeces fall directly on this inclined grid, the solids remain on the inclined grid, while the urine infiltrates below and falls into an evaporation pan integrated in the base from the pit; this evaporation pan has electrical resistances immersed in the urine which, when heated, cause rapid evaporation, especially of the water contained, the solids dry and slide on the grid to finally accumulate at the base of the container against the lateral opening; the only effluents released on site are gaseous, while periodically the solid materials are evacuated by mechanical means, then transported to suitable places This type of equipment is, for example, used in places of reception located in the mountains such as restaurants located at the top of the ski lifts or cable cars that operate] our and are deserted at night and which are connected to the electricity distribution network, the evaporation phase is generally done at night so that the vapors released do not not bother residents. Odors are nevertheless released] for both urine and solids placed on the inclined grid and they tend to escape through the opening of the pierced board and to spread in WC cabins; one way of avoiding this consists in permanently sucking the air contained in the container and which is replaced by odorless air coming from the WC cabin passing through the pierced board the air charged with bad odors thus collected is evacuated to the outside by a hose opening at a sufficient height

The disadvantage of such a system lies in the fact that there is always around the establishment the latent presence of bad odors which are difficult to eliminate because they are inexorably brought back either by a downdraft or by the absence of wind If there are several perforated planks that are assigned to the same pit, it is impossible to control the distribution of the suction air flows and it is inevitable that some cabins will be invaded by bad odors

The object of the invention is to seek to suppress these bad smells as well as possible outside the periods of evaporation of the urine.

It is a device for treating faeces using a watertight pit with a constant level of liquid communicating with the hole in the board pierced by a WC cabin by a vertical tube whose base is immersed in the liquid and at inside of which odors are blocked by a liquid seal, the excess liquid being transferred into an evaporation container where it is periodically evaporated and evacuated to the open air by a chimney, the solid materials being stored by decantation at the bottom of the sealed pit In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows an exploded perspective view of the entire device object of the invention

FIG. 2 represents an exploded perspective view of the cleaning grid, with its operating device, in its retraction housing FIG. 3 represents an elevation view of the cleaning grid, with its operating device, in the retracted position

FIG. 4 represents an elevation view of the cleaning grid, with its operating device, at the end of the scanning cycle

The invention consists in using at least one

WC 27 (fig 1) associated with a watertight pit 1 initially full of water, the constant level of which is determined by the overflow 2 of an overflow this watertight pit 1 has a watertight and gas tight cover 3, crossed by at less a vertical tube 4 of large section preferably substantially greater than that of the hole 5 of a pierced board 6 under which it opens at its upper end 7, while the lower end 8 plunges into the water which will become d 'use a mixture of urine and water constituting the primary liquid to evaporate 9 of the sealed pit 1, in the description which follows the term "pierced board" covers all the pierced seats capable of being used, as non-limiting example, the sealed tank can be obtained from a septic tank from which the partitions have been removed and in particular from a polyethylene septic tank, the connection of the vertical tube 4 and the sealed cover 3 is waterproof liquids as with gases, the tightness of the connection of the vertical tube 4 and the tight cover 3 can be obtained by means of flanges tightened by bolts enclosing a joint, the surface portion of the liquid to evaporate primary 9 filling the sealed pit 1, located inside the vertical tube and located vertical to the hole 5, is covered with a thick layer of a sealing liquid with a density lower than that of the water constituting a liquid seal 10 this sealant can be, for example, paraffin oil. Urine and solids pass through the liquid seal 10 while the toilet paper tends to float on it. last to force the passage of the toilet paper through the liquid seal 10, a cleaning means is used, initially located in a retraction housing 12 integrated in the wall of the vertical tube 4, which drives the toilet paper through the liquid seal 10 on which it floats. For example, a cleaning means consists of a cleaning grid 11 (fig 2,3) initially placed vertically in the retraction housing 12 e t above the liquid seal 10, the cleaning grid 11 can pivot about a horizontal tilting axis 13 itself secured to at least one guide carriage 14 moving vertically along at least one guide column 15 located in the retraction housing 12, the horizontal tilting axis 13 is located at the level of the lower base 22 of the grid cleaning 11, to which it is connected by a link arm

24 and in a position offset relative to the latter situated substantially halfway between the cleaning grid 11 and the bottom 23 of the retraction housing 12, the link arm 24 is extended, on the side of the bottom of the housing retraction 12, by a cam 25 pressing on a cam path 21, when the cleaning grid 11 is in the vertical position, the carriage 14 is in abutment on the upper end of the guide column 15 and the cam 25 is resting on the cam track 21; the assembly is operated by a device consisting, for example, of an electric geared group 16 controlled electronically and mounted on a fixed horizontal axis 17, parallel to the horizontal tilting axis 13, actuating a screw without end 18 acting on a nut 19 secured to the cleaning grid 11 by means of a horizontal alignment axis 20 placed between the cleaning grid 11 and the horizontal tilting axis 13 and secured to the link arm 24, initially the worm 18 keeps the cam 25 supported on the cam track 21 by means of the nut 19 and the carriage 13 which is supported on the upper end of the guide column 15 when it is rotated the worm screw 18 in a suitable direction the nut 19 descends along the worm screw 18, the cleaning grid 11 tilts initially thanks to the cam 25 sliding along the cam path 21, when the grid cleaning 11 (fig 4) is in horizontal position above the level of the liquid seal 10 on which the toilet paper floats the cam 25 takes a vertical position, the carriage 14 slides towards the arm driving the cleaning grid 11 and the toilet paper through the seal sealing liquid 10, when the carriage 14 reaches the end of the stroke, the direction of rotation of the geared motor group 16 is reversed by the action of an end of stroke detector device to return the assembly to the initial position, all of these movements constitute a scanning cycle, if one can be satisfied with a thin liquid seal, another cleaning means uses the fixed axis 13 and, for example, the same operating device II it is desirable to start the scanning cycle only when it is certain that it there is no one in the toilet cubicle to prevent the cleaning grid 11 from receiving faeces on its upper part which would contaminate the retraction housing 12 and cause the emission of bad odors. can place a means of detecting the presence of a person in the WC cabin 27, closed by a door 28, which can be, for example, a motion detector radar 26 when the radar 26 (fig.l) finds that the WC cubicle 27 is empty, it is checked that the door 28 is properly closed by an automatic reclosing means such as, for example, a spring device 29 hydraulically damped, by means of a reclosing detection means such as, for example, a proximity magnetic contact 30, then the door is temporarily condemned by means of a closing means such as an electromagnetic lock 31 and the scanning cycle is started, when the scanning cycle is finished, the door 28 is unlocked and the WC cabin 27 can be used again, the device can be supplemented by putting an alarm indicating that the cleaning cycle could not be carried out as planned because, for example, the door 28 remained locked in the open position

We do not detail the electromechanical and electronic means to trigger each scan cycle because they are perfectly known After passing through the liquid seal 10, the urine mixes with water to form the primary liquid to evaporate 9, while the solid materials tend to gradually accumulate at the bottom of the sealed pit 1 and to gradually decompose therein, the increase in volume of the contents of the sealed pit results in the overflow of an equivalent amount of a mixture of water and urine passing through the overflow 2 of the overflow to reach, via a liquid transfer means which may consist of a pipe 33, an evaporation container 32 equipped with a means for evaporating the liquid to be evaporated decanted 35 and with a means for evacuating, in the open air, the vapors produced, for example, by a chimney 39, the piping 33 opens out from pr ference above the level 38 of liquid to be evaporated decanted 35 to the permanent communication chimney 39 with the free gas volume 41, otherwise it is necessary to establish a ventilation pipe 48 directly connecting the chimney 39 to the free gas volume 41. As an example, the bottom of the evaporation container 32 includes electrical resistances 34 immersed in the decanted liquid to be evaporated 35 and controlled by an electronic or electromechanical clock which starts evaporation cycles at times programmed in advance, the walls of the evaporation container 32 further comprise means of control level of the liquid to be evaporated, it comprises on the one hand, a minimum level detector 36 which authorizes the putting into service of the evaporation device if the level 38 of liquid to be evaporated decanted 35 in the evaporate ion container 32 is above the minimum level and which prohibits or stops it if the level is less than or equal to the minimum level and at least one maximum level detector 37 which triggers , for example, an alarm or that opens an overflow or initiates an evaporation cycle outside of the programmed hours, the vapors produced are evacuated by the chimney 39 evacuating the vapors for example, by natural convection In an improvement of the invention the evaporation device can also comprise a mechanical device for sweeping by air, coming from the outside of the container and possibly heating, of the surface of liquid to be evaporated decanted 35 in the evaporation container 32 to increase at best the difference between the saturated vapor pressure and the vapor pressure at the level of the liquid to be evaporated decanted 35, the mixture of purge air and vapor is evacuated by the chimney 39 of evacuation of vapors

The primary liquid to be evaporated 9 from the sealed pit 1 has, above the level 40 of its free surface, a free gas volume 41 in which the odors coming from the primary liquid to be evaporated 9 are released, as well as the gases coming from anaerobic fermentations of the materials solids produced in the sealed pit 1 and which are generally essentially composed of methane The free gas volume 41 of the sealed pit 1 communicates with the evaporation container 32, for example, by the piping 33 and therefore with the evacuation stack 39 vapors so being able to evacuate gas emissions during the day if the environmental situation allows it, in a variant of the invention, the chimney 39 for evacuating vapors comprises, in the vicinity of its outlet, a sealed closure means, so to be able to contain the gases emitted during the day and which can be a ball valve 44 which can be όelectro-controlled, the evaporation container 32 must necessarily include a means of rebalancing the internal pressure with respect to atmospheric pressure to avoid collapsing sounds or the aspiration of air by the vertical tube 4 if it does not dive deep enough into the liquid to evaporate primary 9 of the sealed pit 1, which would cause the liquid from the liquid seal to pass outside of the vertical tube 4, then via the overflow weir 2 and the piping 33 in the evaporation container 32, a means of rebalancing the pressures to avoid collapsing e may consist of a safety valve 45 provided with a calibrated spring opening as soon as the vacuum reaches a value provided in advance When the liquid to evaporate decant 35 is at minimum level in the evaporation container 32 to at the end of an evaporation cycle there is a high concentration of mineral salts which tend to crystallize and hinder heat exchange it is preferable to transfer by a recycling device consists of a pump 46 and piping drain 47 the decanted liquid to be evaporated 35 remaining in the evaporation container and to reintroduce it into the sealed pit 1 preferably at a vertical tube 4, this liquid then mixes with the liquid to be evaporated primary 9 of the pit watertight 1 and any crystals in suspension are deposited in the watertight pit 1 with the solid materials, while the weir 2 sends an equivalent quantity of liquid to be evaporated decant é 35 which is then less concentrated, if there are several vertical tubes 4 communicating with the same watertight pit 1, it is preferable to establish communication pipes between the various vertical tubes at the level of the liquid seals 10 to allow balancing the thicknesses of sealing liquid between the liquid seals 10 When the chimney 39 for discharging the vapors is closed, the gases being unable to be evacuated, their pressure rises in the volume constituted by the free gas volume 41 and by the volume of the evaporation container 32 which is not occupied by the decanted liquid to be evaporated 35, this results in a rise in the primary liquid to be evaporated 9 in the vertical tube 4, by a height allowing the gas pressure to be balanced, accompanied by a lowering of the level of the primary liquid to evaporate 9 in the watertight tank 1, when the night comes, the chimney 39 for discharging the vapors is opened and the gases stored during the day are evacuated while the level of liquid to be evaporated primary 9 of the watertight pit 1 rebalances in possibly pouring an overflow of decanted evaporating liquid 35 corresponding to the liquid to evaporate primary 9 stored in the vertical tube 4, the stroke of the cleaning grid 11 (fig 3,4) as described e with a translation phase, must take into account the level variations allowed in the vertical tube 4 (fig 1), it is nevertheless essential to provide a maximum level detector in a vertical tube 4 capable of temporarily opening the chimney 39 d evacuation of vapors if the release of gas is too great to reduce the pressure to atmospheric pressure In a variant of 1 invention, the vertical tube 4 has at its base a means of deflection of gases making it possible to minimize the release of gases coming from the bottom of the watertight pit 1 capable of penetrating therein and passing through the liquid seal 10 to spread in the WC cabin 27, by way of example, this means of deflection consists of a simple reduction of section of the vertical tube ending in its lower part, by a truncated cone 42 whose point is turned downwards and which leaves only a small passage section for the ga z, this narrowing can also be supplemented or replaced by a submerged planar deflector which deflects the gases which rise up to the right of the vertical tube 4 towards the free gas volume 41 The overflow weir 2 preferably comprises a filtering means to avoid to have solid elements of small particle size capable of entering the evaporation container 32 collecting the decanted liquid to be evaporated 35, this filtering means may consist of a filtering device 43 comprising a grid with relatively large passage holes doubled by a relatively fine filter, this filtering device surrounds the weir 2 and exceeds the level 40 of the liquid to be evaporated primary 9 and sinks relatively deep into the sealed pit 1 to present a sufficiently large filtration surface to prevent clogging. In an improvement of the invention, sealing liquid previously filtered is sprayed on the walls of the vertical tubes 4 and of the retraction housing to prevent the adhesion of solid materials or paper to the walls. sealing liquids under pressure, a device for operating the cleaning means may consist of a double-acting cylinder.

During the use of the watertight pit 1, the concentration of urine in the water increases to become preponderant without this disturbing the functioning of the whole device. The solid materials are deposited in the bottom of the watertight pit under form of sludge that must be pumped periodically, pumping can be done by passing a pipe through the vertical tube 4, having possibly taken care to recover the sealing liquid forming the liquid sealing joint beforehand, it is then necessary to fill the watertight pit with 1 water and remake the oil seal

Claims

1-Dιsposιtιf treatment of faeces from a toilet cabin (27) equipped with a pierced board (6) with a hole (5), not producing liquid effluents capable of spilling outside said device treatment of faeces, the liquid effluent being eliminated by controlled evaporation using electrical resistances, the solid material being stored and periodically eliminated by mechanical means, while the odors emitted by the liquid are retained by a liquid seal , of lower density than that of water to float on its surface, characterized in that the hole (5) is connected, by a vertical tube (4) comprising a cleaning means to a sealed pit (1) filled with '' a liquid to be evaporated primary (9) whose level (40) of the free surface delimits a free volume (41) in which plunges the lower end (8) of the tube (4) and inside which floats a sealliquid sealing (10) said watertight pit (1) used for the storage of solid materials while the excess liquid to be evaporated primary (9) passes through filtering means to give a liquid to be decanted to evaporate (35) for go by means of transfer, in an evaporation container (32) comprising means for evacuating into the open air the vapors produced and the gases released in the free gas volume (41) 2-Dιsposιtιf treatment of faeces from a WC cabin (27) equipped with a pierced board (6) with a hole (5), not producing liquid effluents capable of spilling outside said device treatment of faeces, the liquid effluent being eliminated by controlled evaporation, the solid material being stored and periodically eliminated by mechanical means, while the odors emitted by the liquid are retained by a liquid seal of lower density as that of 1 water to float on its surface characterized in that the hole (5) is connected, by a vertical tube (4) comprising a cleaning means, to a sealed pit (1) filled with a liquid to be evaporated primary ( 9) whose level (40) of the free surface delimits a free volume (41) in which plunges the lower end (8) of the tube (4) inside which floats a liquid seal (10), said sealed pit (1) serving for the storage of solid materials, while the excess liquid to evaporate primary (9) passes through filtering means to give a decanted liquid to evaporate (35) to go, by means of transfer, in an evaporation container (32) comprising evacuation means, to free air, vapors produced and gases released in the free gas volume (41) as well as a recycling device consisting of a pump (46) and a drain pipe (47), the liquid to be evaporated decanted (35) remaining in the evaporation container and reintroducing it into the sealed pit (D 3-Device for treating faeces according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a cleaning means consists of a cleaning grid (11) which pivots around a horizontal tilting axis (13) which is integral with at least one guide carriage (14) which moves vertically along at least one guide column (15), the horizontal tilting axis (13) being connected to the cleaning grid (11 ) by a link arm (24) extended by a cam (25) pressing on a cam track (21), 1 assembly being operated by an electric geared group (16) mounted on a fixed horizontal axis (17 ) parallel to 1 horizontal tilting axis (13) actuating an endless screw (18) acting on a nut (19) integral with the cleaning grid (11) via a horizontal alignment axis (20) secured to the link arm (24) 4-Dιsposιtιf treatment of faeces according to claim 3 characterized in that 1 horizontal tilting axis (13) has a fixed position relative to a retraction housing (12) 5-Dιsposιtιf treatment of faeces according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a filtering means consists of a filtering device (43) comprising a grid with relatively large through holes doubled by a fine filter surrounding the weir (2) and exceeding the level ( 40) liquid to evaporate primary (9) and sinking relatively deep into the watertight pit (1) 6-Dιsposιtιf treatment of fecal matter according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a transfer means consists of a weir (2) overflow connected to a pipe (33) opening into the evaporation container (32 ) 7-Device for treating faeces according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the evaporation container (32) comprises a chimney (39) communicating with the open air, constituting a means of evacuation of the vapors thus produced that gases released in the free gas volume (41) with which it communicates by the piping (33) 8-Dιsposιtιf treatment of faeces according to claim 7, characterized in that the chimney (39) has at its outlet a means of watertight closure which may be a ball valve [44] and a means for rebalancing the pressures which may consist of a safety valve (45) 9-Device for processing faeces according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the vertical tube (4) has at its base a means of deflection of gases consisting of a reduction in section of the vertical tube which ends in its lower part by a truncated cone (42), the point of which would face downwards which can be complete or replaced by a submerged plan deflector 10-Device for treating faeces according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that previously filtered sealing liquid is sprayed onto the walls of the vertical tube (4) and of the retraction housing (12)