US20030005514A1

US20030005514A1 - Sanitary installation

Info

Publication number: US20030005514A1
Application number: US09/898,712
Authority: US
Inventors: Horst Kunkel
Original assignee: Hansa Metallwerke AG
Current assignee: Hansa Metallwerke AG
Priority date: 2000-07-04
Filing date: 2001-07-05
Publication date: 2003-01-09
Also published as: DE10032462C2; DE10032462A1; EP1170424A2; EP1170424A3

Abstract

A sanitary installation (1) has a sanitary appliance and at least one sensor (12, 13, 14) for at least one operating-condition parameter of the sanitary appliance.

Furthermore, a regulating apparatus (10) is provided for setting at least one operating parameter. An indicating apparatus (3) belonging to the sanitary installation (1) cooperates with the regulating apparatus (10). The indicating apparatus (3) has a television screen (7) and also a control apparatus (8, 30) cooperating with the regulating apparatus (10). The result is a sanitary installation (1) which provides a high degree of comfort.

Description

The invention relates to a sanitary installation having a sanitary appliance, at least one sensor for at least one operating-condition parameter of the sanitary appliance, an indicating apparatus for at least one operating-condition parameter of the sanitary appliance and a regulating apparatus for setting at least one operating parameter of the sanitary appliance, which regulating apparatus cooperates with at least one control apparatus belonging to the sanitary appliance.

From the point of view of the market, sanitary installations of this kind are known, for example, in the form of shower devices in which operating-parameter values are displayed with the aid of LED numerals. As the sensor, these known sanitary installations have, for example, a temperature sensor for the mixed-water temperature. A mixed-water temperature can be preselected via a mechanical or electronic regulating system via a control element, for example a lever. The mixed-water temperature is then indicated using the LED numerals.

Although, as regards sheer serviceability, known sanitary installations of this kind already offer a great deal of comfort, the demand for extra comfort functions, which are intended to impart a luxurious quality to the sanitary installations, is nevertheless increasingly heard in the field of high-class sanitary installations.

The object of the present invention is therefore to further develop a sanitary installation of the initially mentioned kind in such a way that it meets even exacting requirements as regards comfort.

This object is achieved, according to the invention, through the fact that the indicating apparatus has a screen which cooperates with a television set.

The integration, which is effected in this way, of a television into the indicating apparatus represents a variant of the sanitary device, in terms of comfort, which utilises the possibilities of a screen in an elegant manner. Under these circumstances, the control apparatus can be configured in such a way that both the sanitary appliance and the television reception can be controlled simultaneously. An indication of operating-condition parameters can be screened via the television picture, if required, during television reception, as is known practice, for example, in the case of video recorders. At the same time, the screen may additionally facilitate indication, for example through the fact that, when a number of operating-condition parameters are being indicated, the said screen is subdivided into a number of areas for the various operating-condition parameters.

The control apparatus is preferably integrated into the indicating apparatus. Integration of this kind may take place, for example, through the fact that control elements are installed in the frame of the indicating apparatus. Integration facilitates subsequent incorporation of the said components into an already existing sanitary installation.

The control apparatus may be designed as a control panel. In this connection, a “control panel” is understood to mean a group of control elements combined to form an integral unit. A control panel of this kind can be protected against splashes of water in a simple manner.

The control panel may be a touch-screen. In this case, there is no need to seal off individual control elements against splashes of water, since it is sufficient for the touch screen as a whole to be protected against the latter. Furthermore, a touch-screen in conjunction with a large-area screen represents a visually attractive variant of a control panel.

It is particularly favourable if the screen of the indicating apparatus itself is constructed as a touch-screen.

The control apparatus preferably comprises a remote-control device. The operating condition of the sanitary appliance can be conveniently preset by means of a remote-control device before actual use. Furthermore, it is possible to utilise, for example, the television function of the screen in a more flexible manner: If the screen is incorporated, for example, in the wall of a shower cabinet, it can also be viewed and controlled, for example from the bathtub, assuming the spatial configuration of the bathroom is suitable.

The control apparatus may cooperate with a memory for predetermined values for the operating-condition parameters and/or setting parameters for the television set. By means of a memory of this kind, it is possible to store, for example, the preferred parameters for various users in such a way that they can be called up by the particular user via the control apparatus without renewed inputting of the individual parameters. In addition, it is possible to store, in such a memory, predetermined values for the running of operating programmes for the sanitary apparatus, for example, in the case of a shower, a shower programme comprising a number of warm-water, cold-water and massage cycles. Programmes of this kind may be predetermined either at the factory or else by the user via the control apparatus.

The signal connection between the sanitary appliance and the indicating apparatus may comprise a cableless signal path. This facilitates the incorporation of the sanitary device, since no physical connection needs to be provided between the sanitary appliance and the indicating apparatus.

The sanitary appliance of the sanitary installation is preferably a shower apparatus which is integrated into a shower cabinet. This facilitates retrofitting when renovating bathrooms, since the indicating apparatus does not have to be incorporated in a plumbing wall. The indicating apparatus can be integrated into the wall of a preassembled shower cabinet in a simple manner, for example in the form of a flat screen.

An exemplified embodiment of the invention will be explained in greater detail below with the aid of the drawings, in which: [0015]
FIG. 1 shows a shower installation according to the invention; and [0016]
FIG. 2 shows a block wiring diagram of the circuit arrangement of the shower installation from FIG. 1.[0017]
A shower installation which is provided, as a whole, with the reference symbol [0018] 1 in FIG. 1, comprises a shower appliance which is not visible, a hand-held sprinkler 4 fastened to a sprinkler-holder 2 and a television screen apparatus 3. The shower appliance is an electronically regulated appliance, that is to say is not controlled manually but by the transmission of electronic regulating pulses, as will be further described below. The hand-held sprinkler 4 of the shower appliance is mounted adjustably in known manner on the wall 5 of a shower cabinet. The said wall is part of a shower cabinet which is partially represented in FIG. 1. In addition to the hand-held sprinkler 4 shown, other, fixedly installed lateral spray heads may also be provided in the shower cabinet, as is known practice in the case of high-class shower cabinets.
The [0019] screen apparatus 3 is installed in another wall 6 of the shower cabinet in such a way that its surface that points towards the interior of the shower cabinet forms a flat face which is flush with the said wall 6 of the shower cabinet. The walls 5 and 6 of the shower cabinet may be walls of the building or parts of a prefabricated shower cabinet which is to be installed in a bathroom afterwards.
The [0020] screen apparatus 3 comprises a television screen 7. A shower-control panel 8 and an additional control panel 9 are disposed below the latter in such a way that they combine with the said screen 7 to form the screen apparatus 3 as a structural unit.
The shower appliance described merely represents one example of a sanitary appliance. The [0021] screen 7 can also cooperate, in the same way as has been described in connection with the shower appliance, with other sanitary appliances, for example those of a bathtub, a whirlpool or even a washstand, the said screen 7 being incorporated into a plumbing wall at a point which is conveniently accessible to the user.
The interaction of the shower appliance with the [0022] screen arrangement 3 will now be described with the aid of the block wiring diagram of the circuit arrangement in FIG. 2.
The shower installation [0023] 1 comprises a regulating apparatus 10 which sets predetermined operating parameters, for example water temperature, quantity of water or choice of mode of operation of the hand-held sprinkler 4 or additional sprinkler heads, by means of corresponding regulating pulses via a regulating line 11. To that end, the regulating line 11 connects the regulating apparatus 10 to the appliance belonging to the hand-held sprinkler 4 and, if applicable, the other sprinkler heads.
Current operating and environmental data from the shower installation [0024] 1 are passed on to the regulating apparatus 10 by means of sensors 12, 13, 14 which are connected to the said regulating apparatus 10 via signal lines 15, 16, 17. The sensor 12 is a temperature sensor which monitors the current mixed-water temperature, which is fed to the handheld sprinkler 4. The sensor 13 is a flow sensor for the quantity of water fed to the said hand-held sprinkler 4. The sensor 14 measures the temperature of the air surrounding the shower installation 1.
The quantities measured by the [0025] sensors 12 and 13 enter, as actual values, into the calculation of the regulating signals which are passed on to the appliance belonging to the hand-held sprinkler 4 by the regulating apparatus 10. This calculation is performed in a digital processor 18 which is integrated into the regulating apparatus 10.
The desired values which are additionally necessary for calculation purposes and which are to be set with the aid of the regulating [0026] apparatus 10, are fed to the latter, via a signal line 19, by a computer 25 belonging to the screen apparatus 3. The actual values measured by the sensors 12 to 14 are also passed on to the computer 25 via the signal line 19.
Via a transmitting/receiving [0027] apparatus 22 at the screen, to which apparatus it is connected via a signal line 24, the computer 25 is able to receive other input signals from a remote-control device 30 via a cableless signal path 23. The said computer 25 is connected, via a signal line 26, to the control panels 8, 9 and, via a data line 27, to a rewritable digital memory 28. The computer 25 is connected to the screen 7 via a regulating line 29.
The control system for the shower installation functions in the following manner: [0028]
The user chooses the operating parameters he desires, i.e. water temperature, quantity of water, choice of sprinkler heads and sprinkler nozzles, via the shower operating panel [0029] 8 or the remote-control device 30. These predetermined values are passed on to the computer 25 via the cableless signal path 23, the transmitting/receiving apparatus 22 at the screen, and the signal line 24 if inputting is effected via the remote-control device 30, and are passed on to the said computer via the signal line 19 if inputting is effected via the shower control panel 8. The said computer activates the screen 7 for the purpose of indicating the preselected operating parameters, so that the latter can be checked by the user.
As an alternative to the inputting of individual operating parameters, the user can also choose, via the [0030] remote control device 30 or the shower control panel 8, a predetermined shower programme which is stored in the digital memory 28. The computer 25 calls up this shower programme from the digital memory 28.
The computer calculates, from the operating parameters chosen or from the shower programme, the necessary predetermined values for the regulating [0031] apparatus 10 and initiates the passing-on thereof to the said regulating apparatus 10 via the signal line 19. With the aid of the predetermined values passed on, and of the actual values transmitted by the sensors 12 to 14, the digital processor 18 of the regulating apparatus 10 calculates the regulating values which are transmitted to the appliance belonging to the hand-held sprinkler 4 and any other sprinklers which may be present, so that the said sprinklers work in the manner preselected by the user.
In addition, the actual values measured by the [0032] sensors 12 to 14 for the operating and environmental parameters are passed on, via the signal lines 15 to 17, the regulating apparatus 10 and the signal line 19, to the computer 25 which then converts them into regulating values for representation on the screen 7.
Furthermore, the television functions of the [0033] screen 7 can also be dialled up via the remote-control device 30 or the extra control panel 9. These functions include the selection of a television programme, which is displayed on the screen 7. For this purpose, the transmitting/receiving apparatus 22 at the screen is connected to a programme-transmitter, which is not represented. Alternatively, the screen apparatus 3 may be connected direct to an aerial cable for television reception. Examples of additional functions which are visually indicated via the screen 7 and can be controlled via the remote-control device 30 or the extra control panel 9, are videotext, telephone or the internet. To that end, the transmitting/receiving apparatus 22 is connected to the necessary communications networks.
The control panels [0034] 8, 9 may be areas on a television screen which is constructed as a touch-screen, or may be separate touch-screens, or may be designed as water-proof keyboards, for example film keyboards. The screen 7 is, for example, a CWT display.
The signal connection between the regulating [0035] apparatus 10 and the computer 25 may also take place in a cableless manner instead of via a signal line 19. For this purpose, the regulating apparatus 10 is connected, via a signal line, to a transmitting/receiving apparatus which is connected to the transmitting/receiving apparatus 22 at the screen via a cableless signal path. In this way, the shower appliance and screen arrangement may be mounted so as to be structurally separate from one another.
The user can also store his own shower programmes in the [0036] digital memory 28 via the remote-control device 30 or the shower control panel 8. To that end, the computer 25 generates, on the screen 7, a suitable menu-regulating system by means of which the user can select the constituent parts of the shower programme that he wants. A shower programm of this kind may, for example, look like this: two minutes of warm showering with the hand-held sprinkler 4, two minutes of warm massage-showering by means of suitably set sprinkler nozzles belonging to the handheld sprinkler 4 and additional sprinkler heads, ten seconds of cold showering.

Claims

1. Sanitary installation having a sanitary appliance, at least one sensor for at least one operating-condition parameter of the sanitary appliance, an indicating apparatus for at least one operating-condition parameter of the sanitary appliance and a regulating apparatus for setting at least one operating parameter of the sanitary appliance, which regulating apparatus cooperates with at least one control apparatus belonging to the sanitary appliance,

characterised in that

the indicating apparatus (3) has a screen (7) which cooperates with a television set (22).

2. Sanitary installation according to claim 1, characterised in that at least one control apparatus (8) is integrated into the indicating apparatus (3).

3. Sanitary installation according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the control apparatus (8, 9) is designed as a control panel.

4. Sanitary installation according to claim 3, characterised in that the control panel (8, 9) is a touch-screen.

5. Sanitary installation according to claim 3, characterised in that the screen (7) of the indicating apparatus (3) itself is constructed as a touch-screen.

6. Sanitary installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the control apparatus (8, 9, 30) comprises a remote-control device (30).

7. Sanitary installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the control apparatus (8, 9, 30) cooperates with a memory (28) for predetermined values for the operating-condition parameters and/or setting parameters for the television set (22).

8. Sanitary installation according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the signal connection between the sanitary appliance and the indicating apparatus (3) comprises a cableless signal path (21).

9. Sanitary installation according to one of the preceding claims, in which the sanitary appliance is a shower appliance, characterised in that it is integrated into a shower cabinet.