Disposer Fluid Injector System and Method

FIELD

[0001]The present disclosure relates to waste disposers having injector systems for injecting fluids into the waste disposer, and to fluid injection systems for use with waste disposers, such as food waste disposers.

BACKGROUND

[0002]Food waste disposers are used to comminute food scraps into particles small enough to pass through household drain plumbing. A food waste disposer typically includes a primary inlet along the top of the food waste disposer through which the food waste disposer receives water and food scraps from a sink, and also a primary outlet at which the food waste and water are output from the food waste disposer. Additionally, a food waste disposer typically includes a dishwater inlet, often located in the side of the food waste disposer. The dishwasher inlet is an auxiliary port of the food waste disposer, in addition to the primary inlet and primary outlet, at which water output by a dishwasher (often situated near the food waste disposer) can be directed into the food waste disposer. Typically a dishwasher is coupled to the dishwasher inlet by a hose, tube, or pipe.

[0003]Waste disposers may have any of several issues, such as bacteria building up inside a food waste disposer and create odors, build-up in drain pipes, and issues with septic systems. Previous attempts to address these issues have involved mechanisms that are expensive, prone to leaking, take up significant under-sink space, or require significant efforts and power to install and operate. For at least one or more of these reasons, or one or more other reasons, it would therefore be advantageous if improved systems could be developed, so as to address any one or more of the concerns discussed above or to address one or more other concerns or provide one or more benefits.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[0004]In at least some embodiments of the present technology, food waste disposers are provided that have injector systems for injecting fluids into the waste disposer. Methods of operating such injector systems are also provided.

[0005]In at least one aspect, a waste disposer system is provided that includes a waste disposer and an disposer fluid injector system. The waste disposer has a primary inlet through which the waste disposer receives water and food scraps, a primary outlet through which waste and water are output from the food waste disposer, and a dishwasher inlet. The disposer fluid injector system includes a fluid injector assembly fluidly connected to the dishwasher inlet, the fluid injector assembly including a base unit and a bottle that is received by the base unit.

[0006]In another aspect, disposer fluid injector system for use with a waste disposer is provided that includes a fluid injector assembly configured to be fluidly connected to a dishwasher inlet of the disposer, the fluid injector assembly including a base unit and a bottle that is received by the base unit.

[0007]In a third aspect, a method of operating disposer fluid injector system installed with a waste disposer is provided. The method includes: connecting an disposer fluid injector system to a disposer; turning on the disposer fluid injector system; and automatically performing at least one injection cycle by the fluid injector system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008]While various embodiments discussed herein are amenable to modifications and alternative forms, aspects thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments described, and instead is meant to include all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. In addition, the terms “example” and “embodiment” as used throughout this application are only by way of illustration, and not limitation, the Figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and the use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items unless otherwise noted. In the drawings:

[0009]FIG. 1 is one view of one example of food waste disposer system having an disposer fluid injector system of the present technology installed under a sink;

[0010]FIG. 2 is another view of the food waste disposer system of FIG. 1, with the fluid injector assembly mounted on a wall, and showing a fluid connection the dishwasher inlet;

[0011]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a fluid injector assembly of the present technology that can be used in the disposer fluid injector system of FIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the fluid injector assembly of FIG. 3;

[0013]FIG. 5 is a front view of the fluid injector assembly of FIG. 3;

[0014]FIG. 6 is a rear view of the fluid injector assembly of FIG. 3;

[0015]FIG. 7 is a first cross-sectional view of the fluid injector assembly taken along line A-A of FIG. 3;

[0016]FIG. 8 is a second cross-sectional view of the fluid injector assembly taken along line B-B of FIG. 3;

[0017]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of one example of an injector coupling of the present technology that can be used in the disposer fluid injector system of FIG. 1; and

[0018]FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the injector coupling of taken along line C-C of FIG. 9; and

[0019]FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating one method of operating an disposer fluid injector system of the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020]The present disclosure relates to and encompasses waste disposer systems, such as food waste disposer systems, that include an disposer fluid injector system. Disposer fluid injector systems of the present technology connect to a waste disposer and periodically inject cleaning fluid into the waste disposer. The cleaning fluid may be any suitable cleaning fluid, such as disinfectant, drain cleaner, and/or septic enzymes.

[0021]FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate one example of a food waste disposer system 100 that includes an disposer fluid injector system 200 of the present technology. As best shown in FIG. 1, the food waste disposer system 100 includes a food waste disposer 102 that is mounted underneath a sink 10. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the food waste disposer 102 includes a primary inlet 104 along the top of the food waste disposer 100, through which the food waste disposer receives water and food scraps from the sink 10. As best shown in FIG. 2, the food waste disposer 102 also has a primary outlet 106, through which food waste and water are output from the food waste disposer 102. The food waste disposer 102 further includes a dishwasher inlet 108, via which an optional dishwasher (not shown) may be connected to the food waste disposer 102, such as by pipe 110.

[0022]As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the disposer fluid injector system 200 includes a fluid injector assembly 202 connected to the food waste disposer 102. In the illustrated example, the disposer fluid injector system 200 is an inline disposer fluid injector system, which includes an injector coupling 204 that is installed inline with the dishwasher inlet 108 of the food waste disposer 102, and that fluidly connects to the dishwasher inlet 108 of the food waste disposer 102, and a tube 206 that fluidly connects the fluid injector assembly 202 to the injector coupling 204.

[0023]Fluid injector assembly 202 may be installed near the food waste disposer 102 in any suitable manner. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the fluid injector assembly 202 is installed in a manner that it sits on the floor of a cabinet under the sink. As another example, as shown in FIG. 2, the fluid injector assembly 202 is installed in a manner that it is mounted to a cabinet wall under the sink.

[0024]FIGS. 3-8 illustrate one example of a fluid injector assembly 300, which may be used as the fluid injector assembly 202 in the disposer fluid injector system 200. Fluid injector assembly 300 includes a base unit 302 and a bottle 304 that is received by the base unit 302.

[0025]The base unit 302 includes a housing 306. The housing 306 may be made of any suitable material, such as plastic. The housing 306 includes a front side 308, a rear side 310, and a bottle receiving area 312.

[0026]The bottle 304 includes a neck 314 that has a top portion 316, and a bottom portion 318. The interior of the bottle is substantially hollow and contains fluid (not shown), which may be any suitable type of fluid, such as fluids intended to reduce bacteria, provide fragrance, improve septic system health and/or reduce build-up in drain pipes. The bottle may be configured to stand upright when the bottom portion 318 is facing downward. As used herein, the term “configured to” means that the component is structurally and functionally designed and formed to do whatever the component is said to be configured to do. In order to be inserted into the base unit 302, a bottle 304 is inverted, so that the top portion 316 faces downward. The top portion 316 and at least a substantial portion of the neck 314 are inserted into and received by the bottle receiving area 312 of the base unit 302. The neck 314 of the bottle 304 may have at least one retaining feature 330, such as a groove, protrusion, indentation, step, or other structural feature configured to facilitate maintaining the bottle 304 in a vertical, or substantially vertical, orientation when the bottle 304 is received and retained in the bottle receiving area 312 of the base unit 302. During use in the fluid injector assembly 300, the bottle 304 is received and retained in the receiving area 312 of the base unit 302, and may be retained in a vertical, or substantially vertical, orientation, and the fluid is drained over time from the bottle 304 into the base unit 302 and is injected by the base unit 302 into the waste disposer 102.

[0027]With reference to FIGS. 4, 7 and 8, the receiving area 312 of the base unit 302 may include a first surface 320 and a neck receiving portion 322. The neck receiving portion 322 may extend into the base unit 302 and is configured to receive the neck 314 of the bottle 304 and any retaining feature 330 thereon. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the neck receiving portion 322 may include a latch 332 that that is configured to engage with a retaining feature 330 on the neck 314 of the bottle 304.

[0028]Additionally, the fluid injector assembly 300, particularly the base unit 302 of the fluid injector assembly 300, may be powered by any suitable method, including without limitation at least one battery or a power cord configured to plug into a wall outlet. As can be seen in FIG. 7, the base unit 302 includes a power cord 324 that is operatively connected to the base unit 302 and provides power to components of the base unit 302 when plugged in to a wall outlet, such as wall outlet 12 shown in FIG. 1. Wall outlet 12 is a standard residential wall outlet that is located under the sink 10. The waste disposer 102 may also be plugged into the wall outlet 12, as shown in FIG. 1. Additionally, or alternatively, the base unit 302 may include a battery compartment that houses at least one battery that provides power to components of the base unit 302.

[0029]As shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 8, the base unit 302, particularly the housing 306 of the base unit 302 may include a battery compartment 326, and more particularly the bottle receiving area 312, may include an upper wall 328, and the an upper wall 328 may include the battery compartment 326. At least a portion of the bottom portion 318 of the bottle 304 may connect with or rest against the upper wall 328 when the bottle 304 is received and retained in the bottle receiving area 312 of the base unit 302. As shown in FIG. 4, the bottom portion 318 of the bottle may be shaped in a manner that includes an extending portion 356, and the upper wall 328 include a recessed portion 358 that is configured to receive the extending portion 356 of the bottle.

[0030]Referring to FIGS. 3-6, the base unit 302 may include a plurality of buttons or switches, and one or more indicator lights. In the illustrated example, the base unit includes an eject button 334, a low battery indictor light 336, an on/off switch 338, and a prime button 340.

[0031]The eject button 334 is operatively connected to the latch 332, and when activated causes the latch 332 to disengage from the retaining feature 330 on the neck 314 of the bottle 304, thus allowing the bottle 304 to be lifted and removed. For example, when a first bottle 304 is empty, it can be replaced by pressing the eject button 334 and removing the first bottle 304, and then inserting a new bottle 304 into the bottle receiving area 312 such that the latch 332 engages a retaining feature 330 on the new bottle 304.

[0032]In examples where the fluid injector assembly 300, particularly the base unit 302 of the fluid injector assembly 300, is powered by at least one battery, the low battery indictor light 336 may illuminate when the at least one battery is becoming low on power. The low battery indictor light 336 may thus provide an indication to a user that the at least one battery should be replaced.

[0033]The on/off switch 338 may allow a user to turn on and off the fluid injector assembly 300.

[0034]The prime button 340 may allow a user to prime the pump for injecting fluid into the disposer 102.

[0035]As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the base unit 302 of the fluid injector assembly 300 may also include a control unit 342 that is powered by the power source, and is operatively connected to a pump 344 and one or more of the plurality of buttons or switches and one or more indicator lights. For example, the control unit 342 may be operatively connected to the low battery indictor light 336, the on/off switch 338, and the prime button 340.

[0036]The pump 344 may be any suitable type of pump, such as a peristaltic pump. The base unit 302 of the fluid injector assembly 300 may include at least one fluid connector 346 that fluidly connects the bottle 304 to the pump 344. The at least one fluid connector 346 may include a needle 348 configured to pierce the top portion 316 of the bottle 304 and draw fluid form the bottle 304. The top portion 316 of the bottle 304 may be made of a self-healing material, such as self-healing silicone, to allow the top portion 316 to close up when the bottle 304 is removed from the base unit 302.

[0037]As best shown in FIG. 6, the base unit may include a tube channel 350, a discharge tube 352, and a power adapter port 354. In examples where the base unit 302 includes a power cord 324, the power cord 324 may connect to the base unit 302 at the power adapter port 354. The discharge tube 352 may be fluidly connected to the injector coupling 204, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, by tube 206.

[0038]The control unit 342 may be configured to operate the pump 344 when the fluid injector assembly 300 is turned on. During operation, the control unit may be configured to cause the pump to perform an injection cycle at one or more times during the day. The control unit 342 may be configured to cause the pump to perform an injection cycle at consistent time intervals, such as once every 4 hours, every six hours, every twelve hours, every 18 hours, or every 24 hours. During each injection cycle, the pump may inject a certain amount of fluid into the disposer 102 through the injector coupling 204 shown in FIG. 2. The amount of fluid may be any suitable amount of fluid, and may be a relatively small amount, sufficient to control odors in the disposer 102. For example, the amount of fluid injected into the disposer by the fluid injector assembly 300 during each injection cycle may be less than about 5 milliliters, such as being about 2 milliliters, about 3 milliliters, or about 4 milliliters.

[0039]In addition to the injection cycles, a user may cause the fluid injector assembly 300 to inject fluid into the disposer 102 by pressing the prime button 340 on the base unit 302.

[0040]FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate one example of an injector coupling 400, which may be used as an injector coupling 204 as shown in FIG. 2. The injector coupling 400 includes a main body 402 having a first end 404 and a second end 406. The first end 404 of the main body connects to the dishwasher inlet 108 of the food waste disposer 102 as shown in FIG. 2, and may have a sleeve 408 and an injection outlet 410. The sleeve 408 may form a sliding connection with the dishwasher inlet 108 of the food waste disposer 102, and may include at least one clamp 412, which may be tightened to secure the sleeve to the dishwasher inlet 108 of the food waste disposer 102. The sleeve may be any suitable material, such as rubber, and may be configured to prevent leaks.

[0041]The injector coupling 400 may include an injector inlet 416, which may be configured to be fluidly connected to the discharge tube 352 of the fluid injection assembly 300 by tube 206, as shown in FIG. 2. During an injection cycle, the disposer fluid injector system 200 may inject fluid into the disposer 102 by discharging fluid through the discharge tube 352 of the fluid injection assembly 300 into the injector inlet 416 of the injector coupling 400, the injector coupling 400 may receive the fluid from the discharge tube 352 of the fluid injection assembly 300 through the injector inlet 416 of the injector coupling 400, and discharge the fluid from the injector coupling 400 into the disposer 102 through the injection outlet 410 of the injector coupling 400.

[0042]The second end 406 is configured to fluidly connect to a dishwasher when one is present. The injector coupling 400 may include a plug 414 that may be removably secured to the second end 406. In the illustrated example, the plug 414 is configured to be slidably received within the second end 406. The plug 414 is configured to prevent leaks from the injector coupling 400 out of the second end 406 when there is not a dishwasher connected to the injector coupling 400. In examples where there is a dishwasher, the plug 414 would be removed from the second end 406 prior to fluidly connecting the second end 406 of the injector coupling 400 to the dishwasher.

[0043]FIG. 11 provides a flow chart illustrating one method 500 of operating an disposer fluid injector system of the present technology.

[0044]With reference to FIGS. 1-2 and 11, the method 500 starts at step 502, which includes connecting an disposer fluid injector system, such as an disposer fluid injector system 200, to a waste disposer, such as food waste disposer 102. Connecting the disposer fluid injector system may include connecting an injector coupling, such as injector coupling 204 or 400, to the dishwasher inlet 108 of the disposer 102. Connecting the disposer fluid injector system may include fluidly connecting a fluid injection assembly, such as fluid injection assembly 300, to the injector coupling, such as by connecting tube 206 to the injector inlet 416 of the injector coupling 400 at one end and the discharge tube 352 of the fluid injection assembly 300 at an opposite end.

[0045]The method 500 also includes step 504, which includes turning on the disposer fluid injector system. Turning on the disposer fluid injector system may include connecting a power source, such as at least one battery or a power cord, to the base unit 302. Turning on the disposer fluid injector system may also include switching the on/off switch 338 to the “on” position.

[0046]The method 500 also includes step 506, which includes priming the disposer fluid injector system. Priming the system may include pressing the prime button 340 on the base unit 302.

[0047]The method 500 also includes step 508, which includes the disposer fluid injector system automatically performing at least one injection cycle. The method 500 may include the disposer fluid injector system automatically performing a series of injection cycles, with each injection cycle being performed at a constant interval.

[0048]The disposer fluid injector system may automatically perform a plurality of injection cycles, until the fluid in the bottle 304 is depleted. At that point, a user may turn off the disposer fluid injector system by switching the on/off switch 338 to the “off” position. The user may then push the eject button 334, causing the latch 332 to disengage from the retaining feature 330 on the neck 314 of the bottle 304, and allowing the bottle 304 to be lifted and removed. The user may remove the first bottle 304, and then insert a new bottle 304 into the bottle receiving are 312 such that the latch 332 engages a retaining feature 330 on the new bottle 304. The user may then re-initiate the method at step 504, by turning on the disposer fluid injector system.

[0049]Systems and methods of the present technology may offer several improvements over past attempts to address the problem of disposer odors. For example, the disposer fluid injector system may be powered independently from the disposer, by either batteries or a wall adapter. The disposer fluid injector system may be installed in various ways, including sitting under the sink as shown in FIG. 1, or being mounted to a cabinet wall as shown in FIG. 2, rather than being installed on the disposer, which may result in less stress being imparted on the plumbing and reducing the risk of leaks. The injector coupling may allow for use of an existing, readily available hole in the disposer, eliminating the need to drill a hole into the side wall of the disposer and reducing installation efforts significantly. Further, by having the fluid bottle oriented upside down during use, the need to generate the pressure to deliver the contents to the disposer may be eliminated, which may reduce the size and power required for operation of the disposer fluid injector system.

[0050]While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with the specific embodiments discussed above, it is to be understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention. It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein, but include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims.