Title:
POINT-OF-USE WATER SOFTENER
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO2004069369
Kind Code:
A3
Abstract:
A portable point-of-use water softener (101). Settings of a valve (119) put the water softener into three different modes: an "off" mode that excludes water from the water softener, a water softening mode, and a regeneration mode. In water softening mode, water passes from a source of the water (123) through a water softening element (117) to a sink for the softened water (125). A plurality of water softening elements operate in parallel in water softening mode to increase the flow of water through the water softener. In regeneration mode, a brine solution flows through the water softening element. The solution is made in a chamber in which water from the source flows at a controlled rate over salt tablets and from there through the water softening elements. The number of salt tablets determines the percent of salt in the brine. The valve includes a number of tubes which connect the components as required for the three modes. The valve selects a mode by pinching tubes as required by the mode. The valve uses a cam with a handle to pinch the tubes, and position of the handle corresponds to each of the modes.
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Inventors:
SUTERA CARL M (US)
Application Number:
PCT/US2004/000779
Publication Date:
December 02, 2004
Filing Date:
January 13, 2004
Export Citation:
Assignee:
REIGN CORP (US)
SUTERA CARL M (US)
SUTERA CARL M (US)
International Classes:
B01J49/00; B65D85/00; C02F1/42; C02F5/00; F16K7/06; B01D; (IPC1-7): B65D85/00; B01J49/00; C02F1/42; F16K7/06
Foreign References:
| US2577524A | 1951-12-04 | |||
| US2737976A | 1956-03-13 | |||
| US3154484A | 1964-10-27 | |||
| US3253891A | 1966-05-31 | |||
| US4099912A | 1978-07-11 | |||
| US5095931A | 1992-03-17 | |||
| US6090285A | 2000-07-18 | |||
| US4176671A | 1979-12-04 |
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