Sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, method of producing such a sanitary component, and use of such a sanitary component

Abstract

A sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, including of property-defining constructional elements which are arranged in a sandwich-like manner in the direction of flow and have at least one wire-mesh screen attachment, a diffuser plate system and a shell body with stream-forming segments extending over the cross-sectional area thereof and provided with openings. The property-defining constructional elements are exchangeable and combinable. A locking means is arranged on the inner circumference of the shell body, and a corresponding counter-locking means is arranged on the outer circumference of the diffuser plate system. The diffuser plate system is provided with an optical coding specifying the flow rate class and the shell body with an optical coding defining the flow type. Moreover, the wire-mesh screen attachment is inserted in a surrounding internal recess of the circular diffuser plate system, wherein, if a flow regulator is provided between the wire-mesh screen attachment and the diffuser plate system, the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to be translucent or transparent and the flow regulator has another optical coding. If there is no flow regulator, an optical coding of the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to match with that of the diffuser plate system or is provided in a predefined combination.

1 . A sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, comprising property-defining constructional elements which are arranged in a sandwich-like manner in the direction of flow and comprise at least one wire-mesh screen attachment, a diffuser plate system and a shell body with stream-forming segments extending over the cross-sectional area thereof and provided with openings, 
 wherein the property-defining constructional elements are exchangeable and combinable, for which purpose fixing means are arranged on or in the shell body and corresponding fixing means are arranged on the diffuser plate system, the diffuser plate system is provided, at least on its outside, with an optical coding specifying the flow rate class and the shell body with an optical coding defining the flow type, and wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment is connected to the diffuser plate system wherein, if a flow regulator is inserted between the wire-mesh screen attachment and the diffuser plate system, said wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to be translucent or transparent and said flow regulator has another optical coding, and, if there is no flow regulator, an optical coding of the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to match with that of the diffuser plate system or is provided in a predefined combination.    
   
   
       2 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the optical codings are each formed as different color codings.  
   
   
       3 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein the color shades or color differences of the respective codings comprise color temperatures visually detectable by means of opto-electronic image detection and evaluation and without auxiliary devices.  
   
   
       4 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the color codes for the wire-mesh screen attachment comprise the colors blue, ivory, green, brown, olive, red, beige, black, pink, lilac and white if there is a non-conformity with the code of the diffuser plate system.  
   
   
       5 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein the color codes for the flow regulator comprise ten colors, namely light green, dark grey, green, lilac, dark blue, pink, orange, black, yellow and white.  
   
   
       6 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein the color codes for the diffuser plate system comprise at least eleven colors, namely dark green, burgundy, light green, light blue, yellow, dark blue, dark grey, light grey, grey, orange and neutral.  
   
   
       7 . The sanitary component according to  claim 5 , wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment comprises the color codes dark green, burgundy, light green, light blue, yellow, dark blue, dark grey, light grey, grey or orange.  
   
   
       8 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein the color codes for the shell body comprise at least two colors, wherein a first color is assigned to a shell body with air supply slots provided therein and a second color is assigned to a shell body without air supply slots.  
   
   
       9 . The sanitary component according to  claim 8 , wherein the first color is dark grey and the second color is light grey, wherein the shell body is dye-penetrated and made of a colored synthetic material.  
   
   
       10 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein the shell body comprises a pivotable shell base as flow rectifier on the outflow side, wherein this pivotable base has another color code.  
   
   
       11 . The sanitary component according to  claim 10 , wherein the other color code deviates from the color codes for the shell body.  
   
   
       12 . The sanitary component according to  claim 2 , wherein a coating made of an elastomeric material is provided on the outer outflow side of the shell body or the flow rectifier provided therein.  
   
   
       13 . The sanitary component according to  claim 12 , wherein the coating is colored or has a color code and/or the elastomeric properties of the coating allow a haptic coding.  
   
   
       14 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the flow regulator comprises a control gap the flow cross-section of which can be altered by means of a ring elastically deformable under the pressure of the flowing fluid medium, wherein the transparency of the wire-mesh screen attachment is chosen such that the flow regulator itself and also the position of the deformable ring is recognizable.  
   
   
       15 . The sanitary component according to  claim 14 , wherein the elastic ring likewise comprises an optically recognizable coding, especially a color coding, which is in contrast with the control gap or the surroundings thereof.  
   
   
       16 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment has a convex or conical shape on the inflow side.  
   
   
       17 . The sanitary component according to  claim 16 , wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment comprises polygonal wire-mesh screen openings and an annular collar interlocking with the internal recess of the circular diffuser plate system.  
   
   
       18 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment, the diffuser plate system and the shell body have a circular cross-section.  
   
   
       19 . The sanitary component according to  claim 1 , wherein the shell body comprises a male thread so that it may directly be screwed into a complementary female thread of an outflow faucet, wherein a sealing ring provided on the shell body comprises a code, especially a color code, as to define the thread type and/or the thread pitch of the male thread.  
   
   
       20 . A method of producing a sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, comprising of property-defining constructional elements which are arranged in a sandwich-like manner in the direction of flow and comprise at least one wire-mesh screen attachment, a diffuser plate system or diffuser and a shell body with stream-forming segments extending over the cross-sectional area thereof and provided with openings, wherein, for achieving an adaptability to most different user and application requirements, the property-defining constructional elements are exchangeable and combinable and locking means are arranged on or in the shell body and corresponding counter-locking means are arranged on the diffuser plate system, the diffuser plate system is provided, at least on its outside, with an optical coding specifying the flow rate class and the shell body with an optical coding defining the flow type, 
 wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment is connected to the diffuser plate system wherein, if a flow regulator is inserted between the wire-mesh screen attachment and the diffuser plate system, said wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to be translucent or transparent and said flow regulator has another optical coding, and, if there is no flow regulator, an optical coding of the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to match with that of the diffuser plate system or is provided in a predefined combination, wherein, on the basis of customer specific requirements about the desired flow rate class and the respective stream pattern and/or flow rate, the coding of those property-defining constructional elements corresponding to said customer-specific requirements or largely approximating the same is inferred from a code table so as to carry out the procurement of the constructional elements from a store and the assembly thereof without errors and in a controlled manner.    
   
   
       21 . The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the control of the production and the quality assurance of the sanitary components are accomplished by means of picture recording and computer-aided image processing, wherein predefined colors with different color temperatures are used for the respective codes.  
   
   
       22 . A method of using of a sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, comprising of property-defining constructional elements which are arranged in a sandwich-like manner in the direction of flow and comprise at least one wire-mesh screen attachment, a circular diffuser plate system and a cylindrical shell body with stream-forming segments extending over the cross-sectional area thereof and provided with openings, 
 wherein, for achieving an adaptability to most different user and application requirements, the property-defining constructional elements are exchangeable and combinable, for which purpose locking means are arranged on the inner circumference of the shell body and corresponding counter-locking means are arranged on the outer circumference of the circular diffuser plate system, the circular diffuser plate system is provided, at least on its outside, with an optical coding specifying the flow rate class and the shell body with an optical coding defining the flow type,    wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment is inserted in a surrounding internal recess of the circular diffuser plate system, wherein, if a flow regulator is inserted between the wire-mesh screen attachment and the diffuser plate system, said wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to be translucent or transparent and said flow regulator has another optical coding, and, if there is no flow regulator, an optical coding of the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to match with that of the diffuser plate system or is provided in a predefined combination,    by means of a code table authorized by the producer, indicating the optical coding of the constructional elements identifiable without disassembling them, which corresponds to or largely approximates the respective case of use with respect to the stream pattern, flow rate restriction and/or flow rate class.    
   
   
       23 . The method according to  claim 22 , wherein the codings are adapted to be colors with different color temperatures.  
   
   
       24 . A method of offering for sale a sanitary component, namely a stream regulator or stream former for flowing fluid media, comprising of property-defining constructional elements which are arranged in a sandwich-like manner in the direction of flow and comprise at least one wire-mesh screen attachment, a circular diffuser plate system and a cylindrical shell body with stream-forming segments extending over the cross-sectional area thereof and provided with openings, said method comprising: 
 providing a code table authorized by a producer, indicating an optical coding of the constructional elements identifiable without disassembling them, which corresponds to or largely approximates the respective case of use with respect to the stream pattern, flow rate restriction and/or flow rate class.    
   
   
       25 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the property-defining constructional elements are exchangeable and combinable, for which purpose locking means are arranged on the inner circumference of the shell body and corresponding counter-locking means are arranged on the outer circumference of the circular diffuser plate system, the circular diffuser plate system is provided, at least on its outside, with the optical coding specifying the flow rate class and the shell body with an optical coding defining the flow type.  
   
   
       26 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the wire-mesh screen attachment is inserted in a surrounding internal recess of the circular diffuser plate system, wherein, if a flow regulator is inserted between the wire-mesh screen attachment and the diffuser plate system, said wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to be translucent or transparent and said flow regulator has another optical coding, and, if there is no flow regulator, an optical coding of the wire-mesh screen attachment is formed to match with that of the diffuser plate system or is provided in a predefined combination.  
   
   
       27 . The method according to  claim 24 , wherein the codings are adapted to be colors with different color temperatures.