AU2009238242B2 - Rainwater filter improvements - Google Patents

Abstract

A rainwater filter and arrangement where the filter includes a filter mesh with a lower end shaped to divert water from a debris path, there also being described an aperture in a floor of a gutter which is supported by walls of the filter and 5 which has edges assisting flow of water. Also described are ridges on the filter mesh to reduce surface tension adhesion for debris.

Description

1 RAINWATER FILTER IMPROVEMENTS This invention relates to a rainwater filter, an assembly incorporating a rainwater filter, and a method of effecting filtering of rainwater. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 5 It is known to use an inclined filter to receive water from a gutter, which is sometimes referred to as "spouting", and have the upper surface of such an inclined filter cleaned by wash collected debris off the surface from time to time or allowing the surface to be exposed to the weather so that it will dry and be vulnerable to removal subsequently by the wind or other natural actions. 10 A problem with existing rainwater filter systems of this type relates to the size of the filter apertures in a filter screen. It is desirable to have smaller apertures with a view to reducing the amount of debris passing through the filter so that the water is thereby cleaner but smaller holes means that it is more difficult for water to pass through the holes and it is 15 more inclined to run along the surface of the inclined filter sheet. This implicitly then, especially with heavier showers, will result in more water running over the surface and staying on the surface down the slope of the filter screen and, as such, flow beyond the filter assembly and be lost. This is particularly the case if an outlet from a gutter facilitates larger flows of 20 water from a gutter. OBJECT OF THIS INVENTION It is an object of this invention to at the least provide the public with a useful alternative. A further object is to provide a filter and a method of filtering and as 2 well an assembly which will assist if smaller holes in a filter screen are used to assist in reducing potential for overflow of water. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is proposed that there be provided an inclined screen mesh which has at its 5 lower end a convex shape which can facilitate capturing and pulling water back from following outwardly from an otherwise generally or approximately planar shape of the screen mesh. Debris will be likely to then be washed off the mesh while excess water will be diverted to a collection location. In conjunction with such an arrangement, which facilitates receiving larger flows 10 of water, there is advantage in providing an aperture in the gutter where its edge is at or below a floor immediately adjacent in the gutter. This has the advantage therefore of allowing any water at all in the gutter to pass through the aperture and removes the difficulties sometimes experienced where there is a collar around the aperture providing a weir and causing at least 15 a modest amount of water to bank up. This has the problem then when water is pooled, even quite shallow pooling and allowed to settle that finer debris may deposit in such pooled areas. Eventually with metal gutters particularly, such retained wet debris keeps such an area wet for a longer time and the longer term corrosion of the gutter material becomes an issue. 20 However, with an open aperture without any collar or other inhibiting shape or part, it can be expected in heavier flows of rain that water will pass very readily through the aperture and it has been found to be of advantage to provide firstly side walls for the filter which deflect water that might be pouring onto the filter, and secondly, that such side walls can be positioned to provide support of a 25 gutter floor to each side of the aperture. Such support is of advantage where otherwise collars or other inserts in the gutter itself would be used to additionally strengthen the floor around the aperture.

3 One of the difficulties with an inclined filter mesh is that debris such as leaves in particular will have a tendency if the surface is generally planar to adhere to the upper surface of the filter mesh. In order to reduce this effect, I propose a plurality of parallel raised portions that 5 extend in the direction of slope of the filter mesh. In preference, such raised portions are spaced apart by a substantially consistent distance but it has also been found to be of advantage to provide that adjacent rails are of alternating height so that a first rail at a first height will be bounded on both sides by rails of a lesser height. 10 This then tends to have the effect of further displacing debris, especially leaves, and tilting them where the size is appropriate which makes these even more vulnerable to being washed from the filter mesh. In preference, the filter mesh is molded from a plastic material and rails are integrally molded with such a mesh. 15 In preference, a front wall of a filter arrangement is positioned with an upper edge that will be clear and generally below an alignment of the main planar sheet shape of the filter mesh but standing apart from the convex portion where this curls under itself to pull water into the water receiving location of a rainhead. 20 Accordingly, in a further form, although this may not necessarily be the only or indeed the broadest form of this, the invention could be said to reside in a rainwater filter including a body having side walls, a back wall, a front wall, an uppermost open area to receive rainwater therethrough, and a filter mesh supported and positioned beneath the uppermost open area to effect thereby 25 the filtering of any rainwater passing through the uppermost area, the filter mesh being comprised of a sheet having filtering apertures therethrough and being inclined to the horizontal when located beneath the upper opening for 4 use, the lower edge of the filter mesh being curved with a convex shape diverting water flowing over the surface thereby from a debris path. In preference, the front wall is positioned with at least some of its upper edge being below an expected debris path so that debris will pass over and beyond it. 5 In a further form, the invention can be said to reside in an assembly including a rainwater filter where the filter has a body having opposedly positioned side walls, a back wall, a front wall, an upper opening to receive rainwater therethrough and a filter mesh supported and positioned to be beneath the upper opening and effect thereby a filtering of any rainwater passing through 10 the upper opening, the filter mesh being comprised of a sheet having filtering apertures therethrough and being inclined to the horizontal at least where located substantially beneath the upper opening with a lower edge being convex in shape to effect a water diversion, and a water guttering having a lower most aperture therethrough and where the upper opening is positioned to 15 receive water passing through the said aperture. In a further form, the invention can be said to reside in a rainwater filter wherein the filter has a body having opposedly positioned side walls, a back wall, a front wall, an uppermost open area to receive rainwater therethrough, and a filter mesh supported and positioned to be beneath the gutter outlet in effect thereby 20 a filtering of any rainwater passing through the gutter outlet, the filter mesh being comprised of a sheet having filtering apertures therethrough and being inclined to the horizontal at least where located substantially beneath the gutter outlet with a lower edge being convex in shape to effect a water diversion, and water guttering having the gutter outlet in its floor, the respective side walls 25 having an upper edge in each case positioned to be immediately below the floor of the gutter and one being positioned on each side of the gutter outlet to effect support thereby of the gutter. In a further form, the invention can be said to reside in a gutter in a rain receiving position from an adjacent roof and having a floor sloping along an 5 elongate direction of the gutter toward an outlet for rain received, the outlet being an aperture in the floor of the gutter where the floor is a sheet of substantially uniformed thickness and the aperture is defined only by an edge of the sheet of the gutter providing thereby a continuous fall for water that might be 5 within the gutter through the aperture, and a rainwater filter as in any of the previous descriptions positioned to receive water falling from the aperture. In preference, the aperture is shaped so as to have ends inclined to the elongate direction of the gutter. Such inclination can be for either one or both ends and the inclination can be so 10 that an inner side of the gutter has a narrower portion of gutter and the outer side of the gutter has a larger portion of the aperture. In preference, in relation to the above, the filter mesh also includes projecting rails positioned to extend in a parallel direction, one with respect to the other from an upper side to a lower side of the mesh. 15 In preference, the rails have differing heights and such differing heights can also include differing heights along its length and/or the height from a rail to each respective side of another rail. For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with relation to a preferred embodiment which will be described with the assistance of 20 drawings where; Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of an assembly according to the embodiment, Figure 2 is a perspective view of an assembly using the embodiment, Figure 3 is a perspective view of above, as shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the assembly as shown in Figure 2 when 25 viewed from below and 6 Figure 5 is a cross sectional view of a front elevation of the assembly as shown in Figure 2. Referring now to the drawings, the assembly line has a rain filter 2 which is attached by screws 3 to a facia 4. 5 The filter 2 has opposedly positioned side walls 5 and 6, a front wall 7, a back wall 8 and a floor 9. A pipe 10 is connected to an outlet nozzle 11 in the floor 9. The top edge of the respective side walls 5 and 6 in each case are positioned immediately below a floor 12 within a gutter 13. 10 Such side walls then can provide and, do indeed provide, support for the floor especially to each side of an aperture 14 in the floor 12 by butting up directly against an underneath surface of the floor. The aperture 14 is cut directly through the floor of the gutter 13 so that edges such as 15 are what might be termed raw edges but specifically so that water 15 will not be even marginally pooled or caused to back up from anything that might otherwise be used to assist in defining the sides of such an aperture. In order to modify the flow rates of water passing into the aperture 14, both respective ends 16 and 17 are inclined to an elongate direction of the gutter 13 while front and rear sides 18 (18 for the rear and the front side not being 20 specifically shown) being maintained as parallel to an elongate direction of the gutter 13. Such an arrangement, however, has a propensity for a higher pour rate of water from the gutter but it has the significant advantage that water is unlikely to remain pooled in the gutter surrounding any aperture. Accordingly settlement of 7 debris is much less likely and residual wet debris remaining on the floor of the gutter is again much less likely. Aligned to receive the water passing through the aperture 14 is an inclined filter mesh 19. 5 In this case, the filter mesh 19 is substantially planar except that its lower end 20 is curled backward to provide an outermost convex shaped surface and under itself in a way that will assist water by adhesion to flow around the slope of the main planar portion of the screen 19 is approximately 450 to a horizontal as assembled and is positioned so as to extend fully to both sides 5 and 6 and 10 top 21 of a chamber 22 formed by the respective walls providing the filter 2. Positioned immediately above the filter mesh are a plurality of rails typically 23 but in this case best shown in Figure 5 where each rail extends from a back uppermost location of the screen mesh 19 to follow the concave portion 20 at the lower end of the filter mesh 19. 15 Each rail 23 being parallel one with respect to the other and separated by a consistent distance and where a first of the rails is of a different height to immediately adjacent rails. In the embodiment shown, each rail has a triangular cross section with a top edge therefore pointed which assists in minimising water tension adhesion to 20 debris. Further, the upper edge of each rail is a selected height above an upper surface of the portion of the screen providing the apertures and that adjacent rails are of differing height to again assist in reducing surface tension adhesion of debris. At the lower end of the filter mesh 19 the concave portion 20 is spaced apart 25 from an upper edge 25 of a front wall 7 and the alignment of the filter mesh 19 is such that this upper edge 25 will be beneath a plane otherwise defined by an upper surface 24 of the filter mesh 19.

8 The extent to which the concave portion is separate from this upper edge 25 can be determined by experimentation that is chosen so that water will generally be directed back into the chamber 22 of the rain head 2. There is a further front wall portion 26 which provides support for an upper end 5 of the respective side walls 5 and 6. In use, such a rain head 2 is located in position below a cut aperture in the floor of a gutter and, in a practical sense, it is found advantageous to even slightly depress the edges of the aperture but in the rain head 2 is secured by appropriate screws in the case of the building of a facia as is shown and is 10 intended to provide an efficient cleaning mechanism of rainwater passing through it.

Claims (12)

1. A rainwater filter including: a body having side walls, a back wall, a front wall, an uppermost open area to receive rainwater therethrough; a filter mesh, having an inclined screen mesh, which has a lower end, a convex shape for providing rainwater to be diverted from debris, the lower end of the filter mesh being curved with the convex shape diverting water flow over the surface of the filter mesh from a debris path; the filter mesh including a plurality of spaced raised rails that extend in the direction of the slope of the filter mesh; wherein the filter mesh is supported and positioned beneath the uppermost open area and being inclined to the horizontal to effect thereby filtering of any rainwater passing therethrough the uppermost area.

2. The rainwater filter as in the immediately preceding claim, wherein the filter mesh being comprised of a sheet having a plurality of filtering apertures therethrough.

3. The rainwater filter as in any one of the immediately preceding claims, wherein the front wall is positioned with at least some of its upper edge being below an expected debris path so that debris will pass over and beyond it and thereby be separated from a diverted water path.

4. A rainwater filter as in any one of the immediately preceding claims, where the raised rails of the filter mesh are of alternating height.

5. A rainwater filter as in the immediately preceding claim, where the filter mesh is molded and the rails are integrally molded with such a mesh. 10

6. A rainwater filter as in any one of the preceding claims, where a front wall of the filter arrangement is positioned with an upper edge that will be clear and generally below an alignment of a main planar sheet shape of the filter mesh but standing apart from the convex portion where this curls under itself in the convex shape to pull water into the water receiving location of a rainhead.

7. An arrangement of a rainwater filter as in any one of the preceding claims, where there is an aperture in a gutter, the body of the rainwater filter is positioned directly under the aperture such that the aperture is located above the filter mesh and where an edge of the aperture in the floor of the gutter is at or below a floor of the gutter immediately adjacent.

8. A rainwater filter as in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the body is located substantially beneath a water guttering, the water guttering having a floor and a gutter outlet located in the floor, the respective side Walls of the body having an upper edge in each case positioned to be immediately below the floor of the gutter and one being positioned on each side of the gutter outlet to effect support thereby of the gutter

9. A gutter in a rain receiving position from an adjacent roof having a floor sloping along an elongate direction of the gutter toward an outlet for rain received, the outlet being an aperture in the floor of the gutter where-the floor is a sheet of substantially uniformed thickness and the aperture is. defined only by an edge of the sheet of the gutter through the aperture, and a rainwater filter as in any of the previous claims positioned to receive water falling from the aperture.

10. A gutter as in any one of the immediately preceding three claims, wherein the filter mesh also includes a plurality of projecting rails positioned to 11 extend in a parallel direction, one with respect to the other from an upper side to a lower side of the mesh.

11. A gutter as in any one of the immediately three preceding claims, wherein the plurality of projecting rails have differing heights and such differing heights along its length and/or the height from a rail to each respective side of another rail.

12. A rainwater filter substantially as described in the specification in relation to any one or more of the drawings.