Design of a mechanical pedal valve to improve the use of water in plumbing systems

Abstract

The use of water is a very important economic and environmental factor in all industrial sectors since the improvement in its use offers an optimization of this resource. The waste of water usually causes damages firstly to the environment by the supply sources, then to the industries by its high demand and to the hydrosanitary sources that the houses have. The valves have some control that allows a more comfortable use of this resource in sinks that provides some savings. Currently, there are valves that usually replace the traditional ones due to their automatic and/or mechanical operation, which allows for innovation and savings of this resource. In this sense, this research is oriented to the design of a mechanical pedal valve that allows a more comfortable and controlled control, thus granting the operator control in an immediate way, without wasting the fluid in the middle of the washing and avoiding a manual contact that in a certain way dissipates the risk of contagion of diseases such as Covid-19 by direct manipulation. An analytical methodology supported by computer aided drafting programs such as Ansys Fluent and SolidWorks was used. Finally, it was determined that, for the dynamic and static studies, the designed valve complies with the Colombian technical standard and the static design factors.