Measurements of Nozzle Valve Flow Characteristicsin a Handy Shower Set
The paper deals with nozzle valve characteristics used in modern portable device, named handy shower, dedicated for personal hygiene. Such device significantly reduces water consumption and can be easily and quickly changed into a shower, sink or bidet. Importance of such device continuously rises as some regions and cities face water shortages. The aim of the paper is to measure and analyse characteristics of nozzle valves in portable handy shower for different hight of hydrostatic pressure, different number of holes in the nozzle and different level of valve opening. Experiments required measurements of volumetric flow rate and pressure drops. The pressure drops on the nozzle valve were measured using differential pressure transducer with accuracy of 1 Pa, while the water flow rate at the outlet of the nozzle was measured using the time-volume method with accuracy for volume and time 1ml and 0.1s, respectively. Experiments confirmed substantial influence of hight of hydrostatic pressure, number of holes in the nozzle, and the level of valve opening on outlet water flow rate from the device. It is demonstrated that for chosen height of hydrostatic pressure and for filled water tank it is possible to calculate duration of the use of handy shower for specific hygiene purpose by choosing appropriate level of valve opening and the right nozzle valve with a certain number of holes. Authors discussed possible reason that some of measured points are scattered at low level of valve opening. Results of experience were presented as graphs and conclusions.