In-wall room freshener modules and related devices and systems
AssigneeEaton Corporation
InventorsSaivaraprasad Murahari, Pramod Kumar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In-wall dispensing modules, such as room freshener modules, can reside in a housing with a cover that can be opened to access an interior space of the module to, inter alia, replace used containers. The housings are configured to reside inside a wall of a room. The front cover can be a planar cover that is flush, slightly recessed or slightly protrudes from the wall. The housings can be a “custom” housing size and/or may be configured to occupy a single gang box or a compartment of a multi-gang junction box. The modules can include an actuator that can cause a canister to emit scented fluid at desired intervals and/or on-demand. The modules can have a User Interface (UI) wireless and/or wired connection to a whole-house “smart” system.
Claims24
A module comprising:
- a housing with an interior cavity, wherein the housing is sized and configured to reside internal to a wall, wherein the housing comprises wire ports on at least one of a sidewall, a rear wall, a floor or a ceiling thereof;
- a front cover attached to the housing, the front cover having at least one open port extending therethrough, wherein the front cover can be opened and closed for access to the interior cavity when the housing is mounted in the wall;
- at least one sensor and/or detector held by or in the housing configured to detect at least one of:
- whether a container is in position in the housing, whether the cover is closed, whether content of a container held in the housing is low, and whether an external object is in proximity to the front cover;
- an actuator in the housing;
- and
- a printed circuit board that holds a controller and a power supply residing in the cavity of the housing, wherein the controller is in communication with the at least one sensor and is configured to activate the actuator in the housing to dispense a substance from a container held in the housing, wherein the housing is sized and configured to reside in a single gang box, a custom size gang box, or in a space of a standard multiple gang box, and wherein wires from an electrical circuit extend through the wire ports and connect to the printed circuit board and power the power supply.
A room freshener module, comprising:
- a housing with an interior cavity, wherein the housing is sized and configured to reside internal to a wall, and wherein the housing comprises wire ports on at least one of a sidewall, a rear wall, a floor or a ceiling thereof;
- a front cover attached to the housing, the front cover having at least one open port extending therethrough, wherein the front cover can be opened and closed for access to the interior cavity when the housing is mounted to the wall, and wherein the front cover is substantially flush with an external surface of the wall;
- at least one actuator in the housing cavity;
- a printed circuit board assembly with a controller and power supply residing in the cavity of the housing, wherein the controller is in communication with the at least one actuator and is configured to direct the actuator to move to dispense a substance from a nozzle of a room freshener container held in the housing, and
- a user interface (UI) in communication with the controller that allows a user to interact with the controller to adjust and/or set a dispensing schedule.
A system for dispensing a substance to an environment, comprising:
- a housing that resides internal to a wall, the housing having right and left sidewalls, a back, a ceiling and a floor that form a rectangular interior cavity closed by a rectangular front cover pivotably held by one sidewall of the housing so that front cover is flush or substantially flush with the wall, wherein the front cover has at least one open port extending therethrough, and wherein the front cover can be pivotably opened and closed for access to the interior cavity when the housing is mounted in the wall;
- at least one actuator held in the housing;
- at least one sensor held in the housing configured to detect at least one of:
- whether a container is in position in the housing, whether the cover is closed, or whether content of a container held in the housing is low;
- a printed circuit board assembly comprising a controller and a power supply residing in the cavity of the housing, wherein the controller is in communication with the at least one sensor and the at least one actuator and is configured to direct the actuator to depress a nozzle of a container in the housing to dispense a substance from the container in the housing;
- and
- hot, ground and neutral wires from an electrical circuit hard wired to the printed circuit board assembly to power the power supply.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.