A railway air brake is a railway brake power braking system with compressed air as the operating medium. Modern trains rely upon a fail-safe air brake system that is based upon a design patented by George Westinghouse on April 13, 1869. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company was subsequently organized to manufacture and sell Westinghouse's invention. In various forms, it has been nearly universally adopted.
A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using the force of water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location for treatment, either nearby or at a communal facility, thus maintaining a separation between humans and their waste. Flush toilets can be designed for sitting or squatting, in the case of squat toilets. Most modern sewage treatment systems are also designed to process specially designed toilet paper. The opposite of a flush toilet is a dry toilet, which uses no water for flushing.
A check valve, non-return valve, reflux valve, retention valve, foot valve, or one-way valve is a valve that normally allows fluid to flow through it in only one direction.
A siphon is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in an inverted "U" shape, which causes a liquid to flow upward, above the surface of a reservoir, with no pump, but powered by the fall of the liquid as it flows down the tube under the pull of gravity, then discharging at a level lower than the surface of the reservoir from which it came.
A plumbing fixture is an exchangeable device which can be connected to a plumbing system to deliver and drain water.
A backflow prevention device is used to protect potable water supplies from contamination or pollution due to backflow.
A double check valve or double check assembly (DCA) is a backflow prevention device designed to protect water supplies from contamination. It is different from the two-way check valves used in air brake systems on heavy trucks which select from the highest pressure source.
Sometimes called a check valve or a backflow preventer, a chemigation valve is an apparatus designed to protect water supplies from agricultural chemicals used during chemigation, the application of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides through irrigation water. Most chemigation valves consist of a spring-loaded check valve, a low pressure drain, an air and vacuum relief valve, and an injection port for introducing the chemicals downstream of the check valve. Many chemigation valves also have a 4-inch inspection port so that a person can reach inside and feel if the check valve is still functional. Some governments require the use of two chemigation valves installed in series if hazardous chemicals are to be injected.
A drain-waste-vent system is the combination of pipes and plumbing fittings that captures sewage and greywater within a structure and routes it toward a water treatment system. It includes venting to the exterior environment to prevent a vacuum from forming and impeding fixtures such as sinks, showers, and toilets from draining freely, and employs water-filled traps to block dangerous sewer gasses from entering a plumbed structure.
Main components found on a typical steam locomotive include:
Hydronics is the use of liquid water or gaseous water (steam) or a water solution as a heat-transfer medium in heating and cooling systems. The name differentiates such systems from oil and refrigerant systems.
An air gap, as related to the plumbing trade, is the unobstructed vertical space between the water outlet and the flood level of a fixture. Air gaps of appropriate design are legally required by water health and safety regulations in many countries. An air gap is the simplest form of a backflow prevention device.
A hydrostatic loop, though not often used in plumbing practice, is an arrangement of pipes formed into a vertical loop to prevent backflow of water within the plumbing potable water system. Since a siphon has a maximum height that it can work, a hydrostatic loop is built higher than 33 feet. There are several ways to prevent siphonage and an undesirable backflow of the water in a plumbing system.
An Atmospheric Vacuum Breaker (AVB) is a backflow prevention device used in plumbing to prevent backflow of non-potable liquids into the drinking water system.
A surface condenser is a water-cooled shell and tube heat exchanger installed to condense exhaust steam from a steam turbine in thermal power stations. These condensers are heat exchangers which convert steam from its gaseous to its liquid state at a pressure below atmospheric pressure. Where cooling water is in short supply, an air-cooled condenser is often used. An air-cooled condenser is however, significantly more expensive and cannot achieve as low a steam turbine exhaust pressure as a water-cooled surface condenser.
A pressure vacuum breaker (PVB) is a type of backflow prevention device, used to keep non-potable water from entering the water supply. A PVB is similar to an atmospheric vacuum breaker (AVB), except that the PVB contains a spring-loaded poppet. This makes it acceptable for applications that are high hazard or where valves are downstream. Pressure vacuum breakers must be protected from freezing when installed outdoors. PVBs usually have test cocks, to which specially-calibrated gauges are attached, in order to ensure that they are functioning properly.
A reduced pressure zone device is a type of backflow prevention device used to protect water supplies from contamination. RPZDs may also be known as reduced pressure principle (RP), reduced pressure principle backflow prevention devices, reduced pressure zone assemblies (RPZA), or reduced pressure principle assembly (RPPA).
In plumbing, a trap is a U-shaped portion of pipe designed to trap liquid or gas to prevent unwanted flow; most notably sewer gases from entering buildings while allowing waste materials to pass through. In oil refineries, traps are used to prevent hydrocarbons and other dangerous gases and chemical fumes from escaping through drains. In heating systems, the same feature is used to prevent thermo-siphoning which would allow heat to escape to locations where it is not wanted. Similarly, some pressure gauges are connected to systems using U bends to maintain a local gas while the system uses liquid. For decorative effect, they can be disguised as complete loops of pipe, creating more than one U for added efficacy.
Backflow is a term in plumbing for an unwanted flow of water in the reverse direction. It can be a serious health risk for the contamination of potable water supplies with foul water. In the most obvious case, a toilet flush cistern and its water supply must be isolated from the toilet bowl. For this reason, building codes mandate a series of measures and backflow prevention devices to prevent backflow.
