Qi Songchang, 52 years old, is an ordinary hairdresser in Qijiang Town, Yinzhou District. While inheriting his craft, he also created an invention—water tank water saving valve. His invention achievements won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Innovation Contest. Awards, and won a number of national patent certificates.

"Not business" invention water tank water saving valve

About 30 years ago, the 20-year-old Yan Master went to Shanghai to learn the skills of hairdressing and learned to return home. He started a barber shop named “Innovative Hairdressing” in Lijiang. Compared to many of today's luxuriously decorated barbershops, the only one-odd square meter barbershop in the Song Songchang is a vintage barber seat, a few stools, and some haircuts. However, this store is not only a studio for the master chef to work for a living, but also a research institute for water tank water saving valves.

Speaking of his own invention, Master Yan is particularly excited. “Old-fashioned toilet tanks are large. Most of them have more than 10 liters of water, and some even exceed 15 litres. When flushing water every time, because of the inability to control the amount of water, the water that switches the entire tank is flushed!”

Master Yan mourned and said: "This is too wasteful, so I want to be able to control the amount of water?" So, in 2006, he "had nothing to do" invented the invention. He drew up a sketch, consulted professionals and designed it. After several trials, he finally invented the first-generation water-saving valve. In 2007, Qin Songchang improved the water-saving valve, invented the second-generation water-saving valve, and has now invented the third-generation water-saving valve.

Water saving valve costs only a few dollars

Water tank water valve in the end is what kind of invention? In the barber shop, Master Yan uses a transparent model for live demonstrations. In a 15-litre tank, add water to about 10 liters. With a press of a button, the water in the tank sloping down, about 2 seconds later let go and a little blue plastic device, that is, the water tank water valve sinks in the water and closes The water stopped suddenly and the water line stopped at 5 liters. It can be seen that adding a water-saving valve to the water tank can save about 50% of flushing volume in one operation. “According to an average of 10 households per household, saving 6 liters per day, it is possible to save 60 liters of water a day and save 21.6 tons of water a year. There are at least 500,000 non-water-saving toilets in Ningbo, if you change water Valves can save more than 10 million tons of water each year," said Yan Songchang.

The principle of the water tank water saving valve is actually very simple. It is similar to the ordinary rubber valve. The rubber valve before the transformation needs to wait until the water is completely flushed before it can be closed. However, the water tank water saving valve is modified to make it lose its buoyancy, that is, from the original The intelligent automatic conversion is intelligent semi-automatic, which controls the amount of flushing by pressing the flush button for the length of time. Press the button to flush the water, wait for 1 to 2 seconds to clean the water when you loosen your hands, how much water you need to put, the water is more reasonable, the water saving effect is also significant, and the cost is only a few dollars, the installation is also more convenient.

Won the National First Prize and a number of patents

To this end, the water tank water valve won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Innovation Contest and won a number of national patent certificates. At the same time, the water-saving valve of the water tank has been supported by the municipal water-saving office and the city energy-saving center. At present, it has been financed by the government and promoted in Ningbo, Cixi, Wenzhou and other places, and has been welcomed by the general public. Last year alone, more than 18,000 were sold. As of December 2014, more than 70,000 water-saving valves have been installed in Ningbo City and surrounding cities, while reducing the discharge of wastewater by more than 1.4 million tons each year. Compared with the overall upgrade of old-fashioned toilets and replacement of water tank cores, water-saving valves are cheap and convenient, and the government has achieved water saving and sewage disposal in the old urban areas and public health systems. "The people can afford to buy and they can also install it. This is the reason why I designed the water saving valve." Yan Songchang said.

Yan Songchang said: "I hope my invention can be used by more people. Although the amount of water saved by a person seems to be very low, if everyone can save a little water, then it may be a reservoir!