Infrared (IR) technology touches all of our lives on a daily basis when we pick up a TV control unit or turn on a heater. In more specialist applications, IR is at the core of thermal imaging and night vision cameras for the military and police; it’s found in hospitals across the UK and even plays a role in art conservation. When it comes to specifying, refurbishing and designing bathrooms and washrooms in the residential and commercial arenas, occupancy-sensing product developments incorporating IR, have resulted in intelligent water management systems that deliver more energy and water resource saving, increased hygiene, convenience and end-user experience.

Urinal control evolution in commercial washrooms

Arguably, the industry standard for cistern-fed urinal applications is the ingenious hydraulic valve, first patented and launched by Cistermiser over 40 years ago. An automatic, purely mechanical method of supplying water to a urinal, the hydraulic valve, normally in the closed position, uses a simple mechanism that presents waste by ensuring an auto-flush cistern is only filled, and can only flush, when the washroom is used. Thanks to the fact it doesn’t require any power supply, more than 500,000 units have been installed in the UK. But infrared controlled, rather than hydraulic, valves are also popular for commercial washrooms due to their water efficiency. Products like the IRC, which automatically manage supply to the urinal cistern, activated when the PIR sensor detects movement and triggers the solenoid valve, can reduce water consumption by a staggering 80%. Alternatively, infrared sensor-controlled ‘direct flush’ mains-fed urinal valves are also available. These automatically flush individual urinals after use, thus ensuring the highest levels of hygiene from the minimum volume of water. ‘discreet’ sensor and ‘accessible’ sensor plate with solenoid valve configurations can be specified, depending on the desired aesthetic effect.

Total washroom control

If you’re designing larger commercial washrooms, innovative total washroom control systems, such as Sensazone, are also available. An effective way to conserve both water and energy, occupancy is monitored by IR sensors, so when someone enters the washroom, all services controlled by Sensazone can be activated, including hot and cold water supplies, lighting and ventilation extractor fans. IR also plays a role in controlling individual elements within a washroom, like the basin taps themselves, helping to reduce water and energy use and eliminate the potential for taps to be left running due to either malicious or accidental reasons. For obvious reasons, we’re also seeing significant demand for deck-mounted IR taps providing hygienic, hands-free operation, which are typically supplied with either 3.5 or 5 litres per minute flow rate nozzle options.

Consigning the toilet flush handle to history

Over recent years, IR has started to consign the traditional toilet flush handles to history in commercial and even domestic settings, thanks to its ability to offer hygienic, water-saving solutions. A range of infrared sensor-activated WC flushing valves for both new bathrooms and retrofit projects can be specified. With options for both cistern-fed and also mains-fed (cistern-free) systems for commercial applications, solutions are programmable in a variety of ways, giving full control over the volume of water used, and whether the toilet flush is activated by ‘touchless’ operation, with a wave of the hand, or ‘occupancy sensing’, simply by standing up and walking away. The precise positioning of IR sensors should be carefully considered during installation, to optimise either ‘wave’ or ‘walkaway’ no-touch toilet activation. For larger commercial washrooms, especially those with high traffic that require a fast turnaround, ‘direct’ infrared toilet flushing systems remove the need for a traditional WC cistern, taking water feed direct from the mains supply and allowing for a second flushes without any tedious delays.

Sociological changes

Bathroom and washroom design will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of our society and IR is certainly entrenched in the heart of ongoing product development. We are currently seeing a rise in the popularity of ‘gender-neutral’ washrooms across schools, coffee shops and theatres, but we shouldn’t forget that the urinal array in a traditional ‘Gents’ is there for a reason. It offers a fast and effective way to process high volume traffic in male washrooms, and with the use of IR, is also able to offer significant water conservation and hygiene benefits. We’ve all encountered bottle-necks during theatre or concert intervals, when suddenly, and within a short space of time, large numbers of people need to use the facilities. If urinals or gender-specific washrooms are completely overlooked in future building designs or facilities planning, imagine how much worse the already much-maligned, traditional ‘queue for the ladies’ will be? Sociological factors are also impacting on domestic bathroom design. The housing shortage has led to a rise in multi-generational households. Not only do WCs need to be appropriate for toddlers and young children, but they are also increasingly being called on to be suitable for an ageing population, possibly living with dementia and requiring help when using the toilet. With ‘touchless’ or ‘occupancy sensing’ activation options, this is where IR really comes into its own. IR-driven solutions will no doubt continue to shape the washrooms of the future, and with clever and generally unobtrusive product design, will deliver more efficient water usage with lower energy consumption, minimise health risks and most importantly, be truly fit for purpose.