Patent Application
20140153910
The present invention relates to devices and methods for improved airborne delivery of liquids containing one or more active materials wherein the active material comprises at least one of: a fragrance; an insecticide; a fungicide; a pesticide; a sanitising material; and/or a pharmaceutical.
Liquids, and commonly volatile liquids, containing one or more active materials wherein the active material comprises at least one of: a fragrance; an insecticide; a fungicide; a pesticide; a sanitising material; and/or a pharmaceutical are delivered within the domestic environment via a variety of mechanisms. Devices are available with heaters disposed therein to increase the rate of emanation from a surface saturated with the liquid, such a surface could be a wick saturated with a fragranced liquid and the heater is located adjacent the wick surface and nearby a chimney to heat the liquid on the wick surface and cause it to more readily evaporate and disseminate into the surrounding environment through the chimney.
Common wick and heater emanation systems typically comprise a refill of liquid and an emanation device containing a heater. In these common systems the refill consists of a bottle of liquid, typically a volatile liquid, wherein the bottle is sealed with a wick holder that contains a central aperture which grips a wick that extends from the base of bottle and through the wick holder to extend a short distance above the holder; the part of the wick which extends above the holder is the exposed part of the wick from where all emanation of the liquid takes place. When the refill is connected to the emanation device, the wick extends into a chimney of the device and the device has a heater located adjacent to the chimney to heat the wick directly or indirectly via the chimney to cause evaporation of the liquid from the exposed part of the wick. In use evaporated liquid travels up the chimney and out into the surround environment, the liquid in the exposed part of the wick is replenished due to the wicking/capillary action of the wick drawing up more liquid from the bottle.
One drawback with known refills containing a wick is that the efficiency of a particular wick material depends on the nature of the liquid, or component liquids within the liquid. Most available wick materials, such as those mentioned above, have a limited porosity and liquid transfer rate/evaporation rate due, at least in part, to fractionation and/or blocking/clogging of the wick. Fractionation over time will change the character and/or intensity of the active and will slow evaporation, this is particularly noticeable for fragrances wherein common wicks cause the ‘high notes’ of a fragrance to be evaporated when the wick is first exposed to the fragranced liquid, and the low notes' are evaporated thereafter which affects the user's experience.
The present invention is concerned with providing an improved refill and emanation device for a wick and heater emanation system that addresses many of the drawbacks associated with such systems.
According a first aspect of the present invention there is provided therefore a device for emanating a liquid wherein the device is for use with a refill of liquid, wherein the device comprises:
a housing with at least one exit port for emanated liquid therein;
a hollow and elongate extraction limb having at least one aperture therein to define a fluid flow path from the said at least one aperture into the hollow extraction limb and to said at least one exit port;
a heater that, in use, can transfer heat therefrom to at least a part of the extraction limb.
In a preferred embodiment the extraction limb is made from a heat-conductive material, most preferably from a metal or metal alloy, and the heater is fixed in contact therewith to allow heat emitted from the heater to pass via conduction into the extraction limb.
In an alternative or additional embodiment the heater may extend within the extraction limb to define a substantially central core within the limb wherein the fluid flow path within the hollow limb is defined from the at least one aperture to the at least one exit port by travelling between an outer surface of the heater and an inner surface of the extraction limb. The heater may extend into the extraction limb to at least 25% of the limb's length, and preferably extends into the extraction limb to at least 50% of the limb's length, and even more preferably extends into the extraction limb to at least 75% of the limb's length. The extraction limb is preferably made from a heat-conductive material, most preferably from a metal or metal alloy.
Common to both preferred embodiments is that the extraction limb is intended to be inserted within a refill of liquid and emit sufficient heat within the refill to volatilise the liquid and cause said volatilised liquid to enter the at least one aperture and along the fluid pathway to the at least one exit port and into the device's surrounding environment.
Preferably the device is intended for use with a resealable refill such that when the extraction limb is not inserted within the refill the refill remains sealed and fluid-tight.
The heater is configured to impart enough heat to volatilise the liquid but not enough heat to boil the liquid.
The extraction limb is preferably substantially cylindrical.
A plurality of apertures may be provided in the extraction limb and these apertures are preferably provided in side walls of the limb. The plurality of apertures may be located in the side walls over a minor surface area relative to the total area of said side walls. Alternatively the plurality of apertures may be located in the side walls over a major surface area relative to the total area of said side walls.
The refill of liquid that may be used with the device according to the first aspect of the present invention preferably comprises:
a refill housing;
at least one reservoir in the refill housing for holding the liquid, wherein the liquid contains one or more active materials;
at least one aperture in the refill housing sealed by at least one valve wherein said at least one valve defines a liquid pathway from the reservoir to the exterior of the refill, wherein at least one of said valve(s) is configured to be automatically resealable when not being held open;
and at least one wick housed entirely within the refill housing.
Although a plurality of apertures may be provided, preferably the refill housing has a single aperture. The aperture is preferably located in an upper wall of the refill housing. It is to be understood that reference to an “upper wall” is made relative to the other walls of the refill housing purely for the purpose of spatially describing the refill and, unless otherwise stated, is not to be understood as imparting any restrictive orientation on the refill itself.
The aperture(s) is preferably located in a substantially central position of said upper wall or located in a position removed from the periphery of the upper wall.
The upper wall of the refill housing preferably faces a lower wall and is connected thereto by one or more side walls. When the valve(s) in the aperture(s) is held in an open position, an elongate column of space within the interior of the refill housing extending from the valve(s) to the lower wall of the housing is defined, hereinafter referred to as the elongate column.
The at least one wick preferably substantially surrounds the elongate column. Most preferably one wick is provided and said one wick is hollow in order to surround the elongate column. Alternatively the said one wick may be C-shaped or the like to partially or substantially surround the elongate column. As a further alternative a plurality of wicks may be provided which are spaced apart from each other to partially or substantially surround the elongate column.
The at least one wick may be fixed within the housing to the upper wall or adjacent thereto and extends therefrom toward the lower wall to terminate adjacent thereto or terminate by contacting the lower wall. Alternatively the at least one wick may be fixed within the housing to the lower wall or adjacent thereto and extends therefrom toward the upper wall to terminate adjacent thereto or terminate by contacting the upper wall. As a further alternative, the at least one wick may be fixed at one end within the housing to the upper wall or adjacent thereto and is fixed at its other end to the lower wall or adjacent thereto. Such arrangements permit the wick(s) to be well placed to contact liquid held within the reservoir almost regardless of the orientation of the refill.
Although the refill may have more than one reservoir, and it is preferable that when there is more than one reservoir more than one wick is also present wherein no wick has access to more than one reservoir. The most preferred arrangement however comprises the refill having a single reservoir and preferably the boundaries of the single reservoir are provided by inner surfaces of the refill housing walls.
The at least one valve may be provided by a single automatically resealable valve. The single valve may be provided in the form of a self-sealing liquid-tight valve, such as a silicone valve or the like. Alternatively the single valve may be provided in the form of a movable sealing closure means that is biased towards a closed position by a biasing means, in this arrangement a sealing means such as an O-ring or the like may also be located around the movable sealing closure means to ensure a liquid-tight seal when said closure means is in a closed position and/or the sealing means such as an O-ring may be located in the periphery of the aperture to add a sealing function against any means that are not a part of the refill used to open the closure means.
In a preferred arrangement however, the or each aperture is provided with at least two valves. When at least two valves are provided a downstream valve (i.e. the valve closest to the reservoir) and an upstream valve is provided. The downstream valve is preferably provided by a self-sealing liquid-tight valve, such as a rubber, rubberised, silicone slit or cross valve or the like, wherein the valve tends toward a closed position when not being held open, or provided by a sealing means biased into a closed position by a deformable biasing means such as a spring means or the like. The upstream valve is preferably provided as an annular ring which is preferably an open ring that is not able to prevent fluid flow therethrough. Preferably the annular ring is supported on a flexible annular skirt. The opening in the annular ring is preferably provided with a diameter of between 0.1-20.0 mm, and more preferably with a diameter of between 3.0-15.0 mm, and even more preferably with a diameter of between 4.0-10.0 mm, and most preferably with a diameter of between 5.0-7.0 mm. Whilst the annular ring is preferably provided in a circular shape other shapes may be permissible providing the shape is capable of performing the sealing function required of it, such shapes include substantially circular shapes, oval shapes, diamond shapes and such like.
The downstream valve is preferably operable to prevent any fluid within the refill from escaping until the downstream valve is opened and the upstream valve is operable to sealingly engage with liquid extraction means that are part of the emanation device which enter the refill to open a liquid pathway from the refill into the device. In this arrangement the downstream and upstream valves cooperate in that the downstream valve does not need to be optimised to seal against the liquid extraction means that open the valve as the upstream valve can be configured to undertake that task and, vice versa, the upstream valve need not be optimised to form a liquid-tight seal as the downstream seal can be optimised for that task. Furthermore, the open appearance of the upstream valve provides a user with a visual cue to aim either the liquid extraction means from the emanation device or use as a guide when loading the refill onto said means.
In one preferred embodiment the downstream valve and the upstream valve are formed as separate pieces that are held adjacent but spaced apart from each other. In a most preferred embodiment however the downstream valve and the upstream valve are formed as a one piece component.
In a most preferred embodiment the refill is provided with a single aperture closed by a valve system comprising two valves wherein one of said valves is configured to be automatically resealable when not being held open and the other of said valves is provided in the form of an annular ring valve.
Advantageously the valve system(s) of the present invention may ameliorate, and for some types of liquid substantially completely remove, the damaging effects of fractionation as all the liquid and any naturally volatilised quantity thereof are retained within the refill until extraction is required.
Said at least one valve could be adjustable to affect the flow rate of the liquid therethrough. The adjustability may be facilitated manually by a user and/or due to an automated function of a device to which the refill is connected and said automated function may be controlled automatically by the device or may be in response to a user input into the device. Adjustability may be particularly useful when the device is configured to emanate the liquid passively and/or extract the liquid passively such as by gravity feed.
The refill housing may be made of any material suitable for retaining a liquid containing one or more active materials, such suitable materials include glass, certain plastics materials and the like. The refill housing is preferably made from a material that is transparent or at least translucent or is provided with a section thereof adjacent the reservoir(s) that is substantially transparent or translucent to permit a user to easily determine whether the refill contains any liquid and/or the level of said liquid.
The wick(s) may be made of any material that is capable of wicking a liquid, such suitable materials include plastics materials such as cintered polyethylene, cellulose, woods such as balsa or bamboo, reeds such as rattan.
The refill may be provided with one or more vent holes in the housing, said vent holes being provided in the form of a one-way valve that is in communication with the reservoir but does not facilitate a liquid pathway therefrom rather it solely permits air to enter the reservoir from the outside of the refill to prevent or reduce any build up of negative air pressure within the refill as liquid is removed therefrom. The vent hole(s) may be covered with a gas permeable membrane. Preferably however, the vent hole(s) is not covered and is sized such that the liquid may not escape therefrom or that the rate of escape would be sufficiently low as to not be relevant for the safe operation of the refill with a device configured to operate with the refill to emanate liquid obtained therefrom.
The refill may further comprise one or more diptubes therein.
According a second aspect of the present invention there is provided therefore a system for emanating a liquid comprising a device and a refill of liquid, wherein the device comprises:
a housing with at least one exit port for emanated liquid therein;
a hollow and elongate extraction limb having at least one aperture therein to define a fluid flow path from the said at least one aperture into the hollow extraction limb and to said at least one exit port;
a heater that, in use, can transfer heat therefrom to at least a part of the extraction limb; and wherein the refill comprises:
a refill housing;
at least one reservoir in the refill housing for holding the liquid, wherein the liquid contains one or more active materials;
at least one aperture in the refill housing sealed by at least one valve wherein said at least one valve defines a liquid pathway from the reservoir to the exterior of the refill, wherein at least one of said valve(s) is configured to be automatically resealable when not being held open;
and at least one wick housed entirely within the refill housing.
According a third aspect of the present invention there is provided therefore a device for emanating a liquid wherein the device is for use with a refill of liquid and wherein the device comprises:
a housing with at least one exit port for emanated liquid therein;
a hollow and elongate extraction limb having at least one aperture therein to define a fluid flow path from the said at least one aperture into the hollow extraction limb and to said at least one exit port;
a heater that, in use, can transfer heat therefrom to at least a part of the refill of liquid.
According a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided therefore a system for emanating a liquid comprising a device and a refill of liquid, wherein the device comprises:
a housing with at least one exit port for emanated liquid therein;
a hollow and elongate extraction limb having at least one aperture therein to define a fluid flow path from the said at least one aperture into the hollow extraction limb and to said at least one exit port;
a heater that, in use, can transfer heat therefrom to at least a part of the refill of liquid;
and wherein the refill comprises:
a refill housing;
at least one reservoir in the refill housing for holding the liquid, wherein the liquid contains one or more active materials;
at least one aperture in the refill housing sealed by at least one valve wherein said at least one valve defines a liquid pathway from the reservoir to the exterior of the refill, wherein at least one of said valve(s) is configured to be automatically resealable when not being held open;
and at least one wick housed entirely within the refill housing.
In the third and fourth aspects of the present invention the heater is disposed within the device to impart, in use, heat therefrom toward the refill, but not necessarily via the extraction limb, to volatilise the liquid in the refill to cause said volatilised liquid to enter said at least one aperture of the extraction limb and travel toward the exit port(s) of the device.
Any of the features described herein may be combined with any of the above aspects in any combination.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings in which:
Although not shown in
A mechanism that is suitable for a gravity-fed emanation device is shown in
A mechanism that is suitable for a heated emanation device is shown in
A mechanism that is suitable for a heated emanation device is shown in
Although not shown, the end of the housing 1 containing the valve 6 may be substantially square in shape and guide means (not shown) in a chassis (not shown) of each emanation device) could cooperate with grooves in the refill housing (not shown) to ensure that the refill could only be engaged with the chassis if the limb 11 is correctly aligned to open valve 6. Although not illustrated, the end of the refill housing containing the valve 6 could be shaped such that the loading thereof into the chassis was only possible via a single orientation of that end of the refill.
All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.
Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1110693.7 | Jun 2011 | GB | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/GB2012/051454 | 6/22/2012 | WO | 00 | 2/25/2014 |
