Patent Application
20230302475
This claims priority from European Application No. 22164746.4, filed Mar. 28, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The invention relates primarily to a liquid dispenser for discharging an in particular pharmaceutical or cosmetic liquid which is produced by mixing two or more starting liquids. In the case of a generic liquid dispenser, it is provided that it has an independent liquid dispenser for each of the starting liquids. Separate storage of the starting liquids until the time they are discharged can be offered, depending on the starting liquids, because the direct storage of the ready-mixed liquid in a common liquid dispenser would impair its quality.
In the case of a generic liquid dispenser, the starting liquids are delivered in the course of the discharge by a common pump device or by separate pump devices to a discharge opening and are mixed with each other in the process.
Production of a liquid dispenser with more than one liquid reservoir makes it harder to fill the liquid dispenser. In practice, it is problematic to fill a reservoir component with two liquid reservoirs and then to install the pump devices and/or the discharge head thereon.
The object of the invention is to propose a liquid dispenser of the generic type which allows filling in an advantageous fashion. The object is furthermore to propose a filling method suitable therefor.
Proposed according to the invention is a liquid dispenser for dispensing a cosmetic or pharmaceutical liquid which is produced by mixing two starting liquids.
This liquid dispenser usually has, in the already described fashion, at least two liquid reservoirs for holding the two starting liquids. The liquid reservoirs define a main direction of extent of the liquid dispenser. The walls of the liquid reservoirs are in particular preferably designed cylindrically, at least partially, relative to the main direction of extent.
The liquid reservoirs are preferably formed at least primarily by one or each main reservoir body which isolates the liquid reservoirs relative to the surroundings. At least one partition wall is provided between the liquid reservoirs such that the starting liquids in the liquid reservoirs do not mix with each other. In the case of a structure in which two separate main reservoir bodies each predominantly define a liquid reservoir, at least two partition walls are provided between the liquid reservoirs.
A liquid dispenser according to the invention has at least one discharge opening through which the mixed liquid is discharged. Designs in which separate discharge openings are provided and the liquids are mixed only downstream from the discharge openings during the application are also conceivable.
The liquid dispenser according to the invention furthermore has at least one pump device by means of which liquid is delivered from the liquid reservoirs to the discharge opening. Each liquid reservoir is preferably provided with an independent pump device, these at least two pump devices in particular preferably, however, being mechanically coupled such that they are always simultaneously activated at least intermittently. The two outlet sides of the preferably at least two pump devices are preferably connected to a common mixing duct in which the starting liquids are brought together.
The liquid dispenser preferably has a push actuator which can be displaced relative to the liquid reservoirs separately from the discharge opening or together with the discharge opening. The at least one pump device is coupled thereto in such a way that the displacement of the push actuator causes activation of the pump device.
In order to remove the liquid from the liquid reservoirs, a respective intake opening, through which liquid can be drawn to the pump device, is provided at a respective top end which is provided on the same side as the at least one pump device and the at least one discharge opening. A respective intake tube which extends as far as the opposite bottom end of the liquid reservoir is provided at these at least two intake openings.
The use of the liquid dispenser takes place in an orientation in which the bottom end of the liquid reservoir faces downwards and the top end faces upwards. The starting liquids are drawn out of the liquid reservoirs by means of the pump devices, wherein the intake tubes which project freely from the extraction openings into the liquid reservoirs and are consequently surrounded by liquid cause the liquid to be removed from the bottom end of the liquid reservoir.
In a liquid reservoir according to the invention, it is provided that the liquid reservoir is filled in an inverted position with an upward facing bottom end of the liquid reservoir. For this purpose, a respective filling opening is provided in a base region of the liquid reservoir at the bottom end.
This type of filling has been proved to offer considerable advantages. A dispenser according to the invention can thus be completely installed, apart from a reservoir base component or stopper, before the filling takes place.
The filling opening can be formed by the common main reservoir body being still open at its bottom end during the filling such that the liquid can be introduced through these open bottom ends of the at least two liquid reservoirs and the open ends can then be closed by means of a common stopper or by means of separate stoppers or by means of a reservoir base component.
It is advantageous if the liquid reservoirs have a reservoir base in the base region, wherein the reservoir bases of both liquid reservoirs are preferably formed by a common reservoir base component which is connected to the said main reservoir body in particular preferably liquid-tightly. In particular, the reservoir base component or the reservoir base components can be connected leaktightly to the main reservoir body by being adhesively bonded or welded. A simple press-fit can also be sufficient, wherein for this purpose the main reservoir body preferably ends in each case in a round opening into which the reservoir base components with a correspondingly round outside are pushed.
In the case of a design with one or more reservoir base components, the filling openings are preferably designed as perforations in this preferably common reservoir base component.
The reservoir base can preferably serve the purpose of holding the respective intake tube in a position which, when the liquid reservoirs are filled with the starting liquids, prevents a corresponding filling needle from colliding with the intake tubes.
For this purpose, it is considered to be particularly advantageous if the reservoir bases each have a holding geometry by means of which a bottom end of the respective intake tube is kept away from the respective filling opening. The reservoir base extends for this purpose so far in the direction of the top end of the liquid reservoir that it projects into the region of the respective intake tube and mechanically keeps it at a distance from the filling opening. In particular, the filling opening which perforates the reservoir base can have a supporting wall which surrounds the respective filling opening. The intake tube is arranged at the level of the supporting wall, offset relative to the filling opening transversely to the main direction of extent and is consequently arranged outside the supporting wall. Because of the supporting wall, it cannot pass into the region of the filling opening.
The reservoir bases are preferably each provided with oblique guide surfaces at least in some places. By virtue of these, the intake tubes can be pushed away from the respective filling opening during the installation of the liquid dispenser, in particular during the attachment of the correspondingly designed reservoir base component.
Alternatively or additionally, it can be provided that barrier sections, which are arranged inside the respective liquid reservoir so that they are flush with the respective filling openings and are thus arranged between the filling openings and the intake openings, are provided in the base region of the liquid reservoirs. An essentially straight or slightly curved intake tube can thus not project into the filling opening and instead is kept away from it by the barrier section. An upper side of the barrier sections is preferably provided with an oblique plane or with an upward tapering shape in order to push the intake tube to one side during the installation.
In order to promote simple production of the plastic individual parts, the barrier sections can be formed by inserts which are separate from the reservoir base component and are fastened to the reservoir base component, in particular in the filling openings by means of a clamped or latched connection.
A further possible design for fixing the position of the intake tube and positioning it away from the filling opening provides that the intake tube is secured in particular in the region of an outer wall of the liquid dispenser by means of a supporting means spaced apart from the intake opening. The supporting means can be provided, for example, on the inner side of the outer wall.
The intake tube can be effectively kept away from the filling opening by the barrier sections and the described design of the reservoir base and by the supporting means on the outer wall. In particular, this allows the intake opening to which the intake tube is attached and the filling opening to be provided in a flush arrangement relative to the main direction of extent. This is advantageous in particular in the case of slim elongated liquid dispensers.
If the shape of the liquid reservoir allows it, it can, however, be advantageous to arrange the intake openings so that they are offset relative to the filling openings with respect to the main direction of extent. In the case of a straight intake tube which extends downwards in a straight line from the intake opening, it can consequently be effected or facilitated that the intake tube does not pass into the region of the filling opening and consequently make the filling process harder.
After filling, the filling openings are closed, preferably by means of stoppers which are pressed into the filling openings. The filling openings are preferably round and as a result this facilitates leaktight closure. The at least two stoppers are preferably formed by a common stopper component.
It can be provided to hold the filling openings already closed by means of a temporary stopper in a state before the filling. Such a temporary stopper can keep an interior of the liquid reservoir sterile during handling. The temporary stoppers can be pushed into the respective liquid reservoir from outside in order then to be able to carry out the filling.
The temporary stoppers are preferably designed as a single piece and in particular are attached to a surrounding wall of the respective filling opening preferably by means of a film hinge. Alternatively, the filling openings can be closed before filling by a thin membrane which may be integral with the surrounding wall and is perforated before or during the introduction of the filling nozzles.
In preferred designs of the dispenser with two liquid reservoirs, the latter are arranged so that they are situated next to each other at least in an upper region, i.e. such that neither of the two liquid reservoirs completely surrounds the other with respect to the cross-section.
It can, however, be provided that the second liquid reservoir surrounds the first liquid reservoir at least in a base region of the liquid reservoir, i.e. is provided circumferentially on all sides of the inner first liquid reservoir. The partition wall between the liquid reservoirs is then designed in the base region as an annular partition wall which surrounds a first filling opening of the first liquid reservoir and which is surrounded by a second filling opening of the second liquid reservoir. This concentric arrangement of the filling openings allows the liquid reservoirs to be filled whatever the rotated position.
The described concentric arrangement of the liquid reservoirs is preferably restricted to the base region, wherein the liquid reservoirs are arranged next to each other in the manner described in an upper region. A transfer wall structure, which transfers the non-annular partition wall in the upper region into the annular partition wall in the base region is provided in a transition region.
In order to ensure that the intake tube assumes in the base region a position which is unproblematic for the filling process, it can also be provided that a lower subsection of the intake tube is firmly connected to a reservoir base component. The intake tube or a part thereof is in this case already fastened to the reservoir base component or is an integral part thereof before the latter is installed.
The intake tube is joined to the intake opening or a part of the intake tube there during installation. Guide surfaces on the base, for example with an inner or outer funnel structure, for the guided placement of the intake tube onto the intake opening are preferably provided on the intake tube. The guide surfaces are preferably provided on a plurality of individual ribs in the form of lead-in slopes.
The above described structure of the liquid reservoirs is provided in particular for dispensers with two liquid reservoirs. It can, however, also be used with dispensers with three or more liquid reservoirs and preferably the same number of pump devices. The aspects of the invention mentioned with respect to the structure of the liquid dispensers furthermore also extend to dispensers with just one liquid reservoir.
In addition to the described dispenser, the invention also comprises a method for producing and in particular filling a liquid dispenser. The liquid dispenser has in the manner already described above at least two liquid reservoirs, for each of which a filling opening is provided in the base region of the liquid reservoirs. The liquid reservoirs are preferably provided in the above described manner with a design in which the intake tube does not project into the region of the filling opening.
The liquid reservoirs are filled with an orientation of the liquid dispenser in which the filling openings face upwards and accordingly a discharge opening and/or a push actuator face downwards. A filling head with two or correspondingly more filling nozzles is provided which simultaneously or successively enter the filling openings of the dispenser and there dispense the respective starting liquid. The liquid reservoirs are thus filled. The liquid reservoirs are then closed by means of stoppers or by means of a closed reservoir base component.
A reservoir base component in which the at least one filling opening is provided has preferably already been attached to a main reservoir body during the installation of the dispenser and before it is filled, at least one intake tube of the liquid reservoir having been pushed away from the at least one filling opening by the reservoir base component in the course of this attachment.
In the case of a design of the filling opening with a concentric arrangement, the filling is preferably effected by means of a filling head which has an inner filling nozzle and an outer filling nozzle, wherein the inner filling nozzle is arranged inside the outer filling nozzle. The inner filling nozzle is preferably separated from a liquid-guidance region of the outer filling nozzle by a double-shell intermediate wall. An outer shell of the intermediate wall is arranged outside the annular partition wall of the liquid reservoirs during the filling and an inner shell of the intermediate wall is arranged inside this partition wall during the filling.
As well as the structure of the reservoir base, a special design of the filling nozzles used can also ensure that an intake tube does not obstruct the filling process. For this purpose, it is provided that the liquid is dispensed through at least one lateral outlet opening provided on the side of the filling nozzle. The shape of the filling nozzle with a displacement geometry at its distal end face preferably causes the intake tube, when it enters the filling opening, to slide on the end face, in particular preferably away from the lateral outlet opening.
In the filled state, the liquid reservoirs are filled with starting liquids which, when mixed, form a cosmetic or pharmaceutical liquid, which can, in particular, be a formulation which contains nitrogen oxide (NO).
Further advantages and aspects of the invention can be found in the claims and the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention which are explained below with the aid of the Figures.
In order to activate the pump devices 30, the liquid dispenser has a push actuator 12 which acts on piston components 34 of both pump devices 30 and therefore activates them simultaneously. As a result, liquid is pushed in the direction of the discharge opening 22 from the pump chambers of the pump devices.
The pump devices 30 are designed to deliver liquid from two elongated liquid reservoirs 40. They are each fastened by means of an upper pump housing part 32B to an intermediate wall closing the liquid dispenser 40 at the top. The pump devices 30 extend with a lower pump housing component 32A into the liquid reservoirs 40. Respective intake openings 38 are provided at the bottom end of the pump devices 30, wherein an intake tube 42, which extends into a base region of the liquid reservoirs 40, is in each case attached to these intake openings 38. The purpose of these intake tubes 42 is to draw liquid from the bottom end of the liquid reservoirs such that the dispenser 10 can be used in the orientation illustrated in
The liquid reservoirs 40 are delimited primarily by a main reservoir body 14 which predominantly forms both an outer wall 43 and a partition wall 41. A reservoir base 50 is provided at the bottom end of the liquid dispenser 10 in order to close the main reservoir body 14, wherein it is formed in the present case by a separately produced reservoir base component 16 which is connected to the main reservoir body 14, for example, by means of a welded connection, a press-fit connection or an adhesively bonded connection.
The reservoir base 50 has two filling openings 60 which, in the state in
This design of the reservoir base which is capable of ensuring the position of the bottom ends of the intake tubes serves to facilitate the filling of the liquid dispenser 10.
The filling process is illustrated in
In the state in
The design in
The stoppers 51 ensure that the interior of the liquid reservoirs 40 is insulated with respect to the surroundings during the handling of the still empty liquid dispensers 10 and hence can be kept sterile.
Only when the filling head 200 enters the filling openings 60 with the filling nozzles 210 during filling in the manner illustrated in
After the filling has ended, other stopper components 70 are inserted into the filling openings in the manner illustrated in
It can alternatively also be provided that the reservoir base component 16 is already fastened on the main reservoir body 14 before the installation of the pump devices 30, for example by press-fitting, welding or adhesive bonding, and that, when the pump devices 30 with the intake tubes 42 already attached thereto are inserted, the barrier sections 52 correspondingly push the intake tubes to one side.
In the design in
An essential advantage found here is that the rotational position of the liquid dispenser 10 has no relevance during the filling. A complex orienting process can therefore be omitted.
As illustrated in
In the design in
As shown in
However, special filling nozzles 210 are used here. These two filling nozzles 210 are provided at their far end with a displacement geometry 216, in the present case with a tip which tapers downwards with respect to
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22164746.4 | Mar 2022 | EP | regional |
