EP1381557B1 - Filling head - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for distributing and dosing pasty, liquid, semi-liquid or pulverulent products comprises a valve body which is provided with a through channel for moving the product from a feed opening to a delivery nozzle in dosed quantities. A valve seat is formed in the channel and a valve is mounted in the channel. The product through channel comprises a rectilinear product, passage segment in which the valve seat is disposed and in which the valve and the valve rod extend axially and in full. Moreover, the valve drive mechanism penetrates the product passage segment at least in part. The drive mechanism is in contact with the product such that the mechanical link between the valve rod and the drive mechanism is also in contact with the product and is lubricated by the product.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for dispensing and precision dosing pasty products with high or low surface tension, which can also be used for the dosed dispensing of liquid or semi-liquid products with high or low surface tension or still pulverulent products with high or low agglomeration power.

Cosmetic, pharmaceutical, chemical and other industries require very high levels of precision of the order of half a milligram for the determination of the various constituents entering the various compositions. The manual production of these compositions with the required precision is particularly long and tedious and proves incompatible with mass production. Another defect of the manual methods is that they can give rise to multiple dosing errors or compositions.

The state of the art offers numerous solutions for automating the manufacture of the various compositions. Thus, there are known devices for dispensing dosed quantities of liquids with which it is possible to produce various compositions in an automated manner. These devices are specifically designed for the dispensing and dosing of liquid or semi-liquid products, and are not suitable for dosed dispensing of pasty products with a high surface tension and for the dosing of powdered products. A device of this type is known in particular from patent EP 929 498 of the applicant. This device has the advantage over those of the state of the art to dose the products with a precision of the order of half a milligram.

Devices are also known for dispensing metered quantities of powdery products. One of the disadvantages of these devices lies in the fact that they can not be used for dosing liquids or pasty products. Moreover, their lack of precision limits their scope. The applicant's patent application WO 98/35896 provides an effective solution to the lack of precision, however this device can only distribute powdery products.

Devices for the distribution of pasty products are also known. If it is possible to use some of them for the distribution of liquids, their main drawback lies in their lack of precision. This is mainly because the surface tension of the pasty products, is opposed to the free flow of the tails of doses, the latter are generally in the form of more or less long filaments and more or less thick. These dose tails, weight values variable from one distribution to another, remain, in most cases, suspended from the dispensing nozzle. It is therefore important to separate the dose tail from the dispensing nozzle to complete the dosage and ensure the accuracy of the dispensing nozzle. It has been thought to use cutting or scraping members to ensure this separation, but the use of such elements does not solve the problem, the surface tension of the pasty product being such that the dose tail remains attached to these organs. We could ensure the dosing by weighing the container into which the product is poured. But because of the random adherence of the dose tail to the dispensing nozzle, the precision of the dosage could be annihilated by the unexpected fall of this tail of dose in the container. It would also be possible to blow blow the dose tail to prevent it from falling into the container, but such a solution can only be adopted for current products with reduced costs. For particularly expensive products, such as those based on essential oils, used in the field of perfumery or containing active ingredients such as those used in the field of cosmetology or pharmacology, such a solution would entail substantial financial losses and with certain types of products, significant pollution of the immediate environment of the distribution station.

The same problems are found to a lesser degree for the dosed distribution of liquid or semi-liquid products. For such products, the dose tails are generally in the form of more or less large drops.

Finally, patent application US 5,150,743A discloses a dispensing and dosing device according to the preamble of claim 1.

The requirement of a very high precision of the order of half milligram, especially for the dosage of pasty products is currently incompatible with high production rates. Indeed, the main parameter that directly influences these rates is the value of the delivery rate of these products. High flow rates imply high velocities with current devices that greatly increase the kinetic energy of the flow. It should be noted that for a precision dosing, the container intended to receive the flow is placed on a precision balance whose measurement can be greatly disturbed by the sudden dissipation of the kinetic energy of the flow during the flow. impact of the latter with the container or with the product already contained in this container. The applicant has already solved this problem for the dosing of liquid and powdery products, but the solutions used can not be used for the dosing of pasty products.

Obtaining a high degree of precision for the assay, assumes a perfect control of the degree of opening of the shutter element of the metering device. Typically in known systems, this shutter member is constituted by a valve whose tail cooperates with an actuating mechanism. For a rigorous control of the degree of opening of the valve, the state of the art teaches including the use of actuating mechanism in the form of screw and nut driven by the output shaft of a motor of the electric kind. Such means, although simple, are complicating the production of the metering device.

The actuating mechanism of the valve, to function properly is periodically lubricated. To prevent any pollution of the product to be delivered by the lubricating fluids, the actuating mechanism is mounted in a chamber separated from the product passageway in the device by sealing elements. Such a commonly used solution complicates the realization of the device without completely eliminating the risk of pollution due to the wear required sealing elements.

Another factor that may affect the accuracy of the assay is the ease of flow of the product through the device. Valve devices (that is to say shutter member movable perpendicular to the seat) are well suited if is preferred the possibility of a precise adjustment of the flow while maintaining a laminar flow, but corollary valve arrangements known imply a product passageway, bent in particular at the seat. These elbows are factors of loss of loads and for pasty products can constitute niches of product retention. Such a disadvantage is not found in valve devices (that is to say shutter member movable parallel to the seat) which allow the realization of a rectilinear passageway. However, although the flow rate can be adjusted by appropriate positioning of the valve, this type of configuration can generate turbulence downstream of the valve that can transform a laminar flow turbulent flow, likely to affect the accuracy of the assay.

Finally, the requirement of a high yield in the production of compositions from different products delivered in perfectly dosed quantities assumes that all of these products and their dispensing devices are grouped together within the same unit. These arrangements for liquid and powder delivery devices are described in the applicant's prior patents. The advantage of these prior arrangements is that they provide only one motor to operate the different metering devices, which with the associated product tanks, are mounted on a mobile structure, for example a turntable, to be brought facing the actuating motor. This way of doing simplifies the realization of all, and facilitates the order. The advantage is to be able to use such a configuration for pasty product delivery devices, but the valve devices of the prior art do not lend themselves to such organization.

The present invention aims to solve the aforementioned problems by providing a universal device that can be used for the metered dispensing of all types of products they are pasty, liquid, semi-liquid or powder with which it is possible to to obtain a very high degree of precision in the metering with simple mechanical means, robust and machined with the tolerances of the current mechanics.

Another object of the present invention is the implementation of a device for dispensing and dosing of pasty products which allows to combine the precision of the dosage and the speed of distribution of the product.

Another object of the present invention is the production of a device for dispensing and dosing pasty products whose closure member is constituted by a valve and for which the pressure losses have been reduced.

Another object of the present invention is the production of a device for dispensing and dosing pasty, liquid or semi-liquid products with a high surface tension or pulverulent products with high agglomeration power.

Another objective of the present invention is to obtain a very high degree of precision in the determination of pasty, liquid, semi-liquid and powdery products, this degree of precision being able to reach a tenth of a milligram.

Another object of the present invention is the production of a device for the dispensing and dosing of pasty, liquid or semi-liquid products with a high surface tension or of pulverulent products with a high agglomeration power which, on the one hand, ensures separation of the dose tail without use of mechanical organs such as doctor blades and others coming into contact with the product and secondly the fall of this dose tail in the container in which is dispensed the dose.

For this purpose, the device for the dosed dispensing of pasty or liquid or semi-liquid or powdery products, comprises a device body in which is formed a conduit for the passage of the product from an introduction orifice to a delivery nozzle of the product. in metered quantities. A valve seat is formed in said conduit and a valve is mounted therein so as to be slidable thereon and can be applied against the valve seat or be spaced from the valve seat to either prohibit the delivery of the product or allow this deliverance. The valve is provided with a valve stem which is slidably mounted in a guide bore and cooperates with a drive mechanism for actuating the valve away from the seat or towards the valve seat, the product passageway comprises a straight segment of passage of the product in which segment is disposed the valve seat and extend axially and in all the valve and the valve stem and in which segment at least partially penetrates the actuating mechanism of the valve, this the mechanism being in contact with the product so that the mechanical connection between the valve stem and the actuating mechanism is also in contact with the product and is lubricated by the product itself, the actuating mechanism of the valve comprises, at least one elastic member acting as a thrust on the valve and biasing the latter towards the seat and thus towards a closed position and on the other hand actuating geometry, guided axially in a bore of the device body, which bore is transverse to the rectilinear segment of conduit and opens into said segment, said rod coming into contact with the valve stem to act in thrust on the latter, the contact between the valve stem and the actuating mechanism being established by two sliding surfaces, one of which is formed on the valve stem and the other on the actuating rod, the said two surfaces being located in the rectilinear segment passage of the product, characterized in that at least one of said surfaces is flat and oblique with respect to the geometric axis of displacement of the valve between its open and closed positions and oblique with respect to the geometric axis of displacement of the actuating rod, so that when the actuating rod is moved by a drive member in the direction of depression into the device body, the valve is Cartee of its seat under the effect of the thrust exerted by the sliding surface of the actuating rod on the sliding surface of the valve stem.

This provides a particularly simple and inexpensive actuation mechanism.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the oblique sliding surface forms with the geometric axis of displacement of the actuating rod, an acute angle of value less than 45 degrees. Thanks to this characteristic, a given displacement of the actuating rod will be accompanied by a less displacement of the valve. This results in a reduction effect of the movement of the valve leading to a better positional accuracy of the latter.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the guide bore of the actuating rod is perpendicular to the passage section of the product.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the straight section of passage of the product is vertical.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the product passage is vertical and extends rectilinearly from an inlet of the product to a delivery port of the latter.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the motor member ensuring the displacement of the actuating rod is external to the device and independent of the latter.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the dispensing nozzle of the product is associated with a device for blowing a fluid under pressure to detach, under the effect of the blast or under the effect of the depression or the pressure resulting, the dose tail suspended from the delivery nozzle and promote the fall of this dose tail to the container in which was dispensed the dose.

Thus the dose tail is separated from the dispensing nozzle, without the use of mechanical means, solely by fluids which may be inert with respect to the product to be dispensed but which may, if appropriate, react with them if this effect is research. It is also understood that the dose tail is systematically included in the dose which guarantees the accuracy of the dosage. Moreover, it is ensured, after each distribution, the cleaning of the outer faces around the dispensing nozzle, this avoids any breakable deposit at this level which could possibly obstruct the nozzle or pollute subsequent distributions.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the fluid under pressure is blown towards the dose tail in the form of a pulse or a short jet, of an appropriate intensity, to ensure a rapid separation, compatible with rates of high distribution. Moreover, the power of the jet, combined with an appropriate orientation in the direction of flow of the product or slightly inclined relative to the latter, creates a depression around the tail of the dose generating a suction phenomenon of this last leading first to its separation from the dispensing nozzle and its controlled drop towards the container.

Alternatively, the direction of the jet will be radial to the nozzle or slightly inclined relative to a radial plane to provide shear separation.

In a variant, the separation jet is no longer pulsed, but continuously.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the blowing device is provided with a nozzle for delivering a fluid under pressure and said nozzle is formed around the product delivery nozzle. The fluid is thus distributed around the dose tail, and this distribution limits the deviation of the drop of the dose tail towards the container.

• la figure 1 est une vue en coupe selon un plan longitudinal médian du dispositif selon une première forme de réalisation,
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe selon un plan longitudinal médian du dispositif selon une seconde forme de réalisation,
• la figure 3 est une coupe du dispositif selon la ligne AA de la figure 2.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will appear on reading the description of a preferred embodiment given by way of non-limiting example with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 is a sectional view along a median longitudinal plane of the device according to a first embodiment,
• FIG. 2 is a sectional view along a median longitudinal plane of the device according to a second embodiment,
• FIG. 3 is a section of the device along the line AA of FIG. 2.

As represented, the device according to the invention, for the precise dispensing and dosing, of the order of one-tenth of a milligram, of pasty products that may have a high surface tension or of liquid, semi-liquid products or products pulverulent materials that can exhibit a high agglomeration power, comprises a device body 1 of parallelepiped shape, in which is formed a conduit 2 for the passage of the product from an introduction orifice 3, to a nozzle 4 of product delivery in metered quantities , under which is disposed a not shown container, provided to collect the dose delivered by the device. The introduction orifice 3 will be connected by a suitable conduit to a supply of product to be dispensed, this reserve may be arranged at a higher level relative to the device to allow a gravity flow of the product to said device. This reserve may also be pressurized to force the movement of the product to the device, it may also provide a pump between the reserve and the device for drawing the product into the reserve and back in the device.

The duct 2, as can be seen, has a rectilinear segment of the product passage which segment by considering the direction of passage of the product, a rectilinear vertical downstream product passage section, a rectilinear vertical cross section of product passage. A rectilinear upright vertical section of product passage connects to said rectilinear segment. This upstream section may be laterally offset from the median section and be connected thereto by a bend section. The sections, median and downstream, extend mutually axially aligned. The upstream section, as can be seen in Figure 1 may also be located in the axial extension of the middle section. In this case, the three sections are axially aligned, which minimizes the pressure losses in the product passage duct. It may be noted that this duct extends vertically between the inlet orifice and the delivery orifice which facilitates the gravity flow of the product through the device.

At low spacing of the delivery nozzle 4 is formed in the downstream section of the conduit 2, a valve seat 5. This seat, of frustoconical shape, is crossed by the downstream section of the duct. As can be seen, the downstream section downstream of the seat 5 has a reduced diameter relative to the diameter of the upstream section.

A valve 6, hemispherical or conical is mounted in the duct 2 so as to slide to be applied against the seat 5 and prohibit the delivery of the product or be removed from this seat and allow this delivery. The duct immediately upstream of the seat 5 may have a frustoconical shape. The valve, between its closed position and opening moves in this frustoconical shape.

As can be seen, the valve 6 is provided with a straight vertical valve stem 7, extending axially in the middle section of the duct 2, this valve stem cooperating with a mechanism for actuating the valve 6 in spacing from the seat 5 or towards the seat 5, this actuating mechanism penetrating at least partly into the rectilinear segment of product passage and coming into contact with the product so that the mechanical connection between the valve stem and the mechanism the actuator is also in contact with the product and is lubricated by the product itself.

To allow the passage of the product in the upstream section of the conduit 2, the valve stem 7 has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the conduit 2.

To guide the valve 6, the valve stem 7 is slidably mounted in the axial through bore of a guide sleeve 19 in the form of a disc, mounted in blocking in the middle section of the passage conduit. As can be seen in Figure 1, the guide sleeve 19 extends transversely in the passage section and comprises, around the guide bore, through-holes for the passage of the product.

To guide the valve 6, for the device according to Figures 2 and 3, the valve stem 7 is slidably mounted in a bore 7a formed in the device body 1, in the axial extension of the middle section of the conduit 2. The guide bore will be long enough to avoid any risk of jamming at this level. A seal may be disposed in the bore 7a around the valve stem to prevent product backflow into the bore and ensure sealing but preferably the bore is blind, the quality of the guide of the tail of valve in the bore is of the type H7-g6 for example and no seal is used. It is thus allowed to flow back deliberately to the bottom of the bore 7a, this reflux occurring in the form of a film whose interest is to ensure the lubrication of the guide. The amount of product flowing towards the bottom of the bore is very small so that it fills only very slowly. A total filling of this bore 7a is not a problem in itself since under the effect of the driving movement of the piston in the bore, a backflow of the product to the conduit 2 will occur. This will result in emptying the bore.

Pollution of the product to be distributed by the amount of product contained in the bore 7a is not to be feared because, firstly, because the device is used only for the distribution of a single product and on the other hand, that it undergoes a complete cleaning after each distribution cycle.

According to an advantageous form of the invention, the mechanism for actuating the valve comprises, on the one hand, at least one spring-like elastic member 8 acting in thrust on the valve 6 and urging the latter towards the seat 5, therefore to a closed position and on the other hand an actuating rod 9, guided axially in a bore 10 of the device body, which bore is transverse to the straight segment of conduit and opens into said segment. Preferably, this guide bore 10 is perpendicular to the median section of the conduit 2 and opens into the latter. The actuating rod 9 comes into contact with the valve stem 7 and acts in thrust on the latter, the contact between the valve stem and the actuating mechanism being established by two sliding surfaces 11, 20 of which one 11 is formed on the valve stem 7 and the other 20 on the actuating rod 9, both said surfaces 11, 20 being located in the rectilinear segment of the product and being in contact with said product.

At least one of these surfaces is flat and oblique with respect to the geometric axis of displacement of the valve 6 between its open and closed positions so that when the actuating rod 9 is moved in the direction of insertion into the device body, the valve 9 is spaced from its seat under the effect of the thrust exerted by the sliding surface 20 of the rod 9 on the sliding surface 11 of the valve stem and of course under the effect of the sliding movement of the two surfaces 11, 20 one over the other. It should be noted that the spacing movement of the valve 6 takes place against the thrust action exerted by the elastic member 8 on the valve 7. On the other hand, during the reverse movement of the rod 11, the thrust of the spring 8 causes the valve to move towards the valve seat 5.

According to a first embodiment, object of Figure 1, the elastic member 8 is mounted around the valve stem, in compression between the valve and the centering sleeve. According to the other embodiment of the device, object of Figures 2 and 3, the resilient member 8 is mounted in compression between the bottom of the bore 7a and the tail 7 valve.

The oblique sliding surface may be provided on the actuating rod 9 or on the valve stem, the other surface may or may not have the same obliqueness in order to to obtain a contact and a sliding plan on plane less subject to wear than a contact and a slip, line on plan. As can be seen in Figure 1, both surfaces 11, 20 are both oblique.

The rod 9 is actuated in axial sliding by a motor member 9a external to the body of the device. This rod 9 thus has a portion external to the body of the device with which cooperates in axial thrust the motor member 9a. This drive member 9a can be fixed to the body of the device or be independent of the device and not attached thereto. This drive member 9a thus controls the movement of the rod 9 and its degree of depression in the bore 9. By this means the drive member 9a controls the movement of the valve and the degree of opening of the latter. It is understood that the valve by these means can be placed in a position of total opening allowing the flow of the product at a maximum flow rate but also in an intermediate position, between the open position and closing, chosen according to the desired flow rate . The motor member also controls the return movement of the rod 9 and thus the way the valve is brought into the closed position. This motor unit will be controlled and controlled by a control unit.

As can be seen, the driving movement of the rod 9 in the bore 10 towards the valve stem takes place against the action of an elastic return member 12 mounted in compression in the bore 10 between a shoulder of the latter and a shoulder of the rod 9. In the preferred embodiment, the rod 9 has a shape of push pin 9b of reduced diameter. This form of thrust finger 9b is provided at the end portion of one of the two sliding surfaces, and the resilient return member 12, in the form of a coil spring, is mounted around this thrust pin shape. The bore 10 is formed in part by the through bore of a removable piece 9c for abutment and sealing, engaged in screwing in a tapping of the device body 1. The bore of this piece, forms a stop shoulder 9d against which abuts an abutment shoulder 9e of the rod 9. These two shoulders limit the recoil movement of the rod 9. This rod, behind the aforementioned shoulder, has a reduced diameter.

The oblique sliding surface forms with the geometric axis of displacement of the actuator, an acute angle of less than 45 degrees. Thanks to this characteristic, a given displacement of the actuating rod will be accompanied by a less displacement of the valve. This gives a reduction effect of the movement of the valve. Thanks to this reduction effect, a better positional accuracy of the valve is obtained as well as a better control of the flow of the product. It goes without saying that the inclination of the sliding surfaces is compatible with the coefficient of friction of one over the other. It should be recalled that these two surfaces are in contact with the product so that the latter by being deposited on these surfaces forms a film capable of reducing this coefficient of friction and consequently the wear of the two sliding surfaces.

According to the preferred embodiment, the valve stem 7 is provided with a through-hole in a diametrical direction, the sliding surface 11 specific to the valve stem being constituted by the upper face (upstream face, considering the direction of the valve). product flow) from this light. This light is further delimited by two plane faces parallel to each other and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the valve stem and by a lower face perpendicular or oblique to said axis. The thrust finger shape 9b has two parallel flats, coming opposite the lateral faces of the through-light. In order to ensure the angular setting of the valve stem in the duct 2 and for the sliding surface 11 to remain always opposite the rod 9, the push pin shape 9b of the latter is constrained by the stop shoulders 9d, 9th, to remain always in the crossing light. The flats of this form of thrust finger 9b and the lateral faces of the light together constitute the angular setting. As can be seen in the accompanying figures, the sliding surface 20 that the finger has is oblique and is opposite the sliding surface 11.

Preferably, in order to further reduce the coefficient of friction of the two sliding surfaces one on the other, at least one of them is covered with PTFE. It can be provided that one of these surfaces is cut in a PTFE part. Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 1, the sliding surface 11 is formed in a wear piece 22 made of PTFE locked in the valve stem 7. As can be seen, this valve stem is tubular and presents in a diametrical plane. two opposite lights offset in height. The wear part 22 is intended to be forced into the valve stem and is in the form of a cylinder. This wear part, according to one of its diameters will be equipped with the above-mentioned through-light, the sliding surface 11 will always be constituted by the upper face (upstream face considering the direction of flow of the product) of this light . During assembly, the light of the wear part 22 will be brought opposite the slots of the valve stem.

To separate from the delivery nozzle 4, the dose tail which could adhere under the effect of the action of the surface tension forces, is provided a device 13 for blowing a fluid under pressure.

The pressurized fluid can be introduced into the conduit 2 downstream of the seat 5 so as to push the dose tail by pushing but preferably, the pressurized fluid jet delivered by the device 13 is external to the conduit 4. According to this preferred form embodiment, the blowing device 13 is external to the duct 2 and to the nozzle 4.

Preferably, the fluid under pressure is blown towards the dose tail in the form of a pulse of relatively high intensity.

According to the preferred embodiment, the blowing device 13 is equipped with a nozzle 14 for delivering the fluid under pressure. This nozzle is formed around the delivery nozzle of the product so that the fluid output of this nozzle can be distributed around the dose tail.

The delivery nozzle 4 of the product is preferably formed in a nozzle 15, this nozzle is provided with the seat 5. Preferably the nozzle 15 is removably attached to the device body 1. For this purpose, the nozzle 15 will be equipped with a threaded cylindrical portion and will be engaged by this threaded cylindrical portion in a suitable thread, made in the device body around the middle section of the conduit 2. This arrangement allows the disassembly of the valve 6 for cleaning. In Figure 1 it can be seen that the nozzle 15 bears against the guide sleeve 19 and maintains the latter against a shoulder formed in the middle section of the conduit.

The nozzle 15 upstream of the delivery port may receive a gate 21 adapted to retain drops of liquids that may disturb the assay. The nozzle 15, upstream of this grid may have a flare to "quiet" the flow.

According to another embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the nozzle 14 for delivering the fluid is formed by the lower, circular opening of a chamber 16 formed around the nozzle 15 and delimited by an envelope 16a fixed with respect to said nozzle. As can be seen, the envelope 16a and the nozzle 15 are coaxial. The casing 16 is equipped with at least one piercing 17 for introducing the fluid under pressure into the chamber 16. This piercing is connected, by a suitable conduit of the device 13, to a source of pressure fluid installed remotely or proximity of the device. On this pipe may be installed a solenoid valve controlled by a programmable controller or any other equivalent means.

As shown, the outer surface of the nozzle 15 is frustoconical in shape, the small base of the truncated cone and the nozzle 14 for delivering the fluid under pressure being arranged close to each other.

According to another embodiment, the outer surface of the nozzle 15 is cylindro-conical, the delivery nozzle 14 of the pressurized fluid being located in this case in the immediate vicinity of the free end of the cylindrical portion. This cylindrical surface allows to a certain extent the orientation of the pressurized fluid jet substantially in the product flow axis and limits the shearing effect that the fluid can produce on the dose tail. The delivery nozzle of the product is formed at the end of the cylindrical portion.

Still according to the preferred embodiment, the inner face of the casing 16a has a frustoconical portion whose small base is formed by the nozzle 14 for delivering the fluid under pressure. As can be seen, the frustoconical portion of the inner face of the envelope 16a has an apex angle greater than the angle at the apex of the frustoconical portion of the outer surface of the nozzle 15. This provision allows to remove the internal face of the casing 16a of the outer face of the nozzle 15 to provide a chamber 16 of sufficient volume. The top of the cone corresponding to the frustoconical shape that presents the inner face of the casing 16 is located on the axis of symmetry of the duct 2 near the nozzle 4 for delivering the product. According to the embodiment which is the subject of FIGS. 1 and 2, this vertex is located downstream of this nozzle in order to superimpose the driving effect of the dose tail a slight shearing effect. But such an embodiment should not be considered as limiting, the top of the cone may be located upstream of the delivery nozzle 4 of the product.

Preferably the envelope 16a has a cylindrical portion in the extension of the frustoconical portion. This cylindrical portion may be provided with at least one through hole 17 for introducing the pressurized fluid into the chamber 16. This drilling may also be performed in the frustoconical portion of the envelope. In the accompanying figures is shown only one through hole, but alternatively may be provided several equidistributed holes, to better balance the jet of fluid output of the nozzle 14 and avoid any deviation of the latter.

Preferably, the or each through bore 17 is disposed facing the conical portion of the outer surface of the nozzle 15. Still according to the preferred embodiment, the or each through hole occupies a radial position, but this position may be inclined by example to the delivery nozzle 14.

Preferably, the respective positions of the product delivery nozzle and the delivery of the fluid under pressure are adjustable relative to each other.

For this purpose the casing 16a of the blowing device 13 is fixed by screwing on the nozzle 15. This arrangement makes it possible to adjust the position of the nozzles very precisely, in the embodiment shown in the figures, the nozzle 14 is slightly above the bore 4. This adjustment possibility allows a close adaptation of the blowing device to the particularities of the product to be dispensed. Thus, these respective positions may evolve according to the physical properties of the products to be dispensed, the desired effect being the separation of the dose tail.

Preferably the fluid used to detach the dose tail of the nozzle 15 is in the gaseous state, this fluid may be air. Alternatively, this fluid may be in the liquid state in this case, it may be liquid nitrogen.

This fluid may be in the gaseous state at room temperature but alternatively, it may be in the liquid state at room temperature.

It will also be possible to use a fluid consisting of a powdery product.

The fluid used may be inert with respect to the product to be dispensed and possibly products already poured into the container or, conversely, it may react with this or these depending on the desired physical or chemical effect.

There is described a device that is equipped with only one nozzle, but alternatively, this device may be provided with several nozzles, mounted coaxially in one another spaced apart from each other to form annular chambers with circular opening forming nozzles. This arrangement allows the simultaneous distribution of several products to be associated in the same composition. According to this embodiment, the casing 16a of the blowing device 13 is mounted around the outermost nozzle.

The device as described is provided with holes 18 for attachment to a suitable support, this support may be in the form of a tray. This tray may receive several devices of the aforementioned kind. The device may be equipped with indexing holes, not shown, for cooperating in shape interlocking with indexing fingers. Such a configuration requires only a single motor 9a.

It should be noted that the external dimensional characteristics of the device as described are identical to those of the device which is the subject of the applicant's patent EP 929 498. This particularly advantageous arrangement makes it possible to use the device according to the invention with those objects of this patent.

It goes without saying that the various components of the device according to the invention will be made of materials capable of resisting corrosion. Thus one can use stainless steel, PTFE (POLYTETRAFLUOROETHYLENE °) especially for the realization of the valve, as well as other suitable materials.

The present invention provides a particularly simple solution to the problem of dosing pasty products with high surface tension, the tests carried out have demonstrated that accuracies of the order of a tenth of a milligram are perfectly conceivable.

It goes without saying that the present invention can receive any arrangements and variants of the field of technical equivalents without departing from the scope defined by the claims below.

Claims (25)

1. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products, comprising a device body (1) in which there is formed a conduit (2) for the product to pass from an orifice (3) for introducing the product to a nozzle (4) for delivering the product in dosed quantities, a valve seat (5) being formed in said conduit (2) and a valve (6) being mounted in said conduit so as to be able to slide therein and to be applied against the valve seat (5) in order to prevent the delivery of the product or to be separated from said seat (5) to allow the delivery of the product, the valve (6) being provided with a valve stem (7) slidably mounted in a guide bore (7a) and cooperating with a drive mechanism actuating the valve (6) so as to move away from the seat (5) or towards the valve seat, the product passage conduit (2) comprises a rectilinear segment for the passage of the product, in which segment the valve seat is disposed and the valve (6) and valve stem (7) entirely extend axially and in which segment the valve actuation mechanism at least partly enters, this mechanism being in contact with the product so that the mechanical connection between the valve stem (7) and the actuation mechanism is also in contact with the product and is lubricated by the product itself, the mechanism actuating the valve (6) comprises on the one hand at least one elastic member (8) acting so as to thrust on the valve (6) and biasing the latter towards the seat (5) and therefore towards a closure position and on the other hand an actuation rod (9) guided axially in a bore (10) of the device body, said bore being transverse to the rectilinear passage conduit segment and opening out in said segment, said rod (9) coming into contact with the valve stem (7) in order to act so as to push on the latter, the contact between the valve stem (7) and the actuation mechanism being established by two sliding surfaces (11, 20), one of which (11) is provided on the valve stem (7) and the other (20) on the actuation rod (9), said two surfaces (11, 20) being situated in the rectilinear product passage segment, characterised in that at least one of said surfaces is planar and oblique with respect to the geometric axis of movement of the valve (6) between its open and closed position and oblique with respect to the movement axis of the actuation rod (9), so that, when the actuation rod (9) is moved by a drive member (9a) in the direction of movement into the device body, the valve (6) is separated from its seat (5) under the effect of the push exerted by the sliding surface of the actuation rod (9), on the sliding surface of the valve stem (7).
2. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 1, characterised in that the oblique sliding surface (11, 20) forms, with the geometric movement axis of the actuation rod (9), an acute angle with a value of less than 45°.
3. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 1, characterised in that the guide bore (10) of the actuation rod (9) is perpendicular to the product passage section.
4. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rectilinear product passage section is vertical.
5. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the product passage conduit (2) is vertical and extends in a rectilinear fashion from an orifice (3) for the entry of the product to an orifice (4) for delivering the latter.
6. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the drive member (9a) providing the movement of the actuation rod (9) is external to the device and independent of the latter.
7. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the product delivery nozzle (4) is associated with a device (13) for blowing a fluid under pressure in order, under the effect of the blowing or under the effect of the negative pressure or under the effect of the pressure resulting therefrom, to detach the dosing stem attached to the delivery nozzle (4).
8. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 7, characterised in that the pressurised fluid is blown towards the dosing stem in the form of a pulse.
9. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterised in that the pressurised fluid is introduced into the conduit (2) downstream of the seat (5).
10. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 7 or claim 8, characterised in that the jet of pressurised fluid delivered by the device (13) is external to the conduit (4).
11. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 10, characterised in that the blowing device (13) is provided with a nozzle (14) for delivering a pressurised fluid and in that the said nozzle (14) is formed around the product delivery nozzle (4).
12. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 11, characterised in that the product delivery nozzle (4) is formed in a duct (15) and in that the fluid delivery nozzle (14) is formed by a circular opening in an envelope (16a) delimiting a chamber (16) around the duct (15).
13. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 12, characterised in that the external surface of the duct (15) is frustoconical in shape, the small base of the truncated cone and the pressurised fluid delivery nozzle (14) being disposed in proximity to each other.
14. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 12, characterised in that the external surface of the nozzle (15) is cylindro-conical in shape, the pressurised fluid delivery nozzle (14) being situated in the immediate proximity of the free end of the cylindrical part.
15. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 12, characterised in that the internal face of the envelope (16a) has a frustoconical part, the small base of which is formed by the pressurised fluid delivery nozzle (14).
16. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 15, characterised in that the vertex of the cone corresponding to the frustoconical shape presented by the internal face of the envelope (16) is situated on the axis of symmetry of the conduit (2) close to the product delivery nozzle (4).
17. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 12, 15, 16, characterised in that the wall of the envelope (16a) is provided with at least one bore (17) for introducing pressurised fluid into the chamber (16).
18. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 12, 15, 16, 17, characterised in that the nozzle (15) is fixed by screwing into the device body.
19. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 7 to 18, characterised in that the respective positions of the product delivery nozzle (4) and pressurised fluid delivery nozzle (14) are adjustable with respect to each other.
20. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 11, 15, 16, 17, 19, characterised in that the chamber (16) of the pressurised fluid blowing device is fixed by screwing to the nozzle (15).
21. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 7 to 20, characterised in that the fluid used for detaching the dosing stem of the duct is in the gaseous state.
22. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 7 to 20, characterised in that the fluid used for detaching the dosing stem of the duct is in the liquid state.
23. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 7 to 20, characterised in that the fluid used for detaching the dosing stem of the duct is in the gaseous state at ambient temperature.
24. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to any one of claims 7 to 20, characterised in that the fluid used for detaching the dosing stem of the duct is in the liquid state at ambient temperature.
25. A device for dispensing and dosing viscous, liquid, semiliquid or powdery products according to claim 12, characterised in that it is provided with several ducts, mounted coaxially with each one another, separated from one another, in order to form annular chambers provided with circular openings forming a nozzle, and in that the envelope (16a) of the blowing device (13) is mounted around the outermost nozzle.

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