DE8618131U1 - Arrangement for holding and metered dispensing of liquids - Google Patents

Description

BOSCH-SIEMENS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES GMBH 8000 Munich 80, 02.07.1986

Hochstrasse 17 COCA COLA COMPANY, Atlanta

TZP 86/104 Re/hü

Arrangement »in standby and air dosed delivery wn liquids

The present invention relates to an arrangement for holding and for the metered dispensing of liquids, in particular beverage concentrates, using a liquid storage container, at the dispensing opening of which, in the operating position, is located at the bottom, a dosing chamber dispensing device is arranged with flow openings on the inlet side and outlet side that can be closed alternately by a control slide that can be moved in the dosing chamber housing.

Such arrangements are used, for example, and preferably in drinks machines, by means of which carbonated water is mixed with drinks concentrates to make a soft drink. Storage containers for the drinks concentrates are usually made of dimensionally stable and gas-impermeable material and have the shape of a bottle or a cuboid. When used in a drinks machine, these storage containers are arranged with the dispensing opening pointing downwards. A dosing chamber dispensing device with flow openings on the inlet side and outlet side that can be closed alternately by a control slide is attached to this dispensing opening. The liquid (drinks concentrate) flows by gravity from the storage container into the dosing chamber dispensing device when its flow opening on the inlet side is open. If this flow opening on the inlet side is closed by the control slide and the flow opening on the outlet side is opened at the same time , the liquid also flows out of this dosing system by gravity, the amount of liquid being essentially determined by the dosing chamber contents.

TZP86/104

However, with the known dosing chamber dispensing devices, leakage currents that are possible between the control slide and the dosing chamber housing have a difficult-to-control effect on the amount dispensed. Designing the guide between the control slide and the dosing chamber housing to be as gap-free as possible to avoid these leakage currents is extremely problematic, as this control slide must be able to be moved as easily as possible in the dosing chamber housing in order to be able to be safely adjusted in the form of a plunger by an electrically generated magnetic field. This adjustment method requires a mechanical coupling, so that the dosing chamber dispensing devices in the drinks machine can be replaced very easily together with the storage containers.

It is possible to ventilate the head space of the storage container or a buffer space within this storage container (DE-OS 25 44 671) in order to ensure that the flow of liquid is not hindered by volume-balancing air countercurrents and by the negative pressure that develops in the storage container. These measures require additional effort, but they have not proven to be advantageous, since the air in the dosing chamber dispensing device escapes into the head space of the storage container anyway when the liquid continues to flow. In the known systems, it has even proven to be useful for a negative pressure to build up in the head space of the storage container, which counteracts the leakage flows between the dosing piston and the wall of the dosing chamber housing.

The design of the storage container for beverage concentrates from dimensionally stable material has also proven to be very advantageous for transport-technical reasons and because of the ease of handling. However, such storage containers are relatively complex and burdensome to dispose of, especially since the containers are usually only usable once and are then thrown away. The expediency of only using the storage containers once is due on the one hand to hygienic reasons, but on the other hand to measures taken to prevent the use of a refilled storage container. Appropriate precautions are taken by measures in the area of the dispensing opening of the storage container.

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The aim of the present invention is to reduce the manufacturing costs, in particular for the storage container, and the disposal problems for these storage containers, without impairing the handling of this storage container. Further measures are intended to improve the functionality of the arrangement for holding and metering liquids.

An arrangement which satisfies these requirements is characterized according to the invention in that the storage container is constructed from a gas-impermeable and essentially flexible film bag and an essentially dimensionally stable, air-permeable container wall which surrounds the flexible film bag, in particular in a cuboid shape, and in that the flexible film bag and the essentially dimensionally stable container wall are attached to a connecting piece which forms the dispensing opening and to which the dosing chamber dispensing device can be connected. This container wall is preferably made of cardboard and is made in the shape of a box.

A storage container constructed according to these inventive features is characterized in that the flexible and gas-impermeable foil bag, which can be made from a small amount of expensive material, for example from an aluminum-laminated foil, offers good protection from the environment for the liquid stored therein, especially for beverage concentrates, and that the essentially dimensionally stable container wall, which can be made from cheaper material - for example from cardboard - offers sufficiently good protection against mechanical damage to this foil bag and also makes it possible to easily handle the storage container. In particular, for manufacturing reasons, it is advantageous to attach the dimensionally stable container wall to the connection piece of the storage container indirectly via the foil bag. By connecting the connection piece to the essentially dimensionally stable container wall, the strength of the entire storage container required for problem-free placement and attachment of a dosing chamber dispensing device to the connection piece of the storage container is achieved.

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In order to provide a good opportunity to carry out volume dosing by the dosing chamber dispensing device depending on the nature of the liquid stored in the storage container and to protect against misuse of the storage container, it is advisable to integrate part of the dosing chamber dispensing device, namely the area of the inlet-side flow opening that can be closed by the control piston, into the connection piece of the storage container. This area is designed in such a way that it becomes unusable after being connected once to the main parts of the dosing chamber dispensing device. Before these dosing chamber parts are connected, the dispensing opening of the connection piece is tightly closed with a foil cover.

If the flexible film bag is not glued within the dimensionally stable container wall, the problem arises that no defined pressure difference can build up within the storage container compared to the outside atmosphere. This makes the use of the known dosing chamber dispensing devices more difficult insofar as the leakage flow of the liquid to be dosed by these known dispensing devices cannot be prevented by negative pressure in the storage container.

For this reason, it is expedient to equip the arrangement for holding and dispensing liquids with a dosing chamber dispensing device in which a tubular control slide with a plunger integrated into the pipe wall of a plunger-armature electromagnet system is arranged so as to be longitudinally displaceable, which is characterized in that the inlet-side flow opening into the dosing chamber dispensing device is arranged centrally in the head area of this dosing chamber dispensing device and that a valve closure disc is arranged opposite this flow opening on the tubular control slide , via which the flow opening can be closed like a lid in the direction of movement of the control slide with respect to the entire interior of the dosing chamber housing. When this measure is used, it is practically guaranteed that liquid will flow from the storage container via uncontrollable leakage currents. The pressure within the storage container therefore no longer has any effect on the amount of liquid dispensed. The liquid dispensed is only determined depending on the actual volume defined by the dosing chamber housing.

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It is often necessary or even just practical to cool beverage concentrate containers in a domestic beverage machine. The cooling phases are usually intermittent. Due to measurement and cooling technology , the temperature inside the storage container changes during the intermittent cooling phases. This can cause pressure fluctuations in dimensionally stable storage containers. The use of flexible film bags to hold the liquids to be dispensed in doses ensures volume compensation, which prevents significant changes in the internal pressure in the storage container. The special design of the dosing chamber dispensing device with the inlet-side flow opening located centrally in the head area and which can be closed like a lid by the valve closure disc of the control slide also ensures that the pressure differences inside the storage container do not affect the dosing quantities.

According to a preferred embodiment, the metering chamber dispensing device of the arrangement according to the invention is characterized in that guide ribs are arranged on the valve closure disk that protrude into the inlet-side flow opening of this metering chamber dispensing device. The guide path for the control slide is thus axially extended into the inlet-side flow opening of the metering chamber dispensing device.

According to a further preferred embodiment, longitudinal guide ribs are arranged between the outer casing of the tubular control slide and the cylindrical wall of the dosing chamber dispensing device. This means that the gap between the control slide and the wall of the dosing chamber housing can be made sufficiently large without the risk of the control slide becoming jammed within the dosing chamber housing, thus reducing the friction between this control slide and the dosing chamber housing. For manufacturing reasons, it is advantageous that the longitudinal guide ribs are arranged on the outer casing of the tubular control slide.

It is desirable _that the essential parts of the dosing chamber dispensing device are designed uniformly and that the working stroke of the control slide is also selected uniformly. This measure is of great importance for the

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Use in drinks machines, in which a magnetic flux generated by an electromagnet system in the device housing controls the control slide, which can be actuated as a plunger. By designing the parts in the same way and using the same working strokes, the magnetic flux to be generated can also be standardized. Regardless of this, it must be possible to dose different amounts of liquids. This requirement arises from the different properties of the liquids to be dosed, namely the different types of drinks. Depending on the type of beverage concentrate used, different mixing ratios with the other component, namely the carbonated water, are required.

In order to achieve these different dosing quantities and still achieve the best possible

\ In order to be able to use a uniform dosing system, it is possible within the framework of the present

the invention, it is expedient to design the arrangement in such a way that the The flow opening on the outlet side is located in a dosing chamber cap that is detachably connected to the housing of the dosing chamber dispensing device and has side walls that enclose an internal volume. Without the stroke range of the control slide having to be changed, the internal volume of the entire dosing chamber dispensing unit can be variably adjusted to suit the concentrate used by appropriately extending or constricting designs of these side wall areas. If this housing cap of the dosing chamber dispensing device is structurally integrated into the connection piece of the liquid container, a direct relationship is achieved between the type of beverage concentrate and the dosing quantity.

Details of the arrangement according to the invention are described in more detail below using an embodiment shown in the drawing. They show:

Fig. 1 an oblique view of a drinks machine with storage containers for drink concentrates,

Fig. 2 and

Fig. 3 Oblique views of liquid storage containers with and without a dosing chamber dispensing device

Fig. 4 a view of a storage container for beverage concentrates with a dosing chamber dispensing unit

TZP86/104

Fig. 5 and

Fig. 6 different designs of input-side housing caps for dosing chamber dispensing units.

The drinks machine shown in Fig. 1 is used to supply water enriched with CO_ gas and kept cool within the device housing 1 at a temperature of 15 °C.

drink concentrate within a mixing channel 2 and the resulting j

dispense the desired soft drink into a drinking vessel 3. In order to enable different types of soft drinks to be produced, in the present case three types of drink concentrates are stored in three storage containers 4 in each

the drinks machine above the mixing trough 2 in such a way that |

whose dispensing openings are directed downwards. Each of these storage containers 4 |

A dosing chamber dispensing unit is connected to a connection piece 5 of the dispensing opening.

direction 6. This dosing chamber dispensing device contains a control ■

slide, which is equipped with a ferromagnetic armature. Electromagnets are arranged in the housing 1, which can generate a magnetic field in the area of the receiving gap 7 for the dosing chamber dispensing devices 6, whereby the control slide within the dosing chamber dispensing device 6 is influenced. This causes a dosed portion of beverage concentrate to be fed to the mixing channel 2 '

in which the mixing process is also dosed into the mixing trough 2 |

carbonated water is carried out. The flap 8 is covered ■ I

bare housing chamber 9, in which the storage containers 4 are housed, is at f

connected to the refrigeration circuit of a cooling device so that the beverage concentrate k

te are stored chilled and are thus available for the mixed drink.

Fig. 2 shows a storage container 4 for concentrate liquids, as it is delivered from the bottler to the user. The dispensing opening located inside the connection piece 5 is closed by a foil cover 10. Fig. 3 shows a storage container 4 for a beverage concentrate with a dosing chamber dispensing device 6 placed on the connection piece 5.

The details of the storage container 4 and the dispensing chamber 6

for beverage concentrates can be seen from the sectional view according to Fig. 4. The storage container 4 consists of a foil bag 11 with essentially flexible

ble walls. These walls of the foil bag 11 are firmly connected to the connecting supports 5 of the storage container 4 in a ring shape. This foil bag is surrounded by

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essentially dimensionally stable, air-permeable container walls 12 in the form of a cuboid as shown in Fig. 2 and 3. Cardboard is the preferred material for the container walls 12. These walls 12 form a unit and are also attached to the connection piece 5 of the storage container 4 via the wall of the foil bag 11.

The dosing chamber output unit 6 is formed by a dosing chamber housing 14 which is extended on the inlet side by a housing cap 13 and in which a tubular control slide 15 is arranged so as to be vertically adjustable.

The housing cap 13 is structurally an integrated component of the connection piece 5 of the storage container 4. The dosing chamber housing 14 is connected to the housing cap 13 via short screw threads 29 distributed around the circumference and is sealed to this housing cap 13 via a sealing disk 16. The sealing ring 17 is provided for sealing to the outside, since for manufacturing reasons, openings 18 are provided in the upper end wall of the housing cap 13 when producing the screw threads 25.

In the essentially rotationally symmetrical dosing chamber dispensing device 6, the inlet-side flow opening 19 is arranged axially centrally in the housing cap 13 and the outlet-side flow opening 20 is arranged at the lower end of the dosing chamber housing 14. Opposite these flow openings 19, 20, valve closure disks 21, 22 are carried on the control slide 15, which alternately close the inlet-side flow opening 19 or - as shown in Fig. 4 - the outlet-side flow opening 20 depending on the height end position of the control slide 14. The control slide 15 is essentially tubular and carries the valve closure disk 21 on the inlet side in a cylindrical attachment 23 with openings 24. Above this valve closure disk 21, cross-shaped guide ribs 25 protrude into the inlet side flow opening 19 as guide elements. The control slide 15 is equipped with a ring 26 made of ferromagnetic material, which acts as a plunger within an electromagnet system housed in the device housing 1 and is influenced by the excitation of a magnetic field in such a way that the control slide 15 is lifted from the position shown, in which the outlet side flow opening 20 is closed, to the upper position in which the inlet side flow opening 19 is closed.

TZP86/104

Longitudinal guide ribs 27 are arranged on the circumference of the control slide 15 so that good sliding properties are provided between the control slide 15 and the wall of the metering chamber housing 14.

In the position of the control slide 15 shown in Fig. 4, beverage concentrate present in the storage container 4 can flow into the interior of the dosing chamber dispensing device 6 through its inlet-side flow opening 19 due to its own gravity. The volume of air present in the dosing chamber dispensing device 6 flows into the storage container 4. Due to the fact that this inflowing air is originally warmer than the beverage concentrate that is normally dispensed chilled, there is a volume deficit after this air has cooled. Since the wall 11 of the film bag is flexible and the dimensionally stable wall does not hermetically seal this film bag, this volume deficit is counteracted by simply slightly sagging this film bag, so that no negative pressure occurs within the storage container 4. Temperature differences caused by intermittent cooling processes - and thus volume changes within the storage container 4 - are also compensated for by the flexibility of the film bag 11.

By generating a magnetic field by an electromagnet system arranged in the device housing 1, a lifting force is exerted on the ferromagnetic ring 26 of the control slide 15. As a result, the inlet-side flow opening 19 is closed by the valve closure disk 21 so that no more beverage concentrate can pass from the storage container 4 into the dosing chamber dispensing device 6, while the outlet-side flow opening 20 is opened and the amount of beverage concentrate originally present in the dosing chamber dispensing device 6 can escape. The volume flowing out is in turn replaced by air within the dosing chamber dispensing device 6. This dosing chamber dispensing device ensures a high degree of accuracy of the dispensing volume. This accuracy is of the utmost importance for achieving an optimal mixing ratio with the carbonated water which is also metered into the mixing channel 2.

Different beverage concentrates require different dosing quantities. In order to meet this requirement with a dosing chamber dispensing device that is uniform in terms of the essential structural components, the effort for creating variants is reduced to the different design of the side walls.

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28 of the housing cap 13. Fig. 5 shows the same housing cap 13 as can be seen in Fig. 4. In contrast, Fig. 6 shows a housing cap 13' with bevelled walls 28' which converge conically to the flow opening 19'. This means that compared to the use of a housing cap 13 according to Fig.

5 in a design of the housing cap 13' according to Fig. 6 a volume change in this area and thus for the entire dosing chamber dispensing device

6. Since these housing caps 13 and 13' are integrated into the connecting piece 5 of the container 4, there is a direct connection to the nature of the beverage concentrate used. A further reduction in volume in the dosing chamber dispensing device 6 is possible by inserting an additional stirring insert into the control piston 15.

Predetermined breaking points 30 serve to ensure that after the metering device housing 14 is removed from the housing cap, the latter is separated from its flange and is therefore no longer functional for further connection.

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Claims (1)

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Re/hü iprflche 1. Arrangement for keeping liquids, in particular beverage concentrates, ready and for the metered dispensing using a liquid storage container, at the dispensing opening of which, in the operating position, is located at the bottom, a dosing chamber dispensing device with flow openings on the inlet side and outlet side that can be closed alternately by a control slide that can be moved in the dosing chamber housing is arranged, characterized in that the storage container (4) is constructed from a gas-impermeable and essentially flexible film bag (H) and an essentially dimensionally stable, air-permeable container wall (12) that encloses the flexible film bag (11), and that the flexible film bag (11) and the essentially dimensionally stable container wall (12) are attached to a connection piece (5) forming the dispensing opening , to which the dosing chamber dispensing device (6) can be connected. 2. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the essentially dimensionally stable container wall (12) encloses the flexible film bag (11) in a cuboid shape. Il It«· 11 I··· 4 · ti &bull; 1 · »It · » · < Il · Il &diams; ·· ·· TZP86/104 3. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the container wall (12) is connected to the connection piece (5) via the flexible foil bag (11). 4. Arrangement according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the container wall (12) consists of cardboard. 5. Arrangement according to claim 1 with a metering chamber dispensing device, in which a tubular control slide with a plunger armature of a plunger armature electromagnet system integrated in the tube wall is arranged so as to be longitudinally displaceable, characterized in that the inlet-side flow opening (19) into the metering chamber dispensing device (6) is arranged centrally in the head region of this metering chamber dispensing device 6 and that a valve closure disk (21) is arranged opposite this flow opening (19) on the tubular control slide (15), via which the flow opening (19) can be closed like a lid in the direction of movement of the control slide (15) with respect to the entire interior of the metering chamber housing (14). 6. Arrangement according to claim 5, characterized in that guide ribs (25) projecting into the inlet-side flow opening (19) of the metering chamber dispensing device (6) are arranged on the control slide (15) above the valve closure disk (21). 7. Arrangement according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized in that longitudinal guide ribs (27) are arranged between the outer casing of the tubular control slide (15) and the cylindrical wall (14) of the dosing chamber dispensing device (6) . 8. Arrangement according to claim 7, characterized in that the longitudinal guide ribs (27) are arranged on the outer casing of the tubular control slide (15). ti« &igr;<·< «til« ig i 1 « i « · ■ < i I TZP86/ 1 0 9« Arrangement according to one of claims 5 to 8> characterized in that ,1 * inlet-side flow opening (19) in a housing cap (13, 13') detachably connected to the housing (14 ) of the dosing chamber dispensing device (6) with a side wall housing (28, 28') defining an inner volume. 10. Arrangement according to claim 9, characterized in that the housing cap (13, 13') of the dosing chamber dispensing device (6) is a component of the liquid container (4). 11. Arrangement according to one of claims 9 or 10, characterized in that the walls (28, 28') of the housing cap (13, 13') are designed depending on the volume of liquid to be dosed. 12. Arrangement according to claim 10, characterized in that the housing caps have breaking points (30) which cause a separation of the housing cap from the housing cap flange (31) after the first removal of the dosing housing (14) from the dispensing opening of the attachment container (4). > ■ f +