EP1394047B1 - Device for refilling aerosol containers - Google Patents

Abstract

The filling device consists of a cylinder (1) containing a piston (4), a container (14) for the fluid and a connecting adapter (2) for the spray can (3). The device may or may not include an inlet valve. Fluid can be pumped manually into the pressurized spray can. An optimum combination of components can be placed in the can before use.

Description

The invention relates to a device for manual refilling of filled spray cans according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

A spray can generally contains a propellant (normally liquefied gas), a solvent and the pigment, the resin or the like. carrying substance. Under the effect of the overpressure generated by the propellant, the contents of the aerosol can be atomized upon actuation of the head located in its upper part and connected to a valve in the environment. Correction of the content of a spray can with their consumer was not possible for a long time because the insertion of the components into a pressurized spray can required the use of special equipment.

However, the possibility of such a correction would be meaningful because, in this case, the consumer himself could change the viscosity, color and some other characteristics of the contents of a spray can as he wished and according to the environmental conditions. It would also be possible to use in a spray such ingredients whose curing is initiated by a shortly before their use in them to be filled ingredient (hardener). In this last case, one could store a spray can with its contents for a long time and top up with the hardening agent just before use. This option should not just for the Consumers, but also be beneficial to the environment, because they could significantly reduce a burden on the environment with the unused, but by hardening unusable products in the spray cans.

Several devices are known for refilling spray cans with liquids (e.g., U.S. Patent Nos. 4,938,260, 5,975,152). The function of these devices is generally to pump the liquid to be replenished at a higher pressure than the pressure in the spray can into the latter through the spray can valve. Although it would be technically possible to solve the above problem with these devices. However, they are hardly suitable for use in the home as well as in the small businesses with only occasional use because of their complexity and significant costs. For such cases you need a much smaller, simpler and cheaper device.

A smaller and cheaper device for manually refilling spray cans with liquid components is described in US Pat. No. 3,620,266. This device incorporates a mechanism which consists essentially of a hand-driven pump which can be mounted on the spray can by means of an adapter. The pump has a connection with the container, which contains the liquid to be filled into the spray can. Upon actuation of the pump, this liquid is sucked into the cylinder of the pump and then pumped under the sufficiently high pressure for opening the valve in the spray can in this. A special feature of the design is that they are equipped with a special inlet valve is that prevents unrestricted pumping the air or other gaseous medium into the spray can.

The device described is suitable for the solution of the above-mentioned object, to refill a spray can with the liquid components in a consumer. But it has some disadvantages. First, it incorporates components that are still rather complicated and therefore expensive to manufacture. Second, the construction and arrangement of the inlet valve in this device do not allow the liquid to be completely pumped out of the cylinder into the spray can. The reason for this is that the inlet valve is located in the upper part of the piston and closes only the interior of the cylinder when the liquid flows back through the inlet valve to the container due to the increase in pressure in the cylinder. Since this backflow can only take place before reaching the piston of its lowermost position, there remains in the cylinder a noticeable amount of liquid, which in certain cases can be detrimental both to the components of the device (e.g., gaskets) and to the environment in general. Third, the removal of the piston from the cylinder of the device after each use for cleaning is an action that results in the early damage of two webs aligning the handle and the piston, rendering the device unusable.

US Pat. No. 6,302,163 B1 discloses an arrangement for the manual refilling of filled spray cans with liquid components, which includes a refilling device, which in turn has a cylinder. In the cylinder, a piston is located between its top and bottom positions of the cylinder displaceable. The cylinder has an inlet opening with a ball valve with a ball freely running in a cage and an outlet opening, at which the cylinder can be connected via a check valve and a can receiving element to a spray can.

The can-receiving member serves to provide a line connection between the interior of the cylinder via the outlet opening of the can-receiving element with the interior of the spray can, wherein a non-contact opening of the valve of the spray can is accomplished solely by the pressure of the piston pushed out of the cylinder from the fluid.

To produce a correct spatial positioning between the refilling device on the one hand and the spray can on the other hand, a holding device with a base plate and a holder for the spray can is provided in the device. To this arranged on the base plate bracket includes a platform that presses the spray can from below against the can receiving element by biasing a spring until the line connection between the can receiving element and the spray can is made. An immediate fixation or attachment between the refill on the one hand and the spray can on the other hand is caused by this surrounding the spray can holding device.

The invention has the object of developing the above-described generic device such that on the one hand has a much simpler structure, moreover, the remaining after a single operation in the cylinder amount of the liquid component to be eliminated or significantly reduced.

This object is achieved by the features in the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

An advantage of the proposed device is that the inlet opening in the shell of the cylinder is arranged at a location which is located at the standing in the uppermost position piston below its closest to the spray can and its working surface forming end face. This can on the one hand the complexity of the device compared to the known device can be reduced and on the other hand, the cylinder can be completely emptied in one or more operations of the piston of the liquid components.

In order to avoid that - even in times when the refilling device is not used - always a considerable amount of the liquid component remains within the cylindrical chamber, the inlet opening in the shell of the cylinder is located at a location in which in the top Positioning piston immediately below its closest to the spray can and its working surface forming end face is located. As a result, e.g. be avoided that seals the refilling device during comparatively long downtime of the same harmful influences are subjected.

Another advantage of the device relates to the execution of a constructive unit defined in claim 2. This advantage is that the mentioned unit can be easily removed from the cylinder at the piston in its uppermost position, which is a prerequisite for the regular (after each use) unproblematic cleaning of the device.

It is also advantageous that the length of the piston is greater than the distance between the base of the cylinder and the highest point of the inlet opening (claim 3). This advantage is due to the fact that the inlet opening can be established at any point below the working surface of the piston in the uppermost position, without the risk that the liquid enters the cylinder above the piston from the inlet opening.

Also advantageous is the presence of two seals on the piston provided in claim 4, which are each installed directly above its lower and under its upper end face and thus define its length. This makes it possible to close the inlet opening in the cylinder with the piston, which among other things allows the realization of a simplified design variant of the device without inlet valve. The use of the latter is appropriate if certain conditions are met. For example, they are met when the passage of a small amount of the air into the spray can does not compromise the quality of the spray can contents and the safety due to the materials used. In this equipment of the device is used exclusively for pumping the liquid from the container into the spray can its own valve of the spray can. The required for the generation of an overpressure in the cylinder separation of the connection between the interior of the cylinder and the container in the operation of the piston takes place in this design variant not by the action of an intake valve, but by the barrier the interior of the cylinder by the piston itself.

A further advantage of the device consists in such an arrangement of the inlet valve required in some cases, in which the above-described possibility of completely emptying the cylinder in the operation of the piston of the liquid components, is still maintained (claims 5, 6). In claim 6, such an embodiment of the inlet valve is defined in which as complete as possible emptying of the inlet valve can take place from the liquid.

An arrangement of the inlet opening in the lower region of the cylinder, which is provided in claim 7, is also advantageous. immediately above its base. This can minimize the amount of air entering the spray can. However, this is possible provided that the design of the inlet valve allows passage of air in the case when the previously closed inlet valve, the liquid under pressure in the channel between the inlet port and the inlet valve is replaced by the equally pressurized air.

Such a situation may arise, for example, if during the last return of the piston the container is completely emptied, and therefore the amount of liquid aspirated from the container is no longer sufficient to completely fill the space below the piston in its uppermost position after recovery ,

In such a case, the space between the level of the liquid in the cylinder and the working surface of the piston with the air which is sucked out of the container at the return of the piston as well (after the liquid in the container is over). In the subsequent operation of the piston, the inlet valve is first closed by the liquid, after which the liquid is pumped into the spray can. Ultimately, only the air that replaces the liquid in the channel between the inlet port and the inlet valve remains under the piston. If the inlet valve remains closed, the air is pumped out of the cylinder into the spray can. Although the amount of air entering the spray can in such a situation is small, it can be detrimental in some cases.

To avoid this disadvantage in the conventional design of the inlet valve, it is provided in claim 8 that the device comprises a plurality of inlet openings which are distributed between the working surface of the piston in its position in the uppermost position and the base of the cylinder and are interconnected wherein the lowest point of the chamber of the intake valve is not below the level of the uppermost intake port. The advantage of this design is that it allows first the air from the cylinder to flow through one or more inlet ports above the level of the liquid to the inlet valve, which can not cause closure of the inlet valve and therefore no pressure increase under the piston can lead. After the cylinder has been emptied of air, the remaining liquid closes the inlet valve and passes through the subsequent increase in pressure in the spray can. In the case provided in claim 9 development of this design variant all inlet openings through a slot in the mantle of Cylinder connected so that they can be considered as an extended in the axial direction of the cylinder inlet port. The advantage of this design is that it neither allows the air to enter the spray can nor allows it to completely empty the spaces of the device from the liquid.

Another advantage of the device is the ability to provide them with at least one safety valve and thus eliminate any risk of excessive pressure increase, wherein the excess of liquid from the cylinder is returned to the container (claim 10). An expedient embodiment of the safety valve is defined by the features specified in claim 11. It is advantageous that the connection of the safety valve to the container is realized by means of a tube made of a preferably transparent material (for the control) (claims 12, 13).

The design specified in claim 14 relates to a design variant with both the inlet valve and the safety valve and has the advantage that the arrangement of the safety valve on the extension of the longitudinal axis of the rectilinear channel to the inlet opening of the cylinder is the easiest to implement.

Three embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and will be described in more detail below.

Fig. 1

Seitenansicht einer Vorrichtung ohne Einlassventil nach Ansprüchen 2 und 4.

Fig. 2

Seitenansicht einer Vorrichtung mit einem Einlassventil und einem Sicherungsventil nach Anspruch 14.

Fig. 3

Seitenansicht einer Vorrichtung mit einem Einlassventil, einem Sicherungsventil und einer ausgedehnten Einlassöffnung in Form eines Schlitzes im Mantel des Zylinders nach Ansprüchen 9 und 14.

Show it:

Fig. 1

Side view of a device without inlet valve according to claims 2 and 4.

Fig. 2

Side view of a device with an inlet valve and a safety valve according to claim 14.

Fig. 3

Side view of a device with an inlet valve, a safety valve and an extended inlet opening in the form of a slot in the jacket of the cylinder according to claims 9 and 14.

The device shown in Fig. 1 has the simplest construction. It consists of a cylinder 1, which can be fixed by means of an adapter 2 on a spray can 3. In the cylinder 1, a piston 4 is slidably installed. The piston is connected to the handle 5 by a stick 6, which has a smaller diameter than the piston 4. On the floor 6 are two sockets 7, 8 and a locking ring 9, wherein the handle 5 from the floor 6 is removable. Between the bushes 7 and 8, a compression spring 10 is arranged under the action of the bushes are based on the retaining ring 9 and the piston 4 respectively. The spring force is sufficiently large to overcome the frictional force between the cylinder 1 and the piston 4 together with the force acting on the piston 4 compressive force of the atmospheric air. The maximum travel is not less than the stroke of the piston. 4

The piston 4 has an upper seal 11 and a lower seal 12 defining its length L. In the shell of the cylinder 1, an inlet opening 13 is arranged below the lower seal 12 of the piston 4, which is connected to the container 14 by a channel or hose 15. Under the action of the compression spring 12, the piston 4 is in its uppermost position, in which the inlet opening 13 is not closed by the piston 4, but immediately below it directed to the spray can 3 and its working surface forming end face lies. The piston 4 can be pressed by the operation of the handle 5 against the action of the compression spring 10 down and moved. Since the length L is greater than the distance between the base of the cylinder and the highest point of the inlet opening 13, the inlet opening 13 is tightly closed by the piston 4 when it is pushed down so far that its lower seal 12 below the level of Inlet opening 13 is located.

In its lower part, the cylinder 1 is hermetically connected to the valve 16 of the spray can 3.

The container 14 contains a certain amount of the liquid to be replenished into the spray can 3.

The device works as follows. During the first actuation of the handle 5, the air trapped under the piston 4 is compressed and pumped into the spray can 3 as soon as the pressure in the cylinder 1 exceeds the pressure in the spray can 3 and the valve 16 of the spray can 3 thereby opens. After releasing the handle 5, the piston 4 lifts under the action of the compression spring 10, so that in the lower region of the cylinder (below the piston 4) is lower than atmospheric pressure. The liquid under the atmospheric pressure in the container 14 flows into the cylinder 1 when the inlet opening 13 opens again at the piston 4 coming to its uppermost position. The liquid fills the entire space in the lower part of the cylinder 1. At the next actuation of the handle 5, this liquid is pumped into the spray can 3. This process is repeated until the container 14 is emptied, after which only the air can be pumped into the spray can 3. In order that the pressure in the spray can 3 or the amount of air in it does not become too high, it must be clear when using the device of this design variant whether the container 14 filled first with a certain amount of liquid is already empty or is empty How many operations of the piston 4 (ie how many operations of the handle 5) should be made and how many of them were made. A small deviation from the desired value of the number of operations remains irrelevant, because in a single operation of the piston 4 only a very small volume of air can be pumped into the spray can 3 (The usual pressure of the medium in the spray can is several bar, so can the volume of air pumped in one operation reaches only fractions of the volume of the lower part of the cylinder). After the completion of the operation, the assembled components 4-12 can be taken out of the cylinder 1 and cleaned (as well as the cylinder 1 itself). If necessary, one of the sockets 7, 8 or both sockets 7, 8 or replace the compression spring 10, the handle 5 and the retaining ring 9 can be removed from the floor 6. This also allows the compression spring 10 and both sockets 7, 8 decrease from the floor 6.

In this construction variant, it may be expedient to fill the cylinder 1 with the liquid removed from the components 4 - 12 before the first actuation of the piston 4, so that as little air as possible is present in the cylinder 1. In this case, the liquid and possibly the air in the first actuation of the piston 4 from the cylinder 1 is pressed into the container 14 through the inlet opening 13 until the piston 4 during its displacement down the inlet opening 13 closes. Thereafter, the liquid remaining under the piston 4 is pumped into the cylinder 1. In the subsequent release of the handle 5, the liquid is sucked into the cylinder 1 from the container 14, as described above.

Another design variant of the device is shown in Fig. 2. The inlet valve 17 present in this case serves to prevent the repeated pumping of the air into the spray can 3 in the empty container 14. The possibly existing safety valve 18 is arranged on the extension of the longitudinal axis of the channel 19 to the inlet opening 13. The safety valve 18 allows the fluid to flow back from the cylinder 1 into the reservoir 14 at too high a pressure below the piston 4. The hose 20 connects the safety valve 18 to the reservoir 14. It is made of a transparent fabric and thus allows a visual Control of the process.

This design variant of the device works as follows. Upon actuation of the piston 4, the air from the cylinder 1 and the spaces of the inlet valve 17 is pressed into the container 14. Due to the low density of the air thereby does not lift the ball 21 of the inlet valve 17 and the way to the container 14 remains open. Upon return of the piston 4, the liquid from the reservoir 14 flows through the inlet valve 17 and the inlet port 13 into the cylinder 1 under the atmospheric pressure, so that the liquid collects in the lower part of the cylinder 1. This liquid can be pumped into the spray can 3 at the next actuation of the piston 4. In the rooms of the cylinder 1 and the inlet valve 17 still On the other hand, remaining air is not led into the spray can 3, but again into the container 14 - unless the situation described above arises, in which at the time of emptying these spaces from the liquid the air still remaining there is under pressure and thus the Opening the inlet valve 17 prevents.

With the container 14 still containing the liquid, no air remains in the spaces of the cylinder 1 and the inlet valve 17 after a few actuations of the piston 4, since it is replaced by the liquid with each actuation of the piston 4. The process is completed after a certain number of operations of the piston 4 or after the emptying of the container 14.

The arrangement of the inlet opening 13 with a distance to the base of the cylinder 1 has sense because it makes it possible to completely empty the cylinder 1, the spaces of the channel 19 and the inlet valve 17 of the liquid. However, this can be achieved with the price that a small amount of air may enter the spray can. If this amount must be minimized as possible, the inlet opening 13 in this design variant should be located directly above the base of the cylinder 1 and / or the design variant with a plurality of inlet openings according to claim 8 or with an inlet opening 13 in the form of a slot in the shell of the cylinder 1 according to claim 9 are used (see below). If the pressure in the cylinder 1 and in the spray can 3 is too high, the safety valve 18 opens and the liquid flows into the container 14. Due to the falling pressure in the cylinder 1, the liquid is not pumped into the spray can 3.

The third construction variant of the device is shown in FIG. This design variant differs from the second design variant in that the inlet opening 13 has the shape of a slot in the jacket of the cylinder 1, which can be closed by the piston 4 pushed down.

In this case, the air contained in the spaces of the cylinder 1, the slot (inlet opening 13) and the channel 19 from these spaces always go to the inlet valve 17 before and never after its closing in one operation, which is why this air always in the container 14th through the opened inlet valve 17 flows. This can prevent the pumping of the air into the spray can.

The design variants described represent only a basic structure of the device and do not exclude other possible variants of the arrangement of the components of the device. For example, the device may be provided with additional openings for the ventilation of the closed spaces. It is also possible to equip them with the channels for returning the liquid leaked through the leaks into the container 14. The inlet opening 13 can be arranged at a certain height above the base surface of the cylinder 1, so that the capacity of the cylinder 1 below the inlet opening 13 is in a certain ratio to the volume of the spaces of the channel 19 and the inlet valve 17.

Claims (14)

1. An arrangement for the manual topping-up of filled spray cans with liquid components, with a spray can (3) which is filled with a contents substance, a container (14) which is filled with a liquid component to be topped up into the spray can (3), and a topping-up device with a cylinder (1) with a piston (4), which can be displaced between its uppermost and its lowest position in the cylinder (1), wherein the cylinder (1) with the piston (4) comprises at least one inlet opening (13) and one outlet opening with suitable connections to the container (14) and to a valve (16) of the spray can (3), characterised in that the topping-up device comprises a spring (10) for the return of the piston (4) after the work cycle, a handle (5) for the operation of the piston (4) in the work cycle and an adapter (2) for the fixing of the topping-up device on the spray can (3), and that the inlet opening (13) is disposed in the lateral surface of the cylinder (1) at a point which, with the piston (4) standing in the uppermost position, lies directly beneath its end face closest to the spray can (3) and forming its working face.
2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the handle (5) is connected rigidly to the piston (5) by a stock (6) and can be removed from the latter, the stock (6) has a smaller diameter than the piston (4) and carries two bushes (7, 8), between which a compression spring (10) is disposed, wherein one (8) of the bushes (7, 8) is in contact with the cylinder (1), and under the effect of the compression spring (10) one of the bushes (8) rests on the piston (4) and the other (7) rests on a safety ring (9) disposed on the stock (6), so that the handle (5), the stock (6), the piston (4), the bushes (7, 8) and the compression spring (10) form a structural unit which can be removed upwards from the cylinder (1).
3. The arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the piston (4) has a length which is greater than the distance between the base face of the cylinder (1) and the highest point of the inlet opening (13), so that a connection between the container (14) and the interior of the cylinder (1) can exist only in the lower part of the cylinder (1) when the piston (4) is located in the upper part of the cylinder (1) and the working face of the piston (4) lies above the lowest point of the inlet opening (13).
4. The arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the piston (4) has two seals (11, 12) which are respectively installed directly above its lower and beneath its upper end face and thus define its length.
5. The arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the inlet opening (13) of the cylinder (1) is connected by means of a channel (19) to a chamber, which contains a float (21) and a valve seat disposed above the float (21) for the latter, wherein the valve seat is connected to the container (14).
6. The arrangement according to claim 5, wherein the float is a sphere (21) and the valve seat is formed by an opening which can be closed when the sphere (21) is raised, said opening having a smaller diameter than the diameter of the sphere (21), the smallest dimension of the chamber in every direction is greater than the diameter of the sphere, the lowest point of every cross-section of the channel (19) between the inlet opening (13) and the chamber does not lie above the lowest point of the chamber and the lowest point of any other cross-section lying closer to the chamber, that the cross-section of the channel (19) between the inlet opening (13) and the chamber at the connection point to the chamber has a dimension at least in one direction that is smaller than the diameter of the sphere (21), that the opening that can be closed by the sphere (21) is connected by means of a channel (15) to the container (14).
7. The arrangement according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the inlet opening (13) is disposed directly above the base face of the cylinder (1).
8. The arrangement according to claim 3 and any one of claims 5 to 7, which has a plurality of inlet openings, which are distributed between the work face of the piston (4) in its location in the uppermost position and the base face of the cylinder (1) and are connected to one another, wherein the lowest point of the chamber is not located below the level of the uppermost inlet opening.
9. The arrangement according to claim 8, wherein the connection between the inlet openings is produced by means of a slot in the lateral surface of the cylinder (1).
10. The arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 9, which is provided with at least one safety valve (18) which is installed between the interior of the cylinder (1) and the container (14) and thus enables a backflow of the liquid compressed in the cylinder (1) into the container (13) at a specific overpressure in the cylinder (1).
11. The arrangement according to claim 10, wherein the safety valve (18) comprises a sphere (21) in a body preferably provided with a thread, said sphere being pressed against a preferably conical surface.
12. The arrangement according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the safety valve (18) is connected hermetically to the container (13) by means of a tube (20).
13. The arrangement according to claim 12, wherein the tube (20) is produced from a transparent material.
14. The arrangement according to any one of claims 5 to 8 and any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the channel (19) is rectilinear between the inlet opening (13) and the chamber and at least one safety valve (20) is installed on the extension of its longitudinal axis outwards.

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