LU81988A1 - VALVE BODY FOR AEROSOLS - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTIVE MEMORY

FILED IN SUPPORT OF A REQUEST FOR

PATENT

*

FORMED BY

Robert Henry ABPLANALP for

Valve body for aerosols.

The speed at which an aerosol canister is filled with a propellant is an important factor "in the total cost of packaging. The filling by means of the propellant is generally carried out by one of two basic processes, namely the process known as "below the cup" according to which the mounting cup is accommodated without tightening in the opening of the container, the propellant is introduced into the container between the mounting cup and the bead

GM.MdC.MDB. 7 BIM / CW

closing the container and the mounting cup and the bead of the opening of the container are sealed by crimping. This process has been widely used, particularly in the United States, for filling bombs with chlorofluorinated hydrocarbons. The other basic filling process, called the "valve stem process", consists of passing the propellant outside the valve stem and inside the valve body, the propellant not passing not just through the choked holes in the valve stem. A valve of this second type is described in US Patent No. 3,319,669. Although the structure of the patent just mentioned constitutes an improvement on the initial filling process by the valve stem, the filling speeds of the propellant are not as high as would be desired, these filling speeds being indeed limited by the internal diameter of the dip tube connecting the valve body to the interior of the container and by the size of the orifice of the vent possibly provided in the valve body.

An attempt has been made to short-circuit all the throttled orifices of the valve by passing the propellant fluid between the valve seal and the contiguous surface of the mounting cup, then around the valve body in the container, by the so-called process. "around the body". The filling processes and associated valves described in US Pat. Nos. 3,138,297) 3,838,799 and 4,015,752 illustrate this technique. Most "around the body" filling systems have not reached the market, although some have been accepted to a limited extent by the industry. The main difficulty sufficient compression of the joint in order to ensure rapid passage of the propellant over the joint, it is necessary to provide a loose crimping of the central hossing and of the body. Such loose crimping is disadvantageous.

The invention provides a valve designed in such a way that the tomb can be filled "although the mounting cup and the assembled valve have been fixed in operative position in the opening of the container by means of standard crimping pressure. used in industry.

The invention also provides a filling head and valve assembly such that, during the filling operation, the filling head exerts a mechanical force by means of a rod action member. move the valve plug away from the valve cup and further to seal, but not hermetically, the orifice of the valve stem so as to prevent any entry of propellant.

According to its widest aspect, the valve according to the invention comprises a valve body having a flexible peripheral flange, the flange comprising slots or spaced recesses which allow the passage of the propellant during filling. The peripheral flange is arranged on the valve body in such a way that, when assembling the valve with its mounting cup, the recesses in the boss of the mounting cup resulting from the crimping of the boss on the valve constitute a means fixing the valve body and the valve seal> tightly to the lower surface of the top of the boss while allowing the flange to flex inwards towards the external wall of the valve body during filling. The bending of the flange inwards and, simultaneously, at the seal to move in the same direction, with the result that a relatively large opening is formed between the upper surface of the valve seal and the lower surface of the above the boss during the filling operation. When the filling head is removed and as soon as the pressure of the propellant and / or the mechanical force exerted on the valve ceases, the valve returns to the position in which the contents of the container are sealed from the atmosphere and do not can be dispensed only by actuating the valve * during normal use of the spray can.

In the preferred embodiment, the peripheral flange of the valve body extends outwardly and downward from the exterior surface of the valve body and has a series of slots which pass through its portion upper and extend in its wall which extends downwards.

'In a second embodiment, the flange has a series of projections extending outwards and downwards, arranged around the valve body, the spacing between the projections determining a flow path for the propellant during filling.

In other embodiments, the flange extends outward and upward from the valve body and has a series of slots, as in the preferred embodiment, or a series of projections, as described above for the second embodiment.

The invention, while being useful with all types of propellants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide or nitrous oxide, is particularly useful and advantageous with hydrocarbons. Currently, in some countries, ri λ no τίΊ ne t oqt> rlane ιτη -ΡιτΗντ "n’Pnf'llP rl &c; Tivfl Τ * ΠΓ * PT * - chlorofluorinated fuels as propellants (37 aerosols only for a limited number of products in order to mitigate their unfavorable impact on the environment. The aerosol industry therefore turned to hydrocarbons • liquefied as main propellants in aerosol dispensing bombs. The filling process "below the cup" is not an industrially advantageous process when filling with hydrocarbons. With the process "below the cup ", a loss of propellant in the atmosphere always accompanies the filling of each bomb. With hydrocarbons, a loss in the atmosphere cannot be tolerated for safety reasons. The presence of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere could lead to a hydrocarbon concentration in the field of combustible hydrocarbon and oxygen mixtures. The use of the filling process "below the shovel" therefore requires a system recovery of hydrocarbons which considerably increases the general cost of the filling operation.

With the present invention, the losses of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere are practically non-existent or so minimal that it is not necessary to use a recovery system.

The invention is particularly advantageous · in filling in the presence of a valve of the type> described in the patent application of the United States of America No. 83I.27O in which, inside the valve body is an impact chamber comprising, in general, several conduits for the propellant ending in an impact zone into which also leads a conduit in sub- rt4 * n V \ AA -A Λ VWS Λ-A «3-? Λ.ιΊ "WA a μ. AA TO MA ”1 a a v. to J.

Embodiments of the invention applied to valves of the type described in United States patent application No. 851,270 will be described below, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: the Pig. 1 is a sectional elevation view of a valve according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, shown in its normal closed position; the Pig. 2 is a sectional elevation view of the valve and of the filling head according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, showing the filling by means of the propellant by the filling head and the valve; the Pig. 3 is a top view of the valve body along line 3-3 of the Pig. 2; the Pig. 4 is an elevational view of a valve body of another embodiment of the invention; the Pig. 5 is a top view of the. Pig valve body. 4; the Pig. 6 is a view in elevation of a valve body of another embodiment of the invention; the Pig. 7 is a top view of the valve body of the Pig. 6.

The Pig. 1 illustrates a mounting cup with an assembled valve fixed to the bead of the opening of a “container.

The valve, generally designated at 10, comprises a mounting cup 12 comprising a vertical boss 14 and a rolled part 16 which is fixed on the bead 18 of the container generally designated at 20. A valve body 22 is mounted in the boss 14. An obtu- J___ / -J /, _ .U · J Jî Λ Λ ^ J 1 J λ Λ · ✓ __ * an outer wall 23- In the normal closed position of the valve, the spring 26 urges the shutter 24 · upwards against the seal 28. A hollow valve stem 30 extends the shutter 24 and, when the latter is in its normal closed position, its lights 32 are closed so sealed by the seal 28. At the lower end of the valve body 22 is provided a plug 34 which, at one end, serves to hold the lower end of the spring 26 and, at its other end, defines, with the end lower part of the valve body 22, an impact chamber generally designated at 36. the elements of the imp chamber act include windows 38 in the body, conduits 40 for the gas propellant, a conduit 42 for the product and an impact zone 44. An end piece 46 starts from the lower end of the valve body 22 and has a housing receiving a * dip tube 48.

The valve body 22 has an annular flexible flange 50 having a part 52 which extends outwards and a part 54 which extends downwards, the part which extends downwards comprising an upper inclined part 56 and ending in a lower inclined part 58. The part 52 of the flange 50 which extends outwards is offset slightly below the upper edge 60 of the valve body 22 and forms a stepped shoulder 62 with the external wall. body 22.

The passages for the propellant which pass through the flange 50 are clearly shown in FIG. 3. As shown in Fig. 3 »the wall 23 of the body comprises, coming from molding, the part 52 which extends outwards and the upper part 56 inclined downwards. A series of out- _ n / - »i Vf. I / * -,, · · s1 extends outwards.

As the drawings show, the outside diameter 29 of the seal 28 of the valve does not extend, as is usually the case in the type of valve shown in the drawing, up to the side wall 15 of the central boss 14. Thanks to the truncated diameter of the joint and to the stepped shoulder 62, the outer part of the joint can bend downwards in the free space provided between the side wall 15 of the boss 14 and the wall 23 of the valve body.

Templage heads of the type generally described in US Patent No. 3,122,180 can be used with the valve according to the invention.

To fill a bomb whose actuating member is not in place on the valve stem, using the assembly of the filling head and the valve according to the invention, the filling head of the general type described in United States patent No. 3-122,180 as described below. Only the modifications and the associated structure will be described, since, for the rest, the filling head is well known to specialists.

On the Pig. 2, the filling head is shown in place on the boss 14 -for filling.

. The filling head, for the part shown, comprises an adapter generally designated at 72, comprising an outer wall 73, this wall having a lower shoulder 74 ·· An O-ring 76 is provided on the shoulder 74-. In the wall is a U-shaped slide 78, the front edge 80 of which is inclined to compress the O-ring 76 against the shoulder 14. In a sliding rod actuator 84- and a spring 85 which recalls the rod actuator 84 elastically towards the "inclined edge 80 of the slide in TJ 78 ·

In the face of the rod actuating member 84 closest to the "inclined edge 80" is an annular groove 86 * intended to receive the upper end of the valve rod 30. The actuating member rod 84 can be of a shape such that it allows the passage of the propellant.

The propellant enters the filling adapter through the opening 88.

The elements of the valve shown in FIG. 2 bear the same reference numbers as in the description of FIGS. 1 and 3 and correspond to the elements of these figures.

When the filling adapter is in place on the mounting cup, as shown in Fig. 2, the * spring 85 biases the rod actuating member 84 elastically against the valve rod 30? until the spring 26 compresses and allows the shutter 24 to come to abut against the shoulder 27 provided in the bottom of the valve body 22. An additional stress on the spring 85 then displaces the valve, including the valve body, moving it away from the upper end of the central boss 14.

It has been found that by using a spring 85 exerting a sufficient biasing force to push the valve body from a distance of 0.381 to 0.635 mm "° n can quickly fill the propellant container satisfactorily.

The fact that the valve stem is substantially sealed off by contact with the actuator to dislodge the seal from its normal position relative to the openings of the shutter and the valve stem.

Although it is preferred to use the mechanical force produced by the filling head described above, the valve body according to the invention can be used for filling by means of a conventional filling head which s '' fits tightly on the boss of the mounting cup. In such a system, the valve body is moved away from the upper surface of the boss when the pressure of the propellant in the head intervenes.

During filling, the propellant flows through the port 88 of the adapter into the adapter 72 from where it passes through the central opening of the boss of the mounting cup, between the seal and the boss, and through the openings or slots in the flange i in the container. The cessation of the flow of the propellant and the withdrawal of the filling head allow the valve body and the seal to return to the normal sealing position shown on the Pig. 1.

Other embodiments described below differ from the first only in the construction of the flange provided on the valve body. Thus, in Figs. 4 to 7 only the modifications made to the flange are shown. For the rest, the bodies of the embodiments of Figs 4 to 7 are similar to the body of Figs. 1 to 3

On the Pig. 4, the valve body 22 ′ has a wall 23 ′ from which a flange 90 comprising a series of flexible projections 92 leaves, these projections comprising a part 94 * which extends outwards and a part 96 which extends to the top.

* projections 92 which provide a flow passage for the propellant.

In Fig. 6, the valve body 22 ”has a wall 23" from which a t> ride 100 including the series of flexible projections 102, these projections comprising a part 104 which extends outwards and me part 106 which s 'extends down.

Fig. 7 clearly illustrates the slots 10S between the projections 102.

The filling adapter can also be used to fill a "bomb while the valve actuating member already placed on the valve stem. In this application, a filling head such as that described in the patent can be used United States of America No. 3,122,180.

The distance that the adapter must travel before final positioning is adjusted so that the inner sleeve first comes into contact with the shoulder provided on the periphery of the actuator and that distance additional from 0.381 to 0.635 111111 is provided to allow the hride of the actuating member to apply against the "boss while simultaneously pushing the valve body by bending the" flange provided on its surface. The distance to be traveled can be adjusted by lengthening the valve stem or shortening the height of the actuator.

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Claims (8)

1, - Valve used to control flow from a pressure container, characterized in that it comprises a container closure cup comprising a “boss enclosing a valve body and an associated valve seal, and the body valve is requested. - against the seal to ensure the seal between the closure cup and the seal by crimping the boss, the valve body comprising a member with flexible slits in one piece with its external wall, this flexible member being disposed on the side wall exterior of the valve body below a surface of the body contacting an upper seal and having an exterior surface in contact with the closure cup, the exterior surface being inclined downward and inward so as to be find in an inclined plane and following the internal surface I. of the crimped part of the boss. 2, - Valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the slotted element comprises a part which extends outwards from the external wall of the body and a part which extends substantially perpendicularly from the part extending outwards. 5.- Valve according to claim 2, characterized in that the part of the flange which extends outwards is positioned closer to the surface of the body in contact with the seal than the end of the part which s extends perpendicularly. 4.- Valve according to claim 2, characterized in that the part of the flange which extends outwards is placed further from the surface of the body in contact with the seal than the end of the part which s extends perpendicular 4 »5 ·“ Valve according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the slotted element is annular. 6.- Valve according to any one of claims 1 to 5) characterized in that the slotted element comprises a series of projections. Valve according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the valve body has an internal shoulder which attacks a movable valve shutter inside the body when this shutter has been moved by a predetermined distance in the valve body, so that any further movement of the valve member causes the slotted member to flex to allow the valve body to depart from its sealing position with the seal. 8. An adapter for a filling head intended for a valve according to claim 7, characterized in that it comprises a body intended to receive a rod of the obturator and having an open end whose periphery can be adapted in leaktight manner. to the boss, and a valve stem actuating member in the body having a surface intended to come into contact with the stem and to seal its open end so as to prevent the entry of any substantial quantity filling material passing through the head. 9 · - filling head adapter according to »claim 8, characterized in that the valve stem action-ment member includes lights for the passage of the filling material. 10.- filling head adapter according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that a spring is ί s valve towards the end rod side of the body, j 11. Valve constructed and arranged in substance as described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5 or to Figs. 4 and 5 or 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings. 12, - Adapter for a filling head intended for a valve constructed and arranged in substance as described with reference to FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings. j t «* * *