Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
  • B01F33/00—Other mixers; Mixing plants; Combinations of mixers
  • B01F33/80—Mixing plants; Combinations of mixers
  • B01F33/84—Mixing plants with mixing receptacles receiving material dispensed from several component receptacles, e.g. paint tins
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01F—MIXING, e.g. DISSOLVING, EMULSIFYING OR DISPERSING
  • B01F2101/00—Mixing characterised by the nature of the mixed materials or by the application field
  • B01F2101/30—Mixing paints or paint ingredients, e.g. pigments, dyes, colours, lacquers or enamel

Definitions

• the object of the present invention is a dispensing machine for fluid products, in particular but not exclusively for colorants and the like for the formulation of varnishes and similar according to the preamble of the principal claim.
• This machine is mainly studied for the dispensing of two (or more) different series of products, for example, products using water as their carrier (herein after indicated as water-based products or colorants), products using various types of solvents as their carrier (herein after indicated as solvent-based products or colorants) or products using as their carrier fluids compatible with both water and solvents (herein after indicated as universal products or colorants).
• products it is understood to comprise colorants, pigments, inks, and also fluid basis for varnishes and similar of any of the three mentioned types.
• the present invention may nevertheless be used to handle and dispense various kinds of fluids other than those previously indicated, in many fields of the industry, for example in the food, chemical, pharmaceutical industries and many others.
• the known machines have either a plurality of moveable carousel canisters as to the distribution position and which are therefore enabled to dispense one single product at the time with a remarkable loss of time and productivity, or one single distribution centre in which the piping and all dispensing nozzles are converged, linked up to the respective dispensing members (pumps and dosing electrovalves).
• a nozzle humidifier device fitted to plug the corresponding distribution centre in order to maintain a status of saturated vapour at the outlet of the nozzles.
• MI96A000601 of the same applicant.
• This humidifier device can be further connected to punching devices and cap-pluggers as described in the applicant's co-pending patent application no. BO95A000591.
• mechanical devices or other kinds thereof for the hole centring on the can into which the product is to be dispensed can be associated with mechanical devices or other kinds thereof for the hole centring on the can into which the product is to be dispensed.
• the water-based, the solvent-based or the universal products nevertheless have different drying times and it is thus possible that a humidifier device calibrated to avoid the drying of the water-based products does not result to be efficient enough to carry out the same task with the solvent-based or universal products and vice versa.
• the mixture between water-based, solvent-based and universal products is a potential pollution or contamination cause of the dispensed products.
• drops may form at the nozzle of a product (for example solvent) which then are transferred into the container (can) destined to contain the dispensed product when a different product is dispensed (for example water) through the adjacent nozzle.
• the pollution or contamination that results from it can irreparably damage the paint altering both the chemical-physical and colorimetric characteristics.
• the use of the present invention advantageously allows to duplicate (or multiply, depending on the actual number of dispensing heads and/or dispensing centres) the hourly production of a certain fluid product.
• the invention thus allows to produce at the same time two (or more) containers with the same coloured fluid or with different coloured fluids).
• the doubled or multiplied hourly production capacity is achieved without prejudice to the overall costs, because it is only needed a single machine bearing single computing unit and electronic control devices, the machine being easily integrated in a plant having a single conveying line or where limitation in space is a major concern.
• It also an advantage of the invention the fact that the delivery and shipping costs of the machine are comparable to those of a traditionally known machine of lower production capacity.
• a machine according to the present invention also requires no more than a single operator devoted thereto.
• incompatible fluids are to be dispensed, as in the case of water- based and solvent-based products, it is possible to simply avoid any remotely possible contamination which might occur by dedicating each one of the dispensing heads or dispensing centres to each one of said incompatible fluids. This also contributes to eliminate any possible human error as far as the operator is concerned, since distinct dispensing members are clearly allocated which can also be physically marked, labelled or however unmistakably identified.
• the present invention allows a user to split the fluids to be dispensed into two or more groups which converge to different and separated heads or centres, however retaining the advantages of a controlling the dispensing operations by means of a single control unit, processor and user interface.
• the principle of the present invention is applicable to many kinds of dispensing machines, including those specifically designed to handle dangerous fluids, such as those fluid which are flammable or explosive, these machine being known as "explosion proof machines.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a dispensing machine according to the present invention.
• figure 2 a side view of the same machine of figure 1 ;
• FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of the machine of the previous figures
• FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged scale view of one of the two distribution centres of the machine of the previous figures.
• reference numeral 1 globally indicates a dispensing machine which is realised according to the present invention.
• machine 1 comprises a framework 2 with a dispensing head 3 that overtops a distribution area of one or more products in a liquid state in a container (R and R').
• a processing unit with a relevant user interface 4 with a video display 5 and a keyboard 6.
• This processing unit and the above mentioned accessories thereof are needed to control the plurality of dosing pumps all indicated by 7 and the relevant electrovalves 8 to dose the product distribution in a way which will be clarified here after.
• the only dispensing head 3 is provided with a first and second dispensing centre 10a,b respectively structurally identical, but physically separate and at some distance.
• the structural details of the machine may vary widely within the framework of the present invention which also covers machines having a greater number of dispensing centres, the two or more dispensing centres being placed on either the same single dispensing head, or even on different dispensing heads.
• these heads may be places at any distance the one from the others, lined on the front of the machine, as well as - according to alternative configurations and embodiments - one head on the front and the other on the rear side of the machine body, and more generally on opposite sides of the machine body.
• each dispensing centre 10a,b a respective plurality of nozzles 11 are converged, which are connected to the respective electrovalves 8 by means of pipings 12.
• the structure of each dispensing centre is known, for example the type described in the patent application no. MI96A000601 , and preferably comprises a respective and independent support 13 for the nozzles 11 (in the example defined by the free extremities of the corresponding pipings 12) and a respective and independent humidifier device with relevant cap, altogether indicated with 14, of a known type.
• each distribution centre can comprise a punching device and/or a plugging device of the type described in the co-pending patent application no. BO95A000591 in Italy, the content of which is hereby expressly incorporated.
• the invention solves the problem with a simple and compact machine, able to guarantee the non-pollution between dispensed products of a different nature and also capable to protect in a optimum way the dispensing nozzles of products of different nature from possible drying of the dispensed product.

Landscapes

• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Nozzles (AREA)
• Feeding, Discharge, Calcimining, Fusing, And Gas-Generation Devices (AREA)
• Devices For Dispensing Beverages (AREA)
• Branching, Merging, And Special Transfer Between Conveyors (AREA)
• Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)
• Spray Control Apparatus (AREA)
• Lubricants (AREA)
• Formation And Processing Of Food Products (AREA)
• Loading And Unloading Of Fuel Tanks Or Ships (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=11391501

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Cited By (13)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (6)

• 1996
  • 1996-08-06 IT IT96PD000200A patent/IT1287957B1/it active IP Right Grant
• 1997
  • 1997-08-05 WO PCT/IT1997/000203 patent/WO1998005417A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-08-05 JP JP10507780A patent/JP2000515464A/ja active Pending
  • 1997-08-05 CN CN97198426A patent/CN1232409A/zh active Pending
  • 1997-08-05 AU AU38641/97A patent/AU3864197A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-08-05 CA CA002262666A patent/CA2262666A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1997-08-05 ID IDP972704A patent/ID19816A/id unknown
  • 1997-08-05 UY UY24657A patent/UY24657A1/es not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-08-05 BR BR9711181A patent/BR9711181A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1997-08-05 EP EP97935767A patent/EP0921853A2/en not_active Withdrawn
• 1999
  • 1999-02-05 NO NO990554A patent/NO990554L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (6)

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