WO2012123763A2

WO2012123763A2 - Dispenser and refill unit

Info

Publication number: WO2012123763A2
Application number: PCT/GB2012/050592
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frank CERVI; Jacobus Simon Petrus Van Diepen
Original assignee: Reckitt & Colman (Overseas) Limited
Priority date: 2011-03-17
Filing date: 2012-03-19
Publication date: 2012-09-20
Also published as: GB201104525D0; WO2012123763A3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a dispenser for dispensing a liquid soap or the like incorporating refill recognition technology to reduce consumer misuse and/or accidental damage to the dispenser when an incorrect refill is inadvertently or intentionally used with the dispenser.

Description

DISPENSER AND REFILL UNIT

Dispensers for dispensing liquid soap have been described in the Applicant's co-pending application WO2010/055314. Additionally, refill recognition technology has been described in relation to a spraying device, such as a device for spraying an aerosol air freshener, in the Applicant's co-pending application WO2009/037491. However, there is a problem in that dispensers for liquid soap (such as the dispensers described in WO2010/055314) are surprisingly susceptible to damage and/or impaired performance when a fluid is introduced into the dispenser which does not have the rheological properties and/or chemical properties for which the dispenser has been optimised to dispense. Furthermore, since the replaceable refill unit is substantially obscured by the housing of the dispenser when engaged therewith, it is possible that a consumer would be completely unaware that refill is incorrect and/or potentially harmful until the dispenser automatically attempts to dispense the content of the refill. The present invention seeks to prevent the device working or working for a sustained period with an incorrect refill via an inexpensive to manufacture and highly reliable system that is suitable for incorporation into a device that sits within the category of fast moving consumer goods.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided therefore a dispenser comprising a base unit with an actuation mechanism for dispensing liquid and a replaceable refill unit of liquid soap inserted into the base unit in an inverted configuration with its outlet lowermost for the supply of liquid soap to the base unit;

wherein the refill unit comprises a cap and having an annular wali projecting into the refill unit and defining an outlet from the refill unit, the annular wall being closable at its innermost end by a valve element biased onto the annular wali; and

wherein the base unit comprises a housing having an inner surface that faces the refill and having an outer surface that encloses the contents of the base unit from the external environment, the base unit further comprising a hollow spigot and an annular seal surrounding and spaced from the top of the spigot, whereby insertion of the refill unit into the base unit causes the spigot to enter the annular wall and to lift the valve element from the annular wall to define a ffow path for the liquid soap from the refill unit through at least one cut-out portion formed in the top of the spigot and/or the bottom of the valve element and down the hollow spigot;

the base unit is a!so provided annular seal to seal between the spigot and the annular wall, and the actuation mechanism of the base unit comprises a pump having a piston in a chamber in which reciprocal movement of the piston, in use, causes a metered dose of liquid soap to be propelled along a dispensing tube toward a dispensing head and dispensed;

the outer surface of the housing being provided with an infrared transmitter which, in use, transmits a beam of infrared light at a receiver located in the outer surface of the housing remotely from the transmitter such that the beam of infrared light will be broken by a user of (he device locating at ieast one of their hands within the proximity of the dispensing head;

characterised in that the base unit f urther comprises a window in the inner surface of the housing in registration with a predetermined area of the cap of the refill unit when the refill unit is inserted in the base unit; and the base unit further comprises a sensor configured to distinguish between different levels of reflectance on a surface, the sensor being located on a elongate limb wherein one end of the elongate fimb is arranged for reciprocal movement with the movement of the piston;

and wherein the refill further comprises at least one area of lower reflectance and aL least one area of relatively higher reflectance on the cap in registration with the window.

According to a second aspect of the present Invention there is provided therefore a method of determining whether an incorrect replaceable refill unit has been inserted into a base unit of a dispenser as described in the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the dispenser is operable upon the beam of infrared light between the transmitter and the receiver being broken for a control means to cause the actuation mechanism to allow the pump to run through at least one activation cycle, wherein during said cycle the sensor will interrogate the area on the cap of the refill unit in registration with the window in the inner surface of the housing and wherein in the absence of detecting at least one area of lower reflectance and at Ieast one area of relatively higher reflectance on the cap the sensor will communicate the detection of said absence to the control means and said control means will prevent the actuation mechanism from activating until the base unit is reset by the user.

In normal operation the base unit may have to perform several movements of the pump before dispensing any liquid soap in order to prime the entirety of the dispensing tube up to the dispensing head prior to dispensing a metered dose of liquid soap, therefore, the method of the second aspect may be advantageous as the first movement of the sensor over an absence of differing levels of reflectance on the annular wail of an incorrect refill will cause the pump to cease further operation without dispensing any of the liquid contained within said incorrect refill.

Reflectance relates to radiation striking a surface, some of it is absorbed and some is reflected. Reflectance is expressed as a unitless proportion. For the avoidance of doubt, the term "lower reflectance" is used herein as a relative term with reference to the term "higher reflectance"; "lower" may include areas of zero or near zero reflectance. The dispenser is primarily intended to dispense liquid soap, but the skilled reader will appreciate that the term "liquid" is used herein to denote al! types of household liquids or semi-liquid products which have a viscosity greater than water, such as hand cream, body lotion, moisturiser, face cream, shampoo, shower gel, foaming hand wash, shaving cream, washing up liquid, toothpaste, acne treatment cream, a surface cleaner or a sanitising agent such as alcohol gel.

A dispenser and refill unit in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a cross-section through a dispenser (absent the sensor);

Fig. 2 is a cut-away perspective view of the refill being introduced into the dispenser but not yet being engaged;

Fig 3 is a view similar to Fig 2 showing the refill in an intermediate position;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Figs. 3 and 4 showing the refill in its fully engaged position;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the cap assembly prior to assembly;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the cap assembly after assembly;

Fig. 7 is a cross-section showing the engagement between the bottle neck and cap assembly;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the cap with the frangible members intact;

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 7 after the bottle has been removed from the cap;

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 8 after the frangible members have broken off;

Fig. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a cap of a second refill unit;

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 11 showing the assembled cap;

Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view through the pressure relief valve of the second example; Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 13 showing the pressure relief valve in an open configuration to allow the flow of air;

Fig. 15 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing a third refill unit on the dispenser;

Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 5 of the cap of the third refill unit;

Fig. 17 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the cap of the third refill unit assembled;

Fig. 18 is a view similar to Fig. 7 of the third refill unit; and

Fig. 19 is a sectional view of the base unit showing the sensor.

The dispenser is a hands-free dispenser which is generally suitable for domestic use. The dispenser is primarily intended to dispense liquid soap, but may also be used to dispense other liquid or semi-liquid products (ideally with a viscosity greater than water), such as hand cream, body lotion, moisturiser, face cream, shampoo, shower gel, foaming hand wash, shaving cream, washing up liquid, toothpaste, acne treatment cream, a surface cleaner or a sanitising agent such as alcohol gel. The dispenser comprises two main parts, namely a refill 1 and a base unit 2. The refill 1 provides a reservoir of liquid to be dispensed and is fitted to the base unit 2 as set out below. The base has an interface 3 into which liquid is dispensed from the refill unit. The interface 3 is in fluid communication with a dispensing tube 4. A pump 5 is selectively operabie to pump a metered dose of the liquid along dispensing tube 4 and out of dispensing head 6.

The base has an infrared transmitter 7A which transmits an infrared beam through a window 8 to a receiver 7B to sense the presence of a user's hands in tine vicinity of the dispenser. Control circuitry reacts to a signal from the proximity sensor to activate the pump. The illustrated sensor is a break beam sensor, but may also be a reflective sensor. Although an infrared sensor is shown, any known proximity sensor such as a capacitive sensor may be used. The device may be mains powered or battery powered. Alternatively, it may be a manually operated pump device in which a user pushes a !ever to displace the product.

The interface between the refill 1 and base unit 2 will now be described in greater detail with reference to Figs. 2 to 10 and Fig.19. The base unit 2 comprises a housing 10 having an inner surface 70 which faces the refill 1 when inserted, and an outer surface 71 which faces the exterior environment to protect the components within the base unit therefrom. The inner surface 70 forms a cup-shape in order to surround a significant portion of the refill 1 to protect and support it. When the refill 1 is inserted into the base unit a spigot 11 projects through the base of the cowling 10 and is sealed to the cowiing 10 by an O-ring seal 12. The spigot has a plurality of casteilattons 13 in its top surface. A second O-ring sea! 14 surrounds the spigot 11 beneath the eastellations 13.

The refill 1 comprises a bottle 20 to which a cap 21 is fixed. The bottle 20 has a neck 22 which fits over and seals with an annular flange 23 within the cap 21. The cap 21 has an upwardly depending skirt 24 (when in the inverted orientation shown in the drawings) which forms the outer surface of the cap. Working inwardly from the skirt 24, the next feature of the cap is an outer annular wall 25 which is generally co-axial with the skirt 24.

Although not shown the skirt 24 of the cap 21 has at least one black mark immediately adjacent at least one white mark in registration with window 73 in the inner surface 70 of the housing 10. The at least one black mark and at least one white mark provide areas of differing reflectance, however, they may be provided with either of said at least one black or white marks on the cap 21 to contrast with the colour of the cap 21 in order to provide the areas of differing reflectance. As clearly shown in Fig. 19, an elongate limb 74 is provided which is connected to a pump (not shown) for reciprocal movement with a piston within the pump, in operation of the pump, the piston shall reciprocally move up and down and the elongate limb 74 wilt fofiow. At the end of the elongate limb 74 remote from the connection to the pump is located a sensor 75. The sensor is configured to interrogate the area of the skirt 24 which is in registration with the window 73.

When the dispenser is placed in operation, upon the beam of infrared Sight between the transmitter 7A and the receiver 7B being broken a controi means (not shown) will cause the pump to run through at least one activation cycle, wherein during said cycle the sensor 75 will interrogate the area on the skirt 24 of the cap 21 in registration with the window 73 in the inner surface 70 of the housing 10 and wherein in the absence of detecting at least one area of lower reflectance and at least one area of relatively hi0her reflectance on the skirt 24 the sensor 75 will communicate the detection of said absence to the control means and said controi means will prevent the pump of the actuation mechanism from activating untii the base unit 2 is reset by the user.

The outer annuiar wall 25 consists of a pair of retaining members 26 and a pair of support members 27 which alternate with one another and each extend for approximately a quarter of the circle as shown in Figs. 5, 6, 8 and 10. The profile of the support members 27 is as shown in Fig. 2. These members extend directly up from the lower wall of the cap, are parallel sided and have an inclined upper surface 28. The profile of the retaining members 26 is shown in Figs. 7 and 9. Unlike the support members 27, these are not fixed to the wail of the cap. Instead, they are fixed at either end to the support members 27 by frangible members 29 as best shown in Figs. 6 and 8. The retaining members 26 are para!lel sided and have an inclined upper surface 35 as shown in Figs. 7 and 9.

As shown in Figs. 7 and 9, the neck 22 of the bottle has an inclined outer surface 36 which is complimentary to the inclined surfaces 28 and 35 of the annular waif 25. Behind the inclined outer surface 36 is a shoulder 37 which faces the main body of the bottle 20. This inclined outer surface 36 and shoulder 37 is only present in the vicinity of the retaining members 26 and not in the vicinity of the support members 27. Adjacent to the support members 27, the neck 22 has a para!lel sided configuration as shown in Fig. 2.

In order to insert the bottle 20 into the cap 21 , the bottle 20 is pushed down with its neck fitting over the annuiar flange 23. The inclined outer surface 36 of the bottle co-operates with the inclined surfaces 28, 35 to displace the retaining members 26 radially outwardly until the shoulder 37 snaps into place behind the retaining members 26 as shown in Fig. 7. When the bottle 20 is puiled off of the cap 21, the shoulders 37 bear against the retaining members 26, thereby breaking frangible members 29 so that the retaining members 26 become detached from the cap 21 as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Once this has happened, it is no longer possible to retain the cap on a bottle, thereby preventing subsequent use of the refill 1.

It should be noted thai it is not necessary for both of the retaining members 26 to become fully detached from the lid. it is possible that only one of these becomes detached, or that one or both are simply displaced to a location at which they can no longer engage with the neck of the bottle. Returning now to Figs. 2 to 4, the liquid outlet and associated vaive will now be described.

The liquid outlet from the reservoir is provided by an annular wall 30 surrounding a central opening 31. At the top of the annular wall 30 is an inclined surface 32 (see rig. 4) which provides a valve seat for outlet vafve element 33. This is shown in the form of a U-shape cup-!ike member, but may equally be a solid member or a hollow ball-like member. The outlet vaive element 33 is biased into its dosed position by a plurality of biasing elements 34. These are attached at their upper end towards the top of the vaive element 33 and are attached at their lower ends at a location radiaily outward of the annular wall 30 and below the top of the annular -wall 30. They are preferably formed integrally with the valve element 33.

As shown in Figs. 2 to 4, when the refill 1 is lowered into the base unit 2, the spigot 11 engages with the lower surface of the vaive element 33 as shown in Fig. 3. Further downward movement of the refill causes the valve element 33 to be lifted from its seat, and also brings the O-ring 14 into sealing engagement with the annular wall 30. The valve element 33 is lifted to the position shown in Fig. 4. In this position, liquid in the bottle 20 can flow around the biasing elements 34, and enter the spigot via the castei!ations 13 and hence flow into the base unit 2. Liquid is prevented from escaping between the spigot 11 and annular wall 30 by the O-ring seal 14. This arrangement offers a simple and mess-free way for a consumer to insert a refill regardless of the fill level of the refill. in order to remove a refill, the consumer lifts it out of the base whereupon the biasing elements 34 cause the valve element 33 to return to the seat 32. During this movement, the seal between the spigot 11 and annular wall 30 is maintained by the O-ring seal 14. A spent refill is then replaced by a new one following the above procedure.

The cap is provided with a pair of pressure relief valves 40. Each is formed by an annular boss 41 integral with the cap 21. A pressure relief valve element 42 is seated on the top of the annular boss 41 and is biased in place by a pair of biasing elements 43 (as shown, for example, in Fig. 5). The biasing force is such that, under normal conditions, the pressure relief valve element 42 forms an air tight seal on the boss 41. However, when the pressure within the bottle 20 drops below a certain level, the pressure differential across the relief valve element 42 is sufficient to overcome the force exerted by biasing elements 43 and to allow air into the bottle 20. This reduces the pressure differential thereby restoring the air tight seal without leakage of fluid.

Each pressure relief valve 40 is surrounded by an annular barrier 44 which extends axially to a level axially above the level of the top of the annular wall 30- Thus, when the valve element 33 is open, any air entering the relief valve 40 will not become entrained in the outgoing liquid stream. In practice, this means that the relief valve can be placed closer to the outlet, thereby resulting in a more compact cap. Although two relief valves are shown, a single valve, or more than two valves could be provided if necessary.

The manner in which the cap is assembled is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The assembly is a three-part structure consisting of the cap 21 , a valve plate 45 and a fixing plate 46. The cap has a number of moulded features including the annular flange 23, annular wail 25 and annular bosses 41. In addition, the cap 21 has a plurality of fixing posts 47.

The valve plate 45 is an elastomeric material and is integrally formed with the valve element 33, biasing elements 34, relief vaive element 42 and biasing elements 43. The valve plate has a plurality of locating holes 48 which correspond to the fixing posts 47.

The fixing plate 46 is made of a rigid plastics material and is integrally formed with the annular barrier 44, As with the vaive plate 45, the fixing plate 46 is aiso provided with a plurality of locating holes 49 which correspond to the fixing posts 47.

To assemble the cap, the three components are placed on top of one another as shown in Fig. 6 with the fixing posts entering the locating holes to ensure that the components are correctly aligned. Heat or adhesive is then applied to the top of the fixing posts 47 to secure the fixing posts to the fixing plate 46. The elastomerie valve plate 45 is thereby sandwiched between the cap 21 and fixing plate 46 which ho!ds the vaive elements 33 and 42 in position.

A second example of a cap for a refill unit will now be described with reference to Figs. 11 to 14. The structure of the outlet valve element 33 in the second example is essentially the same as the first example, and will not be described again in relation to the second example.

As can be seen from Fig. 11 , the cap 21 is integrally molded with a number of features, such as the annular walls 25 and 30 and a conical part 50 of the pressure relief vaive which will be described below. A resilient lip 53 (described in more detail below) for the pressure relief valve is provided integrally molded with the valve piate 45. The fixing piate 46 is also provided with a shield 57 for the relief valve. This is equivalent to the barrier 44 in Fig. 2, but only extends around the side of the relief valve facing the outlet valve element 33. The barrier 44 and shield 57 could be used interchangeably in the two examples.

The cap assembly is assembled in the same manner as in the first example.

The pressure relief valve 60 is illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14. The valve has the conical part 50 which is an integral part of the cap 21 as mentioned above. At the top of the conical part 50 is a cylindrical post 61. The resilient lip 53 is effectively a hollow frustoconical extension of the va!ve plate 52 of resilient material which extends along the conical part 50 from which it diverges slightly and is a tight fit again&t the post 01, At least one air inlet 02 (also shown in Fig. 11) passes through the wall of the conical part 50 and is normally covered by the resilient lip 53 as shown in Fig. 11. When the pressure in the bottle 20 falls as liquid is emptied the pressure differential across the resilient lip 53 will eventually become sufficient to displace the lip 53 to a sufficient degree to allow air A into the bottle 20 as shown by the arrows in Fig. 8. it should be noted that the degree to which the resilient lip 53 lifts from the conical element 50 has been exaggerated in Fig, 8 and that, in practice, this will be almost imperceptible.

Instead of sealing against the post, the resilient lip 53 may seal against the conical part 50. in this case, the lip will not diverge from the conical part as shown. Instead, it would actually have an angle of incline less than the angle of -the conical part 50 so as to be naturally biased onto the conical part.

An example of a third refill unit will now be described with reference to Figs. 15 to 18. This is the same in most respects as the first example, and only the significant differences are described here. As can be seen in Fig. 15, the outlet valve element 33' is shaped differently, in this case, there is a reduced diameter portion 60 which fits within the annular wall 30 when the valve is closed to assist the sealing to the annular wall.

The pair of pressure relief valves 40 have been replaced by a single conventional umbrella valve 61. The retaining members 26 with their frangible members 29 have been replaced by a plurality of intermittent shoulders 62 which, as shown in Fig. 18 engage with complementary shoulders 63 on the neck of the bottle 20, Inward deflection of the neck of the bottle is prevented by a flange 64. Once in the Fig. 18 position, the engagement between the shoulders is strong enough to prevent the cap from being removed from the bottle for al! pracfica! purposes. This is facilitated by a keying arrangement 64 on the cap as shown in Figs. 16 and 17 which engages with a complementary protrusion on the bottle (not shown) to prevent relative rotation between the cap 21 and bottle 20.

Claims

CLAIMS:-

1. A dispenser comprising a base unit with an actuation mechanism for dispensing liquid and a replaceable refi!i unit of liquid soap inserted into the base unit in an inverted configuration with its outlet lowermost for the supply of liquid soap to the base unit;

wherein the refill unit comprises a cap and having an annu!ar wall projecting into the refill unit and defining an outlet from the refill unit, the annular wall being ctosabie at its innermost end by a valve element biased onto the annular wall; and

wherein the base unit comprises a housing having an inner surface that faces the refill and having an outer surface that encloses the contents of the base unit from the external environment, the base unit further comprising a hollow spigot and an annular seai surrounding and spaced from the top of the spigot whereby insertion of the refill unit into the base unit causes the spigot to enter tile am lular wait and to lift the valve element from the annular wali to define a flow path for the liquid soap from the refill unit through at least one cut-out portion formed in the top of the spigot and/or the bottom of the valve element and down the hollow spigot;

the base unit is also provided annular seal to seal between the spigot and the annular wail, and the actuation mechanism of the base unit comprises a pump having a piston in a chamber in which reciprocal movement of the piston, in use, causes a metered dose of liquid soap to be propeiied along a dispensing tube toward a dispensing head and dispensed;

the outer surface of the housing being provided with an infrared transmitter which, in use, transmits a beam of infrared light at a receiver located in the outer surface of the housing remotely from the transmitter such that the beam of infrared light will be broken by a user of the device locating at least one of their hands within the proximity of the dispensing head;

characterised in that the base unit further comprises a window in the inner surface of the housing in registration with a predetermined area of the cap of the refill unit when the refill unit is inserted in the base unit; and the base unit further comprises a sensor configured to distinguish between different levels of reflectance on a surface, the sensor being located on a elongate limb wherein one end of the elongate limb is arranged for reciprocal movement with the movement of the piston;

and wherein the refill further comprises at least one area of lower reflectance and at least one area of relatively higher reflectance on the cap in registration with the window.

2. A method of determining whether an incorrect replaceable refill unit has been inserted into a base unit of a dispenser according to claim 1 , wherein the dispenser is operab!e upon the beam of infrared light between the transmitter and the receiver being broken for a control means to cause the actuation mechanism to allow the pump to run through at least one activation cycle, wherein during said cycle the sensor will interrogate the area on the cap of the refill unit in registration with the window in the inner surface of the housing and wherein in the absence of detecting at least one area of lower reflectance and at least one area of relatively higher reflectance on the cap the sensor will communicate the detection of said absence to the contral means and said control means will prevent the actuation mechanism from activating until the base unit is reset by the user.

3. A refill unit of liquid soap for replaceable insertion into a device according to claim 1 , wherein the refill unit comprises a reservoir of liquid soap closed by a cap, wherein said cap has an annular wall projecting into the refill unit and defining an outlet from the refill unit for the liquid soap, the annular wall being closable at its innermost end by a valve element biased onto the annular wall, and wherein the cap comprises at least one area of fower reflectance and at least one area of relatively higher reflectance located in a fixed position on an outer surface of the cap such that, in use with the device according to claim 1, the position of said areas will be in registration with the window within the inner surface of the housing.