WO2024126956A1

WO2024126956A1 - Device for dispensing a fluid product

Info

Publication number: WO2024126956A1
Application number: PCT/FR2023/052013
Authority: WO
Inventors: Franck POULLAIN
Original assignee: Aptar France Sas
Priority date: 2022-12-15
Filing date: 2023-12-14
Publication date: 2024-06-20
Also published as: FR3143571A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for dispensing a fluid product, comprising a reservoir (10) containing a fluid product and a dispensing head (20) provided with a dispensing opening (21) and a radial flange (23) forming a finger rest during actuation, said reservoir (10) being axially movable relative to said dispensing head (20) during actuation, and a plunger stopper (50) being movable in said reservoir (10) in order to dispense the fluid product through said dispensing opening (21) during actuation, said device comprising a blocking member (100) that blocks the axial movement of the reservoir (10) in the dispensing head (20), said blocking member (100) being movable and/or deformable between a blocking position and a release position, and said device comprising an unblocking member (200) movable between an idle position, in which the blocking member (100) is in a blocking position, and an unblocking position in which the blocking member (100) is moved and/or deformed into the release position.

Description

Fluid product dispensing device

The present invention relates to a fluid product dispensing device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a single-dose nasal fluid delivery device for dispensing a pharmaceutical fluid product into the nose of a user via a single nasal spray.

A disadvantage of existing nasal fluid delivery devices is the risk of unwanted actuation if the device falls.

Documents EP0810906, FR3116203, US2013317433, US6708846 and FR3011829 describe prior art devices.

The present invention aims to provide a fluid product dispensing device which does not reproduce the aforementioned drawbacks.

More particularly, the present invention aims to provide a fluid product dispensing device which avoids the risks of unwanted actuation, for example in the event of the device falling.

The present invention also aims to provide such a device which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and assemble.

The present invention therefore relates to a fluid product dispensing device comprising a reservoir containing fluid product and a dispensing head provided with a dispensing orifice and a radial flange forming a finger rest during actuation, said reservoir being axially movable relative to said dispensing head during actuation, a piston plug being movable in said reservoir to distribute fluid product through said dispensing orifice during actuation, said device comprising a blocking member which blocks the axial movement of said reservoir in said dispensing head, said blocking member being movable and/or deformable between a blocking position and a release position, said device comprising an unlocking member movable between a rest position, in which said blocking member is in blocking position, and an unlocking position, in which said blocking member is moved and/or deformed into the release position.

Advantageously, said reservoir is formed by a hollow and blind body, comprising a bottom and a single opening which, in the rest position, is sealed in a sealed manner by said piston plug.

Advantageously, the device comprises a hollow insert inserted and fixed in said dispensing head, said insert comprising a drilling tip for piercing said piston plug and thus connecting said reservoir to said dispensing orifice during actuation.

Advantageously, said drilling tip is produced separately then assembled in said insert, in particular by force fitting or by overmolding.

Alternatively, said drilling tip is molded in one piece with said insert.

Advantageously, said blocking member is movable and/or deformable radially between its blocking and releasing positions, said unlocking member being movable axially.

Advantageously, the device comprises an actuating body receiving said reservoir.

Advantageously, said blocking member comprises a hollow internal sleeve assembled around said actuating body, said hollow internal sleeve comprising blocking projections which extend radially inwards and which are formed on first elastically deformable tabs, said projections of locks, in the locking position of said locking member, cooperating with a first groove of said actuating body, to thus block a relative movement between said actuating body and said locking member.

Advantageously, said first groove is disposed in an upper part of said actuating body, a second groove being disposed in a lower part of said actuating body, the external diameter of said upper part being larger than the diameter of said lower part. Advantageously, said upper and lower parts are connected by a frustoconical part.

Advantageously, said unlocking member comprises a tubular body which contains an internal body defining a radial shoulder which extends axially upwards by elastically deformable tabs.

Advantageously, in the rest position, said radial shoulder is distant from an axial bottom wall of said actuating body.

Advantageously, at the start of actuation, the user moves said unlocking member axially upwards, until it comes into contact with said actuating body, which moves and/or deforms said blocking member towards its release position.

Advantageously, said actuation body comprises a radial ring connected to said actuation body by one or more breakable bridges, said radial ring cooperating with a part of said distribution head to form a precompression threshold which the user must overcome when actuation to break said breakable bridges and thus activate the device.

Advantageously, said reservoir contains a single dose of fluid product distributed in a single actuation.

These characteristics and advantages and others of the present invention will appear more clearly during the following detailed description, made with reference to the attached drawings, given by way of non-limiting examples, and in which: Figures 1 to 3 are schematic views in cross section of a fluid product dispensing device according to an advantageous embodiment, respectively at rest, at the start of actuation and after actuation, Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of the actuating body of Figures 1 to 3, Figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of the blocking member of Figures 1 to 3, Figure 6 is a schematic view in cross section showing the step of assembling the blocking member on the actuating body supporting the reservoir, Figure 7 is a schematic view in cross section after assembly of the locking member locking on the actuating body, Figure 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the step of assembling the unlocking member on the actuating body, and Figure 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the step of assembling the actuating body in the distribution head.

The terms "axial" and "radial" refer to the longitudinal central axis of the device. The terms “top” and “bottom” refer to the upright position of the device shown in Figures 1 to 3.

With reference to the figures, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. In this embodiment, the device is a single dose, that is to say the reservoir contains a single dose of fluid product distributed in a single actuation.

In known manner, a reservoir 10 containing fluid product to be dispensed, typically a liquid, is arranged inside a body forming a dispensing head 20. This dispensing head 20 comprises a dispensing orifice 21 oriented axially. This dispensing orifice 21 serves to distribute a dose of fluid product out of said dispensing head 20 when the device is actuated by a user.

The dispensing head 20 comprises an elongated nasal tip 22 comprising at its proximal axial end said dispensing orifice 21, as well as a lateral body 24, connected to said nasal tip 22 at the level of a radial flange 23.

A hollow insert 60 is advantageously disposed in the dispensing head 20, upstream of said dispensing orifice 21, said hollow insert 60 defining a central expulsion channel 61 and, in cooperation with the bottom wall of the dispensing head 20, a spray profile (not visible in the drawings) directly upstream of said distribution orifice 21. The channel 61 ends at its lower end with a drilling tip 40. This drilling tip 40 can be molded in one piece with the insert 60. Alternatively, it could be made separately, for example in metal or another synthetic material as that of the insert, then assembled in said insert, for example by force fitting or by overmolding. The drilling tip 40 extends axially downwards beyond the elongated cylindrical body of the insert 60.

The reservoir 10 is advantageously formed by a hollow and blind body, comprising a single opening defining a neck 11 and closed by a piston cap 50. In the example shown, which is a single dose, the reservoir 10 contains a single dose of product fluid to distribute a single actuation of the device. The piston-plug 50 can be moved in the reservoir 10 between a rest position and an end of actuation position to distribute said fluid product through the distribution orifice 21 during actuation.

An actuating body 30 is provided to enable actuation of the device.

This actuating body 30 is movable relative to the dispensing head 20, said actuating body 30 supporting said reservoir 10 to move it axially relative to the dispensing head 20, in the direction of the dispensing orifice 21. The actuating body 30 has a bottom wall 32.

To operate the device, the user presses axially on the actuating body 30, to move the latter together with the reservoir 10 axially in the dispensing head 20, thus causing the piercing of the piston-plug 50 by the drilling tip 40 and the distribution of the dose of fluid through the distribution orifice 21. During such actuation, the reservoir 10 is therefore pushed axially in the direction of the distribution orifice 21, so that the drilling tip 40 will pierce the piston cap 50. The contents of the reservoir 10 are then connected to the distribution orifice 21 and the user's support on the actuating body 30 moves the piston cap 50 in the reservoir 10 to ensure the distribution of the fluid product. It should be noted that the present invention could also be applied to devices without a drilling tip adapted to pierce a piston plug, as for example described in the documents WO2019122671, WO2021069823, WO2022090675, WO2022101589, WO2022208014.

Advantageously, the actuating body 30 comprises a radial ring 35 connected to the actuating body by one or more breakable bridges 36, in particular visible in FIG. 6. This ring 35 cooperates with a part of the dispensing head 20 to form a precompression threshold that the user must overcome during actuation to break the breakable bridges 36 and thus activate the device. This radial ring 35 also serves as a first use indicator.

These breakable bridges 36 provide security against unwanted actuation, but during an axial fall of the device, it cannot be excluded that the inertia of the device is sufficient to break the breakable bridges and thus the safety provided by the bridges. breakable 36 may not be sufficient.

According to the invention, the device comprises a blocking member 100 which blocks the axial movement of the reservoir 10 in the dispensing head 20. The blocking member 100 is movable and/or deformable between a blocking position and a release position . The user must first move and/or deform the blocking member 100 towards its release position before being able to operate the device by moving the reservoir 10 axially in the dispensing head 20.

According to the invention, the device comprises an unlocking member 200 movable axially relative to the actuating body 30 between a rest position and an unlocking position. In the rest position of the unlocking member 200, the blocking member 100 is in the blocking position, and in the unlocking position of the unlocking member 200, the blocking member 100 is in the release position .

Advantageously, the invention provides that the movement and/or deformation of the blocking member 100 towards its release position is carried out when the user takes the device in hand, by pressing his fingers on the radial flange 23 of the distribution head 20 and its thumb on the bottom of the unlocking member 200. Thus, the present invention makes it possible to guarantee safety in the event of the device falling, without requiring additional movement from the user to activate the device. When the user takes the device in hand, he places two fingers on the radial flange 23 of the dispensing head 20, and presses with his thumb on the distal axial bottom of said unlocking member 200. By pressing to activate the device, he will first move the unlocking member 200 with its thumb towards its unlocking position, which moves and/or deforms the blocking member 100 towards its release position, and then the thumb will move the actuating body 30 to distribute the dose.

Thus, to activate the device, it is necessary to simultaneously press axially on the radial flange 23 of the dispensing head 20 and on the bottom of the unlocking member, which is impossible in the event of an accidental fall of the device. Furthermore, during an accidental fall of the device, the weight of the unlocking member 200 is not sufficient to move and/or deform by inertia the blocking member 100 towards its release position. The present invention therefore ensures perfect security against unwanted actuation in the event of the device falling.

An advantage of the present invention is that it does not require additional movement or displacement of a part of the device: the user simply takes the device in hand and performs the classic actuation movement.

The advantageous embodiment shown in the figures will now be described in more detail below.

The blocking member 100 comprises a hollow internal sleeve 101 assembled around the actuating body 30.

This hollow internal sleeve 101 comprises blocking projections 102 which extend radially inwards and which are formed on first elastically deformable tabs 103. In the blocking position of the blocking member 100, these blocking projections 102 cooperate with a first groove 33 of the actuating body 30, to thus block a relative movement between the actuating body 30 and the blocking member 100.

The hollow internal sleeve 101 also includes fixing projections 104 formed on second elastically deformable tabs 105. In the blocking position of the blocking member 100, these fixing projections 104 cooperate with a second groove 34 of the actuating body 30.

As visible in Figures 4 and 6, the first and second grooves 33, 34 of the actuating body 30 are offset axially from one another, and therefore, the blocking projections 102 and the fixing projections 104 of the blocking member 10 are also offset axially from each other, as visible in Figures 5 and 6.

The first groove 33 is disposed in an upper part 38 of the operating body, while the second groove 34 is disposed in a lower part 39 of the operating body, with the outer diameter of the upper part 38 being larger than the diameter of the lower part 39. Thus, there is a radial gap 109 which forms between the lower part 39 of the actuating body and the first tabs 103, when the blocking member 100 is in the blocking position, as visible in Figures 7 and 8. The upper and lower parts 38, 39 are connected by a frustoconical part 37, as visible in Figure 6.

The locking member 100 comprises a hollow external body 110 which contains the hollow internal sleeve 101 and which has an upper axial edge 111 provided with a snap-fit profile adapted to cooperate in the assembled state with a snap-fit housing 25 of the distribution head 20.

Thus, when the device is assembled, with the blocking member 100 in the blocking position, any axial movement of the actuating body 30 relative to the dispensing head 20 is prevented by the blocking member 100.

The unlocking member 200 comprises a tubular body 210 which contains an internal body 201 defining a radial shoulder 202 which extends axially upwards by elastically deformable tabs 205 comprising at their upper axial ends fixing profiles 204. When assembling the unlocking member 200 on the actuating body 30, shown in Figure 8, the tubular body 210 slides inside the hollow external body 110 of the blocking member 100, while the elastically deformable tabs 205 of the internal body 201 come into said radial gap 109, with the fixing profiles 204 cooperating with the second groove 34 of the actuating body 30 and/or with the fixing projections 104 of the blocking member 100 , to prevent removal of said unlocking member 200.

As visible in Figure 1, in the rest position the radial shoulder 202 is distant from the axial bottom wall 32 of the actuating body.

At the start of actuation, the user moves the unlocking member 200 axially upwards, until it comes into contact with the actuating body 30, which moves the elastically deformable tabs 205 on the part frustoconical 37 of the actuating body 30, so that these deform radially outwards the first elastically deformable tabs 103 of the blocking member 100. Thus, the blocking projections 102 come out of the first groove 33, and the blocking member 100 is no longer in the blocking position but in the release position. Pressing the bottom of the unlocking member 200 will then move the actuating body 30 and therefore the reservoir 10 relative to the dispensing head 20, to distribute the dose.

Of course, other alternative embodiments are also possible, without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

Claims Device for dispensing fluid product comprising a reservoir (10) containing fluid product and a dispensing head (20) provided with a dispensing orifice (21) and a radial flange (23) forming a finger rest when actuation, said reservoir (10) being axially movable relative to said dispensing head (20) during actuation, a piston plug (50) being movable in said reservoir (10) to distribute fluid product through said dispensing orifice (21) during actuation, characterized in that said device comprises a blocking member (100) which blocks the axial movement of said reservoir (10) in said dispensing head (20), said blocking member (100) being movable and/or deformable between a blocking position and a releasing position, said device comprising an unlocking member (200) movable between a rest position, in which said blocking member (100) is in the position of blocking, and an unlocking position, in which said blocking member (100) is moved and/or deformed into the release position. Device according to claim 1, in which said reservoir (10) is formed by a hollow and blind body, comprising a bottom and a single opening which, in the rest position, is sealed in a sealed manner by said piston plug (50). Device according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a hollow insert (60) inserted and fixed in said dispensing head (20), said insert (60) comprising a drilling point (40) for piercing said piston plug (50) and thus connect said reservoir (10) to said distribution orifice (21) during actuation. Device according to claim 3, in which said drilling point (40) is produced separately then assembled in said insert (60), in particular by force fitting or by overmolding. A device according to claim 3, wherein said piercing tip (40) is integrally molded with said insert (60). Device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said blocking member (100) is movable and/or deformable radially between its blocking and releasing positions, said unlocking member (200) being movable axially. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising an actuating body (30) receiving said reservoir (10). Device according to claim 7, in which said blocking member (100) comprises a hollow internal sleeve (101) assembled around said actuating body (30), said hollow internal sleeve (101) comprising blocking projections (102) which extend radially inwards and which are formed on first elastically deformable tabs (103), said blocking projections (102), in the blocking position of said blocking member (100), cooperating with a first groove (33) of said actuating body (30), thus blocking a relative movement between said actuating body (30) and said blocking member (100). Device according to claim 8, wherein said first groove (33) is disposed in an upper part (38) of said actuating body (30), a second groove (34) being disposed in a lower part (39) of said actuating body actuation (30), the external diameter of said upper part (38) being larger than the diameter of said lower part (39). Device according to claim 9, in which said upper and lower parts (38, 39) are connected by a frustoconical part (37). Device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, in which said unlocking member (200) comprises a tubular body (210) which contains an internal body (201) defining a radial shoulder (202) which extends axially upwards by elastically deformable legs (205). Device according to claim 11, in which in the rest position, said radial shoulder (202) is distant from an axial bottom wall (32) of said actuating body (30). Device according to claim 12, in which at the start of actuation, the user moves said unlocking member (200) axially upwards, until it comes into contact with said actuating body (30), which moves and/or deforms said blocking member (100) towards its release position. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, in which said actuating body (30) comprises a radial ring (35) connected to said actuating body (30) by one or more breakable bridges (36), said radial ring ( 35) cooperating with a part of said distribution head (20) to form a precompression threshold which the user must overcome during actuation to break said breakable bridges (36) and thus actuate the device. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said reservoir (10) contains a single dose of fluid product distributed in a single actuation.

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