Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Multiple passage filling means for diverse materials or flows – With valve
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-24
2001-08-28
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Multiple passage filling means for diverse materials or flows
With valve
C141S310000, C141S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279625
ABSTRACT:
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119 and/or 365 to application No. PCT/EP98/06739 filed in WIPO on Oct. 23, 1998, and to application No. 198 02 692.7 filed in Germany on Jan. 24, 1998; the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to a valve for the dosaged filling of fluids in packages, with a housing having a feed pipe, a mouthpiece on the front face and an outlet device, with a closure body driven movably in the housing, able to be brought into engagement with a valve seat and having at the front a valve cone and a thickened central part there behind, and with rear sealing devices.
Fluids of various types, in particular in the field of foodstuffs, are filled in packages in large quantities. Valves or dosaging valves used for this have a housing in which a closure body, which has the fluid to be filled flowing to it from behind via the feed pipe continuously, is moved intermittently back toward the rear, in order to open the valve, and is pressed toward the front again in order to close the valve.
A known valve according to the introductory features achieves the outflow of the fluid filling material at a small outlet speed with sufficiently large filling quantities, so that for example when milk is being filled an undesirably great foam formation in the packaging is avoided. The known filling valve also fulfils a further condition that in fact after the valve is closed an undesired dripping of the fluid is prevented. For this, meshes were arranged earlier at the end of the dosaging valve at the outlet side, whilst the known valve described in the introduction has an outlet plate at the end of the mouthpiece on the outlet side, in which outlet plate bores are arranged running in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece and arranged parallel to each other, with the formation of outlet holes, the diameter of which lies between 1 mm and 5 mm. To the rear of the outlet plate, i.e. upstream thereof there is a space up to the valve cone of the closure body, in which the fluid which is to be filled is held back on closure of the known valve inter alia by the surface tension, so that there is no dripping.
Disadvantageously, the outlet holes in the outlet plate of the known valve become obstructed when fluids with a small fibre content are to be filled. This frequently occurs during the filling of fruit juices which, known to the manufacturer, are to to remain mixed with fibre pieces and other small particles. The known valve therefore does not allow fruit juices or the like to be filled. If one were now to enlarge the outlet openings in the known valve, in order to reduce the risk of clogging, then the fluid would no longer hold in the described space to the rear of the outlet plate after closure of the valve, and the undesired dripping would disadvantageously result. If only one outlet hole or for instance even several outlet holes have become clogged, then the filling accuracy of the known valve suffers with further disadvantage.
Apart from the susceptibility of the known valve with respect to particles or fruit fibres in the fluids, disadvantageously the flow jet of the known valve is frequently unsteady and has too great a surface roughness, so that the jet entering into the packaging entrains too much air laterally. Through the geometry of the known valve, the filling material jet disadvantageously contains in addition a radial flow component by which likewise the emerging jet becomes unsteady.
It is therefore an object of the invention to construct the valve of the type initially mentioned such that both fluids similar to water and also those with a fibre content can be filled in a dosaged manner without the risk of clogging, and at the same time without relative movements between the packaging and the outlet device a fluid jet is achieved with little to no enclosed air at a low outlet speed.
This problem is solved according to the invention in that the thickened central part of the closure body is provided on its peripheral region with a ring of flow ducts extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece, which ducts open to the front and to the rear in an open manner into the interior which is formed by the housing. The closure body operates as in the known case with opening and closing of the valve in that the valve cone is raised from its seat or is pressed against the seat. Quite differently from in the known valve, however, the flow ducts are situated in this intermittently moving closure body, namely in the peripheral region of its thickened central part. Towards the outlet side, the new valve is open, i.e. there is no longer a mesh surface or an outlet plate, as was previously regarded as essential, in order to prevent a dripping. According to the invention, a dripping is largely also prevented without the action of a surface tension on the fluid under the valve seat, and preferably the space beneath or in front of the valve seat is constructed to be as small as possible and a reduction or an elimination of the undesired dripping is established.
Through the flow ducts extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece, the radial component of the inflowing fluid is converted into a laminar flow in the flow ducts, so that the emerging fluid jet is so calmed that almost no air is included in the jet and hence could be entrained into the fluid. Also in the new valve, the dosaged filling of the fluid is successful without the outlet side of the valve having to be immersed into the packaging. With a large quantity, the emerging fluid jet has a low base speed, and through the small wetted surface under or in front of the valve seat, dripping is minimized, although the valve cone which is arranged at the front remains surrounded by an annular wall so that no spraying occurs when the valve is closed.
Furthermore, it is advantageous according to the invention if the closure body has a front cylinder between the valve cone at the front and the central part, and also has a rear cylinder between the central part and the rear sealing devices. The diameters of the front and rear cylinders are preferably smaller than that of the thickened central part. Thereby, in connection with the side walls of the housing approximately in the form of cylinder covering surfaces, spaces are provided in front of and behind the thickened central part, in which the fluid can move in the way it is forced to move by the geometry of the valve. On the inlet side therefore the fluid can be moved behind the feed pipe in a spiral form into the space behind the thickened central part, in order to then enter into the flow ducts. In the space around the front cylinder, which is approximately an annular space, the fluid can be passed on gently, so that the flow can become calm to a certain extent. In this way a desired effect can be exerted onto the fluid flowing through in succession, such as for example the collecting- and deflecting effect in the space to the rear of the thickened central part, the laminating effect of the flow ducts in the space in the region of the thickened central part and the calming in the front space in front of the thickened central part. In so doing, the feed pipe is applied laterally, so that the closure body can perform its movement stroke directly in the outflow direction, i.e. in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece.
Down to the above-mentioned annular spaces in front of and behind the thickened part of the closure body, the closure body largely fills the approximately cylindrical interior of the housing. The diameters of the flow ducts are large compared with the outlet openings of known valves, and amount to twice to ten times, preferably three to six times. Thereby, a clogging of the individual flow ducts by fibres or particles contained in the fluid which is to be filled is practically ruled out.
In addition, it is favourable according to the invention if the flow ducts are formed by externally radially open flow grooves arranged on the peri
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Douglas Steven O.
Tetra Lavel Holdings & Finance S.A.
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