Adjustable Breather Valve Assembly for Narrow-Neck Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing breather valves for containers, particularly those with small outlets like nursing bottles, face issues such as clogging, detachment, difficulty in installation due to narrow necks, and inadequate flow rate regulation, leading to inefficient fluid flow.
Innovation Solution
A two-piece breather valve design with a base and tap portion, where the tap portion has a recess for air flow and a foot to engage the base, preventing further opening and ensuring secure attachment, allowing for adjustable air flow and fluid flow regulation without internal access requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a multi-part breather valve with base and tap is used, then air flow is allowed into the container to prevent vacuum, but the tap portion may easily clog or hold dirt leading to inability to fully close or open the valve
Solution Approach 1:
The breather valve is divided into a base portion that remains fixed in the container and a tap portion that can be removed and replaced. This segmentation allows the tap portion to be easily cleaned or replaced if clogged, while the base portion with its larger opening is less prone to clogging. The threaded connection ensures secure attachment while allowing maintenance access.
2Ease of manufacture
If existing two part breather valve designs are used, then assembly is simplified, but the tap or base may detach from the base or container and the parts be lost or fall from the container
Solution Approach 1:
The base portion includes pre-formed threaded cavities in the shaft section and head that are designed to receive and securely engage the tap portion's external threads. This preliminary preparation of threaded connections ensures that when the tap portion is screwed onto the base, it achieves secure retention without detachment, while still allowing for easy assembly and disassembly for maintenance.
3Ease of manufacture
If existing breather valves requiring internal access for installation are used, then valve can be installed, but access to container may be difficult due to narrowed neck e.g. nursing bottle
Solution Approach 1:
The breather valve base portion is designed to be installed from the exterior of the container through the container wall, eliminating the need to access the interior of the container. The base portion protrudes into the container cavity but is secured from the outside, allowing installation even on containers with narrow necks that prevent internal access. The tap portion is then attached to the externally installed base.
4Reliability
If existing breather valves are used, then air entry is provided, but flow rate regulation may be compromised with binary open/closed operation or very slow adjustment
Solution Approach 1:
The tap portion incorporates an adjustable mechanism with a recess that can be positioned at different heights along the tap's length. By moving the recess to different positions, the air flow rate can be dynamically adjusted. The recess can be placed higher for greater air flow or lower for restricted flow, providing continuous regulation capability rather than binary open/closed operation. The threaded connection allows the tap to be rotated to achieve different opening degrees.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The breather valve design allows for easy adjustment of fluid flow rates, prevents clogging, and secure attachment, ensuring reliable operation without the risk of detachment, while eliminating the need for internal access during installation, thus enhancing the usability of containers with narrow necks.
Implementation Method 1
a base portion, and a tap portion, wherein: the base portion comprises a head, base and shaft section with an exterior shape configured to fit with interference into a hole in the container
Implementation Method 2
a thread on the elongated shaft that cooperates with the axial threaded cavity on the base portion
Implementation Method 3
at least one recess on the shaft configured to allow air flow therethrough, and at least one foot on the shaft distal to the head
Implementation Method 4
at least one foot on the shaft distal to the head, the at least one foot configured to engage a part of the base of the base portion; when the tap portion is wound out, the thread on the elongated shaft terminates and the at least one foot of the tap engages a part of the base of the base portion and acts to retain the tap portion to the base portion
Data Source
AI summary
The invention includes a breather valve used on containers that selectively allows a flow of air through the breather valve and which may be used to regulate the flow rate of fluid from a container or nursing bottle that includes the breather valve. The invention also includes containers and nursing bottles that include the breather valve along with methods of use of the breather valve, the containers and the nursing bottles. The breather valve, the containers, the nursing bottles and the methods of use allow for the ability to adjust flow rate rapidly, provision of a breather valve that may be retrofitted or sold with a new container or nursing bottle. The breather valve is designed in a manner that is semi-permanent to fit.