Dosing Cap Step-Like Channel for Precise Drop Metering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dosing caps for bottles, especially those used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, face challenges in precise dosing of liquids of varying viscosities while maintaining leak-tight closure, often requiring additional components like membranes that increase production costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A dosing cap design featuring a longitudinal dosing channel with a first portion having a small dosing diameter (0.2 mm to 1.2 mm) and a second portion of increased diameter, which together prevent liquid residue escape and allow precise dosing in drops without additional closure elements, utilizing a step-like configuration for easy and cost-effective injection molding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a small dosing diameter (0.2 mm to 1.2 mm) is used for precise drop dosing, then dosing precision is improved, but liquid residue may escape through the small opening causing leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing channel is divided into two distinct portions: a first dosing portion with a small diameter (0.2 mm to 1.2 mm) for precise drop dosing, and a second dosing portion with a larger diameter that serves as a retention zone. This segmentation allows the small opening to maintain dosing precision while the larger second portion prevents liquid residue from escaping, thus resolving the contradiction between dosing precision and closure tightness.
2Reliability
If additional closure elements like membranes are added to prevent leakage, then closure tightness is improved, but production complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the need for additional closure elements like membranes by incorporating the leakage prevention function directly into the dosing channel structure. The second dosing portion with increased diameter acts as an inherent retention zone that prevents liquid residue escape without requiring separate closure components, thereby maintaining closure tightness while reducing production complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The dosing channel is designed to combine multiple functions within a single integrated structure. The first dosing portion handles precise liquid metering, while the second dosing portion simultaneously serves as both a continuation of the dosing path and a retention zone that prevents leakage. This merging of functions eliminates the need for separate closure elements and simplifies the overall device structure.
3Ease of manufacture
If a one-piece injection-molded design is used for ease of manufacture, then ease of manufacture is improved, but creating precise small dosing openings becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing channel features local quality variations with distinct diameter portions. The first dosing portion has a precisely controlled small diameter (0.2 mm to 1.2 mm) optimized for drop dosing, while the second dosing portion has a larger diameter for retention. This local differentiation of dimensions allows the one-piece injection-molded structure to achieve both manufacturing ease and precise dosing opening dimensions through targeted mold design.
Data Source
AI summary
A dosing cap is configured for fitting on a dosing bottle and has a dosing channel which extends in a longitudinal direction and which has, at one end, an outlet opening for a liquid that is to be dosed. The dosing channel contains a first dosing portion, which tapers in the longitudinal direction to a dosing diameter, wherein the dosing diameter is in the range from 0.2 mm to 1.2 mm. Moreover, the dosing channel contains a second dosing portion, which adjoins the first dosing portion in the longitudinal direction to form a first step and which has a diameter greater than the dosing diameter.