Elastomeric Valve Shutter for Beverage Containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing valve units for beverage containers are structurally complex, laborious to assemble and disassemble, costly, and prone to malfunctions due to numerous components, including metal parts that can contaminate the beverage and require complex maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A simplified valve unit with integrated elastic means that allows the shutter to elastically deform between closed and open configurations, eliminating the need for a helicoidal spring and using a single mobile element, made from plastic materials to reduce complexity and contamination risks, and allowing for easy assembly and disassembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional valve units with helicoidal springs and multiple components are used, then reliable shutter control is achieved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the shutter and spring into a single integrated body made of elastomeric material. The shutter forms part of the body structure, and the elastic means are incorporated as integral features (such as embedded springs or elastomeric deformation zones) within the same component, eliminating the need for separate shutter and spring parts while maintaining reliable control functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve body is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it serves as the structural housing, the shutter mechanism, and the spring assembly. The single body component integrates functions that traditionally required separate components, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining all necessary valve operations.
2Ease of operation
If multiple mobile components are used in the valve unit, then adjustable control is achieved, but ease of manufacture and assembly deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter and spring are combined into a single monolithic body that can be manufactured in one piece using injection molding or similar processes. This eliminates the need for separate assembly steps to combine multiple mobile components, greatly simplifying manufacturing while the integrated design still allows for controlled movement and adjustment.
3Strength
If metal components are used in the valve unit, then mechanical strength is improved, but contamination risk and cleaning difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The entire valve unit is constructed from a single material type - elastomeric polymer - eliminating metal components entirely. This homogeneous material composition ensures no metal contamination can occur while the elastomeric material provides sufficient mechanical strength through its inherent elasticity and durability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses advanced elastomeric materials that combine the properties of rubber (elasticity, flexibility) with the advantages of plastics (durability, contamination resistance). This composite approach replaces metal components while maintaining or improving mechanical performance and eliminating contamination risks.
4Adaptability or versatility
If numerous separate components are used, then functional versatility is achieved, but cleaning and sanitizing become laborious
Solution Approach 1:
By consolidating multiple components (shutter, spring, housing) into a single integrated body, the patent creates a valve unit with smooth surfaces and no internal crevices where dirt can accumulate. The unified structure maintains all necessary valve functionalities while being completely cleanable and sanitizable as one piece, eliminating the laborious disassembly and cleaning of multiple separate parts.
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 solution results in a more economical, reliable, and safer valve unit that is easier to assemble and disassemble, reduces contamination risks, and simplifies cleaning and sanitizing, while maintaining separate circuits for pressurized gas and liquid flow.
Implementation Method 1
a body (56) comprising shutter means (58) mobile with respect to a passage aperture (54) to alternatively define at least a closed configuration in which the shutter means close the passage aperture, and an open configuration, in which the shutter means are distanced from the passage aperture; elastic means (60) integrated in a single body with the shutter means, being configured and obtained to allow the body to deform elastically between an extended position, in which the shutter means close the passage aperture, and a compressed position, in which the shutter means are distanced from the passage aperture
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A closing device (16) is described for a container (10) for fluids, comprising a valve unit (50) provided with a passage aperture (54) for the fluid and a body (56), wherein the body (56) comprises shutter means (58) and is mobile with respect to the passage aperture (54) to alternatively define at least a closed configuration (C) in which the shutter means (58) close the passage aperture (54), and an open configuration (A) in which the shutter means (58) are distanced from the passage aperture (54).