Filling Element Valve Guidance via External Rod Guide
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filling elements for bottles with liquid contents containing solid particles face issues of clogging due to solid constituents getting caught in sliding guides, leading to operational faults and difficulty in cleaning, and have large axial dimensions due to external bearing points.
Innovation Solution
A filling element design that eliminates external bearing points and guides the valve body solely outside the liquid channel using a rod-like guide element, allowing precise guidance without internal guides in product-carrying regions, reducing axial extent and preventing clogging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If sliding guides are placed inside the liquid channel to guide the valve body, then guidance precision is improved, but solid constituents get caught in the guides causing clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the guiding function from the liquid channel interior and relocates it to the exterior. The rod-like guide element is positioned outside the liquid channel, allowing the valve body to be guided without any guiding elements being present in the product-carrying region. This eliminates the clogging problem while maintaining guidance precision through the external guide structure.
2Reliability
If external bearing points are used to guide the valve body, then clogging is prevented, but the axial dimensions of the filling element increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent nests the rod-like guide element within the filling element housing structure. The guide element is positioned such that it utilizes the existing housing interior space, allowing the valve body to be guided externally without extending the overall axial dimensions of the filling element. The guide element is effectively nested within the housing boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from axial guidance (along the stroke direction) to radial guidance (perpendicular to the stroke direction). The rod-like guide element extends radially from the housing wall into the housing interior, providing guidance in a direction perpendicular to the valve body's stroke, thereby reducing the axial footprint while maintaining effective guidance.
3Stability of the object's composition
If multiple axial bearing positions are used to prevent tipping, then stability is improved, but the axial length required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides stability against tipping and tilting by using a rod-like guide element that extends in a direction perpendicular to the stroke axis. This radial extension creates multiple effective bearing points in the radial dimension rather than requiring multiple axial bearing positions, thereby maintaining stability while reducing the axial extent of the filling element.
Data Source
AI summary
A filling element includes a housing, a channel formed in the housing's interior and having a dispensing opening to introduce content into a package, a valve having a valve body that moves along an axis to open and close the valve, an actuator to move the valve body, an axial-sliding guide, and a rod-like guide element that at least partly forms the sliding guide. The axial-sliding guide guides a guided structure on or inside the guide element, and is disposed solely outside the liquid channel. The axial-sliding guide is formed at least in part by the rod-like guide element. The guided structure is either the valve body, a valve tappet, or a combination thereof.