Foam Pump Bellows Spring for Low-Liquid Soap Dispensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid dispensers for soaps and similar fluids often require large quantities of liquid and can run off surfaces, as they are not efficiently dispensed in foam form.
Innovation Solution
A pump mechanism using a resilient flexible bellows member and a spring, formed by injection molding, which displaces both liquid and air to produce a foam by passing through a foam generator or nozzle, allowing for efficient dispensing of a smaller volume of liquid as a foam.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If liquid soap is dispensed in liquid form, then the dispensing mechanism is simple, but large quantities of liquid are required and it runs off surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state parameter of the dispensed substance from liquid to foam. The pump mechanism introduces air into the liquid soap stream, transforming it into a foam structure that adheres better to surfaces and requires less actual liquid content to achieve the same cleaning effect.
Solution Approach 2:
Air acts as an intermediary substance that is mixed with the liquid soap. The pump mechanism draws air through a filter and combines it with the liquid soap stream, creating a foam intermediate state that provides the desired adhesion and reduces liquid consumption.
2Device complexity
If liquid soap is dispensed in liquid form, then the dispensing mechanism is simple, but the soap runs off hands or surfaces to be cleaned
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical state parameter of the dispensed substance from liquid to foam. The pump mechanism introduces air into the liquid soap stream, transforming it into a foam structure that adheres better to surfaces and requires less actual liquid content to achieve the same cleaning effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes a phase transition from liquid to foam (a colloid phase). By introducing air bubbles into the liquid soap stream and allowing them to stabilize, the system creates a foam phase that has different adhesion properties compared to pure liquid, reducing runoff.
3Quantity of substance
If a pump mechanism with bellows member and spring is used to dispense foam, then less liquid is required, but the apparatus complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bellows member serves multiple functions: it acts as both the pumping mechanism to move liquid and air, and as the spring element to provide the necessary elastic force for reciprocating motion. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed, thereby reducing overall apparatus complexity despite the foam dispensing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the bellows member and spring into a single integrated component. The resilient bellows member combines the functions of fluid displacement and elastic energy storage that would traditionally require separate components, simplifying the overall apparatus structure while enabling foam generation.
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 enables the efficient dispensing of soap in foam form, reducing the amount of liquid required and minimizing runoff, while providing an improved and simplified apparatus for liquid dispensing.
Implementation Method 1
the spring member being axially compressed with reciprocal sliding of the piston forming element from the extended position to the retracted position and having an inherent bias which urges the piston forming element axially from the retracted position toward the extended position
Implementation Method 2
simultaneously, discharged air and liquid may preferably produce foam by passing through a foam generator, such as a porous member, or be atomized as by passing through a nozzle
Data Source
AI summary
A spring member extending from a first end to a second end about a longitudinal axis, the spring having an inherent bias to assume an extended position with a first end spaced from the second end along the axis, the spring assuming compressed positions when compressed by forces applied parallel to the axis, in the compressed positions the spring resiliently urges its first and second ends axially away from each other toward the extended position, the spring member having a wall in the shape of a solid of revolution rotated about the axis and defining a central cavity therein open at the first end of the spring and substantially closed at the second end of the spring, the wall when in the unbiased extended position having a greatest diameter at the first end and a least diameter at the second end, a plurality of openings through the wall, the openings disposed symmetrically both circumferentially and axially relative to each other.