Gravity-Filled Dosing Piston Dispenser for Accurate Liquid Metering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dispensers for dosed dispensing of liquid media, such as those used in the medical and cosmetics sectors, suffer from reduced dosage accuracy when tilted or inverted due to gravity, leading to inefficient use and incomplete emptying of the container.
Innovation Solution
A dispenser design featuring a dosing chamber that can be filled by gravity, with a volumetrically defined cylinder portion and a flood chamber connected to a manually actuated pump, allowing for precise dosing and operation over a wider angle range, eliminating the need for suction components and incorporating an automatically closing valve to prevent return flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the dispenser is turned upside down and the force of gravity is used, then the container can be emptied, but the dosage accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The internal volume is segmented into a flood chamber for receiving liquid and a dosing chamber with a dosing piston for precise metering. This segmentation allows the system to first fill the dosing chamber completely under gravity (improving emptying efficiency) while then precisely control the dispensing quantity through the piston mechanism (maintaining dosage accuracy).
Solution Approach 2:
The dosing piston acts as an intermediary element between the flood chamber and the discharge opening. It receives the liquid flow from the flood chamber and then controls the actual dispensing quantity through its piston discs, thereby mediating between the gravitational filling process and the precise dosing requirement.
2Measurement precision
If a dosing piston with piston discs at axial distance is used, then dosing accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing piston combines multiple functions into a single component: it serves as both the dosing element with piston discs for precise metering and the sealing element against the flood chamber. This merging reduces the number of separate parts needed while maintaining dosing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The dosing piston performs multiple functions simultaneously: it seals the dosing chamber, defines the dosing volume through its piston discs, and controls the discharge timing. This multi-functionality reduces overall device complexity while achieving precise dosing.
3Device complexity
If suction components are omitted, then the device complexity and manufacturing cost are reduced, but the ability to control liquid flow is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the liquid's own weight and gravity to fill the dosing chamber through the flood chamber, eliminating the need for active suction components. The liquid flow is controlled passively through the geometry of the dosing piston and discharge opening, reducing part count while maintaining operational simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces active mechanical suction systems with a passive gravity-based filling mechanism. The flood chamber and dosing chamber geometry, combined with the dosing piston movement, substitutes for complex suction control mechanisms, reducing device complexity.
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 design ensures improved dosage accuracy and ease of handling, enabling the dispenser to empty almost completely and operate with fewer parts, while allowing for droplet or spray dispensing, and is adaptable for microbiological requirements.
Implementation Method 1
A dispenser (1) with a dosing chamber (2) which can be filled by gravity
Implementation Method 2
The discharge end of the dosing chamber (2) is also preferably assigned an automatically closing valve (12)
Data Source
AI summary
Dispenser (1) for the dosed dispensing of liquid media, with a container (3) for holding a liquid medium (4), a manually actuated pump (5), which is arranged on the container (3) and comprises a flood chamber (6) into which liquid medium (4) flows when the container (3) is turned over, for which purpose the flood chamber (6) is fluidically connected at the inlet end to an outlet opening (7) of the container (3), and a dosing piston (8), which is displaceable by an actuating stroke, is arranged in the flood chamber (6) and expels dosed medium (4), and a media channel (9) extending through the dosing piston (8) is widened at the inlet end as a volumetrically defined cylinder portion (10) into which a plunger piston (11) protruding into the flood chamber (6) engages as a pressure piston in order to expel medium (4) introduced by gravity into the cylinder portion (10) of the dosing piston (8).