Disposable Piston Pump Filling Assembly for Precise Leak-Safe Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filling devices in the pharmaceutical industry face challenges in achieving high accuracy and minimizing leakage, especially when handling different products, which requires frequent cleaning and can lead to cross-contamination due to the use of expensive and complex throttling systems.
Innovation Solution
A cost-effective piston pump-based filling device with angled inlet and outlet connections, check valves, and a disposable assembly design that minimizes leakage risk and allows for precise dosing without the need for complex mechanical controls, using non-metallic materials to prevent cross-contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If expensive throttles with tight tolerances are used to ensure high filling accuracy, then dosing precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the dosing function from complex mechanical throttles and implements it through a piston pump mechanism with defined displacement volume. The piston pump directly meters the product volume through its geometric parameters (piston area × stroke length), eliminating the need for precision throttles while maintaining dosing accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a disposable filling assembly that includes the piston pump, connecting line, and filling needle. This single-use component set eliminates the need for expensive, precision-machined reusable throttles, reducing both initial cost and maintenance requirements while ensuring dosing consistency throughout the component's service life.
2Ease of manufacture
If reusable filling systems are used to reduce costs, then device cost is reduced, but cleaning effort and cross-contamination risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a disposable filling assembly that is discarded after a single use or single product type, eliminating cleaning requirements entirely. This approach trades the recurring cost of cleaning and validation for a lower per-unit cost of disposable components, ensuring complete prevention of cross-contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The filling system is segmented into a reusable portion (filling device housing, control system) and a disposable portion (piston pump, connecting line, filling needle). This segmentation allows the critical product-contact components to be discarded while reusing the expensive infrastructure, balancing cost and contamination prevention.
3Productivity
If connection points are located inside the cylinder at pressure differential, then dosing function is maintained, but leakage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the connection points from the high-pressure differential zone inside the cylinder and relocates them to the ambient pressure zone outside the cylinder. This allows the piston pump to maintain its dosing function through the check valves while the connections to the product reservoir and filling needle occur at atmospheric pressure, eliminating pressure-driven leakage risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces check valves as intermediary elements that maintain the pressure differential necessary for dosing function while isolating the connection points from this pressure differential. The check valves allow unidirectional flow at controlled pressure points while the external connections remain at ambient pressure.
4Device complexity
If inlet and outlet are arranged parallel to cylinder body axis, then structural simplicity is maintained, but dead space increases reducing venting efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric angular arrangement of the inlet and outlet connections relative to the cylinder body axis, specifically positioning them at angles between 30° and 70°. This asymmetric configuration optimizes fluid flow paths to minimize dead spaces where product could stagnate, thereby improving venting efficiency and dosing reliability while maintaining reasonable structural simplicity.
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 provides high precision dosing, reduces the risk of leakage, and eliminates the need for extensive cleaning and cross-contamination, making it suitable for pharmaceutical applications by using a disposable assembly that can be easily replaced.
Implementation Method 1
The piston pump provides its own suction cycle
Implementation Method 2
the check valve in the outlet is designed as an umbrella valve and/or the check valve in the inlet is designed as a duckbill valve
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a filling device for filling a defined quantity of a product, comprising: - a piston pump (3) for delivering the product to be filled from a reservoir (2) to a filling needle (5), - the piston pump (3) comprising a piston (30), a cylinder body (31), an inlet (33), an outlet (34), a first non-return valve (8) and a second non-return valve (9), - the piston (30), the cylinder body (31), the inlet (34), the outlet (34), the first non-return valve (8) and the second non-return valve (9) being made from a non-metal material, wherein - the inlet (33) and the outlet (34) are arranged inclined at an angle (26, 27) different from zero relative to an axis (22) of the cylinder body (31).