CN1684756A - Dosing and mixing assembly, system and method for pasty products - Google Patents

Abstract

The paste product extruding device comprises a hollow prismatic paste product tank (2) and a paste product extruding device, wherein the extruding device is formed by a piston (4) which vertically acts, and the piston moves in the tank in a manner of clinging to the tank and is coaxial with the tank; opening and closing device for opening and closing the outlet (3) of the tank, comprising a lower dosing valve (5), the body (6) of which comprises an internal space (7) open to a vertical axis (8) of the tank, the sealing element (12) of which is a closing head (9) movable between a maximum opening position and a closing position in which the level of the main bottom edge (11) of the sealing element is substantially flush with the outlet (31) of the lower dosing valve and closes the tank. The pasty product, in particular the coating ink, can be placed inside a deformable container package introduced into the hollow prismatic shape.

Description

Dosing and mixing assembly, system and method for pasty products

technical field

The present invention relates to a dosing unit for pasty products, the dosing unit is of the type comprising a tank for pasty products provided with pushing means for the pasty product and opening and closing means suitable for opening and closing said tank one of the exits.

The invention also relates to a mixing system for pasty products based on the aforementioned assembly and to the method of use of said dosing assembly and said mixing system.

The invention is particularly, though not exclusively, suitable for use in the dosing and mixing of dyes in the manufacture of paints.

Background technique

At present, paints are mainly made by manually mixing pre-measured quantities of raw dyes into containers. However, there are a large number of automatic or semi-automatic dosing systems, in which the dye flows from an elevated tank into a lower container with a charging unit which, once a predetermined weight of dye has been collected, commands an upper container. The valve on the tank is closed and shut off. This operation is repeated for each primary dye until the resulting mixture has the desired proportions of each primary dye.

While these existing automatic or semi-automatic systems work effectively, they are not without problems and inconveniences, especially because of the complexity and cost of these systems and the fact that when the valve is closed Sometimes, the last drop formed can destroy the precision of the dosing, dirty the device and hinder the next process.

The object of the present invention is to provide a dosing system for pasty products which provides a complete solution to all these problems and inconveniences.

Contents of the invention

Therefore, a first aspect of the present invention consists in a new dosing unit for pasty products, which, as mentioned above, is basically characterized in that the canister is hollow prismatic and that the pushing means comprise a vertically acting piston, which is The inside of the tank moves next to and coaxial with the tank. The opening and closing device comprises a lower metering valve, the valve body comprising an inner space as a vertical axis, the opening of which is communicated with the tank, the sealing element of the valve is a closing head, which can be connected in a maximum opening position with a It moves between a closed position in which the level of the main bottom edge of the sealing member is substantially level with the outlet of the valve and closes the tank.

The sealing element can be fixedly connected to a transmission rod, which moves in the cylindrical inner space of the valve body, and is driven by a tripper to counteract the active force of the spring.

Preferably said closing head is frusto-conical and said tank is cylindrical.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the assembly includes a purging device for purging air trapped under the piston in the tank.

According to a preferred embodiment, each assembly includes an injection device for injecting air into the tank so that the piston can be separated from the bottom of the tank or from the mass of pasty product in the tank.

The dosing assembly of the present invention may include an opening mechanism by which the package enclosing the paste product may be opened once it is placed in the jar.

Said opening mechanism preferably consists of a blade, the cutting edge of which is located on the side of a cylinder which surrounds, or at least partially surrounds, the outlet of the aforementioned tank.

A second aspect of the invention resides in a paste product mixing system comprising at least one of the components described above.

More specifically, the system may include at least two of said assemblies, with corresponding and adjacently arranged dispensing valves, placed adjacent to each other on a first horizontal plane; Displaced on the device, the receiving vessel is suitable for positioning under each component and receiving a certain amount of the pasty product contained by the component so that the pasty products can be mixed.

Preferably, the mixing system should comprise a control device for controlling the movement of the receiving vessel and, by means of certain predetermined mixing parameters, the corresponding dosing of the pasty product which each dosing unit must inject into the vessel .

In particular, said control means includes a microprocessor, computer and/or programmable logic controller with associated software provided, and a conventional user interface, which control means activates the motor and timer means of the vessel and Dosing valve for each dosing unit.

A third aspect of the present invention consists in disclosing a method of dosing a pasty product for use with a dosing assembly or mixing system as defined above, the method comprising a stage of providing a pasty product in a Deformable wall container packaging, and additional steps are: inserting the closed packaging and stuffing the pasty product in the can; lowering the piston and squeezing by deforming the sides of the packaging relative to the inner wall of the can the package; and to open the container package with an opening device, creating an opening in the package, which opening is aligned with the outlet, through subsequent compression of the piston, allowing the pasty product in the package to be output to the dosing valve.

Description of drawings

In the following, although it is not exclusive, it will be described as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is helpful to provide a better understanding in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. This embodiment is purely illustrative and not restrictive in nature. function, among which:

Fig. 1 shows a sectional view of the valve of the metering assembly of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a front view and a partial sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the metering assembly of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a schematic front view of a paste product mixing system comprising seven components as shown in Figure 2;

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the dosing system in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is similar to Fig. 2, is another embodiment of the assembly of the present invention, and this assembly is in rest position and has a pasty product package inserted in the jar; And

Figure 6 is like Figure 5, but with the piston in its working position.

Detailed ways

In said figures it can be seen what is referred to as a dosing unit 1 for pasty products such as dyes or paints, comprising a cylindrical tank 2 and a generally disc-shaped piston 4, which The piston is used to push the pasty product 34 in the tank 2 . Some O-rings 19 ensure that the piston 4 is adjustable inside the tank. The piston 4 is moved vertically along the axis 8 in a known manner by means of a built-in transmission 24 and is actuated hydraulically or pneumatically. The tank 2 rests on a base 27 , is connected to an upper support base 28 and is guided by a drive 24 through the column tube 23 .

The lower middle opening of the tank 2 leads to the outlet 3 through which a bushing tube 29 passes, at the bottom end of the bushing tube is a manual stop wrench 25, followed by a metering valve 5, which is arranged at the tail The interior of the end piece 30.

The valve 5 has a valve body 6 with an inner space 7, the axis 8' of which is shown in this case by the vertical axis 8 of the tank 2. This inner space 7 is open to a bushing 29 through which the interior of the tank 2 is accessible. The valve 5 has a sealing element 12 consisting of a closing head 9, which is preferably frustoconical or trumpet-shaped, although it could also be spherical.

The head 9 can move continuously between a maximum open position and a closed position (shown in FIG. 1 ), in which the main bottom edge 11 of the sealing element 12 is substantially at the same level as the outlet of the valve 5. 31 flush, and the tank 2 is closed.

The sealing element 12 is fixedly connected to a transmission rod 13 , the rod moves in the cylindrical inner space 7 of the aforementioned valve body 6 , and the rod is driven by a tripper 14 to counteract the active force of the spring 10 . The opening and closing of the lever 13 , and thus the valve 5 , can thus be operated mechanically or manually, in this case, for example by means of a hand wrench 25 .

FIG. 2 shows a pasty product dosing unit 1 according to the invention, which has an air removal device which removes the air trapped under the piston 4 in the tank 2 . In the given embodiment, this clearing device comprises a hydraulic line 20 connected to a hose 17 passing through the piston 4 and having a manual wrench 21 . The hydraulic line 20 is connected upstream of the manual wrench 21 to a source of vacuum relative to the internal pressure of the tank 2 .

The assembly 1 also has a spray mechanism for spraying air into the tank 2 so that the piston 4 can be separated from the bottom of the tank or from the mass of pasty product inside the tank. The spraying mechanism also has an air injector 22 connected to another hose 18 passing through the piston 4 so that air can enter the tank 2 in case the piston 4, which may be trapped in the tank 2, needs to be separated.

Figures 3 and 4 show a paste product mixing system 100 having a number of the components 1 described above, seven in the case shown.

The assemblies 1 with corresponding and closely aligned dosing valves 5 are placed next to each other in a first horizontal plane and are fixed to the vertical element 32 of the support structure 26 .

The support structure 26 comprises a horizontal platform 33 on which there are guides 16 for the receiving vessel 15 intended to receive the pasty product 34 contained in the assembly 1 .

On the upper part of the receiving vessel 15 is the charging unit 35 ( FIG. 4 ), and this receiving vessel can be positioned under each component 1 and receive a precise amount of the paste product contained by the component in order to mix these pastes. product.

The system 100 comprises a control device for controlling the movement of the receiving vessel and, by means of certain predetermined mixing parameters, the corresponding dosing of the pasty product which each dosing unit 1 has to pour into the vessel 15 .

Such control means, which may include a microprocessor with associated software, a computer and/or a programmable logic controller, and a conventional user interface, are well known and need not be shown or described in more detail. The control device activates the electric motor and timer of the vessel and the dosing valve 5 of each dosing assembly 1 .

The mode of operation of the pasty product mixing and dosing system 100 is as follows. The tanks 2 of the modules 1 are completely or partially filled with the pasty product, the receiving vessel 15 is moved along the guides 16 and placed successively under each module 1 whose product will be used for the desired mixture. The vessel 15 can be moved by hand or by an electric motor, in this case by a stepper motor, which is programmed to move and stop when.

Whenever the vessel is placed under the assembly 1, the corresponding valve 5 is opened, for example by means of a manual wrench 25, through which the dye in the tank 2 begins to flow into the vessel until the filling unit 35 detects that the intended amount has flowed Or a quantity very close to the intended quantity, that is when the valve 5 closes and the flow of the pasty product stops. Said software can take into account the weight of the dye column drop remaining between the outlet 31 of the valve 5 and the vessel 15, close the valve at the appropriate time in order to add the weight of the dye column drop to the value measured by the charging unit 35, And within a certain tolerance value, the precise amount of dye is drawn up. (Used to draw up an exact amount of dye, keeping the amount within a certain tolerance.)

This operation is repeated continuously for each component 1 containing the dyes for the mixture.

Figures 5 and 6 show an embodiment of the assembly 1 of the present invention. This assembly 1 is especially designed to demonstrate the method of the invention in practice.

More specifically, the assembly 1 includes an opening mechanism for opening a container package 36 having a deformable inner wall containing a pasty product 34 to be dosed, said opening mechanism consisting of a blade 37 with a cutting edge 38 Located on the side of a cylinder at least partially surrounding the outlet 3 of said tank 2 . The shape of the blade 37 may be half-rod, or half-slanted, eg with its upper edge or edge 38 not relatively perpendicular to the axis 8 .

Packaging 36 can be a bag, for example made of plastic, with or without seams, or a cardboard pack containing the measured amount of pasty product to be dispensed and inserted into the jar of assembly 1 2 inside (Fig. 1). The package 36 may thus be a cardboard or paper can, sized to fit within the prismatic inner walls of the can 2 .

Once the package 36 is inside the container jar, in order to dose the pasty product 34 through the valve 5, all that needs to be done is to lower the piston 4 and squeeze the package 36 by folding the sides of the package 36 against the inner wall of the jar 2. 36. Under the continuation of the compressive force exerted by the piston 4, the package 36 is opened by the blade 37, which pierces the package, creating an opening 39 (Fig. Squeeze, so that the pasty product 34 in the package 36 can flow to the metering valve 5 .

Once the package 36 has been emptied, all that has to be done is to lift the piston 4, leaving the remainder of the package 36 empty so that it can be removed. In this way, accurately weighed pasty products can be fed without contaminating the inner wall of the tank 2 .

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the design of the valve and, in particular, the shape of the sealing member 12, will ensure that the dosing of dye with this system will not cause drips around the outlet 31. The present system also greatly reduces the consumption of raw materials and consequently the environmental problems associated with managing waste compared to the prior art.

Furthermore, if the packaging material 36 is recyclable, the method of the present invention is beneficial from an environmental standpoint by minimizing the amount of waste generated.

It must be understood that the device of the invention is applicable to all types of pasty products with rheological properties similar to those of paints and dyes, and these applications are also within the scope of protection of the design of the invention.

Claims (13)

1. A paste product dosing assembly (1), the type of said dosing assembly includes a tank (2) for adorn paste product and is provided with paste product pushing device and opening and closing device, said opening and closing device are used to open and close the outlet (3) of the above-mentioned tank, and the metering assembly is characterized in that: the tank is hollow prismatic and the pushing device comprises a vertically acting piston (4), so The piston moves close to the tank in the tank and is coaxial with the tank. The opening and closing device includes a lower dosing valve (5), and the main body (6) of the lower dosing valve includes a vertical The opening of the axis (8) leading to the power supply inner space (7) of the tank, the axis leading to the tank, the sealing element (12) of the lower metering valve is the closing head (9), the closing head Movable between a maximum open position and a closed position in which the level of the main bottom edge (11) of the sealing element is level with the outlet (31) of the lower metering valve and keeps the tank closure. 2. The paste product dosing assembly (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that: the sealing element (12) is fixedly connected to the transmission rod (13), and the transmission rod is mounted on the valve body ( 6) moves within the cylindrical inner space (7), and the transmission rod is driven by the tripper (14) to counteract the active force of the spring (10). 3. Paste product dosing assembly (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the closing head (9) is truncated-conical. 4. The dosing assembly (1) for pasty products according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tank (2) is cylindrical. 5. Paste product dosing unit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said dosing unit comprises air purging means to be trapped in said tank (2 ) to clear the air under the piston (4). 6. Paste product dosing unit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said dosing unit comprises air injection means adapted to inject air into said tank (2 ) so that the piston (4) can be separated from the bottom of the tank or from the mass of pasty product in the tank. 7. Paste product dosing unit (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said dosing unit comprises an opening mechanism (37, 38) for insertion into said tank (2) The package (36) containing the paste product inside is opened. 8. The paste product dosing assembly (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that: the opening mechanism is composed of a blade (37), and the cutting edge (38) of the blade is located on the edge of the cylinder, so that The cylinder at least partially surrounds the outlet (3) of the tank. 9. A mixing system (100) for pasty products, characterized in that the mixing system comprises at least one component (1 ) according to any one of the preceding claims. 10. The paste product mixing system (100) according to claim 9, characterized in that: said mixing system comprises at least two components (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, which have corresponding and said assembly of closely aligned dosing valves (5) are disposed adjacently on a first horizontal plane; and a receiving vessel (15), which is displaceable on a guide (16), so Said receiving vessel is adapted to position under each of said components and to receive a measured amount of the paste-like product contained therein so that the paste-like products can be mixed. 11. The paste product mixing system (100) according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the mixing system comprises a control device for controlling the movement of the receiving vessel (15) and by Certain predetermined mixing parameters control the respective dosing of the pasty product that each of said dosing elements (1) must pour into said vessel. 12. The paste product mixing system (100) according to claim 11, characterized in that: said control device comprises a microprocessor, a computer and/or a programmable logic controller equipped with relevant software, and a conventional User interface, said control means act on the motor and timer means of said vessel and the dosing valve (5) of each said dosing assembly (1). 13. A method of dosing a pasty product with a dosing assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 8 or with a mixing system according to any one of claims 9 to 12 used together, said method is characterized in that said method comprises the stage of providing a pasty product (34) within a lifted package (36) with deformable walls, and the additional step of inserting closed said package and stuffing the jar (2) with the pasty product pack; lowering the piston (4) compresses the pack (36) against the inner wall of the jar by deforming the sides of the pack ); and opening said package with said opening device, creating an opening (39) in said package, said opening being aligned with the outlet (3) of said tank, by subsequent extrusion of said piston (4), The pasty product in the package can be output to the metering valve (5).

Images