Adhesive melter having pump mounted into heated housing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10099242-B2
Application number	US-201414253318-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2014
Priority date	Sep 20, 2012
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

A melter includes a heater unit for melting adhesive, a reservoir for receiving melted adhesive from the heater unit, and a pump in fluid communication with the reservoir and located within a heated housing. The heated housing heats the pump during startup and regular operation of the adhesive melter, thereby reducing delays in operation caused by slow warming of adhesive within the pump. The heated housing may be a manifold in fluid communication with the reservoir and with fluid outlets in some embodiments, but the heated housing may also be a separate heat block. In either type of embodiment, the pump is configured to be inserted cartridge-style into the heated housing and held in position using a single locking fastener. Additional elements such as insulating external housings and mounting hooks may also be used to further encourage conductive heat transfer into the structure surrounding the pump.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An adhesive melter, comprising:
a heater unit configured to receive solid or semi-solid adhesive from an adhesive source and configured to heat and melt the adhesive;
a reservoir operatively coupled to said heater unit and positioned to receive heated and melted adhesive from said heater unit; and
a pump including a pump rod and an elongate body portion with an elongate axis that is parallel to the direction of movement of the heated and melted adhesive from the heater unit to the reservoir, said elongate body portion including a liquid chamber in fluid communication with said reservoir to receive the heated and melted adhesive from said reservoir,
wherein linear movement of said pump rod in said liquid chamber causes said heated and melted adhesive in said liquid chamber to flow from said elongate body portion of said pump, said elongate body portion of said pump being located at least partially within a heated housing,
wherein said heated housing heats said pump and adhesive within said elongate body portion during startup and regular operation of the adhesive melter,
wherein said heated housing includes an elongate bore and said elongate body portion is shaped for insertion into said elongate bore of said heated housing to at least partially surround said pump with said heated housing, and wherein said elongate bore extends downwardly from a top surface of said heated housing, and
wherein said pump further includes an upper seal portion, said upper seal portion abutting the top surface of said heated housing and preventing adhesive leakage from said heated housing during movement of said pump rod.

2. The adhesive melter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a manifold in fluid communication with said reservoir and said pump, said manifold defining said heated housing such that said manifold at least partially surrounds said pump and supplies heat energy to said pump.

3. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , wherein said reservoir directly abuts said manifold so that said reservoir provides heat energy by conduction into said manifold for heating said pump.

4. The adhesive melter of claim 3 , wherein said manifold is integrally formed as a unitary piece with said reservoir, thereby enabling the conduction of heat energy from said reservoir to said manifold and said pump.

5. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , wherein said elongate bore of said manifold and said elongate body portion of said pump are cylindrical.

6. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , wherein said manifold includes a locking bore extending transverse to and partially overlapping with said elongate bore, and said elongate body portion of said pump includes a notch configured to be aligned with said locking bore so that a single fastener inserted into said locking bore and into said notch retains said pump in position within said manifold.

7. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , further comprising:
an insulating external housing at least partially surrounding said heater unit, said reservoir, and said manifold collectively in order to encourage conduction of heat energy to said pump.

8. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , further comprising:
a heating element positioned within said reservoir and configured to generate heat energy for adhesive in said reservoir and heat energy to be conducted into said manifold; and
a temperature sensor in operative contact with said manifold to measure a temperature of said manifold, wherein an output of said heating element is controlled based on said measured temperature.

9. The adhesive melter of claim 2 , further comprising:
at least one mounting hook coupled to at least one of said reservoir and said manifold, said at least one mounting hook configured to receive a frame rod of a supporting structure when the adhesive melter is mounted onto the supporting structure, and said at least one mounting hook configured in a U-shape.

10. The adhesive melter of claim 1 , further comprising:
a heat block positioned proximate to said reservoir and defining the heated housing that at least partially receives said pump, wherein said heat block includes a heating element that generates heat energy to be applied to said pump and the adhesive within said pump.

11. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , wherein said heating element of said heat block includes at least one of a heater cartridge and a cast-in heater located within said heat block and at least partially surrounding said pump.

12. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , wherein said heating element of said heat block includes a plate-shaped surface heating element coupled to an exterior surface of said heat block, said surface heating element applying heat energy via conduction throughout said heat block and to said pump.

13. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , wherein said elongate bore of said heat block and said elongate body portion of said pump are cylindrical.

14. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , wherein said heat block includes a locking bore extending transverse to and partially overlapping with said elongate bore, and said elongate body portion of said pump includes a notch configured to be aligned with said locking bore so that a single fastener inserted into said locking bore and into said notch retains said pump in position within said heat block.

15. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , further comprising:
an insulating external housing at least partially surrounding said heater unit, said reservoir, and said heat block collectively in order to encourage conduction of heat energy to said pump.

16. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , wherein said reservoir directly abuts said heat block so that said reservoir provides heat energy by conduction into said heat block for heating said pump.

17. The adhesive melter of claim 10 , further comprising:
at least one mounting hook coupled to at least one of said reservoir and said heat block, said at least one mounting hook configured to receive a frame rod of a supporting structure when the adhesive melter is mounted onto the supporting structure, and said at least one mounting hook configured in a U-shape.

18. The adhesive melter of claim 1 , wherein said elongate body portion of said pump is secured within said elongate bore of said heated housing.

19. The adhesive melter of claim 18 , wherein said elongate body portion of said pump is retained in a fixed alignment with said elongate bore of said heated housing.

20. The adhesive melter of claim 1 , wherein said reservoir is positioned below said heater unit and said elongate body portion of said pump is parallel to a vertical centerline of said heater unit and said reservoir.

21. An adhesive melter, comprising:
a heater unit configured to receive solid or semi-solid adhesive from an adhesive source and configured to heat and melt the adhesive;
a reservoir operatively coupled to said heater unit and positioned to receive heated and melted adhesive from said heater unit;
a manifold defining a heated housing that has a top surface and defines an elongate bore;
a pump including pump rod and a pump body having an elongate body portion shaped for insertion into said elongate bore of said heated housing to at least partially surround said pump with said heated housing, the pump being in fluid communication with said reservoir to receive the heated and melted adhesive from said reservoir, said pump further including an upper seal portion that abuts said top surface of said heated housing and prevents adhesive leakage from said heated housing during

Assignees

• Nordson Corp

Inventors

• Clark Steven
• Jeter David R

Classifications

• B05C11/1042 Primary

  provided with means for heating or cooling the liquid or other fluent material in the supplying means upstream of the applying apparatus · CPC title