Swirl nozzle assemblies with high efficiency mechanical break up for generating mist sprays of uniform small droplets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10130960-B2
Application number	US-201515303429-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2015
Priority date	Mar 24, 2014
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

A spray dispenser is configured to generate a swirled output spray pattern 152 with improved rotating or angular velocity ω and smaller sprayed droplet size. Cup-shaped nozzle member 60 has a cylindrical side wall 62 surrounding a central longitudinal axis 64 and has a circular closed end wall 68 with at least one exit aperture 74 passing through the end wall. At least one enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure is formed in an inner surface 70 of the end wall, and including a pair of opposed inwardly tapered offset power nozzle channels 80, 82 terminating in an interaction chamber 84 surrounding the exit aperture 74 . The power nozzle channels generate opposing offset flows which are aimed to very efficiently generate a vortex of fluid which projects distally from the exit aperture as a swirled spray of small droplets 152 having a rapid angular velocity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A spray nozzle configured to generate a swirled spray with improved rotating or angular velocity ω, resulting in smaller and more uniform sprayed droplet size, comprising:
a cup-shaped nozzle body having a side wall surrounding a first central longitudinal spray axis and a closed end wall;
at least a first exit orifice passing through said end wall, said first exit orifice being coaxially aligned with said first central longitudinal spray axis;
a first enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure in an inner surface of said end wall, said first enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure including a first inwardly tapered power nozzle lumen directing fluid flow into and terminating in a first high efficiency mechanical break up interaction region which provides fluid communication with a said first exit orifice, said first power nozzle lumen directing fluid flow along a first power nozzle fluid flow axis that is substantially transverse to said first central longitudinal spray axis;
said first enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure also including a second inwardly tapered power nozzle lumen directing fluid flow into and terminating in said high efficiency mechanical break up interaction region, said second power nozzle lumen directing fluid flow along a second power nozzle fluid flow axis which opposes and is offset from said first power nozzle's fluid flow axis;
wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and said first interaction region have a substantially constant depth Pd from said power nozzle inlet and through their intersection with said first interaction region;
wherein said first exit orifice is defined in an interior surface of said end wall with a proximal converging entry segment including a continuous shoulder of gradually decreasing inside diameter and a rounded central channel segment downstream of said proximal converging entry segment which defines the minimum inside diameter of said first exit orifice passing through said end wall;
said first and second power nozzle lumens defining first and second opposing flow axes each being transverse to and offset with respect to said first central longitudinal spray axis, whereby fluid under pressure introduced into said first enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure flows along said first and second power nozzle lumens into said interaction region to generate a swirling fluid vortex which breaks up the fluid into droplets of a selected droplet size and accelerates said fluid droplets to a selected angular velocity, wherein said fluid droplets are distally projected from said exit orifice as a swirled spray of fluid product droplets retaining said selected droplet size and having said selected angular velocity.

2. The spray nozzle of claim 1 , wherein each power nozzle lumen tapers smoothly inwardly from an enlarged inlet region toward the first interaction region to accelerate fluid flow along a selected power nozzle lumen flow axis.

3. The spray nozzle of claim 2 , wherein said first and second power nozzle chambers and said first interaction region have a selected depth and wherein said power nozzle chambers each have a minimum width Pw at their intersection with said first interaction region.

4. The spray nozzle of claim 3 , wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and first said interaction region have a substantially constant depth Pd from said power nozzle inlet and through their intersection with said first interaction region; said depth being at least 0.20 mm.

5. The spray nozzle of claim 3 , wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and said interaction region of said at least first enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure are defined by a continuous wall substantially perpendicular to said end wall.

6. The spray nozzle of claim 2 , wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and said first interaction region are configured with a selected depth Pd and wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens each have a minimum width Pw at their intersection with said first interaction region;
wherein the interaction region is substantially circular with an interaction region diameter IRd which is in the range of 1.5 to 4 times the power nozzle outlet width Pw, whereby said fluid under pressure flows from the power nozzle lumens and enters the interaction region with a higher tangential velocity ue than the fluid entering the nozzle, setting up a fluid mist vortex comprising mostly fluid droplets with radius r and a higher angular velocity ω=υθ/r.

7. The spray nozzle of claim 2 , wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and said first interaction region are configured with a selected depth Pd and wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens each have a minimum width Pw at their intersection with said first interaction region;
wherein the interaction region is substantially circular with an interaction region diameter IRd which is used to define an Offset Ratio of Pw/IRd, and wherein said Offset Ratio is in the range of 0.30 to 0.50;
whereby said fluid under pressure flows from the first and second power nozzle lumens and enters the first interaction region with a higher tangential velocity υθ than the fluid entering the nozzle, setting up a fluid mist vortex comprising mostly fluid droplets with radius r and a higher angular velocity ω=υθ/r.

8. The spray nozzle of claim 7 , wherein said Offset Ratio is 0.37.

9. The spray nozzle of claim 1 , wherein said first interaction region is generally circular and coaxial with said first exit orifice passing through said end wall.

10. The spray nozzle of claim 1 , wherein said nozzle incorporates a single enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure leading to a single exit orifice coaxial with said nozzle side wall, and wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens extend on opposite sides of the exit orifice from the nozzle sidewall inwardly to the interaction region surrounding the exit orifice.

11. The spray nozzle of claim 10 , wherein said nozzle incorporates first and second exit orifices, one on each side of the central axis of the nozzle, and first and second enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structures each incorporating first and second power nozzle lumens extending on opposite sides of a corresponding exit orifice from the nozzle sidewall inwardly to the interaction region surrounding the exit orifice to produce a fluid vortex in each interaction region and two swirled spray outputs.

12. The spray nozzle of claim 11 , wherein said first and second enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structures each have offset power nozzle chambers which are oppositely disposed to produce spray outputs swirling in opposite directions.

13. The spray nozzle of claim 10 , wherein said nozzle incorporates multiple exit orifices in said end wall of the nozzle, and further including:
an enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure for each said exit orifice;
each enhanced swirl inducing mist generating structure incorporating a pair of power nozzle lumens extending on opposite sides of its corresponding exit orifice and intersecting opposed sides of its corresponding interaction region at an offset angle to produce a fluid vortex in said interaction region and two swirled spray outputs from the corresponding exit orifice.

14. The spray nozzle of claim 13 , wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens and said first interaction region are configured with a selected depth Pd and wherein said first and second power nozzle lumens each have a minimum width Pw at their intersection with said first interaction region;
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Assignees

• Gopalan Shridhar
• Hartranft Evan
• Dlhbowles Inc

Inventors

• Gopalan Shridhar
• Hartranft Evan

Classifications

• B65D83/20

  Actuator caps · CPC title

• B05B1/3436 Primary

  the interface being a plane perpendicular to the outlet axis · CPC title

• B65D83/14

  Containers for dispensing liquid or semi-liquid contents by internal gaseous pressure, i.e. aerosol containers comprising propellant · CPC title

• B05B11/10

  Pump arrangements for transferring the contents from the container to a pump chamber by a sucking effect and forcing the contents out through the dispensing nozzle · CPC title

• B05B11/30

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic