Foam discharger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11247220-B2
Application number	US-201816767819-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2018
Priority date	Dec 15, 2017
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

A foam discharger includes a foamer mechanism (20), the foamer mechanism (20) includes: a liquid flow path (50) through which liquid supplied from a liquid supply unit to a mixing part (21) passes; and a gas flow path (70) through which a gas supplied from a gas supply unit to the mixing part (21) passes, the liquid flow path (50) includes an adjacent liquid flow path (51) having a liquid inlet (52) open to the mixing part (21), the gas flow path (70) includes a plurality of adjacent gas flow paths (71) each having a gas inlet (72) open to the mixing part (21), and the liquid inlet (52) is arranged at a position corresponding to a merging part (22) of gases supplied from the plurality of adjacent gas flow paths (71) to the mixing part (21) via the gas inlet (72).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A foam discharger comprising:
a foamer mechanism that generates foam from liquid;
a liquid supply unit that supplies liquid to the foamer mechanism;
a gas supply unit that supplies a gas to the foamer mechanism;
a discharge port that discharges the foam generated by the foamer mechanism; and
a foam flow path through which the foam from the foamer mechanism toward the discharge port passes, wherein
the foamer mechanism includes:
a mixing part where the liquid supplied from the liquid supply unit and the gas supplied from the gas supply unit meet;
a liquid flow path through which the liquid supplied from the liquid supply unit to the mixing part passes; and
a gas flow path through which the gas supplied from the gas supply unit to the mixing part passes,

the foam flow path includes an adjacent foam flow path being adjacent on a downstream side of the mixing part,
the liquid flow path includes an adjacent liquid flow path being adjacent on an upstream side of the mixing part and having a liquid inlet that is open to the mixing part,
the gas flow path includes a plurality of adjacent gas flow paths being adjacent on an upstream side of the mixing part and each having a gas inlet that is open to the mixing part,
the liquid inlet is arranged at a position corresponding to a merging part of the gases supplied from the plurality of adjacent gas flow paths to the mixing part via the gas inlet,
the adjacent foam flow path has a foam outlet being open to the mixing part,
the foamer mechanism includes a plurality of the mixing parts, and
each of the plurality of the mixing parts is defined by a plurality of the gas inlets, the liquid inlet, the foam outlet, and a wall surface.

2. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein
the foamer mechanism has one or more of the adjacent liquid flow paths, and
the mixing part is arranged in correspondence to each of the adjacent liquid flow paths.

3. The foam discharger according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of adjacent gas flow paths for exclusive use are arranged in correspondence to each piece of the mixing part.

4. The foam discharger according to claim 3 , wherein the foamer mechanism includes a partition that mutually partitions each of the adjacent gas flow paths corresponding to one of the mixing parts among the mixing parts adjacent to each other and each of the adjacent gas flow paths corresponding to another one of the mixing parts.

5. The foam discharger according to claim 2 , wherein
the liquid flow path includes a large-diameter liquid flow path being adjacent on an upstream side of the adjacent liquid flow path and having a flow path area larger than that of the adjacent liquid flow path,
the plurality of the mixing parts are arranged around a downstream end part of the large-diameter liquid flow path, and
a plurality of the adjacent liquid flow paths extend from a downstream end part of the large-diameter liquid flow path toward a periphery in an in-plane direction intersecting an axial direction of the large-diameter liquid flow path.

6. The foam discharger according to claim 2 , wherein
the foam flow path includes each piece of the adjacent foam flow path in correspondence to each of the mixing parts.

7. The foam discharger according to claim 6 , wherein
the foam flow path includes an enlarged foam flow path being adjacent on a downstream side of the adjacent foam flow path and having a flow path area larger than that of the adjacent foam flow path, and
the adjacent foam flow path corresponding to each of the plurality of the mixing parts merges into one piece of the enlarged foam flow path.

8. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein a flow path area of the adjacent foam flow path is equal to a maximum value of an inner cavity cross-sectional area orthogonal to an axial direction of the adjacent foam flow path of the mixing part, or smaller than the inner cavity cross-sectional area.

9. The foam discharger according to claim 8 , wherein a length of the adjacent foam flow path is longer than a dimension of the gas inlet in the axial direction of the adjacent foam flow path.

10. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein
a pair of the adjacent gas flow paths are arranged in correspondence to each of the mixing parts, and supply directions of the gas from the pair of the adjacent gas flow paths to the corresponding mixing part are opposed to each other.

11. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein
three of the adjacent gas flow paths are arranged in correspondence to each of the mixing parts, supply directions of the gas from the three adjacent gas flow paths to the corresponding mixing part are located on a same plane, and a supply direction of the liquid from the adjacent liquid flow path to the mixing part is a direction intersecting the plane.

12. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein
the foam flow path includes:
an upstream flow path; and
a narrow flow path arranged adjacent on a downstream side of the upstream flow path and having a smaller flow path area than that of the upstream flow path,

the narrow flow path is arranged at a center part of the upstream flow path when viewed in an axial direction at an upstream end of the narrow flow path, and
an orthogonal cross-sectional shape of the narrow flow path orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the narrow flow path is a flat shape.

13. The foam discharger according to claim 1 , wherein
the foam flow path includes:
an upstream flow path;
a narrow flow path arranged adjacent on a downstream side of the upstream flow path and having a smaller flow path area than that of the upstream flow path; and
a downstream flow path arranged adjacent on a downstream side of the narrow flow path and having a larger flow path area than that of the narrow flow path,

the foamer mechanism has a plurality of foam outlets each being open toward the upstream flow path, and
a length dimension of the narrow flow path is larger than a length dimension of the upstream flow path.

14. The foam discharger according to claim 13 , wherein the narrow flow path is arranged at a center part of the upstream flow path when viewed in an axial direction at an upstream end of the narrow flow path.

15. The foam discharger according to claim 14 , wherein the narrow flow path is arranged at a position closer to a center than an arrangement region of the plurality of foam outlets when viewed in the axial direction.

Assignees

• Kao Corp

Inventors

• Aoyama Ryohei
• Sakayori Naoko
• Yashima Noboru
• Oguri Shinji

Classifications

• B05B11/1087

  Combination of liquid and air pumps · CPC title

• B05B1/02

  designed to produce a jet, spray, or other discharge of particular shape or nature, e.g. in single drops, {or having an outlet of particular shape}(B05B1/26, B05B1/28, B05B1/34 take precedence) · CPC title

• A47K5/1205

  Dispensing from the top of the dispenser with a vertical piston · CPC title

• B05B7/0031 Primary

  with disturbing means promoting mixing, e.g. balls, crowns · CPC title

• B05B7/0425

  without any source of compressed gas, e.g. the air being sucked by the pressurised liquid · CPC title