FIELD OF APPLICATION AND PRIOR ART

The invention relates to a fluid dispenser.

Generic fluid dispensers and their discharge heads serve for the purpose of delivering fluids in the form of a spray stream. This can relate in particular to cosmetic fluids, such as perfumes and the like, or to pharmaceutical fluids, such as remedies for insect stings for example, or foodstuffs, such as olive oil.

The generation of a spray stream requires high shear forces to be induced in the fluid, by means of which a fluid film or fluid flow is broken down into individual droplets. In the case of generic discharge heads, this takes place by means of a swirling chamber into which the fluid flows eccentrically through one or more inlet channels so that a rotating fluid flow is established in the swirling chamber, which is broken down as it exits through a discharge opening owing to the swirl and the kinetic energy.

With regard to many fluids, however, there is a wish to also discharge these in a non-atomized form, i.e. in the form of a jet/flow or in drop form.

Most of the discharge heads and fluid dispensers known from the prior art are designed for discharging fluid either in an atomized form or in the form of a jet/flow or in drop form.

OBJECT AND SOLUTION

The object of the invention is to provide a fluid dispenser having a discharge head, which optionally enables discharging in an atomized form or in the form of drops or a jet/flow.

This object is achieved by a fluid dispenser which comprises a fluid accumulator for receiving fluid before the discharge procedure and a discharge head mounted thereon.

The fluid dispenser can possess a pump device, which can be actuated by a relative translative movement of the discharge head with respect to the base unit and conveys fluid from the fluid accumulator into the discharge head. Such a fluid dispenser possesses a fluid accumulator, in which the fluid is unpressurized. By pressing down the pump device, a pump chamber, which is preferably provided with pressure relief valves on the input side and output side, is volumetrically reduced so that the fluid is conveyed into the discharge head and in the direction of a swirling chamber and a discharge opening.

Alternatively, the fluid accumulator can be formed as a pressure accumulator and the fluid accumulator can possess a valve device, which can be actuated by a relative translative movement of the discharge head with respect to the base unit and conveys fluid from the fluid accumulator into the discharge head. In the case of such a design, pressing down the discharge head with respect to the fluid accumulator merely results in opening an outlet valve. The pressurization of the fluid is already in effect owing to the design of the fluid accumulator as a pressure accumulator so that, when the outlet valve is open, the fluid flows in the direction of the swirling chamber and the discharge opening.

The discharge head, which is provided for securing to the base unit of the fluid dispenser, has a housing which is preferably displaceable with respect to the base unit for the purpose of actuating the fluid dispenser. It has a fluid inlet, through which fluid to be discharged can make its way from the fluid accumulator into the discharge head, and has a discharge opening, through which the fluid can be delivered into a surrounding atmosphere.

A swirling chamber having at least one eccentrically leading inlet channel is provided between the fluid inlet and the discharge opening so that inflowing fluid can be provided with a swirl which brings about the formation of a spray stream as it exits the discharge opening.

The swirling chamber can be switched at least between a first and a second configuration by changing the geometry of walls of the swirling chamber and/or the at least one inlet channel. A handle is provided for manually switching between the configurations. In a first configuration, the fluid is delivered as a spray stream. In a second configuration, the fluid is delivered as a flow/jet. Designs are also possible in which there are further intermediate configurations.

The discharge head of a fluid dispenser according to the invention, which is used for transferring the fluid to be discharged from the inlet channel to the discharge opening, has, according to the invention, a swirling chamber which can be activated and deactivated manually, as it were, by the user of the fluid dispenser. If the swirling chamber is activated, owing to the geometry and relative arrangement of its walls, the swirling chamber itself, or an inlet channel penetrating the swirling chamber eccentrically and preferably tangentially, has a geometry which is suitable for inducing a swirl by means of which a spray cone is generated as the fluid exits through the discharge opening. By means of the handle, the user can switch to the second configuration in which fluid in the form of a continuous fluid flow/fluid jet or in drop form is delivered instead of a spray stream. In this second configuration, the walls of the swirling chamber and/or the shape of the inlet channel are changed in such a way that a swirl is no longer generated in the fluid or this swirl turns out to be so slight that it is insufficient for forming a spray stream.

Therefore, the user of the fluid dispenser can establish case by case whether he would like a product to be sprayed or whether he would like it to be released in the form of a fluid flow or drops. This is a useful option for example in areas of application such as the discharging of perfume or olive oil.

The change in the geometry of the swirling chamber and/or the inlet channel is preferably brought about in that the swirling chamber or the inlet channel is delimited by two swirling chamber components which are movable relative to one another. As a result of the manual actuation of the handle by the user, the relative position of these swirling chamber components is altered and, with this, the efficacy of the swirling chamber. Options for influencing the efficacy of the swirling chamber consist in particular in reducing the flow resistance into the swirling chamber through the relative movement of the swirling chamber components to prevent turbulence from forming and/or altering the eccentricity of the fluid inflow since the swirl can also be influenced in this way.

The swirling chamber components are preferably movable relative to one another in a translative manner, i.e. slidingly movable along a guide. For structural simplicity, it is in particular preferred if the swirling chamber components are linearly movable relative to one another.

A first swirling chamber component, in which a through-hole forming the discharge opening is preferably provided, is preferably provided, on an inner side, with a depression whereof the walls delimit the swirling chamber, and/or it is provided with a groove whereof the walls delimit the inlet channel into the swirling chamber. The second swirling chamber component has an end contact face which, in the first configuration, abuts against the first swirling chamber component so the contact face, together with the depression, delimits the swirling chamber and/or the contact face, together with the walls of the groove, forms the inlet channel.

The said configuration represents a very simple construction of the swirling chamber components. In this case, both swirling chamber components have mutually facing contact faces, which preferably result in a planar contact of the swirling chamber components with one another. At least one of these contact faces has depressions which form the swirling chamber itself and/or the at least one inlet channel flowing eccentrically into the swirling chamber. However, a design is also conceivable in which the depression forming the swirling chamber is provided on one of the swirling chamber components and the depression forming the inlet channel is provided on the other swirling chamber component. If the contact faces abut against one another, the inlet channel and the swirling chamber are circumferentially closed and therefore have a geometry which is suitable for forming the swirl within the fluid in the swirling chamber. If the two contact faces are remote from one another, a gap is therefore produced between them, through which fluid can flow directly and centrically into the swirling chamber, mostly bypassing the inlet channel, whereby the flow resistance which is associated therewith is normally reduced in the process. In this second configuration, the fluid preferably flows into the swirling chamber through the circumferentially produced annular gap.

It is essentially possible for either the swirling chamber component which comprises the discharge opening or the swirling chamber component which does not comprise the discharge opening to be that which is displaced with respect to the housing of the discharge head. However, a design is preferred in which the swirling chamber component provided with the discharge opening is formed to be stationary with respect to the housing or formed by the housing itself, whilst the displaceable swirling chamber component is an internal component of the discharge head, the position of which is preferably not visible from the outside in this case.

The discharge head, as a whole, can represent the handle for manually switching between the configurations. This is realized for example in a design in which the discharge head is mounted on a base such that it is relatively movable thereto and the mutual relative position of the swirling chamber components can be brought about by a relative displacement of the discharge head and the base.

In an alternative design, it is provided that a button for manually switching between the configurations is provided on the discharge head itself, which button is displaceable with respect to the housing of the discharge head and directly or indirectly influences the relative position of the swirling chamber components. A direct influence is realized if the button is formed to be stationary with respect to a swirling chamber component so that the displacement of the button likewise also brings about a displacement of one of the swirling chamber components with respect to the housing.

Alternatively, it can be provided that, between the button and the swirling chamber component, a transmission or gear is provided via which the movement of the button with respect to the housing is coupled to the movement of the swirling chamber component with respect to the housing. Such a transmission or gear can be formed for example by two inclined planes on sides of the button and on sides of the swirling chamber component, which planes slide against one another.

A restoring spring is preferably provided, which acts between the swirling chamber components so that the swirling chamber components constantly have a force applied to them in the direction of an end position and are displaced in opposition to the force of the restoring spring as a result of a force being applied to the button.

The restoring spring brings about that only one of the configurations, i.e. only one of the mutual relative positions of the swirling chamber components, is stable. The swirling chamber components therefore remain in the other, unstable configuration only whilst the user applies a force to the button. Such a design is in particular expedient if the button for switching between the configurations is mounted in the region of an actuating face of the discharge head to which a force can be intentionally applied in order to initiate a discharging of fluid. In the case of such a design, by applying a force to the said actuating face or the button adjacent thereto, the user can, at the same time, select the configuration for the discharge procedure and induce the discharge procedure.

Alternatively to a button which is provided on the discharge head and is displaceable with respect to the discharge head, in order to change the configuration of the discharge head it can, in a manner already described, also be provided that the discharge head is formed to be rotatable about an axis of rotation with respect to the base unit and a transmission or gear is provided, by means of which a rotational movement of the discharge head brings about a relative displacement of the swirling chamber components. The advantage of such a design is, in particular, that the movement for initiating a discharge procedure, usually the pressing-down of the discharge head, is separate from the movement for switching between the configurations by changing the relative displacement of the swirling chamber components. The user can therefore firstly change the configuration of the discharge head in a potentially very convenient and very precise manner and then trigger a discharge procedure according to the selected configuration by pressing down the discharge head.

The transmission or gear preferably comprises a guide element which is at an angle-dependent spacing from the axis of rotation or is provided on the base unit, and a guide slide which is in engagement with the guide element and which is provided on the base unit or on one of the swirling chamber components.

The angle-dependent spacing is preferably generated by a spiral sectional shape. If the guide slide slides along the guide element, it thus also changes its spacing from the axis of rotation and therefore induces a radial displacement. Alternatively, in the case of a radially fixed guide slide, the guide element could also undergo a radial displacement. This radial displacement can be used to displace one of the swirling chamber components radially.

