Liquid Delivery System

Abstract

A liquid delivery system comprising a base unit (2) comprising a liquid inlet in an upwardly facing surface, a liquid duct leading from the inlet to a liquid outlet above the liquid inlet; a pump for pumping the liquid from the inlet to the outlet; a motor to drive the pump; and a shroud extending upwardly in a manner which surrounds the inlet, the system further comprising a vessel (1) received within the shroud in an inverted configuration with its outlet lowermost and in communication with the fluid inlet, the vessel (1) having a refill opening (20) towards the end opposite to the outlet.

Description

[0001] The present invention is directed to a liquid delivery system.

[0002] In particular, it is directed to the base unit of the liquid delivery system described in our earlier application GB 0820981.9.

[0003] The fluid delivery system comprises a base unit into which a liquid container containing the material to be dispensed is fitted in an inverted configuration, namely with its outlet at the lowermost end. The base unit contains a liquid inlet in an upwardly facing surface, a liquid duct leading from the inlet to a liquid outlet above the liquid inlet; a pump for pumping the liquid from the inlet to the outlet; a motor to drive the pump; and a shroud extending upwardly in a manner which surrounds the inlet, the shroud having an upper edge. Such a base unit is referred to subsequently as being "of the kind described".

[0004] In use, the refill unit is provided with a valve at its lowermost end. As the refill unit is fitted into the base, an upwardly projecting spigot surrounding the fluid inlet opens the valve in the refill unit to allow fluid to flow from the refill unit into the base.

[0005] The present invention provides an alternative method for refilling the system.

[0006] According to the present invention, a liquid delivery system comprises a base unit of the kind described and is characterised by the system further comprising a vessel received within the shroud in an inverted configuration with its outlet lowermost and in communication with the fluid inlet, the vessel having a refill opening towards the end opposite to the outlet.

[0007] The presence of a refill opening in what will be, in use, the top of the vessel, allows the user to refill the vessel without ever needing to remove it from the base, rather than having to dispose of the vessel and replace it with a new one.

[0008] In GB 0820981.9, the vessel is a bottle with a valve at the outlet, the valve being resiliently biased to close the outlet and arranged to be opened upon insertion into the base to open the flow path out of the vessel and into the base. Such a valve may also be provided in the present invention. However, as the vessel does not need to be removed in the refilling process, such a valve is unnecessary. As an alternative, therefore, there may be no valve to control the flow from the outlet. In this case, in order to reduce mess, the vessel may initially be inserted into the base when empty and subsequently filled, or the base may be inverted such that it is placed on top of the vessel before the assembly of the base and vessel is overturned into its operating configuration.

[0009] In its simplest form, the vessel may be a liner with a cup-like configuration to receive the liquid. The liner may be provided with a removable cap for storage, transportation and refilling purposes. Alternatively, it may have a bottle-like configuration which itself may be selectively closable by a closure element. This may take the form of, for example, a self-closing valve or a removable cap which may be separate from the bottle, or may be attached in some way, for example, by a sliding mechanism or hinge.

[0010] An example of a system in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a cross-section through a dispenser having a bottle according to GB 0820981.9 which is included for background interest only;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a cut-away perspective view of the refill of FIG. 1 being introduced into the dispenser but not yet being engaged;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a front perspective of a first example of a system according to the present invention; and

[0014] FIG. 4 is a front perspective of a second example of a system according to the present invention.

[0015] Before describing the present invention, the operation of the dispenser with the refill of GB 0820981.9 will be described for background interest.

[0016] The dispenser is a hands-free dispenser which is generally suitable for domestic use. The dispenser is primarily intended to dispense liquid soap, but may also be used to dispense other liquid or semi-liquid products (ideally with a viscosity greater than water), such as hand cream, body lotion, moisturiser, face cream, shampoo, shower gel, foaming hand wash, shaving cream, washing up liquid, toothpaste, acne treatment cream, a surface cleaner or a sanitising agent such as alcohol gel.

[0017] The dispenser comprises two main parts, namely a vessel 1 and a base unit 2. The vessel 1 provides a reservoir of liquid to be dispensed and is fitted to the base unit 2 as set out below.

[0018] The base has an interface 3 into which liquid is dispensed from the refill unit. The interface 3 is in fluid communication with a dispensing tube 4. A pump 5 is selectively operable to pump a metered dose of the liquid along dispensing tube 4 and out of dispensing head 6.

[0019] The base has an infrared transmitter 7A which transmits an infrared beam through a window 8 to a receiver 7B to sense the presence of a user's hands in the vicinity of the dispenser. Control circuitry reacts to a signal from the proximity sensor to activate the pump. The illustrated sensor is a break beam sensor, but may also be a reflective sensor. Although an infrared sensor is shown, any known proximity sensor such as a capacitive sensor may be used. The device may be mains powered or battery powered.

[0020] The interface between the bottle 1 and base unit 2 will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIG. 2.

[0021] The base unit 2 comprises a cowling 10 which surrounds a significant portion of the bottle to protect and support it. A spigot 11 projects at the base of the cowling 10. The spigot has a plurality of castellations 13 in its top surface. An O-ring seal 14 surrounds the spigot 11 beneath the castellations 13.

[0022] When the refill 1 is placed into the base unit 2, the spigot 11 enters an annular outlet 15 in the base of the refill 1 against which the O-ring seal 14 seals. The spigot then lifts outlet valve element 16 against the action of resilient biasing member 17 to open a flow path into the base. Two pressure relief valves 18 allow air to enter the bottle as liquid is dispensed.

[0023] The refill according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 3. This refill has the same overall shape as the previously described refill, although it may have a different shape. The refill may have the valve element 16 and/or one or more pressure relief valves 18. However, these are not necessary for its operation.

[0024] The refill 1 that has a refill opening 20 in the top which is selectively closable by a cap 21 attached to the top of the bottle by a flexible hinge 22.

[0025] The refill 1 may be supplied full of liquid or empty. If it is full of liquid, it will require a removable cover. This will be removed and the base 2 should ideally be inverted and placed on top of the housing before the whole assembly is turned over into the configuration shown in FIG. 3, whereupon the device can operate as normal. Alternatively, the refill 1 may be empty in which case it can simply be placed into the base 2 in the orientation shown in FIG. 3. If the bottle is empty, or when a full bottle requires refilling, a user simply opens the cap 21 and pours fresh liquid into the refill 1 and continues to use the device in the normal way.

[0026] Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the entire top section of the refill 1' may be removed so that the refill has a cup-like configuration rather than the bottle-like configuration shown in FIG. 3. This cup-like refill may be closable with a cap (larger than the cap 21) which fits over the top of the refill.

Claims

1. A liquid delivery system comprising: a base unit comprising: a liquid inlet in an upwardly facing surface; a liquid duct leading from the inlet to a liquid outlet above the liquid inlet; a pump for pumping the liquid from the inlet to the outlet; a motor to drive the pump; and a shroud extending upwardly in a manner which surrounds the inlet; and a vessel received within the shroud in an inverted configuration with its outlet lowermost and in communication with the fluid inlet, the vessel having a refill opening towards the end opposite to the outlet.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein there is no valve at the outlet from the vessel.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the refill is selectively closable by a closure element.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the base unit further comprises a sensor to sense the presence of an object in the vicinity of the outlet to trigger a dispensing operation.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the base unit is a free standing unit.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the base unit contains batteries to power the motor.

7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the vessel has a bottle-like configuration.

8. A system according to claim 1, wherein the vessel has a cup-like configuration.