UNFILLED LIQUID RESERVOIR, DISPENSER WITH SUCH A RESERVOIR, AND FILLING METHOD

Abstract

An unfilled liquid reservoir for use as part of a dispenser for dispensing pharmaceutical or cosmetic liquids, including an outer housing for placing on a dispensing head of the dispenser and a flexible bag arranged within the outer housing for receiving liquid before the dispensing process. The bag has an opening for removing the liquid, and an intermediate region between the outer housing and the bag is connected to a surrounding area by a ventilation opening which passes through a wall of the outer housing. The flexible bag is provided in a stowed storage state in which the inner volume of the bag is maximally 10% of the maximum inner volume of the bag within the outer housing.

Claims

1. An unfilled liquid reservoir for use as part of a dispenser for discharging pharmaceutical or cosmetic liquids, comprising an outer housing for mounting on a discharging head of the dispenser, and a flexible bag which is arranged inside the outer housing and serves to receive liquid before the discharging procedure, said bag having a bag opening for removal of the the liquid, wherein an intermediate area between the outer housing and the bag is connected to the environment by a ventilation opening that passes through a wall of the outer housing, wherein the flexible bag is provided in a compact stowage state in which the inner volume of the bag is at most 10% of the maximum inner volume of the bag inside the outer housing.

2. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bag in the compact stowage state is arranged in a form folded at least along one fold edge, wherein the bag is preferably folded twice along two mutually parallel fold edges.

3. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least one fold edge is oriented parallel to or in alignment with the orientation of the bag opening.

4. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bag in the compact stowage state is provided in the form of a roll.

5. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 4, wherein the roll is rolled up in relation to a roll axis that is oriented parallel to or in alignment with the orientation of the bag opening.

6. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bag is closed in an airtight manner.

7. The unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 1, wherein fixing means are provided, by means of which the bag is held in the compact stowage state, wherein the fixing means are provided in particular in the form of holding strips which engage at least regionally around the bag.

8. A batch comprising a plurality of liquid reservoirs for being subsequently filled and assembled to form a dispenser with liquid reservoirs and a discharging head, wherein the liquid reservoirs are each configured as claimed in claim 1.

9. A dispenser for discharging pharmaceutical or cosmetic liquids, comprising an as yet unfilled liquid reservoir for receiving the liquid intended to be discharged, and a discharging head with a discharging opening through which liquid from the liquid reservoir can be dispensed to the environment, wherein the unfilled liquid reservoir is configured as claimed in claim 1.

10. A method for filling a flexible bag of an unfilled liquid reservoir as claimed in claim 1, wherein a filling nozzle is tightly attached to a bag opening of the bag, wherein the inner volume of the bag at this point is at most 10% of the maximum inner volume of the bag inside an outer housing of the liquid reservoir, and liquid is introduced through the filling nozzle into the bag, during which air is displaced from an intermediate area between the bag and the outer housing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Further aspects and advantages will become clear from the following description of preferred illustrative embodiments of the invention and also from the claims.

[0026] FIGS. 1a and 1b show a first embodiment of an unfilled liquid reservoir.

[0027] FIG. 1c shows this liquid reservoir in the filled state.

[0028] FIGS. 2a to 2c show the bag unit of the liquid reservoir in the compact stowage state and in the filled state.

[0029] FIG. 3 shows a dispenser with a liquid reservoir which was configured according to the invention before being filled.

[0030] FIG. 4 shows an alternative embodiment of a bag unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

[0031] FIGS. 1a and 1b show a liquid reservoir according to the invention in section and in partial section. The liquid reservoir 10 has a rigid outer housing 20, which is preferably made from plastic. A ventilation opening 24, which is preferably provided with a microbe filter 26, is provided at the bottom 22 of this outer housing. On its inside, the outer housing 20 has, in the area of an upper open end, a coupling device 28 in the form of a locking groove. Moreover, the outer housing 20 has a supporting edge 30 on its inside.

[0032] The liquid reservoir 10 also has a bag unit 40, which comprises a headpiece 42, made of rigid plastic, and a dimensionally flexible bag 50. The headpiece 42 comprises a supporting plate 44, the outer edges of which have a shape corresponding the supporting edge 30 of the outer housing 20 and, together with said edge, form a preferably airtight seal. Moreover, the headpiece 40 has a cylindrical extension piece 46, through which there runs a bag opening 48.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 2b, it will be noted that the dimensionally flexible bag 50 is rolled up in the stowage state. A central area 52 is, at its end pointing toward the headpiece 40, adhesively bonded or laminated onto the outside of the extension piece 46. Two lateral wings 54 of the flexible bag 50 are each rolled counterclockwise around the extension piece 46 and are additionally fixed with circumferential holding strips 60.

[0034] FIG. 2a illustrates how the flexible bag 50 looks before production of the roll according to FIG. 2b. Although the inner volume of the flexible bag 50 is identical in the state of FIG. 2a and in the state of FIG. 2b, there is much less danger, in the state in FIG. 2b, of air undesirably entering the flexible bag 50, since the tendency of the latter to increase its inner volume is reduced by the roll shape and by the holding strips 60.

[0035] FIG. 1c shows the liquid reservoir in the filled state. Its shape is illustrated once again by FIG. 2c. The inner volume of the bag 50 filled with liquid is considerably greater than that of the unfilled bag 50. The liquid bag shown has a maximum inner volume inside the outer housing of 20 cl. By contrast, the inner volume before filling, i.e. in the state shown in FIGS. 1a and 2a, is less than 0.4 cl and therefore less than 2% of the maximum volume.

[0036] FIG. 3 shows the dispenser in the assembled state after the liquid reservoir 50 has been filled. The discharging head 80 is now mounted on the outer housing 20, said discharging head having a discharging opening 82 on an actuation button 84 that is movable in the main direction of extent 2.

[0037] In operation, by actuation of the actuation button 84 and of a pump (not shown), the liquid can be removed in steps from the liquid bag 50. The latter in this way loses volume. To ensure that a negative pressure does not develop inside the outer housing 20, compensating air is drawn in through the ventilation opening 24.

[0038] FIG. 4 shows an alternative configuration of the bag unit in the compact state. Here, lateral areas 54 of the bag are laid on top of each other by formation of double folds, such that a compact stowage state likewise results. Holding strips (not shown in FIG. 4) are able to hold the bag in the position illustrated. An alternative to such holding strips takes the form of adhesive surfaces 62, which are indicated by broken lines in FIG. 4 and by which the several layers of the folded bag 50 can be fixed to each other. The adhesive surfaces can be made sufficiently weak to ensure that they come loose without any further difficulty as the bag is being filled.