NOZZLE BODY AND SPRAYING DEVICE

Abstract

By means of selective laser exposure and subsequent etching away of the exposed regions (selective laser-induced etching), a cylindrical-conical cavity (15) having a mainly tangential fluid inlet (16) and axial fluid outlet (17) is formed in the quartz glass nozzle body (14) having a generally cylindrical shape.

Claims

1. A nozzle body comprising a conical or cylindrical-conical cavity through which fluid can flow and which comprises a fluid inlet predominantly tangential relative to the cavity jacket and a fluid outlet substantially axial relative to the cavity jacket, the nozzle body being formed in one piece from a glass material, and the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet and the smallest diameter of the fluid outlet each being 100 micrometers or less.

2. The nozzle body according to claim 1, comprising another fluid inlet predominantly tangential relative to the cavity jacket.

3. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet is 50 micrometers or less.

4. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet is 20 micrometers or less.

5. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the minimum diameter of the fluid outlet is 50 micrometers or less.

6. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the minimum diameter of the fluid outlet is 20 micrometers or less.

7. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the fluid inlet and fluid outlet are formed by means of local laser exposure.

8. The nozzle body according to claim 7, wherein the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet are formed by local laser exposure and subsequent etching away of material exposed to the local laser exposure.

9. The nozzle body according to claim 1, further comprising an antechamber, wherein the fluid inlet can be fluidically flowed through from the antechamber to the cavity.

10. The nozzle body according to claim 1, further comprising a sieve body formed together with the remaining nozzle body in one piece without a joint between the screen body and the remaining nozzle body.

11. The nozzle body according to claim 10, wherein the sieve body is arranged outside the cavity at the inlet side.

12. The nozzle body according to claim 10, wherein sieve openings in the sieve body are formed by means of local laser exposure.

13. The nozzle body according to claim 12, wherein the sieve openings in the screen body are formed by means of local laser exposure and subsequent etching away of material exposed to the local laser exposure.

14. The nozzle body according to claim 10, further comprising an antechamber, wherein the fluid inlet the fluid inlet can be fluidically flowed through from the antechamber to the cavity, and the sieve body forms a fluid inlet to the antechamber.

15. The nozzle body according to claim 10, wherein the sieve body has only sieve openings the respective smallest diameter of which is not greater than half the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet.

16. The nozzle body according to claim 15, wherein the sieve body has only sieve openings the respective smallest diameter of which is not greater than one-third of the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet.

17. The nozzle body according to claim 10, wherein the sieve body is not thicker than five times the smallest diameter of the sieve openings in the main flow direction through the sieve openings.

18. The nozzle body according to claim 10, wherein the total flowable area of the sieve openings is at least one hundred times the flowable area of the fluid inlet.

19. The nozzle body according to claim 1, wherein the glass material is quartz glass.

20. A spraying device comprising a nozzle body according to claim 1.

21. A spraying device comprising a nozzle body which comprises a conical or cylindrical-conical cavity through which fluid can flow and which comprises a fluid inlet which is predominantly tangential relative to the cavity jacket and a fluid outlet which is substantially axial relative to the cavity jacket, wherein the nozzle body is formed in one piece from a glass material, and the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet and the smallest diameter of the fluid outlet is between 100 micrometers and 300 micrometers, preferably between 100 micrometers and 250 micrometers, a spray material supply device for supplying spray material to the fluid inlet with a spray material pressure of 6 bar or less, preferably 5 bar or less.

22. The spraying device according to claim 20, said spraying device being configured as a spray can, comprising a spray material container and a spray head comprising the nozzle body.

23. The spraying device according to claim 22, said spraying device being configured as a pump spray.

24. The spraying device according to claim 22, wherein the spray material container contains a pressurized propellant.

25. The spraying device according to claim 20, said spraying device being configured as a medical inhaler.

26. A method for manufacturing, from a glass material, a nozzle body in one piece, which has a conical or cylindrical-conical cavity through which fluid can flow, wherein a, relative to the cavity jacket, predominantly tangential fluid inlet into the cavity and a, relative to the cavity jacket, substantially axial fluid outlet from the cavity are produced by local laser exposure and subsequent etching away of material exposed to the local laser exposure, such that the smallest diameter of the fluid inlet and the smallest diameter of the fluid outlet each are 100 micrometers or less.

Description

[0041] Herein-below, the invention is explained in more detail in an exemplary manner in connection with the accompanying schematic drawings. The drawings are not true to scale; in particular, for reasons of illustration, the ratios of the individual dimensions to one another do not always correspond to the ratios in actual technical implementations. Several preferred embodiments are described, but the invention is not limited thereto. In principle, any variant of the invention described or implied in the context of the present application may be particularly advantageous, depending on the economic, technical and, if applicable, medical conditions in an individual case. Unless otherwise stated, or if technically feasible, respectively, individual features of the described embodiments are interchangeable or can be combined with each other and with features known per se from the prior art.

[0042] FIG. 1a shows a cross-sectional view of a nozzle body according to the invention, the sectional plane of FIG. 1b being indicated as a broken line A-A,

[0043] FIG. 1b shows another cross-sectional view of the nozzle body of FIG. 1a, orthogonal to FIG. 1a, wherein the sectional plane of FIG. 1a is indicated as a broken line B-B,

[0044] FIG. 1c shows the fluid inlet from FIG. 1b shows the fluid inlet from FIG. 1b as a detail to illustrate the geometric conditions,

[0045] FIG. 2a shows a cross-sectional view of another nozzle body according to the invention, the sectional plane of FIG. 2b being indicated as a broken line A-A,

[0046] FIG. 2b shows another cross-sectional view of the nozzle body of FIG. 2a, orthogonal to FIG. 2a, the sectional plane of FIG. 2a being indicated as a broken line B-B, and

[0047] FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of a spray can according to the invention with a laterally discharging spray head.

[0048] Corresponding elements are marked with the same reference numerals in the figures of the drawings.

[0049] FIG. 1a shows a cross-sectional view of a nozzle body 14 according to the invention, wherein the sectional plane of FIG. 1b is indicated as a broken line A-N. The sectional plane of FIG. 1a is indicated in FIG. 1a as the broken line B-B. The sectional planes of FIGS. 1a and 1b are therefore perpendicular to each other.

[0050] By means of selective laser exposure and subsequent etching of the exposed areas (selective laser-induced etching), a cylindrical-conical cavity 15 with a largely tangential fluid inlet 16 and an axial fluid outlet 17 is manufactured in the quartz glass nozzle body 14 with a cylindrical basic shape.

[0051] The fluid inlet 16 is shown enlarged in FIG. 1c. The axis of symmetry s.sub.e of the fluid inlet 16 connects the centers of gravity of the flowed through areas spanned by the edges of the fluid inlet 16. The angle formed by the axis of symmetry s.sub.e and the line t tangent to the lateral surface of the cavity 15 is smaller than the angle formed by the axis of symmetry s.sub.e and the radial straight line r orthogonal to the jacket surface at the intersection S with the tangent line t.

[0052] The smallest diameter of the fluid inlet 16 d.sub.e and fluid outlet 17 d.sub.a, respectively, is less than 100 m. With the above-mentioned manufacturing method of selective laser-induced etching, even diameters of only a few micrometers can be achieved.

[0053] The axis of symmetry of the conical section of the cavity 15 is also the axis of symmetry of the fluid outlet 17. In the example shown, the fluid outlet 17 ends with a conical extension and a sharp tear-off edge to promote fluid atomization.

[0054] The liquid to be atomized is fed to the fluid inlet 16 via the inlet 21 and the annular antechamber 18. Between the inlet 21 and the antechamber 18, the liquid to be atomized flows through the (not necessarily provided) sieve body 19. The openings 20 thereof each have a minimum diameter of one third of the minimum diameter of the fluid inlet 16. The sieve body 19 prevents the fluid inlet 16 and the fluid outlet 17 from clogging.

[0055] There may also be several fluid inlets 16 distributed around the circumference, as shown in FIG. 2a. In this embodiment the sieve body 19 is arranged radially to the prechamber 18 and not axially, like the one shown in FIG. 1a. In contrast to FIG. 2b, instead of the circumferential prechamber 18, a separate prechamber may be provided for each fluid inlet 16.

[0056] The spray can in FIG. 2 comprises a spray head 1 in the spray head connecting part 13 of which the nozzle body 14 is inserted in such a way that the spray material is discharged to the side. Such an arrangement is advantageous for many technical (e.g. for disinfection) or cosmetic (e.g. for skin moistening or for the application of fragrances) applications.

[0057] The reusable spray head 1 is placed on the head 4 of the outlet pipe 3 of the spray container 2 and can be removed from it without tools in order to enable the replacement of the spray container 2. Alternatively, a configuration as a disposable product is also possible.

[0058] The spray tank 2 is designed as a two-chamber tank in which a movable piston 5 separates the compressed propellant, e.g. nitrogen, present in the lower area 12 of the spray tank 2 from the spray material, e.g. brine. Alternatively, the invention can also be implemented with a single-chamber container as spray container 2, in which the propellant and the sprayed material are mixed. The propellants known from conventional sprays are suitable as propellants. The container wall 6 of the spray tank 2 is made of conventional container material such as aluminum or tinplate.

[0059] The valve of the spray container 2 is similar to the valves of conventional spray cans and comprises a valve housing 7 which is sealed by the sealing ring 8 which consists of an elastic material such as rubber or silicone rubber. The spring 9 inserted in the valve housing presses the sealing cap 11 against the sealing ring 8. By pressing the spray head 1 and the spray container 2 together relative to each other, the outlet pipe 3, which is bevelled at the bottom, pushes the sealing cap downwards so that spray material can enter the feed channel 10 of the spray head 1 through the valve housing 7 and the outlet pipe 3.

[0060] The spray head connecting member 13 is made of a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin material, e.g. polyethylene, polypropylene or polycarbonate. The nozzle body 14, which is shown enlarged in FIGS. 1a and 1b, is inserted into the spray head connecting member 13.