Device for Sealing and Evacuating a Container Having a Paste-Like Liquid

Abstract

The invention relates to a device (2) for sealing and evacuating or applying gas pressure to a paste-like liquid in a container, the interior chamber thereof having a cylindrical inner contour (12). Said device comprises: a seal (8) which is arranged on a circumference of the device (2) and is adapted to be inserted into the cylindrical inner contour (12) of a container in order to seal the circumference of said container, and which delimits the exterior (18) of the device (2) from the interior (20) of the device; a connection device (22) which is arranged on the exterior (18) of the device (2) and which is configured for connecting an evacuation pump; and an open-pored, porous wall (24) in the interior of the device (2), said wall having a conduit connection (25) to the connection device (22).

Claims

1. Device for sealing and evacuating or applying gas pressure to an especially paste-like liquid in a container, the interior chamber thereof having a cylindrical inner contour (12) having a seal (8) which is arranged on a circumference of the device (2) and is adapted to be inserted into the cylindrical inner contour (12) of a container in order to seal the circumference of said container, and which delimits the exterior (18) of the device (2) from the interior (20) of the device; a connection device (22) which is arranged on the exterior (18) of the device (2) and which is configured for connecting an evacuation pump; and an open-pored, porous wall (24) in the interior (20) of the device (2), said wall having a conduit connection (25) to the connection device (22).

2. Device in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the porous wall (24) has an average pore diameter of between 0.0001 and 1 mm.

3. Device in accordance with one of the previous claims, characterized in that the porous wall (24) has an average pore diameter of between 0.1 and 1 mm for the sealing of a highly paste-like liquid with a viscosity between 50,000 and 200,000 mPas.

4. Device in accordance with one of the previous claims, characterized in that the porous wall (24) is composed of aluminum granulate-epoxy resin composite material.

5. Device in accordance with one of the previous claims, characterized in that the porous wall (24) transit through a transition cavity into the conduit connection (25) with the connection device (22).

6. Device in accordance with one of the previous claims, characterized in that the seal (8) is adapted to be used circumferentially sealing in the circular-cylindrical inner contour (12) of a container.

7. Device in accordance with one of the previous claims, characterized in that the seal (8) is adapted to be used as a circumferential seal in the circular-cylindrical inner contour (12) of a steel plate lidded barrel (6) with a clamping ring lock.

Description

[0021] The FIGURE shows a cut side view of a device to which the invention relates and a part of a conveyor pump unit mounted directly upon it that is inserted in a barrel.

[0022] Device 2 illustrated in the FIGURE serves the purpose of sealing and evacuating or applying gas pressure to an especially paste-like liquid 4 in a container 6.

[0023] Device 2 shows a circular rubber seal 8, which is oriented to the circumference of device 2. It has four lamella rings 10 lying axially next to one another and protruding radially outward with a graduated exterior diameter (however, all other possible seal types and designs are also conceivable, like, for example, one or more sealing rings with a solid or hollow (hose-like cross-section). Seal 8 is thus adapted so that it can be used in the circular-cylindrical inner contour 12 of a steel plate barrel 6 with a circumferential sealing function. The inner contour of the barrel 6, to which the device 2 to which the invention relates has been adapted, opens without tapering in the barrel opening 16 outside of the steel plate barrel with lid, whereby the barrel opening 16 can be sealed for storage and transport of the highly viscous material 4 contained within it with a plate metal lid with a clamping ring lock (not shown).

[0024] The seal 8 of the device 2 delimits an exterior 18 of the device 2 from an interior 20 of the device 2. A connection device 22 in the form of an inner thread 22 is positioned on the exterior 18. A line (not shown) can be connected (screwed in) to the connection device 22. This can then be connected with a pneumatic conveyor pump (electrical or pneumatic vacuum pump; not shown). The pump is set up to generate a vacuum and (especially for the disassembly of the device 2 from the barrel 6 after it has been emptied) overpressure. However, air pressure can also be incorporated from the conventional pressure network (not shown) by way of the connection device 22.

[0025] The device 2 also possesses an open-pored, porous wall 24 that forms a ring-shaped area 26 of the surface on the interior 20 of the device 2. The porous wall 24 is connected by a line 25 with the connection device 22. The porous material 24 allows the gas 28 (especially air) to be suctioned off through, while it represents a kind of labyrinth seal for the paste-like material 4. The porous wall 24 consists of aluminum granulate-epoxy resin composite material with an average pore diameter of 0.4 mm. The highly viscous material 4 is, for example, Raku-Tool CP-6070 from Rampf Tooling.

[0026] In order that the pneumatic passage from the interior 20 to the exterior 18 of the device 2 takes place as free of throttle as possible and, especially at the transition between the open-pored, porous material 24 and the conduit connection 25 with the connection device 22, that no bottleneck results in a loss of pressure, the porous material 24 is connected with the conduit connection 25 by a transition cavity in the form of four ring channels 30 lying axially next to one another and protruding radially inward into the porous material 24, and thus with the connection device 22, whereby the ring channels 30 are connected with one another by (not shown, distributed over the circumference) by axial channels. The porous shaped piece 24 used is sealed with sealing rings 33 in the joint gaps with the base body 34 in order that neither material nor compressed air can seek out a detour around the porous shaped piece 24 to the transition cavities 30 than that through the porous material 24.

[0027] The unit 32 is an element of a conveyor pump through which the viscous liquid 4 can be discharged safely out of the barrel 6 without air pockets. This takes place following the placing of the follower plate 2 and the evacuation of the air 28 from the intervening space between the device 2 and the (recognizably not horizontal) level of the viscous liquid 4, as well as from the line channels of the pump unit 32.

[0028] On the whole, device 2 and barrel 6 are aligned rotational-symmetrically around the axis 34 and, for the described insertion of the follower plate 2 into the barrel 6, rotational-symmetrically toward one another around the shared axis 34. The barrel 6 is only shown recognizably from the opening area at the top end of the barrel 6, where the barrel opening is located. The lower area of the barrel with the barrel bottom has been eliminated to reduce the size of the illustration.