Cartridge and method for producing a cartridge

Abstract

A cartridge has a reception chamber extending in a longitudinal direction for a medium to be dispensed. The cartridge has a head part and a cartridge wall which bound the reception chamber, the head part having an outlet for the medium. The cartridge wall is at least regionally a film and the head part is a stable-shape part. The head part is sealingly and in particular unreleasably connected to the cartridge wall and the cartridge is a collapsible cartridge. The cartridge can be converted from an expanded state in which the reception chamber has a maximum volume into a collapsed state in which the reception chamber has a minimal volume. The cartridge not yet filled with medium is in a collapsed state. Furthermore, a method of manufacturing such a cartridge is described.

Claims

1. A cartridge before filled with a medium comprising: a reception chamber extending in a longitudinal direction for the medium to be dispensed, having a head part and a cartridge wall which bound the reception chamber, the head part having an outlet for the medium, the cartridge wall being configured at least regionally as a film and the head part being configured as a stable-shape part and the head part sealingly connected to the cartridge wall, with the cartridge being configured as a collapsible cartridge so as to be able to be converted from an expanded state in which the reception chamber has a maximum volume into a collapsed state in which the reception chamber has a minimal volume, the cartridge not yet filled with the medium being in the collapsed state, a diameter of the cartridge not yet filled remaining substantially constant upon conversion from the expanded state to the collapsed state, and the space requirements of at least one of the not yet filled reception chamber and the not yet filled cartridge in the collapsed state only amounting to 30% or less of the respective space requirements of the reception chamber or the cartridge in the expanded state.

2. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge wall is pushed together in the longitudinal direction of the reception chamber in the collapsed state of the cartridge.

3. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge is configured as a single-component cartridge having a reception chamber or as a multicomponent cartridge having a plurality of reception chambers.

4. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge is configured as a multicomponent cartridge having a plurality of reception chambers, and wherein a separate head part is associated with each of the plurality of reception chambers and an outlet of a respective head part is respectively in fluid communication with the reception chamber associated with the respective head part.

5. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge is configured as a multicomponent cartridge having a plurality of reception chambers, and wherein a uniform common head part is associated with the plurality of reception chambers, with the head part having a plurality of outlets of which a respective outlet is in fluid communication with a respective one of the plurality of reception chambers.

6. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the head part is injection molded to the cartridge wall; and wherein an end of the hose-shaped cartridge wall disposed remote from the head part is sealingly closed by a crimp connection or by a clamp connection.

7. A method of manufacturing the cartridge in accordance with claim 1, the method comprising: sealingly and unreleasably connecting the cartridge wall to the head part thereby producing the cartridge in the expanded state; and pushing the cartridge wall together after the production of the cartridge in the expanded state such that the cartridge is converted into the collapsed state in which the reception chamber has the minimal volume.

8. The method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising at least one of storing and transporting the cartridge not yet filled with the medium to a filling apparatus in the collapsed state.

9. The method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising sealingly closing an end of the cartridge wall disposed remote from the head part before the pushing.

10. The method in accordance with claim 7, wherein the pushing the cartridge wall together includes pushing in the longitudinal direction of the reception chamber.

11. The method in accordance with claim 7, further comprising generating a predefined pressure in the reception chamber and the pushing of the cartridge wall takes place against the pressure.

12. The method in accordance with claim 11, further comprising gradually reducing the pressure on the pushing.

13. The method in accordance with claim 12, further comprising selecting the pressure so that the cartridge wall is substantially folded together in a concertina manner on the pushing.

14. The method in accordance claim 7, further comprising filling the medium into the reception chamber through the outlet in the head part for filling the cartridge.

15. The method in accordance with claim 14, further comprising pushing the cartridge wall apart again by the filling of the cartridge so that the cartridge is converted from its collapsed state into a partly expanded state or into the expanded state.

16. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the head part is sealingly and unreleasably connected to the cartridge wall.

17. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge wall is pushed together in a concertina manner in the longitudinal direction of the reception chamber in the collapsed state of the cartridge.

18. The cartridge in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cartridge is configured as a two-component cartridge having two reception chambers.

19. A method of manufacturing a cartridge before filled with a medium having a reception chamber extending in a longitudinal direction for the medium to be dispensed having a head part and a cartridge wall which bound the reception chamber, the head part having an outlet for the medium, the cartridge wall is configured at least regionally as a film and the head part is configured as a stable-shape part and the head part is sealingly connected to the cartridge wall, with the cartridge being configured as a collapsible cartridge so as to be able to be converted from an expanded state in which the reception chamber has a maximum volume into a collapsed state in which the reception chamber has a minimal volume, and the cartridge not yet filled with the medium being in the collapsed state, the method comprising: sealingly and unreleasably connecting the cartridge wall to the head part thereby producing the cartridge in the expanded state; pushing the cartridge wall together after the production of the cartridge in the expanded state such that the cartridge is converted into the collapsed state in which the reception chamber has the minimal volume, while the cartridge is not yet filled with the medium; and at least one of storing and transporting the cartridge not yet filled with the medium to a filling apparatus in the collapsed state.

20. A method of manufacturing a cartridge before filled with a medium having a reception chamber extending in a longitudinal direction for the medium to be dispensed having a head part and a cartridge wall which bound the reception chamber, the head part having an outlet for the medium, the cartridge wall is configured at least regionally as a film and the head part is configured as a stable-shape part and the head part is sealingly connected to the cartridge wall, with the cartridge being configured as a collapsible cartridge so as to be able to be converted from an expanded state in which the reception chamber has a maximum volume into a collapsed state in which the reception chamber has a minimal volume, and the cartridge not yet filled with the medium being in the collapsed state, the method comprising: sealingly and unreleasably connecting the cartridge wall to the head part thereby producing the cartridge in the expanded state; pushing the cartridge wall together after the production of the cartridge in the expanded state such that the cartridge is converted into the collapsed state in which the reception chamber has the minimal volume, while the cartridge is not yet filled with the medium; generating a predefined pressure in the reception chamber and the pushing the cartridge wall together takes place against the pressure; and gradually reducing the pressure during the pushing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure.

(2) FIG. 1 is a two-component cartridge in accordance with the invention in its expanded state;

(3) FIG. 2 is the cartridge in accordance with FIG. 1 in its collapsed state;

(4) FIG. 3 is a cartridge in accordance with the invention without a closure cap;

(5) FIG. 4 is an open dispensing apparatus for a cartridge in accordance with the invention without an inserted cartridge;

(6) FIG. 5 is the dispensing apparatus in accordance with FIG. 4 with a partly inserted cartridge in accordance with FIG. 3;

(7) FIG. 6 is the dispensing apparatus in accordance with FIGS. 4 and 5 with a completely inserted cartridge ready for dispensing; and

(8) FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of the manufacture and of the use of a cartridge in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(9) FIG. 1 shows a cartridge 1 which is configured as a two-component cartridge and which comprises two cylindrical reception chambers 2, 3. The reception chambers 2, 3 are each bounded by a cartridge wall 4, 5 and by a common head part 6 which respectively forms an end-face end of each reception chamber 2, 3. The two ends 7, 8 of the two cartridge walls 4, 5 disposed remote from the head part 6 are each led together toward the center axis of the respective reception chamber 2, 3 and are thus bound together by a respective clamping ring 9, 10 such that the ends 7, 8 are sealingly closed.

(10) The ends 11, 12 facing the head part 6 are sealingly and unreleasably connected to the head part 6 in that the head part 6 is injection molded to the ends 11, 12. Whereas the head part 6 comprises a stable-shape plastic, the cartridge walls 4, 5 are configured as multilayer films which are each rolled to a cylindrical shape in their predominantly center regions and are welled and form together with the head part 6 the cylindrical reception chambers 2, 3.

(11) The head part 6 has two outlets 13, 14 which are connected to the reception chambers 2, 3 for filling them with filling compound and for dispensing the filling material out of the reception chambers 2, 3. A screw cap 15 is furthermore provided by which the outlets 13, 14 are closed together.

(12) In FIG. 1, the reception chambers 2, 3 are still not yet filled with filling compound, i.e. with the medium to be dispensed, but are empty. The cartridge walls 4, 5 nevertheless have the substantially cylindrical shape shown in FIG. 1 due to the stiffness of the used film material, said cylindrical shape representing the expanded state of the cartridge 1 with a maximum volume of the reception chambers 2, 3.

(13) In accordance with the invention, the cartridge walls 4, 5 are pushed together in the longitudinal direction of the reception chambers 2, 3 even before the filling with the medium to be dispensed until the cartridge adopts its collapsed state in which the reception chambers 2, 3 each have their minimal volumes. This collapsed state is shown in FIG. 2. It immediately becomes clear from the comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 that the space requirements of the cartridge 1 or of the reception chambers 2, 3 in the collapsed state only amounts to approximately 20% of the space requirements in the expanded state. The pushing together of the cartridge walls 4, 5 can in this respect, in particular with an unscrewed screw cap 15, take place a dispensing apparatus described in more detail in the following.

(14) FIG. 3 shows a cartridge 1 slightly modified with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. The only difference is that no screw connection is provided in the region of the outlets 13, 14 for fastening the screw cap 15, but rather a bayonet fastening is provided for fastening a closure cap with a bayonet coupling. The embodiment of the fastening type by a screw connection or by a bayonet fastening is not relevant to the present invention. Furthermore, a bayonet fastener also comprises, in addition to a plug-in movement, a rotational or screw movement subsequent thereto so that in the following, for simplification, the terms screw cap and screw attachment are used uniformly even if a bayonet fastening of the closure cap is shown. It can be recognized in FIG. 3 on the basis of the removed screw cap 15 that the outlets 13, 14 extend up to an end-face free end of a screw attachment 16 onto which the screw cap 15 can be screwed. A frontal filling of the cartridge 1 in its collapsed state is possible via the outlets 13, 14, with the cartridge 1 automatically being converted into its expanded state shown in FIG. 3 by the filled-in medium.

(15) FIG. 4 shows a dispensing apparatus 17 into which the cartridge 1 in accordance with the invention is inserted. The dispensing apparatus 17 comprises a two-component support cartridge 18 at whose end face two reception openings 19, 20 for the cartridge 1 are formed. As shown in FIG. 5, the cartridge walls 4, 5 of the cartridge 1 can be pushed so far into the reception openings until the head part 6 contacts the end face of the support cartridge 18.

(16) Subsequently, the support cartridge 18 can be pivoted together with the pushed-in cartridge 1 about a pivot axis 21 so that it comes to lie in the interior of a housing section 22 of the dispensing apparatus 17, as is shown in FIG. 6. The screw attachment 16 in this respect projects through an end-face opening 23 in the housing section 22 so that a mixer tip not shown can be screwed onto the screw attachment 16 for dispensing the medium present in the reception chambers 2, 3. Subsequently, in a manner known per se, a ratchet pusher 25, at whose front end two plate-like advancing pistons 26, 27 are provided, can be displaced toward the front end of the dispensing apparatus 17 by a repeated actuation of an actuation lever 24, whereby the filling compound present in the reception chambers 2, 3 are dispensed through the outlets 13, 14 and are subsequently mixed by the mixer tip.

(17) It is indicated in a step 1 Manufacture from FIG. 7 that manufacturing costs can clearly be saved by the configuration of the cartridge wall as a film in contrast with a cartridge with a stable-shape cartridge wall. By the conversion of the empty cartridge into its collapsed state directly after its manufacture, the space requirements in accordance with step 2 Storage (empty) are reduced by approximately 80%, whereby the storage costs are correspondingly reduced. In a corresponding manner, approximately 80% of volume and weight is saved on the transport of the empty, collapsed cartridges to the media manufacturers, as is indicated in step 3 Transport (empty). The cartridges are only expanded again on the subsequent filling of the cartridges (step 4 Filling) so that only a 15% weight reduction is given due to the film used in the subsequent transport (step 5 Transport (filled). The following steps 6 Storage (filled)! and 7 (Application) then take place in a known manner, while in step 8 Waste disposal an approximately 80% volume reduction is in turn present with respect to cartridges with a shape-stable cartridge wall.