Abstract
The present invention relates to an apparatus (2) comprising a connector (4), a baby bottle (6) which can be coupled thereto having a bottle body (8) and a bottle base (10), and a sensor unit (34) arranged in the bottle base (10) for determining the filling quantity of milk in the baby bottle (6). An object of the present invention is to improve handling and maintenance of the apparatus, as well as determining the content quantity. It is characterized in that the bottle base (10) is releasably attachable to the bottle body (8).
Claims
1. An apparatus comprising: a connector; a baby bottle coupled thereto having a bottle body, a bottle base releasably attached to said bottle body, and a sensor unit arranged in said bottle base for determining a filling quantity of milk in said baby bottle and a sensor unit arranged in said bottle base for determining a filling quantity of milk in said baby bottle, wherein said sensor unit comprises a coil arranged centrally in said bottle base and spaced from a membrane in said baby bottle and having one of a centrally arranged metallic insert or a metallic coating, the membrane being impermeable to milk, elastic, and movable in the direction of said sensor unit.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said membrane—when said baby bottle stands upright—moves toward said sensor unit when the filling quantity of milk increases and away from said sensor unit when the filling quantity of milk decreases.
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the axis of said metallic insert is at least approximately aligned with the axis of said coil.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein electronic components are arranged between said coil and a bearing surface of said releasable bottle base formed by said bottle base.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said bottle base is attachable by one of screwing, a bayonet lock, or a snap lock, to said bottle body of said baby bottle.
6. A baby bottle with a bottle body, a bottle base releasably attached to said bottle body, and a sensor unit arranged in said bottle base for determining the amount of content in said baby bottle, wherein said sensor unit comprises a coil arranged centrally in said bottle base and spaced from a membrane having a centrally arranged metallic insert or a metallic coating, the membrane being impermeable to milk, elastic and movable in the direction of said sensor unit.
7. The baby bottle according to claim 6, wherein said membrane—when said baby bottle stands upright—moves toward said sensor unit when the filling quantity increases and away from said sensor unit when the filling quantity decreases.
8. The baby bottle according to claim 6, wherein the axis of said metallic insert is at least approximately aligned with the axis of said coil.
9. The baby bottle according to claim 6, wherein electronic components are arranged between said coil and a bearing surface of said releasable bottle base formed by said bottle base.
10. The baby bottle according to claim 6, wherein said bottle base is attachable by screwing, a bayonet lock, or a snap lock to said bottle body of said baby bottle.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
(1) Further details of the present invention shall become apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention in combination with the drawing, in which:
(2) FIG. 1A shows a side view of an embodiment,
(3) FIG. 1B shows a side view of the embodiment of FIG. 1A filled with milk,
(4) FIG. 2A shows a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment,
(5) FIG. 2B shows an exploded view of the second embodiment of FIG. 2A (without the connector),
(6) FIG. 3A shows an exploded view of the bottle base of the first and second embodiments,
(7) FIG. 3B shows a perspective view of an assembled bottle base,
(8) FIG. 3C shows a longitudinal section view of the assembled bottle base of FIG. 3B,
(9) FIG. 3D shows a side view of the assembled bottle base of FIG. 3B,
(10) FIG. 4A shows an enlarged top perspective view of a membrane of the first and second embodiments,
(11) FIG. 4B shows an enlarged bottom perspective view of the membrane of FIG. 4A,
(12) FIG. 4C shows a longitudinal section view of the membrane of FIG. 4A,
(13) FIG. 5A shows a top view of a circuit board of the first and second embodiment with a sensor unit,
(14) FIG. 5B shows a bottom view of the circuit board of FIG. 5A,
(15) FIG. 6A shows a partially exploded top perspective view of the first embodiment,
(16) FIG. 6B shows a partially exploded bottom perspective view of the first embodiment,
(17) FIG. 7A shows a partially exploded top perspective view of a third embodiment,
(18) FIG. 7B shows a partially exploded bottom perspective view of the third embodiment,
(19) FIG. 8A shows a partially exploded top perspective view of a fourth embodiment,
(20) FIG. 8B shows a partially exploded bottom perspective view of the fourth embodiment,
(21) FIG. 9A shows a partially exploded top perspective view of a fifth embodiment,
(22) FIG. 9B shows a partially exploded bottom perspective view of the fifth embodiment,
(23) FIG. 10 shows a diagram illustrating the relationship between the distance of the membrane from the coil and the filling quantity of milk, and
(24) FIG. 11 shows a diagram illustrating the relationship between the filling quantity of milk and the output frequency of an RLC oscillator circuit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
(25) FIG. 1A shows an embodiment of the apparatus 2 according to the invention. The apparatus 2 is a pump unit and comprises a connector 4 which is attached to a baby bottle 6 by way of a screw connection (not shown). The baby bottle 6 has a substantially cylindrical bottle body 8 and a bottle base 10. The bottle 8 in the present embodiment is produced from transparent polypropylene. A separating element 12 impermeable to fluid arranged in the baby bottle 6 can therefore be seen. The separating element 12 impermeable to fluid seals a reservoir of the bottle body 8 in a fluid-tight manner against the bottle base 10. This is illustrated in FIG. 1B, in which the baby bottle filled with milk is shown. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the bottle base 10 is connected to the bottle body 8. This connection is releasable.
(26) The connector 4 comprises a breast shield 14 which can be applied against a female breast in a sealing manner, and a connection 16 for a breast pump.
(27) Same components in the embodiments described below are provided with the same reference numerals.
(28) FIG. 2A shows a sectional view of a second embodiment of the apparatus 2 according to the invention. As compared to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the apparatus additionally comprises a funnel 18 which is inserted into the bottle neck 20 of the bottle body 8 and extends until just before the base-side end of the fluid reservoir 22 of the baby bottle 8. The funnel 18 is arranged centered in the baby bottle.
(29) FIG. 2B shows an exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 2A, where the connector, which can be a conventional one, is omitted. The bottle body 8 has an external thread 24 on the bottle neck 20 via which the connector 4 is screwed to the bottle body 8. The bottle base 10 is attached to the bottle body 8 by way of a bayonet lock 26. A substantially disc-shaped elastic membrane 28 is provided as a separating element 12 impermeable to fluid and is supported by a housing 30 which forms locking arms 32 for the bayonet lock 26 (see also FIG. 3D). Disposed in the bottle base 10 is a sensor unit 34 which is shown in FIG. 2B as a populated disk-shaped circuit board. The bottle base 10 further comprises a housing cover 36 with a distance-bridging pin 38 that actuates an on/off switch which shall be explained in more detail below. The housing cover 36 is fixedly connected, preferably screwed to the housing 30 by way of mounting holes 40a, 40b, 40c in the housing 30, on the one hand, and 42a, 42b, 42c in the housing cover 36, on the other hand, which are associated with one another. The housing cover 36 forms a flat bearing surface 44, on which the baby bottle 6 stands upright, provided the baby bottle 6 is placed on a flat support surface. In the embodiment, the baby bottle is supported on a flat bearing surface which is formed by a lower ring recognizable in FIG. 2A.
(30) The outer edge of the membrane 28 is slipped over a housing flange 46, so that the elastic membrane 28 is connected to the housing 30 in a positive-fit manner (see also FIG. 3C). Due to its elasticity, however, the membrane 28 can again be removed, in particular manually, from the housing flange 44 after the bottle base 10 has been released from the bottle body 8. The upper side of the outer edge of the membrane 28 is forced by the housing 30 against a ring-shaped flange 48 formed at the lower end section of the bottle body 8 at the inner circumference thereof.
(31) FIGS. 3A to 3D show various enlarged views of the bottle base 10 of the first and the second embodiment. FIG. 3A is an exploded view and depicts the elastic membrane 28, the housing 30, the sensor unit 34 and the housing cover 36. FIG. 3B shows a perspective side view of the bottle base 10 assembled from the components shown in FIG. 3A.
(32) In FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C, the substantially disk-shaped elastic membrane 28 of the first and the second embodiment is shown enlarged, where FIG. 4A shows the upper side, FIG. 4B the underside and FIG. 4C a longitudinal sectional view of the membrane. Formed on the substantially planar upper side 50 of the membrane 28 are three different rings projecting from the planar surface 50: an inner arcuate ring 52, a center ring 54 and an outer ring 56. In the region of the arcuate inner ring 52, the membrane 28 has the smallest thickness. The arcuate inner ring 52 connects an outer attachment section 58 to an inner movable section 60. While the outer attachment segment 58 abuts against the housing 30 and can be slipped, via a flange 62 with undercut 64 circumferential closed at the edge, over the housing 30 and connected in a positive-fit manner, the arcuate inner ring 52 and the movable section 60 are held freely in the housing 30 i.e. are not supported by the housing 30.
(33) In the present case, the outer attachment section 58 comprises at least one second flange 66 with an undercut 68 at the radially inner end of the attachment section 58. The arcuate inner ring 52 is elastically deformable and therefore enables the movability of the movable section 60 orthogonally to the planar upper side 50 of the membrane 28. On its underside, the movable inner section 60 comprises a copper plate 70 as the metallic insert.
(34) FIGS. 5A and 5B show the sensor unit 34 of the first and the second embodiment which is arranged on a disk-shaped circuit board 72. FIG. 5A shows the upper side of the circuit board 72, on which a coil 74 is arranged. A hole 76 is provided at the center of the circuit board for air pressure equalization. Arranged at the outer edge region of the circuit board 72 are three through holes 78a, 78b, 78c, through each of which an attachment element can be passed. The outer edge of the circuit board 72 also has a notch 80 which allows for precise positioning during assembly.
(35) FIG. 5B shows the underside of the circuit board 72 which is populated with batteries 82a, 82b, an on/off switch 84, a reset switch 86, a microprocessor 88 and a position sensor 90.
(36) FIGS. 6 to 9 described hereafter relate to different embodiments, which, however, differ only in the connection mechanism for releasably connecting the bottle base 10 to the bottle body 8. The bottle body 8 there always comprises a ring-shaped flange 48 on the inner circumferential surface of the end section of the bottle body 8, facing the bottle base, against which the attachment section 58 of the membrane 28 sealingly abuts when the bottle base 10 is attached to the bottle body 8. FIGS. 6A, 6B relate to the first embodiment which comprises a bayonet lock. According to this embodiment, the housing 30 of the bottle base 10 forms locking arms 32. The locking arms 32 have an undercut 92 into which locking beads 94 of the bottle body can be introduced by a rotational motion once the bottle base has been inserted into the bottle body.
(37) FIGS. 7A, 7B show a third embodiment with a screw connection. According to this embodiment, the housing 30 of the bottle base 10 forms an external thread 98 which interacts with an internal thread 100 formed on the bottle body 8. A fourth embodiment according to FIGS. 8A, 8B likewise has a screw connection, where the housing 30 of the bottle base 10 there forms an internal thread 102 which interacts with an external thread 104 formed on the bottle body 8.
(38) FIGS. 9A, 9B show a fifth embodiment with a snap lock. According to this embodiment, the bottle base 10 comprises two oppositely disposed locking catches 106 which can be resiliently retained by manual operation of a touch pad 108, i.e. can be forced radially inwardly to move them behind a catch projection 110 formed on the bottle body 8 when the bottle base 10 is inserted into the bottle body 8 (only one locking catch can be seen in the figure). The catch projection 110 is there preferably formed as a circumferentially continuous bead on the inner circumferential surface of the end of the bottle body 8 facing the bottle base 10.
(39) FIG. 10 shows a diagram which illustrates the relationship between the filling volume of milk in the baby bottle (expressed in grams) and the distance of the movable section 60 of the membrane 28 from the coil 74 of the sensor unit 34 (indicated in millimeters) for one embodiment. It arises from this diagram that this is a substantially linear relationship and that the distance decreases with an increasing filling quantity of milk. According to this embodiment, the membrane has a distance of 4.2 mm from the coil 74 when the baby bottle is empty.
(40) FIG. 11 shows another diagram which illustrates the relationship between the filling volume of milk in the baby bottle (expressed in grams) and the output frequency of an RLC oscillator circuit (expressed in kilohertz) for one embodiment. This relationship is influenced by various parameters related to the geometry of the bottle, the frequency of the RLC oscillator circuit, and angle information due to signals from the position sensor 90 which typically detects the inclination of the bottle.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
(41) 2 apparatus 4 connector 6 baby bottle 8 bottle body 10 bottle base 12 separating element 14 breast shield 16 connection for breast pump 18 funnel 20 bottleneck 22 fluid reservoir 24 external thread 26 bayonet lock 28 elastic membrane 30 housing 32 locking arm 34 sensor unit 36 housing cover 38 distance-bridging pin 40 mounting holes in the housing 42 mounting holes in the housing cover 44 bearing surface 46 housing flange 48 ring-shaped flange 50 upper side of the membrane 52 inner arcuated ring 54 center ring 56 outer ring 58 attachment section 60 movable section 62 edge flange 64 undercut 66 second flange 68 undercut 70 copper plate 72 circuit board 74 coil 76 hole 78 through holes 80 notch 82a battery 82b battery 84 on/off switch 86 reset switch 88 microprocessor 90 position sensor 92 undercut 94 locking bead 98 external thread 100 internal thread 102 internal thread 104 external thread 106 locking catch 108 touchpad 110 catch projection
