DE8716072U1 - Hydraulic fluid device - Google Patents

Description

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The invention relates to a device in a cleaning appliance of the type described in the preamble of claim 1 _.

In devices of this type, which are mostly known as "high-pressure cleaning devices", the container for the second liquid, which is usually a cleaning agent concentrate, is currently designed with rigid walls and is either permanently installed in the device or connected to it in a suitable manner so that it can be removed.

If the concentrate container is permanently installed in the device, it must of course be filled from time to time, but this entails a considerable risk of loss, since such devices are often operated by technically untrained personnel. In other cleaning devices, attempts have been made to solve this problem by using removable containers or "cartridges", but this has another disadvantage: namely that the empty containers take up just as much space as the full ones, and if they are disposable containers that are to be thrown away after use, they result in a considerable loss of material and/or are an environmental burden. In addition, with permanently installed concentrate containers, there is a risk that untrained personnel will refill the concentrate container with a liquid before it is empty, which can enter into a complete chemical reaction with the remaining liquid in the container, e.g. forming poisonous gases.

Another disadvantage of the known devices is that the concentrate containers must necessarily be provided with an opening through which air can enter, gradually as the concentrate flows out of the container, and this opening can result in various dangerous situations. For example, a possible blockage of this opening will prevent the concentrate from being emptied normally, while the concentrate can be released in a situation

tion, where the device is at any öründ /lach above/below

rt Wöidcifi ii't, can flow out through the opening, such a concentrate container is of course unusable, if the concentrate should not come into contact with the air and/or is very* toxic and/or smelly*

The invention aims to create a device of the type described above, whereby the disadvantages mentioned are avoided, and this purpose is achieved by a pre-seal which has the inventive features specified in the characterizing part of claim 1.

A bag made of flexible material can of course be folded up and therefore fills considerably less when empty than a container with rigid walls. A bag will also have considerably thinner walls, which means that any loss of material and/or

.. The environmental impact of throwing away the bags is considerably smaller than with rigid containers . A bag does not need an air hole, so the dangers mentioned are completely avoided . In addition, the risk of mixing different liquids is avoided, since it is virtually impossible to fill the bag with liquid without using special equipment.

In the embodiment described in claim 2, it is achieved that the small amount of concentrate which will necessarily be in the line of the device, through which the bag can be connected, is prevented from leaving this line.

Appropriate designs of the fluid coupling device are described in claims 3 and 4.

In the embodiment described in claim 5, it is achieved that the bag is emptied as completely as possible.

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thereby avoiding the disposal of valuable concentrate, which could potentially result in environmental pollution -

In the embodiment described in claim 6, it is achieved that the manufacture of the mechanical coupling elements is associated with only low costs and that they can be easily operated even by untrained personnel.

In the embodiment described in claim 7, the upper edge of the bag is reinforced so that it can hang with a distributed load during operation. This minimizes the risk of folding and tearing. In the further development described in claim 8, the reinforced edge is used for one or two further purposes.

The invention also relates to a cleaning device of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1.

In the embodiment described in claim 9, mechanical protection of the bag is achieved, and in the further development described in claim 10, complete emptying of the bag oil is achieved.

In the embodiment described in claim 11, it is achieved that any permeability in the bag or in the fluid coupling elements does not result in the concentrate flowing into and/or out of the device with the associated disadvantages. A suitable further development of this is described in claim 12.

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In the embodiment described in claim 13, it is achieved that the bag can be touched or observed from the outside with a view to monitoring its presence and/or degree of filling.

The embodiment described in claim 14 is particularly suitable in conjunction with that mentioned in claim 10, since the elastic cushion can be arranged, for example, on the inside of the door or the flap or on the opposite wall of the chamber.

The invention also relates to a bag for use in connection with a cleaning device according to the invention.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiment of a device and a bag with a device according to the invention shown in the drawing.

Fig. 1 a view of the device diagonally from behind with u

a concentrate bag in its operating position, Fig. 2a, b and c a bag from different angles

and with various connection options, Fig. 3 how filled bags can be stored on a sales rack, and Fig. 4 how the bags can be filled mechanically in a system set up for this purpose.

Fig. 1 shows a high-pressure cleaning device, the device housing 1 of which is arranged on a chassis 2. _Two "hanging hooks 4" are attached to the "upwardly extending" part 3 of the chassis 2, on which a concentrate bag 5 is suspended, which has two holes 6 in its upper edge for this purpose.

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In the state shown, the concentrate bag 5 is filled with concentrate, which can flow to the additional concentrate elements of the cleaning device (not shown) through a fluid coupling element 7 arranged at the bottom of the bag 5, which is coupled to a corresponding fluid coupling element 8, which is connected to the aforementioned additional concentrate elements by a pipe or hose 9. With the exception of the fluid coupling element 7, the bag 5 is completely fluid-tight, since it consists of a suitable, flexible and fluid-tight plastic material.

As can be seen from Fig. 1 - and also from Fig. 2 - the fluid coupling element is arranged at a point on the bag 5 which is at the bottom in the operating position shown in Fig. 1. This achieves complete emptying of the bag.

The bag 5 shown in Fig. 2a-c is provided with an edge reinforcement 10 at the top, which can be made of the same material as the rest of the bag - but considerably thicker. The hanging holes 6 are formed in the edge reinforcement 10, and a gripping and carrying opening 11 is also formed in the edge reinforcement 10, with which the bag 5 can be carried in the same way as a small bag or, see Fig. 3, can be hung on a sales rack 12 of a known type.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2a and b, the fluid coupling member 7 is directed downwards and is thus designed to be coupled to a coupling member of the cleaning device directed upwards in a corresponding manner, while Fig. 2c shows how the fluid coupling member 7 can be directed transversely to the plane of the bag.

so that it can be connected to a horizontally aligned lj fluid coupling element 8 on the housing of the cleaning device

In the latter case, the

The fluid coupling element 8 must be attached to the device housing 1, and the bag 5 must be designed in such a way that when the fluid coupling element 7 is pressed through the bag, it can be pressed into coupling engagement with the fluid coupling element 8 of the device housing.

Fig. 4 illustrates how the bags 5, which are conveyed by means of a conveyor 13, can be filled mechanically by means of filling pipes (14) designed for this purpose, the movement and filling function of which are automatically controlled in an appropriate manner together with the conveyance of the bags. Using the filling method indicated, it will be necessary to insert the filling pipe 14 through a hole in the bag, which can either be made in advance or made by the filling pipe itself, and this hole must of course be closed in an appropriate manner after filling, e.g. by welding the wall at the relevant point to the part of the opposite wall of the bag located above. A second possibility is to use bags of the type indicated in Fig. 2c and to fill the bag through the fluid coupling member 7.

The fluid coupling element 7 should of course only allow the passage of liquid if it is coupled to either a fluid coupling element 8 on the device housing 1 or to a filling element in a system of the type indicated in Fig. 4, since otherwise the concentrate would simply flow out of the bag. In order to prevent the small amount of concentrate that is in the pipe or hose 9 and in the channel elements connected to it in the device housing 1 from flowing through the

1 belonging to the fluid coupling element 8, _it can also be designed in such a way that it only allows the passage of liquid when it is coupled to the ^fluid coupling element 7. This principle

is generally known from the so-called valve couplings*

Various parts of the device and the bags can

gefis be designed and set up as described in the Patent V

claims, the embodiments of which are based on the U

Drawing not shown or in the current specific ttj

chen part of the present description is not described ", »f

are, noting that experts in this " |

Area with guidance solely from the claims and from '- 1

general part of the present description can realize the mentioned embodiments, "

Device in a cleaning device,. Cleaning device , «

which is a part of such a device, as well as containers, for use in connection with such a cleaning device.

&bull;'n SUMMARY ■>''-·

Box a high-pressure cleaning device (1,2) with a container (5) for concentrate that can be added to the cleaning fluid, the new feature is that the container (5) consists of a bag that is attached to the device (4,6) and can be connected to it by means of releasable fluid coupling elements (7,8).

This avoids the problems associated with the use of rigid-walled concentrate containers, as these provide the required protection both before, during and after use.

occupy the same space and a considerable resource ,'. -

waste, while the concentrate bag (5) _/ .'- , only takes up space when it is filled, and because of its '' - , thin-walled design, a considerably lower

Waste of resources if it is thrown away after use-&mdash;' &bull;

A It is proposed that Fig. 1 be published.

Claims (14)

■p &igr; PROTECTION CLAIMS 1. Device in a cleaning appliance of the type a) organs for ejecting under pressure a first liquid, b) means for adding, for desired periods of time, small amounts of a second liquid to the first liquid while the latter is being ejected, and c) a container (5) connected to said additional elements for storing the second liquid includes, characterized , d) that the container (5) for storing the second liquid is a bag made of flexible material, e) that the cleaning device has mechanical coupling elements (4) for the releasable fastening of the bag (5), which has corresponding mechanical coupling elements (6) for this purpose, and f) that the cleaning device has fluid coupling elements (8) for releasable coupling with corresponding fluid coupling elements (7) belonging to the bag (5), which are connected to the interior of the bag and are designed in such a way that they only allow the intake of f; ,- fluid if they are connected to the fluid coupling elements. organs (8) of the cleaning device are coupled together by g) the bag is sealed fluid-tight against the surroundings. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the fluid coupling members (8) belonging to the cleaning device are also designed such that they only allow the passage of fluid when they are coupled together with the fluid coupling members (7) of the bag (5). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cleaning device and the bag (5) belonging to the fluid coupling elements (8 and 7) are coupling parts of a so-called quick coupling that can be coupled together, i.e. a coupling of the type that can be coupled together or uncoupled with a few simple manual movements. 4. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the fluid coupling members comprise a cannula belonging to the cleaning device and a plug made of soft elastic material belonging to the bag, which can be pierced by the cannula to establish the fluid connection and which is preferably constantly compressed, e.g. by a surrounding bushing, to such an extent that the hole after the cannula is closed fluid-tight when the cannula is removed. 5. Device according to one or more of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the fluid coupling members (7) of the bag (5) are arranged at a location on the bag which, when the bag is attached to or suspended in the normal operating position of the device, is mainly at the bottom. r 6. Device according to one or more of claims 1 to 5,
characterized , a) that the mechanical coupling elements of the device are one or more hooks (4), pins or similar, and b) that the mechanical coupling members of the bag (5) are one or more holes (6) designed to cooperate with the said hooks (4), pins or the like of the device, and that more than one hook (4), pins or the like are arranged at the same mutual distance as these. &idigr;&ngr;"~" 7. Device according to one or more of the ¹ claims Il if Mil M t Il i ( g with 4 · «111! * f I * i &eacgr; i I W tt 4 MM 1 ^v O;£i£J 6, characterized in that the bag (5) has a suspension part (10) made of relatively thick and rigid material along the upper edge during normal operation, which suspension part encloses or carries the mechanical coupling members of the bag. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that in the suspension part (10) an elongated opening (11) - which is designed to cooperate with a carrying element (12) belonging to a sales rack , and which is preferably large enough that the bag (5) can be lifted and carried by inserting one or more fingers through the opening (11). 9. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the cleaning device has a chamber, preferably in the form of an upwardly open pocket, in which the bag can be attached. 10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that the cleaning device comprises means for exerting a slight pressure on the bag, e.g. in the form of an elastic cushion arranged on the wall of said chamber . 11. Device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the chamber is liquid-tight underneath. 12. Device according to claim 11, characterized in that a liquid sensor, e.g. an electrode, is arranged at the bottom of the chamber, which triggers an alarm signal in the presence of an electrically conductive liquid. &bull; I &iacgr; . » I* 3a 13. Device according to one or more of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that the chamber has at least one perforated or permeable wall. - "■ 14. Device according to one or more of claims 9 to . ' 13, characterized in that -. one wall of the chamber has a hinged or , " ^r flap is. ."""""~