Method for Multiple Dosage of Liquid Products, Dosing Apparatus and Dosing System

• US 20080058771A1
• Filed: 06/23/2004
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ecolab USA Incorporated (Ecolab, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ecolab, Inc.
• Inventors: De Brabanter, Dirk
• Granted Patent: US 8,905,266 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/890.1
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/84 Mixing plants with mixing receptacles receiving material dispensed from several component receptacles, e.g. paint tins
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 35/881 by weighing, e.g. with automatic discharge
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 11/00 Apparatus requiring external operation adapted at each repeated and identical operation to measure and separate a predetermined volume of fluid or fluent solid material from a supply or container, without regard to weight, and to deliver it
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 17/06 having means for controlling the supply or discharge
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 7/0682 using a plurality of flow sources
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0324 With control of flow by a condition or characteristic of a fluid
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0329 Mixing of plural fluids of diverse characteristics or conditions

Abstract

The present invention provides methods for the multiple dosage of one or more liquid products or both liquid and solid products wherein the dosing amount of at least one liquid product is measured by a weight cell. Moreover, dosing apparatus and dosing systems for applying those methods are provided. Additionally, the present invention refers to a method for washing textiles comprising a dosing step in which at least one of the inventive dosing methods, and/or at least one of the inventive dosing apparatus or dosing systems, respectively, are used.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

16. Method for multiple dosage of a liquid product comprising the following steps:

a) starting the dosing cycle by initialising a dosing program rolled in a programmable logic control,

b) optionally at first feeding a preset amount of one or more liquid solvents into a vessel,

c) feeding the liquid product into the vessel,

d) continuously determining the weight of the vessel during the dosing cycle by a weight cell and continuously transmitting the value of said weight online from the weight cell to the programmable logic control, wherein the determined weight includes the weight of any substance contained in the vessel,

e) inducing the halt of the feeding of the liquid product by the programmable logic control as soon as the value of the measured weight of the vessel according to step D) reaches a predetermined value,

f) discharging the content of the vessel, optionally to an application device directly consuming the weighed out liquid product, and repeating steps a) to f) directly after the discharge or later.

17. Method according to claim 16 wherein the predetermined value in step e) indicates that the desired dosing amount for the liquid product or the maximum filling volume of the vessel is reached.

18. Method according claim 16 wherein the time required to feed the liquid product until the desired dosing amount or the maximum filling volume of the vessel is reached is measured.

19. Method according to claim 18 wherein if the volume of the vessel is not sufficient to dose the desired amount of the liquid product in one weighing step, after the content of the vessel is discharged the remaining amount of said liquid product to be dosed will be determined by a time/amount dosing unit using the measured feeding time, and afterwards a further dosing cycle may be started.

20. Method according to claim 19 wherein the feeding time is compared to the ones of former dosing cycles of the same liquid product and if the measured times differ to a larger extent than a predetermined standard deviation from the time calculated from the former dosing cycles a signal will be induced.

21. Method for multiple dosage of two or more liquid products wherein at least one liquid product is dosed by a method according to claim 16.

22. Method according to claim 21 wherein the following liquid product to be dosed according to the method of claim 16, which following product is different from the preceding dosed liquid product, is fed into the vessel after the preceding liquid product has been discharged from the vessel.

23. Method according to claim 21 wherein the following liquid products to be dosed according to the method of claim 16, which following product(s) is (are) different from the preceding dosed liquid product, is (are) fed into the vessel while the preceding liquid product is still contained therein.

24. Method according to claim 21 wherein the two or more liquid products are dosed through one or more dosing lines wherein the dosage in each of said dosing lines proceeds by the method according to claim 16.

25. Method according to claim 21 wherein the two or more liquid products are dosed through two or more dosing lines wherein the dosage in at least one of said dosing lines proceeds by the method according to claim 16 and the dosage in at least one further dosing line proceeds by one or more other dosing methods.

26. Method according to claim 25 wherein the one or more other dosing methods represent a time/amount dosing method or a dosing method using conductivity measurements.

27. Method according to claim 24 wherein each of the dosing lines has a separate access to one or more application devices which consume the dosed liquid product discharged to them from the vessel.

28. Method for dosing one or more liquid products and one or more solid products wherein the dosage of the one or more liquid products proceeds by the method according to claim 16.

29. Dosing apparatus for dosing at least one liquid product comprising at least one programmable logic control and one or more dosing lines wherein each dosing line comprises

a) at least one feeding line for the liquid product

b) optionally one or more delivery devices, especially for feeding the liquid product or other liquids into the vessel, discharging the vessel and/or transporting the product through the dosing line

c) optionally at least one feeding line for one or more liquid solvents

d) a vessel the weight of which is weighed by a weighing device

e) at least one discharging line for the dosed product;

and

f) optionally one or more application devices connected with the discharging line and consuming the dosed product.

30. Dosing apparatus according to claim 29 wherein each liquid product is fed through a separate feeding line.

31. Dosing apparatus according to claim 29 wherein the weighing device is electronically connected with the programmable logic control and continuously transmits the values obtained from the weighing device online to the programmable logic control.

32. Dosing apparatus according to claim 29 wherein the vessel comprises a mixing device, especially a stirrer.

33. Dosing system for dosing one or more liquid products comprising at least one dosing apparatus according to claim 29 and one or more other dosing devices.

34. Dosing system according to claim 33 wherein each of the one or more other dosing apparatus comprises a time/amount dosing unit or a device in which the dosage proceeds by measurement of the liquid'"'"'s conductivity.

35. Dosing system according to claim 29 comprising one or more further dosing apparatus for dosing one or more solids.

36. (canceled)

37. (canceled)

38. (canceled)