Dual pump hand cleaner foam dispenser
AssigneeOP-Hygiene IP GmbH
InventorsHeiner Ophardt, Andrew Jones, Zhenchun Shi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hand cleaner foam dispenser with a first pump arrangement that discharges a first liquid and first air from the atmosphere through a first foam inducing member into a mixing chamber and a second pump arrangement that discharges a second liquid into the mixing chamber, and in which there is a simultaneous discharge of the first liquid, first air and the second liquid from the mixing chamber through an outlet foam inducing member to produce a foamed product delivered onto a person's hand. Preferably, the second pump arrangement may discharge not only the second liquid, but also second air drawn from the atmosphere and discharge the second liquid and the second air through a second foam inducing member into the mixing chamber.
Claims20
A method of operation of a hand cleaner foam dispenser to dispense a foamed mixture,
- the method comprising providing the dispenser comprising:
- a first reservoir containing a first fluid;
- a first pump arrangement operative to draw the first fluid from the first reservoir and to draw first air from the atmosphere and to simultaneously discharge the first fluid and the first air through a first foam inducing member into a final mixing chamber;
- a second reservoir containing a second fluid;
- a second pump arrangement operative to draw the second fluid from the second reservoir and to discharge the second fluid into the final mixing chamber;
- the final mixing chamber open to a discharge outlet via an outlet passageway;
- and
- an outlet foam inducing member across the outlet passageway,
- the method further comprising:
- operating the first pump arrangement to draw the first fluid from the first reservoir and to draw the first air from the atmosphere and to simultaneously discharge the first fluid and the first air through the first foam inducing member into the final mixing chamber,
- operating the second pump arrangement to draw the second fluid from the second reservoir and to discharge the second fluid into the final mixing chamber,
- operating the first pump arrangement and the second pump arrangement to simultaneously discharge the first fluid and the first air through the first foam inducing member into the final mixing chamber and the second fluid into the final mixing chamber, forcing the flow of the first fluid, the first air and the second fluid simultaneously from the final mixing chamber through the outlet foam inducing member and out the discharge outlet as a final product onto a person's hand,
- providing as the first fluid a first alcohol and water solution with not greater than 40% v/v alcohol and providing as the second fluid a second alcohol and water solution with greater than 40% v/v alcohol, and
- selecting (a) a relative volume of the first alcohol to water in the first fluid, (b) a relative volume of the second alcohol to water in the second fluid, (c) a volume of the first fluid discharged into the final mixing chamber, and (d) a volume of the second fluid discharged into the final mixing chamber compared to the volume of the first fluid discharged into the final mixing chamber such that in the final product discharged from the final mixing chamber through the outlet foam inducing member and out the discharge outlet has a volume ratio of alcohol to water greater than 40:60;
- including providing the first fluid to include a first foaming agent, the first foaming agent provided in the first fluid comprises a base amount plus an additional excess amount, the base amount being an amount of the first foaming agent required to foam the first fluid as it passes through the first foam inducing member,
- wherein the excess amount of the first foaming agent is sufficient to foam the second fluid if the second fluid including the excess amount of the first foaming agent were to be passed with air through a foam inducing member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.