Assembly, apparatus and method for dispensing fluid products

Abstract

An assembly for dispensing fluid products, comprising a housing (44) having a dispense opening (40) and a mount (42) for a container (12) that contains the fluid product, pumping means (45), a diverting element (53) rotatable around a rotation axis (R) provided with a first channel (A) and a second channel (B), which are in fluid communication with one another and each have an open end (66) arranged radially with respect to the rotation axis (R) on a peripheral surface (65) of the rotatable diverting element (53). The assembly further comprises a suction conduit (49) connected to an inlet of the pumping means (45) for withdrawing fluid product from said container (12) installed on the mount (42), a delivery conduit (50) fluidly connecting an outlet of the pumping means (45) and said rotatable diverting element (53), and a recirculation conduit (52) arranged downstream of the diverting element (53) for returning fluid product to the container (12). The rotatable diverting element (53) has at least one recirculation position (O) in which the open end (66) of one of the channels faces the open and of the delivery conduit (50) to be in fluid communication with the latter and the open end (66) of the other channel faces the recirculation conduit (52) to be in fluid communication with the latter so as to recirculate the fluid product to the container (12); and at least a delivery position (I), in which the open end (66) of one of the channels faces an open end of the delivery conduit (50), to be in fluid communication with the latter, and the open end (66) of the other channel faces the dispense opening (40) for dispensing the fluid product.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.