Filling unit with air-operated spool valve system

A filling unit for a high-speed filling machine to rapidly fill small containers with a predetermined amount of a product, comprising pump cylinder means and metering pump piston means slidable within said pump cylinder means to form therewith a pump space adapted to be alternately connected with a reservoir for the product to be filled and with a discharge nozzle, characterized by a spool valve assembly connected with said cylinder means, said spool valve assembly including spool-valve cylinder means rigidly connected with and disposed alongside said pump cylinder means, spool-valve piston means slidable within said spool-valve cylinder means, connecting means adapted to connect the spool-valve cylinder means with the reservoir and with the discharge nozzle in such a manner that in one end position of the spool-valve piston means, the pump space is in communication with the connecting means for the reservoir and is closed off by the spool-valve piston means with respect to the connecting means for the discharge nozzle while in another end position of the spool-valve piston means, the pump space is in communication with the connecting means for the discharge nozzle and is closed off by the spool-valve piston means with respect to the connecting means for the reservoir, and means in said spool-valve assembly to enable control of the spool-valve piston means by a pneumatic medium under pressure for displacement of said spool-valve piston means from one to another one of said two end positions.

A valve system for a high-speed filling machine which includes a filling unit with pump means and actuating means for said filling unit, said filling unit being adapted to be connected with connecting tube means to enable connection of a reservoir containing the product to be filled with discharge nozzle means, and said filling unit being operable to suck in the product to be filled during the suction stroke of its pump means by way of an intake section of said tube means and to discharge the product under pressure during the discharge stroke through the nozzle means by way of a discharge section of said tube means, characterized by spool-valve means including a spool valve piston member and two connecting means for connection with said intake and discharge sections, said spool-valve means being operable to open the flow path from the connecting means for the intake section to the pump space of the pump means and interrupt the flow path from the pump space to the connecting means for the discharge section during the suction stroke of the pump means and to open the flow path from the pump space to the connecting means for the discharge section and to interrupt the flow path from the connecting means for the intake section to the pump space during the discharge stroke of the pump means, solenoid valve means adapted to be connected with its input to a source of pneumatic medium under pressure and operatively connected with at least one output thereof to the spool-valve means so as to selectively displace the spool-valve piston member by selective feed of the medium under pressure, an energizing circuit for said solenoid valve means including switch means, and means for closing said switch means in dependence on the angular position of said actuating means, the solenoid valve means including two outputs operatively connected with the spool-valve means to actuate the piston member thereof in opposite directions by the pneumatic medium under pressure, and the spool-valve means including two oppositely disposed substantial coaxial spool casing means, said two connecting means including a first connecting means adapted to be connected with the reservoir and a second connecting means adapted to be connected with the discharge nozzle means, the spool-valve piston member including spool-type piston sections so spaced with respect to the first and second connecting means that in one end position of the spool-valve piston member, the first connecting means is in communication with the pump space while the second connecting means is disconnected therefrom and in the other end position of the spool-valve piston member, the second connecting means is in communication with the pump space while the first connecting means is disconnected therefrom.

A valve system for a high-speed filling machine which includes a filling unit with pump means and actuating means for said filling unit, said filling unit being adapted to be connected with connecting tube means to enable connection of a reservoir containing the product to be filled with discharge nozzle means, and said filling unit being operable to suck in the product to be filled during the suction stroke of its pump means by way of an intake section of said tube means and to discharge the product under pressure during the discharge stroke through the nozzle means by way of a discharge section of said tube means, characterized by spool-valve means including a spool-valve piston member and two connecting means for connection with said intake and discharge sections, said spool-valve means being operable to open the flow path from the connecting means for the intake section to the pump space of the pump means and interrupt the flow path from the pump space to the connecting means for the discharge section during the suction stroke of the pump means and to open the flow path from the pump space to the connecting means for the discharge section and to interrupt the flow path from the connecting means for the intake section to the pump space during the discharge stroke of the pump means, solenoid valve means adapted to be connected with its input to a source of pneumatic medium under pressure and operatively connected with at least one output thereof to the spool-valve means so as to selectively displace the spool-valve piston member by selective feed of the penumatic medium under pressure, an energizing circuit for said solenoid valve means including switch means, and means for closing said switch means in dependence on the angular position of said actuating means, said spool-valve means including a cylindrical mounting section provided with an internal threaded bore, two spool casing means threadably connected to the internally threaded bore, said mounting section being formed integrally with a part of the filling unit, the filling unit including a pump cylinder means and a pump cylinder head means, said cylinder head means being formed in one piece with said mounting section, and the spool-valve means including two oppositely disposed substantially coaxial spool casing means, said two connecting means including a first connecting means adapted to be connected with the reservoir and a second connecting means adapted to be connected with the discharge nozzle means, the spool-valve piston member including spool-type piston sections so spaced with respect to the first and second connecting means that in one end position of the spool-valve piston member, the first connecting means is in communication with the pump space while the second connecting means is disconnected therefrom and in the other end position of the spool-valve piston member, the second connecting means is in communication with the pump space while the first connecting means is disconnected therefrom.

A filling unit for a high-speed filling machine to rapidly fill small containers with a predetermined amount of a product, comprising pump cylinder means and pump piston means slidable within said pump cylinder means to form therewith a pump space adapted to be alternately connected with a reservoir for the product to be filled and with a discharge nozzle, characterized by a spool valve assembly connected with said cylinder means, said spool-valve assembly including spool-valve cylinder means rigidly connected with said pump cylinder means, spool-valve piston means slidable within said spool valve cylinder means, connecting means adapted to connect the spool-valve cylinder means with a reservoir and with the discharge nozzle in such a manner that in one end position of the spool-valve piston means, the pump space is in communication with the connecting means for the reservoir and is closed off with respect to the connecting means by the discharge nozzle while in another end position of the spool-valve piston means the pump space is in communication with the connecting means for the discharge nozzle and is closed off with respect to the connecting means for the reservoir, and means in said spool-valve assembly to enable control of the spool-valve piston means by a pneumatic medium under pressure for displacement of said spool-valve piston means from one to another one of said two end positions, said spool-valve cylinder means including a cylinder section in one piece with a part of the pump cylinder means, said part of the pump cylinder means being a cylinder end member and said cylinder section being in one piece with said cylinder end member, the spool-valve cylinder means including two oppositely disposed coaxial spool casing means threadably secured to said cylinder section, and the spool valve piston means including three spool-type piston sections interconnected by piston rod sections, with one spool-type piston section being located at each end of the spool-valve piston means and the third spool-type piston section being located intermediate the other two piston sections.