ADAPTER FOR CONNECTING AEROSOL VALVE TO POUCH OF HIGH PRESSURE VESSEL

Abstract

Provided is an adapter for connecting an aerosol valve installed at a middle part of a mounting cup fixed at a top end part of a high pressure vessel to a pouch of the high pressure vessel, the adapter including: a combination portion comprising a top end part interposed between the high pressure vessel and the mounting cup and having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape to surround an external side of the aerosol valve exposed to a lower part of the mounting cup so that the combination portion can be separated from the external side of the aerosol valve; and a connection portion comprising a top end part combined with a lower end part of the combination portion as a single body and a lower end part connected to an induction pipe inserted in the pouch and having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape. The adapter can be widely used regardless of the type of the aerosol valve so that the adapter has a simplified structure and production method with reduced costs.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0054556, filed on Jun. 18, 2009, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a high pressure vessel, and more particularly, to an adapter for connecting a pouch, which is inserted in a high pressure vessel and of which external side is pressurized, to an aerosol valve controlling to eject contents accommodated in the pouch to the outside of the high pressure vessel according to a user's operation.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, a pressure vessel or a high pressure vessel that is well known as a spray and injects gas, medicine, or perfume uses Freon gas so as to inject contents, or installs a pouch in which the contents are accommodated, at the pressure vessel and then seals the pressure vessel or the high pressure vessel by injecting gas into the pouch so as to apply pressure to a circumferential portion of the pouch.

Also, an aerosol can such as an aluminum (Al) can or a tin (Sn) can is generally used. Thus, the pressure vessel or the high pressure vessel may be corroded according to contents accommodated in the aerosol can, and contents that may be accommodated in a can are limited.

For the above reason, a pouch has been developed. The pouch is widely used to package retorted food products or fluent substances in a gel state and acts as a layer for preventing occurrence of bacteria and thus, can be kept for a long time. When the pouch is used, contents to be injected are filled in the pouch, and high pressure gas or compressed gas is injected into the high pressure vessel so as to apply pressure to the pouch.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a conventional high pressure vessel including the above-described pouch. Referring to FIG. 1, a mounting cup 1 is fixed at a top end of the conventional high pressure vessel, and an aerosol valve 2 is disposed inside the mounting cup 1.

More specifically, a valve housing 3 of the aerosol valve 2 is combined with approximately the middle of the mounting cup 1, and an adapter 5 is bonded to a middle part of a pouch 4 in which contents are accommodated, and the pouch 4 is connected to a connection pipe 6 of the valve housing 3 via the adapter 5. An O-ring 7 is interposed between the valve housing 3 and the adapter 5 so as to seal a space therebetween.

However, in a structure for connecting the aerosol valve 2 and the pouch 4 of the conventional high pressure vessel, as the type of the aerosol valve 2 varies, the structure of peripheral elements such as an adapter 5 of FIG. 1 needs to be changed.

In addition, an additional element such as an O-ring 7 for sealing a space between a valve housing 3 and an adapter 5 of FIG. 1 needs to be introduced, and the structure of an element such as a valve housing 3 of FIG. 1 is complicated, which causes an increase in production costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an adapter for connecting an aerosol valve to a pouch of a high pressure vessel, which is widely used regardless of the type of the aerosol valve and which has a simplified structure and production method with reduced production costs.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an adapter for connecting an aerosol valve installed at a middle part of a mounting cup fixed at a top end part of a high pressure vessel to a pouch of the high pressure vessel, the adapter including: a combination portion comprising a top end part interposed between the high pressure vessel and the mounting cup and having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape to surround an external side of the aerosol valve exposed to a lower part of the mounting cup; and a connection portion comprising a top end part combined with a lower end part of the combination portion as a single body and a lower end part connected to an induction pipe inserted in the pouch and having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape.

The combination portion may further include an extension part, which extends to the connection portion from the lower end part of the connection portion to be curved and is inserted in the connection portion.

The combination portion may include a metal, and the connection portion may include plastics.

The combination portion and the connection portion may be injection molded as a single body.

Gaskets may be respectively interposed between the high pressure vessel combined with the top end part of the combination portion, and the mounting cup so that a space between the high pressure vessel and the mounting cup can be sealed.

The aerosol valve may be a tilt valve or a push valve.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a conventional high pressure vessel including a pouch;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a high pressure vessel including an adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the high pressure vessel shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the high pressure vessel including the adapter of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol valve according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a high pressure vessel 10 including an adapter according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the high pressure vessel 10 shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the high pressure vessel 10 including the adapter of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, a mounting cup 20 is fixed at a top end part of the high pressure vessel 10 according to the present embodiment. An aerosol valve 30 is fixedly installed at the middle part of the mounting cup 20. Also, a pouch P in which contents are accommodated, is installed inside the high pressure vessel 10 and is pressurized to be ejected by high pressure gas or compressed gas filled in the high pressure vessel 10.

Meanwhile, in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, a tilt valve such as a so-called valve for high viscosity in which a user enables the top end part of the aerosol valve 30 to be tilted so that contents accommodated in the pouch P can be ejected, is illustrated as an example of the aerosol valve 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a push valve such as 40 of FIG. 5, which allows contents to be ejected according to a user's push operation, may be used as the aerosol valve 30, and a detailed description thereof will be made later.

In the current embodiment of the present invention, the aerosol valve 30 and the pouch P are connected to each other by an adapter 100.

The adapter 100 includes a combination portion 110 and a connection portion 120.

A top end part 111 of the combination portion 110 is interposed between the high pressure vessel 10 and the mounting cup 20. The combination portion 110 has an approximately hollow cylindrical shape and surrounds an external side of the aerosol valve 30 exposed to a lower part of the mounting cup 20 so that the combination portion 110 can be separated from the external side of the aerosol valve 30. Thus, the combination portion 110 of the adapter 100 is not directly combined with the aerosol valve 30 but is combined with only the mounting cup 20 and the high pressure vessel 10. Thus, the adapter 100 can be widely used regardless of the type of the aerosol valve 30. Also, the adapter 100 is not combined with the aerosol valve 30 and thus, has a simplified structure.

The connection portion 120 also has an approximately hollow cylindrical shape, and a top end part 121 of the connection portion 120 is combined with a lower end part 112 of the combination portion 110 as a single body. A lower end part 122 of the connection portion 120 is connected to an induction pipe 50 inserted in the pouch P. Here, a fusing part 123 of the connection portion 120 and the pouch P are adhered to each other. More specifically, the fusing part 123 of the lower end part 122 of the connection portion 120 and the pouch P are thermally fused to each other so that contents accommodated in the pouch P can be prevented from leaking via a space between the pouch P and the connection portion 120.

In addition, the combination portion 110 includes an extension part 113, which extends to the connection portion 120 from its lower end part 112 to be curved and is inserted in the connection portion 120. The combination portion 110 and the connection portion 120 are securely fixed by the extension part 113, and sealing a space therebetween is kept by the extension part 113.

The combination portion 110 may be formed of a metal, and the connection portion 120 may be formed of plastics, for example, a polyethylene resin or polypropylene resin. The combination portion 110 and the connection portion 120 may be injection molded as a single body. In this way, the combination portion 110 and the connection portion 120 of the adapter 100 are formed as a single body by injection molding, and thus, sealing between the combination portion 110 and the connection portion 120 can be securely performed. A space between the top end part 121 of the connection portion 120 and the lower end part 112 of the combination portion 110 is securely sealed by using a primer adhesive so that contents accommodated in the pouch P can be prevented from leaking.

Gaskets 61 and 62 may be respectively interposed between the high pressure vessel 10, wherein the high pressure vessel 10 is combined with the top end part 111 of the combination portion 110, and the mounting cup 20 so that a space between the high pressure vessel 10 and the mounting cup 20 can be sealed.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an aerosol valve 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, a push valve, which allows contents to be ejected according to a user's push operation, is illustrated as the aerosol valve 40. In the adapter 100 according to the present invention, the combination portion 110 is not directly combined with the aerosol valve 30 but is combined with only the mounting cup 20 and the high pressure vessel 10. Thus, the adapter 100 can be widely used regardless of the type of the aerosol valve 30.

As described above, in the adapter for connecting an aerosol valve to a pouch of a high pressure vessel according to the present invention, the adapter is not directly combined with the aerosol valve but is combined with only a mounting cup and a high pressure vessel so that the adapter can be widely used regardless of the type of the aerosol valve.

Furthermore, the adapter is not combined with the aerosol valve and thus, has a simple structure, and a combination portion and a connection portion of the adapter are formed as a single body by injection molding so that production costs can be reduced.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1-6. (canceled)

7. An adapter, installed at a middle part of a mounting cup and fixed at a top end part of a high pressure vessel, for connecting an aerosol valve to a pouch of the high pressure vessel, the adapter comprising:

a combination portion comprising a top end part interposed between a high pressure vessel and a mounting cup, the combination portion having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape to surround an external side of an aerosol valve exposed to a lower part of the mounting cup, so that the combination portion can be separated from the external side of the aerosol valve; and

a connection portion comprising a top end part, which is combined with a lower end part of the combination portion as a single body, and a lower end part connected to an induction pipe inserted in a pouch, the connection portion having an approximately hollow cylindrical shape.

8. The adapter of claim 7, wherein the combination portion comprises a metal, and the connection portion comprises plastic.

9. The adapter of claim 8, wherein the combination portion and the connection portion are injection molded as a single body.

10. The adapter of claim 7, wherein gaskets are interposed between the high pressure vessel combined with the top end part of the combination portion, and between the top end part of the combination portion and the mounting cup, so that a space between the high pressure vessel and the mounting cup is sealed.

11. The adapter of claim 7, wherein the aerosol valve is a tilt valve.

12. The adapter of claim 7, wherein the aerosol valve is a push valve.

13. The adapter of claim 7, wherein the combination portion further comprises an extension part, which extends to the connection portion from the lower end part of the combination portion, the extension part curved radially inwards and inserted into the connection portion.

14. adapter of claim 13, wherein the combination portion comprises a metal, and the connection portion comprises plastic.

15. The adapter of claim 14, wherein the combination portion and the connection portion are injection molded as a single body.

16. The adapter of claim 13, wherein gaskets are interposed between the high pressure vessel combined with the top end part of the combination portion, and between the top end part of the combination portion and the mounting cup, so that a space between the high pressure vessel and the mounting cup is sealed.

17. The adapter of claim 13, wherein the aerosol valve is a tilt valve.

18. The adapter of claim 13, wherein the aerosol valve is a push valve.