The present invention relates to a nozzle arrangement for improving the quality of the discharge from the spray nozzles for a number of different applications by delivering fluid from new innovative nozzles in either a continuous or a fast pulsed or none continuous way. This includes but is not excluded to being able to atomize viscous liquors and being able to achieve very fine droplets with a range of different fluids, making self cleaning spray nozzles, self sealing spray nozzles, nozzles with integral flow control and others. Also using our own unique ram and pulsed ram spray technology where we use a conically tapered or rounded prodder inside the nozzle orifice both as a none pulsed and a pulsed spray nozzle.

We have solved a number of these problems in our previous sister patent applications PCT/GB2016/000148, PCT/GB2016/000149 and PCT/GB2018/000138 which describe said unique ram and pulsed ram spray technologies. These will be referred to throughout as simply our sister patents and parts of those patents will be used in this application. The innovations described in those patents work well and as we have continued to develop the technology so we have inevitably come up with improvements and other associated innovations and this patent application covers some of those. In particular we will focus on innovations to the shapes of the orifice, chamber and prodder and the inlets to and around the prodder as in some applications Ihey greatly improve the reliability, the lifetime and the spray quality produced.

There are many ways of achieving improved sprays and especially in industry where cost is of far less importance and sophisticated techniques such as ultrasonics for pulsing can be used. But in the mass volume market such as with aerosols, pumped dispenser, water pistols and to a lesser extent showers space and price are major factors so there are far fewer acceptable alternatives and the discharge froth many products is a compromise. Companies are always looking for improvements subject primarily to the cost. Some products including viscous liquors such as thicker suntan lotions have to be delivered as a bolus of liquor because they cannot spray them. Others such as body spray and anti perspirant are primarily delivered with butane from an aerosol can because the droplets are too large from any other method of delivery. Generally, the higher the flow the coarser the droplets. Pulsed nozzle arrangements such as actuators are used in water showers to reduce the volume of water used. These also pulse quickly at up to 40 pulses a second and the flow appears to be continuous like a machine gun firing bullets. Dispenser pumps that are activated with actuators or triggers deliver a dose of fluid with each stroke and the discharge corresponds to the volume delivered from the pump chamber.

Nozzle arrangements are used to facilitate the dispensing of various fluids from containers or vessels. For instance, nozzle arrangements are commonly fited to pressurised fluid filled vessels or containers, such as a so called“aerosol canister”, to provide a means by which fluid stored in the vessel or container can be dispensed. A typical nozzle arrangement comprises an inlet through which fluid accesses the nozzle arrangement, an outlet through which the fluid is dispensed into the external environment, and an internal flow passageway through which fluid can flow from the inlet to the outlet. In addition, conventional nozzle arrangements comprise an actuator means, such as, for example, a manually operated aerosol canister. The operation of the actuator in the active phase causes fluid to flow from the container to which the arrangement is attached into the inlet of the arrangement, where it flows along the fluid flow passageway to the outlet.

Manually actuated pump type fluid dispensers are commonly used to provide a means by which fluids can be dispensed from a non-pressurised container. Typically, dispensers of this kind have a pump arrangement which is located above the container when in use. The pump includes a pump chamber connected with the container by means of an inlet having an inlet valve and with a dispensing outlet via an outlet valve. To actuate the dispenser, a user manually applies a force to an actuator or trigger to reduce the volume of the pump chamber and pressurise the fluid inside. Once the pressure in the chamber reaches a pre-determ ined value, the outlet valve opens and the fluid is expelled through the outlet. When the user removes the actuating force, the volume of the chamber increases and the pressure in the chamber falls. This closes the outlet valve and draws a further charge of fluid up into the chamber through the inlet. A range of fluids can be dispensed this way this way including pastes, gels, liquid foams and liquids. In certain applications, the fluid is dispensed in the form of an atomised spray, in which case the outlet will comprise an atomising nozzle. Sometimes it is delivered as a bolus of liquor and others as a foam. The actuator may be push button or cap, though in some applications the actuator arrangement includes a trigger that can be pulled by a user’s fingers.

A large number of commercial products are presented to consumers in both an aerosol canister and in a manual pump type dispenser, including, for example, antiperspirant, de-odorant, perfumes, air fresheners, antiseptics, paints, insecticides, polish, hair care products, pharmaceuticals, shaving gels and foams, water, lubricants and many others.

There are numerous types of manually activated pumps, triggers and aerosol canisters on the market and they are sold in enormous volumes especially through the major retailers such as supermarkets. Consequently, they are very cheap and there is little profit in them for the manufacturers. Many of these and other applications would benefit from an improved performance such as finer droplets, atomizing viscous liquors like oils and suntan lotion, generating finer droplets with products like body spray and others. The problem is how to do this at a low cost and make it reliable and user friendly.

But spray nozzles are also used in many industrial applications including agriculture, horticulture, general manufacturing, cooling with fine atomizing spray nozzles, engines including car and lorry engines, ink jet printers and many more. Cost is sometimes an issue with these applications but improved performance and reliability is often just as or more important

In many applications the discharge of the nozzle arrangement will be continuous but many applications will use pulsed sprays. Some of the figures show pulsed discharges and others will show continuous discharges and some can be configured to do either. By no means are these meant to represent all of the possible applications of this technology as it can be used in all sorts of applications.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a nozzle arrangement showing a version from our sister patents wherein the prodder is fixed in position and part of the nozzle containing the final orifice is resiliently deformable. Figures 2 and 2b are cross-sectional views of a nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the prodder and orifice are fixed in position and the fluid inlets are around the prodder tip.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of a self sealing or precompression nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the prodder is mobile and the orifice is fixed in position and the fluid inlets are around the prodder tip.

Figures 4 and 4b are cross-sectional views of a self cleaning nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the sprung 2 angled prodder is mobile and the orifice is fixed in position and the fluid inlets are around the prodder tip.

Figures 5 and 5b are cross-sectional views of a self cleaning nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the sprung rounded tip prodder is mobile and the orifice is fixed in position and the fluid inlets are around the prodder tip.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of a nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the prodder and orifice are fixed in position and the fluid inlets are around the prodder tip which is substantially inside the spray orifice.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of an aerosol nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the orifice is fixed in position and the prodder is a ball and the fluid inlets are around the ball and wherein a foam pad is shown.

Figures 8 and 8b show a nozzle arrangement wherein the nozzle arrangement is mounted onto the outlet of a trigger sprayer showing a preferred version wherein the prodder is fixed in position and part of the nozzle containing the final orifice is resiliently deformable.

Figures 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d are cross-sectional views of a nozzle arrangement showing a preferred version wherein the fluid inlets are grooves in the nozzle body around the prodder tip.

Figures 10 and 10b are cross-sectional views of a nozzle arrangement wherein the nozzle arrangement is mounted onto the outlet of a trigger sprayer showing a preferred version wherein the prodder and the nozzle containing the final orifice is mobile.

In order to understand the new innovations it helps to know how our ram spray technology has been configured in our sister patents and figure 1 and the explanation have been taken from one of them.

The atomized spray produced by the shaped prodder in the shaped orifice can be generated as a continuous or pulsed spray by a range of different but similar configurations. One of the most basic new configurations shown in figure 1 comprises a fixed prodder 101 with a threaded section with circumferential grooves 114 that cause the fluid to flow around the prodder 101 through the grooves 114 and the threaded section forms interference fit between the prodder 101 and the chamber wall 102. The prodder 101 cannot move and is positioned so that when the device is off or there is no fluid flowing through the nozzle, the orifice seals against the prodder tip 104 preferably forming an airtight seal. When the fluid flows the increasing pressure causes a resiliently deformable part of the nozzle 115 to deform downstream creating a fine circumferential gap 103 between the prodder 101 and the parallel sided tubular section 105 or upstream end of the outlet orifice. Downstream of this is in a preferable but not exclusive configuration is tubular shaped orifice 105 followed by an outwardly tapered conical section 106 in the nozzle outlet orifice. The upstream annular prodder ledge 108 rests against an annular ledge 109 of the nozzle body 111 with holes 110 and 112 that allow the fluid to pass from the nozzle inlet chamber 113. The fluid flows through the holes 110 and 1 12 and into the chamber 117 but cannot be discharged because of the seal between the prodder tip 104 and the orifice 105 so the nozzle body at 115 deforms allowing part of the nozzle body to move downstream and to expose the circumferential grooves 114. The fluid flows around the circumferential grooves 114 in the prodder 101 wall and this causes the fluid to spin around the prodder 101 and out through the outlet orifice 106 as an atomized spray. When the fluid stops flowing, the nozzle reforms at 115 moving back upstream and resealing against the prodder. As with all the configurations with the pointed tapered conical prodder 107, the outlet orifice cone 106 can determine the angle of the spray and the wider the cone angel the wider the spray angle until the angle is so wide that the fluid no longer fills the cone and it actually produces a narrower cone. Also, the wider the spray angle the less the throw, the less full the cone spray and the finer the droplets. The circumferential grooves 114 are shown as going all the way around the prodder 101 but in many applications it is desirable to have them as short as possible so they only go part of the way around the prodder 101 and they may be as short as 0.5 mm with 1 - 2 mm being common. There may be just one groove 114 or multiple grooves and 2 - 4 is preferable. This is true for all of the configurations shown.

In our sister patents the prodder 101 and orifice 105 can be fixed but usually the orifice 105 or prodder 101 or both are mobile. But essentially we normally use a rounded or pointed prodder 101 in an orifice 105 and spin fluid around the prodder 101 and out though a circumferential gap between the prodder 101 and orifice 105. The finer the gap the finer the spray we can produce and even high flow rates use a very small gap. The prodder 101, orifice 105 and chamber upstream of the orifice 105 all have to be shaped to ensure a full even cone is produced and the fluid has to be spun around the prodder 101. The biggest problem we find is creating and maintaining a small and even circumferential gap especially when there is movement of the prodder 101 or orifice 105. If the gap is very small the prodder 101 tends to touch the orifice in one position and this stops the fluid rotating properly which in turn has a negative impact on the droplets which tend to vary much more in size and have larger droplets and the spray form tends to be uneven and misshapen. Also, these are usually moulded in great quantities so maintaining the accuracy needed for such small gaps is almost impossible. There is often slight damage to the tip of the prodder 101 or the edge of the orifice 105 caused by them regularly striking each other and this also has a negative impact of the spray quality. The prodder 101 can be slightly angled in the orifice 105 and again this has a negative impact on the spray quality.

In figure 2 we see some of the key new innovations with a basic version where the nozzle arrangement has a fixed prodder 202 and orifice 209. The prodder 202 has a conical section 210 followed by a domed tip 212. The conical part 210 of the tip butts up against a conical chamber 208 in the nozzle 210 and forms a seal between the prodder 202 and chamber 208 walls. The conical chamber 208 has a downstream wall with an outlet spray orifice 209. The fluid is directed from the nozzle inlet 204 to two tangential inlets 205 into the conical chamber 208 and into a fine circumferential gap 206 between said chamber 208 and the domed tip 212 just downstream of the sealing conical section 210 of the prodder 202. The fluid spins around the prodder domed tip 212 inside a substantially V shaped circumferential gap 206 and this creates a thin, hollow, conical wall of fluid 213 that converges on itself in the conical chamber 208 as shown by the dotted lines 213. The fluid crashing into itself causes many droplets to be formed in said chamber 208 and this continues to spin around the chamber 208 and then out through the spray orifice 209 where it forms an atomized spray in a full cone shape with even fine droplets. The orifice 209 determines the angle of the spray and it affects the flow. In our sister patents as in figure 1 the flow was substantially determined by the size of the circumferential gap between the prodder tip 104 and the orifice 105 but also by the size of the inlets 114 to the chamber 107 and sometimes also the size of a prethrottle. We never sought to generate a spray inside the chamber 107 or to control the flow with varying the open size of the inlets 205 to said chamber.

The flow at the inlets 205 is determined by the size of the inlets 205 and the gap between the inlets 205 and the prodder 202 where they meet which is partly determined by the angle of the prodder domed tip 212 and the chamber 208 cone angle 207. The narrower the circumferential gap 206 the lower the flow and the thinner the cone of fluid and the finer the droplets.

If the size of the spray orifice 209 is similar or smaller than the effective size at the inlets 205 then the chamber 208 will rapidly fill with fluid and there will be no atomized droplets inside. It would then work more like a standard swirl except there would still be flow control if the prodder is mobile and this is discussed alter. But if the orifice 209 size is larger and especially if it is substantially larger then the fluid will leave the chamber 208 and orifice 209 as an atomized spray with droplets that are finer than would be possible if the fluid is simply spun in the chamber 208. Usually but not always we prefer to atomize the fluid in the chamber 208 but sometimes we prefer to atomize it after the orifice 209 and sometimes the fluid contains gas or air and this adds further complications and opportunities. Sometimes as in figure 3 the orifice 309 is very large so the chamber 306 is veiy small and then it is atomized both in the chamber 306 and the orifice 309 as they are almost one. We will go into this more later.

Because the prodder 202 is sealed into the conical chamber 208 by its conical shape and the rounded shaped tip is smaller than the conical part of the prodder 202, there has to be a circumferential gap 206 between them so the fluid can flow around that gap and spin out into the chamber 208. Even if it somehow blocked the fluid would simply go around the blockage higher up the circumferential gap 206 but would still spin. Because the tip of the prodder 202 isn’t in the orifice 209 as in our sister patents, there is no concern about it being central or it damaging the orifice 209 or the prodder 202 tip. The flow through the inlets 205 isn’t as dependant as previously on the size of the inlets either because it is more dependant on the gap around the inlets 205 between the prodder 202 and chamber 208 wall. So they can be made larger than normal or more importantly, much lower flow rates can be achieved as there isn’t the limitation of only being able to practically mould hole sizes smaller than around 0.18 mm diameter. We will also show how part of the inlets 205 can be blocked off by the conical part 210 of the prodder 202 enabling still lower flows to be achieved.

Varying the relative size and shape of the inlets 205, outlet 209, circumferential gap 206, chamber 208 and prodder 202 all enable the spray to be manipulated to achieve different spray angles and droplet sizes. We only show 2 tangential inlets 205 on the drawings because that is easier to show and to manufacture but the designs aren’t limited to 2 and there could be just one or many more and 2 - 4 is most preferred. Figure 2 shows a prodder 202 with a conical section 210 followed by a domed tip 212 but other figures show two different conical sections, a spherical prodder, a domed prodder and others. The key is to be able to make a substantially sealed section around the prodder 202 that is substantially upstream of the tangential inlets 205 and a fine circumferential gap 206 between the prodder 202 and chamber 208 wall that the fluid can flow into from the inlets 205. Figure 2 also shows a tubular orifice 209 followed by a flat outside surface but many orifice shapes and sizes could be used as could many outside shapes including those shown in figure 1 at 106 and the following figures. The orifice 209 itself may even have no tubular hole and could be just a tapered conical section with or without tapered conical sections upstream or downstream of it.

With standard swirls the fluid is spun in a short tubular chamber using tangential inlets and out through a downstream chamber wall with a spray orifice in said wall. They are usually configured so that outside air is drawn into the middle of the orifice creating an air core and the fluid spins around the air core and this helps to improve the atomization. We can also configure our designs to do the same thing and it can also helps to improve the atomization and that is true when we atomize the spray in the chamber 208 and when we don’t. It depends on the nature of the spray that is required.

In figure 2 the prodder 202 and the orifice 209 are fixed and that is fine for many applications but usually one or both of them are mobile just as in our sister patents because this offers many more opportunities for solving problems associated with various spray applications. This new innovation has virtually the same effect in many of the configurations where a similar fine circumferential gap is created around the prodder 202 in the orifice 209 and a similar discharge is generated. Sometimes it is an advantage to move the prodder 202 and others it is an advantage to move part of the nozzle instead and moving both can also be beneficial. Even when fixed as in figure 2 the prodder 202 and nozzle chamber 208 have to be made in separate parts to ensure that a very fine gap can be created.

The chamber 208 is shown as conical and leads to an outlet orifice 209 that is a straight hole and this is a preferred arrangement. But there could also be a straight end wall with the spray orifice 209 in it and after the conical wall such as shown with the wall 103 in fig 1. Any other suitable shaped chamber could also be used and this applies to many of the configurations shown.

In figure 3 is shown a simple method of producing a configuration with a mobile prodder 302 and fixed orifice 309 for a self sealing or precompression nozzle arrangement The prodder 302 is shaped with a substantially spherical downstream end or tip 310 and an upstream rod but the prodder 302 could also have been shaped like in figure 2 and many of the following figures. The prodder 302 is able to move inside the nozzle 301 and when at rest it is held by the force of the spring 313 in the upstream chamber 316 in the position shown with the spherical tip 310 sealing off the chamber 306 wall just downstream of the tangential inlets 308 along with most of the orifice. The spring 313 is positioned around the upstream end of the prodder 302 and in an upstrea chamber 316 of the nozzle 301 and is under tension to hold the prodder 302 in the shown sealing position. The gap between the ledge 311 on the prodder 302 and the chamber wall 315 is set to limit the upstream movement of the prodder 302 and is usually very small. It also helps to align the prodder 302 to prevent it tipping over to one side. There is a seal 311 between the prodder 302 and chamber wall 307 that prevents fluid getting back into the upstream chamber 316 and this can be an O ring as shown or an integral seal on the prodder 302 itself or any suitable seal arrangement. In practice the seal would be much closer to the tangential inlets 308 as well but it is easier to see when drawn like this.

When the fluid flow is activated it flows through the tangential inlets 308 to the spherical end 310 of the prodder 302 and cannot flow downstream because of the seal so it flows upstream towards the O ring seal 311 and this then forces the prodder 302 to move upstream further tensioning the spring 313 and opening up a gap between the prodder 302 and the cone 307 enabling the fluid to flow into the chamber 306 and out through the spray orifice 309. The prodder 302 continues to move upstream until the ledge 314 of the prodder 302 meets the wall 315 and this determines the size of the circumferential gap between the spherical end 310 of the prodder 302 and the chamber 306 wall and the flow rate. The movement allowed is usually tiny and of the order of 0.1 mm but anywhere between 0.05 and 3 mm although this innovation isn’t limited by the distance that it can be moved.

The prodder 302 won’t move until the pressure of the fluid exceeds the force of the spring 313 and it therefore acts as a precompression valve. This ensures a good spray at the start and end of the spray cycle. The prodder 302 sealing the chamber 306 also ensures that fluids can be used where they would normally go off or harden when left in an exposed orifice.

The inlets 308 can be made larger than normal as well since they are part blocked off by the prodder 302 even when spraying so small flows can be achieved from bigger inlets and that helps to reduce problems of blocking. Also, the orifice 309 can be much larger than normal as it isn’t controlling the flow rate. Any suitable shape can be used on the downstream prodder tip 310 including having a flat, shaped or pointed tip or any other suitable shape and that is true for all the prodders shown. Any sprung arrangement can be used including an integral prodder and spring and more examples will be shown.

In figure 4 we show a self cleaning nozzle arrangement again like used in our sister patents. It shows an integral prodder 402 and spring 406 arrangement and again, these could be separate components and any suitable spring 406 arrangement could be used. The nozzle orifice design is similar to that shown in figure 2 but any suitable design could be used. The downstream end of the prodder 402 uses a two angled prodder 404 followed by a rounded tip 416 where the upstream cone 403 seals against the chamber wall 417 just upstream of the inlets 413 and the downstream cone 404 is narrower so there is a circumferential gap 415 between it and the chamber walls enabling the fluid to flow in the circumferential gap 415 from the tangential inlets 413 and then into the downstream chamber 405 and out through the orifice 411.

In the rest position shown in figure 4 an upstand 407 seals the inlet 412 into the nozzle arrangement 401 and the prodder 402 is well clear of the tangential inlets 413 and the chamber wall 417. When the device is activated fluid pushes on the inlet seal 407 and once a set pressure has been reached the prodder 402 is moved downstream into its second sealed spraying position shown in figure 4b. This tensions the spring 406 which exerts an upstream force. When the device is turned off the pressure of the fluid quickly reduces to below that needed to overcome the force of the spring 406 so the prodder 402 moves back upstream to its first inlet sealing position. But this isn’t an instant action so as the prodder 402 moves back upstream fluid still flows through the tangential inlets 413 and it also flows around the prodder 402 as soon as the first inlet seal is broken.

This action can be used to make the nozzle arrangement self cleaning and this part of the spray can be classified as the flush mode. The prodder 402 seal has been shown to be just upstream of the tangential inlets 413 but it could also block off part of said inlets 413 so that in use they effectively become smaller inlets which naturally deliver a lower flow. Even when the prodder 402 doesn’t block off part of the inlets 413 it still reduces the flow because of the small gap between the inlets and the prodder 402 so they could still be larger than normal. With part of them being blocked off and the gap also reducing the flow they can be larger still. The outlet orifice 411 can also be much larger than would normally be required for the flow as that is now mostly controlled by the flow from the tangential inlets 413. So when the arrangement is in the flush mode everything is cleaned and any debris or particulate matter can be flushed through the inlets 413 and from around the chambers and through a large orifice 411. You can also have a continuous flush mode by simply operating the device at a pressure that is lower than that needed to push the prodder 402 into the second seal position but higher than that which allows it to return to the first seal or rest position. There doesn’t have to be a second seal position either and it isn’t always an advantage and for example, it is much easier to have a flush position without one.

Using the prodder 402 to part block off the tangential inlets 413 can be very advantageous with many of the configurations including those with fixed orifices and prodders and especially when really low flows are required because of the difficulty of manufacturing small inlets in high volumes at low cost.

This arrangement and some of the following arrangements can also be configured to act as a flow controller that keeps the flow within set limits regardless of the pressure. When spraying the force of the fluid acts against the prodder 402 and spring 406 and the higher the pressure of the fluid, the higher the force. Force also acts on the downstream end of the prodder 402 by the fluid forcing its way out of the tangential inlets 413 and again the higher the pressure the greater the force. The net force is predominantly downstream once the force of the spring 406 has been overcome and the prodder 402 can actually move slightly more downstream with the higher pressures and vice versa. This is a tiny movement but it is enough to vary the exposed part of the inlets if they are correctly configured and the higher the pressure the more the inlets 413 are blocked off. This is enough to be able to control the flow within set parameters so it varies much less than would normally be the case. For example, an aerosol can with compressed gas will be around 10 bars when full and under 5 bars when empty and the flow through a typical spray nozzle would reduce from 1 g/s to under 0.5 g/s and this greatly affects the performance. Using our nozzle we could keep the flow from 1 g/s to 0.85 g/s or to 0.75 g/s or to whatever was considered to be acceptable. It is difficult to keep the flow rate exactly the same but controlling flows within 10 - 25% is normally enough in most spray applications.

The prodder tip such as in figure 6 at 603 can also extend into or near to the orifice 605 and the tiny movement of the prodder 602 can be used to control the flow by blocking off more of the orifice 603 at higher pressures. Also the gaps around both the orifice 603 and the inlets 605 can be varied to control the flow rate with changing pressures.

Normally flow controllers are used upstream of the nozzle and they aren’t idea because they choke off the flow whereas here the action is part of the spray nozzle itself and any negative affects on the spray are small.

In figure 5 we see a very similar nozzle arrangement to figure 4 but with a prodder 502 with a conical section 505 and a rounded or domed end 506 that is more hemi spherical and with a different integral spring 503 that’s fixed in place at the upstream end 504. The orifice 511 and inlets 509 are also larger to increase any self cleaning properties. It works the same as figure 4 but the conical part 505 of the prodder 502 blocks off some of the two inlets 509 and a gap exists around the rounded section of the prodder 506 at 513 so the fluid flows straight around the rounded part 506 in the circumferential groove 513. The big advantage of a rounded or hemi spherical shape as opposed to a pointed shape is that there is less of an issue centralizing the downstream tip.

In figure 6 we see another nozzle arrangement with a prodder 602 and nozzle 601 where the prodder tip 603 is substantially a pointed cone and is just upstream of the orifice 605. It has a 2 angled conical prodder end as seen previously with the upstream cone 607 sealing inside the conical chamber and the downstream end or tip 603 creating a circumferential gap or groove 606 around it so the fluid can flow from the tangential inlets 605. The tip 603 is substantially pointed but could be rounded as well although it is easier to use a pointed tip if it extends near to or inside the orifice 605. The orifice 605 itself has a straight section followed by a conical section 604 and this could be used with any of the outer orifice designs just as they could be used for this. This configuration is much easier to manufacture than our previous designs in the sister patents for a number of reasons. The flow is controlled by the gap around the inlets 605 so the gap between the orifice 605 and the prodder tip 603 isn’t so critical and can be larger, sealing the conical part 607 of the prodder 602 in the conical chamber tends to centralize everything and it is easy to create a very fine circumferential gap 606. The prodder 602 or orifice at 608 could be fixed or mobile as per any of the other arrangements.

In figure 7 we see one of the versions inside an aerosol cap or actuator. The actuator 701 is fixed onto an aerosol canister and the outlet valve of the aerosol canister is sealably fixed inside the actuator inlet chamber 712. When the actuator is depressed the valve opens and fluid flows through the inlet 702 into the upstream chamber 710, through the foam 709 onto the ball 708 and through the two tangential inlets 706 around the ball 708, through the downstream chamber 713 and out of the spray orifice 705. The foam 709 is naturally springy and exerts a light downstream force on the ball 708. There is a fixed post 703 in the upstream chamber 710 that acts as a back stop for the ball 708 so it cannot move further than the post 703. Normally there is a small gap between the two parts but often the post 703 can be in contact and exerts a light downstream force on the ball 708. If the contact is light then it will still act as a flow controller because the fluid pushes the ball 708 harder downstream reducing the size of the circumferential gap and the open size of the inlets 706 and keeping the flow relatively constant with the varying pressure. The foam 709 is an open cell foam 709 that is held in place around the post 703 and inside the upstream chamber 710. It makes contact with the ball 708 and the upstream ends of the inlets leading to the two tangential inlets 706. With some applications there is no foam 709 and the ball 708 can move under gravity as far back as the post 703 allows.

The configuration is very like some already shown such as figure 5 and it can operate as a self cleaning nozzle when there is no foam 709 with gravity replacing the need for the spring. With and without the foam 709 it also acts as a flow controller as described in figures 4 and 5. It has the considerable advantage that it is small and very cheap and can be retrofitted to existing actuators and many other spray nozzles and like the other configurations it can be used with any suitable spray nozzle. The main advantage of the foam 709 is when pressurized air or gas is used in the fluid and it is especially applicable to aerosols where gas is often bled into the liquor usually via a vapour phase tap or otherwise. This innovation is important for our technology and equally important for all spray nozzles that use air and especially for aerosols and it will be split off into a separate patent at a later date. With standard spray actuators what is ideally required is the gas bubbles to be really small and evenly spread out through the fluid so that they become trapped in the final spray where the gas expands due to the pressure drop and shatters the droplets further aiding the atomisation. What actually happens is that as soon as the fluid enters the aerosol valve and especially the actuator, the gas bubbles mix and form large gas bubbles in the actuator. Then the fluid flowing to the spray orifice tends to be a slug of liquor followed by a slug of gas and instead of finer atomization the spray becomes very uneven and splutters.

The foam 709 is an open cell foam and usually with fine pores over 30 ppi. What happens is that the gas rapidly works its way to the top of the foam 709 in the chamber and forms a large gas bubble inside the foam 709. For ease of explanation the two tangential inlets 706 are shown vertically with one above the other but when gas is used they are placed horizontally opposite each other. As the fluid flows through the foam 709 some gas does stay in the flow as fine bubbles in liquor because of the foam 709 and goes out through the tangential inlets 706 and the level of the gas at the top of the foam 709 very quickly reaches the level of the inlets to the tangential inlets 706 where it is drawn through along with the fluid but as more fine gas bubbles. Sometimes a gap is left above or around the foam in the chamber so that the gas can collect in the gap.

Another advantage of the foam 709 is that if the aerosol or actuator is tilted or shaken during use the gas tends to stay where it is because liquor moves in foam 709 easier than gas because the liquor is preferentially absorbed. So the gas is delivered to the spray orifice 705 in small evenly dispersed bubbles that give a nice consistent flow with smaller droplets. That is true if our spray technology is used or with most other spray technologies including standard swirls, fans, cones and even with a simple orifice. The pore size of the foam 709 is important because very approximately the smaller the pore size the smaller the spray droplets but this varies considerably with the gas / liquor ratio, the pressure, the flow and many other factors. It should be over 30 ppi any anywhere from that to over 90 ppi.

The foam 709 can be used without the central post 703 but it is actually very useful as it helps to stop it moving or being compressed and it also reduces the capacity of the chamber and the foam. If the foam pad 709 is large then it holds a lot of gas so once the fluid is turned off the gas pressure continues to drive fluid out of the nozzle at a reducing pressure and produces a poor spray and even a jet. If the spray configuration used had a precompression valve such as in figure 3 then this wouldn’t be a problem as the nozzle would shut off at a lower pressure but generally, a smaller pad of foam 709 does the job required and is cheaper and easier to install. Too small though and it ceases to function as required.

In figures 8 and 8b we see the nozzle arrangement type set inside the outlet of a trigger activated manually operated dispenser 801 but could it just as easily have been mounted on a dispenser activated by an actuator or it could be mounted on or in any device including an aerosol actuator where pressurized fluid is delivered and usually as an atomized spray. Again, this action is very similar to our original design in our sister patent PCT/GB2018/000138 and is fully described there and it is like the nozzle described here in figure 1 but incorporates the new innovations. The nozzle 802 is fixed to the body 805 of the trigger sprayer 801. The nozzle 802 has a resiliently deformable section 808 that allows the nozzle part 812 to move along the fixed prodder 803 of the body 805. It moves downstream under the action of the fluid being discharged and then back upstream as the resiliently deformable section 808 reforms. This action opens and closes the gap between the prodder 803 and the tangential inlets 809.

As the trigger handle 800 is pulled fluid is pumped into the channel 806 building up the pressure until the nozzle moves downstream and then flows through the tangential inlets 809 into a fine circumferential gap 811 between the prodder 803 and the chamber wall and around the prodder 803. The prodder 803 sits inside a conical section of the nozzle 802 and the tangential inlets 809 to the prodder 803 cause the fluid to flow around the prodder 803 and to spin around the rounded tip of the prodder 803 in the circumferential gap 81 1. Preferably but not exclusively there are 2 - 4 tangential inlets 809 around the prodder 803 so the fluid spins evenly around the prodder 803.

The distance the nozzle part 812 moves downstream is determined by the strength of the nozzle sprung element 808 and the pressure of the fluid. The distance is also determined by the size of the inlets 809 and the angle of the prodder 803 tip since if it is very large then even a small upstream movement of the nozzle part 812 will result in a large gap and the nozzle part 812 may not move that far. As soon as the nozzle part 812 has moved the fluid will discharge and the flow will increase as the nozzle part 812 moves further away. Then as the pressure reduces so the nozzle part 812 will move back upstream under pressure from the sprung element 808 until it finally reseals the inlets 809 against the prodder 803.

It is often desirable to restrict the distance that the nozzle part 812 can travel as if it goes too far the spray can produce a hollow cone instead of a full cone. Also, the flow can become higher than required. The sprung element 808 can be designed in such a way as to maximize the travel or an insert can be added that is positioned in such a way as to restrict the movement of the nozzle part 812. Or other known ways could be used to achieve the same goal.

The prodder 803 can also shaped to block off some or all of the spray orifice 804 in the rest position so the flow is controlled both by the gap around the inlets 809 and the gap around the orifice 804.

This has the advantages of a similar configuration shown in our sister patents but also benefits from controlling the flow through the inlets and spraying inside the chamber around the prodder.

In figures 9a, b, c and d we see a modified version of figure 2 where we have a prodder 902 and nozzle 901 but in a and b the inlets are grooves 905 in the chamber wall 904 with substantially tangential outlets in the circumferential gap around the prodder 902 instead of being tangential holes through the chamber wall 904 as before. In 9c and d the inlets are grooves 911 and 911’ in the prodder with a smooth chamber wall 904 and again have substantially tangential outlets into the circumferential gap around the prodder 902. The nozzle 903 or prodder 902 could be fixed or mobile as before and the grooves could be in both the chamber wall 904 and the prodder 902. A seal is substantially formed between the prodder 902 and chamber wall 904 as before except for the grooves 905 or 911 that cause the fluid to flow from the upstream chamber 906 around the prodder 902 and into the downstream chamber 910 before exiting through the spray orifice 908. They are designed so that they cause the fluid to enter substantially tangentially and to flow around the circumferential gap between the prodder 902 and chamber wall 904 so it spins in the chamber 910 as shown in figure 2 at 213. The drawings show 4 such grooves 905 or 911 but there could be anywhere for 1 - 6 or more and 2 - 4 are preferable. The prodder 902 can be made to close off either the upstream or downstream end of the grooves 905 in the rest position so that its movement affects the flow as before and it could perform as a flow control, a self cleaning nozzle, a self sealing nozzle, a pulsed nozzle and so on. It could be sprung and could have a seal upstream as in figure 3. The prodder 902 could move upstream of the grooves 905 in the rest position fully exposing them for any residual fluid to clean them out.

Shaping the grooves 905 or 91 1, varying the width, depth and length varies the flow according to the relative movement of the prodder 902. Even when the prodder 902 isn’t fixed but isn’t truly mobile the force of the fluid acting upon it pushing it against the chamber wall 904 will vary with pressure and that in turn will vary the open size of the inlets 905 and the effectiveness of the seal around the prodder 902. So the higher the pressure of the fluid the more the inlets 905 and seal close and vice versa so they act as a flow controller keeping the flow within set levels regardless of the pressure change of the fluid. Clearly, when the prodder 902 is mobile it also acts as a flow controllers when the grooves 905 are in the chamber wall 904 but when it is fully fixed in place it doesn’t. This applies to all of the prodders shown in different figures where the inlets are holes in the chamber wall.

When tire inlets 911 are in the prodder 902 then they can also be configured to act as a flow controller in the same way just described with the inlets 905 in the chamber wall 904. If the prodder 902 angle and chamber wall 904 angle are identical then there really won’t be much of a flow controller formed but if the angles are slightly different to each other then the outlets of inlets 905 can be more closed off if the prodder 902 is pushed more downstream as with higher pressures and vice versa. So this can keep the flow relatively constant with varying fluid pressure although it is less effective than the other versions described.

This same innovation of the grooves in the prodder 902 or chamber wall 904 can be used in all the appropriate figures shown and described.

In figures 10 and 10b we see another iteration of a trigger activated manually operated dispenser but with a pulsed nozzle arrangement. The pulsed version has a mobile and resiliently sprung nozzle insert 1011 set inside an outlet of a trigger activated manually operated dispenser 1001 but it could just as easily have been mounted on a dispenser activated by an actuator including a water pistol or it could be mounted on or in any suitable spray device including but not excluded to an aerosol can actuator, a spray gun such as for paint, where pressurized fluid is delivered and usually as an atomized spray, or a suitable industrial nozzle arrangement.

It works substantially the same as in figure 10 of our previous sister patent PCT/GB2018/000138 so we haven’t gone into detail on how it works here and are merely showing how the new innovations have been added. Basically the nozzle 1011 moves downstream as the chambers 1003 and then 1005 fill with pressurized fluid tensioning the main spring 1010 and the prodder spring 1009 and quickly the tensioned prodder spring 1009 pulls the prodder 1008 upstream away from the position where it seals the tangential inlets 1006. This enables some fluid from the chambers 1005 and 1003 to discharge through the orifice 1007 or 1014 which causes a drop in pressure in the chambers 1003 and 1005 enabling the main spring 1010 to move the nozzle 1011 back downstream so the prodder 1008 seals off the inlets 1006 again. The cycle continues while the fluid is pressurized. This process happens extremely fast as the discharges tend to be low so the movement is small. Previously in our sister patent the prodder 1008 sealed the orifice 1014 rather than the inlets 1006 and here it can seal either the inlets 1016 or the orifice 1014 or both.

Figure 10b shows inside the nozzle 1002 of the device and has a single spray orifice 1014. Figure 10 shows a nozzle platel007 with multiple divergent orifices downstream of the orifice 1012 and this could be used with the other configurations as well.

Just as in our sister patents, in many of the configurations shown and described a venturi hole could be added to the final chamber to suck in additional air from the outside or it could be configured to draw in air though the final orifice.

There are many potential applications for these innovations and we have only covered some of them. Fundamentally, we are varying the size of the inlets into the final chamber of a nozzle where the fluid enters into that chamber through said inlets and spins in a very fine substantially V or U or similarly shaped circumferential groove that then generates a thin hollow cone or thin fan jets of fluid that is broken up into droplets in that chamber. It then spins out of a final orifice as an atomized spray. We can also use the same prodder to vary the size of the orifice and the flow through that. The circumferential groove can also be varied to control the flow and the hollow cone produced. By making the circumferential gap between two angled parts we are able to make it anywhere from 5 microns and above and in turn that makes the fluid cone even finer. Adding air or gas especially but not exclusively through the foam pad to make finer bubbles makes the fluid cone weaker so it easily breaks up into droplets, forms an air knife from around the groove to further break up the droplets as it escapes through the orifice and makes it easier to stop the chamber filling with liquor. But some versions could have the chamber fill up with liquor and still have many of the other benefits such as flow control and self sealing. Sometimes especially if there are fewer than 4 inlets, the fluid is unable to force its way through much of the circumferential groove and instead each inlet produces a fan shaped spray inside the chamber. The normal hollow cone spray shape is basically a series of fans that join up into one spray and this is preferable but the fan shaped sprays also produce an enhanced spray performance.

Whereas the invention has been described in relation to what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed arrangements but rather is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent constructions included within the spirit and scope of the invention.