Nestle Waters Management & Technology

Nestec S.a.

Nestle Waters North America Inc.

Robert Leone

James Arnau

Marc Bilodeau

Glen Wright

The present disclosure provides air-tight mechanical valves. In a general embodiment, the valves include a shaft and a segmented sleeve. The shaft includes a plurality of shaft ports distributed around a circumference of the shaft. The sleeve is configured to fit concentrically around the shaft and includes a body having at least two body pieces, at least one internal seal, and at least one set of a plurality of sleeve ports distributed around a circumference of the body. The plurality of sleeve ports cooperates with the plurality of shaft ports to facilitate fluid flow. The valves of the present disclosure advantageously reduce losses of pressure and compressed air during use.

Valves having segmented sleeves and internal seals

Air cartridge devices and methods of using the air cartridge devices are provided. In an embodiment, the present disclosure provides an air cartridge device comprising an elongated cylindrical shaft defining a first elongated end portion and a second elongated end portion. The second elongated end portion can defining one or more apertures. The air cartridge device can be incorporated into a blow molding apparatus for blow molding bottles.

Air cartridge devices and methods of using same

Heat is extracted from compressed gas used in a blow-molding process by expansion cooling the exhausted gas and/or passing the exhausted gas through a vortex tube, which supplies cold gas at an exit thereof. The cold gas is then routed through cooling channels in the mold. This obviates the need for recirculating or externally chilling a coolant and saves energy.

Growing community of inventors

Gray, ME, United States of America

Robert Leone