Abstract:
A device for preparing oil recipes for aromatherapy includes an essential oil container arrangement having a number of essential oil containers, a base oil container arrangement which includes at least one base oil container having a volume larger than the volume of an essential oil container, a product container arrangement which includes at least one product container, a pipetting device which includes a pipetting needle for removing a predetermined volume of liquid, a drive unit which moves the pipetting device in a plane extending parallel to the plane covered by the essential oil container arrangement so that the pipetting needle is brought in a direction perpendicular to a selected container, and a central control unit with an assigned data input device for controlling the pipetting device and the drive unit such that a predetermined blend of essential and base oils can be made available in the product container.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     The present application claims priority of German Patent Application No. 202005014704.4 filed Sep. 16, 2005, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention relates to devices for preparation of oil recipes for aromatherapy.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     With aromatherapy the specific use of active substances is involved which are contained in essential oils with vegetable ingredients. Although each single essential oil contains a multitude of vegetable ingredients, it has been found that a large number of symptoms can be treated in the best possible manner by a combined effect of various vegetable oils. Sometimes the person to be treated suffers from a number of symptoms which should be countered by the best possible mixture of various vegetable oils.  
         [0004]     The vegetable oils for aromatherapy are nowadays sold in pure form in small bottles. The end customer has to purchase various small bottles for a combined therapeutic use of different essential oils. Here, there is the problem that due to the mixing ratios and, optionally after a temporarily restricted therapy, substantial residues of essential oils remain.  
         [0005]     Alternatively, the customer can have an essential oil combination mixed at a pharmacist&#39;s premises, which however leads to substantially more related effort and therefore costs due to the working time and documentation of the mixture used.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The object of the invention is to provide an effective and easily used way of preparing oil recipes for aromatherapy.  
         [0007]     To solve this problem, with this invention a device is provided for the preparation of oil recipes for aromatherapy, which comprises an essential oil container arrangement, a base oil container arrangement, a product container arrangement as well as a motor-driven pipetting device and a central control unit which controls the travel of the pipetting device and also the pipetting activity of the pipetting device. The essential oil container arrangement comprises a large number of essential oil containers, each of which contains a different essential oil. The base oil container arrangement comprises at least one base oil container. This base oil is an oil which essentially has no therapeutic effect and is only used as an oil-based diluting agent for the one or more essential oils. The base oil container has a volume which is substantially larger than the volume of the active container. By this is meant a volume ratio between the volume of the base oil container and the volume of the essential oil container of at least 20:1.  
         [0008]     The pipetting device has a drive unit which is controlled from the central control unit and which moves the pipetting device in a plane which extends essentially parallel to the plane in which the essential oil container arrangement is located. The pipetting needle of the pipetting device can move perpendicular to this movement direction and can therefore be brought into the respective essential oil container.  
         [0009]     In the central control unit blend ratios between one or more essential oils and one or more base oils are saved in dependence of one or more indications. Alternatively, the blend ratio can also be calculated or entered based on calculation rules and empirical values from aromatherapy. Through the results of blended compositions, the control unit controls the pipetting device to remove a predetermined volume from the base oil container or containers and from the essential oil container or containers and to deliver it into a product container. The device according to the invention comprises in this respect a product container arrangement which comprises at least one product container.  
         [0010]     Preferred embodiments of the device according to the invention are given in the dependent claims.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The invention is explained in more detail with reference to an embodiment in conjunction with the following drawings:  
         [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a housing of an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  shows constituent parts of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , accommodated in the housing;  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  shows a container arrangement of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0015]      FIGS. 4   a,    4   b  and  4   c  show a sequence of masks for determining a blend ratio during the operation of an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  shows a perspective front elevation of an alternative embodiment of the present invention, with open housing; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  shows a back view in a closed state of the embodiment of  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a housing  2  of an embodiment of a device for the preparation of oil recipes which is formed similar to a tower and has a number of functional levels arranged one above the other which are explained in more detail in the following. On a face side a monitor  4  and an annunciator  6  holding a keyboard  8  are arranged. A label output slot  10  is located below the annunciator  6 .  
         [0019]     In the viewing direction behind the monitor  4  a pipetting device  12  is provided according to a type of autosampler known in laboratory technology. The pipetting device  12  is controlled from a central control unit  14  which controls a label printer  16  and displays its signals on the monitor  4 .  
         [0020]     The control unit  14  and the label printer  16  are located on a lower level of the housing  2  (cf.  FIG. 2 ). A number of base oil containers  18  are held in a base oil container arrangement  20  on a level above that. The base oil container arrangement  20  is contained by a trough which is not illustrated and which acts as an overflow container and which contains a grid by which the individual base oil containers  18  are kept at a predetermined place within the base oil container arrangement  20 .  
         [0021]     On the plane situated above this there is an essential oil container arrangement  22  with a large number of essential oil containers  24 . The essential oil containers  24  are accommodated in groups of 12 in a separate essential oil container holder  26 . All the essential oil container holders  26  are mounted on a slide which can be moved relative to the housing  2 .  
         [0022]     The container arrangement shown in  FIG. 3  also comprises a product container arrangement  28  with a number of product containers  30  arranged in a row behind one another. Also, these product containers  30  are provided in a product container holder  32  at a predetermined place, which is mounted on a movable slide which can be moved with respect to the housing  2  in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extension of the row of product containers  30 . In the plane of the essential oil container arrangement  22  and of the product container arrangement  28  there are also base oil pots  34  which are connected via a base oil circulation system, not shown in detail, to in each case one of the base oil containers  18 . In this base oil circulation system a base oil pump configured as a diaphragm pump is integrated through which the base oil is pumped from the base oil container  18  into the base oil pot  34  and passed back from there to the base oil container  18  like a type of overflow. With this design it is possible, within the level shown in  FIG. 3 , to arrange the removal points for the base oil and the respective essential oil and the product containers  30  in the smallest space, wherein the travel of the pipetting device  12  and the processing time for the production of a certain oil recipe can be minimised.  
         [0023]     The base oil pots  34  are preferably closed off by a septum which can be penetrated by the needle of the pipetting device. Preferably these base oil pots  34  are realised as receptacles in a plastic block. The last receptacle on this plastic block is a pot of cleaning fluid  36  which communicates with a cleaning fluid container  38  arranged at the level of the base oil container via a separate cleaning fluid circulation system As a cleaning fluid particularly a highly volatile liquid, such as alcohol, can be considered. The pots  34  and  36  are accessible from above in the plan view according to  FIG. 3 . The product containers  30  are small glass bottles which can be placed in the housing  2  without a cap.  
         [0024]     The housing comprises a number of housing flaps through which the inside of the housing  2  is accessible. A flap, through which the lowermost level with the central control unit  14  and the label printer  16  as well as the level with the base oil containers  18  and the cleaning fluid container  38  situated above it are accessible, is provided on the rear or side wall.  
         [0025]     The level situated above this can be opened via two different flaps. The first housing flap  40  is located on the front wall of the housing  2  beneath the monitor  4  and above the annunciator  6 . This first housing flap  40  is dimensioned such that the slide with the product container arrangement  28  can be removed from the housing  2  through the first housing flap  40 . Furthermore, a second housing flap is provided which is formed on the rear side wall of the housing according to  FIGS. 1 and 2  and through which the slide with the essential oil container arrangement  22  can be removed from the housing  2 . In particular for each of the first and second housing flaps a monitoring device is provided which signals the proper closure of the flap. Furthermore, a sensor can be provided which signals the receiving of the slide bearing the essential oil container arrangement and of the slide bearing the product container arrangement in the housing. The signal from the monitoring device and the signal from the sensors monitoring the presence of the slides is a prerequisite for putting the device into operation. In order words, the device is not put into operation if a housing flap is not properly closed and/or one of the slides is not located at the predetermined point.  
         [0026]     The arrangement of containers shown in  FIG. 3  illustrates an L-shaped alignment on one side of the row of pots  34 ,  36  and the row of product containers  30  which, in this respect, extends essentially at right angles. Within this L-shaped arrangement and with the same length as the respective limb of the L-shaped arrangement the essential oil container arrangement  22  is located as a rectangular block. The containers or pots  34 ,  36 ,  24  are thus arranged in the level illustrated in  FIG. 3  on the smallest space. The respective openings of the pots  34 ,  36  and the essential oil containers  24  as well as the product containers  30  essentially lie in one plane. The essential oil containers  24  are closed off with a septum to prevent the ingress of oxygen and/or contamination into the individual essential oil containers  24 . In particular the cap on the individual essential oil containers  24  may be a type of closure such as is known with liquid medication for injection and which can be pierced by a hypodermic needle to remove the liquid from the container. With this preferred embodiment it is possible to provide a protective gas, for example argon, above the liquid level of each base oil container  24  to protect each essential oil from undesired oxidation without the protecting inert gas layer being lost during removal of oil from the containers  24 .  
         [0027]     The pipetting needle of the pipetting device has a needle tip which is suitable for penetrating this septum. The opening of the pipetting needle is located behind the needle tip and is arranged on the circumference of the needle such that during the penetration of the needle tip into the septum any part of the septum coming away cannot be drawn up by the pipetting device. The pipetting needle communicates with a suction cylinder, the suction volume of which corresponds approximately to ¼ to ⅓ of the volume of the product container. The reason for this figure is that when blending an oil recipe for aromatherapy with a number of essential oils the pipetting device is controlled such that all the essential oils are initially drawn up consecutively by the pipetting device and discharged together into the product container. Consequently, the capacity of a syringe of the pipetting device for accommodating the drawn up liquid must be able to hold the complete volume of the essential oils. Since however the essential oils or essential oil blends are always blended with the base oils, the maximum volume of the pipetting syringe must only correspond to a proportionate volume of the product container.  
         [0028]     Regarding the operation of the device: First, the base oil containers  18  and the cleaning fluid container  38  are brought into the second level and connected to the assigned circulation devices. Also, the respective essential oil containers  24  are placed in the holders  26  and pushed into the housing  2  through the second housing flap. Entries are now made in the central control unit to the effect that all containers  18 ,  38 ,  24  with their initial charges have been received in the device.  
         [0029]     The central control unit  14  furthermore checks for the proper acceptance of the essential oil container arrangement  22  and of the base oil container arrangement  20  in the housing  2 .  
         [0030]     A user approaching the housing  2  now determines via the keyboard  8  and via various monitor masks the desired blending ratio for the single essential oils and for the base oils to be blended with this essential oil blend. In this respect the central control unit  14  generates some masks which are explained in more detail with reference to  FIG. 4 .  
         [0031]     On the monitor first a mask is provided in which the user can enter various indications, i.e. various symptoms. Apart from a main indication, due to which in particular the recommended application of the oil recipe to be blended is specified, two to four symptoms can be specified, which are to be similarly treated with the aromatherapy. Furthermore, criteria specific to the person can be defined, such as for example an existing pregnancy or that the person to whom the therapy is to be applied belongs to a certain group of people (children), which can lead to the elimination of certain essential oils or to the reduction of the concentration of certain essential oils within the overall oil recipe to be determined. These criteria can also be interrogated within the framework of the search for suitable essential oils according to the presentation of the search mask illustrated in  FIG. 4   a.    
         [0032]     Once these parameters have been defined, the central control unit  14  determines the oils suitable for the therapy of the individual symptom based on saved data and determines their blending quantities. If at least one essential oil to therapeutically treat these symptoms has not been found for all four symptoms, then only the essential oil or oils are suggested which have an effect on the symptoms  1  to  3 . If no suitable essential oil is found, the oil or oils suitable for therapy of the symptoms  1  and  2  are specified.  
         [0033]     With the most common cases the specification of a number of effective essential oils for the therapy of all four symptoms occurs after the search command. In such cases the central control unit  14  determines not only the respective essential oil, but rather also the proportion of the essential oils in the essential oil blend (cf.  FIG. 4   b ). The blend ratio of the single essential oils is determined in particular with regard to the concentration of active ingredients in the individual essential oils. The proportion of a highly concentrated essential oil is in the whole blend then less than the proportion of a less concentrated oil. Based on this blending ratio the price preferably per product container of the thus calculated oil recipe is then calculated (cf.  FIG. 4   c ). This figure also gives the base oils used in the example.  
         [0034]     Once the oil recipe has been defined optionally after a prior price check, the device is set in operation. Prior to this, the user put a predetermined number of product containers  30  into the product container holder  32  and pushed it into the housing  2  through the first housing flap  40 . After the program has checked the proper positioning of the various container arrangements  22 ,  28  and the proper closure of the housing flaps, the pipetting device is put into operation. First the pipetting device approaches one of the selected base oils. In this respect the pipetting needle dips into a base oil pot  34 , draws up a predetermined quantity of base oil, moves to the product container or containers  30  and discharges the base oil in these containers  30 . Then the pipetting device  12  approaches the three containers  24  of the essential oil container arrangement  22  selected in the embodiment. First, the pipetting needle dips into the first essential oil container  24 . The pipetting device  12  then moves to the cleaning fluid pot  36  and dips into the cleaning fluid such that essential oil from the first essential oil container clinging to the pipetting needle is washed off. Then the pipetting device  12  moves to the second essential oil container  24 , dips into it, draws up the second essential oil and again comes to the cleaning fluid pot  36 . Finally, the third essential oil container  24  is approached and also this third component of the oil blend is drawn up into the pipetting needle with predetermined proportion controlled by the control unit  14 . Then it can again dip into the cleaning fluid pot  36  or move directly to the product container or containers  30  in order to discharge the complete blend into a container or to discharge a part of the thus manufactured blend consecutively into different product containers  30 .  
         [0035]     If the pipetting needle has not been previously dipped into the cleaning fluid pot  36 , this is now carried out. Then the pipetting needle dips into the base oil pot  34  for the other base oil. The control unit  14  is prepared in such a way that the circulation unit assigned to a base oil pot  34  or to the cleaning fluid pot  36  only comes into operation when the dipping in of the pipetting needle has occurred or is immediately imminent. This ensures that the circulation unit assigned to the pot  34  or  36  only extracts the liquid from the container  18 ,  38  when there is a requirement for this.  
         [0036]     While the oil recipe is automatically prepared by the pipetting device  12  in the product container or containers  30 , a label is printed out by the label printer  16  and output through the label output slot  10 , which states the calculated blend ratio and which can be stuck on the product container  30 . The label printer  16  is furthermore preferably prepared such that it can output a receipt for accounting purposes. Alternatively, the central control unit  14  can also communicate with a cash point where the billing receipt is printed out. It is also conceivable that the device is designed as an autonomous vending machine with the possibility of card reading for a cash card and/or the insertion or drawing in of coins or banknotes and the output of change.  
         [0037]     Based on the respective actuation of the pipetting device  12  for drawing up a predetermined liquid volume, the central control unit  14  calculates the amount extracted from a certain container  18 ,  24  and determines from this extracted amount the amount remaining in the respective containers  18 ,  24 . If the residual volume falls below a lower limit, the control unit produces an acoustic and/or visual signal. Furthermore, on the monitor the position of the respective container  18 ,  24 , i.e. the co-ordinates within the arrangement  20  or  22 , is given so that the user can definitely identify the container affected and replace it by a new container. The volume level for the respective container can be reset to the initial volume by the control unit using an acknowledgement signal or by the signal giving the closure of the assigned housing flap.  
         [0038]     Alternatively, a level sensor can be provided on the larger base oil containers which measures the level in each container  18 .  
         [0039]     In  FIGS. 5 and 6  an alternative embodiment to that illustrated in FIGS.  1  to  3  is shown. The same components are identified with the same reference numerals compared to the previous embodiment.  
         [0040]     Compared to the previously discussed embodiment, in the embodiment according to  FIGS. 5 and 6  the computer  14  forming the central control unit is at the same height as the monitor  4  and is arranged in the upper part of the housing  2 . In the upper part there is also a label printer which is not shown in any further detail, the output slot of which is arranged either at the side next to the monitor  4  or in an annunciator  6 , which in the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6  is formed in a movable manner similar to a drawer. Accordingly, the keyboard which is also not shown is located in a keyboard receptacle  42  and the label printer which is not shown is located in a label printer receptacle  43  so that the annunciator  6  has a smooth surface.  
         [0041]     The pipetting device  12 , the base oil containers  18 , the essential oil container arrangement  26  and the product container arrangement  28  are provided on a drawer  44 . Here, the base oil container  18  is located on the lowermost level.  
         [0042]     The arrangement of the product containers already described with reference to  FIG. 3 , the essential oil container and the base oil pots are located on the horizontal limb of an L-shaped carrier  46  which is joined to the face side of the drawer  44 . The row of product containers is situated immediately adjacent to the inner side of the front wall of the drawer  44  and can be removed by the user through the first housing flap  40  formed on this wall.  
         [0043]     Below the L-shaped carrier  46  there are base oil circulation systems, which are not illustrated, for each pump assigned to the individual base oil containers  18  which supply the base oil pots  34 . The single base oil circulation systems are surrounded by a trough which holds the base oil in case of a leak. The trough is movable relative to the bottom of the drawer  44  and in fact such that with the drawer  44  pulled out, the trough can be brought sideways next to the drawer  44 , in particular on slide rails to the side next to the drawer  44 . This arrangement is selected with regard to easy maintenance and repair of the pumps in the circulation systems. The trough is located between the pipetting device  12  and the bottom of the drawer  44 .  
         [0044]     Preferably, this trough, the rear wall of which is not shown in  FIG. 6  for illustrative reasons, also accommodates the base oil containers  18 . The rear side of the housing  2  is normally closed off by a rear wall which is not shown in  FIG. 6  for illustrative reasons and which is formed as a door so that the parts accommodated in the housing  2  are accessible from the rear of the housing  2  This is required, for example, for installation and assembly purposes. For normal operation access to the lower part of the housing with the drawer  44  pulled out is sufficient. In this configuration the essential oil containers or the base oil containers can be replaced singly. Accordingly, the formation of the housing  2  with a drawer  44  gives a space-saving arrangement of the device taking into account the requirement found in practice with regard to replacing the consumables.