EA017571B1 - Poly valve device for gas tank - Google Patents

Abstract

A poly valve device for a gas tank comprising a valve body (1) with a flange (2) for mounting the device on the gas tank; an overfill protection valve (3) mounted on an internal side of the valve body (1) with regard to the tank when the device is mounted thereon; a fill port (4) on an external side of the valve body (1) and in communication with the overfill protection valve (3); a level indicator means (6, 7) on the internal side of the valve body (1); means (8, 9) for transmitting information of the level of liquid in the tank from the level indicator means (6) to the external side of the valve body (1); a valve means mounted on the valve body for delivering gas from the tank to a user; wherein the poly valve device further comprises a level sensing means (5) with a floater (10) hinged on the overfill protection valve (3) and/or on the level indicator means (6) and cooperating with both of them for providing information of the level of liquid.

Description

(57) In the invention, a multi-function valve device for a gas reservoir comprises a valve body (1) with a flange (2) for mounting the device on a gas reservoir; overfill protection valve (3) on the inside of the valve body (1) relative to the tank when the device is installed on it; a filling channel (4) on the outside of the valve body (1) in communication with the overfill protection valve (3); means for indicating the level (6, 7) on the inside of the valve body (1); means (8, 9) for transmitting information about the level of liquefied gas in the tank from the level indicating means (6) to the outside of the valve body (1); valve means installed on the valve body for supplying gas from the tank to the consumer; wherein the multifunctional valve device also comprises level detection means (5) with a float (10) pivotally attached to the overflow protection valve (3) and / or on the level indicating means (6) and interacting with both of them to provide level information liquefied gas.

017571 B1

Technical field

The invention relates to a multi-function valve for a gas reservoir, in particular for a gas reservoir of a vehicle, preferably a reservoir for liquefied petroleum gas.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One multifunctional valve device for a reservoir for liquefied petroleum gas is already known from document EC 2816033 A (6ΙΆΤ ΙΝΏυδΤΒΙΕδ) of 05/03/2002. The device disclosed therein comprises a valve body with a flange for mounting on a gas tank, overflow detection means, an electrically controlled overflow protection valve connected to the overflow detection means, valve means for supplying gas to the end consumer and a liquefied gas level indicator electrically transmitting its information through a wired connection through the body of a multifunction valve.

This device is very cumbersome because it requires a lot of space on the valve body to install a number of the above devices. In addition, there is a need to reduce the size of these multi-function valve devices, in particular in order to reduce the opening diameter of the reservoir receiving the valve device to 48 mm.

The aim of the invention is to solve the above problem by creating a multifunctional valve device for a gas reservoir, comprising a valve body with a flange for mounting the device on the gas reservoir; an overfill protection valve mounted on the inside of the valve body relative to the tank when the device is installed on it; a filling channel on the outside of the valve body in communication with the overfill protection valve; level indicating means on the inside of the valve body; means for transmitting information about the level of liquefied gas in the tank from the level indicating means to the outside of the valve body; valve means mounted on the valve body for supplying gas from the reservoir to the consumer; moreover, the multifunctional valve device also comprises level detection means with a float pivotally attached to the overflow protection valve and / or level indicating means and interacting with both of them to provide information on the level of liquefied gas.

Preferably, the overfill protection valve is mounted on the valve body by fitting and crimping.

The overflow protection valve may comprise a generally cylindrical body, one end of which is seated and crimped in the corresponding opening of the valve body.

Preferably, the level detection means comprises a rod pivotally attached to the overflow protection valve, a float located on the rod, and a cam on the pivotally attached part of the level detection means, the cam cooperating with the overflow protection valve to prevent overfilling of the tank by closing the overfill protection valve, when the level of liquefied gas in the tank when filling reaches a predetermined level.

The level indicating means may comprise an elongated element, which rotatably rests on the valve body and is practically perpendicular to the flange, the first end of the elongated element interacts with the pivotally attached part of the level detection means, and the second end of the elongated element transmits with its rotation information about the level of liquefied gas in the tank the outside of the valve body.

The second end of the elongated element may contain magnetic means for transmitting the angular position of the elongated element to the pointer on the outside of the valve body.

The first end of the elongated element may comprise a groove at some distance from the axis of rotation of the elongated element and engaged with the rod or pivot of the pivotally attached part.

The overflow protection valve may comprise a piston with sealing means for closing the overflow protection valve, the piston having a polygonal, preferably hexagonal, section.

Preferably, the piston has a passage from the upper side with sealing means to the lower side of the piston, the overflow protection valve also comprises a housing and a control valve controlled by level detection means that can close the chamber of the overflow protection valve formed by the lower side of the piston and the overflow protection valve body .

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a view of the proposed multifunctional valve device;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the multi-function valve device shown in FIG. one;

FIG. 3 is a General view of the proposed device.

The best embodiment of the invention

The multifunctional valve device comprises a valve body 1 with a flange 2 for tight installation on a flat part of a gas reservoir, for example, a gas-powered transport

- 1 017571 funds. The device contains several devices designed to perform a number of functions.

Shut-off valve designed to deliver gas to the end user. This valve is located approximately in the middle of the valve body 1 (it cannot be seen in the drawings) and is installed on the front side of the valve body 1. The valve is driven by an electromagnet coil screwed into the top of the shutoff valve. This electromagnet coil is visible on the top of the valve shown in the drawings.

Overfill protection valve 3 mounted on the underside of the valve body 1 within the flange circuit. Details of this safety valve are illustrated in FIG. 2, which shows a hollow overflow protection valve body 11 inserted into an opening 12 of the valve body 1. In this case, the overflow protection valve is in fluid communication with the passage made in the valve body 1, which extends from the lower side to the lower side of the latter. This passage communicates with the filling channel 4 on the upper side of the valve body 1.

In the passage there is a check valve designed to ensure the flow of gas from the filling channel into the gas tank and blocking any backflow from the gas tank into the filling channel.

The overflow protection valve body 11 is generally cylindrical and includes a piston 17 that is slidably mounted therein. This piston has a sealing means at its upper end in the form (in this case) of an elastomeric sealing ring laid on a round nut. This o-ring interacts with a socket in the overflow protection valve body 11. The piston is held in its upper position, as shown in FIG. 2, by means of an elastic means similar to a spring. The piston has a cavity communicating with the upper side of the piston along the passage along its longitudinal axis. The lower side of the piston and the inside of the overflow protection valve form a chamber 20. The lower side of the overflow protection valve body has a control valve designed to lock the chamber 20. The upper surface of the piston, which is in contact with gas when refueling, and the elastic piston means are dimensioned that when refueling the piston 17 under the pressure of the refueling drops down. A small portion of the refueling gas flows through the piston passage into the chamber 20 and through the control valve 19, which is held open by means of level detection means 5. When the set level of liquefied gas is reached when filling, the level detection means releases the control valve 19, which is normally closed, from open to closed. In this case, the outlet of the chamber 20 closes and, therefore, the pressure in the chamber 20 rises. As a result of this increase in pressure, the piston 17 lifts and closes the overfill protection valve. This closing movement is due to the difference in surfaces on the upper side and the lower side of the piston 17: the higher the filling pressure, the more the safety valve closes, thereby providing an improved overfill protection valve.

A level indicator containing a rod 6 located perpendicular to the flange surface of the multifunction valve device, the angular position of which is linked to the position of the level 5 detection means, and level indicating means on the outside of the valve body 1, coupled to the rod 6, to indicate the level of liquefied gas in the tank. The rod 6 is supported by the carrier 21 to rotate freely. This support element is preferably made of plastic and supports the shaft 6 in two places, i.e. in the first place next to the valve body 1 and in the second place at some distance from the valve body 1. In FIG. 2, this bearing element is shown with the first main bearing part next to the valve body 1, and an elongated element with a second auxiliary bearing part in the form of a clip extends from this main bearing part. The lower end 15 of the rod 6, i.e. located next to the second auxiliary bearing part of the bearing element 21, has a part extending generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rod. This part is preferably made in the form of an open groove and engages with the movable part of the level 5 detection means. Thus, the angular position of the rod 6 depends on the level of liquefied gas in the tank. The upper end 8 is designed to transmit its angular position to the outside of the valve body 1. Preferably, the upper end 8 comprises a permanent magnet with a main magnetic field direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rod 6. The level indicating means preferably comprises a section 7 for indicating the level to the consumer and a section 9 that receives level information from the rod 6. Preferably, the section 9 comprises permanent magnets, the magnetic field of which is connected with the magnetic field of the upper end 8 of the rod 6. Thus, the rod does not need to pass through the valve body 1. An alternative means For magnetic coupling, it could be the use of any known electrical angle encoder or encoder, for example, Hall effect, which could be connected to a level gauge via electrical cables or wires passing through the valve body.

Pressure relief valve not shown in the drawings.

The multifunctional valve device is particularly compact due to a number of measures.

The first measure is to use a generic level 5 detection tool for both the overfill protection valve and the level gauge. The level detection means comprises a rod 13 (see FIG. 1),

- 2 017571 one end of which is pivotally attached to the overflow protection valve body 11 and the other end carries a float 10. As shown in FIG. 1, near the float 10, the rod 13 is bent 90 °. You can come up with different designs depending on the design of the tank on which the multifunction valve device should be installed. The pivotally attached portion of the level detection means comprises a cam 14 connected to the shaft 13 and a pin 16 extending through the overfill protection valve body 11 and the cam 14. The cam profile interacts with a part of the control valve 19 so that the position of the movable part of this control valve 19 depends on the angular position of the cam 14. The pin 16 comprises a part protruding from the overflow protection valve body 11 at an angle of approximately 90 °. In the present embodiment, the pin 16 is rigidly attached to the cam, so that its protruding part moves when the rod 13 is rotated around the axis of rotation. The protruding part of the king pin engages with a groove extending from the lower end 15 of the rod 6 of the level indicating means. Moreover, any change in the level of liquefied gas in the tank will cause the inclination of the rod / float assembly 13/10, as well as the rotational movement of the cam 14 and the rod 6 of the level indicating means. This change in the angular position of the rod 6 is transmitted to the level gauge 7 on the outside of the valve body 1. Upon reaching a predetermined level of liquefied gas in the tank (usually approximately 80-90% of its total capacity), the cam angular position and cam profile are such that the control valve 19 is no longer supported in its open position, i.e. almost part of the cam profile in contact with the control valve in this angular position of the cam is lowered so that the control valve 19 closes and the overfill protection valve closes and stops the refueling operation.

You can consider various design changes pivotally attached part of the node rod / float 13/10. So, for example, the end portion of the shaft 13 could be bent at an angle of approximately 90 ° and inserted into the overflow protection valve body and cam 14 instead of a king pin. In this case, the protruding part or groove of the lower end 15 of the rod 6 of the level indicating means would directly engage with the rod 13 of the level detecting means. The specialist in this field is obvious and many other changes that are included in the scope of the invention. For example, the rod / float assembly 13/10 could be pivotally mounted on the carrier 21 instead of the overflow protection valve body, or both on the carrier and the overflow protection valve body.

The second measure for making the multi-function valve compact is to fit and crimp the overfill protection valve body 11 in the multi-function valve body 1. The overflow protection valve body must be of a certain size, in particular with respect to its diameter, in order to achieve certain characteristics in terms of an acceptable flow of liquefied gas during refueling. The usual way to install this valve is to screw in. This, as is well known, requires a certain wall thickness of the hole of the housing 1 of the multifunction valve in the places where the thread should be cut. On the contrary, the use of the landing method followed by compression requires a much smaller wall thickness of the receiving opening. In addition, fitting and crimping instead of screwing in greatly facilitates the angular positioning of the overfill protection valve body 11.

The third measure is the landing and compression of the bearing element 21 in the hole of the housing 1 of the multi-function valve. This provides the same advantages in terms of compactness as with the overflow protection valve.

A fourth measure is the use of a piston 17 for a polygon cross-section overflow protection valve. Thus, it has been established that, due to impurities present in the gas, the round cross section of the piston can lead to piston jamming. A polygonal cross section of the piston, preferably a hexagonal cross section, reduces the risk of seizing. In order to maximize the throughput of the overfill protection valve without increasing its diameter, the piston stroke and the size of the side openings in the overfill protection valve body must be increased, and the spring stiffness should be relatively low. These three measures can increase the risk of piston jamming, and the choice of a polygonal cross-section alleviates this problem, while providing a high flow rate overflow protection valve.

Claims (7)

CLAIM 1. Multi-function valve device for a gas tank, comprising a valve body (1) for mounting the device on a gas tank; overflow protection valve (3), mounted on the inside of the valve body (1) in relation to the tank when the device is installed on it; a filling channel (4) on the outside of the valve body (1) communicating with the overflow protection valve (3); level indication means (6, 7) on the inside of the valve body (1); means (8, 9) for transmitting information about the level of liquefied gas in the tank from the level indication means (6) to the outside of the valve body (1); valve means installed on the valve body to supply gas from the tank consume - 3 017571 Liu; Level detection tool (5) with a float (10) hinged on the overflow protection valve (3) and / or on the level indication means (6) and interacting with both of them to provide information on the level of liquefied gas, characterized in that the valve body (1) contains the mounting flange (2) and the level indication means (6) contains an elongated element, rotatably supported on the valve body (1) and generally perpendicular to the flange (2), with the first end (15) of the elongated element ( 6) interacts with pivotally attached part of a constant level detecting means (5) and a second end (8) of the elongated member transmits its rotation information on the level of liquefied gas in the tank to the outside of the housing (1) of the valve. 2. Multi-function valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the overflow protection valve (3) is installed on the valve body (1) by fitting and crimping. 3. Multi-function valve device according to claim 1, characterized in that the overflow protection valve (3) contains a generally cylindrical body (11), one end of which is seated and crimped in the corresponding hole (12) of the valve body (1). 4. Multifunctional valve device according to the preceding paragraph, characterized in that the second end (8) of the elongated element (6) contains magnetic means for transmitting the angular position of the elongated element to the pointer (7) on the outer side of the valve body. 5. Multifunctional valve device according to the previous item, characterized in that the first end (15) of the elongated element contains a groove at some distance from the axis of rotation of the elongated element (6) and engaging with the rod (13) or pivot (16) of the pivotally attached part. 6. The multifunctional valve device according to the preceding paragraph, characterized in that the overflow protection valve (3) contains a piston (17) with sealing means (18) for closing the overflow protection valve (3), and the piston (17) has a polygonal, preferably hexagonal section. 7. The multifunctional valve device according to the preceding paragraph, characterized in that the piston (17) has a passage from the upper side with sealing means (18) to the lower side of the piston and the overflow protection valve (3) also contains a housing (11) and a control valve ( 19) controlled by a level detection means (5) that can cover the chamber (20) of the overflow protection valve (3) formed by the underside of the piston (17) and the overflow protection valve housing (11).