FR2482212A1 - Economiser for compressed air - is fitted between distributor and equipment including one way valve to prevent back flow - Google Patents

Abstract

The compressed air economiser is placed in a pipe joining the outlet of a distributor to the inlet of equipment using the air. It has a long body (1, 2, 3) with a channel (1a, 9) from one end (1) to the other (2). A seating (8) is provided, covered by a valve (26). The valve is held on the seat by a spring (30), of adjustable strength. A second channel (11) runs from the first, short circuiting the valve via another one way valve (12) passing air to the equipment. A visual indicator (21), moving relative to an external body mark is provided.

Description

Compressed gas saving device.

 The needs of a pneumatic user device, for example a double-acting cylinder, in compressed gas and therefore in pressure levels, are different depending on whether it is actuated in a working direction or in a return direction (almost "empty"). Now, supplying a user device with the same pressure level which is necessarily the maximum level - leads to the loss of compressed gas in unnecessary expansion during exhausting.

 In addition, each user device of a pneumatic installation has specific needs different from the others. This precludes providing for an installation several pressure levels at the source as far as the distribution would be made extremely complex. The guiding idea of the invention is to save compressed gas by producing an expansion of the gas at the outlet of the distribution devices, that is to say on the pipes connecting said distributors to users. As these pipes are normally traversed in both directions by compressed gas, this expansion must be carried out in a unidirectional manner. The device according to the invention makes it possible to achieve this objective without complicating the installation by multiplying the number of its components. Furthermore, with the device according to the invention, the pressure levels can be adjusted according to specific needs. of the user device. i? nfii ', the inventioll allows a quick and effective control of the reality of its commissioning and its operation thus giving information by which one can know if the concern to achieve gas savings is present in a unit of manufacturing and if this saving is actually realized.

 To this end the invention therefore relates to a compressed gas saving device intended to be installed on a pipe connecting the outlet of a distributor to the inlet of a user device.

According to one of the main characteristics of the invention, this device consists of a substantially longitudinal body in which a first channel is formed from a first end of the body provided with means of connection to said distributor towards a second end of the body provided with means connecting to said pipe, this first channel passing through a household seat in said body capable of being closed by a valve returned to said seat by an elastic return member whose effect is of adjustable intensity by means of a manually controlled adjustment and tends to laminate between the seat and the valve therefore relax downstream the gas coming from the distributor, while a second channel is formed in the body and constitutes a derivation of said first channel shorting the aforementioned valve provided with a valve unidirectional, the passing direction of which is that of the gas coming from the user device, said adjusting member controlling an indicator means in the form of a visual witness immediately identifiable with respect to the external surface of the above-mentioned body.

 In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned device is shaped as an in-line connection comprising at each of its ends a connection end piece rotatably mounted at the ends of a central sleeve, said sleeve internally and integrally carrying a first tubular element, one end of which is close to the connection end turned towards the distributor carries the above-mentioned seat radially and is provided with at least one lateral opening connecting the internal space of this element to the external space delimited by its external surface and the inner surface of the sleeve, while a second tubular element mounted to slide axially in the first tubular element and integral in rotation with the latter is shaped as a screw cooperating with an internal thread of the connection end turned towards the user device for constituting the aforementioned adjustment member, the valve being disposed axially movable between the first and second elements tu said aids against a return spring extending between said valve and the second tubular element inside the latter, the unidirectional valve being disposed between the connection end piece facing the distributor and the external surface from the above end of the first tubular element.

 In an alternative embodiment, said one-way valve consists of a deformable annular element placed in line with the lateral opening of the first tubular element outside of the latter.

In another variant, said tidirectional valve is constituted by at least one displaceable annular toric element
towards a seat whose walls are defined by a converging conical end part in the direction of the distributor of the first tubular element and by a conical surface formed in a divergent manner on the sleeve.

 Advantageously, the second tubular element is provided on the outside with a graduated mark constituting the aforementioned visual indicator capable of moving axially with respect to a gap formed in the endpiece turned towards the user device.

As a variant, the aforementioned second tubular element is provided with its end situated in the connection end turned on the side of the user device with a sloping finger cooperating with a contact element carried by a drawer mounted in radial sliding in the tip and likely to protrude outside the aforementioned tip to constitute said visual witness.

Finally, the above-mentioned outer sleeve constitutes a member for rotating the second tubular element by means of a polygonal coupling provided between the two tubular elements and is provided for this purpose with a portion of knurled outer surface.

 The invention will be better understood during the description given below by way of purely indicative and nonlimiting example which will make it possible to identify the advantages and the secondary characteristics thereof.

Reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which
- Figure t is a sectional view of an embodiment of the invention
- Figure LA is a view along f of Figure 1;
- Figure 1B is a section at level .II of Figure 1 of a variant of the device according to the invention
- Figure la is a section along the line Il-Il of Figure 1B;
- Figure 2 illustrates a first alternative embodiment of the invention
- Figure 3 illustrates a second variant of the invention; and
- Figure 4 illustrates a third variant of one invention.

 Referring first to Figure 1, we see that the device according to the invention, here shown here in the form of a straight connector, has a first end piece 1 team of means for its attachment to a distributor or a portion of pipe coming from a distributor (here an internal thread) and a second nozzle 2 also equipped with means for its attachment or connection to a portion of pipe leading to a user device. The piping, the distributor and the user device are not shown.

At their end opposite to that of attachment, each of these end pieces is longitudinally integral with an external sleeve 3 which connects them, this sleeve being able to rotate relative to said end pieces. The axial stop of the end pieces on the sleeve is carried out by means of circlips 4 and 5 and conjugated shoulders. The sleeve 3 is integral with a first tubular element 6 extending between the two end pieces. From the side of the nozzle 1, which has an inlet bore, the element 6 defines with the sleeve 3 an annular chamber 7 communicating permanently with the bore 1a. In the same dimension, the element 6 is provided with a seat 8 arranged concentrically with a passage 9 for communicating with the chamber 7 and with the bore 1a with the interior recess of said element 6. This interior recess comprises a first cylindrical part 10, lOa adjacent to the seat 8 which is capable of being placed in communication with the chamber 7 through orifices 11. A deformable annular element 12 shaped in this figure in the form of a skirt is placed opposite these orifices 11 so as to prohibit the passage of gas from chamber 7 to part 10 and to authorize it in the opposite direction.

 Above the loua bore, the internal recess of the element 6 is at 13 of polygonal section (here hexagonal), shown folded down by the line 13a. Between the two sections 10a and 13, a groove 14 is fitted with an O-ring 15.

A second tubular element 16 is housed in the element 6. Externally, it is shaped as a first cylindrical section 16a forming a bearing surface for the joint 15, as a second section 16b with a polygonal contour corresponding to the above-mentioned part 13, a third section 16c threaded and in a fourth cylindrical section 16d. The second tubular element 16 penetrates beyond the first element 6 into the end piece 2, the internal recess of which comprises a thread 17 capable of cooperating with the threaded part 16c and a cylindrical bore 18 provided, in a groove, with a seal O-ring 19 bearing in a sealed manner on the above-mentioned cylindrical part 16d.

 It will be noted that with respect to a certain height of the above-mentioned cylindrical part 16d, the end piece 2 is provided with an opening 20 through which we can see a mark 21 carried by the element 16.

It should already be noted that by rotating the sleeve 3, with respect to the end pieces 1 and 2, the first tubular element 6 is driven in rotation - force fitted into the sleeve 3 - which, by its section 13, drives the second element 16 by its section 16b. In this movement, the element 16 and the end piece 2 cooperate like a screw-nut system, that is to say that the rotation of the sleeve 3 results in the axial displacement of the element 16 relative to the element 6 and at the end piece 2. The rotation drive of the element 3 will be facilitated by a knurled outer surface 3a. The locking of the sleeve 3 and of the first element 6 on the second element 16 will be ensured by a radial screw 22 which, through a threaded orifice 22a, will bear on one of the faces of the hexagonal part of the element 16.

 Internally, the element 16 has a bore 23 extended by a conduit 24, which, axial, constitutes a continuity with the passage 2a cleaning inside the end piece 2.

 In the bore 23 will slide a rod 25 internally hollowed out carrying at its axial end facing the valve seat 8 a valve head 26 equipped with an O-ring 27 outside capable of bearing on the seat 8. Radial orifices 28 formed in the valve stem 25 put in communication ltevidee ment 29 of the latter with the bore 10, lOa above. The other end of the recess 29 communicates permanently with the aforementioned passage 24. Finally, in the recess 29 and bearing on a shoulder connecting the bore 23 to the passage 24, a spring 30 is arranged so that its effect tends to apply the valve head 26 to the seat 8.

The operation of the device according to the invention,
as shown in Figure 1, is as follows. When the nozzles 1 and 2 are respectively connected to the distributor (or a portion of the pipe coming therefrom) and 9 the pipe leading to the user device, the gas flows there either from the distributor to the user device, or in the opposite direction. .

 In the first direction, the gaZ coming from the inlet bore la fills the chamber 7 by pressing the skirt 12 against the outlet of the orifices 11. The gas is forced, in order to reach the bore 10, to push back the valve head 26 The gas passage section determined between the seat 8 and the head 26 depends, for a given intake pressure, on the bandage of the spring 30. This passage section will be all the smaller the more the effect of the spring important. This restriction leads to an expansion of the gas which passes to its level, an expansion all the greater the smaller the section of the restriction. The expanded gas entering the bore 10 passes through the orifices 28 and; through the recess 29, the end of the bore 23, the passages 24 and 2a, reaches the pipe connected to the user device.

Compressed gas will be saved if a significant expansion is created between the outlet of the distributor and the user device. To create this significant relaxation, it is therefore necessary to stiffen the spring 30. This stiffening is obtained by maneuvering in rotation the sleeve 3 in the direction causing the approximation of the part 16a of the second tubular element 16 of the seat 8. This movement has as a consequence that the marking 21 carried by the element 16 in its part 16d is located, if not entirely at least, largely below the window 20.

 It can therefore be seen that this marking 21 carried in the case of FIG. 1 by the second tubular element constitutes with the window 20 an immediately identifiable visual indicator relative to the external surface of the device if the marks are made with a very bright and very contrasted with the rest of the system. This indicator is in particular easily identifiable and verifiable by a controller responsible within a manufacturing unit for monitoring the consumption of compressed gas. The very fact of the design of the device which implements a visual indicator not of the relaxation achieved, but of the position of an adjustment member (the second tubular element 16) of the intensity of the return spring 30, allows a permanent check whether or not the installation is in service and whether or not the pipeline is under pressure. These provisions are very advantageous because they allow a control having no effect on the proper functioning of the installation.

 It should also be noted that the screw 22 for securing the adjustment made, and therefore the saving in possible compressed gas as a function of the demand of the user device, cannot be manually manipulated. This locking, in addition to pocketing an untimely operation of the sleeve 3, requires an intentional intervention of an operator in the very fact that its operation requires the use of a tool, which cooperates in the reduction of negligence or opposition of operators in the implementation of a compressed gas saving policy.

 When the gas, on the other hand, comes from the user device, it enters the device through the passages 2a and 24, then into the recess 29, the orifices 28 to reach the chamber 10 and, the valve 26, 8 being closed by the spring 30, through the orifices ll by lifting the skirt 12 to enter the chamber 7.from which it will reach the distributor which will have been placed in communication with the exhaust. We see that, in this without, no restriction is imposed on the passage of the fluid.

From the point of view of gas circulation, it can therefore be seen that the device according to the invention comprises a first channel 1a, 9, 10, 28, 29, 24, 2a provided with an adjustable calibrated valve 3, 26 and a second channel 10 , 11, 7 year bypass of the first channel for short-circuiting said late valve, equipped with a one-way valve 12 whose passing direction is that of the gas flowing in the direction of the device user-distributorO
Figure 14 which is a view along f of Figure 1 illustrates an external view of the visual indicator 21, 22 which equips the connector according to the invention. In the case shown, we see that the marks completely fill the window and are thus the sign that the spring 30 is little compressed, therefore that the air saving achieved is zero.

In FIGS. 113 and 1 C there are elements described above with the same references. There is shown an alternative embodiment in which the BenEtre 20 shown more widely open in the circumferential direction and a symmetrical window 20a are externally provided with a magnifying device 31 magnifying and fixed to the end piece 2 by means of pins or pawns 32.

 Figure 2 is a partial view of a first alternative embodiment of the one-way valve used in the invention. We also find in this figure some of the elements already described with the same references. Thus the aforesaid orifices 11 open into the chamber 7 at the bottom of a groove of trapezoidal section formed at the outer periphery of the first tubular element 6. The conical walls 33 and 34 of this groove which diverge outwards constitute bearing faces for a deformable toric element 35 which discovers the orifices 11 when the gas comes from the chamber 10 and closes them when the gas arrives from the chamber 7. This arrangement can be doubled and provide two grooves and two toric elements. Whereas in FIG. 1, the heel of the skirt 12 formed a seal between the sleeve 3 and the element 6, in the case of FIG. 2, this seal is ensured by an O-ring 36.

 Figure 3 illustrates another alternative embodiment of this one-way valve. I1 here consists of a floating O-ring element 37 capable of closing off an annular passage 38 delimited by the outer edge of a conical crown 39 converging upwards and that of a conical crown 40 converging downwards, the surface 39 being formed in the sleeve 3 while the surface 40 is carried by the end part of the element 6 on the distributor side. The passage 38 is thus produced between the inlet bore 1a of the nozzle 1 and the chamber 7. When the gas arrives from the bore 1a, it forces the seal element 37 to be applied to the surfaces 39 and 40 and to close the passage 38. The fluid is therefore forced to lift the valve head 26. On the other hand, when the fluid reaches the chamber 7 through the orifices 11, the seal 37 is detached from its seat (39, 40) and retained by the sleeve 3 and the fluid passes through the passage 38. It can be seen that the unidirectional valve thus produced has exactly the same functions as those described above.

 Finally, in FIG. 4, an alternative embodiment of the visual indicator according to the invention is illustrated. The elements already described and appearing in this figure bear the same references.

The end 16d of the second tubular element 16 is milled to include a finger 41 with a slope 42. The slope 42 thus defined constitutes a cam surface on which permanently bears a pin 43 provided transversely in the recess 44a of a drawer radial 44 mounted with sealed sliding in a radial cylindrical bearing surface 45 of the end piece 2. A spring 46 constantly recalls the pin 43 in contact with the slope 42, the finger 41 being constantly housed in the recess 44a. One end 44b of the drawer 44 is provided with a very conspicuous marking 47 and can either be completely retracted into the element 2, or protrude out of it as illustrated by the figure In this case, it is recognized like in Figure 1, that 'No compressed gas savings are made.

It will be noted that the marking carried out on the organs of the visual witness can represent a scale, for example by means of stripes, the reading of which can approximately quantify the degree of saving in compressed gas achieved.

It should also be noted that it is advantageous to install the connector according to the invention as close as possible to the distributor.

Indeed, during the exhausting of the pipe by the distributor, there will be unnecessary and lost expansion of all the gas contained at high pressure between the distributor and the connector.

The invention finds an interesting application in the field of fittings. It is not limited to the description which has just been given, but on the contrary covers all the variants which could be made to it without departing from its scope or its spirit. Thus, we can provide as means of connection to the end pieces 1 and 2, all known male or female systems and their combination.

Claims (10)

R E V E N D I C A T I O N S 1. Compressed gas saver device intended to be installed on a pipe connecting the outlet of a distributor to the inlet of a user device, characterized in that it is constituted by a body (1, 2, 3 ) substantially longitudinal in which a first channel (la, 9 10, 28, 29, 24, 2a) is formed from a pre-cutesy end (1) of the body, provided with means of connection to said distributor, towards a second end (2) of the body, provided with means of connection to said pipe, this first channel passing through a seat (8) provides in said body which can also be closed by a valve (26) returned to said seat by an elastic return member (30), the effect is adjustable intensity by means of a manually controlled adjustment member and tends to oppose the lifting effort of the valve generated by the gas coming from the distributor, while a second channel (li); cleaning in the body, constitutes a derivation of said first channel bypassing the aforementioned valve provided with a unidirectional valve (12) whose passing direction is that of the gas coming from the user device, said adjusting member controlling an indicator means ( 21) in the form of a visual indicator immediately identifiable with respect to the external surface of the above-mentioned body. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is shaped as an in-line connection comprising at each of its ends a connecting end piece (1, 2) mounted for rotation at the ends of a central sleeve (3), said sleeve internally and integrally carrying a first tubular element 6, one end close to the connection end turned towards the distributor carries the seat (8) above radially and is provided with at least one lateral opening (11) connecting the space ( 10) interior of this element to the exterior space (7) delimited by its exterior surface ep the interior surface of the sleeve (3), while a second tubular element (16) mounted to slide axially in the first tubular element (6) and integral in rotation with the latter is shaped as a screw cooperating with an internal thread (17) of the connection end piece (2) turned towards the user device to constitute the aforementioned adjustment member, the valve ( 25, 26) being arranged mobil e axially between the aforementioned first and second tubular elements against a return spring (30) extending between said valve and the second tubular element b inside the latter, the unidirectional valve (12) being disposed between the connecting end piece (l) facing the distributor and the external surface of the above-mentioned end of the first tubular element (6). 3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that said one-way valve is constituted by a deformable air anal element (12, 35) placed in line with the lateral opening (11) of the first tubular element outside of the latter . 4. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that said one-way valve is constituted by at least one annular floating toroidal 6 ment (37.) placed on a groove-shaped seat whose walls (395 40) are defined by a part outer conical end of the first tubular element and by a conical surface formed in an inverted manner on the internal surface of the sleeve (3) on the distributor side. 5 Device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the valve is shaped as a valve whose head (26) carries, in a groove, an O-ring (27) capable of cooperating with the seat (8 ) aforesaid and whose rod (2D) is slidably mounted in the second tubular element (16) aforesaid, is hollow and whose interior space (29), communicate with the interior space (10) of the first tubular element constitutes a portion of the above-mentioned first channel and a housing for the return spring (30). 6. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second tubular element (16) is provided on the outside with a graduated mark (21) constituting the aforesaid visual indicator capable of moving axially relative to a window (22) formed in the end piece (2) facing the user device. 7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that said window is equipped with a magnifying glass (31). 8. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the second tubular element (16) aforesaid is provided with a finger (41) at a slope its end located in the end piece (2) of turned connection on the side of the user device cooperating with a contact element (43) carried by a slide (44) mounted with radial sliding in the end piece (2) and capable of projecting from the above end piece (2) to constitute said visual witness. 9. Device according to any one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that the above-mentioned outer sleeve (3) constitutes a member for rotating the second tubular element (16) by means of a polygonal coupling ( 13a) provided between the two tubular elements (6 and 16) and is provided for this purpose with a portion of knurled outer surface (3a). 10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that said sleeve can be immobilized in translation relative to said second tubular element by means of a locking member (22) which cannot be actuated manually.