JPS627038Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention is for supplying a gas body from a high-pressure gas cylinder such as a carbon dioxide gas cylinder or a nitrogen cylinder to an appropriate pressure through a pressure-reducing valve to other equipment. This invention relates to a scheduled remaining gas amount detection valve that enables detection of the remaining amount of gas.

Generally, high-pressure gas cylinders have a sealed shape, and it has often been inconvenient that the remaining amount cannot be determined while the gas cylinder is being used, and the high-pressure gas cylinder becomes empty, making it impossible to use the equipment. The present invention is used to remove the gas from a high-pressure gas cylinder by reducing the pressure.An example of the device will be described as an apparatus for pressurizing, pressurizing, and dispensing keg draft beer using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder. .

An example of application of the scheduled remaining gas amount detection valve according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, carbon dioxide gas, which has been reduced to an appropriate pressure by a pressure reducing valve 2, is introduced from a carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 into a beer barrel 4 through a gas hose 3, pressurizes the draft beer in the beer barrel 4, and then flows into a supply hose 5. In a pouring device that pours out draft beer by opening and closing a pouring pot after the draft beer is guided to a pouring machine 6, a valve capable of detecting the remaining amount of carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is provided. This is what we provide. Conventionally, when pouring and selling draft beer, as shown in Figure 1, a pressure reducing valve 2 is installed in a carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1.
is installed directly, and the pressure is adjusted to an appropriate pressure using a pressure reducing valve 2, and the draft beer in the beer barrel 4 is pressurized, squeezed out, and poured out.When the beer barrel 4 is empty, it is replaced with a new beer barrel 4 and put on sale. Ta. While the product is being sold, the carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is released and the product is finally emptied. Once the carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is empty, the draft beer in the beer barrel 4 cannot be squeezed out, so it is necessary to always have a spare carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 available. When carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 was empty, it was replaced with a spare carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 and draft beer was poured out and sold. In the case of the device shown in Fig. 1, the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 and the pressure reducing valve 2 are essential, and the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 mentioned above is indispensable.
Considering the reserve, two carbon dioxide gas cylinders 1 are required for each device. Additionally, there are now more than 100,000 draft beer stores across the country, which requires more than 200,000 carbon dioxide gas cylinders.

Therefore, in the conventional device, the pressure reducing valve 2 is equipped with a pressure gauge that indicates the filling gas pressure in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 (primary side pressure of the pressure reducing valve 2) and a pressure that is adjusted to be supplied after pressure reduction (the secondary side pressure of the pressure reducing valve 2). However, due to the popularization of draft beer sales and ease of handling, the pressure adjustment knob of the pressure reducing valve 2 was replaced with a pressure scale marked on the pressure reducing valve body. Gaugeless pressure reducing valves that can be adjusted according to the current situation have come into use. Therefore, when using a conventional pressure reducing valve, it was possible to estimate the amount of remaining gas in the carbon dioxide cylinder 1 using a pressure gauge that indicates the primary side pressure of the pressure reducing valve 2. When the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 becomes empty, it becomes impossible to press out draft beer without noticing it until it is empty.If you do not have a spare carbon dioxide gas cylinder, you will not be able to pour out draft beer while the carbon dioxide cylinder is being removed. It was hot. Furthermore, as is well known, draft beer contains a certain amount of carbon dioxide gas, which is an essential element for maintaining the taste and quality of draft beer. beer barrel 4
Alternatively, when storing the liquid in a large beer tank etc. and dispensing it by pressure, it is possible to maintain a constant amount of carbon dioxide gas contained in the draft beer by supplying carbon dioxide gas at a pressure that matches the temperature of the draft beer. is important.
When the carbon dioxide cylinder 1 for extrusion becomes empty and carbon dioxide gas cannot be replenished, it becomes so-called "dry beer," which means that carbon dioxide is released from the draft beer, resulting in a draft beer with a significantly deteriorated taste. There are also problems such as draft beer that does not have any foam when served and has a reduced commercial value.

In order to solve these problems, it is necessary to prepare a new carbon dioxide gas cylinder as a spare, and as mentioned above, a large number of cylinders are required, and the equipment cost is also enormous. Furthermore, since carbon dioxide gas cylinders are high-pressure containers, they require periodic inspections and tests, and must meet legal certification (High Pressure Gas Control Act, etc.), making their management a difficult task. In addition, there are various problems such as complicated distribution operations for selling draft beer.

This invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide remaining in a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, specifically, to leave a certain amount of carbon dioxide that can be used to squeeze out several beer barrels. After that, the amount of gas left in the cylinder is detected, and the gas is then supplied to the equipment until the cylinder is empty by simply operating the switching shaft installed on the valve body without removing any fittings at the inlet/outlet of the planned gas remaining amount detection valve. The aim is to provide a scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve that enables this.

Figures 1 to 5 below show an embodiment of the present invention.
The diagram will be explained. Note that the same members as those in FIG. 1 will be described with the same reference numerals. In FIG. 2, joints 9 and 1 are connected between the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 and the pressure reducing valve 2.
A scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve 8 having a valve body 11 that is tightened at 0 is provided, and this expected gas remaining amount detection valve 8 detects the remaining amount of carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1.

Next, FIG. 3 showing the configuration of the scheduled remaining gas amount detection valve 8 will be described. In FIG. 3, the inside of the valve body 11 of the scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve 8 has a small diameter gas flow path 12 that allows the gas body of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 to flow to the primary side of the pressure reducing valve 2. Road 1
A large-diameter flow path 13 communicating with 2 is provided.
A switching shaft 15 is inserted into a hole 14 provided in the valve body 11 so as to be perpendicular to the flow path 12, and the switching shaft 15 is provided with O-rings 16a and 16b on the outer periphery of its large diameter portion 15a. This prevents the carbon dioxide gas in the flow path 12 from leaking into the atmosphere. Further, the switching shaft 15 is rotatably attached to the valve body 11 by its large diameter portion 15a and a positioning member of a retaining ring 17 sandwiched between the large diameter portion 15a. A portion 15b of the switching shaft 15 is formed as an eccentric narrow diameter portion, constitutes a flow path 18, and communicates with the flow path 12.

A sealing member 1 is provided in the flow path 13 of the valve body 11.
9 and a protrusion 20a, the sliding piece 20 is adapted to the pressing force of a compression spring 22 interposed between the adjustment screw 21 screwed into the opening 13a of the flow path 13. Accordingly, the channels 12 and 1
The sealing member 19 is in contact with the valve seat 23 formed at the stepped portion of No. 3. Further, the adjustment screw 21 has a flow path 24 therein, and adjusts the pressing force of the compression spring 22. Reference numeral 25 denotes a threaded portion of the valve body 11, and the pressing force of the compression spring 22 is set to a carbon dioxide gas pressure that can process several beer barrels (pressing out the draft beer in the beer barrels).

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained. First, when the gas remaining amount detection valve 8 is connected to the main stop of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 filled with carbon dioxide gas through the joint 9, the high pressure carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is passed through the flow path 1.
is introduced into the flow path 18 via the outer periphery of the eccentric narrow diameter portion 15a of the switching shaft 15. Since the introduced high pressure gas pressure exceeds the pressing force of the compression spring 22, the equilibrium relationship between the carbon dioxide gas pressure and the compression spring 22 is broken, and the sliding piece 20 moves to the right against the compression spring 22. pushed into. As a result, the seal member 19 separates from the valve seat 23, so that the flow path 1
8 and 13 are connected, and the high-pressure carbon dioxide gas in the flow path 12 flows out from the flow path 13 through the flow path 24 of the adjustment screw 21 to the flow path opening 13a. The high-pressure carbon dioxide gas in the flow path opening 13 is guided to the primary side of the pressure reducing valve 2, reduced to an appropriate pressure by the pressure reducing valve 2, and introduced into the beer barrel 4 via the gas hose 3 from the secondary side pressure section. The draft beer in the beer barrel 4 is pressurized by this depressurized carbon dioxide gas and is forced out through the supply hose 5 and injected into the brewing machine 6. By opening and closing the pouring kettle 7, draft beer with foam is produced. It is extruded and poured out.

Therefore, as the draft beer from the pouring machine 6 continues to be squeezed out, the amount of carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 decreases.
Moreover, the gas pressure also gradually decreases. Following this decrease in gas pressure within the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1, the gas pressure in the flow path 18 decreases. If the gas pressure in this flow path 18 is lower than the pressing force of the compression spring 22, the fourth
As shown in the figure, the equilibrium relationship between the gas pressure acting on the sliding piece 20 and the compression spring 22 is opposite to that shown in FIG. Since it comes into contact with the valve seat 23 and disconnects the flow paths 18 and 13, the outflow of the carbon dioxide gas in the flow path 12 to the flow path 13 is blocked, making it impossible for the brewer 6 to press out draft beer. .

When the expected remaining gas amount detection valve 8 is closed, there remains an amount of carbon dioxide gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 that is sufficient to process several beer barrels 4. At this point, it is sufficient to prepare a spare carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1. In other words, a warning signal to "prepare a spare carbon dioxide gas cylinder" is given by blocking the outflow of carbon dioxide gas. Therefore, the conventional situation where draft beer cannot be squeezed out until a new carbon dioxide cylinder 1 is installed when the carbon dioxide gas runs out is eliminated.

What is shown in FIG. 5 is the operation after the outflow of carbon dioxide gas is temporarily closed in FIG. The eccentric narrow diameter portion 15b of the switching shaft 15 mechanically moves the sliding piece 20 to the right while contacting the projection 20a of the sliding piece 20. Due to this movement of the sliding piece 20, the sealing member 19
is away from the valve seat 23 and the channels 18 and 13 are connected, allowing the carbon dioxide in the channel 12 to flow out to the channel 13, until the remaining amount of carbon dioxide in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is exhausted again. This makes it possible to extrude draft beer.

Therefore, the eccentric narrow diameter portion 15b of the switching shaft 15 pivots at the center of the switching shaft 15, thereby pressing the protruding portion of the sliding piece 20 or separating it from the protruding portion 20a, as shown in the difference between FIGS. 4 and 5. This provides a cam mechanism that mechanically separates the seal member 19 of the sliding piece 20 from the valve seat 23 and allows carbon dioxide to flow out regardless of the pressing force of the compression spring 22.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the adjusting screw 21 screwed into the flow path opening 13a of the valve body 11 was provided so as to be adjustable in order to adjust the compression force of the compression spring 22. However, the adjustment screw 21 does not need to be adjustable; in other embodiments, the valve body 1
1, or by providing a fixing member such as an E-ring 26 with a compression spring 22 attached to the valve body 11 as shown in Fig. 6, a certain amount of gas remaining in the high-pressure gas cylinder can be detected. It is possible to do so.

Furthermore, in FIG. 2 of the above-described embodiment, the scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve 8 is connected to the joint 9, 1 between the main valve of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 and the primary side pressure of the pressure reducing valve 2.
0 is shown, but it is not necessarily necessary to have the above-mentioned configuration, and one side of the scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve 8 can be connected to the main stop of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 with a joint 9. It is also possible to connect the other side directly to the primary side pressure part of the pressure reducing valve 2 with the threaded part 25 of the valve body 11, and to integrate the expected gas remaining amount detection valve 8 and the pressure reducing valve 2, as described above. Needless to say, the same effects as those of the embodiment described above can be obtained.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the remaining amount of gas in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder, and after that, it is possible to detect the amount of gas remaining in the carbon dioxide gas cylinder by simply operating the switching shaft without removing any fittings at the inlet/outlet of the scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve. It is possible to supply gas to the equipment until the bottle is empty, and during this time it is possible to fill the next unused carbon dioxide gas cylinder, which prevents the inability to pour beer or empty beer due to a sudden gas shortage as in the past. This has the effect of making it possible to prevent this from occurring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic system diagram of a conventional device for dispensing barreled beer using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a dispensing device showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Figs. 3 to 5 FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the expected gas remaining amount detection valve in the pouring device of FIG. 2, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the expected gas remaining amount sensing valve showing another embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Carbon dioxide gas cylinder, 8... Scheduled gas remaining amount detection valve, 11... Valve body, 12, 13, 18... Channel, 15... Switching shaft, 19... Seal member, 20
... Sliding piece, 21 ... Adjustment screw, 22 ... Compression spring, 26 ... E-ring.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A device for taking a gas body out of a high-pressure gas cylinder for use, the gas passage having one end connected to the gas supply port of the high-pressure gas cylinder, receiving the gas body from the high-pressure gas cylinder, and discharging the gas body from the other end. and a valve main body having a valve seat in the middle of the gas flow path, which is opposed to the valve seat and is pressed toward the valve seat by a compression spring, and when the gas pressure in the gas flow path is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, the gas a sliding piece having a sealing member that opens against the compression spring under pressure; and a sliding piece that is attached to the valve body so as to intersect at right angles to the gas flow path of the valve body and that can come into contact with a part of the sliding piece. and a switching shaft configured to allow the sliding piece to be separated from the valve seat against the compression spring by an operation from the outside of the valve body.