US20120279574A1

US20120279574A1 - Multiple reservoir device

Info

Publication number: US20120279574A1
Application number: US13/499,670
Authority: US
Inventors: Yann-Bor TWU
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-10-28
Filing date: 2009-10-28
Publication date: 2012-11-08
Also published as: EP2509891A1; WO2011051754A1; EP2509891A4; CN103153820A

Abstract

A multiple reservoir device comprises a storage space for concurrently reserving multiple substances is provided. The device preferably includes an accommodation module (2) and at least two extensible reservoir apparatuses (322) installed in the module. As one reservoir apparatus discharges part or all of the substance therein, the reservoir apparatus (322) contracts and releases space which, previously occupied by the removed substance, is now used for allowing another reservoir apparatus (322) to reserve substance and/or for allowing the accommodation module (2) to store foreign objects.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple reservoir device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a multiple reservoir device that utilizes extensible reservoir apparatuses to reserve different kinds of material in a same space wherein the space released by removing material from one reservoir apparatus and thereby contracting the reservoir apparatus is used for allowing another reservoir apparatus to reserve substance and/or for storing foreign objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common characteristic of conventional reservoir devices is that they have a storage space only either used for storing a substance or left unused. Although some reservoir devices have in their housing a flexible reservoir that bulges and contracts with the amount of substance therein, these devices still have the same above problem; their storage space cannot be exploited to accommodate more substances or any objects that do not belong to the reservoir device. Another commonly seen weakness is that these devices have a fixed volume housing for accommodating the reservoir and the substance reserved therein. The possibility of using the same space occupied by the housing to store other objects does not exist, even when the reservoir is empty or only minimally filled. These problems, therefore, lead to a low flexibility of using space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A multiple reservoir device comprises a storage space for concurrently reserving multiple substances is provided. The device preferably includes an accommodation module (2) and at least two extensible reservoir apparatuses (3R) installed in the module. The multiple reservoir device may also comprise a transportation module (4) for transporting substance into and out of a reservoir apparatus (3R). As one reservoir apparatus (3R) discharges part or all of its reserved substance, it contracts and releases the space previously occupied by the removed substance for allowing another reservoir apparatus (3R) to reserve substance and/or for allowing the accommodation module (2) to store objects. The multiple reservoir device may further comprise a processor (412) for processing substance before it is reserved or discharged. A rotating means (35) may be added for rotating the reservoir apparatuses (3R) to, for example, mix and blend reserved substances. The accommodation module (2) may also be made extensible so that it has a relatively contracted form while its storage space is not fully occupied. This therefore offers the possibility of releasing room for more flexible use of space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustration of a multiple reservoir device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 1, wherein a configuration of a mobile partition separating the interior space of the accommodation module into two storage spaces is depicted;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 1, wherein a configuration of a fully filled reservoir overlying the other empty one is depicted;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 4, taken along the line IV-IV;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustration of a multiple reservoir device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 6, wherein the bottom reservoir is fully filled;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustration of a multiple reservoir device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a top view illustration a multiple reservoir device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial schematic structural view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 9, wherein only one reservoir apparatus is shown;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional perspective view illustration of the reservoir apparatus in FIG. 10, taken along the line X-X;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of a multiple reservoir device according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in

FIG. 12, taken along the line XII-XII;

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of a multiple reservoir device installed on a truck according to another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional side view illustration of the multiple reservoir device in FIG. 14, taken along the line XIV-XIV.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is noted that the number of the extensible reservoir apparatuses in each of the following embodiments is for illustrative purposes and can be changed; features from different embodiments may be employed in combination. It is further noted that throughout this text and the appended claims, for purposes of clarity and consistency, the term “storage” is used to describe features regarding the accommodation module 2, and the verb “store” and its verbals are used to refer to the functions thereof; the term “reservoir” is used to designate components of the reservoir module 3, and the verb “reserve” and its verbals are used to refer to the functions thereof; the term “processor” may be interpreted to include, but not be limited to, a mixer, a grinder, a filter, and a blender, for example; the meaning of the verb “contract” and its other word formations, while used to refer to the functions of the reservoir 3RR, may be interpreted to include the meaning of the verb “collapse” and its other word formations.
The multiple reservoir device according to the present invention includes an accommodation module 2 that can take various shapes and forms such as, but not limited to, a luggage and a tank; a reservoir module 3 that is installed in the housing 2H of the accommodation module 2 and has at least two extensible reservoir apparatuses 3R for reserving substances; and a transportation module 4 comprising a pumping means 4P for transporting substances into and out of the reservoir apparatuses 3R. Each of the reservoir apparatuses 3R has a reservoir capacity that can exploit all the storage space of the accommodation module 2, and has a reservoir 3RR that may be made of materials such as, but not limited to, rubber, plastic, and balloon which are collapsible, resilient, and/or airtight. The reservoir 3RR can be so made that, whether reserving substance, it always contracts to a minimum possible size without applying any external force thereto. (In the embodiments hereinafter, instead of 2H, the numbers 21, 22, 23, and 24 are used to designate housings; instead of 3R, the numbers 31, 32, 33, and 34 are used to designate reservoir apparatuses; instead of 3RR, the numbers 31 a, 31 b, 31 c, 321, 324, 331, and 341 are used to designate reservoirs; instead of 4P, the numbers 411, 413, 426 and 43 are used to designate pumping means.)
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, in this embodiment the accommodation module 2 comprises a housing 21 whose interior space is divided by a vertical partition 216 and a horizontal partition 217 into a first space 211, a second space 212, and a third space 213, all of which are used for storing objects. The housing 21 further has a cover 215 used for covering the housing 21 and a mobile partition 214 used for separating the third space 213 into a storage space 213A used for storing two reservoir apparatuses 31 which have a reservoir 31 a connected to a pipe 311 and a reservoir 3 lb connected to another pipe 311 respectively, and a space 213B which is used for storing foreign objects (FIGS. 2, 3). While the reservoirs 31 a, 31 b and the substances reserved therein do not occupy the whole third space 213, the space 213B that is partitioned out by the mobile partition 214 can be used for storing foreign objects. FIGS. 2 and 3 depict the device's embodied practice of accommodating both the device's parts and foreign objects (two cylinders).
Referring to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, each of the pipes 311 is connected to a pumping means 411 installed in the first space 211 for transporting substance into and out of a reservoir. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, while the reservoir 3 lb is filled with substance, it will overlie the other relatively flat reservoir 31 a, and while the third space 213 is fully occupied, no space is available for any foreign objects and the two cylinders are therefore removed from the multiple reservoir device.
In the case that the reserved substance needs to be processed (e.g., mixed, ground, pulverized, blended, filtered, etc.) before being transported out of the device, a processor 412 connected to the pumping means 411 with the pipes 312 can be added, and in the case that two substances need to be mixed, for example, and reserved before being sent out, a reservoir 31 c (not depicted) can be added such that the substances withdrawn from the reservoirs 31 a and 31 b are mixed by the processor 412 and pumped into the reservoir 31 c. Because the total volume of the reserved substances does not change, the multiple reservoir device can process them and simultaneously reserve them using the same storage space. The same processor 412 can be added to every of the following embodiments and will not be repeated hereafter.
In this embodiment, the housing 21 can take the form of an extensible luggage, thus adding flexibility to the volume of the present invention's storage space. As mechanisms for extending and contracting an extensible luggage are commonly seen and easy to achieve, they will not be described herein.
Referring to FIGS. 6, and 7, in this embodiment the accommodation module 2 comprises a cylindrical extensible housing 22, whose interior storage space 226 is defined by a cover 221, a base wall 222, a lower sidewall 223, and an upper sidewall 224 which has a diameter greater than that of the lower sidewall 223 and which, together with the cover 221, moves up and down to change the interior space 226. The reservoir module 3 comprises three mobile extensible reservoir apparatuses 32, each of which includes a reservoir 321, an extensible hose 323, and a round reservoir base 322 with a sidewall on the rim of and perpendicular to its base. The reservoir 321 is sealed to the sidewall, and the hose 323 installed on the sidewall is in fluid communication with the interior reservoir space of the reservoir 321 and is connected to a pumping means 413, which is used for transporting substance into and out of the reservoir 321 through the hose 323 and an external hose 414. A mobile partition 225 which has the same function as that of the mobile partition 214 in the previous embodiment is included such that the interior space 226 can be used for accommodating both the reservoir apparatuses 32 and foreign objects.
FIG. 6 shows that the interior storage space above the mobile partition 225 is used to store two foreign objects, namely a cylinder and a rectangular block. FIG. 7 shows changes after the reservoir apparatus 32 at the bottom is filled with substance and the two foreign objects are removed. Now the upper two reservoir apparatuses 32 are lifted by the fully filled reservoir 321 underneath, the hoses 323 of the lifted apparatuses extend accordingly, and the cover 221 and the upper sidewall 224 are raised to depict how the interior space 226 changes with the movement thereof. The mobile partition 225 is removed to show the top portion of the uppermost reservoir 321.
The housings of the accommodation module 2 in the following embodiments can all be made extensible as those mentioned above; therefore, the detail regarding this feature will not be repeated hereinafter.
A further embodiment of a multiple reservoir device according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 8 and is identical to that described above with respect to FIGS. 6 and 7, except as regards certain details of the reservoir 321, which is replaced with the reservoir 324 that takes the form of bellows. Now the reservoir module 3 comprises two extensible reservoir apparatuses 32, both of which are partially filled. The cover 221 and the upper sidewall 224 are raised such that a cylinder may be placed in the interior space on the mobile partition 225.
Referring to FIGS. 9, 10, and 11, in this embodiment two extensible reservoir apparatuses 33, each of which has a bellows reservoir 331 and a reservoir support 332 with a nozzle 334 installed at its bottom, are included in the housing 23. The transportation module 4 is installed below the reservoir apparatuses 33 and includes a fixed upper disk 421, a mobile lower disk 422, a plurality of upper connecting nozzles 423, a plurality of lower connecting nozzles 424, a plurality of extensible hoses 425, a pumping means 426, and a positioning means 427. The upper and lower connecting nozzles 423, 424 are fixed on the upper and lower disks 421, 422, respectively; the nozzle 334 is connected to an upper connecting nozzle 423 by a flexible hose 335. The pumping means 426 has a plurality of pumps, each of which is connected to a lower connecting nozzle 424 and a hose 425 for pumping substance into and out of a reservoir 331. The positioning means 427 is used for positioning and connecting a lower connecting nozzle 424 to a target upper connecting nozzle 423 by turning and elevating the lower disk 422 to transport substance into and out of the reservoir 331 connecting to the target upper connecting nozzle 423.
Referring to FIG. 11, the reservoir 331 and the reservoir support 332 are sealed together to form an interior extensible reservoir space 333 such that the nozzle 334 is the only passage through which the reservoir space 333 is in fluid communication with its exterior and through which substance can come into and out of the reservoir space 333. While substance is being filled into the reservoir space 333, the reservoir 331 is correspondingly bulging with its outer portion expanding in the direction indicated by the arrow D along the circular inner contour (not depicted) of the housing 23, and extracting the same substance out of the reservoir 331 will cause it to contract in the reverse direction indicated by the arrow E. Thus, the extensible nature of the reservoir 331 offers a flexibility of exploiting the interior of the housing 23.
Referring to FIGS. 12, and 13, in this embodiment the accommodation module 2 comprises a cylindrical housing 24 whose interior space is defined by a front wall 241, a rear wall 242, and a sidewall 243 whose bottom portion has a slide groove 244 attached thereto for allowing a mobile pumping means 43, which has at least one protrusible nozzle 431 (four nozzles depicted therein) and is used for transporting substance into and out of a reservoir 341 through a nozzle 431 and an extensible hose 432, to move back and forth therein. The reservoir module 3 comprises four mobile extensible reservoir apparatuses 34 installed horizontally side by side in the housing 24, each of which includes a bellows reservoir 341, a round reservoir base 342 with a sidewall on the rim of and perpendicular to its base, a round reservoir board 343, a vent 344, and a rotating means 35 (not depicted) which comprises a plurality of rollers 351, a motor roller 352, and a turntable 353 (depicted).
The reservoir 341, whose left and right rims are sealed to the sidewall of the reservoir base 342 and the rim of the reservoir board 343 respectively, is sandwiched between the reservoir base 342 and the reservoir board 343. The vent 344 is installed on the sidewall and is opened only when one of the nozzles 431 of the pumping means 43 protrudes to insert therein.
The turntable 353 of a reservoir apparatus 34 is attached to the reservoir base 342 thereof; the rollers 351 are installed along the rims of the reservoir base 342 and the reservoir board 343. The rollers 351, along with the turntable 353, are used for allowing the reservoir apparatus 34 to rotate and move back and forth freely without rubbing its other parts against the components of other modules. The motor roller 352 included in the rotating means 35 is installed on the sidewall and is used for rotating the reservoir apparatus 34 by rolling itself against the sidewall 243 to help process the substance therein. To better achieve the function of the motor roller 352, the rotating means 35 may use a remote controller (not depicted), which may be included in the programmable logic controller (PLC) C mentioned bellow, to control the motor roller 352. Thus one reservoir apparatus 34 can rotate individually without affecting others. The spaces for accommodating the rollers 351 and the motor roller 352 can be easily partitioned and sealed out within the interior space along the rims of the base 342 and the reservoir board 343 such that the exterior configuration is that shown in FIGS. 12, and 13; thus the interior configuration will not be depicted herein.
To pump substance into and out of a reservoir apparatus 34, the pumping means 43 and the motor roller 352 function together so that the vent 344 is rotated to the bottom first, then one nozzle 431 is positioned in the vent 344, and then the pumping means 43 starts to pump. These functions can be achieved by using sensors, motors, and a programmable logic controller C (not depicted), the detail of which will not be described herein however.
A further embodiment of a multiple reservoir device according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 and is identical to that described above with respect to FIGS. 12 and 13, except as regards certain details of the rotating means. Instead of rollers and motor rollers, a motor 354 installed on the lower part of the front wall 241, and a rotating rod 355 r and a plurality of free rolling rods 355 so positioned in the housing 24 as depicted in the figures are used for rotating and supporting the reservoir apparatuses 34. The rotating rod 355 r is attached to and turned by the motor 354 to rotate the reservoir apparatuses 34. A luggage is placed in the housing 24 and the whole multiple reservoir device is installed on a truck to depict the flexible application of the present invention.
While several embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, various modifications and improvements can be made by those skilled in the art. The embodiments of the present invention are therefore described in an illustrative, but not restrictive, sense. It is intended that the present invention may not be limited to the particular forms as illustrated, and that all additions, deletions, and modifications which maintain the spirit and scope of the present invention are within the scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A multiple reservoir device comprising:

an accommodation module comprising a housing having a storage space;

a reservoir module installed in the accommodation module comprising at least two extensible reservoir apparatuses, each having an extensible reservoir for reserving substance, the reservoir apparatuses having a relatively contracted form when the reservoir is empty and a relatively extended form when the reservoir is at least partially filled; and

a transportation module comprising a pumping means for connecting to the reservoir apparatuses and transporting substances into and out of the reservoir apparatuses.

2. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the accommodation module comprises a mobile partition for separating a storage space of the housing into a storage space for storing reservoir apparatuses and a storage space for storing foreign objects.

3. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 2, wherein the housing is an extensible housing having an extensible storage space.

4. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the housing is an extensible housing having an extensible storage space.

5. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir always contracts to a minimum possible size without applying any external force thereto.

6. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir is a bellows.

7. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, comprising a positioning means for connecting the pumping means to the reservoir apparatuses.

8. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, comprising a processor for processing substances being transported into and out of the reservoirs.

9. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, comprising a rotating means for rotating the reservoir apparatuses.

10. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 9, wherein each of the reservoir apparatuses comprises a reservoir sandwiched between a round reservoir base and a round reservoir board.

11. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 10, wherein the rotating means comprises a motor roller and a plurality of rollers installed on the round reservoir base and the round reservoir board.

12. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 10, wherein each apparatus comprises a vent for allowing substance to pass therethrough to enter and leave an extensible reservoir.

13. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 10, wherein the rotating means comprises:

a rotating rod and a plurality of rolling rods, for supporting and rotating the reservoir apparatuses; and

a motor, for turning the rotating rod to rotate the reservoir apparatuses.

14. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir apparatuses are mobile.

15. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 14, wherein each of the reservoir apparatuses comprises an extensible hose connected to the transportation module.

16. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the pumping means is mobile.

17. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 16, wherein the accommodation module comprises a slide groove for allowing the pumping means to move back and forth therein.

18. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 16, comprising a positioning means for connecting the pumping means to the reservoir apparatuses.

19. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 18, the positioning means comprising at least one protrusible nozzle for connecting to the reservoir apparatuses.

20. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, comprising a controller for controlling the reservoir module and the transportation module.

21. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein the housing is a luggage.

22. The multiple reservoir device according to claim 1, wherein each of the reservoir apparatuses has a reservoir capacity that can exploit all the storage space of the housing.

23. A method of transporting substance into and out of a reservoir comprising the steps of:

a. positioning the vent of the reservoir to the bottom of the reservoir space thereof;

b. connecting the pumping means to the vent; and

c. pumping substance into and out of the reservoir through the vent.

24. A method of transporting substance into a reservoir comprising the steps of:

a. positioning the vent of the reservoir to the top of the reservoir space thereof;

b. connecting the pumping means to the vent; and

c. pumping substance into the reservoir through the vent.