US2546648A

US2546648A - Spring controlled guide rod for the oil port valve of an accumulator

Info

Publication number: US2546648A
Application number: US52054A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mercier Jean Georges; Edward M Greer
Original assignee: Greer Hydraulics Inc
Current assignee: Greer Hydraulics Inc
Priority date: 1948-09-30
Filing date: 1948-09-30
Publication date: 1951-03-27
Anticipated expiration: 1968-03-27

Description

ZJV'VEJV T0]? 5 EDWARD M. EH55]? JEA/V 5505555 MERZ'JSR' J. G. MERCIER ETAL SPRING CONTROLLED GUIDE ROD FOR THE OIL PORT VALVE OF AN ACCUMULATOR Filed Sept. 30, 1948 Match 27, 1951 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES QFFHCE.

SPRING.- GGNTRGLLED GUIDE ROD F03 THE OIL PORT VALVE 0F AN ACCUMULATOR Jean Georges Mercier, New York, and Edward M. Greer, W est Hempstead, N. 2.; said Edward M. Greer assignor to Greer Hydraulics, Ina,

Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application September 30, 1948, Serial No. 52,054

4 Claims.

port from closing same when the accumulator is completely exhausted.

In a hydraulic accumulator in which compressed air or gas is normally stored within the bladder or bag mounted inside the accumulator shell as an energy storage means, a fluid is forced into the fluid port of said accumulator shell at a pressure greater than the pre-loaded gas pressure charged within the bladder. In utilizing this device the accumulator is normally connected to a hydraulic system or device and with fluid charged under pressure within the accumulator, the system or device may be supplied by this stored pressure fluid as it is discharged from the accumulator whenever the fluid pressure in the system or device drops below the pressure of the fluid stored within the accumulator, this discharge being accomplished by the energy storage device (bladder). With a deformable bag or bladder, there is a tendency for the bag to force itself or cause the extrusion of the rubber of the bag through the fluid exhaust port after the fluid has been discharged from the accumulator. Various modifications have been attempted to prevent to th bag such as the pending applications of Edward M. Greer, Serial No. 664 893 filed April 25, 1946 and Serial No. 755,592 filed June 19, 1947 and as also illustrated in Patent No. 2,342,356 issued February 22, 1944 to Jean Mercier. However this undesirable tendency produces a stress on the portion of the bag nearest to the oil discharge port and it has been found that many of the bags in use do rupture at this particular point or area. tion there is provided a protective button afflxed to the portion of the bag nearest to the fluid exhaust port and although this accomplishes one means of preventing the extrusion of the bag or bladder through the discharge port, the undesirable stresses in this particular area of the bag stiil exist. In the other cpl-pending application, there is provided in addition to the protective button aflixed to the portion ofthe bag nearest to the fluid exhaust port a valve stem or guide rod with a resilient spring mounted between the exhaust port and the protective button or valve head, to thus resist the closing of the valve or button, to resist the normal tendency of the bag to be extruded or forced into In the one co-pending applica- I the exhaust port. Although this improvement does assist the bag or bladder in its final closing .of the fluid port, there is a great deal of stress produced about the periphery of the bag at the area adjacent to the fluid oil discharge port. The issued patent before mentioned illustrates a similar device in which the valve stem is not guided and the normal operation of the bag or bladder is quite similar to the pending applications mentioned. Unfortunately in a number of installations, the bag or bladder which is pro-designed with equally stressed Walls does not perform in the pre-determined manner of expanding and contracting in a perfect concentric formation, but rather assumes a 1opsided or twisted formation and in such defective formation, in the one instance with the protective button does not seat the button on the fluid exhaust port and the bag may be ruptured in such instance. Likewise in an installation similar to the patent mentioned when the bag or bladder is deformed, the valve rod between the lower portion of the bag and the valve seat will be twisted and thus prevent the valve from seating in a concentric manner and thus produce an unnatural stress in the bag which may cause a rupture in use. Similarly in the pending application in which the valve rod is guided within the discharge port when there is any fluid trapped such as when the accumulator is used in a horizontal position there may be a lop-sided or twisted formation of the bag or bladder, in such instance an unnatural stress is produced about the area of the bag adjacent the valve head and fluid discharge port.

It is an object of this invention to provide an accumulator having a deformable bag or bladder therein, with a fluid discharge port in one end thereof and a gas charging port at the other end thereof, in which a resilient restraining means is attached within the bag at the zone of the bag or bladder adjacent the fluid discharge end of the accumulator, and said resilient restraining means is provided to prevent the stresses in the bag or bladder about the area of the bag or bladder adjacent to the fluid discharge port.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a means mounted within a deformable bag or bladder in combination with the fluid discharge port of an accumulator to restrain the portion of the bag adjacent the fluid port from expanding to close said fluid port during the normal discharge of fluid from said accumulator.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a means mounted within a deformable bag or bladder in combination with the fluid discharge port of an accumulator to restrain the portion of the bag adjacent to the fluid 'port and prevent abnormal stress in the bag over the entire area between the central axis and the retained circumference of the bag.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an accumulator with a bag or bladder mounted therein in which the fluid discharge port of the accumulator provides a supporting means to affix the zone of the bag or bladder adjacent thereto in a resilient manner to prevent any abnormal stresses on the bag or bladder over the entire area between the central axis and the retained circumference of the bag or bladder.

Other objects of this invention will be apparent by reference to the accompanying detailed description and drawings in which Fig. 1 illustrates an accumulator with a deformable bag according to this invention, and

Fig. 2 illustrates a similar accumulator illustrating a further embodiment of this invention.

Referring to Fig. 1 there is illustrated an accumulator shell ill having two apertures H and i2 at opposite ends thereof in which a deformable bag I4 is mounted, the deformable bag having an air port 55 at one end thereof and a container It mounted within the bag at the opposite end thereof. The container it is formed either integral with the bag or aflixed thereto in any manner to retain the container in the position illustrated in the drawing. The end of the bag Hi at which the container ii; is affixed is provided with an aperture 9. The bag is mounted within the accumulator by passing same through the aperture l2 of the shell iii and passing the air valve l5 through the aperture i E and threadably securing and locking the air valve in place as indicated in the drawing. A resilient spring 8 is mounted within the container 16 and a piston rod 1 is mounted through the aperture 8 of the bag It, the piston rod 1 having a piston head 6 upon which the resilient spring 8 may be seated. A bushing 5 surrounding the rod '1 is affixed or sealed in the aperture 9. An oil port plug i8 is mounted in aperture l2 and the plug 58 is provided with a piston rod supporting disc 4 so that the piston rod 1 may be secured in any manner, such as threading into disc 5, as illustrated in the drawing. The disc 4 is provided with a plurality of bores 3; the bores 3 permit the fluid ingress and egress through the oil port plug. The oil port plug 18 when mounted in aperture i2 is provided with a split ring 19 which is compresse and passed through the aperture i2 and then spread into the position illustrated in the drawing to lock the plug l8 within the accumulator shell as illustrated. A seal 2% is positioned in the aperture 12 and a lock ring 2| is secured about the plug 18 to force the seal 20 into a tight relationship with the aperture l2 and the periphcry of the plug H3. The ring 2| may be locked in place by a lock nut 22 and the plug I8 may be provided with the usual fluid port 23.

It will be noted that the normal expansion and contraction of the bag l4 during the egress and ingress of fluid through the oil port plug l8 will cause a sliding engagement of the bushing 5 on the rod 1. At the same time the bag it expands, the spring 8 mounted within the container I6 will be compressed, or as the bag it contracts, the spring 8 will expand. Thus with a spring 8 of pre-determined characteristics the force of spring 8 when compressed can be pre-determined to be sufficient to prevent the normal expansion of the bag It to its full degree touching and closing the fluid discharge port; thus the restraining eifect of spring 8 is transmitted through the container 16 and its walls to the area of the bag or bladder adjacent to the fluid discharge port. It is also to be noted that with the bag or bladder l4 attached to the central axis of the accumulator, at one end by the air port plug it and by means of bushing 5 to the rod 7 on the central axis of the accumulator, the bag it is thus attached at both ends to the central axis of the accumulator, being aflixed at one end and slideably attached at the opposite end. Thus the normal expansion and contraction of the bag is retained in a concentric fashion. It is also to be noted that with the bag It formed slightly conical at the fluid discharge end that the normal expansion of the bag 14 is so designed that the bag walls will expand to a restrained position against the inner periphery of the shell 5% and normally remain restrained at that position allowing the remainder of the bag wall not in con tact with the shell wall to further expand until the complete bag wall is in contact with the inner periphery of the shell. During this expansion it is preferable to prevent any rubbing or abrasive movement between the exterior bag wall and the interior periphery of the shell; to insure this perfect expansion it is necessary to retain the bag end in this case the aperture 9 on the central axis of the accumulator. In this invention as illustrated the abnormal stresses that are created in the area of the bag nearest to the fluid discharge port are eliminated or at least greatly decreased due to the restraining effect of the container l5 and the resilient spring 8. Thus the bag id in this instance should perform in a normal manner to produce an unlimited length of operation without rupture and permit the most efficient use of the accumulator.

A further embodiment of this invention is illustrated in Fig. 2 in which similar structure is illustrated except that the spring 55A is a spring mounted to operate in tension rather than in compression; to insure this function of operation, the rod 1A is extended up into the container I6 and the spring 8A is affixed to the end of the rod 1A, the spring 8A being mounted about the,

rod 7A and at its opposite end it is afiixed to or embedded in the bag or bladder i i, otherwise, the construction of the accumulator remains the same as that illustrated in Fig. 1. In operation the bag or bladder I4 will expand or contract according to the egress or ingress of fluid through the fluid port [8 and during the expansion and contraction of bag It, spring EA will restrain the normal expansion of bag l4 and prevent bag M.

from touching and closing the fluid port 23. During the contraction of bag It, spring 8A will assist the bag in returning to a contracted position.

It is apparent that various changes and modifications may be made such as mounting any type of resilient means within the container it to perform similar to the resilient means illustrated without departing from the spirit of this invention and this invention shall be limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an accumulator comprising a shell having two ports, a deformable bag secured within said shell separating said two ports from each other, the deformable bag having an air valve which is mounted in the one port, the opposite end of said deformable bag having a sealed container mounted within said bag and an aperture connecting said container with the exterior of said bag, a fluid outlet plug mounted in the opposite port of the said shell, a piston rod affixed at the central axis of the fluid outlet plug and extending into said accumulator, said piston rod fitted through the aperture in said deformable bag, a piston head aflixed to the end of said piston rod within said container, a compression spring mounted in said container between the piston head and the opposite end of said container, means to expand said deformable bag within said shell, and means to restrain the area of said deformable bag adjacent to the fluid outlet plug from expanding to contact said fluid outlet port.

2. In an accumulator comprising a shell having two ports, a deformable bag secured within said shell separating said two ports from each other, the deformable bag having an air valve which is mounted in the one port, the opposite end of said deformable bag having a sealed container mounted within said bag and an aperture connecting said container with the exterior of said bag, a fluid outlet plug mounted in the opposite port of the said shell, a piston rod affixed at the central axis of the fluid outlet plug and a bushing mounted on said rod to reciprocate on same, said bushing being bonded to the aperture in said accumulator bag, said piston rod extending through said bushing into said container, a piston 6 l head aflixed to the end of said piston rod within said container, a compression spring mounted in said container between the piston head and the opposite end of said container, means to expand said deformable bag Within said shell, and means to restrain the area of said deformable bag adjacent to the fluid outlet plug from expanding to contact said fluid outlet port.

3. In a device according to claim 2 in which said container is formed of a non-resilient material and in which said container is affixed at its base to the interior surface of the bag at the zone that is adjacent to the fluid outlet plug.

4. In an accumulator comprising a shell having two ports, a deformable bag secured within said shell separating said two ports from each other, the deformable bag having an air valve which is mounted in the one port, the opposite end of said deformable bag having a sealed container mounted within said bag and an aperture connecting said container with the exterior of said bag, a fluid outlet plug mounted in the opposite port of the said shell, a piston rod affixed at the central axis of the fluid outlet plug and extending within said shell and into the container within said bag, said piston rod fitted through the aperture in said deformable bag, a tension spring mounted about said rod and afiixed at one end to said rod and at its opposite end affixed to the' bag, means to expand said deformable bag within said shell, and means to restrain the area of said deformable bag adjacent to the fluid outlet plug from expanding to contact said fluid outlet port.

JEAN GEORGES MERCIER. EDWARD M. GREER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,342,355 Mercier Feb. 22, 1944 2,342,356 Mercier Feb. 22, 1944