Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67D—DISPENSING, DELIVERING OR TRANSFERRING LIQUIDS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B67D7/00—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids from bulk storage containers or reservoirs into vehicles or into portable containers, e.g. for retail sale purposes
  • B67D7/06—Details or accessories
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67D—DISPENSING, DELIVERING OR TRANSFERRING LIQUIDS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B67D7/00—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids from bulk storage containers or reservoirs into vehicles or into portable containers, e.g. for retail sale purposes
  • B67D7/002—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids from bulk storage containers or reservoirs into vehicles or into portable containers, e.g. for retail sale purposes using articulated pipes
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B67—OPENING, CLOSING OR CLEANING BOTTLES, JARS OR SIMILAR CONTAINERS; LIQUID HANDLING
  • B67D—DISPENSING, DELIVERING OR TRANSFERRING LIQUIDS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B67D9/00—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids when loading or unloading ships
  • B67D9/02—Apparatus or devices for transferring liquids when loading or unloading ships using articulated pipes

Definitions

• the invention relates to the transfer of fluid, liquid or gaseous products between a base and a mobile tank, for example a tank on board a truck or on a railway wagon.
• These fluid products can be of very varied types, for example but not limited to petroleum products, such as gasoline or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in particular, or chemicals, acids or solvents in particular.
• LPG liquefied petroleum gas
• these fluid products are mainly liquid, but are generally in equilibrium with a gas phase, so that, rather than speaking of liquid products, it is more accurate to speak of fluid products; sometimes it is necessary to transfer these two liquid and gaseous phases separately.
• Fluid product transfer devices often called transfer arms or loading / unloading arms, are thus of two possible types: either they have a flexible part, which poses possible problems of resistance to aging, or they are made up of a succession of at least two tubular sections articulated to one another.
• the fluids transfer arms must therefore, in practice, be brought into an appropriate configuration, when preparing a transfer operation, so as to bring a free end of this arm (the other end being generally connected permanently at the base) opposite the connection flange of the tank concerned.
• This operation is generally carried out by an operator, and it is desirable that this one is not obliged to deploy too great efforts.
• a motorized control of a liquid product transfer arm which avoids any effort on the part of the operators, is however difficult to implement, given the difficulty of bringing the end, automatically free of the arm facing precisely the connection flange; this supposes a great mastery of the automaton controlling the configuration of the arm, and therefore possibly long and costly training of the operator. In any event, such a motorized control involves significant costs.
• a first category of balancing device uses one or more counterweights which are fixed opposite the arm part to be balanced. This solution, quite effective, is nevertheless cumbersome in practice.
• balancing device involves springs, for example steel torsion springs, most often in a cylindrical helix, attached to the rotary joint or inside it; it can also be torsion springs in steel in Archimedes spiral or in hyperbolic spiral.
• springs for example steel torsion springs, most often in a cylindrical helix, attached to the rotary joint or inside it; it can also be torsion springs in steel in Archimedes spiral or in hyperbolic spiral.
• balancing device uses a steel compression spring, often located along the part of the arm to be balanced or in a device called balancing box or spring box, fixed on the part of arm to be balanced.
• Yet another category of balancing device uses steel tension springs often also located along the arm.
• balancing device uses cylinders, for example nitrogen, pneumatic, hydraulic, or electric.
• this balancing device comprises a U-shaped spring, having two branches, the ends of which are each connected to a respective section. It will be appreciated, in particular, that this U-shaped spring can act as well in approaching, or away from these branches, so that this spring has a substantially symmetrical behavior when the tubular sections move one relative to the another on either side of a rest configuration. According to preferred arrangements of the invention which may be combined:
• Each end of the U-shaped spring is articulated on its respective section, around an axis parallel to the axis of the rotary joint;
• At least one of the ends of the U-shaped spring comprises a plurality of housings for the reception of a member for its connection to the respective tubular section;
• each of the ends of the branches of the U-shaped spring comprises a plurality of housings for the reception of a member for its connection to the respective tubular section; -
• the two tubular sections are respectively provided, on both sides of the rotating joint, with attachment lugs shaped so that the two branches of the U-shaped spring are substantially arranged in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of the Turning joint ;
• FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of articulated arm for transferring liquid products according to the invention
• FIG. 1 is a top view of this articulated arm for transferring liquid products
• FIG. 3 is a side view of this articulated transfer arm.
• FIG. 4 is a side view of the U-shaped spring which comprises the articulated arm of FIGS. 1 to 3.
• Figures 1 to 3 partially show a transfer arm for fluid, liquid or gaseous products, comprising a first tubular section 1, a second tubular section 2, a rotary joint 3 with a horizontal axis, and a balancing device 4 connected to each of the tubular sections to compensate for variations in torque (due to gravity) around the axis of the rotary joint during a relative rotation between the sections around this horizontal axis.
• the first tubular section 1 is horizontal and has a 90 ° bend designated under the reference 5, connected to a second rotating joint 6 with a vertical axis.
• This second rotary joint 6 is in turn connected to the rotary joint 3 of horizontal axis by a second right angle bend
• the second tubular section 2 in the configuration shown in the figures, is horizontal, parallel to the first tubular section 1.
• This second tubular section 2 ends at its left end with a third 90 ° bend marked 8 which is connected to the rotating joint 3.
• the second tubular section 2 can take any angular orientation (within of course a given clearance), both in azimuth and in elevation , compared to the first tubular section 1.
• the elbow 7 which is connected to each of the rotary joints 3 and 6 constitutes in itself a tubular section, which is connected to the second tubular section 2 by a rotary joint of horizontal axis.
• the balancing device 4 is connected to each of these tubular sections 2 and 7. It is therefore indirectly that this balancing device is connected to the tubular section 1, but, insofar as the rotary joint 6 has a vertical axis , no balancing effort is necessary to take account of variations in angular position during rotation of this rotary joint.
• This balancing device essentially consists of a U-shaped spring 10, having two branches 11 and 12, in practice parallel to each other in the rest configuration of the spring, the ends 11A and 12A of which are each connected to one, respectively, of sections 2 and 7.
• each of these ends of the U-shaped spring is articulated on its respective section, around an axis parallel to the axis of the rotary joint.
• the ends of this spring can be connected to the section without being free to rotate, but by deformation of these ends alone.
• At least one of the ends of the branches of the U-shaped spring comprises a plurality of housings for the reception of a member intended for its connection to the respective tubular section, for example the aforementioned pin 13 or 14.
• each of the ends of the branches of the spring has such a plurality of housings.
• each of the ends of the branches of the spring comprises a block
• blocks 15 and 16 are, in the example of Figure 4, reported at the ends of the branches of the spring 10, more precisely on the internal side of these branches. This corresponds to a construction of the spring in which the material constituting the branches 11 and 12 and the bottom portion which connects them may be different from the material constituting the blocks 15 and 16, which are subjected to stresses different from those which are apply to the U proper, since the U is asked to have good elastic properties and, in particular, to resist durably aging, and possibly to significant climatic fluctuations, while the material of blocks 15 and 16 must satisfy to constraints linked in particular to good resistance to wear since it is on the internal surface of these housings that all the friction linked to the operation of the balancing device as a whole will be caused.
• the or the housing (s) intended (s) to receive the connecting members such as pins 13 and 14 can be arranged directly in these ends 11A and 12A.
• additional blocks 17 and 18 can be provided, opposite the blocks 15 and 16 with respect to these ends 11A and 12A, to be fixed there by bolts, not shown, passing through these ends 11A and 12A.
• the blocks 15 and 16 can be part of a single piece surrounding the ends 11A and 12A of the U-shaped piece.
• One and / or the other of blocks 15 and 16 can be placed outside the U.
• the two tubular sections 7 and 8 + 2 connected by the rotary joint with a horizontal axis marked 3 are each provided, on either side of this rotary joint, with lugs 20 and 21.
• These are advantageously shaped so that the two arms 11 and 12 of the U-shaped spring are substantially arranged in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of the rotary joint, that is to say in a plane perpendicular to the plane of Figure 2 , or in a plane parallel to the plane of Figure 1.
• these tabs can thus be constituted, as regards the tab 20, of a veil, possibly provided with reinforcements 20A and 20B (see figure 1), having a bend, visible in FIG.
• the tab 20 is directly fixed to the section 2, and not in the immediate vicinity of the rotary joint 3.
• the connecting member 14 which is used to connect the end 11A of the U-shaped part to the attachment tab designated under the general reference 20 advantageously comprises a pin 26, adapted to journal in the end part 25, while can receive by screwed fixing, the connecting member such as the pin 14.
• the U-shaped spring is advantageously made of a composite material. These are, for example, glass or carbon fibers coated with resin and tooled (mold) to obtain the shape of the U final in baking.
• the spring after steaming goes into the finishing phase, by deburring, finishing, drilling, installation of a possible silicone finishing sheath (or other depending on availability on the market). All that remains is to install the stainless steel blocks 15, 16, 17, 18 by bolting.
• this U-shaped spring is advantageously coated with a silicone sheath capable of effectively protecting the material constituting the U-shaped part from various external aggressions.
• the invention thus leads to a much more efficient balancing than the simple assistance provided by known devices while being simple, reliable and inexpensive.
• the balancing obtained is in fact very close to the balancing of very good quality carried out by counterweights but which it has been said previously that they lead to a disturbing bulk during the maneuvers.
• the balancing device proposed by the invention is shown on a large scale. It should however be noted that, compared to the assembly of a liquid product transfer arm, which may comprise several sections, and of which only a part is shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the invention results in a much smaller footprint than in known solutions. By its fixing, the balancing proposed by the invention does not bring any overload on the part to be balanced, by comparison with a spring box.
• the balancing performed by the device proposed by the invention acts in the same way, depending on whether the tubular section 2 is oriented downwards and upwards by the same angle: there is therefore a symmetry of operation.
• the balancing device proposed above allows, in a movement of 20 ° above and 20 ° below the horizontal reference position, balancing of the arm at less than 5 kg in absolute value.
• the weight of this spring is much less than all of the known balancing systems.
• this spring cannot break when the arm falls under its own weight as has been observed during tests, even when adding heavy overloads to the arm: this spring can deteriorate but not to the point of dropping the load, abruptly. If necessary, stops can be provided to limit the approximation (or even the spacing) of the branches of the U. As regards the spacing of these branches, a limitation can also be obtained by means of a cable fixed to these branches.
• the attachment of the proposed device is simple to implement and does not require any particular tool.
• the adjustment of the balancing is simple, so that it is enough a fairly reduced range of springs to ensure balancing a wide variety of transfer arms.
• the device described above has been shown to be insensitive to the usual climatic temperature variations. It is also, due to its design (in particular due to the composite nature of the U-shaped part) not very sensitive to ultraviolet rays. No protective paint is therefore necessary. Due to its simplicity of design, the balancing device of the invention very significantly reduces the need for spare parts.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Manipulator (AREA)
• Joints Allowing Movement (AREA)
• Springs (AREA)
• Coating Apparatus (AREA)
• Level Indicators Using A Float (AREA)
• Loading And Unloading Of Fuel Tanks Or Ships (AREA)
• Silicates, Zeolites, And Molecular Sieves (AREA)
• Water Treatment By Electricity Or Magnetism (AREA)

Priority Applications (12)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9527174

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (19)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (1)

Citations (3)

• 1998
  • 1998-06-09 FR FR9807227A patent/FR2779422B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1999
  • 1999-03-26 CN CN99807155A patent/CN1093838C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-26 DE DE69904819T patent/DE69904819T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-03-26 KR KR1020007013876A patent/KR100613987B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-03-26 PL PL99344480A patent/PL344480A1/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-26 CZ CZ20004585A patent/CZ20004585A3/cs unknown
  • 1999-03-26 EP EP99910439A patent/EP1089936B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-03-26 SK SK1868-2000A patent/SK18682000A3/sk unknown
  • 1999-03-26 JP JP2000553361A patent/JP2002517362A/ja active Pending
  • 1999-03-26 BR BR9911524-7A patent/BR9911524A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-03-26 TR TR2000/03663T patent/TR200003663T2/xx unknown
  • 1999-03-26 AU AU29395/99A patent/AU742137B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1999-03-26 CA CA002334982A patent/CA2334982C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-26 ES ES99910439T patent/ES2189400T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-03-26 WO PCT/FR1999/000709 patent/WO1999064344A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 1999-03-26 RO ROA200001188A patent/RO118582B1/ro unknown
  • 1999-03-26 AT AT99910439T patent/ATE230704T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2000
  • 2000-11-28 ZA ZA200006991A patent/ZA200006991B/en unknown
  • 2000-12-08 NO NO20006245A patent/NO20006245L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (3)

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