Bag in box beverage pump
OwnerBenjamin R. Duinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pump operated with compressed gas is disclosed herein. The pump has two separate cylinders which share a common wall. Pistons are attached to a common shaft that runs through the common wall. The pistons are disposed within each of the cylinders. The pistons divide the cylinders into gas and liquid chambers. The liquid chambers of the cylinder form a liquid system and are in fluid communication with the liquid inlet and outlet. The gas chambers of the cylinders form a gas system and are in communication with gas inlet and outlet. A manifold switching mechanism controls routing of compressed gas to either one of the gas chambers to operate the gas operated pump. The pump may also have an automatic shutoff valve which shuts off operation of the pump when liquid from a liquid source has been depleted.
Claims18
A pressurized gas operated pump comprising:
- a first cylinder;
- a first piston linearly traversable within the first cylinder along a first axis;
- a first flexible seal hermetically sealed to an interior surface of the first cylinder and the first piston to define a first liquid chamber and a first gas chamber within the first cylinder, the first liquid chamber and the first gas chamber being on opposed sides of the first piston and the first flexible seal;
- a second cylinder;
- a second piston linearly traversable within the second cylinder along the first axis;
- a second flexible seal hermetically sealed to the interior surface of thesecond cylinder and the second piston to define a second liquid chamber and a second gas chamber, the second liquid chamber and the second gas chamber being on opposed sides of the second piston and the second flexible seal;
- an elongate shaft linearly traversable along the first axis, the first and second pistons being fixedly attached to the elongate shaft;
- a manifold for introducing gas into the first gas chamber while venting gas from the second gas chamber, and removing gas from the first gas chamber while introducing gas into the second gas chamber, the manifold being disposed adjacent to the second cylinder and the first cylinder being disposed adjacent to the second cylinder opposite from the manifold;
- a single spool valve having a spool linearly traversable between first and second positions within the manifold along the first axis, the spool aligned in the first position to introduce compressed gas into the first gas chamber and to remove gas from the second gas chamber, the spool aligned to the second position to remove gas from the first gas chamber and to introduce gas into the second gas being attached to the shaft;
- first and second gas channels routed from the manifold to the first and second gas chambers.
A method of operating a pump, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) linearly traversing a shaft connected to first and second pistons while a spool is disposed at a first position
- b) transferring gas from a pressurized gas source to a first gas chamber while the spool is disposed at the first position;
- c) transferring gas from a second gas chamber to an exhaust while the spool is disposed at the first position;
- d) transferring liquid from a liquid source to a second liquid chamber while the spool is disposed at the first position;
- e) transferring liquid from a first liquid chamber to a liquid outlet while the spool is disposed at the first position;
- f) traversing the spool from the first position to a second position;
- g) linearly traversing the shaft in an opposite direction while the spool is disposed at the second position;
- h) transferring gas from a pressurized gas source to the second gas chamber while the spool is disposed at the second position;
- i) transferring gas from the first gas chamber to the exhaust while the spool is disposed at the second position;
- j) transferring liquid from the liquid source to the first liquid chamber while the spool is disposed at the second position;
- k) transferring liquid from the second liquid chamber to the liquid outlet while the spool is disposed at the second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.