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US 2026/0153247 A1Published application
Expansion tank with monitoring system
OwnerSamuel Thomas Fuller, James Joseph Fuller-Ng +1inventors
InventorsSamuel Thomas Fuller, James Joseph Fuller-Ng, James Fuller
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Abstract
An expansion tank system includes a tank, a membrane, and a monitoring system. The monitoring system monitors an amount of gas within the tank to determine a change in the amount of gas within the tank during use of the expansion tank system and outputs an instruction associated with a corrected amount of gas so that the instruction can be used for alignment of the amount of gas within the tank to the corrected amount of gas to minimize stress on the membrane thereby minimizing the risk of failure or degradation of the membrane.
Claims20
An expansion tank system comprising:
- a tank configured to hold gas and liquid therein, the tank including a body that defines an internal space and a gas valve that provides fluid communication with the internal space of the body,
- a membrane arranged within the body of the tank to separate the internal space into a gas-receiving space and a liquid-receiving space, the membrane configured to expand and contract within the body of the tank to adjust a volume of the gas-receiving space and a volume of the liquid-receiving space depending on an overall amount of liquid within the liquid-receiving space, and
- a monitoring system including a gas sensor adapted to determine at least one characteristic of gas in the gas-receiving space, a liquid sensor adapted to determine at least one characteristic of liquid in the liquid-receiving space, and a controller in communication with the gas sensor and the liquid sensor to receive the at least one characteristic of gas and the at least one characteristic of liquid therefrom, respectively, the controller configured to move the gas valve from a closed position, in which gas is blocked from entering or exiting the gas-receiving space, to an open position, in which gas is free to enter or exit the gas-receiving space, in response to determining, based, at least in part, on the at least one characteristic of gas and the at least one characteristic of liquid, a change in an amount of gas within the gas-receiving space so that the amount of gas within the gas-receiving space is adjusted to minimize stress on the membrane thereby minimizing the risk of failure or degradation of the membrane.
An expansion tank system comprising:
- a tank configured to hold gas and liquid therein, the tank including a body that defines an internal space,
- a membrane arranged within the body of the tank to separate the internal space into a gas-receiving space and a liquid-receiving space, the membrane configured to expand and contract within the body of the tank to adjust a volume of the gas-receiving space and a volume of the liquid-receiving space depending on an overall amount of liquid within the liquid-receiving space, and
- a monitoring system including a gas sensor adapted to determine at least one characteristic of gas in the gas-receiving space, a liquid sensor adapted to determine at least one characteristic of liquid in the liquid-receiving space, and a controller in communication with the gas sensor and the liquid sensor to receive the at least one characteristic of gas and the at least one characteristic of liquid therefrom, respectively, the controller configured to display an instruction related to a corrected amount of gas on a user interface in response to determining, based, at least in part, on the at least one characteristic of gas and the at least one characteristic of liquid, a change in an amount of gas within the gas-receiving space so that the amount of gas within the gas-receiving space can be adjusted to minimize stress on the membrane thereby minimizing the risk of failure or degradation of the membrane.
A method of regulating an expansion tank system, the method comprising:
- providing a tank and a membrane,
- positioning the membrane in the tank to separate an internal space of the tank into a gas-receiving space and a liquid-receiving space,
- determining at least one characteristic of gas in the gas-receiving space,
- determining at least one characteristic of liquid in the liquid-receiving space,
- determining, based, at least in part, on the at least one characteristic of gas and the at least one characteristic of liquid, a change in the amount of gas within the gas-receiving space,
- based on the change in the amount of gas, outputting an instruction related to a corrected amount of gas, and
- adjusting the amount of gas in the gas-receiving space based on the instruction so that the amount of gas within the gas-receiving space is aligned with the corrected amount of gas.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.