Digital fluid flow control apparatus
AssigneePowell Industries, Inc.
InventorsAddison W. Langill, Jr., Harry Friedland
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A core removably fits into an open cavity with an outer casing. The walls of the cavity and the core define an upstream manifold, a downstream manifold, and a planar manifold separating partition that lies at an acute angle to a flow plane aligned with the inlet to the upstream manifold and the outlet from the downstream manifold. A plurality of individually actuatable bistable valve elements are individually mounted onto the core without threaded bore connections in a parallel arrangement to connect the upstream and downstream manifolds across the partition. Preferably, the bistable valve elements each have a double cage between which a plug is guided from an open position to a closed position.
Claims12
Digital fluid flow control apparatus comprising:
- a fluid inlet having an inlet axis that lies approximately in a flow plane;
- a fluid outlet having an outlet axis that lies approximately in the flow plane;
- a housing having an upstream manifold to which the inlet is connected, a downstream manifold to which the outlet is connected, and a planar partition between the upstream and downstream manifolds, the partition lying at an acute angle to the flow plane;
- and
- a plurality of individually actuatable bistable valve elements connecting the upstream and downstream manifolds across the partition.
Digital fluid flow control apparatus having an upstream manifold, a downstream manifold, and a plurality of individually actuatable bistable valve elements connecting the upstream and downstream manifolds, the improvement characterized in that the valve elements each comprise in one of the manifolds:
- a stationary hollow inner cage having a perforated side wall permitting communication between the inside and outside of the inner cage;
- a movable plug surrounding the inner cage and axially slidable thereover to cover and uncover the side wall perforations of the inner cage;
- a stationary hollow outer cage surrounding the plug, the outer cage having a perforated side wall permitting communication between the inside and outside of the outer cage;
- means for sealing the interface between the side wall perforations in one of the cages and the plug when the plug covers the side wall perforations in the inner cage;
- a tubular passage coupling the open end of the inner cage to the other manifold;
- and
- a converging-diverging nozzle formed in the tubular passage.
Digital fluid flow control apparatus having a housing with an upstream manifold to which the inlet is connected, a downstream manifold to which the outlet is connected, and a plurality of bores extending in part between the upstream and downstream manifolds;
- a fluid inlet in the housing to the upstream manifold;
- a fluid outlet in the housing to the downstream manifold;
- and a plurality of individually actuatable bistable valve elements fitting in the respective bores and connecting the upstream and downstream manifolds, characterized in that:
- each bore is unthreaded;
- each valve element has a shoulder that contacts an abutting surface of the housing when such valve element fits in the respective bore;
- and
- each valve element has means for removably clamping the valve element against the abutting surface, the clamping means comprising a resilient washer and a snap ring at the entrance of each bore.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.