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US 5,490,766 AGranted
Precision small displacement fluid pump
AssigneeY-Z Industries Sales, Inc.
InventorMark V. Zeck
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fluid pump for displacing a small, precise volume of fluid for each pump stroke, particularly where the fluid to be displaced is a liquid containing dissolved gas. The precise volume of fluid to be displaced is adjustable to any selected amount up to the full displacement of the pump. The pump has instrumentation that indicates a seal failure within the pump, thus allowing for maintenance on the pump before a total failure. This instrumentation results in increased safety when the pump is used to inject odorant into a natural gas pipeline or in other precision chemical injection applications.
Claims14
A fluid pump for pumping a liquid containing dissolved gas, comprising:
- a housing having an interior bore, said interior bore having first and second ends, an inlet proximate said second end of said interior bore, and an outlet proximate said second end of said interior bore;
- an inlet valve for allowing a fluid to flow only into said interior bore through said inlet, said fluid comprising a liquid containing dissolved gas;
- an outlet valve for allowing said fluid to flow only from said interior bore through said outlet;
- an inlet bushing disposed within said interior bore proximate said inlet;
- a plunger assembly reciprocatively disposed within said interior bore, said plunger assembly having a first end reciprocatively disposed within said inlet bushing;
- a first annular seal disposed on said inlet bushing for fluidly sealing said plunger assembly to said interior bore;
- a pump chamber defined by said interior bore, said first annular seal, said inlet bushing, said inlet valve, said outlet valve, and said first end of said plunger assembly, said pump chamber having a volumetric efficiency sufficient to displace gas from said pump chamber;
- a hollow spacing member disposed on said first annular seal;
- a second annular seal disposed on said spacing member for fluidly sealing said plunger assembly to said interior bore;
- a closed lubricating fluid reservoir in fluid connection with said interior bore between said first annular seal and said second annular seal;
- a lubricating fluid within said lubricating fluid reservoir;
- and
- pressure indicating means fluidly connected to said lubricating fluid reservoir;
- wherein said first end of said plunger assembly is for reciprocating to displace a precise volume of said fluid from said pump chamber through said outlet;
- and
- wherein a failure of said first annular seal is indicated on said pressure indicating means by a pressure differential responsive to said reciprocation of said plunger assembly.
13 more elements
A fluid pump, comprising:
- a housing having a pump chamber and a second chamber, said second chamber comprising a closed system filled with a lubricating fluid;
- a fluid seal disposed between said pump chamber and said second chamber;
- reciprocating means disposed within said pump chamber for displacing a fluid from said pump chamber;
- and
- a pressure indicating means fluidly connected to said second chamber;
- wherein a failure of said fluid seal is indicated on said pressure indicating means by a pressure differential responsive to a displacement of said reciprocating means.
3 more elements
An odorant injection system for injecting a liquid odorant containing dissolved gas into a natural gas pipeline, comprising:
- an odorant reservoir containing liquid odorant with dissolved gas;
- a fluid pump, comprising:
- a housing having an interior bore, structure defining a pump chamber within said interior bore, and a power port, said pump chamber having an inlet in fluid connection with said odorant reservoir, an outlet for fluidly connecting with said natural gas pipeline, and a volumetric efficiency sufficient to displace gas from said pump chamber;
- an inlet valve allowing said odorant to flow only into said pump chamber through said inlet;
- an outlet valve allowing said odorant to flow only from said pump chamber through said outlet;
- and
- reciprocating means disposed within said interior bore and said pump chamber for displacing a precise volume of said fluid through said outlet;
- a cycling pneumatic source for displacing said reciprocating means, comprising:
- a conduit fluidly connecting said natural gas pipeline to said power port;
- a pressure regulator disposed on said conduit between said pipeline and said power port;
- a solenoid valve disposed on said conduit between said regulator and said power port;
- and
- a control unit for opening and closing said solenoid valve responsive to a flow rate of natural gas within said pipeline and a displacement of said fluid pump.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.