Method of damping surges in a liquid system
OwnerRichard John Hogsden, Simon John Williams +1inventors
InventorsRichard John Hogsden, Simon John Williams, Ian Peter Currie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of damping surges in a liquid system includes providing in the system, a surge vessel in which there is trapped air or other gas, the surge vessel being positioned so that in the event of a surge in the system (10), the volume of trapped air or other gas within the surge vessel changes to damp the surge, the method including maintaining generally constant the mass of the trapped air or other gas in the surge vessel is maintained generally constant, irrespective of the liquid level within the surge vessel.
Claims10
A method of damping surges in a liquid system, the method including providing in the system, a surge vessel in which there is trapped gas above a liquid level in the surge vessel, the surge vessel being positioned so that in the event of a surge in the system, the volume of trapped gas within the surge vessel changes to damp the surge, the method including maintaining generally constant the mass of the trapped gas in the surge vessel for different pumping regimes, irrespective of the liquid level within the surge vessel including responding to a decrease in the volume of the trapped gas to introduce more gas into the surge vessel to restore the mass of the trapped gas to a set value.
A control apparatus for use in damping surges in a liquid system, the system including a surge vessel in which there is trapped gas, the surge vessel being positioned so that in the event of a surge in the system, the volume of trapped gas within the surge vessel changes to damp the surge and wherein the control apparatus includes a processor which responds to inputs from sensor apparatus to determine a measure of the mass of the trapped gas in the surge vessel, and a pump for introducing gas into the surge vessel to maintain the mass of trapped air or other gas generally constant.
A method of damping surges in a liquid system comprising the steps of;
- a) providing a surge vessel connected to receive liquid from the system and in which a volume of trapped gas above a liquid level in the surge vessel changes in response to changes in liquid pressure in the system;
- and
- b) adjusting the mass of trapped gas in the surge vessel to maintain a substantially constant mass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.