Temperature compensation valve
AssigneeCarleton Technologies, Inc.
InventorsGeorge Ord, Lawrence Gill, Daniel Korpanty
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A temperature compensation valve is hereby provided wherein the inner cavity of the valve comprises a puck, a metal piston (gas control device), and a spring. The spring serves to bias the piston towards the puck, and the puck expands and contracts proportionately in response to increases and decreases in temperature of the upstream gas. Furthermore, the piston will move accordingly, wherein an increase in temperature causes the expansion of the puck directing the piston in such a way to obstruct the orifice that allows the gas to pass through the valve, thereby controlling the gas flow to compensate for the pressure variations.
Claims23
A temperature compensation valve comprising:
- an enclosure having an inlet and an outlet;
- an orifice allowing for communication between the inlet and the outlet;
- and
- means for varying said orifice size to allow for a substantially constant, defined flow rate with fluctuations in temperature, said means comprising a piston positioned across the inlet to modulate flow rate as a function of temperature, said piston comprising a first side and a second side,
- a puck adjacent said first side of said piston, said puck expanding as temperature increases, thereby urging said piston toward said orifice;
- biasing means adjacent said second side of said piston;
- and
- a fine tuning adjuster.
A pneumatic control system comprising:
- a source of gas, a temperature compensation valve, and an actuator;
- said temperature compensation valve further comprising an enclosure having an inlet and an outlet, an orifice allowing for communication between the inlet and the outlet;
- and a means for varying said orifice size to allow for a substantially constant defined flow rate with fluctuations in temperature, said means comprising a piston positioned across the inlet to modulate flow rate as a function of temperature, said piston comprising a first side and a second side;
- a puck adjacent said first side of said piston, said puck expanding as temperature increases, thereby urging said piston toward said orifice
- biasing means adjacent said second side of said piston;
- and
- a fine tuning adjuster.
A method of compensating for fluctuations in temperature for a temperature compensation valve comprising a piston positioned in series with a spring having a spring rate and a puck, said method comprising the steps of:
- determining the a change in spring force due to temperature;
- determining the a temperature coefficient of expansion of a puck;
- selecting a puck length such that said length multiplied by said temperature coefficient of expansion and multiplied by said spring rate is equal to said change in spring force due to temperature wherein said spring rate is substantially constant;
- thereby assuring that the pressure in said regulator remains substantially unchanged due to fluctuations in temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.