Gas Pressure Regulator With Balanced-Force Inertia Shutoff
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas pressure regulators and safety devices fail to reliably interrupt gas flow during external forces or accelerations without gas passing through the safety mechanism, and they often require intricate sealing mechanisms to prevent gas leakage.
Innovation Solution
A safety device with an inertia mechanism and reaction mechanism that activates upon acceleration above a threshold, using a transfer pin and sliding punch to prevent gas flow, and a readjusting mechanism to reset the device, ensuring gas flow is interrupted only when necessary and can be safely re-established.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gas flows through the safety device for activation, then the safety device can be activated by gas pressure, but gas leaks through the safety mechanism during normal operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the gas flow path from the safety device itself. The safety device is designed so that gas does not flow through it during normal operation. Instead, the safety device is activated by gas pressure acting on a membrane that is mechanically coupled to the safety mechanism, separating the activation function from the flow path.
2Reliability
If intricate sealing mechanisms are used to prevent gas leakage, then sealing reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for complex sealing mechanisms within the safety device by extracting the gas flow path from the safety device. The sealing is simplified to only require sealing around the movement pin, which is a single point sealing requirement rather than multiple sealing interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the system into distinct functional components: the safety device that does not handle gas flow, the membrane that senses gas pressure, and the mechanical coupling that transmits force. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing overall complexity.
3Reliability
If the safety device is designed to activate during acceleration, then safety response to external forces improves, but the device requires additional mechanical components increasing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the safety device with the existing gas pressure regulator components. The membrane and lever arm are integrated into the regulator structure, and the safety device uses the same housing and mounting points, reducing the need for separate mechanical components.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane serves multiple functions: it acts as a pressure sensor for gas pressure detection and as an activation mechanism for the safety device. The lever arm similarly serves both as a mechanical coupling element and as part of the safety activation mechanism, reducing the total number of components needed.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively interrupts gas flow during high accelerations without gas passing through the safety device, providing reliable and safe operation by ensuring the gas flow is only interrupted when necessary and can be easily reset, enhancing safety and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
an inertia body of the inertia mechanism moves from a resting position in the case of an acceleration above a specifiable acceleration threshold value acting on the inertia body
Implementation Method 2
the spring moves the valve body to a closing position
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a gas pressure regulator (1). The gas pressure regulator (1) has a gas inlet (100), a gas outlet (101) and a rotatably supported lever arm (62) for pressure regulation. The lever arm (62) is mechanically coupled to a movement pin (64) and a sealing punch (63) at its end. The movement pin (64) and the sealing punch (63) are arranged within a housing (80) in such a manner and connected to the gas inlet (100) in such a manner that a gas intruding via the gas inlet (100) pushes against the movement pin (64) and the sealing punch (63) with balanced forces.