Exhaust Gas Sampling Pinch Valves for Compact Flow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing exhaust gas sampling systems with pneumatically actuated control valves are complex, costly, and require significant installation space, making them expensive to manufacture and install.
Innovation Solution
Designing control valves as pneumatic pinch valves with a flexible, hose-like control element and a pressure chamber connected to a compressed air line, allowing for reduced installation space, weight, and manufacturing costs, while maintaining effective operation through a pressure switch for state detection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional pneumatically actuated butterfly valves are used for controlling exhaust gas flow, then reliable flow control is achieved, but device complexity, manufacturing cost, and installation space increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of flow control from the complex butterfly valve mechanism and implements it through a simple pinch valve with a flexible hose-like control element. The control element is simply pinched between two rigid elements to close the valve, eliminating the need for complex actuation mechanisms while maintaining reliable flow control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs inexpensive control elements made from flexible hose material that can be easily replaced. The pinch valve design uses simple, low-cost components rather than expensive traditional control valves, reducing both manufacturing cost and complexity while maintaining functional reliability.
2Ease of operation
If traditional control valves are used in exhaust gas sampling systems, then adequate flow control is provided, but manufacturing costs and installation space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses inexpensive flexible hose material for the control element and simple rigid elements for actuation, replacing expensive traditional control valves. This dramatically reduces manufacturing costs while maintaining adequate flow control capability for exhaust gas sampling operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible hose-like control element made from elastic material that can be pinched to close the valve. This flexible membrane approach replaces complex mechanical valve components with a simple elastic element, reducing manufacturing cost and simplifying the overall system.
3Ease of operation
If conventional control valves are installed in the exhaust gas sampling system, then sufficient flow regulation is achieved, but the system weight and installation space increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential flow regulation function from heavy conventional control valves and implements it through lightweight pinch valves with flexible hose elements and simple rigid actuators. This eliminates unnecessary weight while preserving exhaust gas flow regulation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible hose-like control element made from thin elastic material replaces heavy metal valve components, dramatically reducing the weight of stationary objects in the system while maintaining adequate flow regulation for exhaust gas sampling.
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 reduces the installation space, weight, and manufacturing costs of exhaust gas sampling systems while ensuring reliable and cost-effective operation, enabling the system to handle various internal combustion engines with different exhaust gas volume flows.
Implementation Method 1
The control element (44) is highly elastic and, when a fluid is introduced into the pressure chamber (46), deforms in such a way that the flow opening (43) formed by the undeformed control element (44) is blocked
Implementation Method 2
A pressure chamber (46) is formed in the valve housing (42), which can be filled with a fluid
Implementation Method 3
a main flow pump (24) through which a sample gas can be conveyed in the main delivery line (18)
Implementation Method 4
The volume flow of the diluted exhaust gas is kept constant by a Venturi nozzle
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to an exhaust gas sample taking system having a main conveying line (18), a main flow pump (24), via which a sample gas can be conveyed in the main conveying line (18), and at least a first Venturi nozzle (30) and a second Venturi nozzle (32), the first Venturi nozzle (30) and the second Venturi nozzle (32) being connected in parallel and situated in the main conveying line (18) upstream of the main flow pump (24), the first Venturi nozzle (30) being assigned a first control valve (31), and the second Venturi nozzle (32) being assigned a second control valve (33). A disadvantage of an exhaust gas sample taking system of this type is that the design of the control valves (31, 33) is complex and cost-intensive, which increases the costs for producing the exhaust gas sample taking system. Moreover, control valves (31, 33) designed in this way require a lot of installation space. According to the invention, therefore, the control valves (31, 33) are designed as pinch valves (40), wherein each control valve (31, 33) has a flexible, hose-like control element (44) and a pressure chamber (46) surrounding the control element (44), wherein the pressure chamber (46) can be filled with a fluid.