Integrated Release Valve for Gas Spring Pressure Tightness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current gas spring safety valves are prone to breakdowns and faults, particularly when ensuring tightness in containers with multiple components made of different materials, and they often require irreversible deformation or complex constructions to manage pressure, leading to unreliable operation and potential gas leakage.
Innovation Solution
A release valve design featuring a housing, thrust means, closure element, and slider, where the fluid exerts a greater force on a second surface than the first, allowing for a compact size and safer operation, with additional sealing features and a loading system for gas injection and unloading, enabling uniform gas action and easy maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional safety valves with multiple components are used to ensure tightness in pressurized containers, then pressure containment is achieved, but the device becomes more susceptible to breakdowns and faults
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the safety valve and loading valve into a single integrated device. The valve body houses both functions: the safety valve portion releases excess pressure while the loading valve portion allows controlled gas injection. This merging eliminates multiple separate components, reducing potential failure points while maintaining tightness through a unified sealing system with fewer interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated valve serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as both a safety release valve and a loading valve for controlled gas injection. The single device performs pressure containment, pressure release, and controlled loading operations, reducing the number of separate components needed while maintaining reliability through a consolidated design.
2Reliability
If separate loading valve and release valve are integrated in gas springs to prevent pressure exceeding critical values, then safety is improved, but the overall dimensions and constructive complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates both the loading valve and safety release valve functions into a single valve body with a unified structure. The valve assembly includes a single piston, sealing system, and actuation mechanism that handles both controlled gas injection and pressure release operations, thereby reducing constructive complexity while maintaining pressure safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated valve performs dual functions: controlled gas loading through the loading valve portion and automatic pressure release through the safety valve portion. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate valve assemblies, reducing overall dimensions and simplifying the constructive design while ensuring pressure safety through coordinated operation of both functions within a single device.
3Reliability
If calibrated membranes and shaped elements are designed to yield at critical pressure to trigger safety discharge, then pressure release is achieved, but corrective or maintenance interventions become impossible after breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The safety valve uses a dynamic triggering mechanism based on pressure-activated piston movement rather than static calibrated membranes that must break or deform irreversibly. The piston system can be reset after operation, allowing the valve to return to its initial state and enabling repeated use without replacement, thus facilitating maintenance and repair.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using calibrated membranes or shaped elements that undergo irreversible deformation or breakage to trigger safety discharge, the patent employs a recoverable piston-based mechanism. The piston and associated components can be reset to their initial positions after triggering, allowing the valve to be reused without discarding critical safety elements, thereby enabling maintenance and repair interventions.
4Productivity
If high pressure values are allowed to exceed critical thresholds to achieve maximum gas spring performance, then productivity is improved, but fatigue break and component reliability decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated valve provides continuous pressure monitoring and automatic feedback control. When pressure approaches critical thresholds, the safety valve portion automatically activates to release excess pressure, preventing dangerous overpressurization. This feedback mechanism allows the system to operate at high performance levels while automatically correcting deviations that could lead to fatigue break or component failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve system provides beforehand protection by automatically releasing pressure before it reaches levels that could cause fatigue break or component failure. The safety valve is calibrated to activate at predetermined pressure thresholds, cushioning the system against extreme pressure events that would compromise component reliability while still allowing maximum safe performance.
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 reduces the size and encumbrance of the valve while ensuring reliable operation by maintaining pressure differences and allowing for the safe loading and unloading of fluids, preventing irreversible component breakdowns and maintaining gas spring functionality beyond critical pressure limits.
Implementation Method 1
said fluid exerts on said second surface a pressing force greater than the pressing force exerted on said first surface
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a release valve (100), installable on a container intended to contain a pressurized fluid and capable of maintaining a pressure difference between a first environment (9) and a second environment (90), comprising a housing (8), a first thrust means (3), a closure element (5), and a slider (2), wherein said housing (8) contains at least said slider (2) and said first thrust means (3), wherein said slider (2) comprises a first surface (25) facing the first environment (9), and a second surface (26), facing the second environment (90), and having an area greater than said first surface (25), wherein said closure element (5) is interposed between said second environment (90) and said slider (2), and wherein said first thrust means (3) is positioned between said slider (2) and said housing (8), so as to obtain at least one closed contact profile between said closure element (5) and said second surface (26), wherein said release valve (100) is characterized in that said fluid exerts on said second surface (26) a pressing force greater than the pressing force exerted on said first surface (25), and in that said first (25) and second (26) surfaces are arranged in such a way that, if the pressure difference between said first environment (9) and said second environment (90) remains below a predetermined value, said first thrust means (3) realizes said closed contact profile between said closure element (5) and said slider (2).