Pneumatic Surge Suppressor With Pressure Multiplication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pneumatic surge suppressors in fluid handling systems require high-pressure air or nitrogen for operation, leading to increased costs, time, and effort, and are prone to reliability issues and cross-contamination due to diaphragm rupture, with manual pressure adjustment necessary to account for leaks and pressure changes.
Innovation Solution
A surge suppressor design featuring a pressure control member and a boost member within an air housing, connected by a shaft, which utilizes a working fluid to bias the pressure control member, allowing for force multiplication between the working fluid and process fluid, enabling effective vibration damping with lower working fluid pressures and reducing the need for high-pressure sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If pneumatic surge suppressors are charged with high-pressure air or nitrogen to match elevated process fluid pressures, then the suppressor can effectively dampen pressure pulsations, but the cost, time, and effort for charging increases, and reliability issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the process fluid pressure itself to charge the air section of the surge suppressor through a check valve. The process fluid acts as the charging medium, eliminating the need for external high-pressure air or nitrogen sources. This self-service approach improves reliability by using the already-present process fluid while simplifying operation as no separate charging system is needed.
Solution Approach 2:
A check valve serves as an intermediary component that allows process fluid to charge the air section while preventing backflow. This mediator enables the transfer of pressure from the process fluid side to the air section, resolving the contradiction by providing an automatic charging mechanism that requires no external high-pressure sources.
2Stress or pressure
If air multipliers are incorporated to compress air and increase working fluid pressure, then the suppressor can operate at elevated pressures, but the system becomes more costly and introduces long-term reliability issues
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses hydraulic pressure from the process fluid to compress and charge the air section through a check valve. Instead of using pneumatic air multipliers, the system leverages the hydraulic pressure already present in the process fluid, eliminating the need for additional pneumatic compression devices and their associated reliability issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the compression function from a separate air multiplier device and integrates it into the surge suppressor system using the process fluid's inherent pressure. By taking out the need for external compression equipment, the system achieves elevated working fluid pressure without introducing additional failure points.
3Reliability
If manual pressure adjustment is performed to account for leaks and pressure changes, then the suppressor maintains proper charge pressure, but operator intervention and monitoring are required constantly
Solution Approach 1:
The check valve creates a self-maintaining system where the air section is charged from the process fluid side and automatically maintains pressure. The system monitors and adjusts pressure automatically through the check valve mechanism, eliminating the need for constant manual intervention while maintaining reliable charge pressure.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a diaphragm is used to separate process fluid and working fluid, then cross-contamination is prevented, but the system requires a barrier that can rupture and cause contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a bellows mechanism that expands and contracts to separate the air section from the process fluid while maintaining a hermetic seal. The bellows provides a flexible barrier that prevents cross-contamination without the rupture risks associated with diaphragms, improving reliability while maintaining contamination prevention.
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 provides efficient vibration damping in high-pressure process fluids using lower-pressure working fluids, eliminates the need for costly air multipliers, and reduces operator intervention by automatically adjusting charge pressure, thereby enhancing system reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The boost member at least partially defines a first chamber within the air housing, the first chamber configured to be pressurized with a working fluid to bias the pressure control member, via the boost member and the shaft, in a first direction
Implementation Method 2
allowing for force multiplication between the working fluid and process fluid
Implementation Method 3
The pressure control member at least partially defines a fluid chamber through which process fluid flows, the pressure control member configured to dampen vibrations in the process fluid
Implementation Method 4
the surge suppressors are used to dampen out the pressure pulsations created by the output of a reciprocating pump
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
A surge suppressor includes a boost mechanism configured to balance pressures between a working fluid and a process fluid. The boost mechanism includes a boost member that is acted on by a charge pressure of the working fluid. A shaft extends from the boost member to a pressure control member bounding the process fluid and acting on the process fluid. The boost member can have a larger effective area than the pressure control member to provide a pressure multiplication between the charge pressure and the process fluid pressure. In addition, pressure control valves are mounted to an air housing and actuated open by the boost mechanism. Actuating one of the pressure control valves open increases the charge pressure. Actuating the other pressure control valve open decreases the charge pressure.