FLUID CONTROL AND CONDITIONING UNITS FOR INSERTION IN FLUID LINES

• US 3,741,236 A
• Filed: 09/13/1971
• Issued: 06/26/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Douglas Wesley Carr, Karel Leon August Van Bastelaere, Leonard Frederick Harris, Leslie William Smith, Peter John Pass, Rogers Evert Knight, Ronald Gelder
• Original Assignee: Douglas Wesley Carr, Karel Leon August Van Bastelaere, Leonard Frederick Harris, Leslie William Smith, Peter John Pass, Rogers Evert Knight, Ronald Gelder
• Inventors: Smith, Leslie William, Pass, Peter John, Carr, Douglas Wesley, Knight, Rogers Evert, Gelder, Ronald, Harris, Leonard Frederick, Van Bastelaere, Karel Leon August
• Primary Examiner(s): Klinksiek, Henry T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Miller, Robert J.
• Application Number:
  US05/180,037
• Time in Patent Office: 652 Days
• Field of Search: 137/269,271,798,802,495 251/369 285/18,12,175,176,169,177,61
• US Class Current: 137/269
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 23/006 Attachments
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 55/00 Devices or appurtenances for use in, or in connection with, pipes or pipe systems the preceding groups and groups F16L57/00, F16L59/00 take precedence; repairing or joining pipes on or under water F16L1/26; nozzles B05B; cleaning of pipes B08B9/02; arrangements of draining devices for water main or service pipe systems E03B7/08; devices for preventing bursting of water pipes by freezing E03B7/10; draining devices for hydrants E03B9/14; for domestic plumbing installations E03C1/00; steam traps for draining of liquids from enclosures containing gases or vapours F16T; arrangements for sealing leaky tubes or conduits of heat-exchangers F28F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 55/24 Preventing accumulation of dirt or other matter in the pipes, e.g. by traps, by strainers
• CPC Class Codes: F16N 7/34 Atomising devices for oil atomising devices in general B05B
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/5109 Convertible
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/9029 With coupling

Abstract

A fluid control or conditioning unit with inlet and outlet ports, and more particularly a filter, pressure regulator and/or mist lubricator incorporated in a compressed air line, adapted to be positioned between supply and delivery pipes; and means having ports which register with those in the unit and are adapted to receive the ends of the pipes and act as coupling means therefor so that the ends of the pipes have no direct connection with the unit. The unit has plane external faces into which its inlet and outlet ports open and the ports in the said means also open into plane faces which oppose those of the unit, provision being included for sealing the ports of the unit with those of the coupling means and for securing the unit in sealed relation to the coupling means. Thus one and the same unit may be used with pipe ends of different size of type, and more particularly in the case of screw-threaded pipe ends and screw-threaded ports in the coupling means, one and the same unit may be used with threaded pipe ends of different size or type of thread by selection of the coupling means from a range. The combination is preferably such that the unit or one of a plurality of units in series may be withdrawn substantially by movement perpendicular to the axis of the ports without moving or removing the coupling members and preferably while a valve unit, likewise having plane faces into which its ports open, remains fixed to the coupling means for shut-off of flow during removal of a unit.

Claims

1. A fluid control or conditioning unit for connection between supply and delivery pipes, comprising inlet and outlet ports and oppositely facing external sealing faces into which the said ports open respectively, in combination with means having ports which register with those in the unit and are adapted to receive the ends of the pipes and act as coupling means therefor so that the ends of the pipes have no direct connection with the unit, the ports in said coupling means opening into sealing faces which oppose those of the unit, means for sealing the ports of the unit with those of the coupling means, and means for securing the unit in sealed relation to the coupling means.

2. A fluid control or conditioning unit for connection between supply and delivery pipes having screw-threaded ends, comprising inlet and outlet ports and oppositely facing external sealing faces into which said ports open, in combination with pipe coupling means having screw-threaded ports which register with those in the unit and are adapted to receive the screw-threaded ends of the pipes, the ports in said coupling means opening into sealing faces thereof which oppose those of the unit, means for securing the unit and the coupling means together and means for sealing the ports of the unit with those of the coupling means, whereby one and the same unit may be used with threaded pipe ends of different size or type of thread by selection of the coupling means from a range.

3. The combination according to claim 1, in which said sealing faces are plane faces and the unit and the coupling means are secured with the plane faces of the unit and the opposed plane faces of the coupling means in close or contacting relationship, said sealing means sealing said faces to one another around the ports, the unit being releasable from the coupling means and withdrawable therefrom by displacement perpendicularly to the axis of the ports in the unit.

4. The combination to claim 1, in which the unit is any one of an air filter unit, an air-pressure regulating unit or a mist lubricating unit incorporated in a compressed air line.

5. The combination according to claim 1, incorporating a plurality of said units in series, said units being an air filter unit, and an air-regulating and mist lubricating unit all with their ports in axial alignment.

6. The combination according to claim 1, comprising at least two such units having sealing faces which are plane and in parallelism and their ports in axial alignment, the coupling means having sealing faces which are also plane and in the same parallelism and witH their ports opening into said plane faces thereof in the same alignment.

7. The combination according to claim 1, comprising a valve having inlet and outlet ports and having opposite facing sealing faces into which said ports respectively open, means for securing the valve with its ports in alignment with the ports in the coupling means and the adjacent unit and sealed to the said ports, so that flow through the unit can be stopped or controlled.

8. The combination according to claim 7, in which the valve is secured to the coupling means so that a unit can be removed while the valve remains connected to the coupling means.

9. The combination according to claim 1, in which the coupling means comprise separate members mounted one at opposite ends of at least one of said units.

10. The combination according to claim 9, in which the coupling members serve as mounting members.

11. The combination according to claim 1 in which at least one of said units and the coupling members are connected by tie rods.

12. The combination according to claim 9, in which at least one of the coupling members has a through-port which is screw threaded and is in alignment with the ports in the unit.

13. The combination according to claim 9, in which at least one of the coupling members comprises a plane ported member associated with a separate mounting member having a port which is screw-threaded to form the female component of the screw pipe connection and permits entry to or outlet from the coupling member in a direction angularly or abaxial in relation to the axis of the ports in at least one of the units.

14. The combination according to claim 9, in which the coupling members are of plate-like form for compact stacking with others.

15. The method of assembling a fluid control or conditioning unit in a fluid line, wherein the unit has ports opening into external oppositely facing sealing faces thereof, which consists in selecting pipe coupling means having ports adapted to conform respectively to the end of a supply pipe and the end of a delivery pipe and opening into external sealing faces of said coupling means, connecting the unit and the said coupling means so that each sealing face of the unit faces a sealing face of the said coupling means and so that the ports of said coupling means are sealed in relation to the adjacent ports in the unit, and securing the pipes to the ports in said coupling means to facilitate connecting a standard unit to pipes of different size or type by coupling means selected from a range of sizes.

16. The method according to claim 15, in which the ports in the coupling means are formed by screw-threaded bores and the co-operating ends of the pipes are correspondingly externally screw-threaded.

17. The method according to claim 15, in which said unit is releasably secured and said unit is withdrawable substantially soley by displacement perpendicular to the axis of the ports while the coupling means remain in connection with the pipes.

18. The method according to claim 16 in which the coupling means are adapted for screwing to at least one of the pipes in a direction at an angle to, or abaxial to, the axis of the ports in the unit.