Electrical transducer responsive to fluid flow
First Claim
1. A fluid-flow responsive electric transducer, comprising a valve body having a fluid passage between an inlet and an outlet, said body including seat structure having a circular valve opening and dividing said passage into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a tubular guide member carried by said seat at said opening and having a portion extending into said outlet chamber, said tubular guide member also having a cylindrical portion sized to fit the seat opening and a radial shoulder adapted to engage said seat structure and thus to limit cylindrical-portion entry into the seat opening, a piston member slidably displaceable within said guide member, the outlet-chamber portion of said guide member having an elongate slot of predetermined flow-characterizing width, whereby over the slotted region, said piston member will be longitudinally displaced as a substantially linear function of rate of flow for a given fluid in said passage, and electrical transducer means including a part connected to said piston and a part mounted to said body and producing an electrical output signal having a varying parameter which is a substantially linear function of piston displacement, said tubular guide member being a single piece of injection-molded plastic integrally including at its mounting end a compliantly displaceable latch formation having snap-lock engagement with the inlet-chamber side of said seat structure to retain its inserted assembly, whereby said tubular guide member may be a selectable one of a plurality of different flow-capacity tubular members securable with snap-action to said seat structure, depending upon the desired one of a plurality of operating ranges achievable with otherwise the same transducer.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention in a preferred form contemplates a valve-like structure adapted for series-connection in a pipe or other conduit line and having a valve member which is caused, within the constraint of a rectilineal guide, to change its longitudinal position as a substantially linear function of the change of fluid-flow rate in the pipe or conduit; and an inductive device tracks the position of the valve member to produce an electrical output signal which is also a substantially linear function of the fluid-flow rate. The description includes a unidirectional embodiment (which is also a check valve for flow in the non-metering direction), and a bi-directional embodiment.
39 Citations
7 Claims
- 1. A fluid-flow responsive electric transducer, comprising a valve body having a fluid passage between an inlet and an outlet, said body including seat structure having a circular valve opening and dividing said passage into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a tubular guide member carried by said seat at said opening and having a portion extending into said outlet chamber, said tubular guide member also having a cylindrical portion sized to fit the seat opening and a radial shoulder adapted to engage said seat structure and thus to limit cylindrical-portion entry into the seat opening, a piston member slidably displaceable within said guide member, the outlet-chamber portion of said guide member having an elongate slot of predetermined flow-characterizing width, whereby over the slotted region, said piston member will be longitudinally displaced as a substantially linear function of rate of flow for a given fluid in said passage, and electrical transducer means including a part connected to said piston and a part mounted to said body and producing an electrical output signal having a varying parameter which is a substantially linear function of piston displacement, said tubular guide member being a single piece of injection-molded plastic integrally including at its mounting end a compliantly displaceable latch formation having snap-lock engagement with the inlet-chamber side of said seat structure to retain its inserted assembly, whereby said tubular guide member may be a selectable one of a plurality of different flow-capacity tubular members securable with snap-action to said seat structure, depending upon the desired one of a plurality of operating ranges achievable with otherwise the same transducer.
- 4. A fluid-flow responsive electric transducer, comprising a valve body having a fluid passage between an inlet and an outlet, said body including seat structure having a valve opening and dividing said passage into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a tubular guide member carried by said seat at said opening and having a portion extending into said outlet chamber, said tubular guide member having a bore of constant section extending through and determining the maximum effective seat opening, said guide member and bore section extending continuously into each of said chambers, a piston member slidably displaceable within said guide member, the outlet-chamber portion of said guide member having an elongate slot of predetermined flow-characterizing width, the inlet-chamber portion of said guide member having an elongate slot of predetermined flow-characterizing width, said inlet-chamber slot being at angular offset with respect to said outlet-chamber slot, and both said slots terminating substantially at the region of seat mounting, whereby over the slotted regions, said piston member will be longitudinally displaced as a substantially linear function of rate of flow for a given fluid in said passage, and electrical transducer means including a part connected to said piston and a part mounted to said body and producing an electrical output signal having a varying parameter which is a substantially linear function of piston displacement.
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7. A fluid-flow responsive electric transducer, comprising a valve body having a fluid passage between an inlet and an outlet, said body including seat structure having a valve opening and dividing said passage into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a tubular guide member carried by said seat at said opening and having a portion extending into said outlet chamber, a piston member slidably displaceable within said guide member, the outlet-chamber portion of said guide member having an elongate slot of predetermined flow-characterizing width, whereby over the slotted region, said piston member will be longitudinally displaced as a substantially linear function of rate of flow for a given fluid in said passage, and electrical transducer means including a part connected to said piston and a part mounted to said body and producing an electrical output signal having a varying parameter which is a substantially linear function of piston displacement, the body-mounted part of said electrical-transducer means including two like elongate multi-turn coils in longitudinal adjacency on the alignment of piston guidance, the piston-connected part of said electrical-transducer means including an elongate core of high magnetic-permeability material and of substantially constant section displaceable within said coils, the effective longitudinal extent of said core and of each of said coils being substantially the same, and a square-wave oscillating source connected to excite one to the exclusion of the other of said coils, and piston-displacement detector means including a rectifier connected to the other to the exclusion of said one coil.
Specification