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Electrical transducer responsive to fluid flow

  • US 4,304,136 A
  • Filed: 02/01/1980
  • Issued: 12/08/1981
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/01/1980
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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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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