Gas filling apparatus

• US 9,217,274 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inagas Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Inagas Ltd.
• Inventors: Kemp, Malcolm
• Primary Examiner(s): ARNETT, NICOLAS ALLEN
• Application Number:
  US13/820,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20130160892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,579 Days
• Field of Search: 141/4, 141/59, 141/63, 141/91, 141/329, 156/104, 156/109
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E06B 3/677 Evacuating or filling the gap between the panes ; Equilibration of inside and outside pressure; Preventing condensation in the gap between the panes by means of spacing elements E06B3/663; Cleaning the gap between the panes
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 5/00 Methods or apparatus for filling containers with liquefied, solidified, or compressed gases under pressures adding propellants to aerosol containers B65B31/00

Abstract

A gas filling apparatus comprising a lance and control unit remote from the lance is disclosed. The lance has a dispensing nozzle for dispensing gas through an aperture. The lance additionally has a manually operable switch for sending a signal to the control unit to commence dispensing of gas. The provision of the manually operable switch on the lance should result in less errors being made during the filling process, particularly where a plurality of lances are simultaneously operated by a single operator. The lance may additionally comprise a visual indicator indicating the state reached in the dispensing cycle.

Claims

1. A gas filling apparatus, comprising:

a lance having a dispensing nozzle for dispensing gas through an aperture;

a control unit remote from the lance; and

a gas supply line extending from the control unit to the lance,

wherein the lance comprises a manually operable switch for sending a signal to the control unit and the control unit is arranged to dispense gas through the lance in response to a signal received from the manually operable switch, wherein the control unit further comprises a vacuum port and a gas sensor for determining the concentration of the dispensed gas type received at the vacuum port, the unit being arranged to terminate the dispensing of gas in response to the gas received at the vacuum port exceeding a predetermined concentration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lance is arranged to be handheld, the lance is connected to the control unit through a flexible gas supply line, and the lance is arranged to be inserted in the aperture in a non-engaging manner.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit incorporates an overfill timer which terminates the dispensing of gas a predetermined period after the gas received at the vacuum port exceeds the predetermined concentration.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit further comprises a dwell timer which provides an indication to an operator when a predetermined dwell time, after termination of dispensing, has been exceeded.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lance incorporates a visual indicator to indicate a status of the control unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the visual indicator indicates when gas is being dispensed.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the visual indicator indicates when dispensing has been terminated but a predetermined dwell time after termination of dispensing has not been exceeded.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the visual indicator comprises a light.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the light is a light source which can be one of at least two colours or off and is arranged to indicate at least three states of the control unit;

gas being dispensed;

dispensing complete but a predetermined dwell time has not been exceeded; and

dwell time exceeded or dispensing not commenced.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lance comprises a solid block of plastics material having machined passageways and threaded connection ports with a visual indicator embedded in the solid block, and the solid block being transparent or translucent.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the dispensing nozzle comprises a vacuum inlet aperture connected to the vacuum port of the control unit via a vacuum return line.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the vacuum inlet aperture is arranged coaxially with the dispensing nozzle.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an electrical or optical connection lead between the manually operable switch and the control unit.

14. A gas filling lance, comprising:

a solid body of translucent or transparent material having passages drilled through it which each have a threaded portion at one end thereof for receiving a respective connector;

a dispensing nozzle;

a first connector for connection of a gas supply line to the nozzle;

a second connector to connect to a line for receiving gas received by said nozzle;

a switch mounted in the solid body of translucent material for generating an electrical signal; and

an indicator light embedded in the solid body.