Patent ID: 6708571
Filing Date: 2004-03-23
Classification: G01F

Abstract:
A temperature compensated fluid meter for measuring the volume of a fluid flowing through said meter comprising, in combination:a housing having a pressurized fluid flow chamber; at least one impeller mounted in said housing and extending into said fluid flow chamber so as to rotate with the flow of fluid through said fluid flow chamber; a temperature transducer mounted in said housing and having temperature sensing components, including a sensing bulb and bellows, located substantially fully within said fluid flow chamber, said sensing bulb containing liquid which expands and contracts with temperature changes, and said bellows being constructed to have an outside surface in contact with said liquid to exert a force on said liquid and having a moveable end in contact with the liquid and a stationary end, said temperature transducer also including an actuator rod attached to said moveable end of said bellows which moves substantially linearly and substantially continuously in a first direction as said bellows contracts when said liquid expands with an increase in the temperature of the fluid and which move substantially linearly and substantially continuously in a second direction as said bellows extends when said liquid contracts with a decrease in the temperature of the fluid; a register assembly having a temperature compensated index for recording a volume of fluid flowing through said meter which is compensated for changes in the temperature of the fluid; a transmission assembly including: a cylinder having a cylindrical surface and an axis of rotation, a cone having a conical surface and an axis of rotation, with said axis of rotation of said cylinder and said axis of rotation of said cone being in the same plane with one another and installed at an angle with respect to one another so that the adjacent portions of said cylindrical surface and said conical surface are parallel to one another, said cylinder operatively connected to said at least one impeller to cause said cylinder to rotate in response to the rotation of said at least one impeller, and said cone operatively connected to said temperature compensated index; a transfer ring encircling said cylinder and in driving contact between said cylindrical surface and said conical surface to cause said cone to rotate in response to the rotation of said cylinder, a transfer mechanism interconnected with said transfer ring to move said transfer ring in a direction parallel to said axis of rotation of said cylinder, said actuator rod interconnected with said transfer mechanism to cause said transfer mechanism to change the position of said transfer ring substantially linearly and substantially continuously along the axis of said cylinder in response to changes in the temperature of the fluid being measured, thereby substantially linearly and substantially continuously changing the speed of rotation of said cone with respect to said cylinder for a particular volume of fluid as the temperature of the fluid changes and causing said temperature compensated index to substantially linearly and substantially continuously adjust its measurement of a volume of fluid flowing through said meter in response to temperature changes.