Hydrocarbon gas flow rate adjusting method and apparatus

An object of the present invention is to provide a hydrocarbon gas flow rate adjusting method and apparatus, which suppress deterioration of an elastic foamed body with the passage of time and enables a stabilized adjustment of the flow rate for a long period by combining a fine porous film with a porous elastic foamed body. More specifically, fuel gas taken out of a tank which stores hydrocarbon fuel gas in liquid phase is controlled in its flow rate such that the upper limit of the flow rate is the maximum flow rate obtained by depressurizing the fuel gas with a flow rate restricting member as a first stage and then adjusting to an arbitrary flow rate within a range of the restricted maximum flow rate with an adjustable flow rate adjusting member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a hydrocarbon liquefied gas adjusting method and apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

Conventionally, a gas flow rate adjusting apparatus in which fuel gas is taken out of a tank through opening/closing valve means having a flow rate adjusting mechanism and ignitor. The fuel gas is, for example, a hydrocarbon base and stored in a pressure tank having a predetermined volume in a liquid form. For example, this gas flow rate adjusting apparatus is used to take out fuel gas in the field of, for example, a cigarette lighter, anignitor, and a portable gas cylinder. The cigarette lighter and other these devices contain a pressure tank capable of storing a relatively small amount of petroleum gas therein in a liquid form. The flow rate of fuel gas contained in the tank is adjusted by pressing from outside a flow rate adjusting member composed of a porous elastic foamed body such as a multi-porous spongy like material which is commonly used in cigarette lighters to adjust flow rate, hereinafter referred to as moltpren. Gas is taken out through the opening/closing valve means, and spouted from, for example, a burner nozzle so as to form a flame for igniting a cigarette. The moltpren is an elastic foamed body having continuous pores and is used for adjusting the flow rate of passing gas by changing a total area of the pores when the elastic foamed body is pressed. Such a flow rate adjusting mechanism using the moltpren has been well known and widely used to adjust the length of flame of a cigarette lighter.

When gas in a tank which stores fuel gas is adjusted with the moltpren, first, the moltpren needs to be compressed to a thickness substantially by half or more in order to secure its maximum flow rate range. The moltpren is compressed in a finer adjusting range so as to obtain a desired flame length. When the moltpren is compressed into the maximum flow rate range. It is compressed so as to ensure an arbitrary flow rate. Adjustment from its maximum value to its minimum value is achieved within compressibility in a very small range of compression. Thus, because the porous elastic foamed body is compressed with a high compressibility so as to ensure the maximum flow rate range, it is used in a condition in which it is likely to deteriorate with a passage of time and therefore, elastic restoration of the moltpren is worsened with time passage so that a stabilized flow rate adjustment cannot be achieved after a long time. Next, the moltpren is secondarily compressed further within the adjusted maxi mum flow rate range so as to obtain an arbitrary f lame length. Because this secondary compression is a compression within a very small range, the moltpren compression mechanism is constituted of a rotation mechanism such as screws. A screw mechanism must be rotated within a small angle range, so that a high precision flow rate adjusting mechanism is needed and a high cost is required. Further, because the flame length is largely changed with a small rotation operation, a fine adjustment rotation operation is needed, so that there is no easy control in obtaining an arbitrary flame length.

According to other proposed inexpensive and disposable cigarette lighters, instead of the above-described flow rate adjustment with the moltpren, the flow rate of the fuel gas is set to a predetermined amount at the time of shipment from factory using a flow rate restricting member composed of fine porous film such as membrane film. Arbitrary flow rate adjustment is prohibited. The membrane film is a porous film body having a number of fine pores through which when fluid passes. The pressure of fluid is dropped and when gas is passed through fine pores, the pressure of gas is dropped so as to restrict the maximum value of the flow rate. Although such a flow rate restricting member is capable of limiting the flow rate within a predetermined maximum value range, the fine pores in the film are kept in a predetermined size so that the sectional area cannot be changed. Therefore, the flow rate cannot be changed from outside. If gas pressure is changed due to changes in outside temperature, the flow rate is changed thereby leading to changes in flame length. A gas flow rate adjusting apparatus using such a membrane film has been disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1993-180359.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a gas flow rate adjusting apparatus in which deterioration of the elastic foamed body with passage of time is suppressed by combining fine porous film with the porous elastic foamed body so as to attain stabilized adjustment of the flow rate for a long time.

To achieve the above described object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hydrocarbon gas flow rate adjusting method, in which fuel gas taken out of a tank which stores the hydrocarbon fuel gas in liquid phase is controlled in its flow rate such that an upper limit flow rate of usage range thereof is a maximum flow rate, comprising the steps of: depressurizing the fuel gas with a flow rate restricting member as a first stage, and adjusting a narbitrary flow rate with in a range of the restricted maximum flow rate with a flow rate adjusting member adjustable from outside.

According to a second aspect of the present invention is that the flow rate restricting member is composed of the porous film body of synthetic resin and a flow rate adjusting member is composed of porous elastic foamed body having continuous pores.

According to a third aspect of the present invention is that after the flow rate of fuel gas flowing from the tank to the fine porous film is throttled at midway. Releasing the throttled flow rate in front of the fine porous film so as to make the pressure per a unit area in the fine porous film drop.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hydrocarbon gas flow rate adjusting apparatus comprising: a storage tank for storing hydrocarbon fuel gas in liquid phase; a flow rate restricting member for controlling the flow rate of the fuel gas such that the upper limit flow rate of usage range is the maximum flow rate obtained by depressurizing the fuel gas taken out of the storage tank; a flow rate adjusting member for adjusting the flow rate within a range of the restricted maximum flow rate; and means for compressing the flow rate adjusting member from outside, wherein the flow rate adjusting member is disposed downstream from the flow rate restricting member.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention is that the flow rate restricting member comprises a fine porous film body of synthetic resin and the flow rate adjusting member comprises a porous elastic foamed body having continuous pores.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention is that a fixed cylinder which is fixed in a tank which stores fuel gas in liquid phase and which communicates with the inside of the tank, a porous elastic foamed body disposed in the fixed cylinder, a flow rate adjusting body for compressing the porous elastic foamed body which is freely operable from outside, and a fine porous film which is disposed between the porous elastic foamed body and the tank.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention is that the flow rate adjusting body is projected outwardly from a bottom of the tank while the fine porous film is incorporated in the flow rate adjusting body.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention is that a fuel gas charging mechanism is built in the flow rate adjusting body.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention is that the flow rate adjusting body is projected outwardly from the top portion of the tank and a burner nozzle means for taking out fuel gas for ignition is built in the flow rate adjusting body.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention is that a membrane film is fixed in a cylindrical capsule running axially so as to form a single unit.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention is that a throttling member having a passage capable of throttling the flow rate of fuel gas is disposed in front of the capsule.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hydrocarbon gas flow rate adjusting apparatus comprising: a storage tank for storing hydrocarbon fuel gas in liquid phase; a flow rate restricting member for controlling the flow rate of the fuel gas wherein the upper limit flow rate of gas usage range is the maximum flow rate which occurs by depressurizing the fuel gas taken out of the storage tank; a flow rate adjusting member for adjusting the flow rate within a range of the restricted maximum flow rate; and means for freely compressing the flow rate adjusting member from outside, wherein the flow rate adjusting member is disposed downstream of the flow rate restricting member while a burner nozzle means for introducing gas after the flow rate is adjusted with the flow rate adjusting member to outside for ignition is disposed in the downstream of the flow rate adjusting member.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. According to the present invention, a membrane film and a moltpren are combined and at a first stage, the pressure of fuel gas taken out of a tank is limited with the membrane film and as a second stage, the fuel gas is adjusted to an arbitrary flow rate through the moltpren within the range of such a limited pressure. The upper limit flow rate of the usage range of the fuel gas can be adjusted to its maximum flow rate with the membrane film at the first stage. After the membrane film limits the maximum value of the pressure of the fuel gas, the moltpren adjusts the flow rate within this limited pressure range. Consequently, the compressibility of the moltpren which is flow rate adjusting means at the second stage can be reduced, so that deterioration of the moltpren over time can be reduced thereby ensuring a stabilized flow rate adjustment for a long term. The membrane film is disposed within a gas flow path, and after reducing the gas pressure with the fine pores in the membrane film so as to limit the gas flow rate within a predetermined range, the moltpren is compressed from outside to attain a secondary adjustment of the gas flow rate, and then gas is taken out through a burner nozzle or the like for usage for ignition. The moltpren is disposed downstream of the membrane film and the flow rate of gas is adjusted within the range of the limited gas pressure. Consequently, the compressibility can be reduced further as compared to a conventional case where the moltpren single body is compressed so as to obtain the maximum value of the flow rate, thereby deterioration of the moltpren with a time passage is suppressed.

Preferably, the membrane film is fixed to a cylindrical capsule having an axial through passage which forms an independent unit structure, which makes easy incorporation into the flow rate adjusting mechanism.FIGS. 1,2show examples of the unit structures each composed of a capsule2to which the membrane film1is fixed.FIG. 1shows a structure in which the membrane film is attached to the midway of the capsule, andFIG. 2shows a structure in which the membrane film is attached to a rear end of the capsule. The membrane film fixed to the capsule is located to close the passage extending in the axial direction of the capsule and fuel gas passing through the passage of the capsule is depressurized when it passes the fine pores in the membrane film, so that its maximum flow rate is limited. Such a capsule is incorporated inside the flow rate adjusting mechanism while maintaining air tightness and part of a passage from the fuel tank to a nozzle is formed with the passage in the capsule, so that pressure of fuel gas within the storage tank is reduced while the gas is fed to the moltpren on a subsequent stage. In the meantime, needless to say, the structure of the capsule to which the membrane film is attached is not limited to the structure shown in the same Figure.

Although, preferably, the membrane film is a fine porous film composed of, for example, polypropylene, polytetrafluorethylene, polycarbonate or other synthetic resin, it is not restricted to these films. Although, preferably, the thickness of the membrane film is 20 to 60 μm while the diameter of the fine pore is 0.5 to 5.0 μm, they are not restricted to these values. Although the capsule is preferred to be formed of polypropylene, it is not restricted to this, however it may be formed of polyacetal, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, urethane or the like. The membrane film may be formed by overlaying unwoven fabrics.

First Embodiment

Referring toFIG. 3, reference numeral10denotes a fixed cylinder, which is fixed to a top wall of a storage tank11which stores fuel gas in a liquid phase through an O-ring12while maintaining air tightness. The fixed cylinder10constitutes a main body member of a flow rate adjusting apparatus, which is composed of cylinders containing a chamber running through vertically while upper and lower chambers are partitioned with a partition wall13located substantially in the center. The upper and lower chambers are made to communicate with each other through a through hole14made in the center of the partition wall13. A burner nozzle body15is inserted into a chamber located above the partition wall13. A gas spouting path16is provided axially in the center of the burner nozzle body15and communicates with the upper chamber through lateral holes17. Fuel gas spouted from a top end of the burner nozzle body15is ignited with an ignition spark formed by such an appropriate ignition means as electric spark, piezoelectric spark, ignition stone spark and the like. The burner nozzle body15is always biased downward by an elastic force of a spring18so that a sealing plug19composed of such an elastic sealing member as a rubber provided on its bottom end fits to the through hole14in the partition wall13so as to block spouting of gas. When the burner nozzle body15is lifted upward by a lever-like operating member connected to the neck portion resisting the spring18, the sealing plug19is separated from the through hole, thereby allowing the gas to be spouted.

In a chamber below the partition wall13, moltpren22is disposed such that it is held between a wire net20adjacent a bottom face of the partition wall13and a grooved washer21. The moltpren22is a sponge-like elastic foamed body containing continuous pores and capable of adjusting the flow rate of gas passing there by compressing to reduce the thickness thereof. This has been used conventionally as a flame length adjusting member of a gas lighter for smoking. A molt pressing body23is provided below the grooved washer21such that it is capable of moving vertically and an O-ring24seals between the lower chamber and the outer peripheral face of the molt pressing body23, so that fuel gas passes through a center hole25in the molt pressing body23and flows through the moltpren22. A capsule accommodating cylinder26is provided integrally under the moltpren pressing body23, and the capsule accommodating cylinder26contains a capsule2which holds the membrane film1shown inFIGS. 2,3. Although in the indicated embodiment, the capsule shown inFIG. 2is accommodated, needless to say, it is permissible to use the capsule shown inFIG. 1. Agasket27seals between the accommodated capsule2and the moltpren pressing body23. A throttling member48is inserted into the capsule2.

Reference numeral28denotes a flow rate adjusting body, which is inserted into a fixed cylinder10movably in the vertical direction while its bottom end is projected outwardly through a bottom wall of the storage tank11and which can be rotated from outside. A top end of the flow rate adjusting body28comes in contact with a bottom face of the throttling member48incorporated in the capsule2through a gasket29. A vertical motion of the flow adjusting body28is transmitted to the molt pressing body23through the gasket29, the throttling member48and the capsule2, and capable of pressing the moltpren22. A through central passage30is made in the central portion of the flow rate adjusting body28and communicates with the inside of the tank11through a lateral hole31. An elastic porous body32, which is a gas absorption member, is attached to the lateral hole31. O-rings33,34are attached between the flow rate adjusting body28and the fixed cylinder10and between the flow rate adjusting body28and the storage tank11so as to seal therebetween.

Fuel gas in the storage tank11is absorbed by the elastic porous body32which is a gas absorption member and introduced to the central passage30of the flow rate adjusting body28and then throttled by the throttling member48. After that, the gas flows into a wide passage3in the capsule2. After throttled by the throttling member, the fuel gas flows into an enlarged passage3in the capsule2from the passage in the throttling member. When the gas strikes the membrane film disposed in the wide passage3, the pressure per unit area of the membrane film drops. When the gas whose pressure is dropped passes through the membrane film1, the amount of gas is restricted to the maximum flow rate which is the upper limit of its usage range. The gas whose amount is restricted flows into the central hole25in the moltpren pressing body23. After the maximum flow rate is limited, the fuel gas reaches the moltpren22and flows down to the burner nozzle body15at a flow rate adjusted depending on the compression level of the moltpren22. Finally, the gas is spouted out from the top end of the burner nozzle body and ignited.

According to the flow rate adjusting method of the present invention, fuel gas in the storage tank is depressurized with the membrane film1as the first step and limited so that the upper limit flow rate of the usage range is its maximum flow rate. As a second step, the flow rate of the gas is controlled with the moltpren22within the range of the maximum flow rate obtained by reducing and controlling the pressure. Consequently, the flow rate of the fuel gas is adjusted to a desired flame length by the flow rate limitation and flow rate adjustment, which are carried out through two steps each having a different operation. Because the fuel gas adjusted by the moltpren is controlled in terms of its pressure by the membrane film1at the first step, the compressibility of the moltpren by an adjustment of the moltpren can be reduced to be considerably smaller than a conventional compressibility, so that deterioration of the moltpren with over time is reduced, thereby achieving a stabilized adjustment of the flow rate for a long time. The compressibility of the moltpren can be changed by rotating the bottom portion of the flow rate adjusting body28projected downward from the bottom wall of the storage tank11so that it can be adjusted to an arbitrary level. Because the compression of the moltpren22by this flow rate adjusting body28is an adjustment within the range of the maximum flow rate limited by the membrane film, the range of the compression amount of the moltpren by the flow rate adjusting body28is enlarged, so that a large operating range can be obtained for the compression.

FIG. 4shows a flow rate adjusting apparatus which is a modification of FIG.3. Referring toFIG. 4, a fuel gas charging chamber36is defined with the partition wall35below the flow rate adjusting body28such that it is open downward. A gas charging valve is disposed within the fuel gas charging chamber36. If a gas cylinder is connected to this flow rate adjusting body28, the storage tank is allowed to be charged freely with the fuel gas. The other points are equal to the structure shown in FIG.3. The gas charging valve has a valve main body37which is always biased by the spring38in the direction of closing the valve and includes an elastic valve body40disposed between the valve main body37and a step portion39formed in the fuel gas charging chamber36. When the valve main body37is pressed inwardly resisting the spring38(see the right half of FIG.4), the elastic valve body40is deformed so that the passage is made open. Consequently, fuel gas flows into the tank through the central hole41to a lateral hole42in the valve main body37from a gas cylinder (not shown) connected to an outside end of the valve main body37.

The capsule2has the passage3with the large internal diameter and preferably, as shown inFIGS. 3,4, the throttling member48is inserted into the passage3so as to squeeze the diameter of the flow path, so that gas flows from a narrow path restricted by the throttling member48to the wide passage3in the capsule2. Because when the membrane film1is disposed in the wide passage, gas pressure per a unit area of the membrane film drops, the operation of the depressurization is improved. Although the throttling member48may be formed integrally with the capsule2, if it is formed separately and combined with the capsule2, an arbitrary gas pressure reduction operation can be made. Consequently, the degree of freedom in restriction of flow rate due to depressurization provided by the membrane film is increased, which is an advantage of this embodiment.

FIG. 5shows the second embodiment. According to the second embodiment, the rotation of the flow rate adjusting body which presses the moltpren is carried out from above the storage tank, which is different from the first embodiment in which the flow rate adjustment is carried out from below the storage tank. However, the two-stage flow rate adjustment method and structure comprised of the primary adjustment by the membrane film and the secondary adjustment by compression of the moltpren, as characteristics of the present invention, are equal to the first embodiment except such a difference in the flow rate adjusting means. Referring toFIG. 5, the interior of the fixed cylinder10fixed to the top wall of the storage tank11is divided to two sections, upper and lower ones with the partition wall13. The moltpren22held tightly between grooved washer21and the wire net20is disposed in the upper chamber adjacent to the partition wall13, and the moltpren22is allowed to be pressed freely by the moltpren pressing body23. Reference numeral43denotes a movable cylinder in which the moltpren pressing body23is formed integrally and which is inserted into an upper chamber of the fixed cylinder10such that it is movable in a vertical direction. When the movable cylinder43is moved vertically, the moltpren pressing body23located below compresses the moltpren22to a desired extent, thereby adjusting the flow rate of fuel gas to an arbitrary amount. The burner nozzle body15is inserted into the movable cylinder43while being always biased downward by the spring44. After the flow rate is adjusted by the moltpren22, fuel gas passes through a central hole45in the molt pressing body and is spouted out from the gas spouting path16in the burner nozzle body15. The capsule2incorporating the throttling member48having the membrane film1is accommodated in the chamber below the partition wall13via the gasket27. A sucking core holding member46is disposed below the capsule2via the gasket, so that a sucking core47extending up to near the bottom of the tank is held by the sucking core holding member46.

Fuel gas in liquid phase after being sucked up by the sucking core47is vaporized and throttled by the throttling member48, so that the velocity thereof is increased and the fuel gas flows into the capsule2. After the velocity is increased, the fuel gas flows into an enlarged the passage3in the capsule2from the passage in the throttling member, so that the velocity of the fuel gas is decreased by the Venturi effect induced thereby while the gas passes through the membrane film1. After the fuel gas is depressurized, it passes the through hole14in the partition wall13and reaches the moltpren22. After the maximum flow rate is restricted by the membrane film, the fuel gas flows down to the burner nozzle body15at an arbitrary flow rate adjusted under a compression level of the moltpren22. Then, the fuel gas is spouted out from the top end of the burner nozzle and ignited with a predetermined flame length.

As described above, according to the present invention, the flow rate restricting member and the flow rate adjusting member are combined using the fine porous film body and the porous elastic foamed body. At the first stage, by reducing the pressure of the fuel gas with the fine porous film body, the flow rate of the fuel gas is controlled such that its upper limit of the usage range is at the maximum flow rate. After the maximum flow rate is controlled, as the second stage, the fuel gas is adjusted under the compression level of the porous elastic foamed body disposed in the downstream. Therefore, the compressibility of the elastic foamed body can be reduced and deterioration of the porous elastic foamed body over time due to the compression is suppressed, so that a stabilized adjustment of the flow rate can be attained for a longtime. Because the fine porous film is held in the capsule as a unit, it is easy to install in the flow rate adjusting apparatus. Further, it is easy to combine the fine porous film with a gasket or O-ring so as to form a structure which holds air tightness.