Patent Publication Number: US-6334468-B1

Title: Fill port adapter for medical gas cylinder valves

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to valves used with medical gas cylinders, and more particularly, to a valve used to add additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve without altering the gas cylinder valve and without altering or removing the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Medical gas cylinder valves have three ports when manufactured according to an industry standard, for example, Compressed Gas Association (CGA) 870). One port is screwed into the gas cylinder, a second port is where the regulator or gas delivery is attached, and the third port contains a pressure relief safety burst disc. As depicted in FIG. 1, a typical configuration for a medical gas cylinder is depicted. The medical gas cylinder  10  has a single fill port through a conventional valve  12 . The conventional valve  12  usually has NPT threads on the outlet end. As depicted in FIG. 1, a CGA-870 valve is illustrated as  30 . The CGA-870 valve has a body  32  having a first port  34  having NPT threads, a pressure reducer  36  attached to a second port  35  and a burst disc  38  in a third port  37 . 
     Often, the number of ports on a medical gas valve such as the CGA-870 is insufficient. Thus, a need exists in the art for an apparatus used to add at least one port to the CGA-870 gas valve without altering the regulator or gas delivery hardware. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for attachment to a standard medical gas cylinder that provides an additional connection port. 
     Another object of the present invention is to add an additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to add additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve and without altering or removing the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware. 
     The present invention allows an additional connection to a standard medical gas cylinder valve such as a CGA-870 valve. An additional connection may be used for filling a cylinder without removing the pressure reducer, simultaneous filling while drawing through the pressure reducer, or for any other purpose that requires an additional or non-standard connection to the cylinder. The additional connection will be through an adapter that screws into the burst disc port. A burst disc is a frangible disc which ruptures within a predetermined pressure range. Some gas cylinder valves have the burst disc center line closer to the outlet centerline. This close centerline may be accommodated by offsetting the access of the first and second port to provide clearances required. 
     These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a fill port adapter for connection to a medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The fill port adapter includes a body having a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The fill port adapter has a burst disc portion including a burst disc. The fill port adapter has a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through a second connector portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion. 
     The foregoing and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by a method of adding an additional port to an existing medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The method includes disconnecting hardware from one of the two or more ports and connecting an adapter including a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The adapter also includes a burst disc portion including a burst disc, and a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through the second connector portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion. 
     The foregoing and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by a fill port adapter for connection to a medical gas cylinder having two or more ports. The fill port adapter includes a body including a first connector portion for pressure tight connection into one of the two or more ports of the medical gas cylinder. The fill port adapter has a burst disc portion including a burst disc, wherein the port into which the first connector portion is connected is a burst disc port. The fill port adapter has a second connector portion having connection means to either fill the gas cylinder from a source of gas pressure through the second connection portion or to withdraw gas from the gas cylinder through the second connector portion. 
     Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and description thereof are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein elements having the same reference numeral designations represent like elements throughout and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional prior art CGA-870 valve connected to a standard medical gas cylinder; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of an adapter providing an additional port according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an illustration of a second embodiment of an adapter according to the present invention having the axes offset between the first and third ports; and 
     FIG. 4 is an illustration of a conventional medical gas cylinder, CGA-870 valve and the present invention connected to one of the three ports on the CGA-870 valve. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     An adapter  90  according to the present invention is depicted in perspective in FIG.  2 . As depicted in FIG. 2, the adapter  90  has a generally cylindrical body  100  having a central section  102  which includes female NPT threads for connection to a burst disc  38 . An inlet section  106  has male NPT threads. An outlet section  108  can have a quick disconnect  110 , NPT threads or any other configuration as desired. The section  108  adds the additional port when connected to the CGA-870 valve  30 . 
     As depicted in FIG. 3, a second embodiment of the present invention has the first section  106  which is offset from the outlet section  108 . This is to accommodate some gas cylinder valves that have the burst disc center line closer to the outlet centerline. As depicted in FIG. 2, the centerline A 1 -A 2  is along a single axis. By contrast, as depicted in FIG. 3, the centerline A 1 -A 2  are offset from each other. As depicted in FIG. 4, the burst disc  38  in FIG. 1 has been replaced with the adapter assembly  96  according to the present invention. The burst disc  38  which was previously in port  37  is now in port  104  of the adapter. 
     Advantageously, the present invention provides an apparatus and a method for adding at least one port to the gas valve without altering the regulator or gas delivery hardware. Although two configurations are depicted for the adapter  90 , it should be apparent that other port configurations could be used to allow connection to various different gas plumbing systems as desired. In the configurations depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, a quick disconnect  110  is attached to the adapter body  104 . This configuration would advantageously allow simultaneous gas cylinder filling while gas can still be delivered through the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware. This configuration is only one of many possible configurations. 
     It should now be apparent that an invention has been described which allows additional connection port or ports to an existing gas cylinder valve without altering the gas cylinder valve and without altering or removing the existing regulator or gas delivery hardware. 
     It will be readily seen by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention fulfills all of the objects set forth above. After reading the foregoing specification, one of ordinary skill will be able to affect various changes, substitutions of equivalents and various other aspects of the invention as broadly disclosed herein. It is therefore intended that the protection granted hereon be limited only by the definition contained in the appended claims and equivalents thereof.