Patent Publication Number: US-2011056573-A1

Title: Pressure reducing device of a high pressure vessel

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     a) Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a pressure reducing device and more particularly to a pressure reducing device of a high pressure vessel which can increase a gas seal effect and maintain a long term stability of the gas. 
     b) Description of the Prior Art 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , it shows a conventional gas seal structure of a high pressure gas cylinder, wherein a pressure reducing device  1  is composed primarily of a housing  10 , a gas guiding element  12 , a gas control kit  14  and a gas directing device  16 . When high pressure gas in the high pressure gas cylinder  2  is to be outputted, the high pressure gas will pass through a gas passage  122  in the gas guiding element  12  and be expelled out through an exhaust hole  124  at the other end of the gas guiding element  12 . When the high pressure gas cylinder  2  is filled with the high pressure gas, as a first elastic element  18  is not compressed, the gas directing device  16  will be at a normal position. As a result, a gas hole  160  which is formed at a pre-determined position on a wall of the gas directing device  16  will be connected with the exhaust hole  124  on the gas guiding element  12 , enabling the high pressure gas to flow successfully to an emplacement chamber  162  of the gas directing device  16 . At this time, the gas will result in a pressure to the gas directing device  16 , enabling the gas directing device  16  to be compressed downward gradually. When the high pressure gas is filled to a pre-determined capacity, the gas directing device  16  will create a thrust to the first elastic element  18  and the gas hole  160  on the gas directing device  16  will be staggered with the exhaust hole  124  on the air guiding element  12  until that the high pressure gas is completely cut off. At this time, the high pressure gas will stop being outputted. To avoid the gas leaking out, the exhaust hole  124  on the gas guiding element  12  is provided with the gas control kit  14  having gas seal washers  140  and when the gas hole  160  is staggered with the exhaust hole  124 , the gas seal washers  140  will be rubbing constantly with the hole following the staggering of the gas hole  160  with the exhaust hole  124 , which will speed up wear-out of the gas seal washers  140  during operation. After the gas seal washers  140  have been used for a certain time, the wear-out is resulted as the gas seal washers  140  are unable to bear with the constant friction; therefore, an unstable condition will be formed in respect of gas pressure stability. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide a pressure reducing device of a high pressure vessel which is assembled primarily by a housing, a gas guiding element and a gas directing element. The gas guiding element is defined with a first gas entraining passage, a second gas entraining passage, and a holding space into which a limiting element can be put and the gas directing element can be inserted. As a contact surface of the gas directing element with the limiting element is formed with a gas seal part which is provided with an arc surface, through sealing the arc surface with a groove on the limiting element, a gas seal effect can be improved and gas stability can be maintained for a long time. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a pressure reducing device of a high pressure vessel, wherein using gas seal washers which are located on the gas directing element and close to the gas seal part, stability can be achieved to balance the gas. 
     To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a schematic view of a conventional gas seal structure of a high pressure gas cylinder. 
         FIG. 2  shows a three-dimensional schematic view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows a three-dimensional exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas is inputted and stored in a high pressure gas cylinder, according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  shows a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas is outputted to a pressure reducing device, according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  shows a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas enables a gas directing device to press down and to present a stand-by condition, according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6A  shows a local exploded view of a gas seal part and a limiting element of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows a schematic view of an operation that a thimble is pushed to continuously fill with high pressure gas for output, according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , it shows a three-dimensional schematic view and a three-dimensional exploded view, of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 4  at a same time, the present invention, as shown in the drawings, is a pressure reducing device of a high pressure vessel, wherein the pressure reducing device  3  comprises primarily a housing  30 , a gas guiding element  32  and a gas directing element  34 . A pre-determined position on a wall  302  of the housing  30  is defined with at least an emplacement chamber  304  to put a gas supply valve  4  and an interior of the housing  30  is formed with a channel  306  which is connected with the emplacement chamber  304 . An interior of the channel  306  is provided with the gas guiding element  32  which is formed with a first gas entraining passage  320  by which gas from the gas supply valve  4  is guided to flow. In addition, a holding space  322  which is formed by the gas guiding element  32  is defined with a second gas entraining passage  324  and a bottom of the holding space  322  is provided with a limiting element  5  which is provided with a perforation  50 . This holding space  322  also allows the gas directing element  34  to be inserted and the insertion end of the gas directing element  34  is formed with a gas seal part  340 . On the other hand, two ends of the gas directing element  34  are formed respectively with at least two grooves  342  for sheathing with gas seal washer  341  and a gas passage  344  on the gas directing element  34  is connected with the holding space  322 . The gas directing element  34  is sheathed and fixed with a first elastic element  6  which abuts the gas guiding element  32  to control the position of the second gas entraining passage  324  on the gas guiding element  32 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , it shows a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas is inputted and stored in a high pressure gas cylinder, according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, first, when a high pressure gas cylinder  7  is to be filled with gas, the gas can be inputted by using the gas supply valve  4 . When filling the gas, as a piston module  40  in the gas supply valve  4  is pushed by the gas, the piston module  40  will be pushed off to form a space allowing the gas to flow. At this time, the gas will enter along the channel  306 , pass through the first gas entraining passage  320  in the gas guiding element  32  and is stored in the high pressure gas cylinder  7 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 ,  6 ,  6 A and  7 , it shows a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas is outputted to a pressure reducing device, a schematic view of an operation that high pressure gas enables a gas directing device to press down and to present a stand-by condition, a local exploded view of a gas seal part and a limiting element, and a schematic view of an operation that a thimble is pushed to continuously fill high pressure gas for output, according to the present invention. As shown in the drawings, when the high pressure gas in the high pressure gas cylinder  7  is to be outputted, the high pressure gas will pass through the first gas entraining passage  320  in the gas guiding element  32  and be expelled out through the second gas entraining passage  324  at the other end of the gas guiding element  32 . When the high pressure gas is filled, as the first elastic element  6  is not compressed, the gas directing element  34  will be at a normal position. As a result, the gas passage  344  which is formed at the pre-determined position on the wall of the gas directing element  34  will be connected with the holding space  322  of the gas guiding element  32 , allowing the high pressure gas to flow successfully to an emplacement chamber  346  which is formed by the gas directing element  34  (as shown in  FIG. 5 ). At this time, the gas will create a pressure to the gas directing element  34 , enabling the gas directing element  34  to be compressed downward gradually. When the high pressure gas is filled to a pre-determined capacity, the gas directing element  34  will create a thrust to the first elastic element  6  and the wall of the gas directing element  34  will be staggered with the second gas entraining passage  324  of the gas guiding element  32 , until that the high pressure gas is completely cut off. At this time, the high pressure gas stops being outputted and the gas seal part  340  on the gas directing element  34  will be abutted with the limiting element  5 . As the limiting element  5  is formed with a groove  52  and an arc surface  343 , which is defined by the gas seal part  340 , is abutted with the groove  52  to achieve a sealed state, the gas seal washers  341  which are provided close to the gas seal part  340  are able to increase a gas seal effect and can achieve a function of balancing the high pressure gas without affecting the gas after reducing the pressure, thereby achieving an effect of stabilizing an exhaust pressure. As the limiting element  5  is formed with the perforation  50 , when the gas directing element  34  presses down, the object of balancing the gas can be achieved by a space in the perforation  50 , such that the gas seal part  340  can really abut and seal the limiting element  5 . Moreover, a circulating hole  308  which is formed on the housing  30  can be connected with a space of the first elastic element  6  to prevent from generating a vacuum pressure that a normal operation is unavailable (as shown in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 6A ). An end of the gas directing element  34  which is not inserted in the holding space  322  is defined with the emplacement chamber  346  to put a second elastic element  8 , and the gas passage  344  of the gas directing element  34  is formed with a transfix part  348  which is inserted with a thimble  9 , with an inner diameter of the transfix part  348  being closely adjacent to an outer diameter of the thimble  9 . As the thimble  9  is abutted by the second elastic element  8 , when the thimble  9  is squeezed by an external force to indent, the second elastic element  8  will be compressed. As a wall of the thimble  9  is circumferentially provided with plural grooves  90  for gas flow, the high pressure gas can be expelled out through these grooves  90 . Therefore, the high pressure gas which is stored will decrease rapidly and at a same time when the high pressure gas decreases, the original pressure of the gas directing element  34  sustained by the high pressure gas will decrease gradually; whereas, the compression of the first elastic element  6  decreases correspondingly, allowing the first elastic element  6  to push the gas directing element  34 . At this time, the gas passage  344  on the gas directing element  34  will be connected again with the holding space  322  of the gas guiding element  32  (as shown in  FIG. 7 ). Meanwhile, as the pressure is reduced, the gas directing element  34  will move up gradually, such that the high pressure gas can pass through again to flow toward an area where there is little high pressure gas. Accordingly, by the aforementioned operation principle and method, the operation is executed repeatedly and continuously, which not only controls the gas pressure output condition and the high flow rate of the gas in the high pressure gas cylinder, but also maintains the high stability of the gas when operating in a long time. 
     It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.