HYDROPNEUMATIC PISTON ACCUMULATOR

Abstract

A hydropneumatic piston accumulator, with an accumulator housing (1) defining a housing longitudinal axis (11), in which a piston (9) is longitudinally movable between two housing covers (5, 7) positioned opposite each other. In the housing (1), the piston (9) separates a working chamber (13) for a compressible medium, such as a working gas, from a working chamber (15) for an incompressible medium, such as hydraulic fluid, and comprises at least a part (55) of a displacement measurement device continuously determining each position of the piston (9) in the housing (1). The invention is characterised in that a rod-like guide (29, 57) is stationarily positioned in the accumulator housing (1) and passes all the way through the piston (9) in each of its displacement positions in the accumulator housing (1), the piston (9) being movably guided therealong until it reaches the stop on one of the two housing covers (5, 7), and in that the piston (9) is sealed against this guide (29, 57) using a sealing device (49, 50).

Claims

1. A hydropneumatic piston accumulator, comprising an accumulator housing (1) that defines a longitudinal axis (11), in which a piston (9) is disposed that is longitudinally moveable between two opposite housing covers (5, 7), which separates inside the housing (1) a working chamber (13) for a compressible medium, such as a process gas, from a working chamber (15) for an incompressible medium, such as hydraulic oil, and which houses at least a part (55) of a displacement measurement device that continually acquires the respective position of the piston (9) inside housing (1), characterized in that a rod-like guide (29, 57) is disposed stationary inside accumulator housing (1), which fully passes through the piston (9) in every one of its displacement positions inside the accumulator housing (1) and along which the piston (9) is moveably guided up to the respective end stop at one of the two housing covers (5, 7), and that the piston (9) is sealed with respect to said guide (29, 57) by way of a sealing means (49, 50).

2. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the displacement measuring device consists in particular of an optical measuring system, such as a laser measuring system; an acoustic measuring system, such as an ultrasonic measuring system (75, 78); a magnetic measuring system; an inductive measuring system; a Hall sensor measuring system; and a magnetostrictive measuring system (23, 26, 28, 29).

3. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the rod-like guide (29, 57) inside the accumulator housing (1) is implemented at least in part as a hollow rod (57) that houses further components of the displacement measuring device, such as a waveguide (29) of a magnetostrictive measuring system or a Hall sensor chain measuring system, or that the guide for piston (9) is formed directly by the other components of the displacement measuring device, such as the waveguide (29) of the magnetostrictive measuring system (23, 26, 28, 29).

4. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that a lead-through (31) is provided as a guide (29, 57) that extends preferably coaxial to the longitudinal axis (11) inside the piston (9), wherein said lead-through (31) is provided with a permanent magnet device (55).

5. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that in a magnetostrictive measuring system (23, 26, 28, 29) a jacket element (29) made from an electrically non-conductive material is provided that directly surrounds the instrument wire.

6. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the hollow rod (57), which forms the guide, preferably consists of a pressure-resistant, circular cladding tube (57).

7. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the accumulator housing (1) comprises a cylindrical tube (3) that is closed at both ends by a housing cover (5, 7), that the cladding tube (57) is attached with at least one open end to one of the housing covers (5, 7) and that a pulse converter (26, 28) is disposed on said housing cover (5, 7), wherein said pulse converter (26, 28) is connected to the waveguide of the magnetostrictive measuring system (23, 26, 28, 29) and is provided with a pulse transmitter/receiver.

8. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that in an ultrasonic measuring system (75, 78) or in a laser measuring system a position encoder is moveably guided inside cladding tube (57), which follows the piston movement due to the magnetic force of the permanent magnet device (55) acting between it and the piston (9), and that a transmitter/receiver (75) of the displacement measuring device is disposed on one of the housing covers (5, 7), which transmits measuring radiation through the respective open end (25, 26) of the cladding tube (57) to the position encoder and receives radiation reflected by it.

9. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (5) that retains the open end of the cladding tube (57) adjoins the gas-side working chamber (13).

10. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the cladding tube (57) is also open at its free end (60) that is not retained.

11. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the cladding tube (57) is closed at its free end (60) that is not retained.

12. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the cladding tube (57) is retained at both open ends in a cover (5 and 7) each.

13. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover (7) that retains the open end (60) of the cladding tube (57) adjoins the oil-side working chamber (15).

14. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that, starting from both open ends of the cladding tube (57), each waveguide (29) of a magnetostrictive sensor system (26, 28) extends along part of the length of the measuring distance inside the cladding tube (57).

15. The piston accumulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective sensor system (26, 28) can be retrieved from an open end of the cladding tube (57) and is formed from a flexible sheath (29) that covers the waveguide like a tube that can preferably be rolled up.

Description

[0021] The invention will now be explained in greater detail by way of the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing.

[0022] Shown are in:

[0023] FIG. 1 a longitudinal cross-section of an exemplary embodiment of the piston accumulator according to the invention, shown in shortened form;

[0024] FIG. 2 a longitudinal cross-section of the piston of the piston accumulator according to the invention, shown enlarged compared to FIG. 1;

[0025] FIG. 3 a longitudinal cross-section of a second exemplary embodiment of the piston accumulator according to the invention, shown in shortened form;

[0026] FIG. 4 a longitudinal cross-section of the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 3, wherein only the outer jacket element of the magnetostrictive sensor system in form of a cladding tube is shown in shortened form;

[0027] FIG. 5 a longitudinal cross-section of a third exemplary embodiment, shown in shortened form;

[0028] FIG. 6 a longitudinal cross-section of a third exemplary embodiment, shown in shortened form, wherein only the outer jacket element in form of a cladding tube is shown of the sensor system;

[0029] FIG. 7 a longitudinal cross-section of a fourth exemplary embodiment, shown in shortened form;

[0030] FIG. 8 a longitudinal cross-section of a fourth exemplary embodiment, shown in shortened form, wherein only the outer jacket element in form of a cladding tube is shown of the sensor system;

[0031] FIG. 9 a longitudinal cross-section of a fifth exemplary embodiment, shown in shortened form, wherein only the outer jacket element in form of a cladding tube is shown of the sensor system;

[0032] FIG. 10 a longitudinal cross-section of a sixth exemplary embodiment of the piston accumulator according to the invention;

[0033] FIGS. 11 & 12 longitudinal cross-sections of a seventh exemplary embodiment, wherein the sensor system with its inner jacket elements is shown pulled out at different lengths from the outer jacket element, which is formed by a cladding tube; and

[0034] FIG. 13 a longitudinal cross-section of an eighth exemplary embodiment, shown in a shortened form, of the piston accumulator according to the invention.

[0035] The invention will now be explained by way of examples depicted in FIGS. 1 to 12 in which the piston accumulator is fitted with a magnetostrictive measuring system. FIG. 13 shows an exemplary embodiment with an ultrasonic measuring system.

[0036] The exemplary embodiments of the piston accumulator according to the invention shown in the drawings comprise an accumulator housing that is designated as a whole with 1, which in all the exemplary embodiments shown has a cylindrical pipe 3 as a main part that forms a round, hollow cylinder. Said cylindrical pipe 3 is tightly closed at both ends by a screwed-in housing cover 5 and 7 between which a piston 9 is freely moveable along the longitudinal housing axis 11. The piston 9 separates a gas-side working chamber 13, which is filled to a certain filling pressure with a process gas, such as N.sub.2, as a compressible medium, from a working chamber 15, which is filled with an incompressible medium, such as hydraulic oil. To connect said working chamber 15 to an associated hydraulic system (not shown), a connecting port 17 is disposed coaxial to the longitudinal axis 11 in the housing cover 7 that adjoins the oil-side working chamber 15. At the opposite housing cover 5, which adjoins the gas-side working chamber 13, a filling passage 19 is provided, offset from the longitudinal axis 11, at the outer end of which a fill valve 21 of the usual kind is disposed, through which a certain quantity of process gas may be introduced into the working chamber 13 under a certain filling pressure.

[0037] A sensor port 23 is provided, arranged coaxial to the longitudinal axis 11, in the housing cover 5 that adjoins the gas-side working chamber 13, wherein said sensor port 23 is provided at the outer end section with a seat for a screw connector of the pulse converter 26, as well as a passage 27, through which the strand 29 of the jacket elements of the waveguide extends along the longitudinal axis 11 and through a lead-through 31 provided in piston 9 and along the length of the measuring distance in the direction of the other housing cover 7. In this first exemplary embodiment according to the invention the strand 29 forms the strand-like internal guide for the separating piston 9.

[0038] FIG. 2, which depicts the piston 9 in enlarged form compared to FIG. 1 and which corresponds approximately to the size of an actual implementation, clearly shows details of the central lead-through 31. As is common practice with such accumulator pistons, the piston 9 is provided at its outer circumference with an external seal between the fluid chamber and the media chamber in the form of annular grooves 33 and 35 for piston seals (not shown), as well as annular grooves 37 and 39 of reduced depth for guide strips (also not shown) and which are offset with respect to the annular grooves 33 and 35 in the direction towards the two axial end sections. As is also common practice with such pistons, said piston 9 is provided with a circular, pot-like recess 41 inside the accumulator housing on the side of the piston that faces the gas-side working chamber 13, wherein the flat bottom 43 of said recess 41 is located approximately at half the axial length of the piston 9. The lead-through 31 is provided with through-hole 51, which extends coaxially to the longitudinal axis 11 from the bottom 43 to the end face of the piston. In the section of the borehole adjacent to bottom 43 the through-hole 51 is provided with a circular-cylindrical expansion 53, which forms the seat for an annular body 45, which is attached inside the expansion 53 by means of screws 47 that extend parallel to the through-hole 51. Annular grooves 49 and 50 are formed in the non-expanded part of through-hole 51 to retain sealing rings as part of the internal seal arrangement.

[0039] The annular body 45, which is attached inside the expansion 53, forms the support for the permanent magnet device that serves as position encoder. Said permanent magnet device is formed by a magnetic ring 55, which is attached by means of adhesive to the free surface of the annular body 45, which is flush with the bottom 43. The internal diameter of the magnetic ring 55, which is disposed coaxially to through-hole 51, is marginally larger than the diameter of through-hole 51. In order to magnetically decouple the magnetic ring 55 from the metallic piston 9, the screws 47 and the annular body 45 are made from a thermosetting synthetic material.

[0040] FIGS. 3 and 4 depict a second exemplary embodiment of the piston accumulator according to the invention, in which, as the outer jacket element that surrounds the jacket elements that form the strand 29, a cladding tube 57 is provided that is attached with its one open end 59 to the cover 5, which is adjacent to the gas-side media chamber 13, by means of a solder or welding connection 24 in such a way that the open end 59 protrudes into the passage 27 of the sensor port 23. The cladding tube 57 is closed at the opposite end 60. By making the cladding tube 57 pressure-resistant, for example from a non-magnetic, metallic material, the inside of the tube remains unpressurised, regardless of the accumulator pressure that exists in the working chambers 13, 15, so that no great demands need to be placed on the seal on seat 25 of the sensor port 23. The smooth surface of the cladding tube 57 facilitates at the same time the smooth-sliding guidance of piston 9 at the lead-through 31 and thus an advantageous operating response of the piston accumulator. The cladding tube 57 forms the rod guide for the piston 9.

[0041] The third exemplary embodiment depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6 differs from the above-described example only in that the end 60 of the cladding tube 57 is also open, which is adjacent to housing cover 7 of the oil-side working chamber 15. This ensures that the inside of the cladding tube 57 has equal pressure with respect to the working pressure of the accumulator so that the cladding tube 57 in form of the rod guide does not need to be made pressure-resistant. Apart from a non-magnetic metal tube it is therefore also possible to use a plastic tube.

[0042] FIGS. 7 and 8 depict a further exemplary embodiment in which the cladding tube 57 with its open end 60 does not end just before the housing cover 7, which is provided with the oil-side connecting port 17, but is retained in a centrally located through-hole 61 in said housing cover 7. As is the case for the through-hole 51 located in the lead-through 31 of piston 9, said through-hole 61 is also stepped in longitudinal direction, wherein at the inner end section of through-hole 61 an expansion 54 is formed, which corresponds in shape and size to the expansion 53 in piston 9. Like in piston 9, the same annular body 45, as is used in piston 9, is inserted into said expansion 54 and also secured with screws 47. The end part of the cladding tube 57 that passes through the annular body 45 is sealed inside the through-hole 61 by sealing rings 62 and 63. The connecting port 17, which is provided as access to the oil-side working chamber 15, is arranged in this exemplary embodiment in a position that is radially offset from the longitudinal axis. In this arrangement of the cladding tube 57, with the through-hole 61 open to atmosphere, the cladding tube 57 is again unpressurised so that at the passage 27, which leads to the seat 25 of the pulse converter 26, and at the sensor port 23 no particularly pressure-resistant seal arrangement needs to be provided. By providing a correspondingly pressure-resistant seal arrangement 64 at the seat 25 it is possible to provide a fluid connection (not shown) between connecting port 17 and the through-hole 61 on the housing cover 7 with its connecting port 17 so that the accumulator pressure is also in this exemplary embodiment present on the inside of the cladding tube 57 and it is therefore pressure-equalised like in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6.

[0043] FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary embodiment that is equivalent to that of FIGS. 3 and 4 with the exception that a passage 65 and a seat 66 are provided on the oil-side of housing cover 7 for the pulse converter 26 (not shown in this Figure), wherein the open end 60, which is attached to cover 7, protrudes into the passage 65. As in FIGS. 7 and 8, the connecting port 17 for the oil-side working chamber 15 is radially offset from the longitudinal axis.

[0044] FIG. 10 depicts an exemplary embodiment with a very long accumulator housing 1. The design of the gas-side housing cover 5 and that of the oil-side housing cover 7 corresponds in this example to the cover design of FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively, wherein the cladding tube 57 is attached to said covers 5, 7 with both open ends. To avoid covering the long length of the measuring distance inside accumulator housing 1 with a single sensor system, a seat for a sensor port 23 is provided on the gas-side cover 5 as well as on the oil-side cover 7. The stepped through-hole 61, shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, forms in the expanded end section 67 a seat for a second pulse converter 28. In this manner the pulse converters 26 and 28 with their respective strand 29, which contains the wave guide, cover half of the long measuring distance each.

[0045] The design in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 corresponds to the example of the accumulator housing 1 of FIGS. 3 and 4. The strand 29 that contains the wave guide of the sensor system is flexible since the jacket elements are made from an elastomer. After pulling it out of the cladding tube 57, which is closed at the free end 60 and is therefore unpressurised, the strand 29 may be pulled out and rolled up without interrupting the operation of the piston accumulator as soon as a certain measuring period is concluded. The sensor system can thus be used to monitor multiple piston accumulators by inserting it into passage 27 that is provided in housing cover 5.

[0046] In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 13, which is provided with an ultrasonic measuring system, the position encoder takes the form of a single round body made from a ferromagnetic material with a flat circular disk 58 at both axially opposite ends, where the position encoder is moveably guided inside cladding tube 57 at the outer diameter of said circular disk 58. The disks 58 are attached to each other with a single connecting piece 59 of a reduced diameter. The axial distance of disks 58 is matched to the axial height of the magnetic ring 55 in such a way that the end faces of the disks 58 are flush with the end faces of the magnetic ring 55 so that an optimal magnetic flux is formed with the magnetic ring 55. The end face of the disk 58 of the position encoder, which faces the end 60 of the cladding tube 57, forms the reflecting surface for the measuring radiation that enters at the end 60 into the cladding tube 57. Through the displacement movement of the piston 9 the position encoder is dragged along through said magnetic force so that the respective location of the position encoder corresponds to the location of piston 9.

[0047] The stepped through-hole 61 of housing cover 7, which retains the end 60 of the cladding tube 57, is also provided with a circular-cylindrical expansion 54, in the same manner as for through-hole 51 at the lead-through 31 of piston 9, wherein the same annular body 45 used for the lead-through 31 of piston 9, provided in form of a plastic body, is retained and secured with screws 47. The annular body 45 forms on housing cover 7 a suitable retainer for the inserted end section of the cladding tube 57. For the ultrasonic measuring method the displacement measuring device is provided with a transmitter/receiver 75 for which the outer, expanded through-hole section 67 of through-hole 61 in the oil-side housing cover 7 forms a seat. An ultrasonic transducer with a disk-like piezoelectric ceramic 78 extends from said through-hole section 67 into the end section of tube 57 to ascertain the distance to the reflective surface on the facing disk 58 of the position encoder 57 [sic]. Alternatively it would be possible to dispose the transmitter/receiver 75 on the gas-side housing cover 5, wherein the expanded through-hole section 73 at the end of the passage 27 could form the seat for the displacement measuring device.

[0048] Instead of an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver 75 for it is possible to use one for laser radiation. The position encoder is then preferably provided at its upper end with a reflective surface suitable for laser light, which reflects the laser radiation emitted by the transmitter 75 to the receiver 75. From the elapsed time differences it is then possible to determine the position of piston 9 and, if applicable, its displacement velocity and/or the acceleration values when accelerating and decelerating. Moreover, it is also possible to insert into the rod-like guide in form of the hollow tube or cladding tube 57 the sensor chain of a Hall sensor measuring system, for example as described in DE 10 2013 014 282 A1, instead of a magnetostrictive conductor in form of a strand 29.

[0049] It is also possible to house parts of a magnetic or inductive measuring system, as described in DE 103 10 427 A1 and DE 10 2011 090 050 A1, in the pressure-resistant, rod-like guide in form of the hollow tube or cladding tube 57.

[0050] In the position measurement to be carried out, the piston 9 constitutes an important component in the overall measuring system and carries parts of the same or drags them along via magnetic coupling when it moves. Moreover, the hollow guide rod 57 also houses parts of the overall measuring system, as described. In the exemplary embodiments shown, the rod-like guide is disposed coaxial to the longitudinal axis 11 inside accumulator housing 1. Nevertheless, it is also possible to arrange the guide, which passes through piston 9, offset from the centre and parallel to the longitudinal axis 11 inside accumulator housing 1. It is, moreover, conceivable to dispose multiple guide rods parallel to each other inside accumulator housing 1. Depending on the number of guide rods used, the separating piston 9 requires the corresponding number of passages for the respective guides. Furthermore, each respective guide rod passes through the inside of the accumulator housing 1 between its two housing covers 5, 7 and is also disposed coaxial to accumulator housing 1.

[0051] The sealing means 49, 50 between guide rod and piston 9 is effective in every displacement position of the piston 9, and the two sealing rings that are retained in annular grooves 49, 50 surround and are in contact with said guide rod. The two sealing rings retained in the annular grooves 49, 50 are at a predeterminable axial distance in the direction of the longitudinal axis 11, and as part of the internal guidance of the piston 9 they stabilise its axial displacement movement along the guide rod 29, 57. The sealing means 49, 50 is disposed on the inside of the piston 9 and, when viewing the drawing, seen above the annular body 45 that is screw-fastened into the piston 9. The internal guidance of the piston 9 through the sealing means 49, 50 in conjunction with the outer guidance along the inner wall of the accumulator housing 1 with the respective outer sealing means 33, 35 result in an accurate displacement movement of the piston 9 inside the accumulator housing 1, which leads to improved measuring results when detecting the position of piston 9 and its actual movement states.