Floating ball filling-control device for cryogenic tank

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank with enhanced structural stability. The floating ball filling-control device comprises a liquid feeding pipe (2) with a liquid discharging end disposed in the liquid storage tank (1), the liquid feeding pipe (2) having liquid spraying holes (3) located on the pipe wall at the top of the pipe, and a slide valve (4) arranged on the top end of the liquid feeding pipe, wherein the slide valve is in a sliding fit with the liquid feeding pipe in a vertical direction via a floating ball lever driving mechanism, and forms an open/close mechanism for the liquid spraying holes via a control mechanism.

Claims

1. A floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank, comprising: a liquid feeding pipe (2) with a liquid discharging end disposed in a liquid storage tank (1), the liquid feeding pipe (2) having liquid spraying holes (3) located on a pipe wall at a top end of the liquid feeding pipe (2), wherein a slide valve (4) is arranged on the top end of the liquid feeding pipe (2), the slide valve (4) positioned in a sliding fit with the liquid feeding pipe (2) in a vertical direction via a floating ball lever driving mechanism so as to form an open/close mechanism for the liquid spraying holes (3) via a limiting mechanism of the slide valve (4), wherein the floating ball lever driving mechanism comprises, a swing link (6) with one end provided on a supporting plate (5) at an inner wall of the liquid storage tank (1), a floating ball (7), and a horizontal lever (8), wherein one end of the horizontal lever (8) is connected to the slide valve (4) via a connecting rod (9), and another end of the horizontal lever (8) is hinged with the floating ball (7) via a connecting assembly disposed on a central shaft of the floating ball, wherein, another end of the swing link (6) is provided within the floating ball (7) along the central shaft of the floating ball (7) and is in a sliding fit with the floating ball (7) in the vertical direction.

2. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 1, wherein the connecting assembly disposed on the central shaft of the floating ball comprises a sliding sleeve (10) with a blind hole (10-1) on the upper part thereof, and an upper end of the sliding sleeve (10) is hinged with the horizontal lever (8), and wherein the swing link (6) is slidably positioned within the sliding sleeve (10) by a lower end of the sliding sleeve (10), and the floating ball (7) is limited by the blind hole (10-1) within the sliding sleeve (10).

3. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 2, wherein the swing link (6) and the blind hole (10-1) form a plunger type cylinder damping mechanism via a clearance fit.

4. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 1, wherein the limiting mechanism of the slide valve (4) is a horizontal pin shaft (4-1) transversely positioned at a top end of the slide valve (4).

5. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 1, wherein the horizontal lever (8) has a limiting end and a driving end, and the length ratio between the limiting end and the driving end falls within the range of 1:1 and 3:1.

6. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 1, wherein 2-4 groups of the liquid spraying holes (3) are disposed on the liquid feeding pipe (2) and are uniformly distributed on the pipe wall, and the top end of the liquid feeding pipe (2) is closed.

7. The floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank according to claim 1, wherein a driving end of the horizontal lever (8) is of a U-shaped shifting fork type structure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present disclosure, in accordance with one or more various embodiments, is described in detail with reference to the following figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict exemplary embodiments of the disclosure. These drawings are provided to facilitate the reader's understanding of the disclosure and should not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of the disclosure. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration these drawings are not necessarily made to scale.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which the slide valve is opened according to embodiments of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the state of the pipe wall of the slide valve according to embodiments of the present invention;

(4) FIG. 3 is a top view of the horizontal lever of the slide valve in FIG. 1.

(5) In the above FIGS. 1-3, 1 represents a liquid storage tank, 2 represents a liquid feeding pipe, 3 represents a liquid spraying hole, 4 represents a slide valve, 4-1 represents a horizontal pin shaft, 5 represents a supporting plate, 6 represents a swing link, 7 represents a floating ball, 8 represents a horizontal lever, 9 represents a connecting rod, 10 represents a sliding sleeve, and 10-1 represents blind hole.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

(6) The following description is presented to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. Descriptions of specific devices, techniques, and applications are provided only as examples. Various modifications to the examples described herein will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other examples and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, embodiments of the present invention are not intended to be limited to the examples described herein and shown, but is to be accorded the scope consistent with the claims.

(7) As shown in FIG. 1, a floating ball filling-control device for a cryogenic tank comprises a liquid feeding pipe 2 with a liquid discharging end disposed in the liquid storage tank 1. A few liquid spraying holes 3 of the liquid feeding pipe 2 are located on the pipe wall at the top of the pipe. A slide valve 4 is such arranged on the top end of the liquid feeding pipe 2 that the slide valve 4 is in a sliding fit with the liquid feeding pipe 2 in a vertical direction via a floating ball lever driving mechanism, and forms an open/close mechanism for the liquid spraying holes 3 via a control mechanism.

(8) In one embodiment, the aforementioned floating ball lever driving mechanism comprises a swing link 6 with one end coupled to a supporting plate 5 at the inner wall of the liquid storage tank 1, a floating ball 7, and a horizontal lever 8. Further, one end of the horizontal lever 8 is connected to the slide valve 4 via a connecting rod 9, the other end of the horizontal lever 8 is hinged with the floating ball 7 via a connecting assembly disposed on a central shaft of the floating ball. Also, the other end of the swing link 6 is positioned within the floating ball 7 along the center shaft of the floating ball 7 and is in a sliding fit with the floating ball 7 in the vertical direction.

(9) As shown in FIG. 2, the connecting assembly disposed on the central shaft of the floating ball is a sliding sleeve 10, which includes a blind hole 10-1 on the upper part thereof, and the upper end of the sliding sleeve 10 is hinged with the horizontal lever 8. The swing link 6 is slidably positioned within the sliding sleeve 10 by the lower end of the sliding sleeve 10; and the floating ball is stablized through the blind hole 10-1 within the sliding sleeve 10.

(10) The swing link 6 and the blind hole 10-1 form a plunger type cylinder damping mechanism via clearance fit.

(11) The pivot point of the horizontal lever 8 is limited on a supporting base on the pipe wall of the liquid feeding pipe 2 via a pin shaft.

(12) The control mechanism of the slide valve 4 is a horizontal pin shaft 4-1 transversely positioned at the top end of the slide valve 4.

(13) The arm length ratio of a limiting end to a driving end of the horizontal lever 8 is: 1-3:1.

(14) Usually 2-4 groups of the liquid spraying holes 3 are disposed on the liquid feeding pipe 2 and are uniformly distributed on the pipe wall, and the top end of the liquid feeding pipe 2 is closed.

(15) The driving end of the horizontal lever 8 is of a U-shaped shifting fork type structure.

(16) An exemplary process for assembling the above device works as follows: referring to FIG. 1, the top of the liquid feeding pipe 2 is blocked off, and a plurality of liquid spraying holes 3 are provided on the circular section near the top. Pin shafts are mounted on the two sides of the lower portion of the slide valve 4 and the horizontal pin shaft 4-1 is transversely arranged on the upper part of the slide valve; the slide valve 4 is sleeved on the upper part of the liquid feeding pipe 2. The slide valve 4 is connected with the floating ball 7 via the connecting rod 9 and the horizontal lever 8. A through shaft is arranged in the center of the floating ball 7, a pin hole is formed on the top end of the shaft, and the shaft is fixed to the long arm end of the horizontal lever 8 through the pin shaft; the blind hole 10-1 opening downwardly is formed on the central shaft of the floating ball to form the sliding sleeve 10, so that the floating ball 7 is sleeved on the swing link 6. The limiting end of the swing link 6 is fixed on the supporting plate 5 through the pin shaft to allow the swing link 6 to swing in the left and right directions only.

(17) In operation, the above-described device works as follows: referring to FIG. 2, when the liquid level drops, the floating ball drops accordingly and drives the slide valve to move upward via the lever, and the liquid spraying holes are opened, enabling feeding of liquid into the container through the liquid feeding pipe; as the liquid level continues to drop, the swing link will push against the bottom of the blind hole of the floating ball, limiting further movement of the floating ball and the slide valve. Referring back to FIG. 1, when the liquid level rises, the floating ball rises accordingly and drives the slide valve to move downward via the lever until the liquid spraying holes are closed; at this time, the liquid feeding device detects a signal indicating resistance increase and stops liquid feeding immediately; when the slide valve drops to the lowest position, the transverse pin shaft on the upper part of the slide valve will come into contact with the top of the liquid feeding pipe, limiting further downward movement of the slide valve.

(18) According to one embodiment of the invention, the slide valve is separated from the floating ball, and both are connected with each other via the lever and have opposite directions of motion. When the liquid flow needs to be closed, the floating ball moves upward and the slide valve moves downward, and the gravity of the slide valve and the buoyancy of the floating ball would be amplified by the lever co-act on the slide valve, thereby bringing a large closing force and also better reliability in action. In another embodiment, the floating ball is sleeved on a pendulum shaft, which eliminates wobbling of the floating ball; and at the same time, the central blind hole of the floating ball and the swing link form a plunger type cylinder, damping to fast movement is created by controlling the gap between the central blind hole and the pendulum shaft, which accordingly can alleviate the vibration of the floating ball due to bumpiness, avoid system oscillation and increase the vibration resistance of the system. Meanwhile, the device can enable precise control over the highest liquid level regardless of the original height of the liquid level within the container.