• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:

    公开号:SE538977C2
    申请号:SE1551373
    申请日:2015-10-23
    公开日:2017-03-07
    发明作者:Källström Anders；Sandberg Jim
    申请人:Källström Eng Ab；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    VALVE ASS EM BY Technical field The invention relates to a valve assembly adapted to supply a liquid simultaneously to a plurality of cells of a battery. More particularly, the present invention relates to a valve assembly as defined in the introductory parts of claim 1.
    Background art Batteries for power consumption of vehicles, equipment, etc, are more and more used as many previously combustion engine driven applications are electrified. Most large batteries for such applications are of a traditional type having anodes and cathodes and are filled by battery acid. When manufacturing and maintaining the batteries, the battery acid has to be filled into each battery. Large batteries normally have multiple inlets for filling them with battery acid.
    When a battery is filled with acid, each inlet may be fed with acid one at a time by a filling tube or they may be filled simultaneously via a number of filling tubes. The filling tubes have to have valves for opening and closing to provide a flow of acid to the inlets of the battery for the time it takes to fill. When feeding multiple inlets simultaneously, each filling tube has a separate valve that opens and closes in the filling process. Valves for these kinds of applications are, however, fairly bulky in size compared to the filling tubes and in relation to the distance between the inlets in the batteries. When filling large batteries with a number of acid inlets, the row of valves for opening and closing the filling tubes will take a lot of space and will be much longer than the row of battery acid inlets.
    Each valve for opening and closing the filling tube will also have to be electrically controlled by a control unit, which will make the assembly of valves unnecessary complex, complicated and vulnerable to damages. The components that have to be used are also often expensive. Such a system also requires a lot of maintenance which is expensive.
    If the system is to be used for a different battery having a different number of inlets, the number of filling tubes and valves used for filling the battery has to be modified. To add extra filling tubes and valves is time consuming since each valve has to be including in the control system of the filling assembly.
    There is thus a need for an improved system for filling batteries where the valves for opening and closing the filling tubes are smaller, simpler, more robust, and easier when using many valves simultaneously.
    Summary of the invention It is an object of the present invention to improve the current state of the art, to solve the above problems, and to provide an improved valve assembly. These and other objects are achieved by a valve assembly adapted to supply a liquid simultaneously to a plurality of cells of a battery, comprising: two or more inlets through which said liquid is adapted to enter into said valve assembly, each inlet being associated with an outlet through which said liquid is adapted to exit out of said valve assembly, and a piston movable between a first position in which each inlet is in fluid communication with its associated outlet, and a second position in which fluid communication between each inlet and its associated outlet is prevented. Each outlet is arranged to be fluidly connected to said battery. The body of the valve assembly is preferably cylindrical with channels for the inlets and outlets. The piston is elongated and is movably arranged in the body to control if fluid is allowed to flow through each valve or not.
    The valve assembly has many advantages to previously known valves. The size is smaller and adapted to batteries, leading to a simpler filling system without bulky and complex valve and pipe systems when filling batteries with multiple inlets. All valves are operated at once via the piston movement so that the operation of the valves is simplified and control of the filling procedure is considerably easier. The valve assembly of the present invention also has a longer lifetime than traditional valves due to its simple design.
    The valve assembly piston may be actuated to its first position by any one in the group consisting of: pressurized air, and an electromagnet. The piston may be actuated to its second position by any one in the group consisting of pressurized air, and an electromagnet. This leads to a simple control of the valve assembly either via pressurized air or via electrical control.
    The valve assembly piston may further be biased by a spring or a magnet to move said piston to said second position when not actuated to said first position. In that way the valve is automatically closed when not actuated to be open, which is an advantageous as a power loss, e.g. would automatically close all valves and damages by dangerous battery acid may be avoided.
    The valve assembly piston may further comprise sealing elements adapted to seal each inlet/outlet pair from each other. As an alternative, sealing elements may be provided in the valve assembly body.
    The piston may have any cross-sectional shape to fit the corresponding shape in the valve assembly body. A circular cross section makes it easy to use circular gaskets as sealing elements.
    According to a further aspect of the valve assembly of the present invention each outlet of the valve assembly is associated with a second inlet via a second piston, the second piston preferably being substantially parallel to the first piston. In this embodiment of the invention the two respective inlets per section are fluidly connected to one outlet via a respective piston when the respective piston is in its first position. In that way two different fluids may be provided to each outlet simultaneously or individually thereby providing two fluids by the same valve assembly to one single outlet. This is advantageous as it avoids the need of extra pipe connections upstream of the valve assembly and it avoids double sets of valve assemblies. It is understood that in the same way more than two inlets and more than two pistons per section may be in fluidly connection to each outlet.
    According to a still further aspect of the present invention each inlet or inlets and their associated outlet together with a corresponding section of each piston constitutes a module, such that a multivalve with an arbitrary number of valves may be constructed. The body of the valve assembly may thus be enlarged by adding extra sections. The piston is enlarged with corresponding sections. This leads to the advantages that the valve assembly is easy and fast to reassemble for different battery sizes with different numbers of cells. If the distance sections between the acid inlets of the batteries is different between different battery types, distances may be added between the modules to set the correct distance between each outlet in the valve assembly.
    The module based design also makes repairing and service of the valve assembly easier. If one inlet/outlet pair is defect, that section may simply be replaced.
    The design with an actuating piston leads to a freedom in design in the valve assembly body. The inlet and outlet channels in the body may be directed in any direction. The material of the valve assembly body, or at least the sectional parts of the valve assembly body, may be made of a mouldable material as a plastic or a metal making the freedom of design of the channels limitless.
    Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to "a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc.]" are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise.
    Brief description of the drawings The above objects, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1a is a cross sectional view of a valve assembly according to the invention wherein the piston is placed in the first position, i.e. the open position. Fig. 1 b is a cross sectional view of the valve assembly of Fig. 1a wherein the piston is placed in the second position, i.e. the closed position. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of a spring-biased valve assembly according to the present invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a valve assembly according to the invention.
    Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention Fig. 1a shows a cross sectional view of a valve assembly 1 according to the invention. The piston 2 is placed in the first position, i.e. the open position so that each inlet 3 is in fluid communication with a corresponding outlet 4 for each section S1-S6 of the assembly body 7. The piston 2 has annular recesses 5 that enables the fluid communication between each pair of inlets 3 and outlets 4 when the piston is in its first position. Annular groves are also provided in the piston 2 in which o-ring gaskets 6 are placed to seal the section S1-S6 from each other. At the two ends of the valve assembly, pneumatic connections 8, 9 are present to enable actuation of the piston.
    If the pressure at the pneumatic connection 9 is elevated, the piston 2 will move to its first position as shown in Fig. 1a. If instead the pressure at the pneumatic connection 8 is elevated, the piston 2 will move to its second position as shown in Fig. 1b. When the piston 2 is placed in its second position the recesses 5 will not be in fluid communication with the inlets 3, effectively closing the valves in each section simultaneously. As can be seen in Fig. 1 b, the outlet will however still be in fluid communication with the recess 5 so that the contents of the valve is emptied when the piston is placed in its second position. In that way no excess fluid will be trapped in the valve and volume measurement of fluid filled through the valve assembly 1 will be simpler and more accurate.
    Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of a spring-biased valve assembly 1 according to the present invention. The piston 2 is placed in the first position, i.e. the open position, as the electromagnet 10 is activating so that the spring 11 is compressed. Each inlet 3 is in fluid communication with a corresponding outlet 4 for each section S1-S6 of the assembly body 7. The piston 2 has recesses 5 that enables provide the fluid communication between each pair of inlets 3 and outlets 4 when the piston is in its first position. Annular groves are also provided in the piston 2 in which o-ring gaskets 6 are placed to seal the section S1-S6 from each other.
    If the electromagnet 10 is turned off, the spring will expand and force the piston 2 into its second position (not shown), i.e. the closed position. When the piston 2 is placed in its second position the recesses 5 will not be in fluid communication with the inlets 3, effectively closing the valves in each section simultaneously.
    The embodiment of Fig. 2 the valve assembly body 7 also comprises a pneumatic connection 13 to actuate the piston to its first position, the open position, by elevating the pressure at the pneumatic connection 13 instead of using the electromagnet. The hole 12 is intended to let air pass when the piston is moved and the spring is compressed or decompressed.
    Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a valve assembly according to the invention. The inlets 3 and outlets 4 of each section S1-S6 are shown. The end section of the valve where the spring and electromagnet is located comprises air holes12 and the other end section comprises a pneumatic connection 13.
    The skilled person realizes that a number of modifications of the embodiments described herein are possible without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
    权利要求:
    Claims (8)
    [1] 1. A valve assembly (1) adapted to supply a liquid simultaneously to a plurality of cells of a battery, comprising: two or more inlets (3) through which said liquid is adapted to enter into said valve assembly (1), each inlet (3) being associated with an outlet (4) through which said liquid is adapted to exit out of said valve assembly (1), and a piston (2) movable between a first position in which each inlet (3) is in fluid communication with its associated outlet (4), and a second position in which fluid communication between each inlet (3) and its associated outlet (4) is prevented.
    [2] 2. A valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein each outlet (4) is arranged to be fluidly connected to said battery.
    [3] 3. A valve assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said piston (2) is actuated to its first position by any one in the group consisting of: pressurized air, an electromagnet (11).
    [4] 4. A valve assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said piston (2) is actuated to its second position by any one in the group consisting of pressurized air, an electromagnet (11).
    [5] 5. A valve assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said piston (2) is biased by a spring (11) or a magnet to move said piston (2) to said second position when not actuated to said first position.
    [6] 6. A valve assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said piston (2) comprises sealing elements (6) adapted to seal each inlet/outlet pair (3, 4) from each other.
    [7] 7. A valve assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each outlet (4) of the valve assembly is associated with a second inlet via a second piston.
    [8] 8. Valve assembly according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each inlet (3) or inlets (3) and their associated outlet (4) together with a corresponding section (S1-S6) of each piston (2) constitutes a module, such that a multivalve with an arbitrary number of valves may be constructed.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    WO2017069693A1|2017-04-27|
    SE1551373A1|2017-03-07|
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    US2985566A|1957-04-05|1961-05-23|Pneumo Dynamics Corp|Metering valve and method of making same|
    US3472278A|1966-10-27|1969-10-14|Henriksen & Henriksen I S|Slide valve for opening and closing at least one passage for a flowing medium and an apparatus comprising at least one such slide valve|
    CN202772221U|2012-08-03|2013-03-06|超威电源有限公司|Acid filling device for valve-regulated lead acid batteries|
    法律状态:
    2021-06-01| NUG| Patent has lapsed|
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    SE1551373A|SE1551373A1|2015-10-23|2015-10-23|Valve assembly|SE1551373A| SE1551373A1|2015-10-23|2015-10-23|Valve assembly|
    PCT/SE2016/051027| WO2017069693A1|2015-10-23|2016-10-21|Valve assembly|
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