Bellows pump apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10718324-B2
Application number	US-201515527245-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2015
Priority date	Dec 25, 2014
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

The bellows pump device supplies pressurized air to one air chamber of two hermetic air chambers thereby to cause a bellows to perform expansion operation to suck a transport fluid, and supplies pressurized air to the other air chamber thereby to cause the bellows to perform contraction operation to discharge the transport fluid. The bellows pump device includes: an electropneumatic regulator configured to adjust a first air pressure of the pressurized air to be supplied to the one air chamber, and a second air pressure of the pressurized air to be supplied to the other air chamber; and a control unit configured to control the electropneumatic regulator such that, at least at a time point of end of expansion during expansion operation of the bellows, the first air pressure is lower than the second air pressure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A bellows pump device that supplies pressurized air to one first air chamber of two first hermetic air chambers thereby to cause a first bellows to perform an expansion operation to suck a transport fluid, and supply pressurized air to the other first air chamber thereby to cause the first bellows to perform a contraction operation to discharge the transport fluid, the bellows pump device comprising:
a first solenoid valve and a second solenoid valve, the first solenoid valve configured to switch between a supply of pressurized air to the one first air chamber and a supply of pressurized air to the other first air chamber;
a control unit configured to control switching of the solenoid valves by transmitting a command signal to the solenoid valves; and
a first electropneumatic regulator configured to adjust a first air pressure that is an air pressure of pressurized air supplied to the one first air chamber as switched by the first solenoid valve in response to the command signal, and a second air pressure that is an air pressure of pressurized air supplied to the other first air chamber as switched by the first solenoid valve in response to the command signal; wherein
the control unit controls the first electropneumatic regulator such that, at least at a time point of end of expansion during the expansion operation of the first bellows, the first air pressure is lower than the second air pressure,
the control unit controls the first electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure is higher during a first expansion period from a time point of start of expansion to a predetermined time point of the expansion operation than during a second expansion period from the predetermined time point to the time point of end of expansion, and
the control unit controls the first electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure of the first expansion period is constant and the first air pressure of the second expansion period is constant.

2. The bellows pump device according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time point is a time point from which the first bellows can expand to an expansion end position by an inertial force due to the expansion operation of the bellows pump itself.

3. The bellows pump device according to claim 1 , wherein each of the solenoid valves includes a first solenoid and a second solenoid.

4. The bellows pump device according to claim 3 , wherein each of the first solenoid and the second solenoid is magnetized based on the command signal from the control unit.

5. The bellows pump device according to claim 1 , the bellows pump device to supply pressurized air to one second air chamber of two second hermetic air chambers to cause a second bellows opposite the first bellows to perform an expansion operation to suck the transport fluid and supply pressurized air to the other second air chamber thereby to cause the second bellows to perform a contraction operation to discharge the transport fluid.

6. The bellows pump device according to claim 5 , further comprising a second electropneumatic regulator configured to adjust a first air pressure that is an air pressure of pressurized air supplied to the one second air chamber as switched by the second solenoid valve in response to the command signal, and a second air pressure that is an air pressure of pressurized air supplied to the other second air chamber as switched by the second solenoid valve in response to the command signal.

7. The bellows pump device according to claim 6 , wherein the control unit controls the second electropneumatic regulator such that, at least at a time point of end of expansion during the expansion operation of the second bellows, the first air pressure of the one second air chamber is lower than the second air pressure of the other second air chamber,
the control unit controls the second electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure of the one second air chamber is higher during a first expansion period from the time point of start of expansion of the second bellows to a predetermined time point of the expansion operation than during a second expansion period from the predetermined time point to the time point of end of expansion of the second bellows, and
the control unit controls the second electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure of the one second air chamber of the first expansion period is constant and the first air pressure of the one second air chamber of the second expansion period is constant.

8. The bellows pump device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the first electropneumatic regulator such that the first expansion period is longer than the second expansion period.

9. The bellows pump device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit controls the first electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure of the first expansion period is the same as the second air pressure.

10. The bellows pump device according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit controls the second electropneumatic regulator such that the first expansion period is longer than the second expansion period.

11. The bellows pump device according to claim 7 , wherein the control unit controls the second electropneumatic regulator such that the first air pressure of the one second air chamber of the first expansion period is the same of the second air pressure of the other second air chamber.

Assignees

• Nippon Pillar Packing

Inventors

• Nakano Atsushi
• Nagae Keiji

Classifications

• F04B11/0058

  with piston speed control · CPC title

• F04B43/08 Primary

  having tubular flexible members (F04B43/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F04B43/0081

  systems, control, safety measures · CPC title

• F04B45/022

  with two or more bellows in parallel · CPC title

• F04B43/10 Primary

  Pumps having fluid drive · CPC title