Fluidic components suitable for fuel cell systems including pressure regulators and valves

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9312550-B2
Application number	US-201313832528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

The present invention is directed to devices for controlling the fluid flow and pressure, including adjustable pressure regulators, pressure regulators with an inlet restrictor, semi-automatic valve and pressure regulator with a by-pass valve. The adjustable pressure regulators have a movable shuttle, shuttle housing, a high pressure diaphragm, a low pressure diaphragm and a fluidic conduit connecting the inlet to the outlet. One or more of these components are adjusted to modify the outlet pressure of the regulator. The inlet restrictor allows incoming fluid to enter the pressure regulators when the pressure of the incoming fluid is higher than a threshold level. The positioning the inlet restrictor can be used to prevent a partial vacuum from forming inside a pressure regulator. The semi-automatic valve is opened manually but closes automatically when fluid flowing through the valve is insufficient to keep the valve open. The semi-automatic valve can also be a semi-automatic electrical switch. The by-pass valve directs the flow to bypass the pressure regulator, when the flow is slow or has low pressure.

First claim

We claim:

1. A pressure regulator comprising
a movable shuttle disposed between a high pressure diaphragm, a low pressure diaphragm
a shuttle housing to house the shuttle;
a conduit, wherein at least one of said components of the pressure regulator is adjustable to change an outlet pressure of the pressure regulator;
a movable member connected to the shuttle housing, said movable member is moved to contact either the low pressure diaphragm or the high pressure diaphragm to determine an area of said contacted diaphragm that can flex; and,
wherein the conduit connects an inlet to an outlet, the high pressure diaphragm is located proximate to the inlet and the low pressure diaphragm is located proximate to the outlet.

2. The pressure regulator of claim 1 , wherein the shuttle comprises a high pressure end and a low pressure end and the low pressure end comprises a center portion and a plurality of concentric rings, wherein a number of rings is selected to be connected to the center portion to determine the movable area of the low pressure end.

3. The pressure regulator of claim 2 further comprises at least one movable arm connected to the shuttle housing, said at least one movable arm is moved to select the rings to be connected to the center portion.

4. The pressure regulator of claim 1 , wherein the shuttle comprises a stem and a low pressure base and the stem is movable relative to the low pressure base to change a length of the shuttle.

5. The pressure regulator of claim 1 further comprising a flow restrictor connected to the conduit connecting the inlet to the outlet.

6. The pressure regulator of claim 1 further comprising a flow restrictor positioned between the outlet of the pressure regulator and a fluid port of a receiver of a fluid transporting through the pressure regulator.

7. The pressure regulator of claim 1 , wherein the shuttle housing comprises a first and second half movable relative to each other to change a length of the shuttle housing.

8. The pressure regulator of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of concentric rings disposed between the high pressure diaphragm and at least one movable arm connected to the shuttle housing, said at least one movable arm is moved to select a number of rings to obstruct to determine an area of the high pressure diaphragm to flex.

9. A pressure regulator having an inlet and an outlet,
wherein a flow restrictor is fluidly connected to the pressure regulator,
wherein a fluid enters the inlet at an inlet pressure and exits the outlet at an outlet pressure;
wherein the inlet pressure is higher than the outlet pressure;
wherein the flow restrictor allows said fluid or a second fluid to pass through when the fluid's pressure is higher than the flow restrictor's threshold pressure;
wherein the flow restrictor comprises a relief valve; and,
wherein the flow restrictor is fluidly connecting the outlet of the pressure regulator to atmosphere and wherein the second fluid comprises air to allow air to pass through the flow restrictor to the pressure regulator to prevent a partial vacuum within the pressure regulator.

10. The pressure regulator of claim 9 , wherein the flow restrictor is fluidly connected to the inlet of the pressure regulator to allow said fluid to enter the pressure regulator when said fluid's pressure exceeds the flow restrictor's threshold pressure.

11. The pressure regulator of claim 9 , wherein the flow restrictor comprises a by-pass valve.

12. The pressure regulator of claim 11 , wherein the by-pass valve is fluidly connected to the inlet of the pressure regulator to allow said fluid to enter the pressure regulator when said fluid's pressure exceeds the by-pass valve's threshold pressure and to allow said fluid to enter the by-pass valve when said fluid's pressure is less than the by-pass valve's threshold pressure.

13. The pressure regulator of claim 12 , wherein the by-pass valve is closed when the fluid's pressure exceeds the by-pass valve's threshold pressure.

14. The pressure regulator of claim 12 , wherein the by-pass valve comprises a diaphragm connected to a valve seat wherein the said fluid's pressure exceeds the by-pass valve's threshold pressure, the diaphragm moves the valve seat to a sealing position.

Assignees

• Intelligent Energy Ltd

Inventors

• Curello Andrew J
• Spahr Paul
• Rath Kurt

Classifications

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• G05D16/0652

  using several membranes without spring · CPC title

• G05D16/0641

  the obturator is a membrane · CPC title

• F17C13/04

  Arrangement or mounting of valves (valves per se F16K {; snap-coupling of nipples F16L37/00}) · CPC title