AU4873899A

AU4873899A - Valve for a container of pressurized fluid fitted with a lever for controlling the passage of the fluid

Info

Publication number: AU4873899A
Application number: AU48738/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Gilles Cannet
Original assignee: Air Liquide SA; LAir Liquide SA pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Current assignee: LAir Liquide SA pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
Priority date: 1998-09-28
Filing date: 1999-09-15
Publication date: 2000-03-30
Also published as: DE69923640D1; BR9904312A; EP0990825B1; CA2282129C; JP2000110997A; ATE289028T1; DE69923640T2; CA2282129A1; ZA996086B; FR2783894B1; FR2783894A1; EP0990825A1; ES2238095T3

Abstract

The valve is operated by a lever enclosed by a cover and having a tip which projects from the cover in the valve's open position and is made so that it can bend or break off in the event of an accidental impact. The valve is operated by a lever (8) mainly enclosed by a cover and having a tip (8a) which projects from the cover in the valve's open position and is made so that it can bend or break off in the event of an accidental impact. The tip (8a) is connected to the main body of the lever by a rupture line and/or is located inside a sleeve (6) of an elastically deformable material, preferably in a bright color such as orange.

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: too.

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S

00.

Name of Applicant: L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude Actual Inventor(s): Gilles Cannet Address for Service: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: VALVE FOR A CONTAINER OF PRESSURIZED FLUID FITTED WITH A LEVER FOR CONTROLLING THE PASSAGE OF THE FLUID Our Ref: 600057 POF Code: 1290/43509 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): n 1

I

The present invention relates to a valve actuated by a lever, intended particularly shut-off for a pressure reducer or valve/pressure-reducer assembly which can be fitted to a container for pressurized gas, which valve controls the supply of the gas.

Conventionally, pressurized-gas cylinders, such as cylinders of welding gas or cylinders of medical gas, are fitted with a valve connected to a gas-pressure-reducer or, as the case may be, to a somewhat compact assembly combining valves and pressure-reducing devices.

However, combined valve/pressure-reducer assemblies are preferred, given that they allow ease of integration inside an appropriate protective cover or 15 cap, which cover then offers better ergonomics and better safety.

The point is that gas cylinders, particularly cylinders of welding gas, are often used in severe ^conditions, for example on construction sites, leading to the various parts of the cylinder being knocked.

Furthermore, while these cylinders are being transported from one site to another and while they are being handled, the gas cylinders experience, on the one hand, rather repetitive knocks to the valves and/or •25 various members fitted to the pressure reducer or to the valve/pressure-reducer assembly, and, on the other hand, are subject to droppage likely to damage all or part of the valves and/or pressure reducers fitted to these cylinders.

To protect these sensitive parts of the cylinder, it is common practice for the cylinders to be fitted with protective covers surrounding and protecting all or part of the pressure reducer or of the valve/pressure-reducer assembly.

The protective cover therefore effectively protects the parts discussed, inside this cover.

Furthermore, in practice, a valve of the rotary type is not as easy and not as practical to manipulate as a valve of the lever type.

-2 Specifically, it has been found that valves of the rotary type lead to a not insignificant risk of confusion on the part of the user between which is the direction for opening the said valve and which is the direction for closing it.

Furthermore, manipulating a valve of the rotary type inside the protective cover is not an easy thing to do either, because of the lack of space available inside the said protective cover, and may therefore, in certain instances, result in injury to the user's hands.

In order to alleviate these problems, valves of the rotary type are gradually being replaced with valves of the lever type, as described in document -15 EP-A-747,796, incorporated herein by way of reference.

This is because the use of a control lever for opening and closing the supply of gas offers, in addition to the ease of operation, a clear indication of the position the valve is in, namely open when the lever is in the raised position and closed when the S- •lever is in the lowered position, for example.

*o However, in order to be able to obtain sufficient travel of the lever that controls the pressure reducer, it is necessary to make, in the S• 25 protective cover, an opening intended, on the one hand, to allow the user to manipulate the lever and, on the other hand, to allow the said lever to move between, in particular, its closed position and its open position, and vice versa.

In consequence, the proximal end of the lever, that is to say the end closest to the user, usually protrudes from the protective cover when the lever is in the open position, that is to say when the lever is raised, for example.

Now, it has been observed, in practice, that there is a significant risk of breaking the lever when the lever is in the open position and experiences a hard knock, for example, when the cylinder is dropped -3 onto the ground, when the cylinder is hit by site equipment or by a heavy load, etc.

Now, the breakage of the operating lever may give rise to a certain number of unacceptable problems, such as the difficulty of quickly determining whether the cylinder is open or closed, the difficulty experienced by the user in closing the cylinder again to halt the delivery of gas or, on the other hand, of opening it in order to completely empty the cylinder before repairing or completely replacing the pressure reducer or merely the lever, etc.

To alleviate this problem of the lever breaking in the event of droppage or of being knocked, it is possible either to modify the protective cover or give 15 it a special configuration, or to reduce the size of S" the lever to make it shorter so that it no longer protrudes from the cylinder when open.

However, these solutions are not without their drawbacks given that, on the one hand, modifying the cylinder cover is associated with resultant additional costs, given that it entails replacing the covers of all the cylinders of a holding of cylinders, which is something which is not realistic from an industrial point of view, and that, on the other hand, reducing 25 the size of the lever makes this lever more complicated to manipulate and accentuates the difficulty experienced by the user in quickly determining which position the lever is in (open or closed).

The purpose of the present invention is therefore to find a simple, effective and inexpensive solution for alleviating the aforementioned problems, and one which is compatible with industry requirements.

The present invention therefore relates to a valve, particularly for reducing the pressure of a pressurized fluid, particularly shut-off valve for a container for pressurized fluid, comprising at least one lever which can be moved between at least one open position and at least one closed position, -4characterized in that the lever comprises at least one elastically deformable and/or pre-breakage zone.

In the context of the present invention, the term "pre-breakage zone" is to be understood as meaning a zone of preferential breakage, that is to say a zone which has lower resistance to breakage in the event of being knocked, for example, than the rest of the lever.

Furthermore, in the context of the invention, the term "valve" is to be understood as meaning not only an actual valve proper, but also any integrated valve/pressure-reducer assembly.

-Depending on circumstances, the valve of the invention may have one or more of the following features: 15 the lever comprises a distal part and a proximal part, the said distal part and proximal part being separated by the said deformable and/or prebreakage zone; in the pre-breakage zone, the lever comprises at least one pre-breakage notch, preferably a V-shaped notch; *e the lever comprises, at least in the region of the pre-breakage notch, a covering, preferably a sheath, made of an elastically deformable and/or tear- 25 resistant material; the elastically deformable and tear-resistant material is a polymer and/or elastomer material, preferably a vinyl polymer or a material of the rubber type; the elastically deformable and tear-resistant material is brightly coloured, preferably in a shade of red or orange.

As a preference, the valve according to the invention is fitted to a gas pressure reducing assembly.

According to another aspect, the invention also relates to a control lever which can be fitted to a valve according to the invention, which lever comprises at least a distal part and a proximal part, the said distal part and proximal part being separated by an elastically deformable and/or pre-breakage zone.

The present invention further relates to a container of pressurized fluid, particularly a cylinder of pressurized gas, equipped with a valve according to the invention, and for the use of such a valve or such a container for pressurized fluid in a welding operation.

The term "gas cylinder" is to be understood as meaning a container of elongate shape capable of containing a gas or a gaseous mixture in the liquid and/or gaseous state.

*a The present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the appended figures ["15 which are given by way of non-limiting illustration of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pressure gauge/pressure-reducer assembly which can be fitted to a gas cylinder 2, for example a cylinder of welding gas a cylinder of medical gas, which valve/pressure reducer 7 is inserted inside a protective cover 1 made of plastic or made of a metallic material, for example.

The protective cover 1 is in three parts, S:namely a lower or base part intended to be mounted on 25 the neck of the gas cylinder, an intermediate part or shell housing most of the valve/pressure reducer 7 and comprising a peripheral wall 4, and an upper part 18 or cap, bearing a handling knob The peripheral side wall 4 of the intermediate part 20 has a certain number of cutouts or apertures 3'9, 9 to allow access to the connection 21, to the knob to the pressure gauges 14a and 14b, and to the lever 8 which controls the supply of gas contained in the cylinder 2.

More specifically, the aperture which is essentially in the shape of a longitudinal slot, allows the lever 8 to move freely between positions (PO) in which the gas supply is open and (PF) in which it is closed.

-6- This is more clearly visible in Figure 2, which depicts a longitudinal section through a protective half-cover 1 according to Figure 1, and where the path A of the lever 8 between a closed position (PF) and an open position (PO) is diagrammatically depicted.

In the closed position the lever 8 is normally housed inside the protective cover 1.

By contrast, in the open position the proximal end 8a of the lever 8 protrudes from the protective cover 1 (lever in the raised position) In general, the cover 1 is made of a strong plastic or of a metal, particularly a light alloy or malleable cast iron.

~While the protective cap or cover 1 makes it 15 possible to avoid or minimize damage to the valve/pressure-gauge/pressure-reducer assembly and, in particular to the delicate parts of this assembly, such S: as the pressure gauges 14a and 14b, it is not by itself capable of protecting the proximal end 8a of the lever 20 8 which controls the supply of gas from droppage or a.° knocks.

UIn order to solve the problem and consequences caused by the breakage of the lever 8 if knocked, the present invention proposes that a deformable and/or reooe 25 pre-breakage zone 3 be formed on the said lever 8.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the proposed solution consists in forming a pre-breakage zone, that is to say a preferred and encouraged breakage point, in the lever 8, so as to obtain controlled and perfectly located breakage of the said lever should it be knocked.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the lever 8 is configured, for example one or more notches are made in the said lever 8, so as to create a preferential breakage point where the lever will break if it is knocked hard, but at the same time preserving the pivot pin of the said lever and leaving a long enough length of lever that the user can easily manipulate it.

-7- The position of the pre-breakage zone, that is to say of the notch 3 made in the said lever 8, is chosen such that, should the lever break, the user will be able to slip a finger or a tool inside the protective cap and then relatively easily be able to control the supply of gas.

According to a preferred alternative form, the pre-breakage zone is sheathed in a material which has resilience, elasticity and/or resistance to tearing, for example a polymer, so that this sheath can resist a violent knock which causes the lever 8 to break at the S.pre-breakage zone, without completely tearing or breaking itself.

V906 Thus, even after breakage, the proximal part 8a *0 15 of the lever 8 remains fixed to the distal part which controls the passage of gas, because of the presence of this resistant sheath.

The material used for the sheath should be chosen to have a glass transition temperature lower 20 than the temperatures to which the valve/pressure 9*0 reducer 7 and the lever 8 will be subjected during use.

Furthermore, the fact that a sheath is provided around the lever 8 in the region of the pre-breakage zone 3 makes it possible, should the said lever 8 25 break, to protect the operator's hand from cuts or injury from the sharp and cutting edges that there are likely to be On the broken parts of the lever 8.

This embodiment is depicted in Figure 2 where it can be seen that the pre-breakage zone is obtained by forming one or more V-shaped notches 5 in the lever 8 so that, in the event of breakage, the lever 8 breaks at the said notches 5 separating the proximal part 8a from the distal part 8b of the lever 8.

As a preference, the material chosen for making the lever 8, is a material sensitive to the notching effect, for example a steel of the stainless ferritic type (13% chrome) pre-treated to increase its grain size by heating to about 10000C, although in this -8respect austenitic steels and light alloys will be eliminated.

Furthermore, the sheath 10 may be made of a polymer, such as a vinyl plastic, which may be deposited or coated over all or part of the proximal end of the lever 8.

Rupture tests on the lever when knocked in two perpendicular directions, in a plane orthogonal to the axis of the lever, have demonstrated that if the lever 8 breaks, a plastic sheath 6 of this kind is able to resist the said breaking of the lever and thus provides connection between the two, proximal 8a and distal 8b, parts of the broken lever 8.

Advantageously, a brightly coloured plastic, *15 such as a red or orange plastic is chosen, these being the colours usually associated with safety in the industrial or craftsman environment.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, which is depicted in Figures 3 to 5, the valve is fitted with a lever 8 which has a deformable zone 3 separating the proximal part 8a and distal part 8b of the lever 8.

In other words, the solution proposed in this second embodiment consists in making the lever 8 in two o 25 parts.

One of these parts is a rigid part comprising the distal part 8b of the lever 8 which constantly remains inside the protective cover 1 and is connected to the valve via an operating cam.

The other part, namely the proximal part 8a of the lever 8 protruding from the protective cap in the open position (PO) is deformable enough that it is not broken by a knock or by shear if the cylinder on which the valve is mounted is dropped or rolled while the lever 8 is in the open position (PO) and which is rigid enough to allow the supply of gas to be opened and closed using the lever 8.

According to this embodiment, the proximal part 8a and distal part 8b are dissociated from one another 9 but at the same time connected to one another via an overmoulded flexible part 6, preferably an elastically deformable part, for example a part made of polymer or elastomer.

Thus, if the cylinder should be dropped, the proximal end 8a of the lever 8 will not break, but will be driven inside the slot 3' or a housing, such as a cavity 13 formed in the cover 1, as depicted in Figures 4 and 5, by elastic deformation of the overmoulded flexible part 6 made of elastomer which joins the two parts 8a and 8b together.

What happens, in this embodiment, if the cylinder is dropped or its lever is knocked is that the lever does not break but experiences elastic deformation -without experiencing shear, by entering the aperture 3' in which the lever 8 moves and/or the depression 13 formed in the cover 1, as depicted in Figures 5 and 4 15 respectively.

Throughout the description and claims of the specification the word "comprise" and variations of the word, such as "comprising" and "comprises", is o* not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

C:AWINWORD\ANNA\NODELETE\SPECIESOOO57.DOC

Claims

1. A valve, particularly shut-off valve for a container of pressurized fluid, comprising at least one actuating lever which can be moved between at least one position in which the said valve is open and at least one position in which it is closed, wherein the lever comprises at least one elastically deformable and/or pre-breakage zone.

2. A valve according to Claim 1, wherein the lever comprises a distal part and a proximal part, the said distal part and proximal part being separated by the said deformable and/or pre-breakage zone. ft

3. A valve according to either of Claims 1 and 2, wherein in the pre-breakage zone, the lever comprises at least one pre-breakage notch, preferably a V-shaped notch.

4. A valve according to one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the lever comprises, at least in the region of the pre-breakage notch, a covering, preferably a sheath, made of an elastically deformable and tear-resistant material.

A valve according to Claim 4, wherein the elastically deformable and/or tear-resistant material is a polymer and/or elastomer material, preferably a vinyl polymer or a material of the rubber type.

6. A valve according to either of Claims 4 and 5, wherein the elastically deformable and tear-resistant material is brightly coloured, preferably in a shade of red or orange.

7. An assembly for reducing the pressure of a pressurized fluid, equipped with a valve according to one of Claims 1 to 6.

8. A control lever which can be fitted to a valve according to one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein said control lever comprises at least a distal part and a proximal part, the said distal part and proximal part being separated by an elastically deformable and/or pre-breakage zone. C:\WINWORD\ANNA\NODELETEXSPECIES\0007.DOC 11

9. A container for pressurized fluid, particularly a cylinder of pressurized gas, wherein the container is equipped with a valve according to one of Claims 1 to 6 or with a pressure-reducing assembly according to Claim 7.

10. A container for pressurized fluid according to Claim 9, wherein the container further comprises a protective cover, in which is formed at least one aperture in which the said lever can move between at least one closed position and at least one open position in which the proximal end of the lever emerges from the said cover via the said aperture.

11. Use of a container containing a welding gas mixture or gas according to either of Claims 9 and 10, equipped with a valve according to one of Claims 1 to 6 or with a pressure-reducing assembly according to Claim 7, in a welding, cutting or thermal spraying operation. **0**90 s..

12. A valve according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the drawings. S .0

13. A control lever according to Claim 8 substantially as hereinbefore 20 described with reference to any of the drawings.

14. A container according to Claim 9 or Claim 10 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the drawings. DATED: 14 September 1999 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys for: L'AIR LIQUIDE, SOCIETE ANONYME POUR L'ETUDE ET L'EXPLOITATION DES PROCEDES GEORGES CLAUDE OAA^ 4' 4 C:\WINWORD\ANNA\NODELETE\SPECIES\600057.DOC