System for supplying gaseous material to a flow of liquid

Claim 1

A system as defined in claim 1, wherein said element comprises a flexible pressure-sensitive diaphragm having opposite sides exposed to pressure within said gas flow path and a substantially higher constant pressure, respectively, so that pressure differential across said diaphragm exerts thereon a force which increases with decrease in pressure within said gas flow path, and which urges said diaphragm toward said open disposition, said pressure differential force opposing said finite restraining force of said latching means and becOming greater than said restraining force upon decrease of pressure in said gas flow path to said reduced value.

Claim 4

A system for supplying gaseous material to a liquid from cylinders containing said gaseous material at elevated pressure, comprising a. injector means for introducing a flow of said gaseous material to a flow of said liquid; b. control means for delivering a flow of said gaseous material to said injector means, said control means defining a gas flow passage and including means disposed in said passage for controlling the rate of gas flow therethrough; c. a pair of pressure-reducing and shutoff valve means, respectively adapted to be connected to a pair of said cylinders, for controlling discharge of gaseous material into the system from said cylinders, each of said valve means being closable to shut off discharge of gaseous material from the cylinder to which it is connected and being openable to effect discharge of gaseous material therefrom at a pressure lower than said elevated pressure, said valves being separately and successively openable to supply gaseous material to said system from said pair of cylinders in succession; and d. a pair of conduits for said gaseous material, respectively connecting said pair of valve means to said control means passage upstream of said flow rate controlling means, said conduits together with said control means and said injector means defining a continuous confined gas flow path extending from said pair of valve means through said injector means; e. said injector means including liquid passage means, having a lateral opening communicating with said gas flow path, for conducting said flow of liquid past said lateral opening in such manner as to create suction at said lateral opening for drawing said gaseous material from either one of said valve means along said gas flow path and into said flow of liquid through said lateral openings; and f. each of said valve means comprising: i. structure defining a valve chamber, a valve passage for conducting gaseous material to said chamber from the cylinder to which the valve means is connected and having a valve seat, and an outlet passage for conducting gaseous material from said chamber to the conduit to the valve means; ii. a valve member supported within said structure for guided movement into and away from passage-closing engagement with said valve seat, said valve member and valve seat together constituting a valve for shutting off flow of gas through said valve passage when closed and rEducing the pressure of gas flowing through said passage when open; iii. a flexible diaphragm extending across said chamber, having a movable central portion and dividing said chamber into two compartments, said valve and outlet passages both opening into one of said compartments for communication of pressure within said gas flow path to said one compartment, and the other of said compartments communicating with a source of substantially constant higher pressure, so that pressure differential across said diaphragm exerts thereon a force which increases with decrease in pressure within said gas flow path, and which urges said diaphragm central portion toward said one compartment; iv. means for resiliently biasing said valve member into engagement with said valve seat; v. means for transmitting movement of said diaphragm central portion to said valve member to move said valve member away from engagement with said valve seat in correspondence with movement of said diaphragm central portion toward said one compartment; and vi. latching means for exerting on said diaphragm central portion a finite restraining force opposing said pressure differential force to hold said diaphragm central portion away from said one compartment, said pressure differential force becoming greater than said restraining force and releasing said diaphragm central portion from said latching means for valve-opening movement toward said one compartment, upon decrease in pressure in said one compartment to a reduced value representative of substantial absence of discharge of gaseous material through the other of said valve means.

Claim 6

A system for supplying gaseous material from at least two containers carrying the gaseous material at elevated pressure for delivering a flow of said gaseous material at a reduced pressure and at a regulated rate comprising: a. a pair of valve means, respectively coupled to said two containers, for controlling discharge of gaseous material therefrom into the system, each of said valve means being closable to prevent such discharge from the container to which it is connected and being openable to permit controlled discharge of gaseous material from that container into the system at reduced pressure; b. conduit means for connecting each of said valve means to a common downstream location in said system; c. each of said valve means including i. a movable element for opening and closing the valve means, said element being displaceable from a closed position in which the valve means is closed to an open disposition in which the valve means is open for controlled discharge of gaseous material therethrough as aforesaid at a pressure reduced to a substantially constant predetermined level, ii. pressure-sensitive means responsive to variations in pressure in said conduit means for displacing said movable element between said closed position and said open disposition in correspondence with changes in pressure in said conduit means, said pressure-sensitive means being adapted to urge said movable eleMent from said closed position toward said open disposition in response to decrease in pressure in said conduit means, and iii. means constituting a latch cooperating with and acting when set to hold said pressure sensitive means in valve closing disposition until the downstream pressure in said conduit means falls below a predetermined abnormally reduced level; c. the latch means of the respective valve means being unlatched when the downstream pressure falls below the predetermined abnormally reduced level so that gaseous material will be delivered successively from one container at a time until depletion thereof and then automatically transferred to be supplied from the other of said two containers for delivery at the same constant predetermined reduced level until both of said two containers are exhausted.