Abstract: Improved flow control valve assemblies for fluid systems (e.g., pools or spas) are provided. Advantageous flow control valve assemblies for pool/spa cleaners (e.g., suction pool/spa cleaners) are provided. The present disclosure provides for flow control assemblies for suction pool/spa cleaners, with the cleaners utilized in conjunction with a variable speed pump. A manual valve set-up can be removed from the system, and an advantageous flow control valve assembly can be provided to automatically regulate the flow/suction to the cleaner. The improved flow control valve assembly thereby provides regulated flow to the cleaner, so that if the cleaner remains in the water at low pump speeds, when the pump is later operated at a higher speed the cleaner will function as designed. When there is flow/suction below the desired operating parameters of the cleaner, the pump will operate as desired, and the cleaner is stationary.

Abstract: A bellows pump device includes a control unit which, before operation of the bellows pump device is started, performs initial control in which solenoid valves are switched and pressurized air is supplied to suction-side air chambers in advance, thereby determining operation air pressures which are air pressures of the pressurized air to be supplied to the suction-side air chambers during the operation. As the initial control, the control unit outputs control commands to electropneumatic regulators so as to gradually increase the air pressures of the pressurized air to be supplied to the suction-side air chambers in advance, and when detection signals resulting from detection of expansion positions of the bellows are inputted from the proximity sensors to the control unit, the control unit determines the air pressures of the pressurized air supplied to the suction-side air chambers at that time as the operation air pressures.

Abstract: A bi-directional pneumatic actuating unit includes a unitary structure having a central base member, a pair of opposed inflatable pneumatic chambers for applying force in different directions, one mounted on either side of the central base member, and air supply and exhaust access ports connected to each of the pneumatic chambers for selectively supplying air to and exhausting air from each of the pneumatic chambers.

Abstract: A cantilever feedback mechanism includes an upper cantilever and a lower cantilever. The upper cantilever and lower cantilever have a resistance spring rate to facilitate movement of the bellows over a selected range of resistances. The upper cantilever has downwardly oriented upper cantilever stops. The lower cantilever has upwardly oriented lower cantilever stops that engage the upper cantilever stops. Mean are provided for applying a preload to maintain the lower cantilever stops and the upper cantilever stops engaged until a force urging movement exceeds the preload.

Abstract: A chemical liquid feeding device for feeding chemical liquid used in a semiconductor fabrication process. The device includes three or more pumps arranged in a line. Each pump has different time points of suction stroke and discharge stroke so that the chemical liquid can be fed uniformly without pulsation.

Abstract: A bellows pump having a pump body including a suction path and a discharge path for a fluid and a bellows which is placed in a state where a basal end flange is airtightly fixed to the pump body to form a pump chamber with respect to the pump body. The bellows pump further comprises an actuation plate which is attached to a head portion of the bellows so as to cause the bellows to expand and contract with respect to the pump body. The bellows is further configured so that an airtight space is formed with between the actuation plate and a cup shape section formed in the head portion, such that a pressure rise can be absorbed and relaxed by contraction of the space portion caused by elastic film deformation of the thin head portion which faces the space portion.

Abstract: The claimed method and system identifies faults and/or deterioration of components in a process control valve. The system may use different sensor combinations to provide the necessary data to compute irregular component integrity. Alerts may be generated to indicate potential component integrity problems. In particular, the system may detect potential deterioration and/or faults in actuator springs, pneumatic tubing and piping, and bellows seals. The claimed system may be communicatively coupled to a process control network to provide a more elaborate alarm system. Moreover, additional statistical methods may be used to refine the detection accuracy of the system.

Abstract: A high inertance liquid piston engine-compressor that is lightweight, portable and for use with pneumatically actuated devices that may have periods of inactivity between periods of pneumatic use. The engine-compressor provides a power generation system that is for use with mobile or portable devices which need a portable long lasting energy source.

Abstract: A profiled metal strip for a diaphragm bellows is made from a strip material having at least one border which is subjected to reverse bending. Such a metal strip is wound to produce a diaphragm bellows, with abutting borders of neighboring turns being connected with one another by a material joint, such as a welding seam.

Abstract: A flexible hydraulic muscle (20) comprising a fluid port (22), bellow (24), end seal (28) and attachment ring (30). Bellow (24) also defines a retracting spring bias for generating contracting forces within muscle (20). Fluid port (22) is designed to provide an anchor point for the muscle, while at the same time, providing a means to introduce and remove hydraulic fluid from bellow (24). End seal (28) and attachment ring (30) provide the second connecting point for the muscle. These two anchor points on each end of bellow (24) provide connection points to communicate contracting force from bellow (24) into useful work. End seal (28) is securely attached or bonded to the end of bellow (24) to provide a fluid tight seal, and designed to resist longitudinal forces on the connection.

Abstract: A pneumatic device for pivoting a pivotal component is articulated to a structural element by means of a joint. Hoses produced from a material of low ductility, to which compressed air can be admitted, are inserted between the pivotal component and the structural element. The hoses contain an airtight bag. When these bags are inflated via valves, compressive forces act both on the structural element and on the pivotal component, causing the latter to swivel out. In order that the hoses cannot migrate, webs run from the joint to the hoses. In order to relieve the hoses in a specific limit position of the pivotal component and to prevent oscillatory movements of the pivotal component, a locking device is provided. The locking device includes a rod, which runs through a brake device fixed to an arm.

Abstract: An actuation device uses, for the active element, a flexible bellows operated by a pressurized fluid (usually, but not necessarily, at a pressure higher than the ambient one). The bellows is housed, for the most part of its length, inside a cylindrical cavity having the inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the bellows, so that the bellows is free to vary its length, but is restrained to bend sideways and therefore can be operated by high pressure.

Abstract: This invention relates to a pneumatic power cylinder dashpot piston which formed of an elastomeric cylinder and a sleeve and having a space between the interior wall of the cylinder and the exterior wall of the sleeve, and the space is filled with a fluid. The piston is connected to a power shaft of a power cylinder. The sleeve is corrugated and is formed integrally with the cylinder so as to prevent the escape of the fluid through a joint. The interior cylinder wall is tapered from the center thereof in opposite directions so that the cylinder, engaged by a disk on the power shaft, gradually comes into contact with an end portion of the cylinder whereby the corrugations of the sleeve are compressed at one end and the other corrugations are straightened.

Abstract: An expansible bellows, includes a pair of end plates attached together and sealed around their peripheries such that their inner faces confront each other to define between them an expansible chamber for containing a fluid. One end plate is formed with an inlet port to the chamber; and the other end plate is formed with an outlet port from the chamber. The inner and outer faces of both end plates are formed with recesses which permit the center portions of the end plates to flex outwardly, and thereby to expand the chamber, when pressurized fluid is inletted into the chamber via the inlet port and blocked from flowing out of the chamber through the outlet port.Also described is a pulsator including such a bellows serving as the expansible chamber of the pulsator.

Abstract: Pneumatic jack of the type comprising a rigid body (1) joined to the outer edge of a deformable membrane (2) so as to delimit with the latter a chamber of variable volume capable of being subjected to either atmospheric pressure of a negative pressure, via an air inlet located in the chamber. The body (1) and the membrane (2) each have, substantially in the center, an opening (15, 14) that can be closed, at least partially, by a disc (4, 3). Application in multiple position jacks.

Abstract: A closed loop fully self-contained actuation system for converting a mechanical input motion into a mechanical output motion, which actuates a device such as a flight control surface on an aircraft, comprises an input actuator including a first fluid pressurizing means responsive to the mechanical input motion, and an output actuator including a second fluid pressurizing means, as well as a flexible fluid line extending between the first and second fluid pressurizing means to provide fluid communication therebetween. The second fluid pressurizing means is responsive to fluid flow through the fluid line, thereby initialing the output motion. The system is advantageous because it requires no hydraulic pumps, no accumulators, no reservoirs, and no dynamic seals or mechanical joints, permitting great reliability. The actuation system may be easily folded in conjunction with the apparatus on which it is employed, for compact storage.

Abstract: A low contamination double bellows pump suitable for providing relatively constant pressure and delivery. The illustrated pump includes two pumping chambers with bellows arranged in opposed relationship on opposite sides of a central section. The central section acts as a valve body for inlet and outlet valves. The bellows are provided with interior bellows tubes which connect to the free ends of the bellows and slide upon stationary support pistons mounted within each tube. Bellows tube head pieces slide upon piston rods which support the pistons. Pneumatic pressure is controllably supplied to opposing sides of the pistons within the bellows tubes to power the bellows and effect pumping.

Abstract: A double acting, self-priming bellows-type pump has a pair of bellows that work as displacement elements arranged each in a cylinder chamber mutually and synchronously interlocked by piston rod, so that at the same time as one bellows draws in, the other bellows delivers. One side of each bellows receives the medium to be delivered and the other side receives a medium under pressure. In at least the lower cylinder the bellows is connected to the top wall of the cylinder chamber so that the space around the outside of the bellows may be used for pumping fluid. A guide element is mounted in the lower chamber for supporting the bellows of the lower chamber and preventing the same from buckling during the alternating pressurizing and venting thereof during a pumping cycle.

Abstract: A bellows pump which is disclosed herein has two bellows made of a plastic material and provided with liquid inlet and outlet ports for transferring a liquid by expanding and contracting the bellows. The bellows pump comprises cylinder cases in each of which the bellows is vertically expandably and contractably contained and mounted at its access port side to a ceiling of said cylinder cases, gas pumping means for alternately feeding a compressed gas from a lower end thereof into the cylinder cases, a pair of rods passed through bottoms of the cylinder cases and fixed to the lower ends of the bellows, and adapted to be moved in response to the expansion and contraction of the bellows, and actuating means adapted to be operated in response to the up and down movement of the rods.

Abstract: A completely dry fluid-tight reciprocating vacuum pump comprises one or more pumping chambers defined between two rigid parts which face one another in the axial direction. One is reciprocated in a straight line relative to the other. They are connected to one another by at least one axially flexible member of appropriate radial stiffness. Each of these members comprises an outside part fixed to a first of these rigid parts. The side of the first rigid part facing the flexible member is shaped to have a profile in diametral cross-section which is substantially the same as the profile in diametral cross-section that this member tends to assume, by virtue of its stiffness, in the configuration with the aforementioned rigid parts moved towards one another. The pump can be used for pumping corrosive and radioactive gases, such as tritium, for example.

Abstract: Sensed pressures are applied to a differential pressure sensor such that one-half the sensed pressure drop is applied to each of a pair of redundant pistons. Failure of one of a pair of bellows which seal opposite faces of the pistons from one another effects application of the entire pressure drop across the piston associated with the remaining, operable bellows for fail-safe operation of the sensor.

Abstract: A two-stage actuator comprises a pair of axially aligned bellows molded from a thermoplastic material and connected at their adjacent ends by a molded link section integral with the bellows. The other end of one of the bellows is designed to be connected to a stationary machine part while the other end of the other bellows is designed to be connected to a movable machine part. Each bellows has an accordion-type convolution section pneumatically connected through a conduit and a valve to a vacuum source so that the convolution section is axially collapsed by vacuum when applied. A link member axially extends over the convolution section of the other bellows and has an end fixed relative to the one bellows. The other end of the other bellows is in the form of an axially elongated protrusion slidably extending through an opening formed in the other end of the link member.

Abstract: An apparatus that controls movement of an arm through a gaseous or liquid fluid. The apparatus incorporates a plurality of longitudinally extensible hose members that expand and contract their respective lengths responsive to introduction and withdrawal, respectively, of hydraulic fluid thereinto and therefrom. The hose members are interconnected to one another through a plurality of longitudinally spaced, transversely disposed brace members that may serve as lever means so that expansion or contraction of one hose member can effect an opposite response in an opposed member. The brace members may be interconnected by a spine means that coincides with the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the apparatus. A sheath covers the apparatus. The arm has applications in the field of robotics and a special rat tail-like form of the apparatus provides a low drag substitute for conventional aircraft rudder and elevator assemblies.

Abstract: An adjustable liquid thermal compensator mechanism which provides both an actuation end attached to an expandible volume portion of a liquid chamber and a manually controlled adjustable volume portion that is used to calibrate the stroke of the compensator by allowing the addition or release of fluid from the chamber. A supply reservoir is interconnected to the compensation chamber through a valve which provides the increased or decreased amount of fluid during chamber adjustment.

Abstract: A working head is adapted to impart reciprocal motion under a predetermined amount of force to a plunger through a working and return cycle and at a controllable rate of speed. A fluid circuit includes delivery and return lines extending between a source of fluid under pressure and the working head, and pilot control means associated with the fluid pressure source is operative to regulate the working and return cycle. The working head has a plurality of annular flexible casings of toroidal configuration with opposite sidewalls terminating in mutually opposed, inner bead-like edges and interconnecting means extending between the edges of adjacent casings serve to interconnect the casings in sealed, coaxially spaced relation to one another. Closures at opposite ends of the plurality of casings define a common sealed chamber therebetween. A support member fixes one end of the chamber against movement and permits axial expansion and contraction of the opposite end of the chamber with respect to the fixed end.

Abstract: An oscillating coolant pump includes a pair of opposed bellows mounted to reciprocate in a housing for moving a volume of fluid through a heat exchanger and an electronics package. The pump functions without the use of check valves.

Abstract: A controller with adjustable proportionality range wherein a ring is acted upon by a pressure differential in measuring unit formed as, for example, pairs of bellows or the like. The measuring units have axes of effectiveness which are perpendicular to each other. The ring cooperates as a baffle ring with a pivotable nozzle. The measuring units are articulated in diametrical opposition to the ring with the axes of effectiveness of one of the measuring units extending radially and the axis of effectiveness of the other measuring unit extending tangentially of the ring or in parallel to the tangential direction.The present invention relates to a controller and, more particularly, to a controller with an adjustable proportionality range wherein a ring is acted upon by pressure differences in measuring units formed as, for example, pairs of bellows or the like, having axes of effectiveness which are perpendicular to each other, with the ring cooperating as a baffle ring with a pivotable nozzle.

Abstract: A passive near neutral buoyancy platform includes a structure housing a series of gas-filled cells, restrained in their maximum volume regardless of the internal charge pressure, and collapsible in character when external pressure exceeds the charge pressure. With this structure, once a cell having a predetermined initial internal charge pressure reaches a depth where the external pressure exceeds this initial value, that cell contracts, resulting in a net buoyancy change for the structure. Where this series of cells is attached integrally to a single structure, the cells form a pre-loaded compressibility compensation device which is matched to the external environment.

Abstract: An hermetic seal 10 for a linear rod 12 having a portion thereof projected axially through a port 20 defined in a wall for a pressure chamber 14 and supported thereby for omni-directional motion. The seal is characterized by a resilient, impervious, cylindrical body having a first section concentrically related to the shaft and integrally affixed thereto comprising a linear ordered array of annular flutes 22, a second section integrally affixed to the wall of the chamber and concentrically related to the port comprising a second linear ordered array of annular flutes 24, and a third section interposed between said first and second sections and integrally affixed thereto in coaxial alignment therewith comprising an annular ordered array of linear flutes 26 concentrically related to the shaft, whereby axial, angular, and pivotal motion of the rod is accommodated.

Abstract: A differential pressure unit having overrange valves loosely mounted on a valve stem connected between the ends of a respective pair of movable bellows ends. A pair of spiral range springs bias both valves toward open positions. The valves include annular elastomers bonded to the edges of the apertured discs. The apertures in the discs act to allow the elastomers to seat and to unseat without causing lock-up. The discs are retained between plates and snap rings.

Abstract: This invention relates to fluid pressure servo motors having two operatively independent fluid chambers, each chamber having a piston means therein movable in response to a fluid pressure differential so as to alter in use a two position device from one to the other of said two positions, each piston means having a lost motion means connection to allow the idle return of the piston in the event of cessation of the fluid pressure differential, wherein the two pistons are co-axial and move in opposite directions in response to the pressure differential and one piston is fixed to a stirrup formed as a wire loop which bridges the other piston to act in use against said device.

Abstract: A hopper gate and pneumatic actuating mechanism for controlled discharge of bulk materials from a bottom-unloading vehicle are described. The hopper gate comprises an arcuate closure plate pivotally mounted by wedge shaped end plates below a rectangular hopper opening, said hopper opening having one edge defining the end of a hopper end elevated higher than the opposed edge defining the other hopper end wall. The pneumatic actuating mechanism comprises a pair of opposed air bags selectively expanded by an air supply and operatively connected to the closure gate by a linkage system for opening and closing the gate.

Abstract: A low pressure air displacement pump including one or more cylinders or bellows powered by rotary or reciprocating motivation means. This device employs two or more bellows radially disposed and activated by a singular rotary source of power which imparts a cranking motion to connecting rods affixed to the bellows, which, in turn supply individual conduits with equal or varying amounts of displaced air, in accordance with the particular sizes of the individual bellows.

Abstract: A device for separating the platens of a press so that wooden blanks in an unpressed form can be readily loaded therebetween. The device includes outwardly extending arms carried on the corners of each of the platens. Pneumatically operated bellows are provided between cooperating pairs of outwardly extending arms which are carried on diagonally opposite corners of each of the platens for separating the platens when pressurized. Alternate pairs of platens have pairs of bellows interposed between the outwardly extending arms carried on different diagonals. A switch is carried below the press for disengaging the pneumatic system when the press is being closed.

Abstract: A vapor engine using a refrigerant as its working medium and having a number of bellows each forming an expansion chamber which receives the working medium and changing its volume under the influence of the pressure exerted by the vaporized working medium. A crank shaft is arranged above and is mechanically connected to each of the bellows, and a rotary slide is provided below the bellows for controlling the flow of the working medium to and from the bellows.

Abstract: A fluid pressure transducer device including first fluid pressure responsive means and second fluid pressure responsive means which together define a sealed volume of fluid. The first fluid pressure responsive means is exposed to first and second input fluid pressures and responsive to variations in one or both thereof to vary the volume of the sealed volume as a function of the first input fluid pressure modified by the pressure ratio of the second input fluid pressure to the first input fluid pressure. The second fluid pressure responsive means is responsive to the changes in the sealed volume of fluid and produces an output force signal in response thereto. There may be provided a variable volume chamber containing a temperature responsive element vented to the sealed volume of fluid to cause an increase or decrease in the sealed volume to compensate for temperature variations of the sealed volume of fluid.

Abstract: A device for compensating temperature dependent volume variations in a closed pressure medium system where at least two variable volume members are connected via a pipe to each other for transfer of movement between each other. At least one of the movement transmitting members has two ends freely movable relative to the pipe. One of the ends cooperates with a support, the position of which varies with the temperature as the volume of a flexible means, which is rigidly attached to the pipe, changes. The other end of the movement transmitting member is freely movable relative to the flexible means.

Abstract: A rotary control valve which is actuated by a steel bellows mechanism for use in a gas chromatograph. The steel bellows mechanism changes the valve positions as required by the gas chromatograph operation. An improved spring design provides an even pressure to the disc rotating against the valve body as well as allowing this pressure to be varied. Use of steel bellows and the proper materials for construction of the control valve will allow complete installation in the oven of a gas chromatograph for operation at a maximum temperature of 600.degree. F.