Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Filling means with receiver or receiver coacting means – With receiver and supply securing means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-05
2001-10-09
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Filling means with receiver or receiver coacting means
With receiver and supply securing means
C141S018000, C141S059000, C141S383000, C222S003000, C062S292000, C137S614060, C251S149600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298886
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to fluid dispensing tool assemblies for evacuating and charging a fluid into a fluid system and of the general type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. RE34,715 and in U.S. Pat. Nos. RE 34,426 and 4,889,149 which issued to the assignee of the present invention. As disclosed in the '426 and '149 patents, such tool assemblies are commonly used to fill motor vehicle air conditioning and other air conditioning and refrigeration or refrigerant systems by first evacuating the system and then charging or filling the system with a predetermined volume of liquid refrigerant in addition a predetermined volume of lubricating oil for the compressor. Since all of the air in the system is removed during the evacuation cycle, the refrigerant system is filled completely without residual air pockets.
With any such dispensing tool assembly for evacuating and filling a refrigerant system, it is desirable for the tool assembly to be compact and lightweight for convenient maneuvering into small spaces, to be easily and quickly coupled to the refrigerant system, and to be simple in construction with the minimum number of parts. It is also desirable for the tool assembly to have control valves and passages which do not restrict the flow of fluid through the tool assembly during evacuation and filling so that a high fill rate and a short cycle time may be obtained. In addition, the tool assembly should minimize the release of refrigerant into the atmosphere when the tool assembly is removed from the refrigerant system, and have control valves which can be rapidly and pneumatically actuated to provide precision charging and precision repeatability in addition to obtaining a minimum cycle time. While the charging or dispensing tool assemblies disclosed in the above mentioned patents provide some of these desirable features, none of the tool assemblies provide all of the features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an improved fluid dispensing tool assembly which provides all of the desirable features and advantages mentioned above and which is especially compact, simple and lightweight in construction while providing for unrestricted flow and precision operation during the evacuation and fluid charging operations so that the cycle time may be minimized and precise volumes of refrigerant and oil are dispensed into the system.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of dispensing tool constructed in accordance with the invention, the above advantages are provided by a tool body including an upper manifold head section, an intermediate valve body section and a lower base section which are secured together and have a common center axis. The upper manifold section is provided with an evacuation port, a fluid refrigerant supply port, and an oil supply port, and the ports are connected to a charging machine by corresponding flexible lines. The intermediate body section defines three elongated valve chambers which converge downwardly towards the center axis to a small bottom chamber and are connected to the corresponding ports within the manifold section by internal passages. Each of the inclined valve chambers supports an elongated pressure balanced valve member which is shifted axially by an air actuated piston within the upper portion of the valve chamber for opening and closing a closure member within the lower portion of the valve chamber adjacent the center axis. The three air actuated pistons are connected to corresponding pressurized air control ports within the top manifold head section, and the air control ports are connected to the charging machine by flexible pressurized air control lines.
The base section of the tool body supports an annular base collar which carries a resilient sealing ring and circumferentially spaced locking balls for coupling and sealing the tool assembly to a Schrader-type fitting of a refrigerant system and having a pressure responsive stem valve. An actuating pin extends on the center axis of the assembled body sections and is shifted axially by an air operated piston within a cylinder threaded into the head section for opening and closing the pressure responsive stem valve within the fitting of the refrigerant system. A stepped-shaped annular piston is confined within an annular chamber defined between the intermediate and base sections of the tool body for moving the coupling balls radially inwardly in response to air pressure received through a passage connected to a clamping air port within the head section.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 34426 (1993-11-01), Weaver et al.
patent: Re. 34715 (1994-09-01), Gudenau et al.
patent: 1744287 (1930-01-01), Tibbets
patent: 2165342 (1939-07-01), Campbell, Jr.
patent: 2887124 (1959-05-01), Mehl
patent: 3759291 (1973-09-01), Moore et al.
patent: 4586634 (1986-05-01), Minter et al.
patent: 4889149 (1989-12-01), Weaver et al.
patent: 5088436 (1992-02-01), Stritmatter
Robinson Randy S.
Stemen Randy S.
Jacox Meckstroth & Jenkins
Jacyna J. Casimer
Production Control Units, Inc.
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