Fluid handling – Processes – Cleaning – repairing – or assembling
Patent
1992-06-02
1993-08-24
Chambers, A. Michael
Fluid handling
Processes
Cleaning, repairing, or assembling
137271, 137360, 251367, F16L 5518, E03B 1100
Patent
active
052380173
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a valve connection array of the kind mounted in a cabinet wall in a seal apparatus cabinet. This type of array includes a plurality of valve connection blocks arranged in a row which, on the front face have holed, flat connection portions for individually connecting valves. On the rear face, these blocks have connection ports or nipples for connecting a pressurized medium conduit associated with a respective valve. This array is intended to be mounted at a wall in a sealed apparatus cabinet.
Such known valve connection arrays are usually mounted inside the cabinet with the front of the array easily accessible for fitting desired valves, while the pressurized medium conduits (pipes or hoses), connecting to nipples at the back of the array, are taken through individual leads-through in the rear cabinet wall (the front cabinet wall is normally a door).
In cases where the requirement for a sealed structure is great, e.g. in dairies, where apparatus cabinets of this kind must also withstand being sluiced with water, each individual lead-through must be arranged carefully, with individual holes in the rear cabinet wall directly opposite the associated connection nipple and a seal between the conduit and the edge of the hole. This kind of mounting will therefore be time-consuming and expensive.
The object of the invention is to simplify the mounting of valve connection arrays in sealed apparatus cabinets so that mounting and possible alternations can be carried out substantially more quickly and to a lower cost.
This object is achieved with a valve connection array which has the characterizing features to be mounted at a cabinet wall in a sealed cabinet. The array includes a plurality of valve connection blocks arranged in a row. These blocks have on a front face, holed flat connection portions for individually connecting a valve. On the rear face, the blocks have connection ports, or nipples, for connecting a pressurized medium conduit associated with a mounted valve. Typically, these conduits are located outside of the sealed apparatus conduit.
The main idea in accordance with the invention is thus to make a single large opening in the cabinet wall and to mount the array substantially in the plane of the cabinet wall, so that valves can be connected on the inside and pressurized medium conduits on the outside. This is enabled by the array being formed with a flat surface area extending substantially rectangularly round the holed connection portions to which the valves are fitted. The array can then be mounted from the outside (normally the back) of the cabinet, the surface area round the valve connection portions being positioned against the exterior edge area at the cabinet wall opening. Necessary sealing can easily be achieved using a sealing strip or a bead of sealing composition.
Thus, only one opening needs to be sealed in connection with mounting, although this opening is larger. In addition to this, the valve connection blocks lying in a row must of course be properly mutually sealed. This can be achieved with the aid of a flat sealing gasket. In addition, the array can be removably mounted against the apparatus wall.
The invention also relates to a method of mounting a valve connection array in an apparatus cabinet.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, where
FIG. 1 is an apparatus cabinet seen in perspective from the front, with the front door open to make visible valve connection arrays in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the apparatus cabinet (with closed door) seen from the rear with the rear of two valve arrays visible, and
FIG. 3 is a view of the side or interface against an adjacent connection block of one of the connection blocks.
The apparatus cabinet illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises tightly joined walls, namely a rear vertical wall 2, upper and lower walls 3 and 4 and side walls 5, 6 as well as a front door 8, which is carried on unillustrated hinges and which in a closed posi
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patent: 4815496 (1989-03-01), Nishitani et al.
Andersson Kjell
Somberg Kjell
AB Mecman
Chambers A. Michael
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