Schneider Electric Buildings, LLC

Other

Tac, LLC

Schneider Electric Builders, LLC

Kurt R Thomas

Eugene R Jornod

An example portable washing station may include a reservoir, a lid removably attached to the reservoir, an opening for receiving an extendable nozzle, a submersible pump positioned within the reservoir, a hose connecting the extendable nozzle and the submersible pump, and a battery electrically coupled to the submersible pump via a detachable power cord.

Portable washing station

A ball valve with offset straight through flow is provided. The ball valve has a housing having an inlet and an outlet and an internal cavity. A non-spherical ball valve member is positioned within the internal cavity. The valve member is mechanically coupled to a valve stem extending from the internal cavity to an exterior of the housing such that rotation of the valve stem results in a like rotation of the valve member. The ball valve has a fully closed position wherein fluid flow therethrough is prevented. The ball valve member also has a fully opened position where fluid flow therethrough is allowed. The ball valve can transition from the fully closed position to the frilly opened position and vice versa with a rotation of the valve member of less than or equal to about forty-five degrees.

Ball valve with offset straight through flow

A ball valve having an anti-rotational pressure plate that allows for a balanced pressure load on a valve member is provided. Additionally, the pressure plate can also fix the rotation of an adjacent flow disk, allowing for angular-orientation specific flow characterizing features to be used with the flow disk. By fixing the rotation of the flow disk, the ball valve can characterize flows using a greater variety of flow disk geometries, including angular-orientation dependent and angular-orientation independent flow disks. Further, the pressure plate could also be directly in the form of a flow disk that has anti-rotation features.

Ball valve with anti-rotational pressure plate

A ball valve having improved sealing between the valve member and the valve body is presented. Improved sealing is realized by providing a sealing member that is allowed to float on the outer surface of the valve member in the closed position. By being able to float on the outer surface, the sealing member can compensate for any variations in the valve member as a result of machining tolerances or variations in position of the valve member due to changes in pressure within the valve, thereby providing dynamic sealing The dynamic sealing is also provided by configuring the valve member such that it causes the sealing member to be exposed to a higher biasing force in the closed position than in the open position.

Dynamic ball valve sealing device for three-way valves

A ball valve having reduced torque requirements for rotation is presented. Torque reduction is realized by providing a shaped sealing back member to provide a back force behind essentially the entire sealing surface of the downstream seal. Torque reduction is also realized by providing a dynamic sealing configuration that varies the sealing force over the valve's operating pressure conditions. An initial bias sealing force is applied by a spring member which also provides a low uniform as-assembled valve torque. As fluid pressure increases, the sealing pressure also increases as an o-ring is forced along a ramped surface of the seal. As inlet pressure decreases, the o-ring is allowed to back down the ramped surface to reduce the sealing force against the valve member. This sealing configuration allows for reverse flow or improper installation of the ball valve, and bottoms out to maintain a sealing force at higher back pressure conditions.

Low torque ball valve with dynamic sealing

A switching apparatus is disclosed for switching on a TV as a reward when a user is achieving a predetermined performance level on an exercise apparatus. The switching apparatus includes a pulse generator for generating pulses commensurate with the amount of work expended by the user on the exercise apparatus and a transmitter for transmitting the pulses. A transceiver TV module receives the pulses from the transmitter, the transceiver module including a pulse counter for counting the pulses received from the transmitter, a power sensor for sensing the power status of the TV and a comparator circuit connected to the pulse counter and the power sensor such that when the power sensor senses the status of the TV as being inactive, the comparator circuit compares the pulses counted by the counter with a threshold level which corresponds with the predetermined factory preset performance level so that when the pulses reach the threshold level, a signal is generated and when the power sensor senses the status of the TV as being active, the comparator circuit compares the pulses with the threshold level such that when the pulses reach below the threshold level, a further signal is generated so that the module transmits the signal and the further signal accordingly. A receiver is disposed in operable proximity to the TV. The arrangement is such that when the receiver receives the signal, the TV is activated and when the further signal is received by the receiver, the TV is inactivated such that overriding the status of the TV is inhibited so that watching the TV without reaching the predetermined performance level is prevented.

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Durand, IL, United States of America

Kurt R Thomas