The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 01, 1992
Filed:
Apr. 23, 1991
Daniel C Walter, Chardon, OH (US);
Robert N Schmidt, Cleveland, OH (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid, comprising an 8-way switcg valve for directing an inlet stream of air to one of multiple adsorber beds and then to the crew compartment of an air-tight vehicle while simultaneously directing an outlet stream of air to another adsorber bed and then to the atmosphere, whereby the inlet stream may be purified by adsorption on one bed while the other bed is regenerated. The fluid is directed by passageways in rotatable valve spools axially colinearly aligned, connected together so as to rotate simultaneously, and having ports aligned with openings in a sealed valve housing which communicate with inlet and outlet piping and absorber bed piping. Rotating the valve spool aligns various configurations of passageways and piping so as to direct the streams to different beds. The valve spools may be contained in separate housings for safety, avoiding cross contamination during switching. Because all the valve spools are driven by a single drive shaft, all bed inlet and outlet lines are switched simultaneously, providing safe operation and decreasing control logic requirements as well as weight, power and volume requirements.