Patent Application
20130133780
This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 (a) and (b) to French Application No. 1154975 filed Jun. 8, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to an installation for filling gas cylinders with a gas-distribution device with angularly distributed outlets for supplying gas to a plurality of gas cylinders that are to be filled, and to a method of packaging a gaseous mixture, particularly mixtures of NO/N2 implementing such an installation for filling gas cylinders.
Gaseous NO/N2 mixtures are commonly used to treat pulmonary vasoconstrictions in adults or children, particularly in newborn infants suffering from primary pulmonary hypertension or in patients who have undergone cardiac surgery.
These NO/N2 mixtures are conventionally packaged into steel gas cylinders. Typically, these cylinders contain, by volume, 100 to 1000 ppm of NO, the remainder being nitrogen (N2). These cylinders usually have a water capacity of 2 to 50 litres which means that a total charge of as much as 15 m3 of NO/N2 mixture can be admitted to them.
The packaging of these mixtures, which means the filling of cylinders with these mixtures, is done at gas filling centres using one or more filling systems.
As illustrated in
Such systems are not ideal when the gas cylinders have to be filled with gaseous mixtures that contain several ingredients.
This is because it has been found in practice that the gaseous mixtures obtained were often nonhomogeneous, which means to say that the cylinders contained quantities of gaseous NO/N2 mixture that varied from one cylinder to another.
The problem therefore is to propose an installation for filling gas containers and a packaging method which are improved and allow several gas cylinders to be filled simultaneously while at the same time ensuring good precision and better reliability of the gaseous mixture thus produced and packaged, i.e. allowing several gas cylinders of one system to be filled with a gaseous mixture in such a way as to obtain filled cylinders containing a gaseous-ingredients concentration which is identical from one cylinder to another.
The solution of the invention is therefore an installation for filling gas containers comprising at least one gas-container filling system comprising at least one gas-distribution device and connection means allowing the said gas-distribution device to be connected fluidically to several containers so as to fill the said containers simultaneously with gas, the gas-distribution device comprising a main body comprising an internal gas-distribution chamber, a gas inlet orifice fluidically communicating with the internal chamber so as to allow gas to enter the said internal chamber via the said inlet orifice, and several outlet orifices fluidically communicating with the internal chamber so as to allow gas to be discharged from the said internal chamber via the said outlet orifices, characterized in that the outlet orifices are angularly distributed in the internal chamber.
Depending on circumstance, the installation of the invention may have one or more of the following technical features:
Furthermore, the invention also relates to a method for packaging a gas or gaseous mixture into several containers comprising the simultaneous introduction into the said containers of a gas or of a gaseous mixture by means of a distribution device or of an installation according to the invention.
Depending on circumstance, the method of the invention may comprise one or more of the following technical features:
For a further understanding of the nature and objects for the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are given the same or analogous reference numbers and wherein:
The invention will now be better understood by virtue of the description given hereinafter with reference to the attached figures, among which:
The gas-distribution device comprises a main body 1 comprising an internal gas-distribution chamber 3. This internal chamber 3 is delimited by an internal peripheral wall 3a surmounted by an upper wall forming a roof 3b and closed at the bottom by a lower wall forming a bottom 3c.
For preference, the internal peripheral wall 3a has a cylindrical shape, i.e. a circular cross section.
A gas inlet orifice 11 fluidically communicating with the internal chamber 3 is formed through the upper wall or roof 3b of the body 1.
The inlet orifice 11 is a single orifice which opens into the roof 3b of the internal chamber 3 and allows gas to be admitted to the said internal chamber 3. For preference, the inlet orifice 11 is situated at the centre of the roof 3b so as to distribute the gas homogeneously and equally through the internal chamber 3.
A gas inlet connector 10, i.e. a connection for connecting a single gas carrying line 8, is arranged in the inlet orifice 11, protruding out from the body 1. This supply line 8 is fed, in the conventional way, from one or more gas sources, such as reservoirs of gas or gaseous mixture.
In the case of NO/N2 mixtures that are to be packaged into the containers 5, the supply line 8 is fed, firstly, from a source of NO/N2 premix, typically mixtures containing under 40% NO, the remainder being nitrogen, for example containing 4% of NO by volume in nitrogen and, secondly, from a source of nitrogen, for example a reservoir of liquid nitrogen fluidically connected to a heat exchanger or a vaporizer to convert the liquid nitrogen into gaseous nitrogen so that the final NO/N2 mixture can be created at the desired concentration by diluting the (for example 4%) NO/N2 mixture with nitrogen.
Moreover, several outlet orifices 12 fluidically communicating with the inside of the internal chamber 3 are pierced or formed through the internal peripheral wall 3a of the chamber 3 so as to allow gas to be discharged from the said internal chamber 3 via the said outlet orifices 12, to pipes 13 or the like fluidically connected to the containers 5 that are to be filled.
In other words, the gas entering the distribution chamber 3 via the gas inlet connector 10 (arrow E in
According to the invention, the outlet orifices 12 are angularly distributed in the internal chamber 3, i.e. are situated equal distances apart while being oriented radially towards the inside of the chamber 3 as illustrated in
More specifically, the axis AA of a given first outlet orifice 12 is angularly offset from the axis BB of a second outlet orifice 12 which is situated immediately next to the said first outlet orifice 12 by an angle α of between 10° and 60°, preferably between 15° and 40°. For preference, the outlet orifices 12 are distributed, while at the same time being angularly spaced at equal distances apart, over the entire internal periphery of the peripheral wall 3a of the internal chamber 3.
It then follows that the axis of one orifice 12 considered makes an angle α of approximately 360°/x with the respective axes of the two orifices situated on either side of the orifice considered, where x corresponds to the total number of orifices 12 arranged on the internal periphery of the peripheral wall 3a of the internal chamber 3. Thus, for 16 outlet orifices 12 for example, the angle α between orifices is 360°/16, i.e. approximately 22.5°, as illustrated in
Usually, approximately 6 to 25 outlet orifices 12, preferably 10 to 20 orifices 12, are provided so that up to 25 gas containers 5 arranged on the one same system 2 and fed from the gas-distribution device of the invention can be filled simultaneously using flexible hoses.
For preference, the outlet connectors 14 are connected or held together by a peripheral structure 15, such as a circular ring or the like as illustrated in
Each system 2 is fed with gas by a gas-distribution device 1 according to
Connecting means, i.e. hoses or the like, allow the said device 1 to be fluidically connected to gas containers 5 so as to fill them simultaneously with gas passing through the gas-distribution device 1 of the filling installation of the invention.
As may be seen in
The filling operations are commanded and controlled by an operator 7 using control means, such as a computer, a control desk or the like. These control means are used to fix or adjust the parameters of the various stages of the filling method, such as the duration, pressure, etc., and to monitor its progress and store the operations and parameters.
A weighing machine is used to weight the cylinders and/or to make spot checks on the final gaseous mixture.
The filling and packaging device and installation according to the present invention allow several gas cylinders 5 to be filled simultaneously while at the same time ensuring good accuracy and improved reliability of the gaseous mixture thus produced and packaged, i.e. allow several gas cylinders 5 from one or more systems 2 to be filled with a gaseous mixture in such a way as to obtain filled cylinders 5 containing a gaseous ingredients concentration which is identical from one cylinder 5 to another.
This makes it possible to produce with great precision gaseous mixtures, particularly NO/N2 mixtures containing an NO content less than or equal to 5% by volume, particularly mixtures containing under 1000 ppm of NO by volume, the remainder being nitrogen, which mixtures are packaged at a pressure of between 2 and 700 bar, preferably of at least 150 bar, in gas cylinders with a body made of steel, aluminium or an aluminium alloy.
It will be understood that many additional changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangement of parts, which have been herein described in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments in the examples given above.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1154975 | Jun 2011 | FR | national |
