Patent Application
20210324965
This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/951,785, filed Dec. 20, 2019.
The present disclosure generally relates to a locking and/or opening device, method and system. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to an emergency shut-off device that requires no electrical power.
Locking and opening mechanisms have been used in various industrial, commercial and residential contexts such as emergency exits designs, darn constructions, vehicle barriers, safe designs, ship compartment scuttles, and blast doors. Many of these devices and valves may be implemented to respond to an emergency in order to reduce the likelihood of an unwanted event from occurring, continuing, or escalating. For example, in the event of earthquakes, landslides, flood, tornadoes, leakage, or fire, a rapid emergency shutdown of pipelines that transport large volumes of liquid, natural gas, crude oil, liquid petroleum, and chemical products over long distances is essential for minimizing personal injury and property damage, as pipeline incidents present some of the most dangerous situations to emergency responders and heightened risks to the people, property and environment near pipelines. In another example, emergency release of floodgates or opening of aircraft cabin doors under some circumstances may require significant physical force in the face of serious challenges such as lack of power and difficulty of dispatching appropriate equipment and trained personnel to the emergency site.
Accordingly, there is a need for an emergency shut-off device, method, and system where significant force may be generated in response to minimal activation force without requiring electrical power.
The present disclosure provides an emergency shut-off device, method, and system. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is directed to a seismic emergency shut-off device, method, and system. In other preferred embodiments, the invention is directed to an aerospace, defense, and/or nuclear weapon device, method and system in which it is useful to have one or more trigger, actuation, shut-off, opening, locking, drive, retraction or firing mechanism. In a further preferred embodiment, the devices, methods and systems according to the invention are inert, stable, temperature insensitive, require no electricity, involve no chemicals, and can be precisely calibrated and can remain ready to actuate and deliver a large amount of force instantaneously for a long period of time, e.g., even over many decades, 30 years, 50 years, 100 years, or centuries. Preferred aspects of the present disclosure include elimination of springs, batteries, and electrical power sources and minimal functional friction among components of the device, thereby providing a near unlimited functional life of the device. Further, the device according to the invention may be resettable after activation. In another preferred embodiment, the disclosed device utilities frictionless magnetic latching (non-contact) enabling an activation means which reduces the energy requirement of the device to zero.
In addition, the drive force generated by a magnetic driver of the disclosed device may be adjusted via several means even after the shut-off device has been manufactured. The present application may be suitable for any opening or closing mechanism that may require significant force with minimal activation force, high reliability, lack of electricity, and the ability to remain ready to close/open for indefinite periods of time.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the emergency shut-off device may comprise an activation means configured to generate an activation force in response to detecting a force and a magnetic driver. The force that is detected can be, for example, a seismic event. The magnetic driver may comprise a guide tube that is hollow and has a longitudinal axis; first and second magnets affixed at a selected position on opposite sides along a length of the guide tube with like poles facing each other, each magnet having a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles, magnetic axes of first and second magnets being substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line; a drive piston movable inside the guide tube along the longitudinal axis; and a third magnet coupled to the drive piston and configured to cross the magnetic repulse shift line to generate a drive force for extending the drive piston out of the guide tube. The drive piston has a first end for receiving the activation force to move the third magnet crossing the magnetic repulse shift line, and a second end for applying the drive force to an output system to effectuate shut-off.
A remarkable aspect of this device is the “zone mechanism” in the area of the magnetic shift line. In that zone, the force required to move the drive piston along the longitudinal axis right before the magnetic shift line drops to a minimal amount or near zero. In that zone, minimal force is then required to move the drive piston along the longitudinal axis across the magnetic shift line. Thereafter, the force generated by the magnets dramatically increases and moves the drive piston further along the longitudinal axis. This zone enables the design of many devices that can generate considerable magnetic force upon minimal activation energy. Another embodiment of the present disclosure may include a method for activating an emergency shut off and a method of using an emergency shut off device. For example, the invention is preferably directed to a method for activating and using a seismic emergency shut-off device. The method may comprise generating, via an activation means, an activation force in response to detecting a force, including for example a seismic event, and applying the activation force to a magnetic driver. The magnetic driver may comprise applying the activation force to a magnetic driver; first and second magnets affixed at a selected position on opposite sides along a length of the guide tube with like poles facing each other, each magnet having a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles, magnetic axes of first and second magnets being substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line; a drive piston movable inside the guide tube along the longitudinal axis; and a third magnet coupled to the drive piston and configured to cross the magnetic repulse shift line to generate a drive force for extending the drive piston out of the guide tube. The method further comprises receiving the activation force, by a first end of the drive piston, to move the third. magnet across the magnetic repulse shift line; and applying the drive force, by a second end of the drive piston to an output system, to effectuate a shut-off.
In yet another embodiment of the present application, an emergency shut-off device may comprise an activation means configured to generate an activation force in response to detecting a force, including for example a seismic event, and a magnetic driver. The magnetic driver may comprise a guide tube that is hollow and has a longitudinal axis; first and second magnets affixed at a selected position on opposite sides along a length of the guide tube with like poles facing each other, each magnet having a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles, magnetic axes of first and second magnets being substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line; a drive piston movable inside the guide tube along the longitudinal axis; and a third magnet coupled to the drive piston and configured to cross the magnetic repulse shift line to generate a drive force for extending the drive piston out of the guide tube. The first and second magnets are configured to be movable along the longitudinal axis and the magnetic axis to change the drive force generated by the third magnet. The drive piston has a first end for receiving the activation force to move the third magnet crossing the magnetic repulse shift line, and a second end for applying the drive force to an output system to effectuate a shut-off of a fluid line.
In an additional embodiment of the present disclosure, an emergency shut-off method may comprise generating, via an activation means, an activation force in response to detecting a force, including for example a seismic event, and applying the activation force to a magnetic driver. The magnetic driver may comprise applying the activation force to a magnetic driver; first and second magnets affixed at a selected position on opposite sides along a length of the guide tube with like poles facing each other, each magnet having a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles, magnetic axes of first and second magnets being substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line; a drive piston movable inside the guide tube along the longitudinal axis; and a third magnet coupled to the drive piston and configured to cross the magnetic repulse shift line to generate a drive force for extending the drive piston out of the guide tube. The first and second magnets are configured to be movable along the longitudinal axis and the magnetic axis to change the drive force generated by the third magnet. The method further comprises receiving the activation force, by a first end of the drive piston, to move the third magnet crossing the magnetic repulse shift line; and applying the drive force, by a second end of the drive piston to an output system, to effectuate a shut-off of a fluid line.
Moreover, the present disclosure provides a magnetic driver device, comprising: a. frame member that is hollow and has a longitudinal axis; first and second magnets placed at a selected position on opposite sides along a length of the frame member with like poles facing each other, each magnet having a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles, magnetic axes of first and second magnets being substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line; a drive piston movable inside the frame member along the longitudinal axis; and a third magnet coupled to the drive piston and configured to cross the magnetic repulse shift line to generate a drive force for extending the drive piston out of the frame member. The first and second magnets are configured to be movable along the longitudinal axis and the magnetic axis to change the drive force generated by the third magnet.
The above summary of example aspects serves to provide a basic understanding of the present disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description of the disclosure that follows. To the accomplishment of the foregoing, the one or more aspects of the present disclosure include the features described and exemplary pointed out in the claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more example aspects of the present disclosure and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain their principles and implementations.
Various aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to promote a thorough understanding of one or more aspects of the invention. It may be evident in some or all instances, however, that any aspects described below can be practiced without adopting the specific design details described below.
Referring to
It should be appreciated that the emergency shut-off device of the present disclosure may utilize any suitable means or input system configured to provide an activation force to a magnetic driver device disclosed below in connection with
As shown in
In one preferred embodiment, a pair of dipole magnets 54 and 56 may be symmetrically affixed at a selected location on opposite sides along a length of the longitudinal axis 46 of the guide tube 42 with a like pole facing each other (e.g., North poles facing each other). A dipole magnet here may refer to a magnet whose opposite poles (i.e., North and South poles) are on opposite sides of the magnet. The simplest example of a dipole magnet may include a bar magnet. Each magnet 54, 56 may have a magnetic axis extending between its North and South poles. Both magnetic axes of magnets 54 and 56 may be substantially aligned with each other to form a magnetic repulse shift line 58 which is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 46 of the guide tube 42. A drive magnet 60 may be coupled to the drive piston 44 and movable inside the guide tube 42 longitudinally. Magnetic force exerted on either or both magnets 54 and 56 by the drive magnet 60 may change or reverse direction as a portion of the drive magnet 60 approaches, crosses and moves away from the magnetic repulse shift line 58. As will be described fully below, the position of the magnetic repulse shift line 58 and such portion of drive magnet needed to cross this line may vary in different embodiments depending on the dimensions, positions, and magnetic characteristics of magnets 54, 56 and 60.
Coupled to the drive piston 44 and housed within the guide tube 42, the drive magnet 60 may be dimensioned in such a way that its North and South poles may move longitudinally within the guide tube 42 relative to the magnetic repulse shift line 58 formed by the pair of magnets 54 and 56, thereby generating great force accelerating the drive piston 44 to extend out of the guide tube 42. Initially, in one example configuration as shown in
When the drive magnet 60 may be stabilized slightly to the right of magnetic repulse shift line 58 (e.g., by one or more stops such as the end walls of the guide tube 42) within the guide tube 42, such position may be in a repulse field yet so close to the magnetic repulse shift line 58 that only the slightest pressure on the activation end 48 of the drive piston 44 by the activation rod 52 may shift the repulse force field to the left of the magnetic repulse shift line 58. That is, pressure on the activation end 48 of the drive piston 44 may cause the North pole of the drive magnet 60 to cross the magnetic repulse shift line 58 into a left repulse field by thrusting the drive piston protruding end 50 rapidly to the left. The resulting thrusting force accelerates the drive piston 44 to extend out of the guide tube 42 to activate the output system 34. One or more stops implemented within the guide tube 42 towards the drive piston protruding end 50 or simply the end walls of the guide tube 42 may be configured to stabilize the drive magnet 60 at a position within the guide tube 42 post the actuation. The travel distance of the drive magnet 60 including the distance between the magnetic repulse shift line 58 and its eventual stop position may determine the force required to activate the repulse shift to the left. The adjustability of this distance may accommodate desired activation force of different magnitude in different application contexts.
In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the positional relationship between drive magnet 60 and magnets 54, 56 may be selectively adjusted in order to achieve a desired drive force generated by the magnetic driver device 30. For example, drive magnet 60 may be positioned and stabilized relatively close to magnetic repulse shift line 58 in order to reduce or minimize an actuation or trigger force to move drive magnet 60 past magnetic repulse shift line 58 to actuate the output system 34. The potential energy stored in drive magnet 60 when released may produce a resultant force for the drive piston 44 that is many multiples of the actuation force. When drive magnet 60 may be positioned near magnetic repulse shift line 58 and near an equilibrium point within hollow guide tube 42, the amount of actuating force needed to trigger drive piston 44 may be greatly minimized.
In high energy applications, for instance for mechanical systems that require a relatively significant drive force with very fast speed, strong magnets may be used in magnetic driver device 30. To prevent drive magnet 60 from being damaged due to collisions with either stops implemented within the guide tube 42 or the end walls of the guide tube 42, in some embodiments, one or more impact cushions (not shown) may be positioned within the guide tube 42. Impact cushions may be made of foam, gel, or other cushioning material that configured to disperse impact forces the drive magnet 60 may impose on other components of magnetic driver device 30 and helps slow or stop the drive magnet 60 at a desired position within the guide tube 42.
Referring to
In one preferred embodiment, magnetic driver device 30 of system 62 may be housed and stabilized within a non-magnetic housing 63 together with the activation means 10 using the steel ball 12. Such activation means may be attached to the top interior surface of housing 63 and positioned to activate the magnetic driver device 30 as described above in connection with
It should be appreciated that, when the magnetic driver device 30 and the associated mechanism are housed or maintained adequately, systems 62 and 78 may function indefinitely without requiring any external energy source, such as electrical, hydraulic, spring or pneumatic power. Moreover, system 62 or 78 may be used with any fluid line and may be configured to be activated by one or more selected detection conditions such as high or low pressure of the underlying fluid line, or the presence or absence of the flow inside the fluid line. When connected with multiple sensors for monitoring the integrity of the underlying fluid line in real time, system 62 or 78 may be configured to activate emergency shutoff or opening in a timely and reliably way. In addition, system 62 or 78 may be scalable and enhanced with remote emergency and disaster management capabilities, as described below with respect to
Referring now to
At point 106, a first measurable magnetic interaction between magnets 54, 56, and 60 may be created (e.g., a repulse force, for example, of about 100 pounds). Between points 106 and 108, the repulse resistance may increase from, for example, 0 to 100 pounds as the North pole of drive magnet 60 may be configured to approach the magnetic repulse shift line 58 by means 102 and start interacting with the North poles of magnets 54 and 56. After peaking at point 108, such repulse resistance may steadily decline to approach 0 when the drive magnet 60 may be stabilized just slightly to the left of magnetic repulse shift line 58 at a position within the guide tube 42, and the slightest pressure on the drive piston 44 by the means 102 may shift the repulse force field from the left to the right of the magnetic repulse shift line 58. In other words, a maximum repulse resistance force may not develop at magnetic repulse shift line 58 and the repulse force may become maximized at a point (e.g., point 108) prior to line 58.
When drive magnet 60 crosses point 108 (maximum repulse resistance), the repulse resistance among like poles of magnets 54, 56, and 60 may exhibit a steady decline as the distance between the like poles of magnets 60, 54, and 56 is decreased. Furthermore, such repulse resistance may approach 0 at the threshold of repulse shift (line 58) indicating that significant levels of potential energy may be stored and converted to kinetic energy with a near zero energy requirement in the conversion process. For example, systems 62 and 78 described above in
Beyond line 58 (threshold of repulse shift), the repulse force among like poles of magnets 54, 56, and 60 may be reestablished and increase from 0 to 100 pounds at point 110. Between points 110 and 112, a measurable interaction between. magnets 53, 60, and 62 may decrease and reduce to 0 at point 112. In one embodiment, the functional range for the drive magnet 60 may be implemented anywhere between point 106 and line 58, but close to line 58 when used in the context of a seismic emergency shut-off device as shown in
To control positions and movements of external magnets 54 and 56, a frame member 117 of magnetic driver device 116 may include a first rotating sleeve 120 threadably attached thereon at junction 122. A second rotating sleeve 124 may be likewise threadably attached to the first rotating sleeve 120 at junction 126. The first rotating sleeve 120 may be configured to house external magnets 54 and 56 in space 128 and both magnets may be held against the angled contact surfaces 130 by the repulse force created by their like poles (e.g., North poles) being in proximity to a like pole (e.g., North pole) of the drive magnet 60. Both rotating sleeves 120 and 124 may be anteriorly or posteriorly repositioned by rotation of grips 132 and 134, respectively. The resulting rotations may increase or decrease the distance between, e.g., the poles of magnets 54, 56 and 60 and/or distance between a forward facing pole of magnet 60 and the repulse shift point denoted by line 58. Such changes may result in the ability to adjust activation sensitivity in the absence of any movement of the drive magnet 60 or the drive piston 44. The drive force generated by the magnetic driver device 116 shown in
For example, a first means to control and adjust the drive force may include incrementally adjusting the distance between the drive magnet 60 and the threshold of repulse shift (line 58) formed by magnets 54 and 56. As shown in
Moreover, it is known that many conventional emergency shut-off valves may be generally sensitive primarily to horizontal shock waves not vertical shock waves. As a result, for example, a shut-off valve device of this nature when sitting directly above an epicenter of an earthquake of a given magnitude may not be activated by such an earthquake, whereas an identical valve located a distance away from the epicenter, and which is not readily subjected to quite as hard of a shock, may be properly activated. In one preferred embodiment, a plurality of seismic emergency shut-off systems disclosed in the present application may be deployed cross a geographic region. Each system may be configured to effectuate an emergency shut off of a pipeline at different locations in response to earthquake shock based at least upon each respective predetermined threshold values of activation force. As locations between each seismic emergency shut-off system and a detected epicenter of an earthquake are different, the distance between the magnetic repulse shift line 58 and the drive magnet 60 of each system may be determined and implemented individually, so each system may have different sensitivity to horizontal shock waves and/or vertical shock waves.
Moreover, a second means to control and adjust the drive force may include incrementally adjusting a distance between the drive magnet 60 and the peripheral magnets 54 and 56. As shown in
As will be descried fully below in
It should be appreciated that the above three adjustment means may be used independently or in combination with one another to enable increasing or decreasing the drive force generated by magnetic driver device 116 for specific applications even after the magnetic driver device 116 has been manufactured and installed. In addition, the strength of magnets 54, 56 and 60 selected and installed in magnetic driver device 116 may also affect the strength of the drive force generated.
Referring now to
For example, as space 156 may be decreased by the drive magnet 60 being moved toward line 58, the resulting drive force may be diminished. A well-defined and measurable repulse field length may exist beyond the threshold of repulse shift, as described previously. The piston drive force may be directly influenced by the distance the drive piston 44 is allowed to travel into this repulse field prior to contacting stops 158. Within the length of this field, there may exist a point of peak repulse force. Variations in the distance between a selected stop point and the peak repulse point may yield differences in drive force levels for magnetic driver device 116.
Referring to
Furthermore, input system 202 of system 200 may be connected, via at least one communication network 210, with suitable network connections and protocols, with at least one remote computing device 212 which may comprise at least one of personal computers, servers, laptops, tablets, mobile devices, smart phones, cellular devices, portable gaming devices, media players, network enabled printers, routers, wireless access points, network appliances, storage systems, gateway devices, or any other suitable devices that are deployed in the same or different networks. Enhanced with such remote computing and processing capabilities, system 200 may be configured to be more responsive to certain conditions in locking or unlocking, e.g., an emergency exit door. It is to be appreciated that system 200 may include any suitable and/or necessary interface components, such as various adapters, connectors, channels, communication paths, for facilitating exchanging signals and data among various hardware and software components of the input system 202, the remote computing device 212, any applications, peer devices, remote or local server systems/service providers, and additional database system(s) that are connected via underlying network connections 210 and associated communication channels and protocols (e.g., Internet, wireless, LAN, cellular, Wi-Fi, WAN). As a result, input system 202 may be configured to receive various command signals from a remote location and accordingly generate an activation force to the magnetic locking or opening system 204 to initiate a desired locking or opening mechanism depending upon the application context of system 200. Therefore, suitable safety detection sensitivity of the above-mentioned environmental physical or chemical parameters, and various control functions may be incorporated into system 200 to accommodate any contingency that may arise and trigger the magnetic locking or opening system 204.
Each of the devices, systems and methods according to the invention can also be used or adapted for use in aerospace, defense, and/or nuclear weapon device, method and system in which it is useful to have one or more trigger, actuation, shut-off, opening, locking, drive, retraction or firing mechanism. In a further preferred embodiment, the devices, methods and systems according to the invention are inert, stable, temperature insensitive, require no electricity, involve no chemicals, and can be precisely calibrated and can remain ready to actuate and deliver a large amount of force instantaneously for a long period of time, e.g., even over many decades or centuries.
The above description of the disclosure is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the common principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Further, the above description in connection with the drawings describes examples and does not represent the only examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims.
Furthermore, although elements of the described aspects and/or embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. Additionally, all or a portion of any aspect and/or embodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any other aspect and/or embodiment, unless stated otherwise. Thus, the disclosure is not to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62951785 | Dec 2019 | US |
