GB2061601A

GB2061601A - Filling accumulator batteries

Info

Publication number: GB2061601A
Application number: GB8012320A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-09-27
Filing date: 1980-04-15
Publication date: 1981-05-13
Also published as: JPS5648068A; SE8002738L; IT8021258A0; DE2939069B1; NL8001941A; IT1141543B; FR2466868A1

Abstract

Apparatus 1, for feeding distilled water into individual cells of an accumulator battery, comprises a casing connected to an inward flow conduit by a connecting pipe connected in turn to a borehole 142 opening into an annular channel 154 in turn connected to a valve chamber 17 through a duct 155. Distilled water is fed under high pressure through the inward flow conduit into the borehole 142, which reduces the pressure, and then into valve chamber 17. It passes through a valve opening 153 into a syphon 112. Pressure caused by a difference D in level P of electrolyte E outside, and level Q of distilled water inside an attachment 111 causes housing 13 to move upward inside the casing 2 until a valve washer 16 closes the valve opening 153. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for filling liquid into accumulator batteries This invention concerns apparatus for filling distilled water into the individual cells of an accumulator batter, in which a shut-off valve which regulates inward flow of water is closed depending on the fluid level in the battery cell and is held closed by pressure prevailing in an inward flow conduit.

Apparatus of this kind is already known (see, for example, German Patent No.

7440002). The known apparatus, however, has the disadvantage that after the closing of the inward flow valve, the pressure acting on the body of the valve to keep the valve closed is only slight, so that the watertightness of the closed valve cannot be guaranteed with sufficient certainty.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus as aforesaid constructed in such a way that the closing movement of the inward flow valve, in dependence upon the fluid level in the battery cell, as well as the maintenance of its closed state or its watertightness, is guaranteed with absolute certainty.

To achieve this object, the present invention provides apparatus for filling distailled water into the individual cells of an accumulator battery, in which a shut-off valve which regulates inward flow of water is closed depending on the fluid level in the battery cell and is held closed by pressure prevailing in an inward flow conduit, characterised in that the inward flow conduit, when under a high fluid pressure, has no connection with atmosphere and, to reduce the pressure during through flow, is connected through a borehole or other duct of small section with a casing of the shut-off valve or of a valve chamber, the shutoff valve being held shut after the end of the filling process by the high pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit.

In the apparatus of the invention, in consequence of the pressure-reducing effect of the borehole or duct of small section, the pressure which prevails in the valve chamber is small.

The valve remains open until the slight forces transmitted to the body of the valve caused by difference in level of the fluid in the accumulator cells moves it into its shut-off condition.

Since, at this moment, the through-flow through the borehole or duct of small section is interrupted, the hydrostatic pressure rises in the valve chamber suddenly to the full pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit and henceforth securely holds the valve shut, so long as the inward flow conduit is closed at the supply plant which is under excess pressure or at a container which holds the distailled water and which is equally under high pressure.

Apart from the certainty of operation of the valve thus achieved, the apparatus of the invention has the additional advantage that the time needed to top up an accumulator battery, in comparison with that needed with known apparatus of the same type, can be quite considerably shortened.

Advantageously the section of the pressurereducing borehole or duct equals one-tenth or less of the cross-section of an inward flow conduit which feeds distilled water into the equipment.

In order to prevent undesirable effects occurring when the distilled water flows into the valve chamber in consequence of the inherent speed of flow when it emerges from the borehole or duct of small section, preferably said through-conduit does not open directly into the valve chamber. In this instance there may be a chamber which is disposed in front of the valve chamber and is connected with this through one or more openings, and into which the borehole or duct of small section opens.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:~ Figure 1 is a cross-sectional front view of first preferred embodiment of the apparatus of the invention, the section corresponding to the line I-I of Fig. 4; Figure 2 is a view comparable with Fig. 1 but taken on the line Il-Il of Fig. 5; Figure 3 is a sectional plan taken on the line Ill-Ill of Fig. 1; Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 1; Figure 5 is a view similar to Figs. 3 and 4 but taken on the line V-V of Fig. 1; Figure 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a second embodiment of the apparatus of the invention; Figure 7 is a sectional plan taken on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6;; Figure 8 is a diagrammatic elevation illustrating the apparatus of the invention coupled to a water distilling plant; Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement for simultaneous distilled water feed into the cells of an accumulator battery; and Figure 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9 but illustrating an alternative.

A first preferred embodiment of the apparatus 1 of the invention, illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, comprises a casing 11 which is inserted into an outer covering of a battery cell in such a way that an attachment 111, which is downwardly extending, dips into fluid in the cell. The attachment 111 has a square section but of course may be of any desired shape.

This attachment 111 has a connection 113 which extends into the interior of the casing 11 and defines a circular space or syphon 112.

One end of the casing 11 is closed by a lid 12 whose cylindrical side wall 121 extends into the casing 11 and on which is fastened an extension body 14. The fastening is not shown in detail in the drawings. The extension-body 14 has a connecting pipe 141 (Fig.

2) for an inward flow conduit 141' (Fig. 8).

One end of a borehole 143 of the connecting pipe 141 connects directly with a transitionless borehole 142 of very small section which serves as a pressure reducing borehole or duct and which opens into an annular channel 154 provided in a casing 15 of a valve chamber 17. The annular channel 154 describes the chamber connected to the valve chamber 17, which guarantees an undisturbed flow of water into the valve chamber 17.

The extension-body 14 defines an upwardly open cylindrical hollow space into which the valve chamber casing 15 is snugly inserted.

Between the extension-body's upper edge and a flange on the casing 15 is an O-ring to ensure perfect watertightness of the valve chamber 17. The annular channel 154, provided in the cylindrical outer wall of the valve chamber casing 15, is connected with the valve chamber 17 by a duct 155. In its upper surface the valve chamber casing 15 is provided with a valve opening 153. The valve chamber casing 15 also has a support 151 which has an arm 152 which serves to conduct an upper conducting rod of a valve support 16. The base of the valve chamber 17 is formed of a membrane 145, made of an elastic material, which is clamped to the base of the extension body 14 at the lower edge of the valve chamber casing 15.

The valve support 16 passes through an aperture in the arm 152 and through an aperture 146 in the extension body 14. It carries a valve washer 161 which fits on a collar 163, which is made of an elastic material, for example an elastomer, and which abuts surface 153' and so serves as a valve seat when the valve is closed.

At its lower end the valve support 16 is firmly connected to a hollow cylindrical housing 13 which opens downwards and whose side wall dips into the circular spacing or syphon 11 2 formed by the inner walling of the casing 11 and the support 113. The syphon is usually filled as far as level line S with water. The syphon 112 prevents gasses, which are formed during the filling process of the battery cell, from penetrating into the upper part of the apparatus 1 which contains the valve regulating mechanism.

The apparatus described above in relation to Figs. 1 to 5 works in the following way: at the beginning of the filling process the valve opening 153 is open, in that the valve washer 161, which in Figs. 1 and 2 is shown in the closed position, is positioned so far down the valve support 1 6 that the lower edge of the housing 1 3 rests on the base of the syphon 112, or collar 162 abuts the membrane 145 of the valve chamber 17.

If the distilled water is now passed under high pressure (for example 3 bar) into the connecting pipe 141 and the borehole 143, then it flows under a considerably reduced pressure through the pressure reducing borehole 142 into the annular channel 154 and from there through the duct 155 into the valve chamber 17 which is already filled with water. From there it passes through the valve opening 153 into a space 18 defined by the lid 12 the wall 121 of the lid 12 and the outer walling of the extension body 14, past the housing 13 into the syphon 112. The syphon 112 for its part acts on an overflow for the water back to the battery cell over the connection 113.

The level of electrolyte E rises in the battery cell until it reaches the lower edge of the attachment 111. If further water flows in, then a difference in levels D forms between fluid level P outside and fluid level Q inside the attachment 111, which continually increases if water continues to flow in and causes pressure inside the attachment 111, the connection 113 and the interior of the housing 13 corresponding to the difference in levels D. Under the influence of this pressure the housing 13 moves upwards and thereby takes the valve support 16 with it until the valve washer 161 reaches the valve seat 153 and interrupts the further inflow of distilled water.

As soon as the flow of water through the pressure reducing borehole 142 ceases, in consequence of the closing of the valve opening 153, hydrostatic pressure in the valve chamber 17 which acts on the borehole 142, the annular channel 154 and the duct 155 suddenly rises to the full value of the pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit 141'.

The high pressure which henceforth prevails in the valve chamber 17 on the one hand presses the valve washer 161 so hard against the valve seat 153' that it arches slightly upwards, while on the other hand the elastic membrane 145, which forms the base of the valve chamber 17, arches so far downwards that the edge of a central opening provided in the plate 145, which makes possible the passage of the valve support 16, lies firmly against the collar 162 of the valve carrier 16.

This prevents trickling through of the water under high pressure at the aperture 146 in the extension-body 14, or a dropping of the pressure in the valve chamber 17.

As soon as the required fluid level is reached in the cells of the accumulator battery, the water distilling plant or container for the distilled water, supplied, for example, through the opening of a coupling 9 (Fig. 8) can be shut off, by means of a shut-off valve 6, from the inward flow conduit 141'. The excessive pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit 141' sinks to atmospheric pres sure, the same as the pressure in the spaces which are connected with the inward flow conduit (143, 142, 154, 155, 17), in particular in the valve chamber 17.The valve opening 153 is thus henceforth held closed only by the excessive pressure caused by the differ- ence in levels D which operated in the housing 13 and opens as soon as this excessive pressure falls below a certain value through the fall of the level of the fluid in the battery cell.

Instead of a cylindrical shaped borehole 142 as a pressure reducing conduit of small section, a conduit of a different shape can also be selected, such as a slit or a channel with a polygonal section, provided that the section is sufficiently small, that is, it does not exceed one-tenth of the section of the borehole 143.

The embodiment of the apparatus described above is intended for positions where, as shown in Fig. 9, separate cells Z of battery 3 are connected parallel to each other and to the inward flow conduit 141'. Naturally then several such inward conduits 32 (Fig. 9) on the sides parallel to each other can be fed from one conduit which comes from the distilling plant or from the water container.

On the other hand it is, under certain circumstances advantageous to arrange several battery cells one behind the other. Apparatus in accordance with the invention which makes this possible is shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

Figs. 6 and 7 illustrates a second preferred embodiment 2 of the apparatus of the invention which not only permits the arrangement of several such apparatus one behind the other, but also in which a housing 23, corresponding to housing 13, which takes up the pressure caused by the difference in levels D (Fig. 1) is fitted in the upper part of the apparatus 2, so above valve opening 253.

The valve is shown in the open position in Fig. 6.

The apparatus 2 comprises a central body 24 in which an annular channel 254 is provided, which connects two connecting connecting pipes 241 and 241'. The annular channel 254 is closed at the top by a lower closing-surface of a casing 25 of a valve chamber 27 into which a narrow borehole 242, which serves as a pressure reducing borehole, is brought and which opens into a space 256 which is defined by a side wall of the valve chamber's casing 25 and by an inner wall of the cylindrical, upwardly directed attachment 248 of the central body 24, which in its turn is connected by opening 246 with the valve chamber 27. The space 256 in this embodiment presents the chamber connected to the valve chamber 27 through which the perfect entry of the water into the valve chamber 27 is guaranteed.

A valve support 26 is carried, by means of the two collars 262 and 262' in a correspond- ing borehole of the central body 24. On a further collar it carries a valve washer 261 in the form of a circular membrane, made of an elastic material, such as rubber or an elastomer, and is securely connected to the housing 23 by an upward leading extension 264.

An inner space of the housing 23 is connected with an inner space of a hollow cylinder 21 which is fitted from below on the central body 24 and dips into electrolytes in the battery cells through an annular channel 244 which is open at its top and is defined by a wall of the attachment 248 and a cylindrical wall 249 which surrounds the central body 24. The lower edge of the housing 23 dips into a syphon 212, which is formed between an outer wall of the central body 24, which wall simultaneously forms an outer wall of the apparatus 2, and the cylindrical wall 249 and which is always filled with water as far as level S.

At its top the apparatus 2 is closed by a lid 22. The lid 22 can, if one wants the possibility of an indication concerning the closing of the valve opening 253, be provided, for example, with a central opening 225 through which becomes visible an upward pointing attachment 231 of the housing 23 as soon as this is raised by the excessive pressure caused by the difference in levels D, so that valve washer 261 abuts surface 253' which forms a valve seat and valve opening 253 is thereby shut. The connection with the atmosphere created by the opening 225 does not effect on the operation of the apparatus since the interior of the housing 23 is separated by the syphon 212 from the space which is defined by the lid 22. Instead of the opening 225 it is also possible to make the lid 22 of a transparent material.

If one wished to avoid providing the battery cell with a special ventilation opening, as is provided with the apparatus 1, there exists the possibility of a connection with atmosphere over cylindrical hollow space 28, between the outer wall of the downward stretching attachment 245 of the central body 24 and the walling of the hollow cylinder 21, by means of a borehole 281 provided in the interior of the battery cell above the highest fluid level that is to be expected and a borehole 282 provided above the cell covering, that is outside the cell.

The apparatus 2 works as follows: Distilled water enters under high pressure into the connecting pipe 241 and through its borehole 243 reaches the annular channel 254. The annular channel 254 conducts the water to the connecting pipe 241 ' to which further apparatus of the invention is connected and so on until at the last battery cell the connecting pipe 241' is firmly closed. In consequence of the reverse flow, the water flows at times through the narrow borehole 242, where there is a necessary reduction in pressure, and through the space 256 and the opening 246 in the valve chamber 27. From there the water flows through the valve opening 253, into the syphon 212 and the annular channel 244, from where it flows through the aperture 247 into the battery cell.The different rises in the fluid levels outside and inside the apparatus causes an excessive pressure caused by the difference in levels D, which in turn causes a raising of the housing 23 over the aperture 247 until the valve washer 261 closes the valve opening 253 and thus interrupts the inward flow of the water. As soon as no more water is flowing through the pressure reducing borehole 242, the pressure in the valve chamber 27 suddenly rises to the full value of the pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit 241. The further operation of the apparatus 2 correspond to that already for the apparatus 1.

An arrangement of the type described in relation to the apparatus 2 is set eout schematically in Fig. 10 in which the arrangement as a whole is designated by reference numeral 4 and the general conduit by numeral 41. From the conduit 41 a number of conduits 42 branch off parallel to one another, which sometimes feed several battery cells Z which are arranged by means of the apparatus 2 in a row one behind the other.

In Fig. 8 as an example of the application of the apparatus 1 or 2 the connection of an accumulator battery B to a distilling plant is shown. The plant consists of an ion exchanger 5 5 which is connected through a shut-off valve 6 and a pressure regulator 7 to a water conduit. The pressure regulator 7 ensures that in the apparatus (for example 1) the required pressure, for example 3 bar, always prevails.

The water distilled in the ion exchanger is passed through a fine filter 8 of a feed conduit 141' connected through the coupling 9 to the accumulator battery. The individual cells of the battery can then be connected with the feed conduit in arrangement 3 (Fig.

9) or in arrangement 4 (Fig.10). In stationary plants instead of the isolatable coupling 9 a firmly built in three-way tap can take its place through which the conduit 141' is separated from the distilling plant or, as the case may be, the water container, and is simultaneously connected with atmosphere.

The invention is not confined to the embodiments described above and is in no way dependent on the arrangement provided for regulation of the valve or on the control of the fluid level in the accumulator cell. Instead of the housing which evaluates the difference in pressure caused by the difference in levels there are other possibilities, such as the use of a float for this purpose, connected with a piece of equipment in acorrdance with the invention. Also it is possible without much difficulty to stop the penetration of steam or gases from the accumulator cell into the space which contains the valve regulating mechanism by means of a syphon. The syphon must be fitted on the float's underside so that it can follow its movements up and down.

Claims

1. Apparatus for filling distilled water into the individual cells of an accumulator better, in which a shut-off valve which regulates inward flow of water is closed depending on the fluid level in the battery cell and is held closed by pressure prevailing in an inward flow conduit, characterised in that the inward flow conduit, when under a high fluid pressure, has no connection with atmosphere and, to reduce the pressure during through flow, is connected through a borehole or other duct of small section with a casing of the shut-off valve or of a valve chamber, the shut-off valve being held shut after the end of the filling process by the high pressure prevailing in the inward flow conduit.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the section of the pressurereducing borehole or duct equals or is smaller than one-tenth of the section of the borehole of a connecting pipe or of the section of an annular channel by which distilled water is supplied into the apparatus.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 characterised in that the pressure-reducing borehole opens into a space connected with the valve chamber.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 characterised in that the floor of the valve chamber is formed of a membrane of an elastic material in which is an aperture for the passage of a valve support and in that the properties and dimensions of this membrane are so selected that, after closing of the valve, the edge of the aperture under the pressure prevailing in the valve chamber presses watertightly against the valve support or on a collar provided thereon.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim characterised in that a space containing mechanism for operation of the valve is separated from the interior of the battery cell and/ or the surrounding atmosphere by a syphon.

6. Apparatus for filling distilled water into the individual cells of an accumulator battery substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, or in Figs. 6 and 7, or in Fig. 8, or in Fig. 9 or in Fig. 10 of the accompanying drawings.