US-12618514-B2 - Variable volume vessel with over-travel protection and/or anti-binding features

US12618514B2US 12618514 B2US12618514 B2US 12618514B2US-12618514-B2

Abstract

In one aspect, a variable volume vessel includes an expandable/contractable bellows along with one or more components and/or features that prevent over-travel of the bellows and/or that prevent binding of the bellow relative to an outer housing of the vessel.

Inventors

David H. Nelson
Gregory C. Staack

Assignees

BATTELLE SAVANNAH RIVER ALLIANCE, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240311

Claims (14)

1 . A variable volume vessel, comprising: an outer housing; a bellows positioned within the outer housing, the bellows comprising a plurality of bellow sections provided in series with one another, with each bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections being formed by a bellow component extending axially between an adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings, the bellow component of each bellow section being configured to expand and contract such that a distance defined between the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings increases and decreases with expansion and contraction of the bellow component, respectively, wherein each guide ring comprises a plurality of mounting holes and a plurality of pass-through holes, the plurality of pass-through holes having an outer dimension greater than an outer dimension of the plurality of mounting holes, wherein a first mounting hole of the lower guide ring is axially aligned with a second mounting hole of the upper guide ring; and at least one travel limit rod provided in association with a respective bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections, the at least one travel limit rod being configured to prevent over-travel of the respective bellow section, wherein the at least one travel limit rod comprises: an upper head end and a lower head end, wherein at least one of the upper head end or lower head end has an outer dimension that is less than the outer dimension of the plurality of pass-through holes, and a contraction control section extending axially between the upper and lower head ends and having an outer dimension greater than the outer dimension of the mounting holes, wherein an axial length of the contraction control section corresponds to a minimum contraction distance of the respective bellow section, and wherein, as the respective bellow section contracts to the minimum contraction distance, the at least one of the upper head end or lower head end of the at least one travel limit rod passes through a pass-through hole of a guide ring of a bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections positioned adjacent to the respective bellow section.
2 . The variable volume vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one travel limit rod being configured to prevent over-expansion of the respective bellow section.
3 . The variable volume vessel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one travel limit rod being configured to prevent over-contraction of the respective bellow section.
4 . The variable volume vessel of claim 1 , wherein the lower head end is positioned below the lower guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings and the upper head end is positioned above the upper guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings.
5 . The variable volume vessel of claim 4 , wherein the at least one travel limit rod extends through the first and second mounting holes such that the lower guide ring is positioned axially between the lower head end of the at least one travel limit rod and the contraction control section of the at least one travel limit rod and the upper guide ring is positioned axially between the upper head end of the at least one travel limit rod and the contraction control section of the at least one travel limit rod.
6 . The variable volume vessel of claim 5 , wherein, when the bellows is moved to a fully contracted state, the upper and lower guide rings engage against opposed sides of the contraction control section to prevent further contraction of the bellow section.
7 . The variable volume vessel of claim 5 , wherein an outer dimension of the upper and lower head ends of the at least one travel limit rod is greater than the outer dimension of the plurality of mounting holes.
8 . The variable volume vessel of claim 5 , wherein, when the bellows is moved to a fully expanded state, the lower head end of the at least one travel limit rod engages with the lower guide ring and the upper head end of the at least one travel limit rod engages with the upper guide ring to prevent further expansion of the bellow section.
9 . The variable volume vessel of claim 1 , wherein each bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections shares a common guide ring with an adjacent bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections such that at least one of the upper guide ring of a first bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections corresponds to the lower guide ring of a second bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections positioned immediately above the first bellow section or the lower guide ring of the first bellow section corresponds to the upper guide ring of a third bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections positioned immediately below the first bellow section.
10 . The variable volume vessel of claim 1 , wherein each guide ring further comprises at least one guide roller, the at least one guide roller being configured to engage an inner surface of the outer housing.
11 . The variable volume vessel of claim 10 , wherein the at least one guide roller comprises a roller bracket and a roller component supported by the roller bracket for rotation relative thereto, the roller component being configured to engage the inner surface of the outer housing during expansion and contraction of the bellow component.
12 . The variable volume vessel of claim 10 , wherein the at least one guide roller comprises a plurality of guide rollers spaced apart circumferential relative to one another around each of the upper and lower guide rings, each guide roller of the plurality of guide rollers being configured to engage the inner surface of the outer housing during expansion and contraction of the bellow component.
13 . The variable volume vessel of claim 10 , wherein the at least one travel limit rod is positioned closer to a central axis of the variable volume vessel than the at least one guide roller.
14 . The variable volume vessel of claim 10 , wherein the upper guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings is circumferentially clocked relative to the lower guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings to define an offset angle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based upon and claims the right of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/490,584, filed Mar. 16, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. FEDERAL RESEARCH STATEMENT This invention was made with government support under Contract No. 89303321CEM000080 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention. FIELD The present subject matter relates generally to variable volume vessels and, more particularly, to a variable volume vessel with over-travel protection and/or anti-binding features. BACKGROUND Variable volume vessels are used across many industries. For example, expandable/contractable bellows are often used to receive or deliver fluids (e.g., gases) in a wide variety of applications. Known bellows typically include a plurality of expandable/contractable bellow sections coupled in series or end-to-end to one another via rigid rings. However, current configurations for bellows do not include any means for preventing over-travel of each bellow section. This can lead to a given bellow section expanding/contracting beyond its travel limits. Moreover, when bellows are contained within an outer pressure vessel or other container, the bellow sections will often get hung-up or engage with the outer pressure vessel, leading to binding of the bellows as it is expanding/contracting within the vessel. Accordingly, improved configurations for a variable volume vessel that addresses one or more of the problems noted above would be welcomed in the technology. BRIEF SUMMARY Aspects and advantages of the present subject matter will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the present subject matter. In one aspect, the present subject matter is directed to a variable volume vessel configured in accordance with one or more of the embodiments described herein. In one embodiment, the variable volume vessel includes expandable/contractable bellows formed from a plurality of bellow sections. In one embodiment, the variable volume vessel includes components and/or features that prevent over-travel of the expandable/contractable bellows, such as by including components and/or features that prevent each bellow section from expanding/contracting beyond its travel limit. In one embodiment, the variable volume vessel further includes a containment shell or outer housing that contains the expandable/contractable bellows. The bellows is configured to expand/contract relative to the outer housing. In one embodiment, the variable volume vessel may include components and/or features that prevent binding of the bellows relative to the outer housing, such as by including components and/or features that facilitate smooth linear travel of the bellows through the outer housing. In another aspect, the present subject matter is directed to a variable volume vessel. The variable volume vessel includes an outer housing and a bellows positioned within the outer housing. The bellows includes a plurality of bellow sections provided in series with one another, with each bellow section of the plurality of bellow sections being formed by a bellow component extending axially between an adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings. The bellow component of each bellow section is configured to expand and contract such that a distance defined between the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings increases and decreases with expansion and contraction of the bellow component, respectively. In addition, the variable volume vessel includes at least one travel limit rod provided in association with each bellow section, the at least one travel limit rod being configured to prevent over-travel of the respective bellow section. In one embodiment, the travel limit rod(s) is configured to prevent over-expansion and/or over-contraction of the respective bellow section. In one embodiment, the travel limit rod(s) extends axially between a lower head end and an upper head end, with the lower head end being positioned below the lower guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings and the upper head end being positioned above the upper guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings. In one embodiment, travel limit rod(s) further includes a contraction control section extending axially between the lower and upper head ends of the travel limit rod(s). In one embodiment, the lower guide ring of the adjacent pair of upper and lower guide rings defines a first mounting hole and the upper guide ring of the upper and lower guide rings defines a second mounting hole. The travel limit rod(s) extends through the first and second mounting holes such that the lower guide ring is positioned axially between the lower head end of the travel limit rod(s) and the contraction control secti