Magnetically sequenced pneumatic motor
View Patent ↗A pneumatic motor having a piston and a magnetically actuated valve. The magnetically actuated valve may be adjacent the piston and, in some embodiments, include a spool valve.
1. A pneumatic motor, comprising:
a piston;
a magnetically actuated valve adjacent the piston, wherein the magnetically actuated valve comprises a spool valve;
another magnetically actuated valve comprising another spool valve; and
a cylinder, wherein the piston is disposed in the cylinder and the magnetically actuated valves are disposed at opposing ends of the cylinder.
2. The pneumatic motor of claim 1 , wherein the valve comprises a magnet and the piston comprises a ferromagnetic material.
3. The pneumatic motor of claim 1 , wherein the piston comprises a magnet.
4. The pneumatic motor of claim 1 , comprising a pneumatically actuated main valve in fluid communication with the magnetically actuated valve.
5. The pneumatic motor of claim 4 , wherein the magnetically actuated valve is configured to selectively actuate the pneumatically actuated main valve near the end of an upstroke of the piston, near the end of a downstroke of the piston, or both.
6. The pneumatic motor of claim 1 , wherein the magnetically actuated valve comprises a sleeve, the spool valve is disposed in the sleeve, and the sleeve and the spool valve generally define a first chamber and a second chamber that is not in fluid communication with the first chamber.
7. A motor configured to draw power from a pressurized fluid, the motor comprising:
a piston configured to cycle through a path;
a magnet disposed adjacent at least a portion of the path; and
a pilot valve coupled to the magnet and configured to trigger a main valve configured to control the cycling of the piston.
8. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the magnet is disposed near an end of the path such that the magnet is attracted to the piston near the end of an upstroke or the end of a downstroke.
9. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the magnet is coupled to a slideable component of the pilot valve.
10. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the pilot valve is configured to switch from a first position to a second position without biasing a resilient member.
11. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the pilot valve comprises a spool valve disposed within a sleeve, and wherein portions of the spool valve that seal against the sleeve are generally free of O-rings.
12. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the pilot valve comprises a magnetically responsive component configured to retain the pilot valve in a first position when the piston is not proximate the magnet.
13. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the main valve is triggered by a pneumatic signal from the pilot valve.
14. The motor of claim 7 , wherein the triggering of the main valve controls the cycling of the piston through the path in a first direction and a second direction opposite the first direction.
15. A method of sensing a phase of a cycle of a motor, the method comprising:
magnetically sensing whether a component of a motor is in a position using a magnetically actuated valve; and
transmitting a pneumatic signal from the magnetically actuated valve to a main valve depending on whether the component is in the position, wherein the main value is in fluid communication with the magnetically actuated value.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the pneumatic signal is transmitted by a spool valve.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the component comprises a piston.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the component is in the position once during a cycle of the motor.
19. The method of claim 15 , comprising reversing a direction of a primary air flow driving the motor in response to the pneumatic signal.
20. The method of claim 15 , comprising:
driving a pump with the motor; and
conveying a liquid conveyed by the pump.