Fluid meter with improved piston guidance

摘要

The invention relates to a fluid meter (27) comprising a housing (28) defining at least one crankcase (29) and two cylinders (25, 26), a crankshaft (11) disposed in the crankcase (29), two pistons (3, 4) respectively mounted in the cylinders (25, 26) for reciprocal movement, a first connecting rod (12) connected to one of the pistons (3) and to the crankshaft (11) for rotating the crankshaft (11) in response to the movement of the one piston (3), and a second connecting rod (13) connected to the other piston (4) and to the crankshaft (11) for rotating the crankshaft (11) in response to the movement of the other piston (4), wherein the first and second connecting rods (12, 13) have yoke slots (16, 17) for receiving a crank pin (19) radially offset from the crankshaft (11). The invention is characterised in that the first connecting rod (12) has a guiding rod (20) extending in a longitudinal direction of the cylinders, the guiding rod (20) being adapted to engage a corresponding cavity (22) in the second connecting rod (13) to support and guide the connecting rods (12, 13) in relation to each other during movement. The invention further relates to a multiple fluid meter assembly (61) comprising at least two fluid meters (27) as defined above, and to a fuel dispensing unit comprising a fluid meter (27) or a multiple fluid meter (61) as defined above.

主权项

1. A fluid meter, comprising:
a housing having at least two cylinders, a fluid inlet, and a fluid outlet; a single crankshaft disposed in the housing and having a single crank arm connected to a lower portion thereof and extending radially outward from the crank shaft, the crank arm having a single crank pin extending downwardly therefrom; first and second pistons respectively mounted in the cylinders for reciprocal movement; and a first piston arm coupled to the first piston and a second piston arm coupled to the second piston, each piston arm having an oblong slot formed therein and the single crank pin being coupled to the oblong slot in each of the first and second piston arms such that movement of the pistons is effective to cause rotation of the crankshaft via the single crank pin and the single crank arm.