TIME DELAYED FLUID LEVEL MONITORING DEVICE

摘要

A TIME DELAYED FLUID LEVEL MONITORING DEVICE (10) FOR MONITORING THE LEVEL OF OIL IN A COMPRESSOR SUMP (NOT SHOWN) COMPRISES A HOUSING (12) WHICH DEFINES AN INTERVAL CAVITY (18). TWO ORIFICES, 20 AND 22 ARE PROVIDED AT END (16) OF HOUSING (12) TO ALLOW FLUID COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE INTERIOR OF THE COMPRESSOR SUMP AND THE CAVITY (18). ORIFICE (20) IS A RESTRICTION HOLE FOR RESTRICTING THE FLOW OF FLUID BETWEEN CAVITY (18) AND THE COMPRESSOR SUMP SO THAT THERE IS A TIME DELAY BETWEEN THE EQUALISATION OF FLUID LEVELS WITHIN THE COMPRESSOR SUMP AND CAVITY (18). ORIFICE (22) IS OF A VENT HOLE. A FLOAT (24) IS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED WITHIN THE CAVITY (18) AS PROVIDED AT ONE END (28) WITH A MAGNET (36) FOR SWITCHING A REED SWITCH (26) EXTENDING THROUGH THE HOUSING (12). IF THE PERIOD OF FLUCTUATION OF FLUID LEVEL WITHIN THE SUMP BETWEEN OPPOSITE SIDES OF A PREDETERMINED LEVEL IS LESS THAN THE TIME DELAY THEN THE FLUID LEVEL WITHIN CAVITY (18) WILL NOT FLUCTUATE ABOUT THE PREDETERMINED LEVEL AND THEREFORE FLOAT (24) WILL NOT MOVE SUFFICIENTLY TO CHANGE THE STATE OF REED SWITCH (26). IF HOWEVER THIS FLUCTUATION IS MAINTAINED FOR A PERIOD GREATER THAN THE TIME DELAY FLOAT (24) WILL PIVOT TO A DEGREE TO CAUSE A CHANGE IN THE STATE OF REED SWITCH (26) TO REFLECT THE CHANGE IN OIL LEVEL WITHIN THE SUMP.