Cylinder management system

摘要

This invention provides a system to manage high-pressure cylinders. A gas-powered vehicle would preferably have one master (20) and any number of slave cylinders (21). The master valve (40) wouldpreferably include pressure and temperature sensors, a high-pressure fuel portal mechanism and a pressure regulator. The sensors communicate the cylinder conditions to the filling station during refueling, so that a maximum fill could be achieved. The sensors would also allow integral electronics to accumulate fatigue information and to permanently take the cylinder out of service once the safety limit point was reached, by permanently disabling the internal high-pressure fuel portal device. The regulator would preferably receive gas from all the cylinders and reduce the output to the desired low pressure. The invention includes a means to control fuel temperature, further reducing the heat extracted from the engine's coolant.