| CPC G05D 16/0691 (2013.01) [F16K 31/145 (2013.01); F16K 2200/304 (2021.08); Y10T 137/7782 (2015.04)] | 14 Claims |
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1. A device for controlling the supply of a gas, the device comprising:
an inlet connectable to a source of a gas that has a predetermined inlet pressure and a supply outlet for supplying said gas at an outlet pressure, said supply outlet being connectable to an appliance;
a main body in which a regulating chamber that communicates with said inlet and said supply outlet is defined;
a pressure regulation membrane arranged in said regulating chamber and a resilient opposition member that is associated with said pressure regulation membrane and generates an opposing force on said pressure regulation membrane when said gas in said regulating chamber compresses said pressure regulation membrane;
an opening/closing device for opening/closing said supply outlet;
an actuating unit for manually actuating said opening/closing device, said actuating unit being moveable with respect to a main axis and comprising an activation element that is manually actuatable by a user, said activation element being configured to be actuated by at least one translation movement along said main axis and by at least one rotational movement about said main axis;
an actuation shaft which is rigidly connected to the membrane and can move by the translation of said activation element, said actuation shaft being configured to interact with an obstructing portion for obstructing a flow of gas to the supply outlet in order to open and/or close said supply outlet;
wherein said actuation unit is operatively connected to said opening/closing device in order to open/close said supply outlet and said actuation unit is also operatively connected to said resilient opposition member and comprises a regulating device for regulating said resilient opposition member, said regulating device varies said opposing force, said regulating device comprising a cam element positioned in contact with said resilient opposition member, said opening/closing device comprises a first element which comprises an opposing portion that defines a thrust element rigidly connected to the activation element;
wherein said opening/closing device comprises an indexer disc connected to the main body, the indexer disc comprising a reference opening through which the thrust element can pass when the first element is positioned, by rotation of the activation element, in a predetermined angular position about said main axis;
the opposing portion and the reference opening being designed such that:
during an opening action, the activation element is actuatable by a translation movement in a first direction along the main axis, bringing the device from a second operative position, in which the thrust element is not in contact with the cam element and the first element is not in contact with the actuation shaft, to a third operative position of the device in which the first element is in contact with the actuation shaft so as to move the actuation shaft and the obstructing portion in order to supply gas through said supply outlet at a predetermined outlet pressure;
during a regulating action, the first element is moveable by the rotational movement about said main axis from the third operative position to a fourth operative position of the device, during said rotational movement, the thrust element abuts the cam element to cause the cam element to translate, so as to vary the opposing force and the outlet pressure in relation to the predetermined outlet pressure.
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