The pump of this invention is designed to supply air into a main tank 1 while passing by a liquid level sensing unit 40 having sensors, thus automatically removing sludge from the liquid level sensors using inlet air pressure and allowing a user to be free from manually washing or cleaning the sensors after disassembling the liquid level sensing unit 40 and finally improving work efficiency during an operation of the pump of this invention. The pump also has a sub-tank 80 connected to the main tank 1 and temporarily stores a part of discharged air pressure in the sub-tank 80, thus allowing the discharged air pressure to be added to newly supplied inlet air pressure from an air inlet pipe 50 into the main tank 1 or to be recycled for another use. The pump of this invention thus finally almost completely prevents an undesirable pressure drop of the main tank of an air compressing machine (a compressor) and allows an effective recycling of waste air pressure, thereby maximizing energy efficiency and reducing the amount of discharged air to reduce operational noise caused by the discharged air, and to accomplish a desired working environment.

Background Art The automatic pneumatic pump system, disclosed in the above Korean patent owned by the inventor of this invention, is used for removing sludge from waste liquid or for removing liquid from a clay-liquid mixture used as the material of ceramics. The liquid material to be pumped by a pump system is typically laden with a significant amount of sludge. In a conventional pump system, compressed air acts as a piston within a tank 1 and sprays the liquid, thus adhering

the sludge on the upper and lower sensors 41 and 42 of a liquid level sensing unit 40 and undesirably causing a short-circuit of the pump system, and allowing an operational error of the pump system.

In an effort to overcome the afore-mentioned problems, the pump system disclosed in the above Korean patent owned by the inventor of this invention is designed to allow the upper and lower sensors to be detachably mounted to the tank and to allow a user to remove the sensors from the tank prior to washing and cleaning the sensors as desired. In order to accomplish such an object, this Korean pump system is necessarily comprised of a plurality of elements, such as bolts, nuts, sealing members, washers, etc., thus being complex in its construction.

In addition, the sensors have to be removed from the tank one by one at least once or twice a week, and so this system is very inconvenient to the user.

During the process of discharging air from the tank 1 of the above pump system, the highly pressurized air passes through an exhaust solenoid valve 61 at a high flowing velocity, thus being reduced in temperature and undesirably freezing and damaging a muffler 62. In such a case, the pump system generates operational noise disturbing those around it and reduces the quality of the working environment. The above pump system is also without any means for recycling the discharged compressed air, thereby wasting energy. In addition, the pump system is designed to use only new air supplied from an air tank, connected to the air compressing machine (compressor), into the tank 1, and so the pump system requires a large quantity of compressed air. This finally forces the compressor to be operated for a lengthy period of time while consuming electric power.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic pneumatic pump A or B, which is designed to automatically remove sludge from the sensors 41 and 42 using inlet air pressure

and allows a user to be free from manually washing or cleaning the sensors after disassembling the liquid level sensing unit 40, and finally improves work efficiency during an operation of the pump, and which almost completely prevents an undesirable pressure drop of the main tank of an air compressing machine (a compressor) and allows an effective recycling of waste air pressure, thus maximizing energy efficiency and reducing the amount of discharged air to reduce operational noise caused by the discharged air, and to accomplish a desired working environment.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a new automatic pneumatic pump, comprising a structure for allowing a predetermined air pressure from an air inlet pipe 50 to be applied to the sensors of a liquid level sensing unit 40, thus removing the sludge from the sensors when compressed air flows from the pipe 50 into the main tank, a sub-tank 80 connected to both the main tank and the air inlet pipe 50 through a sub-tank solenoid valve 82 and a first check valve 81 so as to be selectively opened or closed, and a vacuum pump 90 connected to the interior of the main tank so as to act as a sub-pump for a conventional liquid supply pump 5 of a liquid reservoir in the case of an inflow of liquid into the tank and selectively vacuumizing the interior of the main tank so as to cause a smooth suction of liquid into the tank.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a single-type automatic pneumatic pump in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a double-type automatic pneumatic pump in accordance with the second embodiment of the

present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Fig. 1 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a single-type automatic pneumatic pump in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the single-type automatic pneumatic pump of this invention comprises a main tank 1, which is provided with a suction port 10 and an exhaust port 20 at its lower portion. The two ports 10 and 20 are selectively opened or closed by a suction valve 11 and an exhaust valve 21 respectively. Both valves 11 and 21 are connected to the liquid supply pump 5 of a liquid reservoir 4.

The pump also comprises a pressure sensing unit 30, a liquid level sensing unit 40, a microcomputer 100, a compression solenoid valve 51 and an exhaust solenoid valve 61. The pressure sensing unit 30 consists of a high-pressure sensor 31 and a lower-pressure sensor 32, and is used for sensing the interior pressure of the tank 1. The liquid level sensing unit 40 consists of upper and lower level sensors 41 and 42 and is used for sensing the maximum and minimum liquid levels within the tank 1. The microcomputer 100 controls an operation of the pump in response to input signals from the two sensing units 30 and 40. The compression solenoid valve 51 and the exhaust solenoid valve 61 are opened or closed by control signals output from the microcomputer 100. The compression solenoid valve 51 thus allows a suction of compressed air from the air inlet pipe 50, while the exhaust solenoid valve 61 thus allows an exhaust of compressed air from the muffler 62 into the atmosphere. The above-mentioned construction of the pump remains the same as that of a conventional pump.

A projection 71 is formed on the top of the main tank 1 while being connected to the compression solenoid valve 51. This projection 71 holds the liquid level sensing unit 40 on the top of the tank 1 and is provided with an air inlet hole 70 on its vertical wall 72. Therefore, the compressed air flows from the air

inlet pipe 50 into the tank 1 while coming into contact with the upper and lower level sensors 41 and 42 of the liquid level sensing unit 40 in a direction perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of each sensor 41 or 42.

A sub-tank 80 is connected to both the main tank 1 and the air inlet pipe 50 through a sub-tank solenoid valve 82 and a first check valve 81 so as to be selectively opened or closed. The sub-tank 80 sucks a part of compressed air discharged from the main tank 1 under the control of a suction check valve 83 and stores the discharged air therein for recycling the discharged air.

A vacuum pump 90 is connected to the interior of the main tank 1 through a suction solenoid valve 91 so as to act as a sub-pump for the liquid supply pump 5 of the liquid reservoir 4 or as a main pump in place of the pump 5 in the case of an inflow of liquid into the tank 1 and selectively vacuumizing the interior of the tank 1 so as to cause a smooth suction of liquid into the tank 1.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, showing the construction of a double-type automatic pneumatic pump in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the double-type automatic pneumatic pump according to the second embodiment comprises two pumps A and B, with compression solenoid valves 51 and 51'of the two pumps A and B being commonly connected to an air inlet pipe 50. Two suction check valves 83 and 83'of the two pumps A and B are commonly connected to a sub-tank 80, thus allowing the sub-tank 80 to receive and store discharged compressed air from the two tanks 1 and 1'of the two pumps A and B. In addition, two suction valves 11 and 11'of the two pumps A and B are commonly connected to the suction port 10 of a liquid collecting reservoir 3, thus allowing liquid to be supplied from the liquid collecting reservoir 3 into the two tanks 1 and 1'of the two pumps A and B.

The above liquid collecting reservoir 3 is positioned higher than the two tanks 1 and 1'so as to allow liquid to naturally flow from the reservoir 3 into the two tanks 1 and 1'due to gravity without using a separate liquid suction means. That is, in the double-type pump of this embodiment, liquid is allowed to naturally flow from the reservoir 3 into the two tanks 1 and 1'due to gravity without using any

separate liquid suction means, such as the liquid supply pump 5 or the vacuum pump 90, different from the pump of the primary embodiment.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 84 denotes a second check valve set within the sub-tank 80, the reference numeral 85 denotes a drain valve set within the sub-tank 80, and the reference numeral 86 denotes a safety pin mounted to each of the tanks 1 and 1'.

The operational effect of the above pumps of this invention will be described herein below.

When the liquid reservoir 4 is positioned higher than the tank 1 as shown in Fig. 2, with both the compression solenoid valve 51 provided at the top of the tank 1 and the exhaust valve 21 of the exhaust port 20 being closed, and the sub- tank solenoid valve 82, the exhaust solenoid valve 61 and the suction solenoid valve 91 of the vacuum pump 90 being opened, liquid of the system can naturally flow from the reservoir 4 into the tank 1 due to gravity. On the other hand, when the liquid reservoir 4 is positioned lower than the tank 1 as shown in Fig. 1, it is necessary to forcibly circulate liquid from the reservoir 4 into the tank 1 using suction force. Any way, when the vacuum pump 90 or the liquid supply pump 5 is activated to suck liquid into the tank 1 until the liquid is contained in the tank 1 to the maximum level 2. When the liquid within the tank 1 reaches the maximum level 2, the upper level sensor 41 of the liquid level sensing unit 40 senses the maximum level of the liquid and outputs a sensing signal to the microcomputer 100. Upon receiving the sensing signal from the sensor 41, the microcomputer 100 outputs a control signal to open the compression solenoid valve 51.

Compressed air from the air inlet pipe 50 is injected into the tank 1 through the air inlet hole 70 of the projection 71, and so the interior pressure of the tank 1 is increased. When the increased interior pressure of the tank 1 is sensed by the high pressure sensor 31 of the pressure sensing unit 30, the suction solenoid valve 91, the sub-tank solenoid valve 81, the exhaust solenoid valve 61 and the suction valve 11 are closed at the same time, thus primarily preventing undesired leakage of the high pressure from the tank 1. Thereafter, the exhaust valve 21 is opened

to discharge liquid from the tank 1 until the liquid level within the tank 1 descends to the minimum level 2'.

When liquid is discharged from the tank 1 until the liquid level within the tank 1 completely descends to the minimum level 2', a signal is output from the lower sensor 42 of the liquid level sensing unit 40 to the microcomputer 100.

Upon receiving the signal from the lower sensor 42 of the liquid level sensing unit 40, the microcomputer 100 output control signals to close both the compression solenoid valve 51 and the exhaust valve 21 and to open the sub-tank solenoid valve 82, thus allowing compressed air to be automatically discharged from the main tank 1 into the sub-tank 80 through the suction check valve 83 connected to the sub-tank 80. The discharged air from the main tank 1 is thus stored in the sub- tank 80. In such a case, the suction check valve 83 is a unidirectional valve, which is designed to allow compressed air to flow from the high pressure main tank 1 into the lower pressure sub-tank 80 when the pressure of the main tank 1 is higher than that of the sub-tank 80. Once compressed air from the main tank 1 is stored in the sub-tank 80, the suction check valve 83 prevents the air from flowing in the opposite direction from the sub-tank 80 into the main tank 1. However, the waste compressed air within the sub-tank 80 may be selectively returned to the main tank 1 through the air inlet pipe 50 under the control of the first check valve 81 as will be described later herein.

When a predetermined period of time, for example, about two seconds, is elapsed after a part of compressed air from the main tank 1 is sucked into the sub- tank 80 through the sub-tank solenoid valve 82, the exhaust solenoid valve 61 is opened to discharge the compressed air of the main tank 1, which is reduced in its pressure by the pressure expelled into the sub-tank 80, into the atmosphere through the muffler 62 until the interior pressure of the tank 1 is lowered to a predetermined lower level set by the low pressure sensor 32 of the pressure sensing unit 30.

On the other hand, when compressed air is sucked into the tank 1 through the air inlet hole 70 of the projection 71, the compressed air, having a high

pressure of not lower than 7 kPa, passes while coming into contact with the two sensors 41 and 42 of the liquid level sensing unit 40. It is thus possible by for the highly compressed air to naturally and automatically remove sludge from the two sensors 41 and 42 in addition to drying the sensors 41 and 42. Therefore, the upper and lower level sensors 41 and 42 of the liquid level sensing unit 40 are free from undesirably causing a short circuit of the pump or allowing an operational error of the pump.

The operational effect of the pump according to the invention will be described in more detail using experimental results obtained by the inventor of this invention.

When the amount of compressed air for the tank 1 was set to 50OP/once, with the pressure of the compressed air being set to 7 kPa, compressed air was completely discharged from the tank 1 into the atmosphere through the exhaust solenoid valve 61 within about four seconds and accomplished zero pressure within the tank 1.

When the sub-tank solenoid valve 82 was kept open for about two seconds or 1/2 of the four seconds while closing the exhaust solenoid valve 61,50%-70% of the entire compressed air within the tank 1 was expelled from the tank 1 into the sub-tank 80 through the sub-tank solenoid valve 82, thus storing a desired amount of compressed air having about 5 kPa within the sub-tank 80.

Of course, the time required to discharge an effective amount of compressed air from the tank 1 into the sub-tank 80 or into the atmosphere varies in accordance with the diameters of both the sub-tank solenoid valve 82 and the exhaust solenoid valve 61. Therefore, it is possible to optimally recycle the waste compressed air from the main tank 1 by appropriately controlling the air discharging time in accordance with use of the pump of this invention.

When the low pressure sensor 32 of the pressure sensing unit 30 senses the pressure of the tank 1 reduced to a level of not higher than a reference low pressure, it is necessary to supply new liquid into the tank 1 so as to repeat the liquid treatment process. In such a case, the pump of this invention sucks liquid

into the tank 1 through either of the following two methods.

In the first method, the liquid reservoir 4 is positioned lower than the tank 1 as shown in Fig. 1. In such a case, it is necessary to forcibly circulate liquid from the reservoir 4 into the tank 1 using suction force generated, for example, by a liquid supply pump or a vacuum pump.

The automatic pneumatic pump of this invention, with the liquid reservoir 4 positioned lower than the tank 1, will be operated as follows: In the case of an automatic pneumatic pump performing a liquid sucking process using a vacuum pump 90, the low pressure sensor 32 of the pressure sensing unit 30 outputs a signal to the microcomputer 100, when it senses the pressure of the tank 1 reduced to a level of not higher than the reference low pressure. Upon receiving the signal from the sensor 32, the microcomputer 100 outputs control signals to close the sub-tank solenoid valve 82, the exhaust solenoid valve 61 and the exhaust valve 21 and to open both the suction valve 11 and the suction solenoid valve 91. In addition, the microcomputer 100 operates the vacuum pump 90, thus vacuumizing the tank 1 and sucking liquid from the liquid reservoir 4 into the tank 1 until the liquid level within the tank 1 reaches the maximum level 2.

In the case of an automatic pneumatic pump performing a liquid sucking process using a liquid supply pump 5, the low pressure sensor 32 of the pressure sensing unit 30 outputs a signal to the microcomputer 100, when it senses the pressure of the tank 1 reduced to a level of not higher than the reference low pressure. Upon receiving the signal from the sensor 32, the microcomputer 100 outputs control signals to open both the sub-tank solenoid valve 82 and the exhaust solenoid valve 61 and to close both the exhaust valve 21 and the suction solenoid valve 91. In addition, the microcomputer 100 operates the liquid supply pump 5 at the same time opening the suction valve 11, thus sucking liquid from the liquid reservoir 4 into the tank 1 until the liquid level within the tank 1 reaches the maximum level 2.

After completely sucking a desired amount of liquid from the liquid

reservoir 4 into the tank 1 until the liquid level within the tank 1 reaches the maximum level 2, the process of discharging the liquid from the tank 1 is started in the same manner as that described above.

In the second method, the liquid reservoir 4 is positioned higher than two tanks 1 and 1'as shown in Fig. 2. In such a case, it is possible to naturally circulate liquid from the reservoir 4 into the tanks 1 and 1'without using any separate suction means, for example, a liquid supply pump or a vacuum pump. In such a case, two automatic pneumatic pumps A and B, each having the same construction as that of the automatic pneumatic pump of Fig. 1, are coupled to each other and are alternately operated to continuously discharge liquid from the two tanks 1 and 1'of the two pumps A and B. In this method, the microcomputer 100 alternately outputs signals to the two pumps A and B so as to allow the two pumps A and B to be alternately operated to discharge liquid from their tanks 1 and 1'.

In the automatic pneumatic pump of this invention, the compressed air stored in the sub-tank 80 may be preferably used for actuating a variety of air cylinder valves or air valves connected to the pneumatic pump through a plurality of solenoid valves. Such conventional air valves typically use low-pressure air.

In the pump of this invention, the high pressure air of the main tank 1 is not used for actuating such air cylinders, but the air of the sub-tank 80 reduced in its pressure to a predetermined low level is used for actuating the air cylinders. It is thus possible for the pneumatic pump of this invention to be free from any separate pressure reduction means when it is used for supplying recycled compressed air to a variety of air cylinders from its sub-tank.

The automatic pneumatic pump of this invention may be also preferably used for supplying recycled compressed air to a variety of pneumatically operated machines requiring compressed air for operation. Conventional pneumatically operated machines typically use low-pressure air of not higher than 3 kPa.

Therefore, recycled compressed air stored in the sub-tank 80 of this pump is preferably used for operating such pneumatically operated machines without

causing any problem. The pump of this invention thus maximizes energy efficiency.

In the pump of this invention, the compressed air within the sub-tank 80 may be returned to the main tank 1 so as to be used for vacuumizing the tank 1.

That is, the pump of this invention uses a large quantity of compressed air of not less than 500P/once. When pressure of the new compressed air supplied from an air supply tank into the main tank 1 through the air inlet pipe 50 is quickly reduced to a level lower than that of the compressed air stored in the sub-tank 80, the compressed air within the sub-tank 80 is automatically returned into the air inlet pipe 50 through the first check valve 81 and is mixed with the new compressed air, fed from the air compressing machine or the compressor, and is recycled to vacuumize the tank 1 in cooperation with the new compressed air. The pump of this invention thus reliably prevents a pressure drop of the air supply tank connected to the air compressing machine or the compressor. This preferably reduces the time required to accomplish a desired pressure of the main tank 1, thus reducing the interval between the operations of the pump and improving work efficiency during an operation of the pump of this invention.

In the automatic pneumatic pump of this invention, it is possible to install two or three sub-tanks used for storing and recycling waste compressed air discharged from the main tank. In such a case, at least 70% of the entire waste compressed air from the main tank may be recycled, thus further improving energy efficiency of the pump.

The automatic pneumatic pump of this invention may be preferably used for removing sludge from waste liquid or for removing liquid from a clay-liquid mixture used as the material of ceramics. Therefore, when the filter press, which is one of conventional units for removing sludge or liquid from target materials, is free from sludge, it is possible to use compressed air, having low pressure, for vacuumizing the main tank. In such a case, the waste compressed air within the sub-tank 80 is recycled to be used by the main tank. When the sludge cake has a moisture content of not higher than 50% due to a sludge concentration as time goes

by, the pump requires the use of compressed air having a high pressure set by the high pressure sensor 31 of the pressure sensing unit 30.

When pressure of the pneumatic pump of this invention reaches a predetermined reference high level during a process of removing liquid from sludge of waste liquid using such a filter press, the high pressure sensor 31 of the pressure sensing unit 30 senses such a high pressure and automatically stops the operation of the pump. It is thus possible to accomplish an automation of high- pressure pumps.

Industrial Applicabilitv As described above, the present invention provides an automatic pneumatic pump. The pump of this invention is designed to automatically remove sludge from the liquid level sensors using inlet air pressure at every suction process for compressed air and allowing a user to be free from manually washing or cleaning the sensors after disassembling the liquid level sensing unit.

The present invention also simplifies the construction of the automatic pneumatic pump, thus reducing production cost of such pumps. This pump is also designed to store a part of waste compressed air within a sub-tank and to recycle the waste compressed air for a variety of purposes, thereby maximizing energy efficiency.

The pump of this invention further reduces the pressure and amount of discharged compressed air, thus lengthening the expected life span of a muffler while reducing operational noise caused by the discharged compressed air. This finally accomplishes a desired working environment around the pump in addition to allowing the pump to be less likely to cause environmental pollution.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.