In a variety of different situations, fluid is often required to be delivered at a particular flow rate at a maximum set pressure regardless of the dynamic or static supply pressure of the fluid. In the majority of such cases, pressure regulators are normally required to be installed in order to provide the particular fluid flow requirements for these specific applications However there are occasions when normal fluid regulators are too expensive diaphragm type regulators, the units are bulky and do not provide any method of indicating the presents of a system failure. Current plunger type regulators are also too bulky and rely heavily on a substantial adjustable spπng to provide the level of required protection This invention relates particularly to providing an inexpensive method for the control of fluids for certain domestic and commercial uses, whereby the amount of fluid that flows through the device and the pressure of that fluid is required to be kept within certain defined limits regardless of the supply systems pressure

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

One particular application for this invention relates to the flow of water from a town water supply or similar, into water conditioning apparatus such as water filtration devices and reverse osmosis units as well as commercial or domestic hot water heaters. It has been found that for the cartridge type filters which are the plumbed in, under sink variety, for the plumbed in reverse osmosis units and for the hot water cylinder type capacity heaters, the uncontrolled or unmonitored connection to a town water supply can introduce a variety of unwanted complications to the end user of the devices which can range from the annoying to the down πght dangerous. A variety of water authorities around the world require that once fluid has passed into the various filtration chambers of water conditioning apparatus that an effective method be provided in order to prevent any back feeding of the residual sludge into the drinking water supply line. To accomplish this single or dual check valves are normally installed between the town supply and the filtration cartridges. However, it has been found that providing a set-up of this nature leads to annoying failures whereby mams pressure water is allowed to be vented in an uncontrolled manner thus causing flood type damage to the properties internal areas. This is caused by the fact that when water hammer occurs the housings which encapsulate the various filtration members momentarily become pressurised by the shock wave which caused the water hammer to occur. As the pressure in these housings πses the non-return valves prevent the pressure from being discharged back down the line. Therefore, sustained water hammer in the system can produce pressures to build up within the houses which exceed their designed capabilities. Once these housings or their seals fail, water is vented to the atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner. This normally results in much inconvenience to the householder as well as various insurance claims in order to rectify the resultant damage. The current invention seeks to overcome these problems by providing a

simple method of monitoring the line pressure and conditioning the quantity of water which is allowed to pass through these units as well as limiting the maximum pressure which these units will experience

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It will be noted from the following descπptions that the current unit is able to provide a maximum pressure to these various water conditioning apparatus types while preventing any shock load of water hammer from passing into the units This is achieved while still providing a single or dual non-return valve check function within the unit

The above flow performance requirements are achieved by providing a Fluid Flow and Pressure Controlling Valve composing, a body section which has an inlet end which contains an inlet oπfice and an outlet end which contains an outlet orifice, which are separated by an interconnecting passageway, the interconnecting passageway comprises an arrangement of at least two boreholes which are in a stepped relationship with each other wherein the outlet side borehole is of a larger or major diameter compared to the smaller or minor diameter inlet side and the central axes of both of the different diameter boreholes are axially aligned, an inlet passageway connects the inlet oπfice at the inlet end at the smaller diameter of the interconnecting passageway, within the arrangement of stepped boreholes is located a stepped piston which makes a sliding and sealing contact with both internal surfaces of the major and minor diameters of the stepped boreholes, between the inlet side of the larger diameter of the stepped piston and the outlet side of the end of the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole is formed a controlling chamber whose volume vanes according to the position of the stepped piston within the stepped boreholes, located near the outlet end of the major diameter borehole is a retaining means which limits the amount of travel of the stepped piston in a direction away from the inlet end Preferably located within the length of the stepped piston is a flow control passageway Preferably the flow control passageway is located along the central axis of the stepped piston. Preferably located in the stepped piston in cooperation with the flow control passageway is a valve seat component Preferably the flow controlling chamber and the stepped boreholes are cylindrical in shape Preferably the inlet end contains a screwed attachment for connecting to other fluid transport mechanisms Preferably the outside of the body section is basically cylmdncal in shape Preferably between the sliding and sealing contacts of the major and minor diameters of the stepped piston is a bleed hole in the body section which leads from the controlling chamber to the outside of the said body section Preferably located in conjunction with the bleed hole is a sealing device which can totally block the movement of fluids from the pressure chamber flowing through the exit oπfice to the outside of the body section Preferably located on either side of the exit oπfice of the bleed hole on the surface of the body section are two sealing grooves which are axially

aligned with the central axis of the body section Preferably located within each of the sealing grooves is an sealing O-ring Preferably a safety πng is positioned such that it makes a sliding and sealing contact with the O-πngs in the two sealing grooves Preferably there is a stepped projection on the external pan of the body section wherein when the safety πng comes to rest in a home position it is prevented from any further longitudinal movement and it effectively prevents fluid in the bleed hole from communicating freely with the atmosphere Preferably located within the mlet passageway is a controlling ingress oπfice Preferably of all of the vaπous internal fluid passageways within this device, the controlling ingress oπfice is the smallest in diameter and effectively limits the dynamic flow of fluid through the device by controlling the flow of fluid flowing into the device Preferably the flow control passageway is stepped and has within its length at least two different size diameters Preferably contained within the inlet passageway is located an inlet valve seat Preferably contained within the inlet passageway and located on the outlet side of the inlet valve seat is an inlet non-return valve Preferably a fluid termination pin is located within the inlet passageway and projects into the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole Preferably a fluid termination shaft is iocated at the smaller diameter end of the stepped piston and projects into the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole Preferably the fluid termination shaft and the stepped piston are of unitary construction Preferably the fluid termination pin has an internal passageway which allows fluid to flow from the inlet passageway to the minor diameter of the stepped borehole Preferably the fluid termination shaft has an internal passageway which allows fluid to flow from the inlet passageway to the minor diameter of the stepped borehole Preferably the fluid termination pin is axially aligned with the central axis of the biasing means Preferably the fluid termination shaft is axially aligned with the central axis of the biasing means Preferably the fluid termination shaft can make a sealing contact with the inlet valve seat Preferable the fluid termination shaft can make interfeπng contact with the inlet non-return valve which causes it to have a sealing contact with the inlet valve seat. Preferably the fluid termination pin is positioned so that it my come into contact with the valve seat component on the stepped piston Preferably the valve seat component is made up of a cylindrical recess which surrounds the inlet side of the flow control passageway at the inlet side of the smaller diameter of the stepped piston into which is positioned a valve seat O-nng. Preferably the stepped piston is biased towards the inlet end of the body. Preferably the biasing means is a spπng Preferably the spπng is a conical compression spπng whereby the rate of compression of the spπng vanes as the spπng moves through its range of compression Preferably an increase of fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston above the combined pressure of the fluid and the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston, causes the stepped piston to move towards the inlet side of the body section. Preferably as the stepped piston moves fully to the inlet side of the body section the fluid termination pin comes into engaging contact with the valve seat component Preferably within the flow control passageway is a valve shaft which can protrude proud from either end of the flow

control passageway Preferably the valve shaft contains a vaive seat O-πng which can make a sealing contact with the valve seat component Preferably the valve shaft is biased away from the valve seat component Preferably the biasing means is a spπng Preferably an increase of fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston above the pressure of fluid combined with the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston causes the stepped piston to move towards the inlet side of the body section Preferably when the stepped piston moves towards the inlet side of its limit of travel, the valve shaft comes into an interfeπng contact with an inlet stop component Preferably when the valve shaft comes into an interfeπng contact with the inlet stop component and the stepped piston continues to move towards the inlet side of the body section, the vaive shaft's valve seat O-πng makes a sealing contact with the valve seat component Preferably on the outlet side of the stepped piston's flow control passageway is a restriction oπfice through which projects the outlet end of the valve shaft Preferably, when the fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston is less than the pressure of the fluid combined with the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston causes the stepped piston to move towards the outlet side of the body section. Preferably as the stepped piston moves towards the outlet end of the body section the outlet end of the valve shaft comes into interfeπng contact with an outlet stop component Preferably as the stepped piston arπves at its limit of travel at the outlet end of the of the body section, the outlet end of the valve shaft's interfering contact with the outlet stop component ensures that the seal between the valve seat O-πng and the valve seat component is broken Preferably this device can be installed between a town water supply and a water conditioning apparatus in order to limit the maximum static water pressure expeπenced by such an apparatus Preferably should any fluid discharge occur from the bleed hole when any substantial external manual movement of the safety πng happens which is sufficient enough to expose one of the two sealing O-πngs, the valve mechanism can be determined to have failed Preferably the body section has an external step whereby the outer diameters of the two sealing grooves are of different sizes Preferably the internal section of the safety πng has two stepped diameters which allows the safety ring to make a sealing contact with each of the sealing O-πngs. Preferably and when the safety πng is in its sealing position the stepped sections provide a stop position for the safety πng Preferably there is an indicator present on the body section whereby when the safety πng is in its stop position, the indicator is concealed Preferably any substantial build up of fluid pressure in the bleed tube causes the safety nng to move away from the stop position Preferably when the safety πng moves away from the stop position the indicator on the body section is revealed

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A fuller explanation can be given by way of reference to the following drawings where Figure 1 and 3 show two preferred embodiments suitable for controlling the supply of water

to water filters and other similar water conditioning devices, Figure 2 shows one preferred embodiment suitable for controlling the supply of water to hot water systems and the like It should be noted that these are only two general topics and that the devices do have wider applications however, for simplicity they will be descπbed hereinafter as being applicable for those applications

In Figure 1 , a Fluid Flow and Pressure Controlling Valve ( 101 ) composes a body section ( 102) which has an inlet end (103) which contains an inlet oπfice ( 104) and an outlet end ( 105) which contains an outlet orifice ( 106) which are separated by an interconnecting passageway ( 107) The interconnecting passageway compπses an arrangement of at least two boreholes which are in a stepped relationship with each other wherein the outlet side borehole ( 108) is of a larger or major diameter when compared to the smaller or minor diameter inlet side (109) and the central axes of both of the different diameter boreholes are axially aligned An inlet passageway ( 1 10) connects the inlet oπfice at the inlet end of the smaller diameter of the interconnecting passageway Within the arrangement of stepped boreholes is located a stepped piston ( 1 1 1 ) which makes a sliding and sealing contact with both internal surfaces of the major and minor diameters of the stepped boreholes at ( 1 12) and ( 113) Between the inlet side of the larger diameter of the stepped piston and the outlet side of the end of the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole is formed a controlling chamber ( 1 14) whose volume vanes according to the position of the stepped piston within the stepped boreholes It should be noted that an intermediate borehole (115) can be included for ease of manufacture Located near the outlet end of the major diameter borehole is a retaining means ( 1 16) which limits the amount of travel of the stepped piston m a direction away from the inlet end Located within the length of the stepped piston is a flow control passageway ( 1 17) and is aligned with its central axis Located on the stepped piston in cooperation with the flow control passageway is a valve seat component which in this case is an O-ring ( 1 18) which is positioned within a recess ( 119) on the inlet end of the stepped piston The inlet end of the body section contains a screwed attachment ( 120) for connecting to other fluid transpoπ mechanisms Between the sliding and sealing contacts of the major and minor diameters of the stepped piston is a bleed hole ( 121 ) in the body section which leads from the controlling chamber to the outside of the said body section Located in conjunction with the bleed hole is a sealing device which can totally block the movement of fluids from the pressure chamber flowing through the exit oπfice to the outside of the body section Located on either side of the exit orifice ( 122) of the bleed hole on the surface of the body section are two sealing grooves which are axially aligned with the central axis of the body section and within each is contained an O-πng ( 123) and ( 124) A safety ring ( 125) is positioned such that it makes a sliding and sealing contact with the O-πngs in the two sealing grooves In one preferred embodiment shown here, the body section has an external step (126) whereby the outer diameters of the two sealing grooves are of different sizes The internal section of the safety ring has two matching stepped

diameters ( 127) and ( 128) which allow the safety ring to make a sealing contact with each of the sealing O-rings. When the safety ring is in its sealing position the stepped sections provide a stop position ( 129) for the safety ring. There is an indicator ( 130) present on the body section whereby when the safety' ring is in its stop position, the indicator is concealed. Any substantial build up of fluid pressure in the bleed tube causes the safety ring to move away from the stop position due to the different diameters of the sealing O-πngs and the indicator is revealed There is a safety ring stop ( 131 ) attached to the external surface of the body section to limit the amount of travel of the safety ring when the indicator is exposed. In another preferred embodiment wherein the two sealing O-rings are the same size, should any fluid discharge occur from the bleed hole when any substantial external manual movement of the safety ring happens which is sufficient enough to expose one of the two sealing O-πngs, the valve mechanism can be determined to have failed. In this case, there is a stepped projection ( 132) on the external part of the body section wherein when the safety πng comes to rest in a home position it is prevented from any further longitudinal movement and it effectively prevents fluid in the bleed hole from communicating freely with the atmosphere. Located within the inlet passageway is a controlling ingress orifice ( 133) which limits the amount of fluid flowing through the device. It should be noted in one preferred embodiment, of all of the various internal fluid passageways within this device, the controlling ingress orifice is the smallest in diameter and effectively limits the dynamic flow of fluid through the device by controlling the flow of fluid flowing into the device. Contained within the inlet passageway is located a non-return valve (134). A fluid termination pin ( 135) is located within the inlet passageway and projects into the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole. The fluid termination pin has an internal passageway ( 136) which allows fluid to flow from the inlet passageway to the minor diameter of the stepped borehole and the fluid termination pin is axially aligned with the central axis of the biasing means. The fluid termination pin is positioned so that it may come into contact with the valve seat component on the stepped piston. The stepped piston is biased towards the outlet end of the body by means is a spring ( 137). When an increase of fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston occurs above the combined pressure of the fluid and the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston, the stepped piston moves towards the inlet side of the body section. As the stepped piston moves fully to the inlet side of the body section the fluid termination pin comes into engaging contact with the valve seat component as is shown below the centre line in the figure. Contained within the flow control passageway is a non return valve (138). The section of stepped piston above the centre line shows the open position with the non-return valve in an open position as would be the case if fluid were flowing through the device. The outlet has a screwed attachment ( 139) for attaching to further fluid transport mechanisms.

In Figure 2, the flow control passageway is stepped and has within its length at least two different size diameters (201) and (202). The flow control passageway valve shaft (203)

which can protrude proud from either end of the flow control passageway. The valve shaft contains a valve seat 0-ring (204) which can make a sealing contact with the valve seat component. The valve shaft is biased away from the valve seat component by a spπng (205). An increase of fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston above the pressure of fluid combined with the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston causes the stepped piston to move towards the inlet side of the body section. When the stepped piston moves towards the inlet side of its limit of travel, the valve shaft comes into an interfering contact with an inlet stop component (206). When the valve shaft comes into an interfering contact with the inlet stop component and the stepped piston continues to move towards the inlet side of the body section, the valve shaft's valve seat O-ring makes a sealing contact with the valve seat component (207). On the outlet side of the stepped piston's flow control passageway is a restriction orifice (208) through which projects the outlet end of the valve shaft. When the fluid pressure on the outlet side of the stepped piston is less than the pressure of the fluid combined with the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the stepped piston causes the stepped piston to move towards the outlet side of the body section. As the stepped piston moves towards the outlet end of the body section the outlet end of the valve shaft comes into interfeπng contact with an outlet stop component (209). As the stepped piston arrives at its limit of travel at the outlet end of the of the body section, the outlet end of the valve shaft's interfering contact with the outlet stop component ensures that the seal between the valve seat O-ring and the valve seat component is broken as is shown above the centre line. This device can be installed between a town water supply and a water conditioning apparatus in order to limit the maximum static water pressure experienced by such an apparatus.

In Figure 3, a Fluid Flow and Pressure Controlling Valve (301 ) composes a body section (302) which has an inlet end (303) which contains an inlet oπfice (304) and an outlet end (305) which contains an outlet orifice (306) which are separated by an interconnecting passageway (307). The interconnecting passageway comprises an arrangement of at least two boreholes which are in a stepped relationship with each other wherein the outlet side borehole (308) is of a larger or major diameter when compared to the smaller or minor diameter inlet side (309) and the central axes of both of the different diameter boreholes are axially aligned. An inlet passageway (310) connects the inlet orifice at the inlet end of the smaller diameter of the interconnecting passageway. Within the arrangement of stepped boreholes is located a stepped piston (31 1 ) which makes a sliding and sealing contact with both internal surfaces of the major and minor diameters of the stepped boreholes at (312) and (313). Between the inlet side of the larger diameter of the stepped piston and the outlet side of the end of the smaller diameter of the stepped borehole is formed a controlling chamber (314) whose volume varies according to the position of the stepped piston within the stepped boreholes. It should be noted that an intermediate borehole (315) can be included for ease of manufacture. Located

near the outlet end of the major diameter borehole is a retaining means (316) which limits the amount of travel of the stepped piston in a direction away from the miet end A flow control passagewav (317) and is axially aligned with the central axis of the stepped piston and may be located within its length Located on the inlet side of the stepped piston is a communicating passageway (318) which is positioned between passageways (310) and (317) Alternatively, the communicating passageway may be located within the non-return valve The inlet end of the body section contains a screwed attachment (320) for connecting to other fluid transport mechanisms Between the sliding and sealing contacts of the major and minor diameters of the stepped piston is a bleed hole (321 ) in the body section which leads from the controlling chamber to the outside of the said body section Located in conjunction with the bleed hole is a sealing device which can totally block the movement of fluids from the pressure chamber flowing through the exit oπfice to the outside of the body section Located on either side of the exit orifice (322) of the bleed hole on the surface of the body section are two sealing grooves which are axially aligned with the central axis of the body section and within each is contained an O-πng (323) and (324) A safety πng (325) is positioned such that it makes a sliding and sealing contact with the O-nngs in the two sealing grooves In one preferred embodiment shown here, the body section has an external step (326) whereby the outer diameters of the two sealing grooves are of different sizes The internal section of the safety ring has two matching stepped diameters (327) and (328) which allow the safety ring to make a sealing contact with each of the sealing O-πngs When the safety nng is in its sealing position the stepped sections provide a stop position (329) for the safety ring There is an indicator (330) present on the body section whereby when the safety πng is in its stop position, the indicator is concealed Any substantial build up of fluid pressure in the bleed tube causes the safety πng to move away from the stop position due to the different diameters of the sealing O-πngs and the indicator is revealed There is a safety πng stop (331 ) attached to the external surface of the body section to limit the amount of travel of the safety πng when the indicator is exposed In another preferred embodiment wherein the two sealing O-nngs are the same size, should any fluid discharge occur from the bleed hole when any substantial external manual movement of the safety πng happens which is sufficient enough to expose one of the two sealing O-πngs, the valve mechanism can be determined to have failed In this case, there is a stepped projection (332) on the external part of the body section wherein when the safety' πng comes to rest in a home position it is prevented from any further longitudinal movement and it effectively prevents fluid in the bleed hole from communicating freely with the atmosphere Located within the inlet passageway is a controlling ingress oπfice (333) which limits the amount of fluid flowing through the device It should be noted in one preferred embodiment, of all of the vaπous internal fluid passageways within this device, the controlling ingress oπfice is the smallest in diameter and effectively limits the dynamic flow of fluid through the device by controlling the flow of fluid flowing into the device Contained within the inlet passageway is located a non-return valve (334) A fluid termination shaft

(335) is located within the inlet passageway and projects towards the inlet passageway non¬ return valve The fluid termination shaft has an internal passageway (336) The fluid termination shaft is positioned so that it may come into contact with the inlet passageway non-return valve The stepped piston is biased towards the outlet end of the body by means is a spπng (337) When an increase of fluid pressure on the outlet side of the larger diameter stepped piston occurs above the combined pressure of the fluid and the pressure of the biasing means on the inlet side of the smaller diameter of the stepped piston and the fluid pressure on the inlet side of the inlet passageway non-return valve, the stepped piston moves towards the inlet side of the body section As the stepped piston moves fully to the inlet side of the body section the fluid termination shaft comes into engaging contact with the inlet passageway non-return valve and forces it to its closed position as is shown below the centre line in the figure Contained within the flow control passageway of the movable piston is a second non return valve (338) The section of stepped piston above the centre line shows the open position with the non-return valve in an open position as would be the case if fluid were flowing through the device The outlet has a screwed attachment (339) for attaching to further fluid transport mechanisms