CO2 Cylinder Expert required (Real Gassing!)

[GuyGhibli]

Hi

We are using CO2 cylinders to fill some (very) large inflatables.

The standard fitment nozzle restricts the CO2 passing from cylinder to balloon (we empty the cylinder) and I want to inflate the balloon quicker.

I am guessing the opening is 5mm?

Can anyone advise - are there standard fitment cylinder connections that use a wider opening, in order that we can empty the cylinder in less time?

Hope this makes sense....!

[B'stard Child]

Homes and gardens?

[Eski1991]

Very large inflatables? Fat sex dolls?

[Manicminer]

Why are you filling balloons with CO2? Seems a bit odd.

Compressed air would be cheaper wouldn't it?

[GuyGhibli]

Eski1991 said:

Very large inflatables? Fat sex dolls?

Yes, for elephants.

Trawling Beer, Pub and Homebrew advice has not helped - they want very slow rate, likewise Wleding etc.

Is there an industry that would want to empty a cylinder in as short a time as possible?
Fire extinguisher? (Although they regulate the emptying too in most cases, I think?)

Is there a use where you want to fill a room with CO2 rapidly?

Or how do they fill plane escape chutes?


Mods feel free to move this, but General Gassing did seem the closest....

[GuyGhibli]

Manicminer said:

Why are you filling balloons with CO2? Seems a bit odd.

Compressed air would be cheaper wouldn't it?

Hi

Oddly, the choice of gas is not too critical - compressed air would be fine, it is just the rapid emptying of the cylinder that seems to be an issue?

Cheers

[gazzarose]

Have a try of life raft cylinders. They fill up pretty big rafts in a few seconds.

What about five cylinders? How more as well but higher pressure and can be awkward to get filled and need to be periodically tested.

Gareth

[Manicminer]

GuyGhibli said:

Manicminer said:

Why are you filling balloons with CO2? Seems a bit odd.

Compressed air would be cheaper wouldn't it?

Hi

Oddly, the choice of gas is not too critical - compressed air would be fine, it is just the rapid emptying of the cylinder that seems to be an issue?

Cheers

Only asked as that may be your problem, don't think CO2 valves are the same as compressed air ones. That might be limiting your speed of inflation.

[Toaster Pilot]

Fire suppression systems for use in electricity substations and data centres use CO2 I think and surely release rapidly.

[john2443]

The faster they empty the colder they get, are they deliberately restricted to stop them freezing up?

[McWigglebum4th]

You want a N2 cylinder with a direct connection to the cylinder valve

You could probably empty one in under a minute.

However

I wouldn't want to be within the area you are doing it due to the noise as you'll be dumping 250bar into a balloon

[Ganglandboss]

gazzarose said:

Have a try of life raft cylinders. They fill up pretty big rafts in a few seconds.

They use a valve that draws in air from outside too, using the venturi effect.

[thescamper]

Hope your inflatables can cope with being frozen, The rapid expansion of the CO2 will cause large amounts of ice to form. this is why CO2 extinguishers are restricted.

Not suggesting this is a good or safe idea but you could unscrew the stem from the regulator and use that as your nozzle, control the flow via the bottle valve, How ever you are still going to be limited by the orifice in the ball valve in the top of the bottle, seem to remember that this is probably only 5 or 6 mm.

i am assuming that you want the inflatable to inflate very quickly, then using compressed air is probably easier and much safer, store the volume required at a lower pressure and then you can use big plumbing fixtures, have a look at the air cannons that are used for pumpkin chuckin in the states for ideas.

Edited by thescamper on Wednesday 26th June 08:18

[McWigglebum4th]

thescamper said:

Hope your inflatables can cope with being frozen, The rapid expansion of the CO2 will cause large amounts of ice to form. this is why CO2 extinguishers are restricted.

Not suggesting this is a good or safe idea but you could unscrew the stem from the regulator and use that as your nozzle, control the flow via the bottle valve, How ever you are still going to be limited by the orifice in the ball valve in the top of the bottle, seem to remember that this is probably only 5 or 6 mm.

After being around 250bar air coming out of a 4mm hole

Its very very very loud

And very very fast

[Lotus Notes]

You need to find a high flow regulator, preferably 2 stage and in this case heated. Getting a manifold fabricated would be your best bet and probably safest.

Google BOC Gas and Gear stores. They can advise on regulators.

[G600]

Ganglandboss said:

They use a valve that draws in air from outside too, using the venturi effect.

Yeah you need one of these, it will mean you use less co2 to inflate it as well.

[RealSquirrels]

air bags inflate very quickly and they use explosive charges that decompose into (mostly) dinitrogen.

could be worth a go?

empty your cylinder too quickly and you will have a rocket.

[GuyGhibli]

Hi

Thanks for your replies!

Our CO2 supplier has confirmed that it is possible to get a "double nozel" on the top of each cannister - currently, we screw a pipe onto the single nozel.

I suspect that the narrowest point within the whole set-up is the (5mm?) hole at the nozel, and that within the restrictor it is much wider.

So if we have two nozels from a single cylinder, we can expect twice the gas to escape into the device in any given time, is that correct?

We have a spring-loaded mechanism with a pull-wire that causes the cylinder to empty.

Cheers!

[rhinochopig]

McWigglebum4th said:

thescamper said:

Hope your inflatables can cope with being frozen, The rapid expansion of the CO2 will cause large amounts of ice to form. this is why CO2 extinguishers are restricted.

Not suggesting this is a good or safe idea but you could unscrew the stem from the regulator and use that as your nozzle, control the flow via the bottle valve, How ever you are still going to be limited by the orifice in the ball valve in the top of the bottle, seem to remember that this is probably only 5 or 6 mm.

After being around 250bar air coming out of a 4mm hole

Its very very very loud

And very very fast

Cut down on the broccoli then chap.