Although purely theoretical, I may have a solution to make a silent shunt regulator instead of a noisy spill regulator. The picture attached is derived from a drawing of a set of Gavioli type organ bellows. I have added some internal shunt valves S to the design. These are spring-loaded and act as a safety valve when the pressure in the magazine exceeds a certain value. Might it work, it would also make the turning of the wheel easier.

The design was made for quieting the sound. Some heat might be produced by the passage through the spill valves, but on the other hand the pressurized air will drop in temperature when expanding in the suction bellows. My estimation would be that this little extra heat will not affect the pipes a great deal. Air under pressure always heats up (law of the conservation of energy).

Hans van Oost <havo@kabelfoon.nl>
Tue, 23 Nov 1999 17:43:38 +0100
 

[ Image shuntbalg.gif is 1558 x 524 pixels.  It prints nicely in landscape format when the image is opened in a second browser window (using "View Image..."). ]