Valves and valve actuation – Lost motion between actuator and valve – Check valve with external opening and closing means
Patent
1999-03-08
2000-11-21
Shaver, Kevin
Valves and valve actuation
Lost motion between actuator and valve
Check valve with external opening and closing means
251 634, 137522, F16K 31163, F16K 1518
Patent
active
06149125&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a ball valve which can be positively controlled by manual operation like using electric, pneumatic or hydraulic means. In tests performed so far the valve has mainly been controlled by hydraulic means. A ball valve controlled for instance by hydraulic means has been developed to provide a solution of the problem of creating a valve which has small dimensions and which is useful for controlling fluids, in particular liquids under high pressures.
More specifically the invention has been developed as a solution of providing a valve suited for use in snow making machines, in which relatively large amounts of water under high pressure, as high as up to 40 bar, pass through the valve, and in which it must be possible to open and close the valve in a calm and stable course, and in which the valve must be capable of standing the high pressures and large amounts of passing water which appear in for instance snow making machines.
It is obvious that the valve according to the invention may be used for gases as well as for liquids, even if it will in the following be described mainly as a valve for liquids, in particular for water.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many various types of valves useful for the said purpose are known in the art, for instance disk valves, cone valves, and rotatable ball valves having a flow passageway in the valve ball. All such valves are disadvantageous for use in valves subjected to high liquid pressures. The pressure from the liquid may make it difficult to open the valve, since the opening must be made by a movement the direction of which is opposed to the liquid pressure; it may be difficult to close the valve in a calm course, since the liquid, depending on the pressure thereof against the valve disk or valve cone, tends to provided a quick and violent closing movement; in many cases the liquid pressure against the valve cone or against the rotatable valve ball may create a high friction which must overcome; in some cases the high liquid pressure may tend to provide an unintentional partly opening of the valve; the quick movement of liquid under high pressure also may provide cavitation damages both on the valve cone and on the valve seat. Further, many known valves are so bulky that they are not suited for use in snow making machines.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention the above mentioned problems are solved by means of a ball valve, in which the valve element is formed as a smooth ball which is displaceable actuated by a hydraulic press piston, and in which the opening of the valve is made in that said hydraulic press piston forces the valve ball sideways out of a valve seat by a force having a first force component which is directed oppositely to the flow direction of the water through the valve and a second force component which is directed perpendicularly to the said flow direction, and in which the closing of the valve is accomplished by the liquid pressure against the valve ball, whereby the hydraulic piston is preferably used for braking the closing movement of the ball.
In order to guarantee a good operation and to allow an automatic closing of the valve when a hydraulic actuation piston is retracted the race in which the valve ball is displaceable is inclined at least slightly rearwards, meaning upstream against the flow of water as seen from the valve seat, whereby the opening of valve is consequently accomplished both by a force component which is directed perpendicularly to the flow direction and by a force component which is parallel to and opposed to said flow direction. By this design the valve can be opened calmly and safely using a relatively little force, and the valve can be closed the same calmly and safely.
In a specially preferred embodiment the hydraulic valve actuation piston is mounted and arranged in such position in relation to the valve ball that said piston, when starting the force actuation of the valve ball in the opening direction, engages the valve ball along a line of force which is located u
REFERENCES:
patent: 1992490 (1935-02-01), Lewis
patent: 4070239 (1978-01-01), Bevilacqua
patent: 4273310 (1981-06-01), Krueger
patent: 4452177 (1984-06-01), Plett
patent: 4457340 (1984-07-01), Krueger
patent: 4662392 (1987-05-01), Vadasz
patent: 4667696 (1987-05-01), Van Rensburg
patent: 4838306 (1989-06-01), Horn et al.
patent: 5037062 (1991-08-01), Neuhaus
patent: 5306122 (1994-04-01), Gebauer
Keasel Eric
Nilsson Lenko L.
Shaver Kevin
LandOfFree
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