Claims
- 1. A pintle valve having an expanded flow range, said valve comprising a plurality of concentrically-arranged flow stages ranging from highest flow to lowest flow disposed within a common valve body and being actuable sequentially from lowest flow to highest flow by a common pintle extending through said stages and being selectably attachable to at least one of said stages, each of said stages including a valve head, said head for said highest flow stage being matable with a highest flow seat disposed in said valve body, and each of said heads having a mating surface formed on an outer surface thereof opposed to an adjacent valve seat for regulating flow therebetween and, except said head for said lowest flow stage, a valve seat for the next lower flow stage formed on an inner surface thereof opposed to an adjacent mating surface for regulating flow therebetween.
- 2. A pintle valve in accordance with claim 1 wherein said valve is a two-stage valve.
- 3. A pintle valve in accordance with claim 1 wherein said valve is a three-stage valve.
- 4. An expanded-range multiple-stage pintle valve, comprising:
a) a valve body enclosing a first chamber and having a first axial bore connecting said first chamber to a second chamber; b) a secondary valve seat disposed within said first axial bore; c) a secondary valve head having a secondary mating surface opposable to said secondary valve seat to regulate secondary fluid flow therebetween, said secondary head having an internal chamber therein, said chamber being in communication with said first and second chambers in said valve body, said secondary valve head further including a primary valve seat disposed between said internal chamber and said first chamber in said valve body, said secondary valve head further including a shaft stop washer disposed coaxially therein; d) a primary valve head disposed within said secondary valve head and having a primary mating surface opposable to said primary valve seat on said secondary valve head to regulate primary fluid flow therebetween through said secondary valve head; e) a valve pintle for actuating said primary and secondary valve heads, said pintle being connected at a first end to said primary valve head and extending through said secondary valve head and said valve body for actuation by actuating means; and f) means for engaging and releasing said secondary valve head from said pintle over a portion of the stroke of said pintle actuation.
- 5. A pintle valve in accordance with claim 4 wherein said engaging means comprises:
a) a shoulder on said primary valve head having a diameter greater than the diameter of said pintle; b) an axial flange on said shaft stop washer extending towards said shoulder; c) spring means compressively disposed coaxially of said pintle between said shaft stop washer and a wall of said first valve chamber for urging said secondary mating surface of said secondary valve head toward said secondary valve seat to maintain said secondary valve in a closed position while said primary valve is being actuated by said pintle, said shoulder being engaging of said flange to actuate said secondary valve at a predetermined distance of stroke of said pintle.
- 6. An expanded-range pintle valve, comprising:
a) a valve body having a chamber therein and inlet and outlet means including a secondary flow seat; b) secondary valve means disposed within said chamber for regulating flow across said secondary flow seat and including a primary flow seat; c) primary valve means disposed within said secondary valve means for regulating flow across said primary flow seat through said secondary valve means; d) pintle means extending through said secondary valve means and attached to a primary valve head in said primary valve means for actuating said primary valve means; and e) means for selectively causing said pintle means to actuate said secondary valve means.
- 7. An expanded-range pintle valve, comprising:
a) a valve body having a chamber therein and inlet and outlet means including a tertiary flow seat; b) tertiary valve means disposed within said chamber for regulating flow across said tertiary flow seat and including a secondary flow seat; c) secondary valve means disposed within said tertiary valve means for regulating flow across said secondary flow seat through said tertiary valve means and including a primary flow seat; d) primary valve means disposed within said secondary valve means for regulating flow across said primary flow seat through said secondary and tertiary valve means; e) pintle means extending through said tertiary and secondary valve means and attached to a primary valve head in said primary valve means for actuating said primary valve means; and f) means for selectively causing said pintle means to actuate said secondary and tertiary valve means.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/183,944, filed Feb. 22, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60183944 |
Feb 2000 |
US |