This invention is in the field of valves, and specifically relates to adjustable flanges for securing isolation valves in a fluid system.
The use of circulator pumps to move fluid in closed-loop hot water systems is widespread. When a circulator pump needs to be temporarily removed from the system for repair, replacement, or maintenance, the system must be opened to the atmosphere. This procedure may require the system to be shut down and completely, or at least partially, drained before the pump can be removed. Depending on the size of the system, draining and then refilling can be a time consuming process. Additionally, shutting down the system during this time may be undesirable.
Many of the fluid system components for which the use of isolation valves is desirable are heavy and/or cumbersome and in many applications may be located in areas with little space. This may make removal and replacement of these components difficult. Therefore, it is desirable that the process of coupling and uncoupling the isolation valves to the system component be as simple as possible. Mating flanges are commonly used to couple isolation valves to the system components. In order to couple the component to the isolation valves, the bolt holes in the mating flanges must be matched up accurately. This may be difficult in tight spaces with heavy, cumbersome components.
The considerations leading to the desirability of isolation valves are not particular to hot water systems, but they may also be important in systems such as hydraulic (oil) systems, potable water systems, sewage treatment systems, refrigeration systems, and numerous industrial plumbing systems in chemical, and other, manufacturing facilities. In some cases the considerations may be even more important than in hot water systems due to the danger and/or expense attendant to handling the fluids contained within the systems during draining of the fluid. The same considerations also exist for other discreet components in fluid carrying systems, such as filters, hot water heaters, heat exchangers, etc. Therefore, it may also be desirable to couple these other discreet components into their respective fluid carrying systems with isolation valves.
It is desirable for an isolation valve to be designed so that the valve may be simply set in a fully closed or a fully open position. It is also desirable that the condition of the isolation valve (either open or closed) be obvious. If it is not clear whether the valve is open or closed, removal of the isolated component may be attempted with an isolation valve only partially closed, which may lead to leakage of fluid from the system or contamination of the system. Quarter turn ball valves with straight handles have two clearly identifiable positions 90° apart, fully open and fully closed, which may be easily noted by the handle position, parallel to the fluid flow for open and perpendicular to the fluid flow for closed. Valve stops prohibit the quarter turn ball valve from rotating beyond these positions. Therefore, a quarter turn ball valve is preferred for use as an isolation valve.
One isolation valve design has a quarter turn ball valve with a cast flange rigidly integrated into the body of the valve for coupling the isolation valve onto a mating flange of the system component. Although this design desirably includes an easily operated valve design and relatively simple manufacture, the rigid integration of the cast flange requires greater accuracy in order to properly couple the mating flanges. Another design includes a free-floating flange, which is allowed to rotate relative to the valve, but this design includes a ball valve that is allowed to rotate 360° and is operated with either a screwdriver or an alien wrench rather than a handle like a standard quarter turn ball valve. This design makes it difficult to determine with certainty if the isolation valve is fully closed, or fully open.
Traditionally, water heating systems were gravity fed. In other words, because hot water weighs less than cold water, the theory of gravity feed is that the hot water rises to the top of the equipment thereby heating terminal units along the way. However, gravity flow, also referred to as ghost flow, is undesirable for contemporary water heating systems as it leads to overheating of zones.
Currently, many water heating systems include flow control valves to prevent gravity flow. Without flow control valves, uncontrollable heating of zones in a building may occur. When the system pump is off, the flow control valve is closed, thereby preventing the flow of unwanted hot water past the valve. When the pump turns on, the pressure developed by the pump opens the valve and permits water to flow past it.
These flow control valves are additional components in the heating system that are themselves expensive and add the additional expense of installation. There is a need for an improved, easy-to-install valve assembly that provides fluid isolation and prevents gravity flow in a fluid system.
An embodiment of the present invention comprises an isolation valve assembly including a quarter turn ball valve, an insert, and a flange. The quarter turn ball valve includes a housing having inlet and outlet ports. The insert includes a cylindrical body having an axial flow channel. One end of the insert body is coupled to one of the ports of the quarter turn ball valve and the other end of the insert body has a flared lip. The flange has a circular hole, the diameter of which is greater than that of the insert body. The flange is rotatably carried on the outer surface of the insert and is retained thereon by the lip. The flange is also formed with holes adapted to cooperate with fasteners to secure the valve in a piping system.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a valve assembly including a ball valve and a check valve. The ball valve includes a valve housing having an inlet port and an outlet port and a valve member adapted to control flow therethrough. The check valve prevents fluid flow from the inlet port to the outlet port when an associated fluid system is unpressurized.
The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing. It is emphasized that, according to common practice, the various features of the drawing may not be to scale and that the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. Included in the drawing are the following figures:
The valve 98 is a quarter turn ball valve of any usual construction and, thus, its inner parts are not shown. The housing 100 is formed with inlet and outlet ports and includes a hollow, substantially cylindrical portion aligned with the direction of the fluid flow and forming a flow channel in which a valve seat is formed. Although this substantially cylindrical portion of valve body 100 is shown in
The housing 100 is also formed with a raised cylindrical portion for accommodating the valve mechanism. Stem 108 of the valve extends through this cylindrical housing portion and is connected to handle 110 for opening and closing the valve. Handle 110 is coupled to valve stem 108 by a fastener 112 and includes a skirt 111 extending down the side of the raised cylindrical portion of the housing 100. Shoulders 113 (only one of which is shown) are formed on the raised cylindrical portion and are spaced apart by ninety degrees (90°). The skirt 111 and the shoulders 113 serve to limit the rotation of the handle 110 and thus the valve member between its open and closed position. Any suitable rotation limiting arrangement can be used. Other standard methods to couple handle 110 to valve stem 108 may be used as well.
Similar to the isolation valves 300 shown in
The other port, the outlet port in this embodiment, is coupled to insert 102. Insert 102 has a hole running axially therethrough, functioning as a fluid flow channel 109 that is aligned with the flow channel in the valve housing 100. Insert 102 is shown to have an externally threaded circular section 103 and a polygonal interior section 105 to accommodate a wrench for coupling insert 102 to valve housing 100. The outlet port of valve housing 100 is internally threaded to allow coupling with the threaded section 103 of the insert. Alternatively, the threaded section of insert 102 may be designed to slide into the valve housing body and once inserted may be secured by sweat soldering or other usual means. Press fitting of insert 102 into the aperture of valve body 100 may also be possible.
Before coupling insert 102 to valve housing 100, the threaded end 103 of insert 102 is slipped through the central hole 115 formed in rotatable flange 106. The diameter of hole 115 is such that it snugly, but rotatably fits on the exterior of the insert. The other end of insert 102, that is, the end with the polygonal section 105, includes lip 104. Lip 104 is an annular flange that extends beyond the outer surface of the insert 102 and provides an abutment that serves to prevent rotatable flange 106 from being removed from the assembled valve assembly. Although lip 104 is shown to have a circular cross-section in the embodiment of
FIGS. 2A-D illustrate end views of four embodiments of rotatable flanges that may be used in the present invention.
These rotatable flanges are flat, stamped metal flanges having central hole 115 located substantially in the center of the flange with either the bolt holes 116 or slots 206 located near the perimeter of the flange to accommodate bolts for coupling the flanges to mating flanges. Strong, durable metals, such as chrome plated steel or zinc plated steel, are desirable materials for exemplary rotatable flanges. The surface of an exemplary rotatable flange may include a stepped, or beveled, area along the edge of central hole 115 for lip 104 of insert 102 to seat into when the exemplary rotatable flange is coupled to its mating flange
In valve assemblies in which the rotatable flange forms a seal directly to its mating flange, rather than the insert forming the seal, the material of the flange is desirably chosen to be a metal which does not significantly interact with the fluid. In such a valve assembly, it may be desirable for the rotatable flange to include a circular groove on its front surface, between central hole 115 and bolt holes 116 and/or bolt slots 206, for an O-ring to improve the seal.
In potable water systems and systems for corrosive fluids, it may be particularly desirable for the flange to remain clear of the fluid path. In these fluid carrying systems, lip 104 of insert 102 is desirably designed to form the seal with a mated pipe or component when the rotatable flange is coupled into the fluid carrying system and the fluid does not come into contact with flange 106. Inserts that are designed to provide a seal as well as holding rotatable flange 106 onto the valve assembly may be formed from a somewhat malleable metal, such as copper or brass, to allow sight deformation during coupling of the rotatable flange to its mating flange, thereby improving the seal. Lip 104 of insert 102 may also include a circular groove on its surface for an O-ring to improve the seal.
Generally, the system fluid flow path includes a relative upstream portion and a relative downstream portion. These relative upstream and downstream portions define the inlet and outlet ports of the valve assemblies illustrated in
Unlike the embodiment described previously with reference to
Conversely, a valve assembly that is configured to be installed on the suction side of a system component that requires removal is oriented in the opposite direction from that shown in
Check valve 426 includes a seat 428, a plunger 430, a spring 432, and a plurality of guides 434 for guiding fluid flow through the fluid flow channel 409. Spring 432 has a relaxed position and a compressed position. Plunger 430 contacts seat 428 when spring 432 is in the relaxed position (as illustrated in
This embodiment may combine the features of the rotatable flange 106, 406 and a quarter turn ball valve 98, 498 with a check valve 426. Such a combination within a valve assembly isolates equipment so that it can be conveniently removed without draining the system, and provides a positive check that prevents undesirable gravity flow.
While the invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate variations in structure and substitutions of materials that are within the scope and spirit of the invention.
This application is a Division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/405,187, filed Apr. 17, 2006 (pending), which is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/721,481, filed Nov. 25, 2003 (pending), which is a Continuation-In-Part application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/337,498, filed Jan. 7, 2004 now abandoned.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11405187 | Apr 2006 | US |
Child | 11804975 | May 2007 | US |
Parent | 10721481 | Nov 2003 | US |
Child | 11405187 | Apr 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10337498 | Jan 2003 | US |
Child | 10721481 | Nov 2003 | US |