Patent Application
20170348810
Numerous types of valves exist to regulate fluid flow within a piping system or flow conduit. In some instances, it is desired to provide a valve with position transmitters which communicate the relative operational position of the valve to remotely located controlling or monitoring equipment. Position transmitters may be used, for instance, when the valve is remotely situated, difficult to reach, or located in hazardous environments to allow for the identification of a valve's position from a safe and remote distance.
Valve position transmitters are often used in conjunction with an automatic valve actuator which enables the position of the valve to be controlled from a remote location. However, many valves remain manually operated by the turning of a handle. Nevertheless, it is desirable to be able to easily monitor the position of the valve whether by visual inspection or from a remote location. Accordingly, a need exists for a kit for reliably mounting a valve position indicator to a manually operated valve in a way that maintains the manual operation of the valve. It is to such a kit that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction, experiments, exemplary data, and/or the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings unless otherwise noted.
The systems and methods as described in the present disclosure are capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for purposes of description, and should not be regarded as limiting.
The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.
As used in the description herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having,” or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, unless otherwise noted, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements, but may also include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive and not to an exclusive “or”. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).
In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concept. This description should be read to include one or more, and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise. Further, use of the term “plurality” is meant to convey “more than one” unless expressly stated to the contrary.
As used herein, any reference to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “some embodiments,” “one example,” “for example,” or “an example” means that a particular element, feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearance of the phrase “in some embodiments” or “one example” in various places in the specification is not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, for example.
Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to
The valve 12 is provided with a valve body 13, a valve member 14 disposed in the valve body 13 for rotation between an open position (
The handle 19 is provided with a valve stem slot 21 configured to receive at least a portion of the valve stem 15, and means for securing the handle 19 to the valve stem 15 such as, for instance, a set screw 23.
As shown in
In embodiment shown, the first valve body 13a of the valve 12 is provided with a bore 38 extending upwardly from a valve chamber 46 formed in the first bore 22 of the first valve body 13a. The bore 38 is configured to receive at least a portion of the valve stem 15. As best shown in
As best shown in
A suitable seal 56 fits in a mating groove around the central portion of the valve stem 15 to prevent leakage from the valve chamber 46 through the bore 38 around the valve stem 15.
Referring now to
The mounting bracket assembly 70 has a lower portion 92 and an upper portion 94 spaced from the lower portion 92. The lower portion 92 includes a valve stem aperture 68 through which the valve stem 15 extends, and the lower portion 92 is configured to matingly engage with the slot 66 of the valve body 13 (
The lower portion 92 also has a pair of lock-out apertures in the form of holes 100a and 100b and/or slots 101a and 101b generally located on opposite sides of the valve stem aperture 68 for purposes to be described.
To facilitate mating engagement of the lower portion 92 with the slot 66, the lower portion 92 provided with slots 86 and 88 configured to receive opposing portions 103a and 103b (
The upper portion 94 has a shaft aperture 95 for receiving the shaft 106 of the valve positioning indicator 17. The upper portion 94 is supported relative to the lower portion 92 by at least a first wall 107a and a second wall 107b. Each of the first wall 107a and the second wall 107b extends between the upper portion 92 and the lower portion 94 so as to define an open side 82. The second wall 107b is provided with a handle receiving notch 102 so as to be in open communication with the open side 82 to permit the handle 19 of the valve 12 to be rotated through an angle of about 90°
The shaft aperture 95 extends through a central portion of the upper portion 94 and may be aligned with the valve stem aperture 68. The shaft aperture 95 is configured to receive the shaft 106 (
A plurality of mounting bores 96 of the mounting bracket assembly 70 extend through the lower portion 92 thereof. The mounting bores 96 are sized to allow threaded ends of the U-bolt 78 to pass therethrough and secure the mounting bracket assembly 70 to the first valve body 13a with nuts 80 (as shown in
A plurality of valve position indicator mounting bores 98 of the mounting bracket assembly 70 may be sized and arranged to allow the valve position indicator 17 to be mounted and secured to the upper portion 94 of the mounting bracket assembly 70 via securing means such as, for instance, bolts 99 (
As best shown in
The valve stem connecting portion 112 of the locking plate assembly 72 extends through the base portion 110 and is configured to receive at least a portion of the valve stem 15 to allow rotation of the locking plate assembly 72 when the valve stem 15 is rotated, for instance, by the handle 19, to move the valve member 14 between an open or a closed position.
The base portion 110 of the locking plate assembly 72 has a pair of lock-out apertures in the form of holes 109a and 109b and/or slots 111a and 111b essentially 90° apart with respect to the valve stem aperture 78. The lock-out holes 109a and 109b through the base portion 110 are arranged to alternately mate with the lock-out openings 100a and 100b in the lower portion 92 when the valve 12 is in a fully open or a fully closed position. With this arrangement, a suitable lock (not shown) may be inserted through mating lock-out holes. A lock is particularly useful to lock the valve 12 in a fully closed position to comply with governmental regulations. It may also be noted that the lower portion 92 and the base portion 110 may be provided with the slots 111a and 111b arranged to mate with the slots 101a and 101b when the valve 12 is in a fully open or fully closed position to accommodate a suitable seal, rather than, or in addition to, a lock.
In the embodiment shown in
In another embodiment shown in
As shown in
As best shown in
Referring now to
To facilitate connection and alignment of the bottom portion 162 and the top portion 164, the bottom portion 162 is provided with a plurality of mounting notches 166 (only one of which is designated in
Mounting bores 170 are formed in adjustable tabs 172 formed in the bottom portion 162 of the mounting bracket assembly 160. As illustrated in
In the embodiment shown, a notch 174 may be formed extending through at least a portion of one side of the top portion 164 opposite a handle receiving notch 176.
The modular nature of the two-piece mounting bracket assemblies 70 and 160 shown in
In operation of the valve assembly 10, rotation of the valve stem 15 rotates the locking plate assembly 72 and the shaft connecting portion 116 or 130, which is connected to the locking plate assembly 72 moves the shaft 106 of the valve position indicator 17 between an on and an off position. To accommodate different valve position indicators 17, the shaft aperture 120 or the shaft receiving portion 136 may be sized and positioned appropriately. For instance, by way of non-limiting example, in the embodiment shown in
For the purposes of illustration, a method of connecting a valve position indicator 17 to the valve 12 using the valve position indicator mounting kit 16 will be described herein. By way of non-limiting example, the valve 12 may be an existing valve to which the valve position indicator 17 is going to be added or retrofit. For the purposes of this illustration, the valve 12 will be described as a valve constructed in accordance with the valve described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,805, the description of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. For the purposes of clarity, features which are similar will be designated with the same numbers used herein.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,805, slot 66 is provided to matingly receive a stop plate. In use, the stop plate is positioned in the slot 66 and encircles a valve stem 15. The stop plate has at least one locking opening spaced apart from a valve stem aperture 68. A locking plate is secured on the valve stem 15 parallel with the stop plate and turns with the valve stem 15 during opening and closing of the valve 12. The locking plate has at least one locking opening therethrough positioned to mate with the locking opening in the indexing plate. When the valve 12 is in a fully closed and/or a fully open position, a securing member such as, for instance, a lock may be inserted through corresponding locking openings in the stop plate and the locking plate to secure the valve 12 in the desired position.
To retrofit the valve position indicator 17 to the valve 12 using the valve position indicator mounting kit 16, the handle 19, the stop plate, and the locking plate are first removed from the valve 12. The mounting bracket assembly 70 is connected to the valve body 13 with the valve stem 15 extending through the valve stem aperture 68 and the lower portion 92 matingly engaged with the slot 66. To secure the mounting bracket assembly 70 to the valve body 13, the split ring 76 is inserted into the lower mating grooves in the curved surfaces 44 of the outer surface of the valve stem 15 above the mounting bracket assembly 70 and threaded ends of the U-bolt 78, which is positioned surrounding a portion of the valve body 13, are inserted through the mounting bores 96 and secured with nuts 80.
The locking plate assembly 72 is then positioned over the valve stem 15 and secured by inserting one of the split rings 76 into the mating grooves in the curved surfaces 44 of the outer surface of the valve stem 15 above the locking plate assembly 72. The weather seal 74 may then be positioned over the valve stem 15.
The handle 19 is then engaged with the valve stem 15 in a way that at least a portion of the valve stem 15 extends through the valve stem slot 21 of the handle 19. The handle 19 may then be secured to the valve stem 15 with the set screw 23. When installed, the handle 19 extends through the open side 82 or the handle opening 102 of the mounting bracket assembly 70. The position of the handle 19 when installed is determined by the open or closed position of the valve member 14.
To connect the valve position indicator 17 to the mounting bracket assembly 70, the shaft 106 of the valve position indicator 17 is inserted through the shaft aperture 95 and aligned so that at least a portion of the shaft 106 extends through the shaft aperture 120 of the shaft connecting portion 116. The valve position indicator 17 is then secured to the upper portion 94 of the mounting bracket assembly 70 with bolts 99.
In operation of the valve assembly 10, the handle 19 is engaged to move the valve 12 between the open and closed positions. Movement of the handle 19 along a predetermined arc moves the valve stem 15 and thus valve member 14 between the open and closed positions. Movement of the valve stem 15 moves the locking plate assembly 72 and the shaft connecting portion 116 of the locking plate assembly 72 moves the valve position indicator 17 between an on and off position corresponding to the open and closed position of the valve member 14.
In operation of the valve 12, as the handle 19 is engaged to move the valve 12 between the open and closed positions, the handle 19 is rotated along a 90° arc extending between the open side 82 and the handle opening 102.
While the valve 12 is described herein as having first and second valve bodies 13a and 13b which are secured together to form the valve body 13, it should be noted that in some embodiments, the valve 12 may be provided with a different valve body design such as, for instance, a unibody design similar to the one shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,805, so long as the mounting bracket is securable to the valve body.
It should also be noted that although the valve 12 of the valve assembly system 10 has been shown and described herein as a ball-type valve, the presently disclosed concepts are applicable to all types of rotationally controlled valves.
From the above description, it is clear that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the inventive concepts disclosed herein. While presently preferred embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the scope and coverage of the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein.
