Patent Application
20220178459
This application relates to valve technology and, more specifically, to valve actuator mechanisms.
Valves often develop leaks as they age. Leaking valves can be annoying, wasteful, and can cause damage in residential settings, but can be far more problematic in industrial applications. Factory lines may need to be shut down to repack or replace valves, resulting in lost production and unnecessary downtime. Leaks can cause environmental damage and safety issues. Steam leaks can scald and even kill workers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is concerned about pollution resulting from leaky valve stem seals in factories and oil fields. In extreme cases, such as semiconductor manufacturing, even microscopic leaks can be fatal—breathing tanks and hazmat suits are often required to clean up after leaks are detected in semiconductor foundries.
Most traditional valves usually have two moving seals: (1) the Seat where the flow of material through the valve is allowed, controlled, and shut off, and (2) the Stem seal that keeps the material from leaking out of the hole for the valve handle. Studies have shown that some high percentage of the leaks encountered in real world valves are associated with the stem seals because they tend to entrain dirt and grit which can erode the mating surfaces over time.
Traditional valves contain stem seals that often degrade or leak over time. Previous seal-less valves often employed bending or flexing components such as bellows or membranes that can degrade or fatigue and also leak long term. Additionally, previous generations of magnetic valves usually contained internal magnets and/or operated in an on/off solenoid type manner making high temperature operation difficult to achieve for most applications.
Bellows valves leak, fatigue, and can fail catastrophically in time. They have pressure, size, and material compatibility limitations, and tend to be very expensive. Previous magnetic valves could not handle high temperatures, couldn't be welded shut, and were not compatible with severe working fluids or the alloys that can work with them.
My invention encapsulates a magnetically permeable, but ordinarily non-magnetic piece of metal such as iron, steel, or ferritic stainless inside exotic alloys or materials such as Monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA that are necessary to construct modern severe and lethal service valves. This is necessary because the working fluids inside of these valves are extremely corrosive, caustic, reactive, toxic, explosive, etc. that ordinary materials such as steel, brass, and even stainless steel cannot effectively contain them.
This approach is not ordinarily possible with a traditional permanent magnet based magnetic coupling such as those employed in previous generations of magnetic valves and couplings. Even the highest temperature rated Samarium Cobalt magnets cannot withstand the temperatures necessary to weld the exotic alloys needed for many lethal and severe service valves, and magnets such as AlNiCo's that can withstand such temperatures tend to be much weaker and prone to demagnetization if the coupling slip were to slip.
Systems and methods are provided for magnet-actuated valves that are able to handle caustic, corrosive, reactive, and other dangerous working fluids.
As stated above, this invention prevents, repairs, and completely eliminates leaks of toxic and dangerous substances from valves constructed from exotic materials such as those employed for lethal and severe service applications.
My invention uses a magnetic coupling to eliminate or enclose the stem seal of a valve, especially one employed in lethal or severe service applications. It is able to do this for two reasons: The magnets are kept outside the valve bonnet completely, and the materials that conduct and/or allow the magnetic flux to pass through the bonnet or interact with it inside the bonnet are encased or enclosed with suitable compatible materials such as Monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA.
The claimed invention differs from what currently exists. My invention is the only truly hermetically sealed valve solution suitable for severe and lethal service valves, especially those employing more exotic alloys and materials that must be formed, welded, or cast at temperatures higher than the typical curie temperatures of modern high strength magnets.
This invention is an improvement on what currently exists. My invention is the only truly hermetically sealed valve solution suitable for severe and lethal service valves, especially those employing more exotic alloys and materials.
Bellows can fail catastrophically while in use resulting in severe safety hazards. Previous versions of magnetic valves simply were not compatible with many severe working fluids.
My invention encapsulates a magnetically permeable, but ordinarily non-magnetic piece of metal such as iron, steel, or ferritic stainless inside the exotic alloys and other compatible materials such as Monel, Inconel, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA that are necessary to construct modern severe and lethal service valves. Examples of this encapsulation mechanism is shown in
It can be employed for gate valves as shown in
Also, it can produce a system or network of multiple magnetically actuated valves deployed in series or in a network to improve the overall valve system reliability including the seat and corresponding leak-thru likelihood and rate to any arbitrary reliability desired, such as six-sigma.
In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, a valve assembly is generally described. In some examples, the valve assembly may comprise a valve body defining an enclosure. In some other examples, the valve assembly may further comprise a stem disposed in the enclosure. In various other examples, the valve assembly may further comprise a movable valve actuator component disposed in the enclosure and operatively coupled to a first end of the stem. In some examples, the valve assembly may further comprise an internal actuator having a ferromagnetic portion. In some examples, the ferromagnetic portion of the internal actuation mechanism may be encased or encapsulated within special alloys or materials such as such as Monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA. in order to protect the ferromagnetic portion of the internal actuation mechanism from the working fluid within thew valve. In various examples, the internal actuator may be operatively coupled to a second end of the stem. In some other examples, the valve assembly may further comprise an external actuator operatively coupled to an exterior of the valve body. In some examples, the external actuator may comprise a first magnetic pole section adjacent to the valve body. In some examples, the external actuator may comprise a second magnetic pole section adjacent to the valve body.
In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a valve assembly is provided. The valve assembly comprises: an internal actuator comprising: a ferromagnetic encased, enclosed, or surrounded by a different material.
The valve assembly may further comprise a valve body defining an enclosure, wherein the internal actuator is disposed in the enclosure; and an external actuator coupled to an exterior of the valve body, the external actuator comprising a first magnetic pole section and a second magnetic pole section adjacent to the valve body; wherein, when the first actuator component is aligned with the second actuator component at the first angular displacement, the first magnetic pole section is magnetically coupled to the first actuator component and the second magnetic pole section is magnetically coupled to the free end of the second actuator component, and rotation of the external actuator in the first direction effectuates rotation of the internal actuator in the first direction.
In various embodiments, the internal actuator comprises a ferromagnetic material, or an impermanently magnetic material encased within a nonmagnetic material that may be more suitable for the fluid being handled by the valve.
In some embodiments, the internal actuator is disposed in the enclosure; and an external actuator coupled to an exterior of the valve body, the external actuator comprising a first magnetic pole section and a second magnetic pole section adjacent to the valve body; wherein, when the first actuator component is aligned with the second actuator component at the first linear displacement, the first magnetic pole section is magnetically coupled to the first actuator component and the second magnetic pole section is magnetically coupled to the free end of the second actuator component, and translation of the external actuator in the first direction translation rotation of the internal actuator in the first direction.
In some embodiments, the valve assembly further comprises a valve member effective to open and close a fluid flow path of the valve assembly; and a valve stem operatively coupled to the internal actuator and to the valve member.
The various magnetic valve actuators described herein may be particularly useful for valves that close by pressing a moving actuator component against a fixed seat such as gate, globe, and/or butterfly valves, as such particular varieties of valves. Furthermore, the various magnetic valve actuators described herein may offer improved reliability relative to previous solutions such as springs that flex, fatigue, and/or degrade over time.
In other embodiments, the magnetic valve actuators described herein may be useful for ball or plug valves.
As previously described, the working fluids inside of valves meant for lethal and severe applications may be extremely corrosive, caustic, reactive, toxic, explosive, etc. such that ordinary materials such as steel, brass, and even stainless steel cannot effectively contain them.
The encapsulated magnetic valve actuators described herein may overcome this problem by allowing a ferromagnetically susceptible material to be encased in a more exotic alloy suitable for working with these challenging working fluids. By employing a ferromagnetic material such as steel, iron, or stainless steel, rather than permanent magnets, high temperature sealing operations such as welding, brazing, and casting can be employed to completely encapsulate and protect the ferromagnetic portion of the valve actuator mechanism from the working fluid.
Still other embodiments of the present disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which describes embodiments illustrating various examples of the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that illustrate several embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and system or process changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the embodiments of the present invention is defined only by the claims of the issued patent. It is to be understood that drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide improved systems and methods for actuating valves using encapsulated magnetic valve actuators as described herein. These embodiments may provide improved durability and leak-resistance and may prevent valves from being damaged by corrosive, caustic, reactive, toxic, explosive, or otherwise challenging working fluids. Additionally, these enclosed magnetic valve actuators described herein overcome various technical challenges presented when using conventional magnetic valves.
Item 10, the permeable core is made from iron, steel, or 400 series stainless and is encased in items 11 and 15 or 12 and 13 made from materials such as Monel, Inconel, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA that are compatible with dangerous or caustic working fluids such as H2S or HF. The external actuation mechanism, made from Items 7, 8, and 9 causes Item 10 to move when the external actuation mechanism moves via magnetic attraction and/or repulsion. Item 10 moves Item 2, the internal stem or leadscrew, which in turn moves Item 3 the valve element such as the gate shown in
Items 5, 7, and 14 are optional, but may improve the performance of the system.
Magnetic flux is transmitted across sealed interfaces from outside the valve to inside the valve, and from outside the encapsulation materials to inside them, in a manner such that the orientation of the external actuation mechanism consisting of items 7, 8, and 9 corresponds to a preferred orientation of the internal portion of the actuation mechanism, Item 10, and hence motion of the external actuation mechanism results in motion of the internal actuation mechanism, allowing the valve to be opened and closed without a physical penetration of the valve stem through the bonnet (Item 6). Furthermore, by encapsulation the internal portion of the actuation mechanism 10 within encapsulating materials 11, 12, 13, and 15, and perhaps employing bonnet liner 14, all materials exposed to the working fluid can be compatible with it, while still allowing the internal portion of the actuation mechanism, Item 10 to conduct magnetic flux and hence have a preferred orientation or position with respect to the external magnetic actuator and thereby transmit motion across the sealed bonnet Item 6 or 17 depending on the embodiment of the invention. Some combination of Items 11, 12, 13, and 15 sufficient to encase and protect Item 10 are necessary in most embodiments constructed from all distinct physical parts, though a thin coating of material applied by a deposition process or even a dipping process would also likely suffice in many other applications—this would result in a thin layer of a compatible material coating the internal actuation member Item 10 (and perhaps the bonnet Item 6 or 17 as well).
Items 7 thru 9, the external actuation mechanism, may in some embodiments move in a linear or sliding rather than rotating fashion, as shown in
A valve may be constructed to include the magnetic actuation mechanism from the start, and Item 6 the valve bonnet, may even be welded, brazed, or soldered in place prior to attaching Items 7 thru 9 that comprise the external actuation mechanism. Regardless, in this invention, Item 10, the internal portion of the magnetic actuation mechanism must be encased in some combination of Items 11, 12, 13, and Weld 15 in order to protect Item 10 from very corrosive or potentially incompatible working fluids should they enter the bonnet cavity. In some embodiments of the invention, the bonnet itself must be lined with bonnet liner 14 for material compatibility (and to allow the bulk of the bonnet to pass and not short out the magnetic flux of the actuation mechanism).
Among other potential benefits, valves in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may alleviate the problem of valves leaking, and especially valves leaking dangerous and/or difficult to contain substances such as acids, bases, and toxic gasses and fluids. Traditional valves contain stem seals that often degrade or leak over time. Previous seal-less valves often employed bending or flexing components such as bellows or membranes that can degrade or fatigue and also leak long term. Additionally, previous generations of magnetic valves usually contained internal magnets and/or operated in an on/off solenoid type manner making high temperature operation difficult to achieve for most applications. Previous magnetic valves could not handle high temperatures, couldn't be welded shut, and were not compatible with severe working fluids or the alloys that can work with them.
The invention and embodiments described herein encapsulate magnetically permeable, but ordinarily non-magnetic materials such as iron, steel, or ferritic stainless inside exotic alloys or materials such as Monel, Inconel, Hastelloy, Alloy 20, PTFE, TFM or PTA that are necessary to construct modern severe and lethal service valves. This is necessary because the working fluids inside of some valves are extremely corrosive, caustic, reactive, toxic, explosive, etc. that ordinary materials such as steel, brass, and even stainless steel cannot effectively contain them.
This approach is not ordinarily possible with a traditional permanent magnet based magnetic coupling such as those employed in previous generations of magnetic valves and couplings. Even the highest temperature rated Samarium Cobalt magnets cannot withstand the temperatures necessary to weld the exotic alloys needed for many lethal and severe service valves.
The retrofit kit version of the magnetically actuated valves as shown in
Multiple magnetically actuated valves such as this can be deployed in series or in a network to improve the overall valve system reliability including the seat and corresponding probability of leaks through the valves to any arbitrary reliability desired, such as six-sigma. The magnetic coupling components of this invention could also be used alone as a magnetic coupling—for example for lethal or severe service pumps and compressors.
Accordingly, the various embodiments described herein offer technological improvements over previous valve actuators and over magnetic valve actuators in particular.
While the invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments and illustrative figures, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments or figures described.
The particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of various embodiments of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings and/or examples making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
As used herein and unless otherwise indicated, the terms “a” and “an” are taken to mean “one,” “at least one” or “one or more.” Unless otherwise required by context, singular terms used herein shall include pluralities and plural terms shall include the singular.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural and singular number, respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” and “below” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of the application.
The description of embodiments of the disclosure is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed. While specific embodiments and examples for the disclosure are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the disclosure, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Such modifications may include, but are not limited to, changes in the dimensions and/or the materials shown in the disclosed embodiments.
Specific elements of any embodiments can be combined or substituted for elements in other embodiments. Furthermore, while advantages associated with certain embodiments of the disclosure have been described in the context of these embodiments, other embodiments may also exhibit such advantages, and not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages to fall within the scope of the disclosure.
Therefore, it should be understood that the invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It should be understood that the invention can be practiced with modification and alteration and that the invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/122,629 filed Dec. 8, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63122629 | Dec 2020 | US |
