Patent Application
20210010603
This disclosure relates to valves. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a metal-coated seat retention groove on a valve body.
Valve bodies are typically made from cast iron or steel. In a butterfly valve, a rotatable disc can form a seal with a valve seat made of a flexible material, such as rubber. One way to secure or fasten the valve seat is through a mechanism involving inserting a head of a bolt into a retention groove. The groove is a wetted area, meaning it is exposed to fluids flowing through the valve. Wetted areas can be coated with epoxy to prevent corrosion. Coating the groove with epoxy, however, can cause the available space in the groove to narrow, such that the head of the bolt can no longer fit.
It is to be understood that this summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure. This summary is exemplary and not restrictive, and it is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor delineate the scope thereof. The sole purpose of this summary is to explain and exemplify certain concepts of the disclosure as an introduction to the following complete and extensive detailed description.
Disclosed is a valve comprising: an annular body defining a body bore having a bore axis, the body further defining a channel coannular with the bore, the channel comprising an axially outer edge defining a seat retention groove, the seat retention groove comprising a metal barrier; an annular valve seat positioned in the channel, the valve seat comprising a radially inner surface; and a valve element positioned in the bore and coupled to the body, the valve element comprising a rotatable disc configured to rotate about and between a closed position, in which the rotatable disc is configured to prevent fluid from flowing through the valve, and an open position, in which the rotatable disc is configured to allow maximum fluid flow through the valve, the radially inner surface of the valve seat configured to seal against the rotatable disc in the closed position.
Also disclosed is a valve comprising: a valve body defining a body bore having a bore axis, the body further defining a channel coannular with the bore, the channel comprising an axially outer edge defining an annular seat retention groove, wherein the groove is coannular with the bore of the valve body; a corrosion-resistant metal barrier over the seat retention groove, the barrier defining a first and a second edge, each barrier edge coannular with the bore; and an epoxy coating over the first and the second barrier edges.
Also disclosed is a method of manufacturing a valve with a corrosion-resistant barrier, the method comprising: obtaining a valve body defining a body bore having a bore axis, the body further defining a channel coannular with the bore, the channel comprising an axially outer edge defining a seat retention groove; and thermal spraying a corrosion-resistant barrier over the seat retention groove, wherein thermal spraying comprises heating a material forming the corrosion-resistant barrier, and spraying a plurality of particles resulting from heating the material.
Various implementations described in the present disclosure may include additional systems, methods, features, and advantages, which may not necessarily be expressly disclosed herein but will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It is intended that all such systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within the present disclosure and protected by the accompanying claims. The features and advantages of such implementations may be realized and obtained by means of the systems, methods, features particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of such exemplary implementations as set forth hereinafter.
The features and components of the following figures are illustrated to emphasize the general principles of the present disclosure. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. Corresponding features and components throughout the figures may be designated by matching reference characters for the sake of consistency and clarity.
The present disclosure can be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description, examples, drawings, and claims, and the previous and following description. However, before the present devices, systems, and/or methods are disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the specific devices, systems, and/or methods disclosed unless otherwise specified, and, as such, can, of course, vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only and is not intended to be limiting.
The following description is provided as an enabling teaching of the present devices, systems, and/or methods in its best, currently known aspect. To this end, those skilled in the relevant art will recognize and appreciate that many changes can be made to the various aspects of the present devices, systems, and/or methods described herein, while still obtaining the beneficial results of the present disclosure. It will also be apparent that some of the desired benefits of the present disclosure can be obtained by selecting some of the features of the present disclosure without utilizing other features. Accordingly, those who work in the art will recognize that many modifications and adaptations to the present disclosure are possible and can even be desirable in certain circumstances and are a part of the present disclosure. Thus, the following description is provided as illustrative of the principles of the present disclosure and not in limitation thereof.
As used throughout, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “an element” can include two or more such elements unless the context indicates otherwise.
Ranges can be expressed herein as from “about” one particular value, and/or to “about” another particular value. When such a range is expressed, another aspect includes from the one particular value and/or to the other particular value. Similarly, when values are expressed as approximations, by use of the antecedent “about,” it will be understood that the particular value forms another aspect. It will be further understood that the endpoints of each of the ranges are significant both in relation to the other endpoint, and independently of the other endpoint.
For purposes of the current disclosure, a material property or dimension measuring about X or substantially X on a particular measurement scale measures within a range between X plus an industry-standard upper tolerance for the specified measurement and X minus an industry-standard lower tolerance for the specified measurement. Because tolerances can vary between different materials, processes and between different models, the tolerance for a particular measurement of a particular component can fall within a range of tolerances.
As used herein, the terms “optional” or “optionally” mean that the subsequently described event or circumstance can or cannot occur, and that the description includes instances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances where it does not.
The word “or” as used herein means any one member of a particular list and also includes any combination of members of that list. Further, one should note that conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain aspects include, while other aspects do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more particular aspects or that one or more particular aspects necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular aspect.
Disclosed are components that can be used to perform the disclosed methods and systems. These and other components are disclosed herein, and it is understood that when combinations, subsets, interactions, groups, etc. of these components are disclosed that while specific reference of each various individual and collective combinations and permutation of these may not be explicitly disclosed, each is specifically contemplated and described herein, for all methods and systems. This applies to all aspects of this application including, but not limited to, steps in disclosed methods. Thus, if there are a variety of additional steps that can be performed it is understood that each of these additional steps can be performed with any specific aspect or combination of aspects of the disclosed methods.
The use of the directional terms herein, such as right, left, front, back, top, bottom, and the like can refer to the orientation shown and described in the corresponding figures, but these directional terms should not be considered limiting on the orientation or configuration required by the present disclosure. The use of ordinal terms herein, such as first, second, third, fourth, and the like can refer to elements associated with elements having matching ordinal numbers. For example, a first light bulb can be associated with a first light socket, a second light bulb can be associated with a second light socket, and so on. However, the use of matching ordinal numbers should not be considered limiting on the associations required by the present disclosure. An element such as a light bulb can be a genus element that encompasses species elements such as an upper light bulb and a lower light bulb. As such, a numeric designator such as 100 can refer to the light bulb and an alphanumeric designator such as 100a and 100b can refer to the upper light bulb and the lower light bulb, for example and without limitation.
Disclosed is a valve with a corrosion-resistant barrier and associated methods, systems, devices, and various apparatus. It would be understood by one of skill in the art that the valve is described in but a few exemplary embodiments among many. No particular terminology or description should be considered limiting on the disclosure or the scope of any claims issuing therefrom.
The valve 100 can further comprise a valve shaft 120 attached to the disc 110, the valve shaft 120 rotatable about its axis within a shaft hole 122 (shown in
The valve body 102 can define a channel 202 configured to house a seating mechanism 402 (shown in
The valve seat 104 can be monolithic and can be constructed from a single or continuous piece of material. In one aspect, the valve seat 104 can be constructed from a deformable material such as a polymeric material, a polymeric-lubricant mixture and the like. In other aspects, the entire valve seat 104 can be formed from the deformable material. In some of these aspects, the valve seat 104 can be homogenous throughout the entire valve seat 104. The polymeric material of the valve seat 104 can be ethylene propylene diene monomer (“EPDM”) rubber; however, in other aspects, the polymeric material can be a different rubber formulation such as Buna-N, neoprene, nitrile, Viton, silicone rubber or other rubber formulations. In some aspects, the polymeric material can be a natural rubber.
The seating mechanism 402 can further comprise a segment 414 adjacent to the axially outer surface 410 of the valve seat 104. A plurality of segments 414 can extend end-to-end around the channel 202. An axially inner side 416 of the segment 414 can comprise a convex portion 418 configured to press the seat 104 into the conduit 206. The segment 414 can also comprise an axially outer side 420, a radially inner side 422, and a radially outer side 424. The axially outer side 420 can define a hole 426, the hole 426 configured to receive a bolt 428. The bolt 428 can comprise a head 430 and a threaded tail 432. The tail 432 can be inserted into the hole 426 of the segment 414. The hole 426 can be annular and be sized with a diameter 434 greater than a diameter 802 (shown in
The head 430 of the bolt 428 can be a regular polygon, such as a square or a hexagon. The groove 306 of the channel 202 can receive the head 430 and be configured to restrict rotation of the bolt about its axis 440. A nut 438 can be disposed on the tail 432 of the bolt 428, such that rotation of the nut 438 in one direction moves the nut 438 axially inward towards the conduit 206. The nut 438 can be a nyloc nut configured to resist loosening, or any other similar alternative known in the art. The segment 414 can be pushed by the nut 438 in the same direction, squeezing the seat 104 and forcing the deformable radially inner surface 406 of the seat 104 further radially inward. As such, the seat 104 can contact a greater portion of the valve element 106 (shown in
The channel retention groove 306, or more simply the groove 306, can comprise a radially inner portion 442, a radially outer portion 444, and an axially outer portion 446 therebetween. The radially inner portion 442 and the radially outer portion 444 can define a width 448 therebetween. The width 448 can be slightly larger than a height 450 of a face 452 of the bolt head 430. The slightly larger width 448 can allow for a non-corrosive layer or cover to be applied (such as by spraying) to the groove 306, such that the groove 306 comprising the layer can still receive the bolt head 430.
Applying a metal barrier, such as by a plasma or thermal spraying process (discussed more fully in reference to
The barrier 902 can extend completely around the annular groove 306, and in the cross-sectional view of
The spray process may not define a sharp or a clean line at the barrier edges 904,906. The barrier edges 904,906 may instead define a tapering off in thickness. In other aspects, tapes or other blocking mechanisms appropriate for high temperature spraying can be used to create a clean barrier edge 904,906. In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, the method of applying the metal barrier 902 can comprise directing a plasma spray 908 at the groove 306, spraying metal toward the groove 306, and rotating the valve body 102 about the bore axis 214 (not shown) such that the metal barrier 902 covers the groove 306. In various aspects, the plasma spray 908 can be directed by a nozzle 1001 in various motions to affect the barrier 902 properties, such as thickness, width, and uniformity. For example, the plasma spray 908 can remain in a fixed position. The plasma spray 908 can also move translationally in a radially inward and outward direction as the valve body 102 is rotating, in order to achieve a desired width between the first and second barrier edges 904,906. The plasma spray 908 can also move according to the contours of the valve body 102, the movement comprising a combination of rotations and translations, such that the spray 908 can maintain a direction facing the target surface at all times.
The barrier 902 coating can be applied to bare metal on the valve body 102. As such, bare corrodible metal such as cast iron or steel can be exposed on the valve body 102 surface at the barrier edges 904,906. Epoxy can be applied to the valve body 102, and particularly at and over the barrier edges 904,906, after the plasma spray process.
As shown in
Coating quality can be assessed by measuring its porosity, oxide content, macro and micro-hardness, bond strength and surface roughness. Generally, the coating quality increases with increasing particle velocities. Thermal spraying includes numerous variations, including plasma spraying, detonation spraying, wire arc spraying, flame spraying, high velocity oxy-fuel coating spraying (HVOF), high velocity air fuel (HVAF), warm spraying, and cold spraying. Plasma spraying uses a high-temperature plasma jet generated by arc discharge with temperatures that can be above 15,000 K, making it possible to spray refractory materials such as oxides.
One should note that conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more particular embodiments or that one or more particular embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the present disclosure. Any process descriptions or blocks in flow diagrams should be understood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process, and alternate implementations are included in which functions may not be included or executed at all, may be executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art of the present disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the present disclosure. Further, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any and all combinations and sub-combinations of all elements, features, and aspects discussed above. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of the present disclosure, and all possible claims to individual aspects or combinations of elements or steps are intended to be supported by the present disclosure.
