Claims
- 1. A pressure relief valve, said valve comprising:
a valve body; a serrated valve tube configured to be received by the valve body; a valve seal carrier held in a desired position on one end of the serrated valve tube; a spring retainer ring fitted over an outside diameter of the serrated valve tube wherein the spring retainer ring is positioned on a desired location on the serrated valve tube during assembly to set an approximate release pressure for the pressure relief valve; and a valve spring positioned over the outside diameter of the serrated valve tube such that the valve spring is constrained by the spring retainer ring.
- 2. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 further comprising an elastomeric valve seal mounted on the valve seal carrier that is held against a sealing surface on the valve body through the interaction of the valve spring, the spring retainer ring and the valve body to seal the pressure relief valve.
- 3. The pressure relief valve of claim 2 wherein the valve seal carrier further comprises a groove for receiving the elastomeric valve seal.
- 4. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 further comprising a deformation slot formed on a serrated end of the serrated valve tube that allows the serrated valve tube to deform to receive the spring retainer ring.
- 5. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 wherein the serrated valve tube further comprises slots in a valve seal carrier end of the serrated valve tube that permit a fluid flow through the pressure relief valve in response to a sufficiently high pressure.
- 6. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 wherein the valve seal carrier is held on the serrated valve tube through the interaction of a hole in the serrated valve tube and a mating protrusion positioned on the valve seal carrier.
- 7. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 wherein the pressure relief valve is configured to receive one a variety of different types of valve springs during assembly and the type of valve spring is selected based upon the desired release pressure of the pressure relief valve.
- 8. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 wherein the valve body is configured to receive a “T” fitting.
- 9. The pressure relief valve of claim 1 wherein the valve body is configured to receive male and female luer fittings.
- 10. A pressure valve having a release pressure for controlling the flow of a fluid through a fluid channel; said valve comprising:
a valve body having a sealing surface; a valve tube; a valve seal mounted on the valve tube; a spring for creating a force that holds the valve stem against the sealing surface; and a spring tension selector that allows the force created by the spring to be adjusted.
- 11. The valve of claim 10 wherein the spring tension selector further comprises a spring retainer ring that interacts with a series of serrations positioned on the outside diameter of the valve tube to allow the force created by the spring to be selectively controlled.
- 12. The valve of claim 10 wherein the valve seal is mounted on the valve tube through the use of a barbed protrusion.
- 13. The valve of claim 10 wherein the spring is selected from a set of springs having different number of coils and wherein the spring is selected from the set of springs based upon the desired release pressure of the valve.
- 14. The valve of claim 10 wherein the spring is selected from a set of springs constructed from different gauge wires and wherein the spring is selected from the set of springs based upon the desired release pressure of the valve.
- 15. The valve of claim 10 wherein the valve body further comprises an inlet port and an outlet port and wherein one of the ports is designed to receive a female luer fitting and one of the ports is designed to receive a male luer fitting.
- 16. The valve of claim 10 wherein the valve body is configured to connect to a “T” fitting.
- 17. The valve of claim 10 wherein the valve body is configured to receive barbed hose fittings.
- 18. A method of setting a release pressure for a pressure relief valve having a valve tube with a predetermined number of serrations during assembly that interacts with a spring retainer ring to apply a spring generated force to a valve seal, said method comprising:
selecting a desired release pressure; determining a serration that corresponds to the desired release pressure based upon a prior determined relationship between the serration location and the release pressure of the pressure relief valve; and positioning the retainer ring on the determined serration.
- 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of selecting a spring that will be used to generate the spring force from a set of springs wherein the spring is selected based upon the desired release pressure.
- 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of selecting a spring further comprises selecting a spring from a set of springs having different numbers of coils wherein the number of coils selected is based upon the desired release pressure of the pressure relief valve.
- 21. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of selecting a spring further comprises selecting a spring from a set of springs constructed from different gauges of wire and wherein the gauge of wire selected depends upon the desired release pressure of the pressure relief valve.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/384,852, filed Jun. 1, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60384852 |
Jun 2002 |
US |