TORQUE SUPPORT FOR A VALVE LOCK

Abstract

The invention relates to a torque support for a valve lock (5) in order to prevent a rotation of the lock with respect to the valve (1), wherein a connection housing (8) adjoins the valve lock and at least one boom (9, 9a) carried by the connection housing rests against the valve housing in the pivoted-out end position. Similarly, the torque support can also be connected to the valve housing and the boom can rest against the connection housing, or the connection housing is integrated in the valve lock.

Description

The invention relates to a torque support for a valve lock in order to prevent a rotation of the lock with respect to the valve.

Valve lock systems perform the task of preventing the valve from being actuated in an unauthorized manner so that an unauthorized change to the state of the valve is precluded.

These locking systems are therefore inserted as a separate component between the valve and the valve actuator, wherein this separate component substantially comprises or impinges on the interfacing means between the valve actuator, e.g. a hand wheel or a hand lever, and the valve spindle.

Valve locking systems or respectively the torque supports thereof and adapters for manually operated valves are required for adapting to the wide range of valves in various designs which are being used. Adapters of the locking systems have to be adapted to the different spindle shapes. The normal case is one where the end position can be set in said locking systems. The positions “Valve completely open” and “valve completely closed” are frequently selected as the end position, wherein however other valve positions are also possible.

The interface between the valve spindle and the actual lock of the locking system occurs, e.g., thereby via a hollow shaft, on the outside of which teeth for a retaining pawl are situated and in the end regions of which receptacles for adapters are located, which on the one hand are used to connect the spindle and on the other hand are used to connect the hand wheel or the actuating lever.

Valve locking systems are also used everywhere, where an operational sequence for the valves contributes to an increase in the personal and facilities' safety. Such facilities frequently include off shore oil rigs, chemical plants and oil refineries, those of the gas industry as well as nuclear power plants.

A torque support generally serves the purpose of preventing a rotation of the valve lock with respect to the valve. This is also important for the reason of securing the end-position setting of said valve lock. In the locked state, the torque support must intercept the torque during an unauthorized attempt to actuate the valve so that the entire lock on the valve cannot be rotated.

An arrangement, in which a robust, heavy web is provided, is thereby known from the European patent publication EP 0 942 215 A1. Said web is fixed to the valve lock overlaps the hand wheel and mounts to two brackets beneath said hand wheel, which encompass the valve or respectively the valve housing thereof like a clamp. These two clamps are screwed to one another and have to be adapted to the valve housing or the valve lever. This version is complicated to install and destroys the design of the lock per se.

An arrangement is known from the WIPO patent publication WO 2009/026 905 A1, in which an adapter ring for connecting the torque support to the valve lock and two arresting rings that are located inside the adapter ring are provided, each arresting ring carrying a counter bearing plate that extends downward. The counter bearing plates only extend over part of the circumference of the arresting rings and can thus overlap either the pipe containing the valve slide or the sealing means or corresponding devices on the valve housing, by which the rotation of the valve lock is prevented. A plurality of locking screws is necessary and provided in said adapter ring for rotationally fixing the arresting rings. This arrangement is individually adapted to each valve design and can therefore not be manufactured in a prefabricated manner and requires a plurality of components comprising screws, tools and the like for installation.

A locking device for valves became known from the American patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,555, which is not comparable with the locking system according to the European patent publication EP 0 942 215 A1 that can be actuated with a key. In this known apparatus, the lever actuating the valve slide is fixed in both end positions thereof, i.e. in the completely open position or in the completely closed position, by means of two overlapping brackets, which can be connected to one another and secured via padlocks. This system is only operational if the two padlocks are taken off, the two brackets are removed and the actuating lever for the valve slide is actuated. In this case, a connection therefore does not exist between the valve spindle and the actual lock of the locking system, but rather the locking system referenced here must be completely dismantled if the actuating lever is to be operated. In these arrangements, it is not ensured that only a fixed operational sequence of the different valves to be actuated can be executed.

Valve locking systems normally work, as can be seen in the European patent publication EP 0 942 215 A1, with a plurality of locks and keys and the valve locks can only be actuated if both keys are in the lock. The keys are thereby individually coded. A key having incorrect coding cannot be inserted into the lock or rather cannot release said lock. The respective keys can only be withdrawn if the valve is located in a certain position. If one key is withdrawn, the other key is then caught in the lock. It is usually the case that the key can only be withdrawn if the valve is completely open, and the other key can only be removed if the valve is completely closed. The arrangement known from the American patent publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,55 does not fulfill this requirement.

The primary aim of the present invention is to provide a torque support, which results in low assembly costs, facilitates an economically priced production and can be used with different types of valves.

This aim underlying the invention is met by the inventive teaching of the main claim.

Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims.

In other words, a connection housing is provided which adjoins the valve lock or is disposed in the same and comprises at least one boom capable of pivoting. Said boom is fixed pivotably to the connection housing and can be lifted upwards against the valve housing, wherein a locking device prevents said boom from pivoting backwards.

Similarly, it is however also possible for the connection housing to be connected to the valve housing and the boom can rest against the valve lock when required.

Provision is made according to the invention for the boom (s) with respect to the pivoting motion thereof to be connected under a preload to the connection housing, wherein in case of operation the pivoting motion of the boom(s) is facilitated only in one direction by the installation of a locking device. This ensures that the valve lock can not rotate with respect to the valve housing because the booms either rest on bumps of said valve housing or overlap the pipe equipped with the valve on one or both sides, or if the connection housing is attached to the valve housing, the booms rest against an oval or polygonal valve lock.

In this case, the locking device can be formed by spring loaded ratchet disks, which designed as toothed lock washers are carried on the one hand by the boom and on the other hand by a compression element or else the locking device is formed by a ratchet, which allows movement in one direction but blocks movement in the opposite direction.

According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the boom, i.e. therefore the bearing part of said boom, has one or a plurality of boreholes and the connection housing one or a plurality of connecting disks, which correspond to the head section of the bearing part, wherein boreholes are likewise provided in said connecting disks. The boreholes can also lie on different pitch circle diameters and are intended to receive pins, which now fixedly connect said boom to the connection housing. Said boom is thereby brought into the locking position and then pinned to said connection housing, wherein a fine adjustment can take place due to the different pitch dimensions for the boreholes.

The boom or booms carries at the end thereof a spacer element, which can compensate for small diameter differences in the valve housing. These spacer elements can be push fit onto the booms or else said spacer elements can also be mounted eccentrically on the end of said booms and in so doing bridge certain clearance differences.

The boom itself can be of one-piece or multiple-part configuration.

In addition, the option exists for the booms to carry tensioning bands so that when connected to the connection housing said booms are additionally fixed by the tensioning bands.

The locking device is preferably provided in the connection housing and safely positioned here against manipulation, i.e. access to the locking device is only possible with the use of certain special tools. Provision can also be made for no access to be provided in that the locking device is riveted. Access is then only possible by destroying said device.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained below with the aid of the drawings. In so doing, the drawings show in

FIG. 1 an arrangement of the valve and valve lock comprising the attached connection housing and the booms resting against the valve housing, in

FIG. 2 in larger scale the mounting of the boom in the connection housing, in

FIG. 3 a modified embodiment of the locking device in locked position, in

FIG. 4 a further modified embodiment of the locking device and in

FIG. 5 a section through the arrangement according to FIG. 4 corresponding to the sectional depiction in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1, a valve is depicted, which is inserted into a pipe 2, wherein the valve slide 3, which closes the pipe 2, can be seen in the drawing. Said valve slide 3 is connected to a hand wheel 4 via a gear assembly designated with the reference numeral 28. Said valve slide 3 can be actuated via the hand wheel 4. A valve lock 5 is inserted between said hand wheel and said gear assembly, said valve lock facilitating or preventing the actuation of the actual valve 1 in a known manner per se via the keys 6 and 7.

A connection housing 8, which pursuant to the drawing in FIG. 1 carries a boom 9, adjoins the valve lock 5 in a torque-proof manner, wherein said boom is pivotably disposed on the connection housing 8 and can rest against the polygonal wall of the valve housing 31 when a spacing element 10 is inserted between said boom and said valve housing. An identical boom 9 can, of course, be provided on the back side of the actual valve 1 depicted in FIG. 1. The mounting of the boom or booms 9 in said connection housing 8 can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2.

A connection housing part 8 is depicted in FIG. 2, which receives a shaft 15, which traverses a bearing part 16 of the boom 9. The frontal regions of the bearing part 16 of said boom 9 are provided with a toothing 12, which works together with the toothing 12a of compression elements 17 and 18, which are likewise disposed on the shaft 15 but in a manner which allows them to be displaceable in the axial direction of said shaft 15. The toothings 12, 12a form a locking device 11. The compression elements 17 and 18 are mounted in a torque-proof manner in the connection housing 8 by means of the groove and spring arrangement 30 and are pressed against the toothing 12 of the bearing part 16 by springs 19 and 20, which are supported on the other end on the inside of end caps 21 and 22, which close the opening provided in the connection housing part 8. Said end caps 21 and 22 are fixed in a tamper-proof manner by end cap 27 in said connection housing part 8 so that an unwanted manipulation of the device, which allows the pivoting motion in only one direction, by unauthorized persons is not possible.

Due to the previously described device, a pivoting motion of the booms or boom 9 is only possible in one direction, which is directed towards the valve housing 31, whereas a pivoting motion in the opposite direction is prevented by the toothings 12 and 12a. In addition, said toothings 12 and 12a, that is to say these toothed lock washers, cause said boom 9 to be placed against the valve housing with a certain preload. Should certain clearances arise in this case, it should be noted that the spacer elements 10 can compensate for them, particularly if they are eccentrically mounted.

In FIG. 3, a ratcheting assembly is depicted, in which a ratchet 23 is pivotably mounted at 24 and can be lifted against the action of a return spring 25. Said ratchet 23 works together with a gear wheel 26, which has a corresponding contact surface for said ratchet 23. When the gear wheel 26 moves in the direction of arrow F, the tooth of the gear wheel 26 can slide up on the angular face of said ratchet 23 and lift said ratchet against the action of the spring 25, whereas in the case of a backward movement, i.e. a movement against the direction of arrow F, the tooth of said gear wheel 26 rests against a corresponding projection of said ratchet 23 and prevents a backward movement. Said gear wheel 26 can thereby be configured on the bearing part 16 of the boom 9 and the component provided with said ratchet 23 is connected to the connection housing part 8.

Identical components as in the previous figures are in the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5 and have the same reference numerals but are provided with the additional letter a, e.g. the valve lock 5a with the keys 6a and 7a.

The embodiment shown in this exemplary embodiment is integrated into the valve lock 5a, which in so doing has connecting disks 35, which rest against the front faces of the bearing part 16a. These connecting disks 35 have boreholes 34 and the front faces of said bearing part 16a also have boreholes 33, which jointly coincide with the boreholes 35. Locking pins 36 or screws, rivets or the like can be inserted in these coinciding boreholes, whereby the boom 9a can be fixed in the locking position. The connecting disks 35 have in this case a certain number of boreholes, whereby said boreholes can also lie on different pitch circle diameters.

A fine adjustment can occur due to the different pitches for the boreholes. The shaft 15 explained with the aid of FIG. 2, which is denoted in this embodiment as shaft 15a, thereby traverses the bearing part 16a and the connecting disks 35.

The torque support according to the invention represents a more cost-effective solution than the individually adapted torque supports from prior art. By means of the design of the torque support according to the invention, said torque support can be individually adapted to the most varied valve sizes and valve forms

The torque support according to the invention incurs lower assembly costs, is cheaper to manufacture and is very stable depending on the design.

Whereas a one-piece boom is explained in the previous description, said boom can, of course, also be of multiple-part configuration in order therefore to facilitate an individual adaptation to different valve forms.

Claims

1. Torque support for a valve lock (5), which is inserted between an actuating device (4) and a valve slide (3) and can be locked by means of keys (6, 7), in order to prevent a rotation of the valve lock (5) with respect to the valve housing, characterized byat least one boom (9, 9a) which is carried by the valve (1) in an indirectly or directly pivotable manner and in the pivoted-out end position prevents a rotation of the valve lock with respect to the valve, and by a locking device (11, 14, 32) which prevents the pivoting motion of the boom or booms (9, 9a) back into the initial starting position.

2. Torque support according to claim 1, characterized bya connection housing (8) which accommodates the locking device (11, 14, 32) and can be fixed to the valve lock (5) or the valve housing (31).

3. Torque support according to claim 1, characterizedin that the connection housing (8, 8a) and the locking device (11, 14, 32) are integrated in the valve lock (5, 5a) or in the valve housing (31).

4. Torque support according to claim 1, 2, or 3, characterizedin that the boom or booms (9) with respect to the pivoting motion thereof is connected under preload to the connection housing (8).

5. Torque support according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterizedin that the locking device (11) comprises spring loaded ratchet disks having toothings (12, 12a).

6. Torque support according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterizedin that the locking device (11) is formed by a ratcheting assembly (14).

7. Torque support according to claims 1, 2, 3, and 5, 6, characterizedin that the locking device (11, 14) is disposed in the connection housing (8).

8. Torque support according to claim 7, characterizedin that the locking device (11) is disposed in a tamper-proof manner in the connection housing (8) or in the valve housing (31) using closure means (27).

9. Torque support according to one or a plurality of the preceding claims, characterized byone or a plurality of boreholes (33) in the head portion of the bearing part (16a) of the boom (9a) and one or a plurality of boreholes (34) in one or a plurality of connecting disks (35) of the connection housing (8a) as well as by pins (36) or screws or rivets or the like which can be inserted into said boreholes (33 and 34).

10. Torque support according to one or a plurality of the preceding claims, characterizedin that the boom or booms (9) carry spacing elements (10) on the ends thereof.

11. Torque support according to claim 10, characterizedin that the spacing elements (10) can be push fit onto the booms.

12. Torque support according to claim 10, characterizedin that the spacing elements (10) are mounted eccentrically on the end of the booms (9).

13. Torque support according to one or a plurality of the claims 1-12, characterizedin that the booms (9) are designed as one piece.

14. Torque support according to one or a plurality of the preceding claims 1-12, characterizedin that the boom or booms (9) are of multiple-part configuration.

15. Torque support according to one or a plurality of the preceding claims, characterizedin that the booms (9) carry tensioning bands.