The present invention is in the technical area of variable control valves. In the current art the most common way to vary the flow of a gas, liquid or other media is to make use of a butterfly valve or a ball valve. The problem with butterfly valves is in the way they are connected to the inner surface of the conduit. Typically the body or plate of the valve is attached to a rod. This rod is inserted into openings in the interior of the conduit to secure the plate. This is a very weak structure and cannot handle much pressure before failure. Another disadvantage of a butterfly valve is that the resulting flow on the downstream side of the valve is very turbulent. This causes problems when exacting pressure is needed for a certain application such as mixing gases etc . . . The pressure is hard to maintain because of the turbulent conditions. A further disadvantage of a butterfly valve is the significant resistance when the valve is fully open due to the stem and valve plate interfering with the continuous and even flow of gas liquid or other media.
A ball valve does not have the weakness aspect but does have significant turbulence. As a ball valve opens partially water is forced into the side of the conduit creating turbulence and cavitation. Cavitation is the formation of vapor cavities in a liquid—i.e. small liquid-free zones (“bubbles” or “voids”)—that are the consequence of forces acting upon the liquid. It usually occurs when a liquid is subjected to rapid changes of pressure that cause the formation of cavities where the pressure is relatively low. When subjected to higher pressure, the voids implode and can generate an intense shockwave.
Cavitation is a significant cause of wear in some engineering contexts. Collapsing voids that implode near to a metal surface cause cyclic stress through repeated implosion. Repeated implosion results in surface fatigue of the metal causing a type of wear also called “cavitation”. The most common examples of this kind of wear are to pump impellers and bends where a sudden change in the direction of liquid occurs. Cavitation is usually divided into two classes of behavior: inertial (or transient) cavitation and non-inertial cavitation.
Inertial cavitation is the process where a void or bubble in a liquid rapidly collapses, producing a shock wave. Inertial cavitation occurs in nature in the strikes of mantis shrimps and pistol shrimps, as well as in the vascular tissues of plants. In man-made objects, it can occur in control valves, pumps, propellers and impellers. Cavitation can also occur in a ball valve.
Non-inertial cavitation is the process in which a bubble in a fluid is forced to oscillate in size or shape due to some form of energy input, such as an acoustic field.
Since the shock waves formed by collapse of the voids are strong enough to cause significant damage to moving parts, cavitation is usually an undesirable phenomenon. It is very often specifically avoided in the design of valves. Eliminating cavitation is a major field in the study of fluid dynamics. However, it is sometimes useful and does not cause damage when the bubbles collapse away from machinery, such as in supercavitation.
What is clearly needed is a variable valve that has the strength and sealing characteristics of a ball valve with the ability to vary the flow in said valve with a minimum of turbulence and to handle very high pressures. What is also needed is a variable valve that is adapted to inject gas, liquid, solids, semisolids and or plasma into an existing media stream via hollow or semi hollow rollers adapted for said purpose.
One object of the invention is to provide a high pressure valve with a precise flow control with a minimum of turbulence and cavitation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable ball valve adapted to engineer flow control through a plurality of conduits including the ability of inducing a vortex for flow control.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable flow adjustable ball valve capable of causing purposeful cavitation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable ball valve that is adapted to ionize gasses into an existing media stream with the ability to control the flow of said media stream very precisely and with high pressure sealing capabilities.
In one embodiment of the invention openings are incorporated into the interior of the rollers of a variable ball valve so that media may be mixed in this way.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a variable ball valve with rounded shaped rollers. This shape causes less turbulence as gas or liquid flows through a conduit. In addition because of the cylindrical shape of the rollers a boundary layer effect enables the gas or media to flow more smoothly through the valve.
Another object of the invention is to provide a valve that is capable of splitting water through cavitation through electromagnetic frequency adjustments and or via the utilization of piezoelectric elements in rollers of valves.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable flow valve inside a ball valve capable of hydraulic actuation, mechanical actuation, electrical actuation, wireless actuation and magnetic actuation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable flow valve inside a ball valve capable of being used to adjust PH and to mix chemicals as they are moving through the conduit.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable valve incorporating a transformer into the interior of one or each rollers so that the high voltage may be accomplished in this way. In this way one can control high pressure gas with precision with a variable valve that has a high pressure seal and at the same time ionize said gas with high voltage of any frequency.
Another object of the invention is to provide a variable valve with sensors that can detect shock waves in any media and alter said waves to a different form.
a is an illustration of a variable valve in the partially open position incorporating an elliptical shape according to one embodiment of the present invention.
b is an illustration of a variable valve in the open position incorporating a square shape according to one embodiment of the present invention.
c is an illustration of a variable valve in the open position incorporating a triangle shape according to one embodiment of the present invention.
d is an illustration of a variable valve in the open position incorporating a star shape according to one embodiment of the present invention.
e is an illustration of a variable valve in the open position incorporating a square shape with corrugated upper edges according to one embodiment of the present invention.
a is a variable valve 404 in a partially open position. Rollers 401 are rotated in opposite directions so that the opening forms an elliptical eye like shape 402. This shape causes less turbulence as gas or liquid flows through a conduit. In addition because of the cylindrical shape of the rollers 401 a boundary layer effect enables the gas or media to flow more smoothly through the valve. Element 403 can function as a gear driver driving the whole assembly and may incorporate a media injection function whereby additional media may be injected into main stream of media being controlled by variable valve assembly 404.
b is a variable valve 404 in a partially open position. Rollers 401 are rotated in opposite directions so that the opening forms a square opening 402. This square shape may be designed for many purposes one of which may be to purposefully cause cavitation in main media stream being controlled by variable valve 404. Rollers 401 may be tuned to exhibit a certain frequency which is desirable for obtaining cavitation in the main media stream in concert with the square shape. In addition, because of the cylindrical shape of the rollers 401, a boundary layer effect enables the gas or media to flow more smoothly through the valve. Element 403 can function as a gear driver driving the whole assembly and may incorporate a media injection function whereby additional media may be injected into main stream of media being controlled by variable valve assembly 404. In one embodiment variable valve 404 is used to control the flow of air or hydrogen through a hydrogen or hydroxy gas generation system. In is known to the inventor that the cavitation of water and other solutions produces the constituents of the H2o molecule as hydrogen and oxygen. Incorporating valve 404 into the inlet, outlet or in the water solution used during electrolysis can enhance the production of hydrogen and oxygen by inducing cavitation in the solution. Valve 404 can also be utilized to produce cavitation in gas streams associated with electrolysis systems.
c is a variable valve 404 in an open position. Rollers 401 are rotated in opposite directions so that the opening forms a triangle shaped opening 402. This triangle shape may be designed for many purposes one of which may be to purposefully cause cavitation in media or gas streams.
d is a variable valve 404 in an open position. Rollers 401 are rotated in opposite directions so that the opening forms a star shaped opening 402. This star shape may be designed for many purposes one of which may be to purposefully cause cavitation in media or gas streams.
e is a variable valve 404 in an open position. Rollers 401 are rotated in opposite directions so that the opening forms a corrugated square shaped opening 402. This corrugated square shape may be designed for many purposes one of which may be to purposefully cause cavitation in media or gas streams.
Element 604 is an actuation device which is affixed to element 610. Element 610 is affixed to surface 601 which is the sealing surface as seen as element 903 of
Openings 1002 may also be slots or any other shaped opening. In one embodiment of the invention rollers 1001 are non-electrically conductive or coated with a non-conductive material so that a high voltage may be applied to rollers 1001. The high voltage may be from 0 to any high voltage such as 20,000 volts. In this way a media or gas may be also ionized while traveling through variable valve or variable ball valve. Any media or gas injected through openings 1002 may also be ionized by passing through rollers charged with a very high voltage. In another embodiment a transformer is situated into the interior of one or each rollers 1001 so that the high voltage may be accomplished in this way. In this way one can control high pressure gas with precision with a variable valve that has a high pressure seal and at the same time ionize said gas with high voltage of any frequency. It is known to the inventor that with several valves in line adapted with the protrusions of
In a fluid application sensors can detect a shock wave and speed of travel through the conduit timing the partial closing of a variable valve to coincide with its arrival at the valve. This will decrease the shock wave and save vital machinery from damage in the case of line hammer in a fluid system.
The present application claims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 61/799,289, filed on Mar. 15, 2013.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61799289 | Mar 2013 | US |