JPH0362948B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a valve that is capable of moving between an open position and a closed position during normal operation, but is selected into the open or closed position when exposed to a predetermined high temperature level. Concerning a valve consisting of being automatically moved to one side.

In many cases it is desirable to utilize valves that open and close quickly to achieve normal valve function under normal conditions, but such valves are When exposed to high temperatures, the valve operates into one of its open and closed positions. For example, such valves can be used in refineries, chemical plants, etc. and Christmas trees, and are used in distribution lines making oil and gas wells, automatically closing as a safety precaution in case of fire, and prevents leakage of fluid flowing through the valve. On the other hand, it may be desirable for the valve to be in the open position in the event of a fire to release fluid into the flame. It is desirable for such a valve to be able to utilize the valve as a normal valve during daily operation, except that the valve can be rapidly opened and closed at will.

Many valves have been proposed that include soluble elements that produce several responses when exposed to temperatures sufficient to cause them to melt or melt. In these types of valves, the soluble element always maintains the valve in one of the open and closed positions and moves the valve to the other position when exposed to elevated temperatures. This type of valve is normally inoperable between open and closed positions and remains fixed in one position until exposed to elevated temperatures.

Furthermore, when the above-mentioned soluble element dissolves, a portion of the valve may become a projectile, posing a danger to the surrounding area. That is, when such a valve is operated at very high pressures, e.g.
The injection of the soluble element is very rapid and powerful, making it extremely dangerous.

Further, this type of heat-sensitive valve is known as described in US Pat. No. 3,842,854 and US Pat. No. 3,618,627. However, since it is not possible to control the outflow rate of soluble elements, the stem etc. may be violently struck against the body etc. by the high pressure (fluid pressure etc.) within the body, and the valve may be damaged.

It is an object of the present invention to be able to move between an open and a closed position during normal operation and to be automatically moved to the closed position when exposed to abnormally high temperatures or depending on the design of the valve element. It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat-sensitive valve that is automatically moved to an open position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermal valve that can prevent soluble elements from acting as projectiles and posing a danger to nearby personnel and equipment when exposed to abnormally high temperatures. be.

Another object of the invention is to dampen the movement of valve elements;
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a thermal valve in which the soluble element is arranged in such a way as to prevent the valve element from striking against the body or bonnet with excessive force.

Yet another object of the invention is that the soluble element is provided external to the valve mechanism itself so that the soluble element can be quickly replaced and the valve mechanism can operate in a normal manner upon dissolution of the soluble element. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a heat-sensitive valve that is

The present invention has been proposed to achieve the above object, and the present invention reciprocates the valve element within the valve body between the open and closed positions of the valve by means of an actuating device connected to the valve element. A valve having a hollow bonnet on one side of the body, the valve being formed to move the valve stem outwardly using fluid pressure within the body when the soluble element is dissolved. Further, a seal is fitted inside the bonnet to seal the valve stem vertically slidably within the bonnet through the seal, and a seat provided on the body is attached to the lower part of the valve stem. The upper end of a valve element that can be opened and closed is connected, and a threaded part is provided on the upper part of the valve stem, and a hollow nut that connects the threaded part to the handle is threaded with a threaded part provided on the inner surface. The nut has a cap having an outwardly curved shoulder at its lower part, and a cap having an inwardly curved shoulder at its upper end, and a soluble resin which melts at a predetermined temperature. The cap is fixed to the bonnet and has an opening for allowing the dissolved element to flow outward when the soluble element is dissolved, and the nut is fixed to the bonnet. It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat-sensitive valve characterized by being provided in a free state.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, a valve body is shown having a conventional body 10, bonnet 11, valve element 12 and seat 13 (only one shown). valve element 1
2 is connected to a valve stem 14 which projects above the bonnet 11 and is slidably sealed thereto via a seal 15 and a seal nut 16.

The valve described above is conventional, with the valve element 12 having a seat 13 for controlling the flow rate through the body 10.
The valve element 12 is not limited to the configuration described above, as long as it can be moved between an open position and a closed position for opening and closing. Furthermore, it is a matter of course that the bottom surface of the valve stem 14 receives fluid pressure within the body 10.

An actuating device for reciprocating the valve element 12 is also provided, which can be functionally divided into three parts. In FIG. 1, the first portion is shown as a cap 17 secured to the bonnet 11 by a series of cap screws 18. The second part of the actuator is housed within the cap 17 and is shown as a hollow cylindrical fusible element 19 having an upper end supported in an inwardly curved shoulder 20 integrally formed therewith. has been done. The third part of the actuating device includes a nut 2 screwed onto the valve stem 14 and having an outwardly curved shoulder 22 supported on a bearing 23.
1 and the bearing 23 is shown as soluble element 1
It engages with the lower end of 9.

Connect the ordinary handle 24 to the nut 21 and rotate the handle 24 to separate the valve stem 14 and valve element 1.
2 to reciprocate.

With respect to the device described above, it is clear that the pressing force created by the valve stem 14 under fluid pressure within the body 10 is transmitted through the fusible element 19 to the cap 17 and then to the bonnet 11.

Thus, when the soluble element 19 is sufficiently heated by a nearby flame, the soluble element 19 melts or melts, and the force created by the internal valve pressure acting on the valve stem 14 causes the molten soluble element to melt. Cap 19 17
It is extruded from the openings 25 and 26 inside. As molten soluble element 19 is forced out, valve stem 14 and valve element 12 move upwardly until tapered shoulder 27 on valve stem 14 engages shoulder 28 on bonnet 11. Of course, these respective shoulders 27, 28 are positioned such that they engage after moving the valve element 12 to the valve closed position shown in FIG. Additionally, the length of soluble element 19 should be at least equal to the distance that valve stem 14 must move to move valve element 12 from the open position to the closed position.

As mentioned above, high pressure within the body 10 (e.g.
5000 psi) would act to slam the valve stem 14 against the bonnet 11 if unrestricted. According to one aspect of the invention, this is prevented by selecting the number and size of the apertures 25, 26, so that the melted soluble element 19 is forced through the apertures 25, 26 at a sufficiently low speed. The valve stem 14 is designed to protrude outward, damping outward movement of the valve stem 14, and avoiding impact of the shoulder 27 of the valve stem 14 against the shoulder 28 of the bonnet 11 as much as possible.

Referring to FIG. 2, the apparatus is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 with the following exceptions. That is, the actuator utilizes a rotating rising stem type valve in contrast to the non-rotating rising stem type valve of FIG. Components in FIG. 2 that correspond to respective components in FIG. 1 are designated by the same number with the addition of the suffix A.

In the actuator of FIG. 2, the nut 21A does not rotate and is held against rotation by a pin 29 that engages a radial slot 30 in an outwardly bent shoulder 22A. . Furthermore, as will be described in detail in the embodiment of FIG.
7A and then to the bonnet 11a. The valve can be sensitively actuated between open and closed positions by simply rotating handle 24A. However, when the soluble element 19A melts, the internal pressure of the valve pushes the valve stem 14A upwardly to close the valve. Of course, soluble element 1
9A long enough so that the soluble element 19A
When the valve stem 14A dissolves, the valve element (first
(corresponding to 12 in the figure) can be moved to the closed position.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the actuating device, in which parts corresponding to the respective components of FIGS. 1 and 2 are designated by the same numerals with the suffix B. FIG. Valve stem 14B
is screwed onto nut 21B, and nut 21B is sealed to the bonnet by seal 15B. The above-mentioned pressing force against the valve stem 14B is applied to the nut 21.
Soluble element 19B followed by cap 1 by B
The power is transmitted to the bonnet 11B via 7B. Reciprocating movement of valve stem 14B is accomplished by rotating handle 24B, which rotates nut 21B. Under normal conditions, longitudinal movement of nut 21B is prevented by clamping shoulder 22B between bearings 23B and 35. Therefore, in FIG. 3, when the soluble element 19B melts, as the soluble element 19B melts, it is affected by the pressure inside the body (corresponding to the reference numeral 10 in FIG. 1). Valve stem 14B will move outward through nut 21B. Furthermore, the speed of the outward movement is cap1
It can be controlled by the number and size of openings 25B provided in 7B. Also, under normal conditions, the length of the portion of the nut 21B located below the seal 15B is longer than the distance that the nut 21B moves outward when the soluble element 19B melts.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment, and FIGS. 1, 2,
Components corresponding to respective components in FIG. 3 are designated by the same number with the suffix C. The figure shows soluble element 2
An actuator consisting of a rising stem type valve is shown which allows relatively rapid movement of the valve stem 14CR upon melting of 1C. In this figure, the first part of the actuator is connected to cap 51 by bearings 52 and 53.
a sleeve 5 mounted for rotational movement within the
bearings 52 and 53 sandwich an outwardly curved flange 54 between them. Additionally, the hub 55 of the handle 24C is part of the first portion and supports the fusible element 21C. Of course, soluble element 21C is the second part of the actuator. The third part of the actuating device is the threaded upper end 5 of the valve stem 14C which is threaded onto the soluble element 21C.
It is 6.

For this embodiment, rotational movement of handle 24C rotates cap 57 and fusible element 21C, thus allowing fusible element 21C to reciprocate valve stem 14C. As explained in FIG. 1, the pressing force against the valve stem 14C generated by the fluid pressure within the body is transmitted from the valve stem 14C to the soluble element 21C, then to the cap 57, hub 55, sleeve 50, and cap 51. It is further transmitted to the bonnet 11C.

Thus, when a flame or other elevated temperature condition heats the soluble element 21C, the outward pushing force applied to the valve stem 14C causes the soluble element 21C to shear near line 58. Relax the compressive strength and shear resistance of element 12C. As a result, the valve stem 14C moves upwardly and the fusible element 12C, which is engaged with the threads of the valve stem 14C along with the valve stem 14,
It is scraped away and moved. This valve stem 14
The engagement of C can prevent the sheared portion of fusible element 12C from acting as a projectile.

In FIG. 4, it can be seen that fusible element 21C has an outer conical surface 59 that engages a corresponding conical surface 60 on the inside of cap 57. Valve stem 14C
When applying an upward pressing force to the soluble element 21C, the conical shape exerts a wedge action, and the soluble element 21C can be pressed in a state of close engagement with the screw at the top of the valve stem 14C. .

Thus, a preferred embodiment of the soluble element is an acetal resin commercially available under the trade name "Delrin". Other materials used are nylon-6/6, commercially available under the name "zytel", and nylon-6/6 under the name "Lexan".
Polycarbonate, polyyrifene oxide, Noryl, and polyurethane, Texin, commercially available as Polycarbonate, can be used. Furthermore, low melting point metal alloys such as 30/70 bar solder and wood metal can be used.

Since the present invention has the configuration as detailed in the embodiments described above, the heat-sensitive valve of the present invention is different from a general valve in that the valve element normally moves between the open position and the closed position of the seal. Naturally, it operates in the same way, but when exposed to abnormally high temperatures, the valve element immediately automatically moves to the seat closing position and closes the seat, or depending on the type of valve, It is possible to automatically move to the seat release position and open the seat to prevent danger to the surrounding area.

This operation is performed by applying the dissolving action of soluble elements as in the past, but in the present invention, the pressure inside the body pushes the lower surface of the valve stem upward, and the valve stem is A force is applied that moves the nut meshing with the stem upward. At this time, the soluble element filled in the space having a predetermined vertical length formed by the shoulder at the lower end of the nut and the shoulder at the upper end of the cap is dissolved, and the dissolved element is dissolved. tends to be pushed upward by the shoulder at the lower end of the nut. At this time, the dissolved substance slowly flows out through the opening provided in the cap, so the soluble element having a predetermined length does not suddenly flow out.
While limiting the rising speed of the nut, all the melted material corresponding to a certain length flows out from the opening, so that the valve stem also gradually moves upward by the certain length of the soluble element, and the valve stem The connected valve element seats are gradually closed or opened. Therefore, for example, the valve stem etc. described in U.S. Pat. This causes the valve to be hit violently against the body or the like, damaging the valve or endangering the surrounding area, but this invention has been able to eliminate all of these defects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a half longitudinal sectional front view of a heat-sensitive valve of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional front view of the upper part of a heat-sensitive valve showing another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a non-rising stem type valve. FIG. 4 is a partial longitudinal sectional front view of the upper part of the valve showing another embodiment of the soluble element used in the invention. FIG. 10...Body, 11, 11A, 11B, 11
C... Bonnet, 12... Valve element, 13... Seat, 14, 14A, 14B, 14C... Valve stem, 15, 15A, 15B, 15C... Seal,
16, 16A, 16B, 16C...Packing nut, 17, 17A, 17B...Cap, 18...
... Cap screw, 19, 19A, 19B ... Soluble element, 20, 20A, 20B, 22, 22A,
22B... Shoulder, 21, 21A, 21B, 21C...
...Natsuto, 23, 23B, 35, 52, 53...
Bearing, 24, 24A, 24B, 24C... Handle, 25, 25A, 25B, 26... Opening, 2
7, 28... Shoulder, 29... Pin, 30... Slot, 50... Sleeve, 51, 57... Cap, 55... Hub, 56... Upper end, 59, 60
...conical surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A valve that reciprocates a valve element between open and closed positions within a valve body by an actuating device connected to the valve element, and which is a soluble machine. In a valve formed to move the valve stem outward using fluid pressure within the body when the element is melted, a hollow bonnet is screwed onto one side of the body, and a hollow bonnet is screwed onto one side of the body, and a hollow bonnet is screwed onto one side of the body. A seal is fitted to the bonnet to seal the valve stem vertically and slidably within the bonnet through the seal, and a seat provided on the body is provided at the bottom of the valve stem at the upper end of the valve element that operates to freely open and close. further, a threaded part is provided on the upper part of the valve stem, and the threaded part is screwed together with a threaded part provided on the inner surface of a hollow nut connected to the handle;
The nut has an outwardly curved shoulder at the lower part and a cap having an inwardly curved shoulder at the upper end, and a hollow part formed by the nut is filled with a soluble element which melts at a predetermined temperature. At the same time, the distance between the upper and lower shoulders of the hollow portion corresponds to the distance by which the seat can be opened and closed by the valve element connected to the valve stem, and
The cap is fixed to the bonnet, and
A heat-sensitive valve characterized in that the nut is provided in a free state with respect to the bonnet, and further comprises an opening for causing the melted portion to slowly flow outward when the soluble element is melted. 2. The cap has a cap with an inwardly facing shoulder at the upper part in the longitudinal direction, and the nut is rotatably formed and has an outwardly facing shoulder at the lower part thereof, and the nut has a cap having an inwardly facing shoulder at the upper part thereof in the longitudinal direction, and the nut is provided with an outwardly facing shoulder at the lower part thereof, It is placed between the shoulders of the husband, etc., and maintains the shoulders of the husband etc. in a state of isolation under normal conditions.
2. The heat-sensitive valve according to claim 1, further comprising a structure in which said one shoulder can move in the other direction when said soluble element is dissolved. 3. The cap has an opening that surrounds the soluble element and limits the flow rate of the molten soluble element to limit the amount by which one shoulder moves in the direction of the other shoulder. A heat-sensitive valve according to claims 1 and 2. 4 said cap has an inverted shoulder at its upper longitudinal end, said nut has an outwardly directed shoulder at its lower longitudinal end and is rotatably configured to screw a rotatable valve stem into said nut; , and a lower portion thereof is connected to the valve element, and further, the interposed soluble element is disposed between the shoulders to maintain the shoulders apart, and the soluble element 2. A heat-sensitive valve as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that one shoulder can move towards the other shoulder when the valve melts. 5. The cap has an opening that surrounds the soluble element and restricts the flow rate of the molten soluble element to limit the momentum from the one shoulder to the other shoulder. The heat-sensitive valve according to claim 4. 6. The valve stem has a threaded portion at its upper end;
A soluble element is screwed into the threaded portion, and the soluble element is filled into a cap screwed onto the hub of the handle, and when the handle is rotated, the soluble element is reciprocated to the valve stem by the screw engagement. In addition, when the soluble element melts, the soluble element in the threaded part can fly out to the outside of the cap together with the valve stem while maintaining the threaded state. A heat-sensitive valve according to claim 1. 7. The nut is rotatable relative to the valve stem and bonnet, and the soluble element is disposed around the nut and bent outwardly at the bottom of the nut to receive longitudinal force transmission. The soluble element is filled between the shoulder and the shoulder formed by bending the upper part of the cap inward, so that the valve opening force and the valve closing force can be transmitted across the soluble element. A heat-sensitive valve according to claim 1, characterized in that: 8. The cap closely surrounds the soluble element and has an opening to restrict the outflow of the soluble element when the soluble element is melted, thereby preventing the valve element from melting when the soluble element is melted. The heat-sensitive valve according to claim 1, characterized in that the speed at which the valve moves can be limited. 9 the nut is non-rotatably connected to the bonnet and further has a means for rotating the valve stem, the nut having an outwardly curved shoulder at the lower longitudinal portion;
The cap may further include a cap connected to the bonnet and having inwardly curved shoulders at the top in the longitudinal direction, and the fusible element may be disposed between the shoulders to transmit forces between the shoulders. The heat-sensitive valve according to claim 1, which is characterized in that: