CA1100466A

CA1100466A - Ball valve

Info

Publication number: CA1100466A
Application number: CA335,288A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Phillip E. Robinson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Parker Hannifin Corp
Priority date: 1978-10-20
Filing date: 1979-09-07
Publication date: 1981-05-05
Also published as: GB2033551B; FR2439344A1; JPS5557768A; GB2033551A; SE7908621L; BE879499A

Abstract

ABSTRACT

A rotary ball type valve in which a ball type plug is mounted within a cylindrical valve chamber closed at its opposite ends by adaptors removably attached to a valve body and which normally retain a pair of annular sealing means against opposite sides of the plug. Snap rings the body and projecting into the valve chamber prevent the plug and an upstream sealing means from being blown out of the chamber by fluid pressure in the event the downstream adapter and its associated sealing means is removed from the body while there is fluid pressure within the valve.

Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE I~ TIO~ .
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Ball typa valves are commonly used to control Elow of high pressure fluid through pipe or tubing lines, as Eor example in instrumenta~ion lines ~or chemical processing equi men~O Such valves have a ball type ~lug with a port therethrough that may be rotated into and out of registry with a flow path through the valve body for controlling flow through the valve. In a ~no~n form of such valve~
shown in U.S. Letters Patent 3,731,904 the ball type plug is rotatably mounted in a cylindrical valve chamber o~ the valve body and is normally retained in its proper position within the chamber ~y a pair of annular sealing means that engage the plug and which in turn are ~eld against the plug by adapters threaded to the valve body for losing the valve chamber. Howevert with such valves, the plug and sealing means are slidable withi~ the cylin-drical val~e chamber and if a workman remo~es the do~stream adapter while there is fluid pressure in the upstream adapter/ the fluid pressure may blow the plug and .. . . . . . . . . . . .
upstream adapter out from the valve chamber thr~ugh the end that was opened by removal of the downstream adapter and possibly cause damage or personal injury.
SUM~R:Y OF THE INVENTION
25 . The present invent~on prevents blow out of the valve plug and sealing means in valves of the t~pe described ab~ve by providing abubment means mounted in t~e valve body mounted on eac-~ side o t~e plug and ~rojecting into the valve chamber to a diameter less than that of the plug and sealing means so that upon removal of either adapter and its associated sealing means while there is flui~ pressure in the ot~er adapter~ the abutment means will engage the plug and the upstream sealing means as they start to move .

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outwardly and thus retain them wlthin the valve ch~mber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TH:E~ DR~WING

Figure 1 is a cross section view of the valve S with the parts in their normal operati.ng position~
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~igure 2 is a cxoss section ~iew of the valve with the ~ownstream and sealing means removed and showing how the abutment means ~f the present inven.tio~
prevents the ball type valve plug and the upstream sealing means from bei~g bl~wn o~t through~the ope~
~alve chamber, and with a portion ~f the plug furt.her cut away to show a bleed s:lot in the abutment means Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross section view a pin a~ the abutment means for retaining the plug.
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- - . - DETAILED-DESCRIPTION

Valve 10 has a body 11 with a cylindrical bore 12 therethrouyh that ;s t}lreaded as at 13 arld 14 a its opposite end~; and whose central portion

2 0 between the threaded enas serve3 a5 a valve chamber designa~ed 17.
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l~otatably mounted within ~ralv~ ch~er 17 i~ a ball type plug l8 whose outer surfac:e 19 i~ on a radius slightly smaller t~an the diameter of cylindrical val~e cha~ er 17 so that the ball plug may readily ro~ate with;n such valve ch~riber and is also ~lidable thexei~ ~o that it may }~e inserl:ed and removed from the valve ~hamber ~hrough one of the threaded ports 13g 14.
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. q~h~ y~l~a plug. ~i~;s a port. 21 t~.eret}irough.
and also has a groove 2~ ~or rece1v~ng a tc~ngue Z3 on a valve stem 24. Groove 22 and ton~u~ 23 provi~de a drI~ing connecti.on where:~x the ~all. 1~ maX~ b-~
rotated ~y s.tem 24 5tem 24 has a ~ nge. 26 e~ al~le w~th t}i~
top o~ plu~ ,nd whos~ upper sur;~ace 27 i~s engagaEjîe.
b~ a me.~al washer. 28 locat.-d a~ ~h~ E~ottom of a, packi~g bore 2~ nath~r me~al was~ier 3~ ~.s- spaced from washer 29 and ~e.twe~n tPle wash~s ~-s ;~ ~ac}~n~
ring 31 of ela~s~o~ne~ or ot~er de;l~orm~ terx~l ~or s.ea.li:n~ stem 24.. The upper erid o~ pacR~ ~r?e ~ is threaded as at 3~ to rece~ve. ~ t~reade.d ~land 34 fox com~ressIng ~nd ret~l~ni`n~ p~ck~ng ~l~n~ 31.
A handle 36 is. ~uit~ att~ched to s.te~ 24 ~ a p or oth.er means 37 so th~t t~.e stem ma~ ~e xot~ted ~y the handle Sllda~ mQunted ~ i;~ th~ valYe cfiam~er 17.Q~ e~ch.s~de of valve plug 18 ~re ~al~n~ means genexall~ desi~gna~ea 4~ 41. Each ~e~l~.n~ ~eans include~ ~ sle.e~e~ 42 sl~da~ly mou~ted ~.~t~lSn a C~xrespondin~ rec`es~ 43~ 44 o~ ~espectl~ve adap~ers 45~ ~6~ Each ~lee~e~42 ~as an elastomer~c e~l~n~
x~ng 47 ~t~c~ed to ~ts~ ~nner end ~or se~ ly ~5 eng~ng plug 18... ~ounted ~e.~een a s~ulder S~ on each s~e~lin~ r~n~ 42:and t~e. i~er end~ 52~: 53 o res.p~ct~v~ ~d~p~ers 4~, 46 ar~ ela~t4~er:i`.c Q~r~n~
56, 57 whi.ch.~ea~ ~alva cham~e~ 17 exter;i~rl~ o~
plu~ 18 ~rom flo~ p~th ~ores 5~ ~nd 6~. throu~
ad~pters: 45~ 46. Add~ti~onal eIas~omer~c se~l~ng r~ngs 61, 62 seal the. ~readed jo~nt~ ~etw~en adapters 45, 46 and b.ody 11.

Cxli~ndxlcal ~àlYe cham~er 17 ~as~ ~ p~i~r o*

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grooves 65, 66 ~ormed therein which receive wire snap rings 68, 69~ In the nonmal positiorl o~ the valve parts, shown in ~igure 1, the snap rings 58, 69 are on opposite sides of ball plug 18 ancl project radially inwardly to a diameter less than that of the plug 18 and the outer diameter of sleeves 42 and are out of contac-t with both the plug and the sealin~ elements 40, 41 so as not to in-ter~ere-with thè ~al~ing and sealing movement of these parts.

As shown in Figure 2~ the snap rin~s 68~ 69 have a radial split 70 that is of narr~w wiath when inskalled.

Snap rings 68, 69 as shown-are o round cross section and of a single tuxn. O~her forms o~
snap xings, such as square cro~s section and/or of more than one fuli turn may be used. Other form3 of abutment means~ such as one or more p;~s, as shown at 75 in Figure 3, or flanges integral with the body or ringS threa~e~ ln~o the body bore 17 may be used~
In the lat~er two cases- it is desixable to provid~ a smal~ leak path there~hroughv compara~le to split 70, .. . that will not be closed when the ball is agains~ the abu~men~
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OPER~TIOU
2S . Whe~ the valve is fully assembled, as shown in Figure 1, the plug adaptoxs 45~ 46 abut against the end faces 70, 71 of valve body 11 a-nd their i~ner ends 52, 53 compress sealing rings 56, 57 into sealing engagement with end faces 50 of sleeves 42 and press the sleeves toward ball plug 18 so that sealing rings 47 will sealingly engage the outer surface ~9 of the plug~ When the plug is turned to the position shown in Figure 1 a flow path is esta~lished throug~ the .

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. -' ~ 5 valve that includes poxt borea 59, 60, sleeve bores 57 and ~ore 21 through the boxe plug 18. Upon turning valve stem 24 90 by means of handle 36, valve plug 18 is also ~urned 90 so that bore 21 is no longer in registry with sleeve bores 57 and thus the valve plug will prevent flow of ~luid through the ~alve.
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In the event adapt~r 46 is downstream in the installation ana is unthreaded from valve body 11 and re.moved Fxom the body along with sealing element 41, 1~ if there is any fluid pressure in upstream port S9, such fluid pressure will act upon seali~g element 40 and upon valve plug 18 and blow them out through valYe chamber 17 and threaded bore portion 13 un~ess - . some means is provided for restraining the same.
~his invention provides such restraining means, pre~erably in the form of snap rings 68, 69~ or other abu:t~ent means described herein. ~hus, as shown in Figure 2 when adap~or 46 has been removed, fluid pressure in port 59 will cause the valve plus 18 and sealing element~O to move:to ~he right until sealing element 40 engages snap r~in~ 69 and plug 18 engages snap ring 68 which prevents blowing out of element 40 and plug 1~ through threaded por~ 13.

The tongue and ~roove connection 23, 22 permits movement of khe plug toward snap ring 68 without interference~ When the sphe.rical plug engages snap ring 68 it substantially seals there against so that the only escape of pxessurized . ~ . fluid from port 59 ~hrough port 13 is the very smal7 amoun~ ~ha~ may leak thxough split 70 in snap ring 68.
This bleeds down the upstream line so th~t eventually there is no upstream pressure to try to blow the plug out~ .

Likewise, if adaptor 45 is downstre~m and ,.- ~ .
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it and sealing element 40 have been removea t fluid pressure in port bore 60 of adaptor 46 will move the valve p.Lug and sealing element 41 in the opposite direction but they will be prevented rom blowing out through threaded port 14 by snap rings 68 and 69.
Thus, the snap rings provide a positive safety feature to prevent the valve plug from being blown out from the valve body when either of the adapters are removed whil pressuxe is in the valve;

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A valve comprising a body having a valve chamber and a cylindrical bore communicating the valve chamber with the exterior of the body, a valve plug rotatably mounted in the chamber, the plug having a spherical surface portion of diameter less than the diameter of the cylindrical bore whereby the plug can pass freely axially through the bore during assembly, an adaptor axially removably attached to one end of the bore and closing one end of the chamber, a sealing means axially removably secured in the bore between the adapter and the plug, means defining a flow path through said valve, said means including a port through the plug, a port through the sealing means, and a port through the adapter, means for rotating the plug to open and close the flow path, and abutment means on one side of the plug engage-able by the plug to retain the same within the chamber when the adapter and sealing means are both removed from said body.

2. The valve of claim 1 in which said abutment means is axially removable from said body separately from said adapter and sealing means, and said abutment means is out of contact with said plug when said adapter and sealing means are fully assembled to said body and said sealing means engages said plug.

3. The valve of claim 1 in which said abutment means comprises a snap ring removably mounted in the body and projecting into said chamber.

4. The valve of claim 1 in which said abutment means is between the plug and sealing means and normally out of contact with each.

5. The valve of claim 1 in which the annular sealing means is slidable within said chamber and is held in sealing engagement with said plug by said adapter when the latter is fully assembled to said body.

6. The valve of claim 5 in which said valve chamber includes a cylindrical bore that is open to said one end of the body and into which the plug and sealing means may be slidably inserted from said one end when the adapter is removed from the body.

7. A valve comprising a body having a cylindrical bore -therethrough defining a valve chamber, a spherical valve plug rotatably mounted in the chamber, firs-t and second adapters axially removably attached to said body at opposite ends thereof for closing said chamber, first and second annular sealing means axially removably secured in the bore between the plug and a respective one of said adapters, means defining a flow path through said valve, said means comprising a port through said plug, ports through each of said sealing means, said plug having a diameter smaller than that of the cylindrical bore, first and second abutment means mounted on the body on each side of the plug extending radially inwardly of the cylindrical bore to a diameter less than that of the plug to retain the plug within the chamber when the adapter and sealing means are both removed from one side of the plug.

8. The valve of claim 7 in which said abutment means are each removable from said bore separately from said adapters and sealing means t and said abutment means each projects radially inwardly into said bore and are out of contact with both the plug and the sealing means when the adapters are fully assembled to the body.

9. The valve of claim 7 in which said bore is internally threaded at its ends and said adapters have externally threaded portions engaged with the internal threads and the inner ends of each of said portions engage a respective one of said sealing means.

10. The valve of claim 7 in which said abutment means also project radially inwardly to a diameter less than the outermost diameter of the sealing means, and each abutment means is mounted between the plug and a respective one of said sealing means.