FR2493464A1 - PILOT CONTROLLED FLUID VALVE WITHOUT MIXING OF FLUID CURRENTS - Google Patents

Abstract

THIS VALVE INCLUDES A BODY 12 IN WHICH ARE FORMED INPUT 14, DISCHARGE 16 AND FUNCTION 18 HOLES. A SHUTTER SHAFT 20 IS SLIDING MOUNTED IN THE BODY, ITS MOVEMENT BEING CONTROLLED BY PILOT CONTROL MEANS 22 -28. OF THE FIRST AND SECOND SHUTTERS 40, 46 ARE SLIDING MOUNTS ON THE TAIL, THE FIRST COMMANDING THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF THE INLET PORT AND THE SECOND COMMANDING THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF THE EXHAUST PORT. A SPRING 52 MOUNTED BETWEEN THE TWO SHUTTERS REQUESTS THEM IN THEIR CLOSED POSITION WHILE SHOULDERS 54, 56 SHAPED ON THE TAIL ALLOW IT, ACCORDING TO ITS DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT, TO MOVE ONE OR THE OTHER SHUTTER UP TO ITS OPEN POSITION.

Description

It has been known for a long time, as shown in US Patent No. 3

  957 079, to make a pilot operated fluidic valve to control the connection to the supply and discharge of a device which must be controlled by a hydraulic fluid. However, from

  such valves undesirably admit flow

  between the supply port and the exhaust port

  cuation when the valve is actuated. In addition, the high pressure supply fluid acts against the tail of the shutter, tending to keep the valve in the open position, thereby requiring pilot controls of undesirably high force to close the valve. The present invention relates to a valve

  advanced pilot control fluidics.

  The present invention relates to a valve with pilot control without mixing of the streams of fluid which comprises a body or casing having an inlet orifice, an evacuation orifice and a function orifice for supplying or receiving fluid. A tail of shutters is movably mounted in the body and is controlled by pilot control means or appropriate servo means. First and second shutter members are slidably mounted on the tail, the first shutter member being movable to open and close the inlet port and the second shutter member being movable to open and

  close the discharge opening. Means of solicitation

  tion elastic are positioned between the first and

  second shutter elements to apply the shutters

  to the closed positions. Means forming

  shoulder are provided on the tail to move alter-

  natively the shutters to the open position.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a fluid control valve with pilot control without mixing the fluid streams, which comprises first and second tubular elements axially aligned and slidingly mounted on a tail of shutters to be able to move jointly or individually. Elastic means are positioned between the first and second elements to urge the two elements towards the

  closed positions to ensure that there is no information

  tercommunication between the inlet and the outlet. A first shoulder formed on the tail bears against the first member and moves it to the open position when the tail is moved in a first direction and a second shoulder formed on the tail bears against the second member and moves it to the open position when the tail

  is moved in a second direction.

  Yet another object of the present invention is to provide means for compensating for the action of the high pressure of the fluid contained in the body on the tail. To this end, there is provided in the body a piston and a cylinder, the piston being connected to the tail and having a cross-sectional area at least equal to that of the tail and, preferably, larger than that of the tail. and a passage is provided which establishes communication between the cylinder and the interior of the body to apply the fluid to the piston in a direction which compensates for the action on the tail of the high pressure fluid contained in the body. Preferably, this

  passage extends through the piston and tail.

  Other purposes, features and benefits of

  the invention will appear on reading the description

  which will follow from an embodiment currently pre-

  fairy of the present invention, given solely for the purpose of illustration and considered in the light of the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the fluid valve of the present invention in the open position; Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 but showing the valve in the closed and discharge position; and 10. Figure 3 is an elevational view in partial section of the valve of Figures 1 and 2 in an intermediate position between the open and closed positions. Reference will now be made to the drawings and, in particular, to FIG. 1 in which the general reference 10 designates the valve or distributor of fluid with pilot control without mixing of the streams of fluid of the present invention, which comprises a body 12. The body 12 has one or more inlet ports 14 which are intended to be connected to a supply of

  hydraulic fluid, one or more outlets 16

  cuation or return and a function port 18 for supplying hydraulic fluid to a device which must

  be operated, such as a sub-blowout preventer

  marine, or to receive the discharge fluid from this device. A tail 20 of shutters is movable back and forth in the body 12 and can be actuated by any pilot control means or any suitable servo control means. The pilot control means can comprise a piston 22 mounted movably in a cylinder 24 which has pilot pressure admission orifices 26 and 28 on the opposite sides of the piston 22. The orifice 26 can be supplied with hydraulic fluid which acts on the underside of the

  piston 22 to move the valve to its open position.

  The orifice 28 may be a discharge orifice, or it may receive hydraulic fluid which acts on the upper face of the piston 22 to close the valve. The valve can also be closed by means of a spring 30

  disposed in the body 12 and positioned between a shoulder-

  ment 32 formed in the body and a shoulder 34 associated with the tail 20. Naturally, other pilot control means, such as solenoid valves can be

used, if desired.

  The above description relates to a valve

  with pilot control which is, on the whole, known for a long time. A feature of the present invention resides in that means are provided to prevent intercommunication between the inlet ports 14 and the discharge ports 16 when the valve moves between the open and closed positions. Thus, there is provided a first tubular obturator element 40 which is slidably mounted on the tail 20, for example by means of a support 42. The element 40 is movable in the body 12 between the open position shown in FIG. 1 and a closed position shown in FIG. 2 in which the element 40 is in abutment against a seat 44. When the element 40 is in the open position, the flow of the supply fluid, from the inlet orifices 14 up to to the function orifice 18, is permitted but, when the element 40 is in the closed position, the supply orifices 14 are closed.

  A second tubular shutter element is provided.

  slide 46 which is axially aligned with the first element and which is also slidably mounted on the tail 20 by means of a support 48. The second element has been represented in FIG. 1 in a position in which it closes the discharge orifices 16 while being in abutment against a shutter seat 50. In FIG. 2, the second shutter element 42 has been moved by the tail 20 of shutters away from the seat 50, thus establishing communication between the discharge orifices 16

  and the interior of the body 12 and the function orifice 18.

  Elastic biasing means, such

  that a spring 52, are positioned between the first element

  ment 40 and the second element 46 to apply elastic-

  ment the two elements towards their closed position, as more particularly represented in FIG. 3, to prevent the mixing of the streams of fluid between the entry orifices 14 and the evacuation orifices 16. It will be noted that the obturating elements 40 and 46 are slidably mounted on the tail 20 so that they can be

  move jointly or separately on the tail 20.

  Shoulder means are provided

  on the tail 20 to alternately move the elements

  ments 40 and 46 to their open position when the tail 20 is moved back and forth by the pilot control means. Thus, there is provided on the tail 20 a first shoulder 54 designed to come into abutment against the support 42 when the tail 20 moves upward to drive the first shutter element 40 upward to an open position allowing the fluid to flow from the orifices 14 to the orifice 18. A second shoulder 56 is formed on the tail 20 and is designed to bear against the support 48 when the tail 20 moves downward to move the second shutter element 46 down and in the open position allowing the discharge orifices 16 to communicate with the interior of the body 12. It will now be noted, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, that the pressure prevailing at the orifice

  function 18, which is exposed to operating pressures

  high action, acts on the surface of the cross section of the tail 20 delimited by the interior of the seal 60 to generate a force which acts to move the tail 20 upwards. This requires that the pilot closing mechanism, which may be only the spring 30, have a force sufficient to overcome the force of the fluid which acts on the underside of the tail 20 and to further ensure the closing force.

  valve required. Therefore, in order to compensate

  ser the force which acts on the underside of the tail, there is provided a piston 62 which is movably mounted in a cylinder 64 formed in the body 12, the surface of the cross section of the piston 62 being at least equal and being, of preferably greater than the cross-sectional area of the part of the tail which moves inside the seal 60. In addition, a passage is formed between the cylinder 64 and the inside of the body and the function orifice 16, such as the passage 66 which extends through the piston 62 and the tail 20 and

  transmits the internal pressure to cylinder 64

  laughter of the body 12 so that it acts on the upper face of the piston 62 and thus compensates for the force of the

  fluid which acts upwards on the tail 20.

  We will now refer to FIG. 1 and, in the operating condition shown, the pilot control mechanism has been actuated to supply fluid to the orifice 26 so as to move upwards

2493A64

  the piston 22 which drives the tail 20 upwards so that the shoulder 54 drives the first obturator element 40 upwards thus allowing the fluid

  hydraulic supply to enter through the ori-

  input fices 14 and to reach the function orifice 18. It will also be noted that the second shutter element 46 is applied to its shutter seat 50 by the action of the spring 52 and by the abutment of the first shutter member 40 against the second shutter member 46 to hold the discharge port

  16 closed and thus prevent the flow of the hydraulic fluid

  between the holes 14 and 16. When it is desired to actuate the valve and move it from the open position shown in FIG. 1 to the closed position shown in FIG. 2, the valve first goes into the d mode. absence of intercommunication shown in FIG. 3. When the pilot control mechanism relieves the pressure of the pilot port 26 and applies the pilot pressure to the port 28 and / or by means of the spring 30, the piston 22 moves down. The action of the spring 52 keeps the discharge orifices 16 closed and, when the shoulder 54 of the tail 20 moves

  downwards, the spring 52 also causes the displacement

  ment of the first shutter element 40 downwards and its application against the shutter seat 44 before the second shutter element 46 moves away from the shutter seat 50. Consequently, the discharge ports 16 only open when the inlet ports have already been closed. Continued downward movement of the shutter tail 20 has the effect that the shoulder 56 bears against the shutter 46 moving it downward and thus opening the discharge orifices so that the hydraulic fluid can be evacuated from a controlled device and flow upwards through the orifice

  function and out of the valve through the evacuation orifices

  cuation 16. The tail 20 moves downward until the discharge orifices are in the open position while the first obturator element keeps the inlet orifices 14 closed, as more

  particularly shown in Figure 2.

  Similarly, when the valve moves from the closed position shown in Figure 2 to the open position shown in Figure 1, the valve

  goes through the absence of intercommunication mode represented

  felt in figure. 3. In other words, when the tail 20 and the shoulder 56 move upwards, the spring 52 causes the second shutter element 46 to move upward until the latter is applied to the seat 50 d shutter to close the openings

  16. Only when the exhaust ports are

  cuation 16 were closed as the shoulder 54 of the

  tail 20 comes to bear against the first obturating element

  40 and begins to open the inlet ports 14.

  The present invention, therefore, is well

  appropriate for achieving goals, achieving goals

  tives and offer the benefits mentioned as well as others inherent in it. Although we have described, for

  illustrative, an embodiment currently pre-

  bereft of the invention, many changes can be made to the details of construction and arrangement of parts, changes which will immediately come to the mind of those skilled in the art and which enter into the

  scope of the appended claims and in the spirit of

the invention.

Claims (8)

  1. A fluid control valve with pilot control without mixing of the streams of fluid, characterized in that it comprises: a body (12) having an inlet orifice (14), a discharge orifice (16) and a function orifice (18) for supplying or receiving fluid; a tail (20) of shutters movably mounted in the body; pilot control means (22, 24, 26, 28) for moving the tail back and forth; first and second shutter members (40, 46) slidably mounted on the tail, the first member being movable to open and close the inlet port and the second member being movable to open and close the discharge port ; elastic biasing means (52) positioned between the first and second elements for biasing these elements towards the closed positions; and shoulder means (54, 56) formed on the tail for alternately moving each of the   elements to its open position.   2. Valve according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises elastic means (30) mounted in the body (12) to urge the tail (20) in a direction which causes the closing of the inlet orifice. 3. Valve according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises: a set of piston (62) and cylinder (64) * mounted in the body (12), the piston being connected to the tail (20) and having a larger cross-sectional area than the tail; and a passage (66) which establishes communication between the cylinder and the function orifice (18) for applying the fluid to the piston in a direction such that it urges the tail to move in a direction   which closes the inlet.   4. A fluid control valve with pilot control without mixing of the streams of fluid characterized in that it comprises: 10. a body (12) having an inlet orifice (14), a discharge orifice (16) and a orifice function (18) for supplying or receiving fluid; a tail (20) of shutters movably mounted in the body; 15. pilot control means (22, 24, 26, 28) for moving the tail back and forth; first and second axially aligned tubular obturating elements (40, 46) slidably mounted on the tail so as to be able to move jointly or individually, the first element being movably mounted so as to be able to open and close the inlet orifice and the second element being mounted movable so as to be able to open and close the discharge orifice; elastic means (52) positioned between the first and second elements to urge these two elements towards the closed positions so as to ensure an absence of intercommunication between the inlet port and the discharge port; a first shoulder (54) formed on the tail so as to bear against the first element and   move it to the open position when moving-   tail in first direction; and a second shoulder (56) formed on the tail so as to bear against the second element and to move it to the open position during movement   tail in a second direction.   5. Valve according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises: a piston assembly (62) and cylinder (64) mounted in the body (12), the piston being connected to the tail (20) and having a surface cross section at least as large as that of the tail; and 10. a passage (66) which establishes communication between the cylinder and the function orifice (18) for applying the fluid to the piston in a direction which compensates the action of the fluid on the tail.   6. Valve according to claim 5, character-   in that the passage (66) is formed through the piston (64) and tail (20).   7. Valve according to claim 6, characterized in that the surface of the cross section of the piston is greater than the surface of the cross section of the tail on which acts the fluid which is located in the function opening (18).   8. Valve according to claim 4, characterized in that the first and second tubular elements (40, 46) abut one against the other at the end of their movement in the first direction and in the second direction.