US2310130A - Valve system - Google Patents

Valve system Download PDF

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Publication number
US2310130A
US2310130A US345810A US34581040A US2310130A US 2310130 A US2310130 A US 2310130A US 345810 A US345810 A US 345810A US 34581040 A US34581040 A US 34581040A US 2310130 A US2310130 A US 2310130A
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Prior art keywords
valve
piston
pressure
blast
operating
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Expired - Lifetime
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US345810A
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Thumim Carl
Edward J Frank
Alexander C Boisseau
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General Electric Co
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General Electric Co
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Priority claimed from US317564A external-priority patent/US2389942A/en
Application filed by General Electric Co filed Critical General Electric Co
Priority to US345810A priority Critical patent/US2310130A/en
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    • FMECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F16ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
    • F16KVALVES; TAPS; COCKS; ACTUATING-FLOATS; DEVICES FOR VENTING OR AERATING
    • F16K31/00Actuating devices; Operating means; Releasing devices
    • F16K31/12Actuating devices; Operating means; Releasing devices actuated by fluid
    • F16K31/42Actuating devices; Operating means; Releasing devices actuated by fluid by means of electrically-actuated members in the supply or discharge conduits of the fluid motor

Definitions

  • Our invention relates to valve systems and more particularly to valve systems for the control of the flow of gas under pressure such as is used in connection with gas-blast circuit breakers.
  • circuit breakers In order to eliminate the fire hazard, circuit breakers have been designed which do not utilize oil or other inflammable liquid for arc-extinguishing purposes but instead employ a blast of air or other gas to extinguish the arc formed both when the circuit is broken between the relatively movable contacts of the circuit breaker and also during the closing operation of the circuit breaker to prevent the formation of any arc at this time.
  • a blast of air or other gas to extinguish the arc formed both when the circuit is broken between the relatively movable contacts of the circuit breaker and also during the closing operation of the circuit breaker to prevent the formation of any arc at this time.
  • any circuit breaker lies in its ability to linterrupt the circuit at the proper time and in the proper manner and without a proper operating system for such circuit breaker, its value is largely lost since the value of the operating system lies in its ability to effect control of the circuit breaker in the manner intended. If such control is not obtained in the manner desired, many undesirable conditions may result.
  • Balanced pressure valves have been proposed for this purpose, wherein a pilot valve requiring relatively little force to operate, unbalances the pressure on a piston-operated valve so that the fluid pressure forces the blast valve open.
  • the balanced pressure valves of the prior art did not operate with the speed desired for high-speed circuit breaker operation and gas-blast circuit be desired.
  • We have provided a new and improved operating system for gas-blast circuit breakers including a balanced pressure type of blast valve which operatesat a much higher speed than the balanced pressure valves of the prior art.
  • FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional View of the blast valve of our invention
  • Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View of the blast valve of our invention
  • FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l.
  • blast valve 56 as controlling the flow of 5l which is mounted in a casing 59 enclosing a cylinder 6l within which piston 60 operatively connected to valve member 5l reciprocates.
  • Piston 60 is preferably exibly connected with valve member 51 for the purpose of self-alignment and is provided with a valve guide 62 reciprocating in a sleevelike member 63.
  • a spring member 613 is placed between sleeve member 63 and valveY member 5l normally to tend to hold said valve member in the closed position.
  • Cylinder 6i, sleevelike member 63, and spring member 64 are supported centrally by radial ribs 65 bridging across annular air passage 53.
  • cylinderV 6i The upper end of cylinderV 6i is closed by a plate 66 to which is fastened a metallic striking plate 6l. Between the metallic striking plate 6l and plate 66 is a flexible bulier disk 68 to cushion the opening of blast valve 56.
  • the space 69 in cylinder 6l between piston 60 and striking plate 51 is maintained at the absolute minimum determined only by the space required for opening valve 51 as will be set forth in greater detail hereinafter.
  • a small passage is provided in piston 69 to interconnect the cylinder 6
  • the area of piston 6B is relatively large compared to the area of Valve member 51 so that a considerably lower pressure operating on piston 69 may overcome a higher pressure operating on valve member 51.
  • of relatively large diameter is opened, rapidly releasing the pressure on the upper side of piston 69, whereby an unbalance of the pressure on piston 88 is obtained and the fluid pressure operating against the under side of piston 60 is sufficient to overcome the forces holding valve member 51 closed, which comprise the uid pressure acting on the back of valve member 51 and spring means (Se. Thereupon valve member 51 is forced open rapidly and piston 69 contacts with striking plate
  • the upper surface of piston 69 is recessed at 15 so that fluid pressure either through small passage 19 or port 13 within which check valve 12 operates is distributed over the entire upper surface of piston 60.
  • valve 51 The time of opening of valve 51 is dependent upon the rate of pressure drop in space 69 which, in turn is a function of the volume of space 69 and the area of pilot valve 1
  • the volume of space 69 was necessarily large to accommodate the biasing spring which was contained in this space.
  • hasbeen made as large as practicable and this combination has v enabled us to obtain an operating speed much higher than was possible heretofore.
  • Check valve 12 is provided so that pressure in space 99 may be built up rapidly when pilot valve 1
  • the extension 1li on check valve 12 is suilciently long so that check valve 12 is maintained in the open position for a reasonable length of time -to prevent uttering of the valve member 51.
  • requires considerably less opera-ting force than would be required to open blast valve 51 directly.
  • the pilot valve il and operating mechanism 16 therefor are mounted as a complete constructional unit in U-shaped frame members 11 and 18 which are bolted at 19 and 80, respectively, to casing 59. PilotI Valve 1
  • is effected through a pair of levers 83 pivotally mounted at 84 to U-shaped member 11 and interconnected by block S5 provided with an opening 8G through which rod 81 for operating pilot valve 1
  • This opening 86 in block 85 is enlarged at either end thereof so as to prevent any binding action between rod 81 and block 85 during the pivotal movement of levers 83.
  • Pivotal movement of levers 83 is obtained either by the leftward pull of armature 88 of solenoid 89 or by the leftward thrust of armature 90 of solenoid 9
  • Pivotally mounted levers 83 are connected in clevislike fashion to armature 88 at 92 while an extension 93 provided with a roller 94 is connected to armature 90 of solenoid 9
  • are coaxially mounted and connected to one another by means of U- shaped plates 95. The entire apparatus including solenoids 89 and 9
  • Pivotally mounted levers 83 may be provided with a roller 91 for operating a suitable switch 98, biased to the closed position by spring means 99, whenever pilot valve 1
  • balanced pressure valve 58 will be obvious to those skilled in the art in View of the detailed description included above. if either solenoid 89 or 9
  • valve member 51 opens at very high speed and piston 6
  • Extension 14 of check valve v'l2 engages with striking plate 81 and causes opening of this valve but, aslong as pilot valve 1
  • pilot valve 1l Upon deenergization of either of the solenoids S9 or 9
  • valve member 51 is snapped shut, thereby cutting off communication between con duits 21 and l5. From the above description, it will be observed that a relatively small force is required to open pilot valve 1
  • a valve system comprising a. main valve member for controlling the ow of uid between a source of uid under pressure and a fluid passage, a piston operatively connected to said main valve member, a cylinder for said piston, means for closing one end of said cylinder to define a chamber in said cylinder having a minimum volume determined solely by the opening movement of said main valve member, said piston and cylinder being so constructed and arranged that the forces acting on said piston due to fluid under pressure are substantially neutralized during the closed position of said valve, a solenoid-operated pilot valve for substantially instantaneously releasing the fluid under pressure injsaid chamber to unbalance the forces acting on :said piston and cause high-speed opening of said?
  • valve means for limiting and cushioning the Vopening movement of said valve, and a checkvalve in said piston arranged to engage with vsaid last-mentioned means to cause opening thereof when said main valve is in the open position, whereby high-speed closing of said main valve is obtained upon closing of said pilot valve.

Description

Feb. 2, 1943. THUWM ETAL 2,310,130
VALVE SYSTEM Original Filed Feb. 6, 1940 .Il MM E@ MINIT- inventors: Carl Thumm, Edward J. Frank,
AI exancie^ C. Boisseau,
DE @M75-14M@ A'Ihei r Attomeg.
Patented Feb. 2, 1943 VALVE SYSTEM Carl Thumim and Edward J. Frank, Yeadon, and
Alexander G. Boisseau, Lansdowne, Pa., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Original application February 6, 1940, Serial No. 317,564. Divided and this application July 16,
1940, Serial No. 345,810
1 claim. (ci. 137-129) Our invention relates to valve systems and more particularly to valve systems for the control of the flow of gas under pressure such as is used in connection with gas-blast circuit breakers.
This application is a division of our application Serial No. 317,564, led February 6, 1940, entitled Circuit breaker operating system and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention,
In order to eliminate the lire hazard, circuit breakers have been designed which do not utilize oil or other inflammable liquid for arc-extinguishing purposes but instead employ a blast of air or other gas to extinguish the arc formed both when the circuit is broken between the relatively movable contacts of the circuit breaker and also during the closing operation of the circuit breaker to prevent the formation of any arc at this time. Apart from numerous operating and structural advantages of gas-blast circuit breakers for many applications, the problem of providing a suitable control or operating system furnishes considerable diiculty.
The value of any circuit breaker lies in its ability to linterrupt the circuit at the proper time and in the proper manner and without a proper operating system for such circuit breaker, its value is largely lost since the value of the operating system lies in its ability to effect control of the circuit breaker in the manner intended. If such control is not obtained in the manner desired, many undesirable conditions may result.
It is necessary to obtain opening of the circuit breaker in as short a time as possible after the condition which initiates the opening movement occurs and this is no less true of gas-blast circuit breakers than of any other type. In order to produce the gas-blast, a valve must be operated releasing the fluid under pressure at the proper instant. To operate such a valve directly against the fluid pressure would require considerable force and, in addition, would tend to slow down the operating cycle of the circuit breaker.
Balanced pressure valves have been proposed for this purpose, wherein a pilot valve requiring relatively little force to operate, unbalances the pressure on a piston-operated valve so that the fluid pressure forces the blast valve open. The balanced pressure valves of the prior art did not operate with the speed desired for high-speed circuit breaker operation and gas-blast circuit be desired. We have provided a new and improved operating system for gas-blast circuit breakers including a balanced pressure type of blast valve which operatesat a much higher speed than the balanced pressure valves of the prior art.
breaker operating systems employing balanced Accordingly, it is an object of our invention to provide a new and improved blast valve for controlling the flow of uid.
It is another object of our invention to provide a new and improved valve system in which a small operating force may control a relatively large valve operating it at high speed.
Further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize our invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claim annexed to and forming a part of this specification.
For a better understanding of our invention,
-reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional View of the blast valve of our invention, and Fig. 2
is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l.
Referring now to the drawing, we have illustrated blast valve 56 as controlling the flow of 5l which is mounted in a casing 59 enclosing a cylinder 6l within which piston 60 operatively connected to valve member 5l reciprocates. Piston 60 is preferably exibly connected with valve member 51 for the purpose of self-alignment and is provided with a valve guide 62 reciprocating in a sleevelike member 63. A spring member 613 is placed between sleeve member 63 and valveY member 5l normally to tend to hold said valve member in the closed position. Cylinder 6i, sleevelike member 63, and spring member 64 are supported centrally by radial ribs 65 bridging across annular air passage 53. Y
The upper end of cylinderV 6i is closed by a plate 66 to which is fastened a metallic striking plate 6l. Between the metallic striking plate 6l and plate 66 is a flexible bulier disk 68 to cushion the opening of blast valve 56. The space 69 in cylinder 6l between piston 60 and striking plate 51 is maintained at the absolute minimum determined only by the space required for opening valve 51 as will be set forth in greater detail hereinafter. A small passage is provided in piston 69 to interconnect the cylinder 6| on either side of piston 69 and, hence, to balance the pressures operating on the upper and lower surfaces under steady-state conditions. The area of piston 6B is relatively large compared to the area of Valve member 51 so that a considerably lower pressure operating on piston 69 may overcome a higher pressure operating on valve member 51.
In order to open blast valve 55, a pilot Valve 1| of relatively large diameter is opened, rapidly releasing the pressure on the upper side of piston 69, whereby an unbalance of the pressure on piston 88 is obtained and the fluid pressure operating against the under side of piston 60 is sufficient to overcome the forces holding valve member 51 closed, which comprise the uid pressure acting on the back of valve member 51 and spring means (Se. Thereupon valve member 51 is forced open rapidly and piston 69 contacts with striking plate |51 whereupon check valve 12 closing port 13 in piston 69 is opened by virtue of the extension 14 thereon which engages with striking plate @1. The upper surface of piston 69 is recessed at 15 so that fluid pressure either through small passage 19 or port 13 within which check valve 12 operates is distributed over the entire upper surface of piston 60.
The time of opening of valve 51 is dependent upon the rate of pressure drop in space 69 which, in turn is a function of the volume of space 69 and the area of pilot valve 1|. In the balanced pressure valves of the prior art, the volume of space 69 was necessarily large to accommodate the biasing spring which was contained in this space. By eliminating spring 64 from space 69, it has been possible to decrease greatly the volurne of space 69 determined only by the clearance necessary for valve member 51. Furthermore, the area of pilot valve 1| hasbeen made as large as practicable and this combination has v enabled us to obtain an operating speed much higher than was possible heretofore.
Check valve 12 is provided so that pressure in space 99 may be built up rapidly when pilot valve 1| is closed so that valve member 51 is snapped shut in a minimum period of time. The extension 1li on check valve 12 is suilciently long so that check valve 12 is maintained in the open position for a reasonable length of time -to prevent uttering of the valve member 51.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art' that operation of pilot valve 1| requires considerably less opera-ting force than would be required to open blast valve 51 directly. The pilot valve il and operating mechanism 16 therefor are mounted as a complete constructional unit in U-shaped frame members 11 and 18 which are bolted at 19 and 80, respectively, to casing 59. PilotI Valve 1| is held in the closed position by means of spring mechanism 8| supported by U- shaped member i8 and including adjustable means B2 by which the closing force on pilot valve 1l may be adjusted to just overcome the normal iiuid pressure in space 69 tending to open pilot valve 1l. Movement of pilot valve 1| against the force of spring mechanism 8| is effected through a pair of levers 83 pivotally mounted at 84 to U-shaped member 11 and interconnected by block S5 provided with an opening 8G through which rod 81 for operating pilot valve 1| is connected. This opening 86 in block 85 is enlarged at either end thereof so as to prevent any binding action between rod 81 and block 85 during the pivotal movement of levers 83. Pivotal movement of levers 83 is obtained either by the leftward pull of armature 88 of solenoid 89 or by the leftward thrust of armature 90 of solenoid 9|. Pivotally mounted levers 83 are connected in clevislike fashion to armature 88 at 92 while an extension 93 provided with a roller 94 is connected to armature 90 of solenoid 9| so that movement of armature 9U may be transmitted through roller 94 and armature 88 to pivotally mounted members 83 for operating pilot valve 1|. solenoids 89 and 9| are coaxially mounted and connected to one another by means of U- shaped plates 95. The entire apparatus including solenoids 89 and 9| is supported from casing 59 as a unitary structure by member 96.
Pivotally mounted levers 83 may be provided with a roller 91 for operating a suitable switch 98, biased to the closed position by spring means 99, whenever pilot valve 1| is opened.
The operation of balanced pressure valve 58 will be obvious to those skilled in the art in View of the detailed description included above. if either solenoid 89 or 9| is energized, levers 83 are rotated so as to open pilot valve 1| against the bias of spring means 8i. Such openingr of pilot valve 1| will allow the pressure in space 69 to decrease rapidly so that the pressure balance on piston 60 is disturbed and the force acting upwardly on piston 68 being very large with respect to the downwardly acting forces causes opening of valve member 51 so that a blast of iiuid may flow from conduit 21 through annular passageway 5S to conduit l5. As long as pilot valve 1| is open, the relatively large diameter thereof allows any fluid passing through small opening 19 to escape, thereby maintaining an unbalanced pressure on piston 69 so that valve member 51 remains in its open position.
Because of the sudden unbalance of pressures on piston B9 when pilot valve El is open, valve member 51 opens at very high speed and piston 6|] engages with resiliently supported striking plate 61. Extension 14 of check valve v'l2 engages with striking plate 81 and causes opening of this valve but, aslong as pilot valve 1| is open, insuicient fluid pressure is allowed to pass to the upper end of cylinder 6| so that valve member 51 is held in the open position by the unbalanced fluid pressures. Upon deenergization of either of the solenoids S9 or 9|, pilot valve 1l will snap shut under the force of spring means 8| and the very small volume 69 above piston (il) is rapidly filled with uid through opening 19 and check valve 12. As soon as sufficient pressure is built up therein, valve member 51 is snapped shut, thereby cutting off communication between con duits 21 and l5. From the above description, it will be observed that a relatively small force is required to open pilot valve 1|, which causes operation of balanced pressure valve 56 against the high fluid pressures whichare controlled by valve 56.
Although we have described our invention as usable in connection with a gas-blast circuit breaker, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that it is applicable to any arrangement where it is desired to control the flow of fluid under pressure to a lower pressure region.
It will be apparent to these skilled in the art that our invention is not limited to the particular 4construction shown but that changes and modifications may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention and We aim in the appended claim to cover all such changesV and modifications.
What We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:
A valve system comprising a. main valve member for controlling the ow of uid between a source of uid under pressure and a fluid passage, a piston operatively connected to said main valve member, a cylinder for said piston, means for closing one end of said cylinder to define a chamber in said cylinder having a minimum volume determined solely by the opening movement of said main valve member, said piston and cylinder being so constructed and arranged that the forces acting on said piston due to fluid under pressure are substantially neutralized during the closed position of said valve, a solenoid-operated pilot valve for substantially instantaneously releasing the fluid under pressure injsaid chamber to unbalance the forces acting on :said piston and cause high-speed opening of said? valve, means for limiting and cushioning the Vopening movement of said valve, and a checkvalve in said piston arranged to engage with vsaid last-mentioned means to cause opening thereof when said main valve is in the open position, whereby high-speed closing of said main valve is obtained upon closing of said pilot valve.
CARL THUMIM. EDWARD J. ALEXANDER C. BOISSEAU.
US345810A 1940-02-06 1940-07-16 Valve system Expired - Lifetime US2310130A (en)

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US317564A US2389942A (en) 1940-02-06 1940-02-06 Circuit breaker operating system
US345810A US2310130A (en) 1940-02-06 1940-07-16 Valve system
US386920A US2292096A (en) 1940-02-06 1941-04-04 Circuit-breaker operating system

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Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2528694A (en) * 1944-07-21 1950-11-07 Allis Chalmers Mfg Co Circuit breaker control system and apparatus
US2617444A (en) * 1944-05-26 1952-11-11 Automatic Valve Inc Valve
US2729419A (en) * 1950-09-23 1956-01-03 Opw Corp Shock proof loading valve
US2927766A (en) * 1953-10-15 1960-03-08 British Messier Ltd Servo valve mechanism
USB377833I5 (en) * 1973-07-09 1975-01-28
US4027849A (en) * 1974-04-04 1977-06-07 Mueller Fritz Valve for aggressive fluids
US20170159829A1 (en) * 2013-11-26 2017-06-08 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Extraction valve

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2617444A (en) * 1944-05-26 1952-11-11 Automatic Valve Inc Valve
US2528694A (en) * 1944-07-21 1950-11-07 Allis Chalmers Mfg Co Circuit breaker control system and apparatus
US2729419A (en) * 1950-09-23 1956-01-03 Opw Corp Shock proof loading valve
US2927766A (en) * 1953-10-15 1960-03-08 British Messier Ltd Servo valve mechanism
USB377833I5 (en) * 1973-07-09 1975-01-28
US3913884A (en) * 1973-07-09 1975-10-21 Automatic Switch Co Variable bleed valve
US4027849A (en) * 1974-04-04 1977-06-07 Mueller Fritz Valve for aggressive fluids
US20170159829A1 (en) * 2013-11-26 2017-06-08 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Extraction valve
US9879787B2 (en) * 2013-11-26 2018-01-30 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. Extraction valve

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