US2448933A - Change-over mechanism for fluidflow systems - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 7', 1948. P, g, THOMAS 2,448,933

CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM FOR FLnUIlJ-FLOW SYSTEMS Filed Jan. 20, 194'! 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 7, 1948. P, THOMAS 2,448,933

CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM FOR FLUID-FLOW SYSTEMS Filed Jan. 20, 1947 Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 P. E. THOMAS 2,448,933

CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM FOR FLUID"FLOW SYSTEMS Sept. 1, 1948,.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 20, 1947 P 1948. P. E.ITH OMAS 2,448,933

cHANeE-ovEk MECHANISM FOR FLUID-FLOW SYSTEMS Filed Jan. 20, 1947 4.Sheets-Sheet 4 k IE? ve for TE T/mmas Patented Sept. 7, 1948 omen-oven MECHANISM FOR FLUID- rnow SYSTEMS Percival Edward Thomas, London, England, as-

signor to Sterling Industries Limited, London;

Application January 20, 1947, SerialNoQ 7122mm InGre'at Britain February 5, 1946 Claims. (o1; 284-1 This invention relates to, change-over mechanism for multiple fluid flow systems.

At the present time, when a source or sources of fluid supply have repeatedly to be connected to and disconnected from difierent points (i. e., changed-over) is is customary to provide control valves which are opened; and closed according to requirements; in some kinds of industrial plant, the number of valves maybe large and the possibility of mistake in their manipulation is proportionally high and may Well happenthat an industrial process under Connor may be ruined or damaged by an incorrect manipulation of the valves; moreover, as when some valves are required to be opened whenothers are required to be closed, incorrect manipulation may result in loss ofthe fluid under control. 3

Nowaccording to the present invention, terminals of the lines (9. g.,- pipes} of asystem are equipped with self-closing valve arrangements and a selector component (oranumber' ofsuch components) is provided to interconnect the selected lines, the selector component being so formed as when presented to the lines to open automatically the self-closing valve-and in" most cases to form part of the line. i

In general the terminal of all or the lines would be provided with a self-closing valve as also would the terminalsof-' the selector com- .ponents although in some cases it may be necessary to provide'the valves only onthe terminals of upstream lines.

It will be evident that: the movement of the selector component away from aline results in the automatic closing of that line by the self-- closing valves with the avoidancevo't loss of the controlled fluid; moreover; the selector component would be so arranged and controlled in its movement that only certain-pre-determined lines can be interconnected and" thus it is rendered impossi-blefor incorrect fluid supply coni nections to be made.

i It is obvious that it is necessary. to effect relative'movement between the line terminals and the selector components to enablethese'latter to be selectively brought into register" with selected terminals before the selector components are presentect to those terminals to establish the desired connection; -In-v most cases: it is preferred to mount the selector components for this movement and this can be effected by carrying the components on a carriage which is movable between the terminals of the lines to be intercom nected, these terminals being carriedby a frame in which the carriage is mounted.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudfnall section elevation and Figure 2 an end'elevation looking from the line IIII Figure 1, these two figures illustrating one arrangement white Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation on the line III-III Figure 4, and Figure 4 anfend elevation looking from the line IV-IV Figure 3 of a modified arrangement.

' Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2; a series of pipe lines I terminate at self-closing valves lni'li. cated generally at 2, the pipe lines shown at! forming for example supply and return pipes 'to an industrial plant. The valves are disposed in a circle and mounted for rotation about the axis of this circle is a carriages having selector pipes 4 5, the terminating ends of which are equipped with self-closingvalves generally indicated ati. The valves 6' are disposed to co-operate with the valves 2 as both to be opened when a valve 2 and a valve 6 are presented to one another and to effect this operation, the carriage 3 in addition to being rotatable is also movable endwise.

To eifect these movements of the carriage 3,;it, is rotatably supported on a carrierring compris ing'two parts 1', 8 slidably supported on a central hub 8 secured to a back plate 9 carrying the pipe terminal valves 2', the carriage 3 being held.

Secured directly to the carriage is a spoked frame l-Oiwhich is rotatable on a central spindle H and is connected to a selector hand lever I2 the spindle is itself screw threaded at l3 to engage a screwed aperture in the carrier ring I, and: the spindle has at its forward end an operating; hand wheel I3.

The rotation of the hand.- wheel 13 causes,-

through the screw thread l3, endwise movement of the carrier ring. I, 8: and hence of the carriage 3 which is rotatably carried: by that ring; this results in moving the valve parts 6 into and out of engagement with the. valve parts 2.

Operation of the hand lever t2 results; in turning the carriage 3 about the axis of the pipes and s0 enabling the ,pairs of valves 6 at the extremh ties of the pipes 5 to be moved intoregister with different pairs of valves 2.. Thus by manipulation of the handwheel l3 and of the hand. lever l2- it is possible to select two difierent pairs of pipes I: and to connect the pipes of those pairs toone another through the selector pipes l, 5; the act of connection being'achieved automatically by presenting the ends of the selector pipes 4;; 5. to the ends of the selected pipes l. Conversely, the act of disconnection is. effected by the self closing action of the valves 2 and 6 by the act of moving the selector pipes away from the pipes I.

To afford an indication of the setting of the carriage 3 in relation to the ring of pipes I, the hand lever I2 is extended to provide an indicator I5 movable over a fixed indicator plate It; a spring pressed register ball I6 is also employed to snap into notches in the carriage 3 to register that carriage in the selected angular positions. In order also to ailord an automatic indication whether the valves 6 of the selector pipes 5 are in or out of coupling engagement with the valves 2 of the pipes I, there is provided an indicator finger I! carried by an arm I8 pivoted on a bracket I9 on the back plate 9 and the arm I8 is extended to engage between shoulders on.

a rod 2| secured to the carrier ring I, 8; when the carrier ring is caused to move endwise by the rotation of the hand Wheel I 3', the rod 2I is similarly moved and this in turn rocks the indicator pointer I! so as by its position up or down to indicate the relationship of the valves 2 and 6. The rod 2| can form one of a series .of such rods which aiTord additional sliding support for the carrier ring I, 8 and the carriage 3 and parts carried thereby, the rods being slidable in the back plate 9.

The hub 8 forms a support for the shaft I I an extension II of which extends through the hub and extends into a casing 2| housing a thrust bearing to absorb the axial reaction on the spindle II, I I;

In the arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2, the act of selection is accomplished by the rotation of the carriage 3 and the connection and disconnection by endwise movement of the carriage. In the modification shown in Figures 3 and 4, the selection is efiected by endwise movement of the carriage which movement also effects connection and disconnection. Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, in which the parts corresponding to the parts of Figures 1 and 2 are given similar references, a plurality of the pipe lines I and their self-closing valves 2 are disposed at each side of the carriage 3 which itself is provided at each side with a plurality of self-closing valves 4 and with a plurality of selector ducts 5 the two ends of which terminate in the valves 4 and each of which is open to a pipe 22.

In this construction the carriage 3 is slidable on guide rods 23 secured at their ends in the end plates 24, of a fixed frame supporting the pipes I and their valves 2. The carriage 3 is provided with a central boss which is screw-threaded to engage a screw thread 26 on a rod 21 to which a hand wheel corresponding to the hand wheel I3 is secured, this rod being rotatably supported in bearings in the end plates 24.

It will be clear that by rotating the hand wheel I3 in one direction, the carriage 3 is caused to slide in one direction so that the self-closing valves 6 at one side of the carriage can co-operate with the self-closing valves 2 on one end plate 24 and so establish connection between the pipes 22 on the one hand and one set of pipes I on the other hand. By rotating the hand wheel I3 in the other direction, the valves 6 at the other side of the carriage 3 can be brought into co-operation with the valves 2 at the other end plate and so establish connection between the pipes 22 and that other set of pipes I thus efiecting the required selection.

The setting of the carriage 3 is indicated in this case by a pointer 25 pivoted at 26 and cou- 4 pled by a link 21 to a bracket 28 on the carriage 3.

In both arrangements there is obviously an intermediate position in which no connection is established between on the one hand the selfclosing valves 2 and on the other hand the selfclosing valves 6. In the arrangement of Figures 1 and 2, this position occurs when the hand wheel I 3 has been rotated to retract the carriage 3 to move the valves 6 clear of the valves 2; in the arrangement of Figures 3 and 4 the position occurs when the hand wheel I3 is turned to bring the carriage 3 to the mid-position shown in Figure 3, at which time the pointer 25 will be at its mid-position.

Obviously other combinations of movements can be utilised to effect selection and connection and disconnection. Thus, in a further arrangement, the carriage 3 can be rotatable and the valved terminals of certain lines I are arranged in a circle about the axis of rotation of the carriage and at one side of the carriage while the valved terminals of other lines I are similarly grouped in a circle at the other side of the carriage, the movement of the carriage bringing the selector components into register with the selected opposed line terminals. For the purpose of presenting the selector components to the desired valved terminals a further or endwise relative movement is imparted to the carriage to cause the valves 2 of the selected terminals to be opened by the selector components when they are presented.

It will now be seen that the whole equipment can be set up in such manner as to render it possible to make only certain selected connections so that the element of risk arising from incorrect connections is eliminated. The precise grouping would of course be varied to suit the requirements in any particular case.

The ends of the selector components themselves being usually formed with self-closing valves, as also are the ends of the pipes I, it will be evident that there is substantially no loss of controlled fluid when a change-over is effected and for these valves it is preferred to employ the arrangement of self-closing valve described and claimed in the application Serial No. 592,563, now Patent No, 2,416,967, such valves being shown in the drawings.

Obviously in complicated pipe line systems certain of the selectors can be compounded (i. e., interconnected) provided always that the terminals of the selectors are so disposed that they can only be presented to the requisite lines.

' What I claim is: I

1. A fluid flow change over device comprising a pluralityof supports one carrying at least one self-closing valve terminating a fluid flow line and the other carrying a plurality of self-closing valves terminating respectively different flow lines and means to move the supports relatively to one another to bring the self-closing valves respectively on them selectively into opening fluid flow co-operation.

2. A fluid-flow change-over device comprising a plurality of supports, a, plurality of self-closing valves grouped on one support, a plurality of sets of similarly grouped self-closing valves on the other support, the valves terminating fluid flow lines, and means to move the supports relatively to one another to bring a group of self-closing valves on one support and a group on the other support selectively into opening fluid-flow cooperation.

3. A fluid-flow change-over device comprising a plurality of supports one having a plurality of self-closing valve devices to close a corresponding plurality of flow lines and the other having a plurality of flow lines each terminating at each extremity with a self-closing valve, and means to move the supports relatively to one another to bring selected self-closing valve devices on the two supports selectively into opening flow co-operation.

4. A fluid flow change-over device comprising a stationary component carrying a plurality of self-closing valve devices terminating different flow lines, the said devices being disposed in arcuate fashion, a movable component having at least one fluid-flow conduit having a self-closing valve at each extremity, and means to move the movable component upon the axis of the arc to bring its valve into opening fluid flow co-operation with selected valves on the stationary component.

5. A fluid flow change-over device comprising a, first component carrying a plurality of selfclosing valves, a second component carrying a plurality of self-closing valves disposed between those of the first component and means to move the two components relatively to one another to bring selected self-closing valves on the two components selectively into opening flow co-operation.

6. A fluid-flow change-over device comprising a first component carrying a plurality of selfclosing valves, a, second component carrying a plurality of self-closing valves disposed between those of the first component means to move the two components angularly relatively to one another to bring selected self-closing valves on the two components selectively into flow co-operation, and means to move the components axially relatively to one another to open selected valves.

'7. A fluid flow change over device comprising two components one having a plurality of selfclosing valve devices and the other at least one self-closing valve device, an operating member to move the two components relatively to one another to bring valve devices on the two components selectively into register and a, second operating member to move the registered valve device into valve-opening co-operation.

8. A fluid-flow change over device comprising two components one having a, plurality of selfclosing valve devices and the other at least one self-closing valve device, an operating member to move the two components relatively and angularly to one another to bring valve devices on the two components selectively into register and a second operating member to move the registered valve device axially into valve-opening co-operation.

9. A fluid-flow change-over device comprising a fixed support, a plurality of self-closing valve devices grouped in an are on said support, the valve devices constituting terminals for difierent flow lines, a second support, means mounting the second support for angular movement about the axis of the arc and also for bodily movement along said axis, at least one fluid flow line on said second support, a self-closing valve at an extremity of the line and at a distance from the axis equal to the radius of the arc, a first operating member to move the second support angularly to bring the valve thereon into register with a selected valve on the stationary support and a second operating member to move the second support axially to bring the valve thereon into opening co-operation with the selected valves.

10. A fluid flow change over device comprising a fixed support comprising end components supporting each at least one self-closing valve terminating a fluid flow line, a second support having at least one fluid-flow line terminating at each extremity in a self-closing valve, means mounting the second support for movement between the end components, and an operating member to move said second support to bring its self-closing valve selectively into opening fluidflow co-operation with the valves on the end components.

PERCIVAL EDWARD THOMAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 515,219 Harris Feb. 20, 1894 2,209,989 McCanna Aug. 6, 1940 2,209,993 McGill Aug. 6, 1940 2,309,890 Fisher Feb. 2, 1943 2,364,697 Daniels Dec. 12, 1944

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