US3915347A - Double gate valve for passing material from a pressurized side of a bulkhead - Google Patents

Double gate valve for passing material from a pressurized side of a bulkhead Download PDF

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Publication number
US3915347A
US3915347A US404183A US40418373A US3915347A US 3915347 A US3915347 A US 3915347A US 404183 A US404183 A US 404183A US 40418373 A US40418373 A US 40418373A US 3915347 A US3915347 A US 3915347A
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United States
Prior art keywords
gate
valve
seat
gates
seal
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Expired - Lifetime
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US404183A
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English (en)
Inventor
Alastair Ross Biggart
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National Research Development Corp UK
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Nat Res Dev
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    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21D—SHAFTS; TUNNELS; GALLERIES; LARGE UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS
    • E21D9/00—Tunnels or galleries, with or without linings; Methods or apparatus for making thereof; Layout of tunnels or galleries
    • E21D9/12—Devices for removing or hauling away excavated material or spoil; Working or loading platforms
    • E21D9/13—Devices for removing or hauling away excavated material or spoil; Working or loading platforms using hydraulic or pneumatic conveying means

Definitions

  • the device S 222/148 222/ comprises a double gate valve having a first gate opening in an upward direction and a Second (down [58] new of "5531ig gg q gggi f ibg g stream) gate opening in a downward direction.
  • the l bottom of the valve body carries for the first gate a seal backed by a pressurized chamber from which liq- [56] References Cited uid leaks past the seal and into the body portion of the UNITED STATES PATENTS valve.
  • This invention relates to apparatus for tunnelling generally horizontally, or on an incline, through ground which is capable of being excavated by mechanical digging or cutting mechanisms.
  • a tunnelling shield including'a transverse pressure bulkhead, a power-driven rotary mechanical digging mechanism in a working chamber in front of the bulkhead, means for supplying a liquid suspension under pressure to the working chamber, and means for continuously removing spoil with a proportion of the liquid suspension from the working chamber.
  • the liquid used in operation of the device is preferably a thixotropic suspension, i.e. a suspension having a relatively high viscosity at low stress but a decreased viscosity when an increased stress is applied.
  • a thixotropic suspension i.e. a suspension having a relatively high viscosity at low stress but a decreased viscosity when an increased stress is applied.
  • the suspension will initially be relatively free-flowing and can be pumped in this condition into the working chamber at the front of the shield.
  • the suspension is no longer moving and so it becomes substantially solid, or semi-solid, or viscous, and will thus materially assist in supporting the face,'or in forming in effect a pressure membrane on or in the ground, against which the pressure of the liquid suspension in the working chamber acts.
  • the tunnelling apparatus above described preferably includes means for separating spoil from the extracted material and for recirculating the remainder, which should ideally consist only of the thixotropic suspension, back to the working chamher.
  • this device may be provided by a double gate valve having an upwardly closing first gate followed by the second gate of the valve, and means for controllably venting to atmosphere that part of the valve body containing the seat for the first gate.
  • a seal between the bottom part of the valve body and the first gate is backed by a chamber adapted to be pressurized with a flow of substantially spoil-free thixotropic material whereby any leak past the seal is in an upwards direction to discourage the ingress into the seal of spoil present in the'extracted material.
  • That part of the valve body located between the two gates is preferably provided with an inlet port for a flow of the thixotropic material into said port and according to a preferred feature the cross section presented to said part by the inlet port is greater than that presented there by the venting means.
  • the second gate preferably closes in a downwards direction.
  • the invention also includes a tunnelling machine in- FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic view of a tunnelling machine embodying the double gate valve of the present invention.
  • FIG. 2 shows, on a larger scale than FIG. 1, a vertical section through the double gate valve
  • FIG. 3 shows, on the same scale as FIG. 2, a vertical section through an alternative design of double gate valve according to the present invention.
  • a tunnelling machine 10 includes a transverse pressure bulkhead 14.
  • a working chamber 16 between the bulkhead and the front of the shield contains a power driven rotary mechanical digging mechanism in the form of a cutter head 18.
  • a thixotropic liquid suspension of sodium based bentonite slurry (5% byweight of bentonite in water) is supplied to chamber 16 at a rate of about 300 gallons per minute by a pump 20 so that in operation the cutter head revolves in a sealed chamber filled with bentonite slurry under pressure.
  • Sodium based bentonite is, for example, available in Great Britain from Laporte Industries (under the trade name Fulbent) and from Berk Limited (under the trade name Berkbent).
  • the pressurized bentonite forms a skin or filter cake on the excavated tunnel wall 21, the slurry penetrating the wall face to stabilize and seal it.
  • a chute 22 guides spoil-contaminated slurry from chamber 16 through an extractor (comprising a double gate valve 23) and into a wet sump 24 where any cobbles of over 100 mm are sifted out.
  • the double gate valve which meters the discharge from the chute is shown in more detail in FIG. 2.
  • the spoil-contaminated slurry is then pumped by pump 26 (FIG. 1) ma vibrating screen separator 28 (which removes particles larger than 6 mm) and then to four cyclones 29 which remove sand particles larger than micrometers.
  • the sand removed is collected in tank 30 and the clean bentonite slurry leftis discharged from the cyclones into tank 32 for temporary storage.
  • the clean bentonite slurry is delivered to the tunnel by pump 34 and divided between the wet sump (via pipe'36), the working chamber (via pump 20), and the extractor 23 (via pipe 38).
  • a pressure control valve 40 allows the controlled removal of slurry and sand from the chamber and also allows any air which may be entrained in chamber 16 to escape.
  • the various pumps are started to give the necessary bentonite slurry flows through the system and the rotary cutting head is driven to cut away the ground in front of the tunnelling machine which is pushed forward, as the ground is cut away, by a ring of hydraulic jacks (not shown) acting between a bulkhead (not shown) at the rear of the machine and the last ring of the tunnel lining 42.
  • a ring of hydraulic jacks acting between a bulkhead (not shown) at the rear of the machine and the last ring of the tunnel lining 42.
  • the present invention lies in the double gate valve which is used as the extractor and the illustrated embodiment of this valve shown in FIG. 2 has an upwardly closing first gate 52 followed by the second gate 54 which closes downwardly.
  • the valve body 56 has an inlet 58 for the introduction of spoil-contaminated bentonite slurry from work chamber 16 of the tunnelling machine, and an outlet 60 for the discharge of material from the valve body central part (62) located between the gates 52 and 54.
  • Guides 63, 64 guide the motion of the two gates.
  • the inclination of the bottom part (65) of the valve body is substantially equal to the angle of repose of the spoil particles in the slurry leaving the working chamber.
  • gate 52 is arranged to engage with a rubber seat 66 located at the top of the valve body above the level of an outlet port 68.
  • Port 68 vents the upper part of the valve body to atmosphere via a pipe 100 controlled by a conventional hand wheel operated gate valve 104.
  • a pressure gauge 102 indicates the pressure in pipe 100 on the upstream side of valve 104.
  • the gate 52 is sealed at the bottom of the valve body by two sets 69, 70 of lip seals mounted in a block 72.
  • a cavity 74 in the block is connected through inlet port 76 with the pipe 38 shown in FIG. 1, and an outlet 76' (behind port 76 as viewed in FIG. 2) from the cavity is connected by an appropriate pipe 400 (shown diagrammatically in FIG.
  • Pipe 400 is provided with a throttling valve 402 designed to maintain the bentonite in chamber 74 at a positive pressure relative to the bentonite on the upstream side of gate 52.
  • a baffle 80 sprays out the bentonite entering through port 78.
  • valve body 56 In operation of the system shown in FIG. 1, the discharge of material from chute 22 is fed into the valve body 56 (FIG. 2) through inlet port 58 with gates 52 and 54 closed.
  • the central part 62 of the valve body is full of clean bentonite slurry up to or slightly above the level of outlet port 68 and pockets of air under pressure are trapped in the top of the valve body by the bentonite slurry present on both sides of gate 52.
  • a flow of bentonite slurry is started through inlet ports 76 and 78, gate 52 is moved down into the open position illustrated for the gate in FIG. 2.
  • the double gate valve of FIG. 2 is modified so that the seat 66 for the first gate is surrounded by clean bentonite slurry instead of air. Accordingly, port 68, pipe 100 and baffle 80, are replaced by an overflow pipe 200. This pipe communicates via the top plate of valve body 56, with the space between gates 52 and 54 and it discharges into wet sump 24.
  • the remainder of the double gate valve is identical with that already described above with reference to FIG. 2, except for an extension chamber 300 situated on the upstream side of gate 52. Extension chamber 300 is arranged to'hold any pocket of air accumulating on the upstream side of gate 52 in operation of the double gate valve.
  • a manually operated valve 302 allows the air to be exhausted to atmosphere every so often so that the bentonite is not depressed to a level below seat 66 by increasing air pressure.
  • FIGS. 2 and 3 do not show the double gate valve in an operative position because, in practice, one or both of gates 52, 54 will be closed at any particular instant.
  • FIGS. 2 and 3 show both these gates to be open in order more clearly to illustrate the various components of the valve.
  • Both the embodiments described in the specification can be operated if desired by arranging for cavity 74 to be flushed with a continuous flow of water instead of bentonite.
  • a device for passing material from the pressurized side of a bulkhead comprising a double gate valve having a body portion, a first gate at the inlet side of said body portion, a first seat onto which the first gate closes in a generally upwards direction, a second gate at the outlet side of said body portion, a seat for said second gate, guide means for said first and second gates constraining said gates to slide in their respective planes when moving between their open and closed positions, and means for maintaining said seat for said first gate free of said material passing through said device, said means including valve means for controllably venting to atmosphere that part of the valve body containing the seat for the first gate.
  • a device as claimed in claim 1 including a seal between the bottom part of the valve body and the first gate, a backing chamber backing said seal, means permitting pressurization of said backing chamber with a flow of substantially spoil-free liquid, and means permitting a leak of said liquid past said seal and into the valve body thereby to discourage the ingress into the seal of spoil present in the extracted material.
  • a device as claimed in claim 1 including an inlet port located in that part of the body portion located between the two gates, said inlet port permitting a flow of substantially clean thixotropic material into said part.
  • a device as claimed in claim 1 including venting means for controllably venting to atmosphere that part of the valve body containing the seat for the first gate and an inlet port located in said part permitting a flow of substantially clean thixotropic material into said part, the internal cross-section presented to said part by the inlet port being greater than that presented there by said venting means.
  • a device as claimed in claim 1 in which the second gate closes against its seat in a generally downwards direction.
  • a double gate valve for passing a material in a slurry from the pressurized side of a bulkhead, the valve comprising a body,
  • said means including valve means for controllably venting to atmosphere that part of the valve body containing the seat for said first gate.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Excavating Of Shafts Or Tunnels (AREA)
  • Details Of Valves (AREA)
  • Lining And Supports For Tunnels (AREA)
US404183A 1972-10-13 1973-10-09 Double gate valve for passing material from a pressurized side of a bulkhead Expired - Lifetime US3915347A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB4738072A GB1391499A (en) 1972-10-13 1972-10-13 Device for passing material from the pressurised side to the non-pressurised side of a bulk-head

Publications (1)

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US3915347A true US3915347A (en) 1975-10-28

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US404183A Expired - Lifetime US3915347A (en) 1972-10-13 1973-10-09 Double gate valve for passing material from a pressurized side of a bulkhead

Country Status (5)

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US (1) US3915347A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS4972934A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE2351351A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1391499A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL7313611A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5749678A (en) * 1994-05-03 1998-05-12 Putzmeister-Werk Maschinenfabrik Gmbh Device for driving a tunnel or drain pipe
US5832973A (en) * 1997-10-14 1998-11-10 Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Sanitary carbon charging system

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS51139140A (en) * 1975-05-26 1976-12-01 Hitachi Shipbuilding Eng Co Shield excavating method and excavator
DE3571060D1 (en) * 1985-07-16 1989-07-20 Kawasaki Heavy Ind Ltd Tunnel boring machine
US4793736A (en) * 1985-08-19 1988-12-27 Thompson Louis J Method and apparatus for continuously boring and lining tunnels and other like structures
DE69026083T2 (de) * 1989-04-28 1996-08-22 Komatsu Mfg Co Ltd Schildvortriebsverfahren unter benutzung eines erddruckschilds
FR2754850B1 (fr) * 1996-10-18 1999-01-08 M S Dev Et Participation Sa Station de traitement des boues pour tunnelier a front de taille pressurise

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1313491A (en) * 1919-08-19 Furnace feed-chute
US1639517A (en) * 1926-08-16 1927-08-16 Lassen Peter Bag-filling device
US2742193A (en) * 1952-04-29 1956-04-17 Exxon Research Engineering Co Slide valve adapted for accurate control of the flow of finely divided granular solid materials
US3090593A (en) * 1958-12-18 1963-05-21 Air Placement Equipment Compan Shut-off valve for cementitious pressure vessels
US3747986A (en) * 1971-10-05 1973-07-24 Eastern Cyclone Ind Inc Pneumatic bulky material collector system
US3765576A (en) * 1972-04-10 1973-10-16 R Ramsdale Apparatus for dispensing photographic chemicals

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1313491A (en) * 1919-08-19 Furnace feed-chute
US1639517A (en) * 1926-08-16 1927-08-16 Lassen Peter Bag-filling device
US2742193A (en) * 1952-04-29 1956-04-17 Exxon Research Engineering Co Slide valve adapted for accurate control of the flow of finely divided granular solid materials
US3090593A (en) * 1958-12-18 1963-05-21 Air Placement Equipment Compan Shut-off valve for cementitious pressure vessels
US3747986A (en) * 1971-10-05 1973-07-24 Eastern Cyclone Ind Inc Pneumatic bulky material collector system
US3765576A (en) * 1972-04-10 1973-10-16 R Ramsdale Apparatus for dispensing photographic chemicals

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5749678A (en) * 1994-05-03 1998-05-12 Putzmeister-Werk Maschinenfabrik Gmbh Device for driving a tunnel or drain pipe
EP0759117B2 (de) † 1994-05-03 2004-09-08 PUTZMEISTER Aktiengesellschaft Anordnung zum vortrieb eines tunnel- oder abwasserrohrs
US5832973A (en) * 1997-10-14 1998-11-10 Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Sanitary carbon charging system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS4972934A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1974-07-15
NL7313611A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1974-04-16
GB1391499A (en) 1975-04-23
DE2351351A1 (de) 1974-04-25

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