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US 10,859,146 B2Granted
Actuator for a regulator pilot valve
AssigneeUtonomy LTD
InventorsDavid Bracey, Stephen John Lewis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An actuator for adjusting a pilot valve in a gas supply regulator, includes a drive electric motor to provide rotational movement to a first drive shaft, an emergency electric motor to provide rotational movement to a second drive shaft, a differential gear arrangement coupled to the first drive shaft and coupled to the second drive shaft to generate rotational movement of an actuator drive shaft from the rotational movement provided by one of the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft, and a rotary to linear device coupled to the actuator drive shaft to convert rotational movement of the actuator drive shaft into a linear movement for adjusting the pressure valve.
Claims15
An actuator for adjusting a pilot valve in a gas supply regulator, the actuator comprising:
- a drive electric motor configured to provide rotational movement to a first drive shaft,
- an emergency electric motor configured to provide rotational movement to a second drive shaft,
- a differential gear arrangement coupled to the first drive shaft and coupled to the second drive shaft and configured to generate rotational movement of an actuator drive shaft from the rotational movement provided by one of the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft, and
- a rotary to linear device coupled to the actuator drive shaft and configured to convert rotational movement of the actuator drive shaft into a linear movement for adjusting the pilot valve, wherein the differential gear arrangement is configured to drive the actuator drive shaft when one of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor is powered to provide a drive torque to one of the first drive shaft or the second drive shaft and the other of the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor unpowered, and the drive torque provided by the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor when powered is arranged with respect to a back drive torque of the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor so that when one of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor is powered, the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor can overcome a resistive torque of the actuator drive shaft to drive the actuator drive shaft and not drive the other of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor when unpowered, wherein the drive torque provided by the drive electric motor is larger than a maximum resistive torque of a combination of the differential gear arrangement and the actuator drive shaft driving the rotary to linear device for adjusting the pilot valve;
- a back drive torque of the drive electric motor is greater than a quotient of a torque of the actuator shaft generated by a combination of the rotary to linear device, the pilot valve and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement when the drive electric motor is in an unpowered state;
- the drive torque of the emergency electric motor is larger than the maximum resistive torque of the combination of the differential gear arrangement and the actuator drive shaft driving the rotary to linear device for adjusting the pilot valve;
- a back drive torque of the emergency electric motor is greater than a quotient of a torque of the actuator shaft generated by a combination of the rotary to linear device, the pilot valve and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement when the emergency electric motor is in an unpowered state;
- and
- the drive torque of the drive electric motor is less than a quotient of a combination of the back drive torque of the emergency electric motor and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement.
6 more elements
A method of operating an actuator to adjust a pilot valve in a gas supply regulator, the method comprising powering either a drive electric motor configured to provide rotational movement to a first drive shaft, or
- powering an emergency electric motor configured to provide rotational movement to a second drive shaft, the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft being connected by a differential gear arrangement to an actuator drive shaft which drives an actuator drive shaft, from the rotational movement provided by one of the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft, to drive a rotary to linear device coupled to the actuator drive shaft to convert rotational movement of the actuator drive shaft into a linear movement for adjusting the pilot valve, wherein the differential gear arrangement is configured to drive the actuator drive shaft when either of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor is powered to provide a drive torque to one of the first drive shaft or the second drive shaft and the other of the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor unpowered and the drive torque provided by the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor when powered is arranged with respect to a back drive torque of the drive electric motor and the emergency electric motor so that when one of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor is powered, the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor can overcome a resistive torque of the actuator drive shaft to drive the actuator drive shaft and not drive the other of the drive electric motor or the emergency electric motor when unpowered, wherein the drive torque provided by the drive electric motor is larger than a maximum resistive torque of a combination of the differential gear arrangement and the actuator drive shaft driving the rotary to linear device for adjusting the pilot valve;
- a back drive torque of the drive electric motor is greater than a quotient of a torque of the actuator shaft generated by a combination of the rotary to linear device, the pilot valve and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement when the drive electric motor is in an unpowered state;
- the drive torque of the emergency electric motor is larger than the maximum resistive torque of the combination of the differential gear arrangement and the actuator drive shaft driving the rotary to linear device for adjusting the pilot valve;
- a back drive torque of the emergency electric motor is greater than a quotient of a torque of the actuator shaft generated by a combination of the rotary to linear device, the pilot valve and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement when the emergency electric motor is in an unpowered state;
- and
- the drive torque of the drive electric motor is less than a quotient of a combination of the back drive torque of the emergency electric motor and the efficiency of the differential gear arrangement.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.