Compact raised face flange
AssigneeNuScale Power, LLC
InventorTamas Liszkai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an example, a raised face flange assembly, comprises an upper flange to couple to a lower flange using one or more bolts: wherein the upper flange or the lower flange comprises: a bolting face defining one or more openings for the one or more bolts, respectively; a pair of raised faces including a first raised face and a second raised face to make contact with a mating surface of the other of the upper flange or the lower flange; wherein a distance between an area of the second raised face and a plane corresponding to the bolting face is greater than a distance between an area of the first raised face and the plane to distribute contact force with a mating surface over the area of the second raised face to maintain a seal.
Claims20
A raised face flange system comprising:
- a first, raised face flange having:
- a bolting face defining one or more openings for one or more bolts, respectively;
- and
- a pair of raised faces including a first raised face disposed in a first plane and a second raised face to form a seal in a nuclear reactor module, the second raised face disposed in a second plane that is different than the first plane;
- a second, flat-faced flange;
- and
- a bolt extending through the first flange and the second flange in series,
- wherein the bolting face is disposed between the raised faces in a third plane that is different than the first and second planes;
- wherein the bolting face and the raised faces face in one direction;
- and
- wherein a distance between an area of the second raised face and the third plane is greater than a distance between an area of the first raised face and the third plane to distribute contact force with the second flange over the area of the second raised face to maintain the seal.
A vessel of a nuclear reactor module, the vessel comprising:
- a vessel flange joint to couple a first cylindrical sidewall of the vessel to a second sidewall of the vessel;
- the vessel flange joint including an upper flange coupled to a lower flange using at least one bolt extending through the upper flange and the lower flange in series, wherein at least one of the upper flange or the lower flange is a flat-faced flange, and wherein the other of the upper flange or the lower flange includes:
- a bolting face having one or more openings for the at least one bolt, respectively;
- a pair of raised faces positioned on opposite sides of the bolting face, and including a first raised face in a first plane and a second raised face in a second plane, the raised faces positioned to make contact with a mating surface of the other of the upper flange or the lower flange, the raised faces and the bolting face facing in one direction;
- and
- wherein a distance between an area of the second raised face and a third plane corresponding to the bolting face is greater than a distance between an area of the first raised face and the third plane to distribute a contact force with the mating surface.
A raised face flange assembly, comprising:
- an upper flange;
- a lower flange;
- and
- at least one bolt coupling the upper flange and the lower flange:
- wherein at least one of the upper flange or the lower flange is a flat-faced flange, and the other of the upper flange or the lower flange comprises:
- a bolting face having at least one opening for the at least one bolt;
- a pair of raised faces positioned on opposite sides of the bolting face, and including a first raised face in a first plane and a second raised face in a second plane, the raised faces positioned to make contact with a mating surface of the other of the upper flange or the lower flange;
- wherein the bolting face and the raised faces face in one direction;
- and
- wherein a distance between an area of the second raised face and a third plane corresponding to the bolting face is greater than a distance between an area of the first raised face and the third plane to distribute a contact force with the mating surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.