Relief valve with testing lockout
AssigneeWatts Regulator Co.
InventorSteven Castrigno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A relief valve has a valve body, a plunger assembly coupled to the valve body for selectively opening and closing the relief valve, and a support member secured to the valve body. A lockout lever is against the support member, forming a vertex. A spring rod is coupled to the lockout lever, and a spring is coupled to the spring rod, providing a bias force against the plunger assembly to normally close the relief valve. In a lockout position, the lockout lever is moved to pivot on the vertex against the support member to further compress the spring, which increases the bias force and, in turn, a cracking pressure of the relief valve.
Claims12
A relief valve comprising:
- a valve body;
- a plunger assembly coupled to the valve body for selectively opening and closing the relief valve;
- a support member secured to the valve body;
- a lockout lever having an effort arm and a resistance arm with a vertex between the effort arm and the resistance arm, the lockout lever being mounted to seesaw with the vertex against the support member as a fulcrum plate;
- a spring rod coupled to the lockout lever;
- and
- a spring coupled to the spring rod and providing a bias force against the plunger assembly to normally close the relief valve,
- wherein in a lockout position, the effort arm of the lockout lever is moved to pivot on the vertex against the support member to further compress the spring, which increases the bias force and, in turn, a cracking pressure of the relief valve.
A relief valve comprising:
- a body defining inlet and outlet flowpaths;
- a support member secured to the body, the support member defining a lockout bore, the support member having a proximal portion defining a spring rod opening and a distal portion;
- a lockout lever against the support member, the lockout lever having a spring rod bore;
- a lever arm having:
- a fixed end pivotally coupled to the support member;
- and a free end defining a spring rod hole;
- and
- a spring rod which guides movement of a spring along an elongated length of the spring rod, the spring rod passing through:
- the spring rod bore of the lockout lever, the spring rod opening of the support member, and the spring rod hole of the lever arm,
- wherein:
- in a lockout position, the lockout lever is moved to pull the spring rod causing further compression of the spring to increase a cracking pressure of the relief valve;
- and
- in a flush position, the free end of the lever arm is moved upward to reduce spring force on the lever arm to create a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet flowpaths.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.