Carbide seat remanufacturing
AssigneeCaterpillar Inc.
InventorsAbel Noriega, II, Curtis John Graham, Christopher Anthony Kinney, Connor J Docherty, Blake Messer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Typically, fluids used in fracking operations erode valve seats in the fluid end of the reciprocating pump. Thus, these valve seats must frequently be replaced by new valve seats. Accordingly, a remanufacturing process is disclosed that successively cleans and/or grinds manually or mechanically at least the carbide inserts from used valve seats until the inserts are reusable. This reduces material costs and promotes efficiency and sustainability.
Claims10
A remanufacturing method for a valve seat, the remanufacturing method comprising, for each of one or more used valve seats:
- receiving the used valve seat, wherein the used valve seat comprises an insert, and wherein the insert comprises a tapered surface and a shoulder surface;
- when the insert is salvageable, cleaning the insert manually or mechanically;
- when the cleaned insert is sufficient for reuse, pairing the insert with a first new body having a same pocket as a prior body in which the insert was most recently used;
- when the cleaned insert is insufficient for reuse, grinding the tapered surface of the insert to a first depth manually or mechanically, such that at least a portion of the shoulder surface remains;
- when the ground insert is sufficient for reuse, pairing the insert with the first new body having the same pocket;
- when the ground insert is insufficient for reuse, further grinding manually or mechanically the tapered surface of the insert to a second depth, such that no portion of the shoulder surface remains;
- and
- when the further ground insert is sufficient for reuse, pairing the further ground insert with a second new body having a shallower pocket than the prior body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.