Flow control valve with rolling diaphragm
AssigneeGriswold Controls, LLC
InventorStefan I. Tuineag
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A flow control valve including a main valve and a pilot valve for controlling a piston of the main valve. The valve maybe controlled through a control system based upon measured pressures or temperatures in a system supplied or controlled by the valve. The valve may be operated as a pressure independent control valve, using pressure measurement from a supply line and exit line or return line of a hydronic HVAC system as inputs to the control system, which is operable to maintain a constant pressure drop across the system, or the valve may be operated as a temperature independent control valve, using temperature measurements from a supply line and exit line or return line of a hydronic HVAC system as inputs to the control system which is operable to maintain a constant temperature drop across the system.
Claims14
A flow control valve comprising:
- a main valve comprising a valve seat section comprising:
- an inlet aperture (9) and an outlet aperture (7) and a bore (6) extending from said inlet aperture to said outlet aperture (7), said outlet aperture (7) forming a valve seat (10);
- a closing element (11), and
- an actuator section (2A) operable to move the closing element (11) into and out of, or toward and away from, occluding relationship with the valve seat (10);
- said actuator section (2A) comprising a piston (25) disposed within said actuator section and secured to the closing element (11), said piston disposed proximate a main valve operating chamber (13) within the actuator section (2A) which is operable through pressurization of said main valve operating chamber (13) to move the closing element (11);
- the actuator section (2A) secured to the valve seat section (2S) through one or more supports (32), such that the actuator section (2A) is spaced from the valve seat section (2S);
- a pilot valve (3) disposed within the valve seat section (2s), with a pilot valve inlet port (20) open to an inlet side (8) of valve seat section (2S), said pilot valve inlet port (20) in fluid communication, through the pilot valve, with the main valve operating chamber (13), said pilot valve being operable to control flow of fluid from the inlet side (8) of the valve seat section (2S) to the main valve operating chamber (13);
- wherein
- the valve seat section (2S) is configured such that a longitudinal axis (1) of the bore is aligned, when installed in a piping system (40), between an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe, with a longitudinal axis of said piping system, and the one or more supports (32) are configured to fix the actuator section (2A) in said piping system (40), spaced from the valve seat section (2S), such that the inlet aperture (9), closing element (11), and main valve operating chamber (13) are aligned along a longitudinal axis of the valve seat section (2S);
- and further comprising
- a tube (23) providing a fluid pathway from a pilot valve outlet port (21) to the main valve operating chamber (13) within the actuator section (2A), said tube extending externally from the valve seat section (2S) to the main valve operating chamber (13), wherein the valve seat section, actuator section, and tube are not enclosed within a valve body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.