Valve diagnostic and performance system
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsPablo Daniel Genta, Essam Ahmed Al-Arfaj
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A multi-piece ball valve includes a body, a first closure piece attached to the body, the first closure piece and the body together defining an interior cavity. A ball is disposed in the interior cavity, the ball defining a bore extending through the ball. A load sensor ring is disposed in an annular cavity defined in an outer surface of the body between the body and the first closure piece. A pressure sensor is operable to sense fluid pressure between the body and the first closure piece. An electronic control system is in communication with the load sensor ring and the pressure sensor.
Claims13
A multi-piece ball valve comprising:
- a body;
- a first closure piece attached to the body, the first closure piece and the body together defining an interior cavity;
- a ball disposed in the interior cavity, the ball defining a bore extending through the ball;
- a load sensor ring disposed in an annular cavity defined in an outer surface of the body between the body and the first closure piece;
- a pressure sensor operable to sense fluid pressure between the body and the first closure piece;
- and
- an electronic control system in communication with the load sensor ring and the pressure sensor, wherein the electronic control system is operable to determine a location of a leak across any point around a valve body-closure piece joint circumference by having a logic solver executing a leak location routine based on light pulse bandwidth scattering reflectometry methods.
A ball valve comprising:
- a body comprising an outer surface;
- a first closure piece attached to the body, the first closure piece and the body together defining an interior cavity and an annular cavity, the annular cavity defined in part by the outer surface of the body;
- a ball disposed in the interior cavity, the ball defining a bore extending through the ball;
- a load sensor ring disposed in the annular cavity;
- a pressure sensor operable to sense fluid pressure between the body and the first closure piece;
- and
- an electronic control system in communication with the load sensor ring and the pressure sensor, the electronic control system comprising a logic solver that is configured to monitor and control the load sensor ring and the pressure sensor to determine a location of a leak across any point around a valve body-closure piece joint circumference based on light pulse bandwidth scattering reflectometry methods.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.