Through-hardened valve seat for hydraulic fracturing
AssigneeApex Industrial LLC
InventorsErik Rasmussen, Steven J. Metz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A valve seat for hydraulic fracturing valves employs a through-hardening process, for example, with austempering, to provide greater wear resistance at the interface between the valve seat and the valve plug as well as resistance to abrasion and leakage in the interface between an alignment ring of the valve seat and a bore in the pump body.
Claims11
A valve seat for hydraulic fracturing pumps comprising a metal ring providing a central axial bore, the metal ring having an upper header portion communicating with a coaxial lower alignment sleeve at a radially extending rim passing outward from an upper edge of the coaxially lower alignment sleeve to a lower edge of the upper header portion;
- and an exposed upper face of the upper header portion presenting an inwardly downward bevel for receiving a valve plug;
- wherein the metal ring is a high carbon alloy steel having a carbon content percentage of greater than 0.6 percent by weight and a chromium content percentage greater than 0.7 percent by weight in the metal ring formed of a through-hardened steel that is austempered to provide a through-hardened steel of substantially uniform composition to a depth of at least one-half inch from outer surfaces of the metal ring.
A hydraulic fracturing pump comprising:
- a pump body providing a pump volume intercommunicating with an inlet and an outlet and plunger chamber;
- a plunger fitting within the plunger chamber to reduce and increase the pump volume with reciprocation of the plunger;
- and
- a first valve and second valve positioned at the inlet and the outlet to provide unidirectional flow out of the outlet and into the inlet;
- wherein the first valve and second valve provide a valve plug and a valve seat, the valve seat removably fitting within a bore of the inlet or outlet wherein the valve seat comprises a metal ring providing a central axial bore, the metal ring having an upper header portion communicating with a coaxial lower alignment sleeve at a radially extending rim passing outward from an upper edge of the alignment sleeve to a lower edge of the header portion;
- and wherein an exposed upper face of the header portion presents an inwardly downward bevel for receipt of the valve plug;
- wherein the metal ring is a high carbon alloy steel having a carbon content percentage of greater than 0.6 percent by weight and a chromium content percentage greater than 0.7 percent by weight in the metal ring formed of a through-hardened steel that is austempered to provide a through-hardened steel of substantially uniform composition to a depth of at least one-half inch from outer surfaces of the metal ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.