Lock assembly for hydraulic fracing valve
AssigneeVetco Gray Inc.
InventorsMahesha Udipi, Raymond Krolczyk, Mark Viator
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lock open device for use with a valve in a hydraulic fracturing system, which maintains the valve in an open position. The lock open device includes a plate with beveled edges and spring loaded ball bearings strategically disposed to contact the edges and interfere with axial movement of the plate. The plate couples to a gate member in the valve, so that the interference between the plate and the ball bearings maintains the valve in a designated open or closed position. The angle of the bevel regulates how much force is required to urge the plate past the ball bearings to thereby open/close the valve.
Claims14
A valve assembly for use in a subterranean hydraulic fracturing system comprising:
- a body having a passage;
- a gate disposable in the body;
- a bore in the gate that selectively registers with the passage;
- a valve lock assembly comprising:
- a cam disk;
- a balance stem connected between the cam disk and the gate;
- a retention element urged into a path of the cam disk by a resilient member, so that when a force is applied to the gate to urge the cam disk against the retention element that is less than a designated amount, the retention element is retained in the path of the cam disk by the resilient member.
A balancing system for use with a hydraulic fracturing valve comprising:
- a generally planar cam member in selective coupling engagement with a valve gate and subject to a thrust force from the valve gate in response to a force applied to the valve gate;
- and
- a latching assembly comprising a latching element that is maintained in interfering contact with the cam member by a resilient member when the thrust force produces a resultant force against the latching element that is less than a designated amount.
A valve assembly for use in a hydraulic fracing system comprising:
- a valve body having a passage;
- a gate having a bore that is in selective registration with the passage;
- an actuator coupled with the gate;
- and
- a means for retaining the gate in a designated position within the valve body that is unlockable from the designated position with a force applied to the gate that is greater than a force applied to lock the gate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.