Sleeve valve with sync cam
AssigneeMueller International, LLC
InventorStephen J. Smick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of controlling the flow of a fluid in a pipe system includes controlling a sleeve valve in the pipe system, the sleeve valve includes a valve body having an inner surface and an outer surface defining an inlet, an outlet, and a body cavity between the inlet and the outlet, a sleeve disposed at least partially within the body cavity, the sleeve including at least one opening fluidly connecting the inlet to the outlet, a gate proximate to the sleeve, and a drive assembly including a pair of drive lines, each drive line including a drive shaft, a first drive line of the pair of drive lines including a sync cam on the first drive line movably positioned between the front stop and the back stop, and moving the gate to uncover the at least one opening to allow fluid to flow from the inlet to the outlet.
Claims19
A method of controlling the flow of a fluid in a pipe system comprising:
- controlling a sleeve valve in the pipe system, the sleeve valve including
- a valve body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface and the outer surface defining an inlet, an outlet, and a body cavity between the inlet and the outlet;
- a sleeve disposed at least partially within the body cavity, the sleeve including at least one opening fluidly connecting the inlet to the outlet;
- a gate proximate to the sleeve, the gate including a front stop and a back stop;
- and
- a drive assembly including a pair of drive lines, each drive line including a drive shaft, a first drive line of the pair of drive lines including a sync cam on the drive shaft of the first drive line, the sync cam of first drive line movably positioned between the front stop and the back stop, a first gap defined between the front stop and the sync cam, a second gap defined between the back stop and the sync cam;
- moving the sync cam to a front stop position, wherein the front stop position reduces the first gap;
- and
- moving the gate to uncover the at least one opening to allow fluid to flow from the inlet to the outlet.
The method of claim 4, further comprising
- moving the first sync cam to a first back stop position, wherein the first back stop position reduces the second gap;
- and
- moving the gate to cover the at least one opening to reduce fluid from flowing from the inlet to the outlet.11. The method of claim 10, further comprising moving the second sync cam to a second back stop position, wherein the second back stop position reduces the fourth gap, and wherein the first sync cam contacts the first back stop at the first back stop position.
A method of controlling the flow of a fluid in a pipe system comprising:
- controlling a sleeve valve in the pipe system, the sleeve valve including
- a valve body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface and the outer surface defining an inlet, an outlet, and a body cavity between the inlet and the outlet;
- a sleeve disposed at least partially within the body cavity, the sleeve including at least one opening fluidly connecting the inlet to the outlet;
- a gate proximate to the sleeve, the gate including a front stop and a back stop;
- and
- a drive assembly including a pair of drive lines, each drive line including a drive shaft, a first drive line of the pair of drive lines including a sync cam on the drive shaft of the first drive line, the sync cam of first drive line movably positioned between the front stop and the back stop, a first gap defined between the front stop and the sync cam, a second gap defined between the back stop and the sync cam;
- moving the sync cam to a back stop position, wherein the back stop position reduces the second gap;
- and
- moving the gate to cover at least one opening to reduce fluid from flowing from the inlet to the outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.