Ball Valve Apparatus

Abstract

A ball valve apparatus with an improved linearity of fluid flow therethrough is provided. The ball valve includes a valve housing including a housing inlet and a housing outlet; a valve ball receivable within the valve housing, the valve ball having a bore therethrough, a ball inlet and ball outlet of the valve ball which are in fluid communication with the bore, a fluid flow path through the ball valve apparatus being defined at least in part by the housing inlet, housing outlet, ball inlet, ball outlet and the bore. There is also provided a valve stem engagable with the valve ball and. To control the fluid flow through the apparatus such that there is a linear or substantially linear relationship between at the angular position of the valve ball and the fluid flow through the apparatus, there may be provided at least one bridging element, positioned on the fluid flow path to alter a fluid flow thereacross and/or ball outlet, and/or at least one of the ball inlet and ball outlet may have a non-circular profile. A ball valve for such an apparatus is also provided, in addition to method of improving the linearity of fluid flow through a ball valve apparatus.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.