Bi-Directional Relief Valve
AssigneeUnibloc Hygienic Technologies US, LLC
InventorJoshua Hooper
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bi-directional valve has an inlet with an outlet that may interchangeably applied to a pressure source and still operate properly. A spring applies a bias to a concave diaphragm against a cover plate in a non-relieving configuration to seal an inlet relative to an outlet. The cover plate may have ports with a shallower attack angle than prior art designs. Those ports may also have different shapes to facilitate significantly more flow permitting at least some better performance characteristics than prior art designs.
Claims20
A bi-directional relief valve of the construction having an inlet and an outlet, with the valve operating similarly regardless which of the inlet and outlet is selected to be connected to a potential pressure source;
- a biasing member applying a bias force to a diaphragm whereby the diaphragm seals against a cover plate in a non-relieving configuration preventing flow from the inlet to the outlet until reaching a set relief pressure;
- wherein upon reaching the relief pressure, the bias force is sufficiently offset to permit the diaphragm to move away from the cover plate permitting flow from the inlet through the outlet in a relieving configuration;
- wherein the improvement comprising:
- symmetrically oriented ports through a planar cover plate communicating the inlet and outlet to the diaphragm with said ports oriented at less than an angle of 45 degrees relative to a plane of the cover plate.
A bi-directional relief valve of the construction having an inlet and an outlet, with the valve operating similarly regardless which of the inlet and outlet is selected to be connected to a potential pressure source;
- a biasing member applying a bias force to a diaphragm whereby the diaphragm seals against a cover plate in a non-relieving configuration preventing flow from the inlet to the outlet until reaching a relief pressure;
- wherein upon reaching the relief pressure, the bias force is sufficiently offset to permit the diaphragm to move away from the cover plate permitting flow from the inlet through the outlet in a relieving configuration;
- wherein the improvement comprising:
- symmetrically oriented ports through a planar cover plate, said ports each having a linear front face directed toward a middle of the cover plate parallel to one another.
A bi-directional relief valve of the construction having an inlet and an outlet, with the valve operating similarly regardless which of the inlet and outlet is selected to be connected to a potential pressure source;
- a biasing member applying a bias force to a diaphragm whereby the diaphragm seals against a cover plate in a non-relieving configuration preventing flow from the inlet to the outlet until reaching a relief pressure;
- wherein upon reaching the relief pressure, the bias force is sufficiently offset to permit the diaphragm to move away from the cover plate permitting flow from the inlet through the outlet in a relieving configuration;
- wherein the improvement comprising:
- symmetric ports in the cover plate, said ports having a maximum cross section at a middle of the port as located perpendicular to the center of the cover plate between the ports and narrow in cross section as the ports proceed outwardly from the middle toward the outer edges of the ports.
A bi-directional relief valve of the construction having an inlet and an outlet, with the valve operating similarly regardless which of the inlet and outlet is selected to be connected to a potential pressure source;
- a biasing member applying a bias force to a diaphragm whereby the diaphragm seals against a cover plate in a non-relieving configuration preventing flow from the inlet to the outlet until reaching a relief pressure;
- wherein upon reaching the relief pressure, the bias force is sufficiently offset to permit the diaphragm to move away from the cover plate permitting flow from the inlet through the outlet in a relieving configuration;
- wherein the improvement comprising:
- symmetrically oriented ports through a planar cover plate, wherein said diaphragm is preformed in a concave shape as oriented toward the cover plate and deflected to seal the inlet relative to the outlet in the non-relieving configuration and moves toward being concave in the relieving configuration above the cover plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.