Valve evacuation apparatus, control, and associated methods
AssigneeTpe Midstream LLC
InventorDouglas A. Sahm
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus to evacuate fluid is disclosed herein. The example apparatus includes a pipe to transport flammable gas, the pipe including a first valve fluidly coupled to a first region of the pipe and a second valve fluidly coupled to a second region of the pipe, a ball valve implemented along the pipe between the first region and the second region, and a valve evacuation system to compress the flammable gas from the ball valve and pump the compressed flammable gas to the first region via the first valve when the ball valve is in the closed position such that the flammable gas from the ball valve is not vented to atmosphere.
Claims20
An apparatus comprising:
- a pipe to transport flammable gas, the pipe including a first valve fluidly coupled to a first region of the pipe and a second valve fluidly coupled to a second region of the pipe;
- a ball valve implemented along the pipe between the first region and the second region, the flammable gas to flow through the ball valve from the first region to the second region when the ball valve is in an open position, the ball valve to restrict flow of the flammable gas from the first region to the second region when the ball valve is in a closed position;
- and
- a valve evacuation system fluidly coupled between the ball valve and the first valve, the valve evacuation system to compress the flammable gas from the ball valve and pump the compressed flammable gas to the first region via the first valve when the ball valve is in the closed position such that the flammable gas from the ball valve is not vented to atmosphere.
A method comprising:
- fluidly coupling a valve evacuation system to a ball valve, the ball valve implemented on a pipe between a first region of the pipe and a second region of the pipe, the pipe to transport flammable gas, the flammable gas to flow through the ball valve from the first region to the second region when the ball valve is in an open position, the ball valve to restrict flow of the flammable gas from the first region to the second region when the ball valve is in a closed position, the pipe including a first valve fluidly coupled to the first region and a second valve fluidly coupled to the second region;
- and
- fluidly coupling the valve evacuation system to the first valve, the valve evacuation system to compress the flammable gas from the ball valve and pump the compressed flammable gas to the first region via the first valve when the ball valve is in the closed position such that the flammable gas from the ball valve is not vented to atmosphere.
An apparatus comprising:
- a valve fluidly coupled between a first region of a pipe and a second region of the pipe, the valve including:
- a valve body;
- a vent in the valve body;
- a ball positioned in and rotatable within the valve body between an open position and a closed position;
- a cylindrical passageway extending through the ball, the ball in the open position to enable flammable gas to flow through the cylindrical passageway from the first region of the pipe to the second region of the pipe, the ball in the closed position to restrict the flammable gas from flowing through the cylindrical passageway from the first region of the pipe to the second region of the pipe;
- and
- a hole extending from the cylindrical passageway to an outer surface of the ball, the hole to fluidly couple the cylindrical passageway to the vent when the ball is in the closed position;
- and
- a valve evacuation system fluidly coupled to the vent and to the first region of the pipe, the valve evacuation system to compress the flammable gas from the cylindrical passageway and pump the compressed flammable gas to the first region of the pipe when the valve is in the closed position such that the flammable gas is not vented to atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.