Ball valve with readily removable ball and seats for high temperature environment

A ball valve assembly including a valve body having a fluid-conducting bore extending therethrough along an axis, a metallic ball having spherically curved portions and disposed within said valve body and having a bore therethrough adapted to cooperate with said valve body bore, a valve stem attached to said ball and extending generally perpendicularly to the axis of the fluid-conducting bore through said valve body, a pair of annular metallic valve seat supports of said valve body, each seat support having a sperically curved annular end portion thereof facing said ball, and sealing means disposed between said ball and each sperically curved annular portion of said seat supports:

• said sealing means comprising a spring metallic, all metal, bellows disposed between each seat support and said ball and concentric with each said seat support;
• each said bellows consisting of a concave spherical first end portion extending toward each said seat support, corresponding to the spherical curvature of said support portion annular end portion and in non-affixed abutting engagement with said seat support annular end portion to provide a fluid-tight metal-to-metal seal with said seal support;
• a second end portion, a line parallel to said valve body bore passing through said bellows end portions;
• and at least one convolution disposed between and radially outward of said end portions;
• and wherein said bellows second end portion is operatively associated with a rigid metallic annular member concentric with said seat support and disposed between each bellows and said ball, each said rigid metallic annular member comprising a first, spherically curved annular surface corresponding in curvature to the spherical curvature of said ball and in metallic fluid-tight engagement therewith, and a second annular surface in operative association with said bellows second end.