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US 4,449,544 AGranted
Blowdown valve
AssigneeCrosby Valve & Gage Company
InventorRoy E. Soderberg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A ball valve is provided for cleaning out piping systems between steam boilers and turbine generators of electrical power generating plants prior to start up operations. The valve is designed to minimize impingement between foreign substances trapped in the pipelines and the internal valve passages, and to reduce thermal shock to the piping systems when the valve is opened to atmosphere to rid the system of said foreign substances.
Claims24
A method of purging a pipeline of unwanted materials therein, comprising the steps of:
- providing a valve within said pipeline, said valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet passageways, a valve ball having a bore therethrough and being journalled in said body to rotate said bore into and out of alignment with said passageways, and a gap defined between said valve body and ball establishing permanent fluid communication between said inlet and outlet passageways, said gap being relatively small in comparison to said bore and capable of passing only a relatively small amount of fluid therethrough;
- positioning said valve ball in a closed position wherein fluid communication is established between said inlet and outlet passageways only by said gap;
- admitting pressurized steam into said valve, said steam passing through said gap until the temperature within the portion of said pipeline downstream from said valve normalizes;
- and
- quickly opening said valve such that said bore is aligned with said passageways, thereby creating a sudden pressure drop within said pipeline whereupon unwanted materials are expelled therefrom.
2 more elements
Blowdown valve means comprising:
- a valve body having inlet and outlet passageways in axial alignment, a valve ball having a bore therethrough and being journaled in said body to rotate said bore into and out of alignment with said valve body passageways between open and closed valve positions respectively;
- a sleeve fitted within said inlet passageway, the downstream end of which is contoured to define a circular gap axially between said sleeve and said valve ball, said gap being sufficiently large in the axial direction so as to enable said valve ball to be freely rotatable but sufficiently small that when the valve ball is in its closed position only a small amount of fluid admitted into said inlet passageway bypasses said valve ball through said gap, the valve body and valve ball being constructed and arranged to direct all fluid passing through said inlet passageway to said outlet passageway whereby said valve means may be quickly opened with a minimum of turning effort and will receive an irregularly shaped solid object, the largest dimension of which is less than the diameter of said sleeve, for unobstructed passage therethrough.
Blowdown valve means comprising:
- a valve body having axially aligned, diametrically equal, smooth cylindrical inlet and outlet passageways;
- a valve ball having a smooth cylindrical bore therethrough, journaled in said valve body for rotating said valve ball bore into and out of axial alignment with said inlet and outlet passageways between open and closed valve positions respectively;
- a smooth cylindrical sleeve fitted within said inlet passageway and adapted to be secured against movement in a downstream direction, the interior diameter of said sleeve being equal to the interior diameter of said valve ball bore, and the downstream end of said sleeve being contoured to define a circular gap axially between said sleeve and the upstream portion of said valve ball when the valve ball is in the closed position;
- and unobstructed space between the downstream side of said valve ball and said outlet passageway, said space being at least equal to said gap between said sleeve and said valve ball, the valve body and valve ball being constructed and arranged to direct all fluid passing into said inlet passageway to said outlet passageway whereby a solid object, the greatest dimension of which is less than the interior diameter of said sleeve, may pass freely through said valve body and said valve ball when said valve ball bore is in axial alignment with said inlet and outlet passageways.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.