US 4,570,663 AGranted

Distribution valve with dual cams to prevent uncontrolled excursions of valve balls

AssigneeShasta Industries, Inc.

InventorsCharles M. Gould, Andy F. Blake

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Abstract

A distribution valve includes a housing having an upper fluid inlet, a plurality of bottom fluid outlets and enclosing a rotary impeller disposed directly beneath the fluid inlet, and a plurality of stationary baffles disposed between a bottom plate of the impeller and the fluid inlet for directing portions of the incoming fluid directly at a plurality of vertical vanes supported at the bottom plate of the impeller. A stationary planetary gear disposed about a vertical axis of the distribution valve engages a pair of symmetric gear assemblies supported on a rotary gear assembly base and each driven by a drive gear attached to the impeller. A foot-shaped cam is attached to the lower portion of the rotary gear assembly base and rotates through a 360.degree. angle, sequentially lifting each of a plurality of spherical valve balls from its seat in the bottom of the housing. The radius of the cam, measured from its eccentric point to the point of initial contact with each valve ball, is shorter than the radius to subsequent contact points in order to obtain higher initial mechanical advantage. A ring-shaped cam also is attached to and rotates with the rotary gear assembly and has a skirt which holds all of the valve balls in their seats except when they are being lifted by the foot-shaped cam, thereby preventing oscillatory excursions of the seated valve balls.

A fluid distribution apparatus having an inlet port for receiving fluid under pressure and also having a plurality of outlet ports through which the received fluid is sequentially expelled under pressure, said fluid distribution apparatus comprising in combination:

(a) a housing having said inlet port and said plurality of outlet ports therein, said housing bounding an interior chamber, said inlet port directing flow of said fluid downward into said chamber;
(b) a rotary impeller disposed beneath said inlet port in said chamber, said impeller having a first gear attached rigidly thereto;
(c) a planetary gear attached in stationary relationship to said housing in the interior thereof;
(d) gear reduction means having a second gear for meshing with said first gear and a third gear responsive to rotation of said second gear in geared-down relationship thereto for meshing with said planetary gear, said gear reduction means including a rotary base for supporting said second and third gears, said rotary base rotating in geared-down relationship to said impeller in response to rotation of said impeller;
(e) a plurality of spherical valve balls each usually seated in a corresponding circular seating surface located at a respective one of said outlet ports to close that outlet port;
(f) first cam means, rigidly attached in fixed relationship to said rotary base and rotating in response to rotation of said impeller in geared-down relationship to said impeller, for sequentially unseating respective ones of said valve balls to allow fluid to be ejected from said chamber through unseated outlet ports;
and
(g) second cam means, rigidly attached in fixed relationship to said rotary base and rotating in fixed relationship with said first cam means, for maintaining all of said valve balls except those presently unseated by said first cam means in their seated positions to prevent fluid momentum reversals of fluid with closed said outlet ports from unseating the ones of said valve balls seated on said closed outlet ports.

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Abstract

Claims11