Butterfly valve having a function for measuring a flow rate and method of measuring a flow rate with a butterfly valve
AssigneeTomoe Technical Research Company
InventorKouzi Kawai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A butterfly valve having a function for measuring a flow rate of a fluid flowing through the butterfly valve includes a main body, a valve shaft fixed rotatably to the main body, a valve member fixed to the valve shaft and mounted rotatably in the main body, a valve opening detection device for detecting a valve opening of the butterfly valve, and a torque detection device for detecting a dynamic torque applied to the valve member around the valve shaft by the fluid.
Claims16
A butterfly valve having as one function the measurement of a flow rate of a fluid flowing through said butterfly valve, comprising;
- a main body,
- a valve shaft fixed rotatably to said main body,
- a valve member fixed to said valve shaft and mounted rotatably in said main body,
- a valve opening detection means for detecting a valve opening of said butterfly valve,
- a torque detection means for detecting a dynamic torque applied to said valve member around said valve shaft by said fluid, and
- a flow rate computation means for computing said flow rate as a predetermined function of said valve opening and said dynamic torque.
A method of measuring a flow rate of a fluid flowing through a butterfly valve, comprising the steps of;
- detecting a valve opening of said butterfly valve,
- detecting a dynamic torque applied to a valve member of said butterfly valve around a valve shaft of said butterfly valve by said fluid, and
- determining said flow rate as a function of said detected valve opening and said detected dynamic torque.
A method of controlling a flow rate of a fluid flowing through a butterfly valve, comprising the steps of:
- detecting a valve opening of said butterfly valve,
- detecting a dynamic torque applied to a valve member of said butterfly valve around a valve shaft of said butterfly valve by said fluid,
- determining said flow rate as a function of said detected valve opening and said detected dynamic torque,
- setting a desired flow rate, and
- changing said valve opening such that said determined flow rate approaches said desired flow rate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.