Sealing valve assembly

A valve assembly comprising:

• a valve housing including a fluid conduit and a valve seat defining a fluid outlet of said fluid conduit;
• a pressure pallet sized and adapted to move away from said valve seat in response to an increased fluid pressure in said fluid conduit, said pressure pallet including an elongated stem extending away from said valve seat;
• a stem guide sized and located to receive at least a portion of said elongated stem as said pressure pallet moves away from said valve seat;
• and
• seal means associated with said pressure pallet and acting to effectively seal said fluid outlet against fluid flow from said fluid conduit when said seal means is in contact with said valve seat, said seal means including a first flexible seal element having an outer periphery and being adapted to contact said valve seat and a second flexible seal element having an outer periphery, said first and second flexible seal elements being unsecured to said pressure pallet at or near their respective outer peripheries, said seal means being structured so that fluid from said fluid conduit is in the space between said first and second seal elements when said seal means is in contact with said valve seat.

A valve assembly comprising:

• a valve housing including a fluid conduit and a valve seat defining a fluid outlet of said fluid conduit;
• a pressure pallet sized and adapted to move away from said valve seat in response to an increased fluid pressure in said fluid conduit;
• seal means associated with said pressure pallet and acting to effectively seal said fluid outlet against fluid flow from said fluid conduit when said seal means is in contact with said valve seat, said seal means including a first flexible seal element having an outer periphery and being adapted to contact said valve seat and a second flexible seal element having an outer periphery, said first and second flexible seal elements being unsecured to said pressure pallet near their respective outer peripheries, said seal means being structured so that fluid from said fluid conduit is in the space between said first and second seal elements when said seal means is in contact with said valve seat;
• and
• means acting to maintain a fluid space between said first and second seal elements when said seal means is in contact with said valve seat, said fluid space extending across the area of contact between the seal means and the valve seat.