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US 5,333,833 AGranted
Rotary ball valve with lifting ball
AssigneeMarotta Scientific Controls, Inc.
InventorRobert H. Reinicke
Life of this patent
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AssigneeMarotta Scientific Controls, Inc.
InventorRobert H. Reinicke
Estimating the term…
A ball-valve member, which in its valve-closed condition must have circumferentially continuous sealed contact with its seat, is mounted for rotation about an axis which is eccentrically gyrated in the course of limited rotation of an actuating element that is journalled in the valve body. The eccentric throw is selected to be such in relation to the full course of actuating-element rotation that, beginning with a fully-closed condition of the valve, an initial fraction of the course of actuating-element rotation is devoted to achieving the eccentric throw (without rotating the ball), whereby to displace the ball-rotation axis in the axial direction away from seat engagement; the ball surface is thus displaced into axially offset clearance with respect to the seat, before devoting the remaining fraction of actuating-element rotation to the task of rotating the ball to its valve-open position. In the presently preferred form to be described, a rotary lost-motion connection between eccentric displacement and ball rotation makes it possible for a single direction of controlled driving torque to the actuating element to perform the indicated sequence for a valve-opening direction, and the reverse sequence for a closing direction of valve actuation; in the closing direction, all rotation of the valve-member ball is in axially offset relation to the seat, while eccentric displacement to achieve a seated closure occurs only after the ball has been rotated into axially offset register with its seat.
A rotary valve, comprising a valve body with inlet and outlet ports and a rotatable valve member for determining fluid flow from the inlet port to the outlet port, one of said ports having an annular seat about and normal to a central axis of fluid flow, said valve member having a truncated convex spherical outer surface of greater radius than the radius of said annular seat, a drive shaft journalled in said body for rotation about a first rotary axis through and transverse to said central axis, selectively operable means for driving said shaft within angular limits spaced approximately .pi. radians apart, eccentric means on said shaft on one side of said central axis to the exclusion of the other side of said central axis, said eccentric means mounting said valve member on a second rotary axis for eccentric gyration in a conical orbit that is incrementally inclined in angular offset from said first rotary axis, the mounting of said valve member on said second rotary axis being on a diameter of the geometric sphere of the outer surface of said valve member, whereby a full drive of said shaft between said limits will impart. approximately .pi. radians of eccentrically gyrated displacement to said second rotary axis, and angular lost-motion means connecting said shaft in a first phase to impart rotation to said valve member for substantially only .pi./2 radians from one of said limits and in a second phase of substantially only the remaining .pi./2 radians to impart rio rotation to said valve member.
A rotary valve, comprising a valve body with inlet and outlet ports and a rotatable ball-valve member for determining fluid flow from the inlet port to the outlet port, one of said ports having an annular seat about and normal to a central axis of fluid flow, said valve member having a truncated convex spherical outer surface of greater radius than the radius of said annular seat, whereby to permit fluid flow when the truncation traverses said seat and to arrest fluid flow when said spherical surface fully covers said seat, a drive shaft journalled in said body for rotation about a first rotary axis through and transverse to said central axis, selectively operable means for driving said shaft within angular limits spaced approximately .pi. radians apart, eccentric means on said shaft on one side of said central axis to the exclusion of the other side of said central axis, said eccentric means mounting said valve on a second rotary axis for eccentric gyration in a conical orbit that is incrementally inclined in angular offset from said first rotary axis, the mounting of said valve member on said second rotary axis being on a diameter of the geometric sphere of the outer surface of said valve member, whereby a full drive of said shaft between said limits will impart approximately .pi. radians of eccentrically gyrated displacement to said second rotary axis, and angular lost-motion means connecting said shaft in a first phase to impart rotation to said valve member for substantially only .pi./2 radians from one of said limits and in a second phase of substantially only the remaining .pi./2 radians to impart no rotation to said valve member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.