US 5,794,647 AGranted

Valve system

AssigneeBTR plc

InventorsMartin William Denmark, Phillip John Haseley

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Abstract

A valve system for use in batch processing, particularly for preventing exposure of material to the environment during transfer from one container to another. The system in effect comprises two butterfly valve discs (5, 6; 105, 106), one (5; 105) on a container (12; 107) for transporting material to or from a reaction vessel (3; 103) and the other on the reaction vessel (3; 103) itself. Each valve disc (5, 6; 105, 106), when closed, shuts off the container (12; 107) or vessel (3; 103) respectively from the environment. When the container (12; 107) is connected to the vessel (3; 103) a shaft (9; 109) connected to one valve disc (5; 105) interengages with a shaft (10) connected to the other valve disc (6; 1006) to enable the discs (5, 6; 105, 106) to move simultaneously, and material may be transferred from the container (12; 107) to the vessel (3; 103) or vice versa.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A valve system comprising a first member having a first circular aperture sealable by a first disc connected to a first shaft to rotate therewith, the first shaft being provided with a first formation thereon and having an axis of rotation extending diametrically of the first disc and the first aperture, a second member, separate from the first member, having a second circular aperture sealable by a second disc connected to a second shaft to rotate therewith, the second shaft being provided with a second formation thereon complementary to the first formation provided on the first shaft, the first and second members being capable of being connected together with the first disc positioned alongside the second disc with the first formation on the first shaft interengaged with the second formation on the second shaft and the first and second shafts and first and second discs being capable of simultaneous rotation about a single axis to open and close the valve system, at least one of the first and second formations on the first and second shafts provided with a safety interlock system which allows the first formation on the first shaft and the second formation on the second shaft to be disengaged only when at least one of the first and second apertures is closed by the valve system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.