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US 6,672,565 B2Granted
Dual snap action for valves
OwnerLarry R. Russellinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An actuating means for a valve that is both opened and closed with a snap-action. The bidirectional, bi-stable snap acting valve has adjustable resistive forces governing the snap action of the valve. The bi-stable snap action mechanism can be incorporated into the operation of the valving element or the valving actuators.
Claims14
A ball valve comprising
- a tubular valve body having a through bore flow passage, said body having an upper inlet end and a lower outlet end;
- a nontranslating rotatable ball having a through hole, said ball rotatable between a first and a second end position about coaxial central pivot pins, wherein when said ball is in the first end position the ball through hole is aligned with said bore flow passage and when said ball is in the second end position said ball through hole is misaligned with said bore flow passage preventing flow through said bore flow passage;
- support means for supporting said ball;
- sealing means for sealingly engaging a surface of said ball;
- reciprocable camming means for fully rotating said ball between said first and second end positions;
- a detenting mechanism interacting with the ball to retain the ball in either end position until sufficient force is applied to the ball to overcome the interaction of the detenting mechanism with the ball;
- and
- actuating means for actuating the displacement of said camming means to rotate the ball;
- whereby when said actuating means applies sufficient force to said camming means to overcome the interaction of the detenting mechanism with the ball, the ball will fully rotate from a current end position to the other end position.
6 more elements
In a two position ball valve with coupled actuator, the improvement comprising:
- a ball valving element having two detents spaced to reflect a distance between a first and second end position of said valving element;
- a detenting mechanism engaging the first detent when said valving element is in its first end position and said detenting mechanism engaging the second detent when said valving element is in its second end position;
- a reciprocable camming device for fully rotating the ball valving element between the first and second end positions;
- and
- an actuator having a first and second end position corresponding to the first and second end positions of the valving element, wherein a force or torque applied to the actuator and transmitted to the valving element sufficient to disengage the detenting mechanism from the detent is sufficient to fully rotate the valving element to a different end position;
- whereby when said actuator moves from either end position to the other end position, the valve fully moves to the other end position.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.