Soft seal ball valve with spring non-uniformly distributed valve seat

Abstract

The utility model discloses a soft seal ball valve with spring non-uniformly distributed valve seats. The soft seal ball valve comprises an outer shell, a ball body, a valve rod and a valve seat module, the valve seat module comprises a valve seat and a spring mounted on the valve seat; a ball body channel is formed in the ball body, ball body openings for fluid to flow in and out are formed in the two sides of the ball body channel, when the ball valve is opened in a certain direction, the rotating path of the ball body openings is a 90-degree arc-shaped rotating face, and when the ball body rotates, the valve seat on the side close to the arc-shaped rotating face can be gradually disengaged from the ball body to form a valve seat disengagement part. The side, away from the arc-shaped rotating face, of the valve seat is always extruded by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball to form a valve seat extrusion part, the number of the springs on the valve seat separation part is smaller than the number of the springs on the valve seat extrusion part, and in other words, the springs on the whole valve seat are distributed in a non-uniform mode. According to the utility model, the problem of stress concentration on the valve seat can be relieved to a greater extent, and the problem of internal leakage caused by failure of the valve seat due to stress concentration is solved.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This utility model belongs to the field of ball valve technology, and in particular relates to a soft-seal ball valve with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat. [Background Technology]

[0002] A ball valve is a type of valve that uses a valve stem to rotate a ball within the valve body, controlling the flow of fluid through a channel on the ball. It is primarily used to cut off or connect media in pipelines, and can also be used for fluid regulation and control. A valve seat is installed between the ball and the valve body to achieve a gap seal. To improve the sealing effect between the valve seat and the ball, an elastic element is provided at the contact point between the valve seat and the valve body. When the ball presses against the valve seat, the elastic element is compressed, generating a preload force that causes the valve seat to actively press against the ball, increasing the sealing pressure on the sealing surface between the valve seat and the ball, thus achieving a good sealing effect. For example, a top-mounted ball valve with adjustable valve seat spring output force disclosed in Chinese Patent Publication No. CN221958193U features a spring support ring to provide spring preload force to the valve seat. The spring support ring has several spring holes with openings facing the inner wall of the valve body, and springs are installed in the spring holes. The spring holes are centrally symmetrical on the spring support ring, with the axis of symmetry being the axis of the spring support ring. The springs are evenly distributed on the spring support ring, ensuring uniform spring pressure distribution.

[0003] Similar to the above scheme, the elastic element on a conventional valve seat is a spring, and the springs are evenly distributed. During use, rotating the ball by 90° driven by the valve stem achieves the full opening and closing of the ball valve. The valve seat has an internal seat channel, and the ball has an internal ball channel. Both sides of the ball channel have openings for fluid inlet and outlet. The valve seat channel always aligns with the direction of the pipeline flow. Figure 1 As shown, when the ball valve is fully closed, the ball passage is perpendicular to the pipeline flow path at 90°, and at this time the entire valve seat is in contact with the arc surface of the ball for sealing; Figure 2As shown, when the ball valve is opened, the opening direction is fixed; it can only be opened clockwise or counterclockwise. For example, when the ball rotates 90° clockwise, the ball channel coincides with the pipeline flow channel, and the ball valve is fully opened. The ball opening also rotates 90°, moving from a direction perpendicular to the pipeline to a direction aligned with the pipeline flow channel. The rotation path of the ball opening is a 90° arc-shaped rotation surface. As the ball rotates, the portion of the valve seat near the arc-shaped rotation surface gradually detaches from the ball, forming a valve seat detachment section, while the portion moving away from the arc... On the rotating side, the valve seat is constantly compressed by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball, forming a valve seat compression section. The preload on all the springs on the valve seat release section and the valve seat compression section compresses the valve seat in the same direction. The connection between the valve seat release section and the valve seat compression section is just supported at the edge of the ball's opening. The valve seat release section and the valve seat compression section form a lever structure with the edge of the ball's opening as the fulcrum. On both sides of the fulcrum, the valve seat release section and the valve seat compression section are compressed by preload in the same direction. The valve seat compression section is supported on the ball, while the valve seat release section is supported on the ball. The valve seat lacks support. Because the springs on the valve seat are evenly distributed, the preload on both sides of the fulcrum is the same. Since there is no support on the valve seat release side, it tends to bend. Therefore, a stress concentration point forms at the connection between the valve seat release and the valve seat compression part. The valve seat is at risk of failure at this stress concentration point. Furthermore, as the ball valve opens and rotates to near full opening, the valve seat release part gradually increases in size from the center upwards and outwards, eventually becoming nearly a semi-circular shape. The connection between the valve seat release and the valve seat compression part also gradually shifts from the center upwards and outwards. This causes the stress concentration point on this side of the valve seat release part to gradually shift from the center upwards and outwards. Therefore, during the ball valve opening process, the connection between the valve seat release and the valve seat compression part is constantly under stress concentration, and this stress concentration is most severe when the valve is nearly fully open. With repeated opening and closing over a long period, the valve seat may fail due to stress concentration, ultimately leading to internal leakage in the ball valve.

[0004] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a soft-seal ball valve with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed seat to solve the above-mentioned technical problems. [Utility Model Content]

[0005] The main objective of this invention is to provide a soft-seal ball valve with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat, which can greatly alleviate the stress concentration problem on the valve seat and solve the internal leakage problem caused by valve seat failure due to stress concentration.

[0006] The present invention achieves the above objectives through the following technical solution: a soft-seal ball valve with a spring non-uniformly distributed valve seat, comprising an outer shell, a ball installed inside the outer shell, and a valve stem connected to the ball, wherein a valve seat module for gap sealing is provided between the ball and the outer shell;

[0007] The valve seat module includes a valve seat that contacts the surface of the ball to achieve a seal, and a spring mounted on the valve seat that provides a preload for the seal between the valve seat and the ball;

[0008] The ball has a spherical channel inside, and spherical openings for fluid inlet and outlet are provided on both sides of the spherical channel. When the ball valve is opened in a certain direction, the rotation path of the spherical opening is a 90° arc-shaped rotation surface. When the ball rotates, the valve seat on the side closer to the arc-shaped rotation surface will gradually detach from the ball to form a valve seat detachment part, while the valve seat on the side farther from the arc-shaped rotation surface is constantly squeezed by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball to form a valve seat compression part. The number of springs on the valve seat detachment part is less than the number of springs on the valve seat compression part, that is, the springs on the entire valve seat are non-uniformly distributed.

[0009] Furthermore, the valve seat includes a first sealing surface that seals with the ball, a contact surface that seals with the inner wall of the outer casing, and a mounting surface for mounting the spring.

[0010] Furthermore, the mounting surface is provided with a plurality of mounting holes for mounting the spring, and a portion of the spring extends beyond the mounting holes in its initial state.

[0011] Furthermore, the mounting surface includes a first mounting surface disposed on the valve seat release portion and a second mounting surface disposed on the valve seat compression portion, wherein the number of mounting holes on the first mounting surface is less than the number of mounting holes on the second mounting surface.

[0012] Furthermore, the mounting holes on the second mounting surface are arranged in a ring with equal spacing.

[0013] Furthermore, the spacing of the mounting holes on the first mounting surface gradually increases from the top and bottom ends towards the middle, meaning that the springs are densely distributed at the top and bottom ends of the first mounting surface and sparsely distributed in the middle.

[0014] Furthermore, the contact surface includes a first contact surface and a second contact surface arranged horizontally, with a height difference between the first contact surface and the second contact surface. Each of the second contact surfaces is provided with a receiving groove, and a sealing element is provided in the receiving groove.

[0015] Furthermore, the valve seat includes a valve seat body and a valve seat support ring for mounting and fixing the valve seat body, and the spring is disposed on the valve seat support ring.

[0016] Furthermore, the outer casing includes a valve body and a valve cap disposed on one side of the valve body, the ball is installed inside the valve body, a stuffing box is provided at the upper end of the valve body, and the stuffing box is provided with packing to achieve a gap seal between the valve body and the valve stem.

[0017] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this utility model of a soft-seal ball valve with a non-uniformly distributed spring seat are as follows: when the ball rotates, the valve seat on the side closer to the arc-shaped rotating surface gradually detaches from the ball to form a valve seat detachment part, while the valve seat on the side farther from the arc-shaped rotating surface is constantly squeezed by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball to form a valve seat compression part. The number of springs on the valve seat detachment part is less than the number of springs on the valve seat compression part, that is, the springs on the entire valve seat are non-uniformly distributed. Since the number of springs on the valve seat detachment part is less than the number of springs on the valve seat compression part, the preload of the springs on the valve seat detachment part is reduced. Even if the valve seat detachment part is not supported, the curvature of the valve seat detachment part will be reduced. Therefore, the stress concentration at the connection between the valve seat detachment part and the valve seat compression part will be greatly alleviated, solving the problem of internal leakage caused by valve seat failure due to stress concentration. [Attached Image Description]

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the existing technology when the ball valve is closed and springs are evenly distributed on the valve seat.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a ball valve during the opening process, where springs are evenly distributed on the valve seat in the prior art.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the soft-seal ball valve structure with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 4 This is an embodiment of the present utility model. Figure 3 Enlarged schematic diagram of the structure at point A;

[0022] Figure 5 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat according to an embodiment of the present utility model.

[0023] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the opening process of the soft-seal ball valve with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] The numbers in the diagram represent:

[0025] 100-Spring non-uniformly distributed seat soft-seal ball valve;

[0026] 1-Outer shell, 11-Valve body, 12-Valve cap, 13-Stuffing gland, 14-Stuffing;

[0027] 2-Sphere, 21-Sphere opening; 3-Valve stem;

[0028] 4-Valve seat module, 41-Valve seat, 411-Valve seat release part, 412-Valve seat compression part, 413-First sealing surface, 414-First contact surface, 415-Second contact surface, 416-Mounting surface, 4161-First mounting surface, 4162-Second mounting surface, 417-Mounting hole, 418-Valve seat body, 419-Valve seat support ring, 42-Spring.

Detailed Implementation Methods

[0029] Please refer to Figures 3-6 This embodiment is a soft-seal ball valve 100 with a spring-loaded non-uniformly distributed valve seat. The soft-seal ball valve 100 includes a housing 1, a ball 2 installed inside the housing 1, and a valve stem 3 connected to the ball 2. A valve seat module 4 is provided between the ball 2 and the housing 1 to achieve a gap seal. The valve seat module 4 includes a valve seat 41 that contacts the surface of the ball 2 to achieve a seal, and a spring 42 installed on the valve seat 41 that provides preload for the seal between the valve seat 41 and the ball 2. A ball channel is provided inside the ball 2. Both sides are provided with ball openings 21 for fluid inlet and outlet. When the ball valve is opened in a certain direction, the rotation path of the ball opening 21 is a 90° arc-shaped rotation surface. When the ball 2 rotates, the valve seat 41 on the side close to the arc-shaped rotation surface will gradually detach from the ball 2 to form a valve seat detachment part 411, while the valve seat 41 on the side away from the arc-shaped rotation surface is constantly squeezed by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball 2 to form a valve seat compression part 412. The number of springs 42 on the valve seat detachment part 411 is less than the number of springs 42 on the valve seat compression part 412, that is, the springs 42 on the entire valve seat 41 are not uniformly distributed.

[0030] When the valve is opened, the ball 2 rotates. After the valve seat release part 411 loses the pressure object of the ball 2, the connection between the valve seat release part 411 and the valve seat pressing part 412 is just supported on the edge of the ball opening 21. The valve seat release part 411 and the valve seat pressing part 412 form a lever structure with the edge of the ball opening 21 as the fulcrum. The valve seat release part 411 and the valve seat pressing part 412 on both sides of the fulcrum are compressed by the preload force in the same direction. One side of the valve seat pressing part 412 is supported on the ball 2, and the valve seat release part 411... One side is unsupported, but because the number of springs 42 on the valve seat release part 411 is less than the number of springs 42 on the valve seat pressing part 412, the preload of the springs 42 on the valve seat release part 411 side is smaller. Even if the valve seat release part 411 side is not supported, the curvature of the valve seat release part side will be smaller. Therefore, the stress concentration at the connection between the valve seat release part 411 and the valve seat pressing part 412 will be greatly relieved, solving the problem of internal leakage caused by the failure of the valve seat 41 due to stress concentration.

[0031] The valve seat 41 includes a first sealing surface 413 that seals with the ball 2, a contact surface that seals with the inner wall of the outer casing 1, and a mounting surface 416 for mounting the spring 42.

[0032] The mounting surface 416 is provided with a plurality of mounting holes 417 for mounting springs 42. Springs 42 are installed into the mounting holes 417, and in their initial state, a portion of springs 42 protrudes beyond the mounting holes 417 and protrudes from the mounting surface 416. The mounting surface 416 includes a first mounting surface 4161 provided on the valve seat release portion 411 and a second mounting surface 4162 provided on the valve seat pressing portion 412. The number of mounting holes 417 on the first mounting surface 4161 is less than the number of mounting holes 417 on the second mounting surface 4162.

[0033] Since the valve seat 41 is annular, the mounting surface 416 is an annular plane. Since the valve seat pressing part 412 is constantly pressed by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball 2, in order to ensure the uniformity of the preload on the valve seat pressing part 412, the mounting holes 417 on the second mounting surface 4162 are arranged in annular and equally spaced order to ensure that the springs 42 on the valve seat pressing part 412 are evenly distributed, so as to provide a uniform preload to ensure the sealing effect between the ball 2 and the valve seat pressing part 412 and prevent internal leakage. The spacing of the mounting holes 417 on the first mounting surface 4161 gradually increases from the top and bottom ends towards the middle. That is, the springs 42 at the top and bottom ends of the first mounting surface 4161 are densely distributed, while the springs 42 in the middle are sparsely distributed. During the opening of the ball valve, the valve seat separation part 411 gradually increases from the middle to the top and bottom sides, which will cause the stress concentration point on the valve seat separation part 411 to gradually shift from the middle to the top and bottom sides. Since the spring 42 in the middle position of the first mounting surface 4161 is affected for the longest time, the fewer springs 42 in the middle position of the first mounting surface 4161, the smaller the impact on the stress concentration of the whole process.

[0034] In this embodiment, the spring 42 can be configured as other elastic elements, and there are no restrictions on this.

[0035] The contact surfaces include a horizontally arranged first contact surface 414 and a second contact surface 415, with a height difference between them. Receiving grooves are provided on both the first and second contact surfaces 414 and 415, and sealing elements are installed within these grooves to achieve a seal between the valve seat 41 and the outer casing 1. The sealing elements can be O-rings, wrapped springs, graphite packing, or other materials, without limitation. The sealing elements on the first and second contact surfaces 414 and 415 can be the same or different, depending on the actual situation, without limitation. Alternatively, no sealing element may be provided in the first contact surface 414; a sealing effect can be achieved solely by a sealing element in the second contact surface 415.

[0036] In this embodiment, to prevent valve seat 41 from failing due to stress concentration, valve seat 41 includes valve seat body 418 and valve seat support ring 419 for mounting and fixing valve seat body 412. Spring 42 is disposed on valve seat support ring 419, which is made of metal steel ring, thus preventing valve seat body 418 from failing due to stress concentration. In other embodiments, valve seat body 411 and valve seat support ring 419 can be configured as an integral structure, which facilitates installation into ball valve. A reliable material can be selected to obtain an integral valve seat structure according to the actual situation.

[0037] The outer casing 1 includes a valve body 11 and a valve cap 12 disposed on one side of the valve body 11. A ball 2 is installed inside the valve body 11. A stuffing box 13 is provided at the upper end of the valve body 11. A packing 14 is provided inside the stuffing box 13 to achieve a gap seal between the valve body 11 and the valve stem 3.

[0038] The above descriptions are merely some embodiments of this utility model. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the inventive concept of this utility model, and all such modifications and improvements fall within the protection scope of this utility model.

Claims

1. A soft-seated, spring-loaded, seat non-uniformly distributed ball valve, characterized by: It includes an outer shell, a ball installed inside the outer shell, and a valve stem connected to the ball, a valve seat module for gap sealing is arranged between the ball and the outer shell; The valve seat module includes a valve seat in contact with the surface of the ball to achieve sealing, and a spring installed on the valve seat and providing pre-tightening force for the sealing between the valve seat and the ball; The ball is internally provided with a ball channel, both sides of the ball channel are provided with ball openings for fluid in and out, the rotation path of the ball opening is an arc-shaped rotation surface with an angle of 90° when the ball valve is opened in a certain direction, the valve seat on the side close to the arc-shaped rotation surface gradually separates from the ball to form a valve seat separation part, and the valve seat on the side away from the arc-shaped rotation surface is always extruded by the arc-shaped outer wall of the ball to form a valve seat extrusion part, the number of springs on the valve seat separation part is less than the number of springs on the valve seat extrusion part, i.e. the springs on the entire valve seat are unevenly distributed.

2. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of spring force on the seat according to claim 1, characterized in that: The valve seat includes a first sealing surface for sealing with the ball, a contact surface for sealing with the inner wall of the outer shell, and a mounting surface for mounting the spring.

3. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as claimed in claim 2, wherein: The mounting surface is provided with a plurality of mounting holes for mounting the spring, and a part of the spring in the initial state exceeds the mounting hole.

4. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as claimed in claim 3, wherein: The mounting surface includes a first mounting surface arranged on the valve seat separation part and a second mounting surface arranged on the valve seat extrusion part, and the number of mounting holes on the first mounting surface is less than the number of mounting holes on the second mounting surface.

5. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as claimed in claim 4, wherein: The mounting holes on the second mounting surface are annularly and equally spaced.

6. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as defined in claim 4, wherein: The spacing of the mounting holes on the first mounting surface gradually increases from the upper and lower ends to the middle, i.e. the springs on the upper and lower ends of the first mounting surface are densely distributed, and the springs in the middle are sparsely distributed.

7. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as defined in claim 2, wherein: The contact surface includes a first contact surface and a second contact surface arranged horizontally, there is a height difference between the first contact surface and the second contact surface, a receiving groove is arranged on the second contact surface, and a sealing element is arranged in the receiving groove.

8. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as defined in claim 1, wherein: The valve seat includes a valve seat body and a valve seat support ring for mounting and fixing the valve seat body, and the spring is arranged on the valve seat support ring.

9. A soft-seated, spring-loaded ball valve with non-uniform distribution of seats as claimed in claim 1, wherein: The outer shell includes a valve body and a valve cap arranged on one side of the valve body, the ball is installed inside the valve body, the upper end of the valve body is provided with a stuffing box, and the stuffing box is provided with stuffing for gap sealing between the valve body and the valve stem.

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