Expansion seat valve system

Abstract

The present invention relates to an expansion seat valve system comprising: a valve body having an opening and closing means and an expansion seat therein, and having a third port for compressed air injection of the expansion seat formed on the outer wall thereof; an actuator having a pair of driving means provided therein to rotate the opening and closing means forward and backward, and having a first port and a second port formed on the exterior thereof to allow compressed air, which is a power source of each driving means, to enter and exit; and a pneumatic control means for supplying compressed air which is a power source of the actuator and an expansion means of the expansion seat, wherein the pneumatic control means comprises: an actuator driving solenoid valve for selectively supplying compressed air applied from outside to the first port and the second port; a seat expansion solenoid valve for supplying compressed air to the expansion seat; and a compressed air pipe unit connected to the actuator driving solenoid valve and the seat expansion solenoid valve.

Description

Expansion seat valve system

[0001] The present invention relates to an expansion seat valve system, and more particularly, to an expansion seat valve system in which expansion and contraction of an expansion seat are performed in a timely manner when a valve opening / closing means is opened / closed, and in which the presence or absence of damage to the expansion seat can be determined.

[0002] In butterfly valves or ball valves that require high sealing performance, the inner wall of the flow path where the opening / closing means (disk, ball) comes into contact when the flow path is closed is reinforced with a sheet of elastic material such as rubber.

[0003] However, when the opening / closing means is opened and closed, the sheet is rubbed, and if this rubbing is repeated and wear occurs, leakage may occur in the relevant area, which may lead to frequent maintenance work.

[0004] Accordingly, instead of a general seat, an expansion seat valve equipped with an expansion seat that expands / contracts by injecting and discharging compressed air is sometimes used. That is, the expansion seat valve suppresses such friction by keeping the expansion seat in a contracted state when the passage is open, inflating it by injecting compressed air immediately after closing to completely seal the opening / closing means, and then contracting it by discharging compressed air immediately before opening, and then initiating the opening of the opening / closing means.

[0005] Meanwhile, an expansion seat valve that can detect whether an expansion seat is damaged has been introduced in patent document 1.

[0006] As shown in Fig. 1, the above conventional technology is equipped with a pressure sensor (60) in a compressed air pipe that injects compressed air from an air injection device (50) to an expansion seat (40), and the air injection device (50) is equipped with a load sensor (62) and a time sensor (64).

[0007] And, under the condition that the pressure measurement value is detected to be less than the appropriate pressure value, if the load measurement value is detected to be less than the appropriate load value, the warning device (75) is activated with the content that the expansion seat (40) is damaged, and if the load measurement value is detected to exceed the appropriate load value or the time measurement value is detected to exceed the reference time value, the warning device (75) is activated with the content that the pressure sensor (60) is broken.

[0008] However, when determining damage to the expansion sheet using pressure measurement values ​​from a pressure sensor as described above, the following problems may occur.

[0009] That is, even if the sheet supply pressure drops due to the operation of surrounding pneumatic products, it is judged as sheet damage, and if the set pressure is set low, it becomes difficult to detect minor sheet damage, and if the sheet supply pressure is higher than the appropriate pressure value, for example, if the appropriate pressure value is 0.5 MPa but the sheet supply pressure is 0.6 MPa, even if the pressure decreases due to sheet damage to 0.5 MPa, it is incorrectly judged as normal.

[0010] Meanwhile, the above-mentioned expansion seat valve has a functional limitation in that it is limited to only determining whether the expansion seat (40) is damaged or the air injection device (50) is abnormal, as it is equipped with the sensors (60, 62, 64) limited to the compressed air pipe and the air injection device (50).

[0011] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an expansion seat valve system that not only determines whether an expansion seat is abnormal but also allows the expansion and contraction of the expansion seat to occur in a timely manner when an opening and closing means is opened and closed.

[0012] The expansion seat valve system of the present invention for solving the above problem comprises: a valve body having an opening / closing means and an expansion seat provided therein and three ports formed on an outer wall for injecting compressed air into the expansion seat; an actuator having a pair of driving means provided therein for rotating the opening / closing means forward / reversely and having one port and two ports formed on the outside for inlet / outlet of compressed air, which is a power source of each driving means; and a pneumatic control means for supplying compressed air, which is a power source of the actuator and an expansion means of the expansion seat; wherein the pneumatic control means includes an actuator driving solenoid valve for selectively supplying compressed air applied from the outside to the first port and the second port, a seat expansion solenoid valve for supplying compressed air to the expansion seat, and a compressed air pipe unit connected to the actuator driving solenoid valve and the seat expansion solenoid valve.

[0013] In addition, the expansion seat valve system of the present invention further includes a seat expansion controller in which the pneumatic control means is disposed between the valve body and the actuator in a form that surrounds the rotation shaft, is connected to the main power source, receives a valve driving signal, and operates the actuator driving solenoid valve and the seat expansion solenoid valve according to each valve driving signal.

[0014] In addition, the expansion seat valve system of the present invention comprises a main compressed air pipe unit through which compressed air supplied from the outside is branched toward the actuator driving solenoid valve and the seat expansion solenoid valve, a first compressed air pipe connecting between port 1 and the actuator driving solenoid valve as a pipe through which compressed air for opening the switching means is introduced and compressed air for closing the switching means is discharged, a second compressed air pipe connecting between port 2 and the actuator driving solenoid valve as a pipe through which compressed air for opening the switching means is discharged and compressed air for closing the switching means is introduced, and a third compressed air pipe connecting between the seat expansion solenoid valve and port 3 as a pipe through which compressed air for expanding the expansion seat is introduced.

[0015] In addition, the expansion seat valve system of the present invention is sequentially provided with an alarm for determining whether the expansion seat is damaged on the three compressed air pipes, a rapid exhaust valve for supplying compressed air passing through the alarm to three ports for compressed air injection, and for discharging the compressed air filling the expanded expansion seat to the outside, from the seat expansion solenoid valve.

[0016] In addition, the expansion seat valve system of the present invention includes a control unit capable of arbitrarily adjusting the reference flow rate and the set time, a flow rate sensor for measuring the flow rate of compressed air flowing into the three compressed air pipes, and a timer for measuring time in conjunction with the flow rate sensor, and the control unit compares the flow rate and time measurements of the flow rate sensor and the timer with the reference flow rate and the set time to determine whether the expansion seat is damaged.

[0017] In addition, the expansion seat valve system of the present invention includes a discharge pipe that discharges the compressed air filling the expanded expansion seat to the outside while the rapid exhaust valve is connected to the inlet side and the discharge side of the three compressed air pipes, and the rapid exhaust valve closes the discharge pipe side when the seat expansion solenoid valve is off and compressed air flows into the inlet side, thereby allowing the compressed air to flow to the discharge side, and closes the inlet side when the seat expansion solenoid valve is on and compressed air flows out toward the seat expansion solenoid valve, thereby allowing the compressed air filling inside the expansion seat to flow into the discharge side and be quickly discharged toward the discharge pipe.

[0018] According to the expansion seat valve system of the present invention, the expansion and contraction of the expansion seat is performed in a timely manner through the actuator-driven solenoid valve, the seat expansion solenoid valve, and the rapid exhaust valve, thereby improving the operational reliability of the expansion seat valve.

[0019] In addition, according to the expansion seat valve system of the present invention, the durability of the expansion seat is improved because the filling compressed air can be quickly discharged through the linked operation of the elastic restoring force of the expansion seat and the rapid exhaust valve.

[0020] In addition, according to the expansion seat valve system of the present invention, it is possible to accurately determine whether the expansion seat is damaged through an alarm that measures the change in flow rate and time inside the three compressed air pipes, thereby improving the safety and management convenience of the expansion seat valve.

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process for detecting whether an expansion seat is damaged in an expansion seat valve according to the prior art.

[0022] Figure 2 is a configuration diagram of an expansion seat valve system according to the present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram explaining the closing process of the opening / closing means in the expansion seat valve system according to the present invention.

[0024] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram explaining the opening process of the opening / closing means in the expansion seat valve system according to the present invention.

[0025] FIG. 5 is a graph showing the change in pressure over time of compressed air inside a three-compression air pipe when the expansion seat of the expansion seat valve system according to the present invention is normal.

[0026] Figure 6 is a graph showing the change in pressure over time of compressed air inside the 3-compression air pipe when the expansion seat of the expansion seat valve system according to the present invention is damaged.

[0027] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 2, the expansion seat valve system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a valve body (10) having an opening / closing means and an expansion seat, a pneumatic actuator (20) for rotating the opening / closing means, and a pneumatic control means (30) for supplying compressed air, which is a power source of the actuator (20) and an expansion means of the expansion seat, and in addition to a function of detecting damage to the expansion seat, the pneumatic control means (30) is characterized in that it causes the expansion seat to expand immediately after the opening / closing means is closed and to expand simultaneously with the opening / closing means, and in particular, the compressed air filling the expansion seat is quickly discharged to the outside during the opening / closing means opening process, where friction mainly occurs.

[0029] Hereinafter, the specific contents of the present invention will be described with reference to the above components. First, the valve body (10) is the body of a butterfly valve or a ball valve, and an expansion seat is provided inside that expands / contracts at the part where the opening / closing means comes into contact with the inner wall of the passage when the passage is closed.

[0030] And, 3 ports (11) for injecting compressed air of the above expansion seat are formed on the outer wall of the valve body (10).

[0031] The pneumatic actuator (20) has a rotating shaft connected to the stem of the opening / closing means arranged at the inner center, and a pair of driving means for rotating the rotating shaft forward / reversely are arranged to correspond left and right around the rotating shaft.

[0032] And each driving means includes a pinion coupled with the rotation shaft, a rack gear meshing with the pinion, and a piston connected to the rack gear, and compressed air, which is the driving source of each piston, is introduced / discharged through 1 port (21) and 2 ports (22) formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the actuator (20).

[0033] The pneumatic control means (30) includes an actuator driving solenoid valve (31) that selectively supplies compressed air applied from the outside to the 1st port (21) and the 2nd port (22), a seat expansion solenoid valve (33) that supplies compressed air to the expansion seat, a compressed air pipe unit (35) connected to the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33), and a seat expansion controller (37) that is arranged between the valve body (10) and the actuator (20) and is provided in a form that surrounds the rotation shaft.

[0034] The above compressed air pipe unit (35) is composed of a main compressed air pipe (351) that branches compressed air supplied from the outside toward the actuator drive solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33), a first compressed air pipe (352) that connects the first port (21) and the actuator drive solenoid valve (31) as a pipe through which compressed air for opening the switching means is introduced and compressed air for closing the switching means is discharged, a second compressed air pipe (353) that connects the second port (22) and the actuator drive solenoid valve (31) as a pipe through which compressed air for opening the switching means is discharged and compressed air for closing the switching means is introduced, and a third compressed air pipe (354) that connects the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) and the third port (11) as a pipe through which compressed air for expanding the expansion seat is introduced.

[0035] In addition, a seat expansion solenoid valve (33), an alarm (32), and a rapid exhaust valve (34) are sequentially provided on the above-mentioned 3-compression air pipe (354).

[0036] The above alarm (32) is a configuration that determines whether or not the expansion sheet is damaged, and is composed of a control unit that can arbitrarily adjust the standard flow rate and set time, a flow rate sensor that measures the flow rate of compressed air flowing into the alarm (32), a timer that measures time in conjunction with the flow rate sensor, and an alarm means.

[0037] When the above flow sensor and timer measure the flow rate and time of compressed air flowing into the alarm (32), the control unit compares this with the reference flow rate and set time to determine whether the expansion seat is damaged.

[0038] The above rapid exhaust valve (34) is configured to supply compressed air that has passed through the alarm (32) to the 3-port (11) for compressed air injection and to discharge the compressed air filling the expanded expansion seat to the outside, and the inlet side (i) and the discharge side (o) of the 3-compression air pipe (354) are connected and include a discharge pipe (341).

[0039] To this end, the rapid exhaust valve (34) has a characteristic that when the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned off and compressed air flows into the inlet side (i), it closes the discharge pipe (341) side to allow the compressed air to flow into the discharge side (o), and when the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned on and compressed air flows out toward the seat expansion solenoid valve (33), it closes the inlet side (i) side to allow the filled compressed air inside the expansion seat to flow into the discharge side (o) and be quickly discharged toward the discharge pipe (341).

[0040] The above seat expansion controller (37) is connected to the main power supply, receives a valve driving signal, and operates the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) according to each valve driving signal.

[0041] In addition, the seat expansion controller (37) has a time delay circuit for time difference operation of the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33), and a position sensor installed around the rotation shaft to check the open and closed positions of the expansion seat valve may be further provided therein.

[0042] Referring to Figure 3, the closing process of the opening / closing means and the expansion process of the expansion sheet are explained as follows.

[0043] First, when the expansion seat valve closing drive signal is received and the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) is turned OFF, compressed air is introduced into the actuator (20) through the 2nd compressed air pipe (353) and the 2nd port (22), and as a result, the piston of the driving means connected to the 2nd port (22) moves forward, thereby initiating the closing of the opening / closing means, and in conjunction, the piston of the driving means on the opposite side moves backward, thereby discharging the compressed air that was filled in the 1st port (21).

[0044] At this time, when compressed air is initially introduced into the 2nd port (22), the flow of compressed air from the main compressed air pipe (351) to the 3rd compressed air pipe (354) is blocked by the seat expansion solenoid valve (33).

[0045] Afterwards, when the set time (approximately less than 1 second) has elapsed and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned OFF, compressed air flowing in from the main compressed air pipe (351) is introduced into the expansion seat through the 3rd compressed air pipe (354), the alarm (32) and the rapid exhaust valve (34), and the 3rd port (11) for compressed air injection, thereby inflating the expansion seat.

[0046] Referring to Figure 4, the opening process of the opening / closing means and the contraction process of the expansion sheet are explained as follows.

[0047] First, when the expansion seat valve opening drive signal is received and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned ON, the compressed air between the rapid exhaust valve (34) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is discharged outside the seat expansion solenoid valve (33).

[0048] At the same time, the inlet side (i) of the rapid exhaust valve (34) is closed, and the discharge side (o) and the discharge pipe (341) are connected, so that the compressed air filled inside the expansion seat is quickly discharged to the outside through the discharge pipe (341).

[0049] Afterwards, when the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) is turned ON after the set time (approximately less than 1 second) has elapsed, compressed air is introduced into the actuator (20) through the 1st compressed air pipe (352) and the 1st port (21), and the compressed air is discharged from the 2nd port (22) through the interaction between the driving means opposite to the aforementioned sealing process.

[0050] The process of determining whether or not the expansion sheet of the above alarm device (32) is damaged will be described in detail through FIGS. 5 and 6. First, if there is no damage to the expansion sheet, even after the expansion sheet is fully expanded, a micro-leakage occurs at the end portion of the 3rd compressed air pipe (354) or the 3rd port (11), and the change in the flow rate inside the 3rd compressed air pipe (354) is continuously detected as shown in FIG. 5.

[0051] Therefore, in section B, if the measurement value of the flow sensor is below the reference flow rate (e.g., 0.5 LPM), it is judged as normal even if the measurement value of the timer exceeds the set time (e.g., 3 seconds). In section A, even if the reference flow rate is exceeded, it is judged as normal because it falls below the reference flow rate within the set time.

[0052] On the other hand, if damage occurs to the expansion seat, an increase in the flow rate inside the 3rd compressed air pipe (354) is detected as shown in Fig. 6 due to compressed air leakage through the damaged area even after the expansion seat is fully expanded. If the measured value of the flow rate sensor continues to be higher than the standard flow rate for a set period of time, the expansion seat is determined to be damaged.

[0053] And if the expansion sheet is determined to be damaged, the alarm means is activated. The alarm means may include a warning light or buzzer as a short-range alarm means, and a communication module connected to the manager's mobile terminal may optionally be provided as a long-range alarm means.

[0054] Meanwhile, since the above control unit can arbitrarily adjust the reference flow rate and the set time, the optimal reference flow rate and set time can be set according to the valve specifications, and in particular, if the reference flow rate is set low, even micro-damage to the expansion seat can be detected.

[0055] In this way, the pneumatic control means (30) of the present invention can increase the operational reliability of the expansion seat valve by allowing expansion and contraction of the expansion seat to occur in a timely manner through the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33).

[0056] In addition, at the moment of opening the opening / closing means, which is the point at which wear may occur on the expansion seat, the elastic restoring force of the expansion seat and the linked operation of the rapid exhaust valve (34) can quickly discharge the charged compressed air, thereby improving the durability of the expansion seat.

[0057] In addition, the alarm (32) measures the change in flow rate during a time period when wear may occur on the expansion seat and determines whether the expansion seat is damaged based on this, thereby increasing the reliability of the judgment and improving the safety and management convenience of the expansion seat valve.

[0058] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and it should be understood that the scope of the present invention extends to a range substantially equivalent to the embodiments of the present invention, and various modifications can be implemented by a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the invention pertains within a range that does not depart from the technical spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A valve body (10) having an opening / closing means and an expansion seat inside and having three ports (11) for injecting compressed air into the expansion seat formed on the outer wall; An actuator (20) having a pair of driving means for rotating the opening / closing means forward / reversely inside and having 1 port (21) and 2 ports (22) formed outside for the inlet / outlet of compressed air, which is the power source of each driving means; and A pneumatic control means (30) for supplying compressed air, which is a power source of the above actuator (20) and an expansion means of the expansion seat; Including, An expansion seat valve system characterized in that the above pneumatic control means (30) includes an actuator driving solenoid valve (31) that selectively supplies compressed air applied from the outside to the 1st port (21) and the 2nd port (22), a seat expansion solenoid valve (33) that supplies compressed air to the expansion seat, and a compressed air pipe unit (35) that is connected to the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33).

2. In paragraph 1, The above pneumatic control means (30) An expansion seat valve system characterized in that it further includes a seat expansion controller (37) which is arranged between the valve body (10) and the actuator (20) and is provided in a form that surrounds the rotation shaft, is connected to the main power supply, receives a valve driving signal, and operates the actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) according to each valve driving signal.

3. In paragraph 2, The above compressed air unit (35) An expansion seat valve system characterized by comprising a main compressed air pipe (351) through which compressed air supplied from the outside is branched toward an actuator driving solenoid valve (31) and a seat expansion solenoid valve (33), a first compressed air pipe (352) connecting between a first port (21) and an actuator driving solenoid valve (31) as a pipe through which compressed air for opening an opening means is introduced and compressed air for closing an opening means is discharged, a second compressed air pipe (353) connecting between a second port (22) and an actuator driving solenoid valve (31) as a pipe through which compressed air for opening an opening means is discharged and compressed air for closing an opening means is introduced, and a third compressed air pipe (354) connecting between a third port (11) and a third port (11) as a pipe through which compressed air for expanding an expansion seat is introduced.

4. In paragraph 3, An expansion seat valve system characterized in that an alarm (32) for determining whether an expansion seat is damaged, a rapid exhaust valve (34) for supplying compressed air passing through the alarm (32) to a compressed air injection port (11) and for discharging the compressed air filling the expanded expansion seat to the outside are sequentially provided from the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) on the above 3 compressed air pipes (354).

5. In paragraph 4, The above alarm (32) includes a control unit that can arbitrarily adjust the reference flow rate and the set time, a flow rate sensor that measures the flow rate of compressed air flowing into the third compressed air pipe (354), and a timer that measures time in conjunction with the flow rate sensor, and the control unit is an expansion seat valve system characterized in that it compares the flow rate and time measurements of the flow rate sensor and the timer with the reference flow rate and the set time to determine whether the expansion seat is damaged.

6. In paragraph 4, The above rapid exhaust valve (34) is connected to the inlet side (i) and the discharge side (o) of the 3-compression air pipe (354), and includes a discharge pipe (341) that discharges the compressed air filling the expanded expansion seat to the outside. The above rapid exhaust valve (34) is characterized in that when the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned off and compressed air flows into the inlet side (i), the discharge pipe (341) side is closed to allow the compressed air to flow into the discharge side (o), and when the seat expansion solenoid valve (33) is turned on and compressed air flows out toward the seat expansion solenoid valve (33), the inlet side (i) side is closed to allow the filled compressed air inside the expansion seat to flow into the discharge side (o) and be quickly discharged toward the discharge pipe (341).

Images