Integral Handle Check Valve for Easier Lifting and Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Check valves for fluid systems are challenging to transport and install due to their size and weight, with a non-centralized center of gravity making carrying and positioning difficult.
Innovation Solution
A check valve design featuring an integral handle that aids in portability, manipulation, and installation, including a body member with a port and cylindrical exterior surface, a retainer member, and a disc member with a shaft, where the integral handle has vertical and horizontal support members forming a handle aperture to accommodate bolts and prevent axial rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If check valves are made larger for industrial applications, then flow control capability is improved, but weight and difficulty of transport increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the lifting function with the valve body by integrating a eye-shaped aperture directly into the structure of the check valve body. This merging of functions allows the valve to serve both its flow control purpose and its own installation/lifting needs without requiring separate lifting components, thereby addressing the weight issue while maintaining large size for industrial applications
2Volume of moving object
If check valves are made larger for industrial applications, then flow control capability is improved, but ease of installation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The eye-shaped aperture is integrated into the valve body structure, combining the lifting function with the valve itself. This allows workers to easily attach chains or hoists directly to the valve body, significantly improving ease of installation for large industrial valves without requiring separate lifting mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The eye-shaped aperture serves as an intermediary element that facilitates the connection between the valve body and external lifting equipment. This mediator structure enables easy attachment and detachment of lifting devices, making installation and removal of large valves straightforward despite their size and weight
3Device complexity
If check valves have non-centralized center of gravity, then structural design is simplified, but portability and positioning difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the lifting function from the overall valve system and incorporates it as a distinct feature (eye-shaped aperture) in the valve body. This separation allows the main valve structure to remain simple with non-centralized gravity for structural efficiency, while the extracted lifting feature provides portability benefits without complicating the core valve design
Data Source
AI summary
A check valve assembly includes a body, a valve assembly configured to engage a port of the check valve assembly, and a handle integrally formed with the body and extending from a substantially cylindrical exterior surface thereof. The handle includes a first vertical support member having a first interior surface, a second vertical support member having a second interior surface, and a horizontal support member that has a third interior surface and extends between the first and second vertical support members. The first, second, and third internal surfaces, and the exterior surface of the body member, define a handle aperture. The first and second interior surfaces of the handle aperture are configured to accommodate first and second bolts of a pipe flange fitting extending through the handle aperture.