Pre-Mountable Control Rod Assembly for Modular Valve Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control valves face challenges in maintaining tightness at extreme temperatures, with aggressive process media, and require improved assembly facilitation and modular design for component exchange.
Innovation Solution
A pre-mountable control rod assembly with a connecting flange and bellows seal, combined with a coupling structure like a lantern, allows for modular configurations, improved sealing, and easier assembly by enabling the control rod assembly to be pre-mounted and then inserted into the control valve.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a traditional control valve design is used with integrated control rod assembly, then the structure is compact, but the assembly complexity increases and component exchange becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The control valve is divided into separate modular components: a control rod assembly that can be pre-mounted and tested independently, and a valve body into which the assembly is inserted. This segmentation allows for easier manufacturing, assembly, and component exchange while maintaining functional integration during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The control rod assembly is pre-mounted with sealing elements and other components before being inserted into the control valve. This preliminary assembly allows for quality control and testing to be performed on the assembly independently, simplifying the final installation process and reducing on-site assembly complexity.
2Reliability
If tightness is improved through complex sealing mechanisms, then leakage prevention is enhanced, but assembly complexity and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
A bellows seal is used to provide flexible sealing between the control rod and the stuffing box. The bellows structure can accommodate axial movements of the control rod while maintaining sealing integrity, preventing leakage without requiring complex rigid sealing mechanisms. This flexible membrane approach simplifies the overall sealing system while improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The bellows seal is nested within the stuffing box structure, with the control rod passing through the center of the bellows. This nested arrangement allows the sealing element to be integrated within the existing valve architecture without adding external complexity, maintaining tightness while keeping the design compact and manageable.
3Ease of repair
If modular design is implemented for component exchange, then maintenance ease is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control rod assembly is designed as a separate, self-contained module that can be removed and replaced as a single unit. This segmentation enables easy maintenance and component exchange without requiring disassembly of the entire control valve, improving repair ease while the modular interface keeps the added complexity manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The control rod assembly is designed with standardized interfaces and mounting features that allow it to be used across different control valve models or configurations. This universal design approach enables component exchange and reuse, improving maintenance efficiency while the standardized interfaces prevent excessive complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances the tightness of control valves across varying conditions, facilitates easier assembly and maintenance, and allows for modular design where components can be exchanged, thereby improving operational flexibility and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a bellows seal (150) which extends at least sectionally between the control element sided end section (104) and the connecting flange (130)
Implementation Method 2
An axial pretensioning force can be exerted on the stuffing box with the screw sleeve and, if necessary, a spring, in order to bring about a radial contact pressure of the stuffing box on the control rod, so that leakage from the interior of the housing along the control rod is prevented with the aid of the stuffing box
Data Source
AI summary
A pre-mountable control rod assembly for providing a modular control valve having a plurality of different valve function- and construction configurations may include a substantially elongated control rod body with a control element sided end section to which several control elements are attachable to realize different process flows, a connecting flange which is arranged on a section of the substantially elongated control rod body opposite the control element sided end section, and a bellows seal which extends at least sectionally between the control element sided end section and the connecting flange.