Excess Flow Valve Assembly With Window-Prong Installation Indicator
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flow safety valves in the natural gas industry face challenges such as high manufacturing costs, complexity in assembly, and potential functional issues due to loose or omitted components during assembly, especially when they can be disassembled, leading to pressure drops across various flow rates.
Innovation Solution
A valve assembly design featuring a cylindrical valve housing and body with a movable plunger and spring mechanism, including a window and prong configuration for easy assembly and disassembly without destruction, along with a conically-shaped plunger and radially extending fins for enhanced fluid flow and sealing, which ensures the valve remains functional even during pressure drops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flow safety valves are made as permanently assembled structures, then tamper-proof reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost and assembly complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The valve is divided into two main segments: a valve housing and a valve body that can be disassembled. The valve body contains the plunger and spring mechanism, while the housing provides the outer structure. This segmentation allows the valve to be assembled and disassembled without destruction, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining reliability through proper sealing interfaces and component retention features.
2Ease of repair
If flow safety valves can be disassembled, then ease of maintenance is improved, but pressure drops across various flow rates increase due to orifice restrictions
Solution Approach 1:
The valve body includes a specifically designed bore with optimized dimensions and geometry to minimize pressure drops. The bore is sized and shaped to maintain low flow resistance while still allowing the valve to be disassembled for maintenance. This local optimization of the flow path geometry resolves the contradiction between ease of maintenance and energy loss.
3Stability of the object's composition
If disassemblable valves use multiple elements like snap rings, then component retention is improved, but assembly complexity and risk of loose components increase
Solution Approach 1:
The valve body incorporates integrated retention features directly into its structure, such as shoulders, recesses, and interference-fit interfaces, eliminating the need for separate snap rings or other retention elements. The plunger is retained by the valve body geometry itself, and the spring is contained within the valve body structure. This merging of retention functions into the basic valve components reduces the total number of elements while maintaining component retention stability.
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 design allows for cost-effective assembly and disassembly of the valve assembly, preventing fluid escape during pressure drops by maintaining operational integrity and minimizing the risk of loose components, thus ensuring reliable operation and ease of maintenance.
Implementation Method 1
a spring positioned between the movable plunger and the valve body, the spring being configured to bias the movable plunger toward the valve inlet
Data Source
AI summary
A valve assembly that includes a valve housing and a valve body that is configured to be mated with the valve housing. The valve housing includes at least one window that extends through a wall of the valve housing, and the valve body includes at least one prong that is configured to mate with the window when the valve body is mated with the valve housing.