Fluid Delivery Manifold with Redundant Shuttle Valve Bypass
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fluid delivery systems in petrochemical and petroleum industries face challenges in maintaining system availability and safety due to the need to shut down the entire process for valve maintenance and replacement, lacking redundancy and bypass mechanisms for multiple failed valves.
Innovation Solution
A manifold system comprising solenoid operated valves (SOVs) arranged in parallel near the fluid inlet and outlet, with isolating valves for hot swapping, a shuttle valve for fluid flow between sets of SOVs, and redundant shuttle valves to ensure continuous operation even with failed valves, along with a bypass valve for maintenance and indicators/sensors for status monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If the entire process is shut down to repair and restore valves, then valve maintenance can be performed, but production loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each manifold assembly is an independent segment with its own isolating valves. When a valve requires maintenance, only the specific manifold assembly containing that valve needs to be isolated, not the entire process line. This allows continuous production in other assemblies while maintenance is performed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous fluid flow through other operational manifold assemblies while one assembly is taken offline for valve maintenance. The isolating valves enable this continuous operation by confining the isolation to only the necessary segment, preserving productivity during repair activities.
2Reliability
If redundant shuttle valves are added to provide bypass paths, then system availability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The redundancy is implemented at the manifold assembly level rather than within individual valve components. Each manifold assembly contains the complexity of shuttle valves and isolating valves, but these are modular units that can be independently managed. This segmented approach distributes complexity across multiple standardised units rather than concentrating it in a single complex system.
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 system enables hot swapping and redundancy, allowing for continuous fluid flow and maintenance without shutting down the process, enhancing system availability and reliability by facilitating the isolation and replacement of faulty valves while minimizing production losses.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of first solenoid operated valves positioned toward a fluid inlet and arranged in parallel, a plurality of second solenoid operated valves connected in series with the first solenoid operated valves
Implementation Method 2
The first shuttle valve is connected between the first set of SOVs and the second set of SOVs. The redundant shuttle valve is configured to provide redundancy to the first shuttle valve
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to the field of fluid process systems and discloses a manifold system for fluid delivery. The system comprises a first set of Solenoid Operated Valves (SOVs), a second set of SOVs, a plurality of isolating valves, at least one first shuttle valve, and at least one redundant shuttle valve. Each set of SOVs includes at least two SOVs arranged in parallel. The SOVs together form a series-parallel redundancy. Each isolating valve is coupled to an SOV and facilitates hot swapping of that SOV. The redundant shuttle valves provide redundancy to the first shuttle valve and facilitate the flow of a fluid from each of the first set of SOVs to each of the second set of SOVs, thereby promoting system safety and availability.