Gas Valve Shaft Coupling for Misalignment-Tolerant Sealed Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas valve units for marine vessels require laborious and time-consuming maintenance due to the need for robust sealing and access to the actuator, which complicates servicing and alignment of the drive and actuating shafts within a pressure-proof enclosure.
Innovation Solution
A gas valve unit design featuring a shaft lead-through unit that allows for lateral displacement and misalignment of the drive and actuating shafts, with a coupling mechanism that enables torque transmission through floating members, allowing the actuating shaft to be assembled and disassembled from outside the enclosure, reducing the need for opening the enclosure for servicing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the valve actuator is installed inside the pressure-proof enclosure, then the gas-tight integrity is maintained, but the maintenance and access to the actuator become laborious and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The shaft lead-through unit is segmented into a first part inside the enclosure and a second part outside, connected via a coupling mechanism. This allows the actuator to remain inside the pressure-proof enclosure while enabling external access for maintenance through the removable second part of the lead-through unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft lead-through unit acts as an intermediary element that bridges the pressure-proof enclosure and the external environment. It provides a controlled passage for the actuating shaft while maintaining gas-tight sealing, allowing maintenance access without compromising the enclosure's integrity.
2Reliability
If robust sealing and access doors are provided for the enclosure, then gas-tight integrity is ensured, but the opening of the enclosure for servicing becomes time-consuming and laborious
Solution Approach 1:
The second part of the shaft lead-through unit is designed to be removable from outside the enclosure. This extraction approach allows maintenance personnel to access and service the actuator through the lead-through unit without needing to open the main enclosure access doors, thereby saving time and labor.
3Power
If the drive shaft and actuating shaft are rigidly connected, then precise torque transmission is achieved, but misalignment between shafts cannot be tolerated
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling mechanism incorporates a floating member that can dynamically adjust its position to accommodate misalignment between the drive shaft and actuating shaft. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain effective torque transmission even when the shafts are not perfectly aligned, providing both power transmission and misalignment tolerance.
Data Source
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AI summary
Invention relates to a gas valve unit (10), comprising a pipe (11) and at least a valve (14) arranged to the pipe (11), and a gas tight enclosure (12), enclosing the pipe (11) and the valve (14), and being provided with an inlet (18) and an outlet (20), in which gas valve unit (10) the pipe (11) is arranged to extend inside the enclosure (12) from the inlet (18) of the enclosure (12) to the outlet (20) of the enclosure (12), wherein - the valve (14) comprising a drive shaft (32) having a first axis of rotation (32'), and the valve (14) is operable by subjecting a rotational movement to the drive shaft (32) of the valve (14), - an actuating shaft (34) having a second axis of rotation (34'), - a shaft lead-through unit (36) releasably connected to the enclosure (12) in gas tight manner, into which shaft lead-through unit (36) the drive shaft (32) is arranged so as to extend from inside to outside of the enclosure (12), and - the drive shaft (32) and the actuating shaft (34) are arranged in force transmission connection with each other by a coupling (38) which is configured to allow mutual lateral displacement of the ends of the drive shaft (32) and the actuating shaft (34).