Segmented Petal Valve Coupling for Marine Breakaway
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipeline couplings, particularly marine breakaway couplings, face challenges such as incompatibility with larger and heavier ball valves, difficulty in maintenance, and inadequate surge protection, leading to potential fluid loss and equipment damage.
Innovation Solution
A valve assembly featuring a shuttle that moves across a sealing surface to close the valve, with a tablet biased to seal against the surface, and a clamping mechanism that allows for manual or automatic release, incorporating a bleed valve for verification and surge protection, enabling the same platform to function as both a block and bleed and marine breakaway coupling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If marine breakaway couplings use petal valves, then automatic separation and fluid loss prevention are achieved, but maintenance and servicing become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling is divided into separable components including a first valve body with a first petal valve, a second valve body with a second petal valve, and a coupling mechanism. This segmentation allows individual components to be maintained or replaced without decommissioning the entire coupling system, resolving the maintenance difficulty while preserving automatic separation functionality.
2Reliability
If ball valves are used in couplings, then sealing capability is improved, but the coupling becomes larger and heavier
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses petal valves instead of traditional ball valves. Petal valves are simpler, lighter components that achieve the required sealing function through a different mechanism (petal closure rather than ball rotation), thereby reducing coupling weight while maintaining adequate sealing capability for the application.
3Reliability
If one-way petal valves are used, then fluid loss prevention is achieved, but surge protection becomes inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and addresses surge protection as a separate function from the one-way valve function. Surge protection is achieved through the coupled valve system design where both petal valves work together, and the coupling mechanism itself provides surge absorption capability, rather than relying solely on the one-way valve for all protection functions.
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 provides a versatile coupling that can be easily maintained and serviced, while offering enhanced surge protection by automatically closing to prevent fluid loss and equipment damage, suitable for a wide range of applications.
Implementation Method 1
The resilient member is arranged between the tablet and the shuttle and biases the tablet to move relative to the shuttle
Implementation Method 2
fluid pressure acts upon the side of the tablet to assist in urging the tablet against the sealing surface
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
In the exemplary embodiments a shuttle (100) slides across a valve (20), which forms a coupling (10), from an open position to a closed position. In the open position, the shuttle (100) is arranged to allow fluid to pass through the valve. In the closed position the shuttle (100) is arranged to close the valve (1). The shuttle (100) carries a tablet (140) that is biased to move relative to the shuttle (100) to seal against a sealing surface and thereby plug the valve closed. In a one-way valve application, fluid pressure acts upon the side of the tablet to assist in urging the tablet against the sealing surface. Alternatively, surge protection can be provided by biasing the tablet to move towards the sealing surface against the fluid pressure. Combining two valves to form the coupling (10), the coupling can be arranged to be separated with the two valves closed. The coupling can include a first bleed valve that accesses the space between the two sealing surfaces so that the space can be bled after closing the valves. The two valves are coupled together by a clamping mechanism to form the coupling. The clamping mechanism can be manually released, as in a block and bleed application, or arranged to automatically release under a predetermined load, as in a marine breakout application. Advantageously, the same base platform can be used in both applications.