Wafer-Shaped Pilot Valve Flange Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pilot-type valves are heavy and costly due to their flanged structure, requiring significant manufacturing resources and labor for installation, and lack a wafer-shaped design which could simplify their structure and operation.
Innovation Solution
A wafer-shaped pilot-type valve with a flangeless valve box sandwiched between pipe flanges, using a cover flange neck that restricts only at sites corresponding to adjacent bolts to pass through the interval between pipe flanges, allowing for reduced weight, installation space, and material costs, while maintaining efficient fluid passage and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flanged structure is used for the valve box, then the valve can be securely connected to pipe flanges, but the weight and manufacturing cost significantly increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the flange structure from the valve box, transforming it from a flanged type to a wafer-shaped design. The valve box directly interfaces with pipe flanges without having its own flanges, eliminating the weight and cost associated with flange manufacturing while maintaining connection reliability through direct sandwiching between pipe flanges and securing with bolts and nuts.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the conventional approach where the valve box has flanges that connect to pipe flanges, the invention inverts the connection methodology: the valve box is sandwiched between pipe flanges without having flanges itself. This reversal of the connection architecture eliminates the need for valve box flanges, reducing weight and manufacturing cost while achieving secure connection through the inverted sandwiching mechanism.
2Reliability
If a flanged structure is used for the valve box, then the valve can be securely connected to pipe flanges, but the manufacturing cost increases due to additional materials
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the flange structure from the valve box, transforming it from a flanged type to a wafer-shaped design. The valve box directly interfaces with pipe flanges without having its own flanges, eliminating the weight and cost associated with flange manufacturing while maintaining connection reliability through direct sandwiching between pipe flanges and securing with bolts and nuts.
3Ease of operation
If flanges are added to the valve box, then the connection to pipe members is simplified, but the installation space and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the flange structure from the valve box, transforming it from a flanged type to a wafer-shaped design. The valve box directly interfaces with pipe flanges without having its own flanges, eliminating the weight and cost associated with flange manufacturing while maintaining connection reliability through direct sandwiching between pipe flanges and securing with bolts and nuts.
4Quantity of substance
If the cover flange neck is made with full width, then the fluid passage is optimized, but it cannot pass through the interval between bolts
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by creating a restricted portion only at specific locations on the cover flange neck where it interfaces with the valve box. The restricted portion is positioned only at sites corresponding to adjacent bolts, allowing the cover flange neck to pass through the interval between bolts during installation. The non-restricted portions maintain full width to optimize fluid passage capacity, achieving both installation ease and fluid flow optimization through localized differentiation.
Data Source
AI summary
In a pilot-type valve, a valve box enclosing a main valve is arranged in a state wherein same is sandwiched between pipe flanges tightened to one another with bolts. In the pilot-type valve, a pilot valve is used to control a driving force required to operate the main valve to open and close same. In addition, the valve box is flangeless at its connection end portions for connection with the pipe flanges and has an inlet and outlet for a pressurized fluid. A cover flange neck extended upward from the valve box is constricted only at sites on its walls corresponding to adjacent bolts extended between the pipe flanges, so that the cover flange neck can be passed through the interval between these bolts.