System and method for mitigating water hammer by looping surge pressure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11920720-B2
Application number	US-202117321043-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2021
Priority date	May 14, 2021
Publication date	Mar 5, 2024
Grant date	Mar 5, 2024

Abstract

A water hammer mitigation system includes a branch connection with ends coupled to a main pipeline, where a first end connects at a surge point on the main pipeline and a second end fluidly connects to the main pipeline at a distal point. A bi-directional surge relief device is disposed on the branch connection, and is operable to move to a first open configuration to permit pipeline fluid within the main pipeline to flow through the branch connection when surge point pressure reaches a designated pressure. The device can also move to a second open configuration when surge point pressure reaches another designated pressure. The device is closeable when surge point pressure is between the designated pressures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A water hammer mitigation system, comprising:
a branch connection with a first end fluidly coupled to a main pipeline at a surge point on the main pipeline and a second end fluidly coupled to the main pipeline at a distal point on the main pipeline that is distal to the surge point;
a shutdown valve in the main pipeline that is downstream of a pressure source and upstream of the branch connection; and
a bi-directional surge relief device disposed on the branch connection and that comprises,
a housing with a first end proximate the branch connection first end and a second end proximate the branch connection second end,
a first cavity in the housing adjacent the housing first end and a second cavity in the housing adjacent the housing second end,
a first flow channel extending through the housing between the first cavity and the housing second end,
a second flow channel extending through the housing between the second cavity and the housing first end,
a first relief valve in the first cavity that is moveable into a first open configuration when a pressure differential across the relief device exceeds a first predetermined threshold pressure and so that the housing first and second ends are in fluid communication through the first flow channel and first cavity, and
a second relief valve in the second cavity that is moveable into a second open configuration when a pressure differential across the relief device exceeds a second predetermined threshold pressure and so that the housing first and second ends are in fluid communication through the second flow channel and second cavity.

2. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure source comprises a pump.

3. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 2 , wherein closing the shutdown valve at the same time the pump is operating creates a pressure differential across the relief device that is at or above the second predetermined threshold pressure.

4. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 2 , wherein the surge point is adjacent to the shutdown valve on the main pipeline.

5. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 2 , wherein the branch connection is a pipeline having a pipe diameter substantially in the range of 1-8 inches, and a pipeline length substantially in the range of 5-100 feet, and
wherein the first end of the branch connection is fluidly coupled to the main pipeline at the surge point substantially at a right angle, and the second end of the branch connection is fluidly coupled to the main pipeline at the distal point at an inclined angle.

6. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 2 , wherein
the first relief valve comprises a first closure member that is operable to move into and out of contact with a surge seat to move the first relief valve between a closed configuration prohibiting fluid from flowing through the branch connection, and the first open configuration permitting fluid to flow through the branch connection from the first end to the second end; and
the second relief valve comprises a second closure member that is operable to move into and out of contact with a vacuum seat to move the second relief valve between a closed configuration and the second open configuration permitting fluid to flow through the branch connection from the second end to the first end.

7. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 6 , wherein:
the first relief valve comprises a first biasing member operable to maintain the first relief valve in the closed configuration when a pressure differential across the relief device acting on the first closure member is below the first predetermined threshold pressure, and operable to move the first relief valve from the closed configuration to the first open configuration when the pressure differential across the relief device acting on the first closure member reaches the first predetermined threshold pressure; and
the second relief valve comprises a second biasing member operable to maintain the second relief valve in the closed configuration when a pressure differential across the relief device acting on the second closure member is below the second predetermined threshold pressure, and operable to move the second relief valve from the closed configuration to the second open configuration when the pressure differential across the relief device acting on the second closure member reaches the second predetermined threshold pressure,
wherein the pressure differential across the relief device acting on the first closure member corresponds to a surge pressure at the surge point on the main pipeline, and the pressure differential across the relief device acting on the second closure member corresponds to a vacuum pressure at the surge point on the main pipeline.

8. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 7 , wherein the first and second biasing members are spring loaded biasing members, and
wherein the first predetermined threshold pressure is defined by a set point of a coil spring of the first biasing member, and the second predetermined threshold pressure is defined by a set point of a coil spring of the second biasing member.

9. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second biasing members is an active biasing member actuated by an actuator and controlled by a control unit based on pressure sensor data, and wherein the control unit is configured to:
actuate the first and second biasing members to maintain the closed configuration based on a comparison of the pressure data indicating the pressure at the surge point and data representing a predetermined surge pressure threshold and a predetermined vacuum pressure threshold indicating that the surge pressure at the surge point is less than the predetermined surge pressure threshold, and the vacuum pressure at the surge point is less than the predetermined vacuum pressure threshold, wherein the first predetermined threshold pressure across the relief device corresponds to the predetermined surge pressure threshold at the surge point, and wherein the second predetermined threshold pressure across the relief device corresponds to the predetermined vacuum pressure threshold at the surge point;
actuate the first biasing member to move the first relief valve to the first open configuration in response to the comparison indicating that the surge pressure at the surge point has reached the predetermined surge pressure threshold; and
actuate the second biasing member to move the second relief valve to the second open configuration in response to the comparison indicating that the vacuum pressure at the surge point has reached the predetermined vacuum pressure threshold.

10. The water hammer mitigation system according to claim 2 , wherein:
the branch connection includes a first branch channel and a second branch channel between the first and second ends,
the bi-directional surge relief device is disposed on the first branch channel, and
the water hammer mitigation system further includes a second bi-directional surge relief device that is disposed on the second branch channel.

11. A water hammer mitigation method comprising:
flowing fluid through a main pipeline, the main pipeline in communication with a pressure source, the main pipeline having a shutdown valve downstream of the pressure source, and first and second ends of a branch pipeline coupled to the main pipeline, the branch pipeline having a bi-directional surge relief device between the first and second ends;
the bi-directional surge relief device comprising
a housing with a first end proximate the branch pipeline

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Soliman Mohamed Ahmed
• Alshehri Ali Hamoud Hassan

Classifications

• F16L55/055 Primary

  Valves therefor · CPC title

• F16K17/196

  spring-loaded · CPC title

• F16L55/045

  specially adapted to prevent or minimise the effects of water hammer · CPC title

• F17D1/20

  Arrangements or systems of devices for influencing or altering dynamic characteristics of the systems, e.g. for damping pulsations caused by opening or closing of valves (fluid dynamics F15D; damping pulsations in fluids in pipes in general F16L55/04) · CPC title

• E03B7/075

  Arrangement of devices for control of pressure or flow rate · CPC title