Self-Contained Actuated Safety Valve For Gaseous or Liquid Fuel Lines and the Like

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016201816-A1
Application number	US-201514595620-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 13, 2015
Priority date	Jan 13, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for turning off fluid flow through a valve. The method includes: movably disposing a member in an interior of a housing between a first position in which an inlet and an outlet are in fluid communication with each other and a second position blocking the fluid flow; restraining the member in the first position when a fluid temperature in the interior or an ambient temperature outside the housing is below a threshold temperature; and releasing the restraint such that the member is capable of moving to the second position when the fluid temperature or the ambient temperature is above the threshold temperature; wherein the releasing comprises changing the shape of an actuator from a first shape restraining the member to a second shape releasing the restraint upon a change in the fluid temperature or the ambient temperature from below the threshold temperature to above the threshold temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A safety valve comprising:
a housing having an interior, an inlet and an outlet for fluid flow from the inlet and through the outlet; a member being movably disposed in the interior between a first position in which the inlet and outlet are in fluid communication with each other through the interior and a second position blocking the fluid flow through the outlet; and an actuator configured to restrain the member in the first position when one of a fluid temperature in the interior of the housing or an ambient temperature outside the housing is below a predetermined threshold temperature and releases the restraint such that the actuator is capable of moving to the second position when the one of the fluid temperature in the interior of the housing or the ambient temperature outside the housing is above the predetermined threshold temperature; wherein the actuator is at least partially formed of one of a shape memory material or a bi-metal material.

2 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the member includes a sealing surface and the outlet includes a mating sealing surface such that the sealing surface of the member and the mating sealing surface of the outlet form a fluid seal when the member is in the second position.

3 . The safety valve of claim 2 , further comprising a sealing member disposed at the mating sealing surface of the outlet.

4 . The safety valve of claim 1 , further comprising a heat conducting member separate from the housing and formed on a wall of the housing for transferring the ambient heat to the actuator.

5 . The safety valve of claim 1 , further comprising a visual inspection mechanism for allowing a visual inspection of whether the member is in the first or second position from an exterior of the housing.

6 . The safety valve of claim 1 , further comprising an elastic element for biasing the member towards one of the first or the second position.

7 . The safety valve of claim 6 , wherein the member is rotatable between the first and second positions.

8 . The safety valve of claim 7 , wherein the elastic member is a tensile spring and is connected at one end to the housing and at another end to the member such that the member is configured as a bi-stable mechanism having first stable position corresponding to the first position and a second stable position corresponding to the second position.

9 . The safety valve of claim 7 , wherein the elastic member is a compression spring.

10 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the member is movable in translation from the first position to the second position.

11 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the actuator moves from a first shape when below the predetermined threshold temperature to a second shape when above the predetermined threshold temperature.

12 . The safety valve of claim 1 , further comprising means for returning the actuator from the second shape to the first shape.

13 . The safety valve of claim 1 , further comprising means for returning the member form the second position to the first position.

14 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the means for returning the member form the second position to the first position is manual.

15 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the means for returning the member form the second position to the first position is automatic.

16 . An anti-scalding valve comprising:
a housing having an interior, an inlet and an outlet for liquid flow from the inlet and through the outlet; a member being movably disposed in the interior between a first position in which the inlet and outlet are in liquid communication with each other through the interior and a second position blocking the liquid flow through the outlet; and an actuator configured to restrain the member in the first position when a liquid temperature in the interior of the housing is below a predetermined threshold temperature and releases the restraint such that the actuator is capable of moving to the second position when the liquid temperature in the interior of the housing is above the predetermined threshold temperature; wherein the actuator is at least partially formed of one of a shape memory material or a bi-metal material.

17 . A method for one of turning off or decreasing fluid flow through a valve, the method comprising:
(i) movably disposing a member in an interior of a housing between a first position in which an inlet and an outlet are in fluid communication with each other through the interior and a second position blocking the fluid flow through the outlet; (ii) restraining the member in the first position when one of a fluid temperature in the interior of the housing or an ambient temperature outside the housing is below a predetermined threshold temperature; and (iii) releasing the restraint such that the member is capable of moving to the second position when the one of the fluid temperature in the interior of the housing or the ambient temperature outside the housing is above the predetermined threshold temperature; wherein the releasing comprises changing the shape of an actuator from a first shape restraining the member to a second shape releasing the restraint upon a change in one of the fluid temperature in the interior of the housing or the ambient temperature outside the housing from below the predetermined threshold temperature to above the predetermined threshold temperature.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the predetermined threshold temperature is a first predetermined threshold temperature, the member comprises a first member, the actuator comprises a first actuator and the outlet comprises a first outlet and the method further comprises repeating steps (i)-(iii) for a second predetermined threshold temperature, a second outlet, a second member and a second actuator wherein the second predetermined threshold temperature is greater than the first predetermined threshold temperature.

Assignees

• Rastegar Jahangir S
• Omnitek Partners Llc

Inventors

• Rastegar Jahangir S

Classifications

• F16K31/002

  actuated by temperature variation (thermo-electric F16K31/025) · CPC title

• F16K17/386 Primary

  the closure members being rotatable or pivoting · CPC title