Diverter valve for conveying a material and method for cleaning thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019107215-A1
Application number	US-201816155948-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 10, 2018
Priority date	Oct 10, 2017
Publication date	Apr 11, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A diverter valve for conveying a material has a housing with at least three passage openings for feeding or discharging material. The passage openings define a conveying plane. The diverter valve includes a rotary part with an outer contour that is conical, at least in sections, with respect to its axis of rotation. The rotary part is arranged in a sealed manner in the housing. The rotary part can be axially displaced and rotated within the housing. The axis of rotation is perpendicular to the conveying plane. A passage conduit is arranged in the rotary part, which, depending on the rotational position of the rotary part, connects to each other two passage openings for conveying material along the passage conduit through the diverter valve. A drain opening is provided in the housing for the automatic drainage of a liquid from the housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A diverter valve, comprising:
a housing with at least three passage openings for feeding or discharging a material, wherein the passage openings define a conveying plane; a rotary part having an axis of rotation and an outer contour that is conical, at least in sections, with respect to the axis of rotation,
the rotary part being arranged in a sealed manner in the housing,
the rotary part being displaceable along the axis of rotation in an axially driven manner and being rotatable around the axis of rotation in a rotatably driven manner,
wherein the axis of rotation is oriented perpendicular to the conveying plane;
a passage conduit arranged in the rotary part which, depending on a rotational position of the rotary part, connects to each other two of the at least three passage openings for conveying the material along the passage conduit through the diverter valve; and a drain opening in the housing for automatic drainage of a liquid from the housing.

2 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 , wherein the drain opening is arranged on a base side of the housing which extends substantially parallel to the conveying plane.

3 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 ,
wherein the drain opening is arranged on a housing body or on a housing cover which is detachably connected to the housing body.

4 . The diverter valve according to claim 3 ,
wherein an inner surface of the housing cover and/or an inner surface of the housing body is inclined, at least in areas, towards the drain opening.

5 . The diverter valve according to claim 3 , wherein the housing cover can be arranged variably on the housing body with respect to a rotational position of the housing cover relative to the axis of rotation.

6 . The diverter valve according to claim 3 , further comprising a housing cover seal which is freely accessible from an interior of the housing and in contact with the material to be conveyed.

7 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 , wherein a cone angle of the outer contour of the rotary part is between 5° and 80°.

8 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 , wherein a radial gap is formed between the outer contour of the rotary part and an inner contour of the housing, for sealing the rotary part in the housing, the radial gap having an extension between 0.01 mm and 0.5 mm.

9 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 , wherein the rotary part, with its outer contour, directly rests on an inner contour of the housing.

10 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 ,
further comprising cone sealing elements which are arranged with respect to the axis of rotation circumferentially on the rotary part, wherein the passage conduit is arranged with respect to the axis of rotation between the cone sealing elements.

11 . The diverter valve according to claim 1 , further comprising passage conduit sealing elements which are arranged with respect to a passage conduit longitudinal axis circumferentially on the rotary part.

12 . The diverter valve according to claim 11 , wherein each of the passage conduit sealing elements is held in a respective sealing groove of the rotary part.

13 . The diverter valve according to claim 12 , wherein the passage conduit sealing elements project beyond the outer contour of the rotary part with a projection section, the projection section having at least one transitional chamfer whereby a flush transition between surfaces of the rotary part and the passage conduit sealing elements is provided.

14 . A method for cleaning the diverter valve as in claim 1 , comprising:
ending conveyance of the material to be conveyed; initiating the cleaning; pulling the rotary part along the axis of rotation axially within the housing; introducing a cleaning liquid through at least one of the passage openings; rotating the rotary part around the axis of rotation while introducing the cleaning liquid; ending the introduction of the cleaning liquid; removing the cleaning liquid from the diverter valve; drying the diverter valve by introducing hot gas; ending the drying process; and continuing conveyance of the material to be conveyed.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the rotary part, during introduction of the cleaning liquid, is arranged in a rotational center position such that the outer contour of the rotary part is turned towards one of the at least three passage openings such that the passage conduit is not in alignment with any of the at least three passage openings.

16 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein a drainage valve arranged in a housing cover is opened only after completion of the cleaning prior to the drying of the diverter valve, in order to allow remaining cleaning liquid to be drained.

Assignees

• Coperion Gmbh

Inventors

• Zinser Bruno
• Schädler Manfred
• Stephan Martin

Classifications

• B65G53/56

  Switches · CPC title

• F16K11/0833 Primary

  having all the connecting conduits situated in a single plane perpendicular to the axis of the plug · CPC title

• F16K27/062

  with conical plugs · CPC title

• F16K11/0836 Primary

  having all the connecting conduits situated in more than one plane perpendicular to the axis of the plug · CPC title

• F16K5/0278

  on the plug · CPC title