Check valve with accelerated closure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945487-B2
Application number	US-201715668763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2017
Priority date	Jan 13, 2016
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A check valve including a valve body and a flapper assembly, the valve body defining an inlet, an outlet, an interior cavity, and a port in the interior cavity; the flapper assembly movable between an open position, providing fluid communication between the inlet and outlet, and a closed position, isolating the inlet from the outlet, the flapper assembly including a resilient body and a spring assembly, the spring assembly configured to bias the flap portion of the resilient body towards the closed position, the spring assembly including a spring and a backing plate mounted on opposite surfaces of the resilient body and configured to increase the stiffness of the intermediate portion of the resilient body.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A check valve, comprising:
a valve body defining an inlet, an outlet and an interior cavity, the valve body further defining a port in the interior cavity that has a downstream port shoulder surface; and
a flapper assembly that is movable between an open position, providing fluid communication between the inlet and outlet, and a closed position, isolating the inlet from the outlet, the flapper assembly comprising:
a resilient body extending from a proximal hinge portion to a distal flap portion, wherein the hinge portion is configured to be fixedly mounted in the valve body, wherein the flap portion has an upstream surface and a downstream surface; and wherein portions of an upstream surface of the flap portion are configured to seal the downstream port shoulder surface of the valve body when the flap portion is in the closed position; and
a spring assembly that is configured to bias the flap portion of the resilient body towards the closed position, the spring assembly comprising:
a spring comprising a proximal mounting end that is mounted to a portion of the downstream surface of the resilient body, a distal end that is configured to slideably engage portions of the downstream surface of the flap portion, and a middle portion that extends from the proximal mounting end to the distal end, the middle portion being substantially planar when the spring is in a relaxed position; and
a backing plate that is mounted to a portion of the upstream surface of the resilient body in opposition to the proximal mounting end; the resilient body positioned between the spring and the backing plate; the spring assembly secured with a plurality of fasteners extending through the backing plate, the resilient body, and the spring; wherein the proximate mounting end and the backing plate are configured to increase the stiffness of the resilient body where the backing plate is mounted.

2. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the valve body further comprises a recess positioned proximate a portion of the port shoulder surface, and wherein the hinge portion of the resilient body is configured to be fixedly mounted in the recess of the valve body.

3. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the valve body extends along a longitudinal axis of the valve body between the inlet and the outlet and wherein the port shoulder surface is angled with respect to the longitudinal axis.

4. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the backing plate and the proximal mounting end of the spring are substantially planar.

5. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the proximal mounting end of the spring and the backing plate each define a plurality of openings, and wherein the respective openings in the intermediate portion of the resilient body, the proximal mounting end of the spring, and the backing plate are coaxially aligned and are configured to operatively receive the plurality of fasteners to fixedly mount the proximal mounting end of the spring and the backing plate to the intermediate portion of the resilient body.

6. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the middle portion is substantially planar.

7. The check valve of claim 6 , wherein only the bottom portion of the distal end of the spring and a portion of the middle portion of the spring adjacent to a spring step of the spring are in contact with the downstream surface of the flap portion of the resilient body.

8. The check valve of claim 6 , wherein the downstream surface of the resilient body defines a first step at a transition from the intermediate portion to the flap portion.

9. The check valve of claim 8 , wherein the upstream surface of the resilient body defines a second step at a transition from the intermediate portion to the flap portion.

10. The check valve of claim 8 , wherein the spring defines a spring step at a transition from the proximal mounting end to the middle portion and wherein the spring step substantially overlies the first step formed in the downstream surface of the resilient body.

11. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the distal end of the spring comprises a curved cross sectional shape in which a bottom portion of the curved cross-sectional shape is configured to slideably engage portions of the downstream surface of the flap portion and to space the majority of the middle portion of the spring away from the downstream surface of the flap portion.

12. The check valve of claim 1 , wherein the flap portion is disc-shaped.

13. A check valve, comprising:
a valve body defining an inlet and an outlet, the valve body further defining a port between the inlet and outlet that has a downstream port shoulder surface and a recess positioned proximate a portion of the port shoulder surface; and
a flapper assembly that is movable between an open position, providing fluid communication between the inlet and outlet, and a closed position, isolating the inlet from the outlet, the flapper assembly comprising:
a resilient body extending from a proximal hinge portion to a distal flap portion, wherein the hinge portion is configured to be fixedly mounted in the recess of the valve body, wherein the resilient body has an upstream surface and a downstream surface; and wherein upstream portions of the flap portion are configured to seal the downstream port shoulder surface of the valve body when the flap portion is in the closed position; and
a spring assembly that is configured to bias the flap portion of the resilient body towards the closed position, the spring assembly comprising
a spring comprising a proximal mounting end that is mounted to a portion of the downstream surface of the resilient body, a distal end having a curved cross sectional shape in which a bottom portion of the curved cross-sectional shape is configured to slideably engage portions of the downstream surface of the flap portion, and a middle portion that extends from the proximal mounting end to the distal end, the middle portion being substantially planar when the spring is in a relaxed position, wherein the proximal mounting end is substantially planar, and
a backing plate that is mounted to a portion of the upstream surface of the resilient body in opposition to the proximal mounting end, wherein the proximate mounting end and the backing plate are configured to increase the stiffness of a portion of the resilient body relative to the proximal hinge portion and the distal flap portion of the resilient body, wherein the backing plate is substantially planar and wherein the backing plate is dimensionally similar to the proximal mounting end of the resilient body.

14. The check valve of claim 13 , wherein the port shoulder surface is angled with respect to a longitudinal axis of the valve body.

15. The check valve of claim 13 , further comprising a plurality of fasteners, wherein the intermediate portion of the resilient body, the proximal mounting end and the backing plate each define a plurality of openings, and wherein the respective openings in the intermediate portion of the resilient body, the proximal mounting end and the backing plate are coaxially aligned and are configured to operatively receive the plurality of fasteners to fixedly mount the proximal mounting end of the spring and the backing plate to the intermediate portion of the resilient body, and wherein the downstream surface of the resilient body defines a first step at a transition from the intermediate portion to the flap portion.

16. The check valve of claim 15 , wherein the upstream surface of the resilient body defines a second step at a transition from the intermediate portion to the flap portion.

Assignees

• Mueller Int Llc

Inventors

• Abouelleil Ashraf
• Ramirez Julian
• Savalia Purushottam

Classifications

• Y10T137/7891

  Flap or reed · CPC title

• F16K15/033 Primary

  spring-loaded · CPC title

• Y10T137/79

  Head retained by removable closure · CPC title

• F16K15/144

  the closure elements being fixed along all or a part of their periphery · CPC title

• Y10T137/7893

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic