Gas valve with electronic health monitoring

• US 10,203,049 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2017
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Kucera, David, McCarthy, Timothy, Young, Gregory, Kasprzyk, Donald J., Praat, Jos, Manoogian, Carl, Yuen, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaudry, Atif
• Application Number:
  US15/479,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20170204990A1
• Time in Patent Office: 679 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 17/36 actuated in consequence of extraneous circumstances, e.g. shock, change of position
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 37/0041 for measuring valve parameters F16K37/0033 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 37/0083 by measuring valve parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 37/0091 by measuring fluid parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 1/002 using electronic means F23N1/04 - F23N1/10 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2235/14 electromagnetically operated
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2235/18 Groups of two or more valves
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 16/202 actuated by an electric motor
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 7/0635 by action on throttling means G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 7/0647 the plurality of throttling means being arranged in series
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0379 By fluid pressure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/7759 Responsive to change in rate of fluid flow
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/7761 Electrically actuated valve
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/8175 Plural

Abstract

This disclosure relates generally to valves, and more particularly, to gas valve assemblies. In one illustrative but non-limiting example, a valve assembly may include a valve body, a valve situated in a fluid path of the valve body, a valve actuator for selectively moving the valve actuator, one or more sensors in communication with the fluid path, a controller secured relative to the valve body and in communication with the sensors, and memory operatively coupled to the controller. A user interface may be in communication with the memory and the controller and may be configured to receive a selection from a user for selecting one of two or more selectable options from the memory. The controller may compare sensed parameters to threshold values associated with the selected option. The user interface may have a lock on it to prevent tampering and to provide accountability.

Claims

1. A valve assembly comprising:

a valve body having an inlet port and an outlet port, with a fluid path extending between the inlet port and the outlet port;

a valve situated in the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port;

a valve actuator, secured relative to the valve body, for selectively moving the valve between a closed position, which closes the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port, and an open position;

one or more local sensors for sensing one or more local parameters of the valve, the valve actuator, and/or within the valve body;

one or more remote sensor inputs for receiving one or more remote parameters from one or more remotely located sensors, wherein the one or more remotely located sensors are outside of and not integral with the valve body, the valve and the valve actuator, and the one or more remote parameters are not sensed in the fluid path of the valve body upstream or downstream of the valve, wherein the one or more remotely located sensors includes one or more of a current sensor, a gas sensor, an oxygen sensor, a CO sensor, and a CO₂ sensor;

a controller secured relative to the valve body and in communication with the plurality of local sensors and the one or more remote sensor inputs, the controller configured to determine one or more valve conditions based, at least in part, on a comparison of two or more values related to one or more of the local parameters from one or more of the local sensors and/or one or more of the remote parameters from the one or more of the remotely located sensors with corresponding ones of two or more threshold values;

a memory secured relative to the valve body and operatively coupled to the controller, the memory storing two or more selectable options, wherein each selectable option identifies corresponding threshold values for the two or more threshold values, wherein one or more of the threshold values is an adjustable threshold value that is adjustable by a user in the field, and one or more of the threshold values is a fixed threshold value that is not adjustable by a user in the field; and

a user interface configured to receive a selection from a user of one of the two or more selectable options stored in the memory, wherein once selected, the controller is configured to use the two or more threshold values that correspond to the selected selectable option when comparing values related to the one or more local parameters from one or more of the local sensors and/or one or more remote parameters from the one or more of the remotely located sensors.

2. The valve assembly of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine one or more of the valve conditions based, at least in part, on a comparison of one or more values related to one or more of the local parameters from the one or more local sensors and one or more of the threshold values.

3. The valve assembly of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to receive the selection from the user of one of the two or more selectable options, and to provide an indicator related to the one or more determined valve conditions to the user.

4. The valve assembly of claim 1, wherein the one or more local sensors include one or more of a pressure sensor, a flow sensor, a temperature sensor, a position sensor, and a current sensor.

5. The valve assembly of claim 1, wherein the one or more remotely located sensors include one or more of a pressure sensor, a flow sensor, a temperature sensor and a position sensor.

6. The valve assembly of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to identify one or more trends in one or more remote parameters over a predetermined time.

7. The valve assembly of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to identify a correlation between trends in two or more remote parameters.

8. A valve assembly system comprising:

a valve assembly comprising;

a valve body having an inlet port and an outlet port, with a fluid path extending between the inlet port and the outlet port;

a valve situated in the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port;

a valve actuator, secured relative to the valve body, for selectively moving the valve between a closed position, which closes the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port, and an open position;

one or more sensors in communication with the fluid path for sensing one or more sensed parameters within the fluid path of the valve body;

a controller secured relative to the valve body and in communication with the one or more sensors, the controller determining one or more valve conditions based at least in part on the one or more sensed parameters by comparing values related to the one or more sensed parameters to corresponding ones of two or more threshold values;

a memory secured relative to the valve body and operatively coupled to the controller, the memory storing two or more selectable options, wherein each selectable option identifies corresponding threshold values for the two or more threshold values, wherein one or more of the threshold values is an adjustable threshold value that is adjustable by a user in the field, and one or more of the threshold values is a fixed threshold value that is not adjustable by a user in the field; and

a user interface configured to receive a selection from a user of one of the two or more selectable options stored in the memory, wherein once selected, the controller is configured to use the two or more threshold values that correspond to the selected selectable option when comparing values related to the one or more sensed parameters.

9. The valve assembly system of claim 8, further comprising an electronic access mechanism configured to restrict access to the selection of one of the two or more selectable options stored in the memory.

10. The valve assembly of claim 9, wherein the electronic access mechanism includes a password protection system and the user interface is configured to receive a password prior to allowing the selection from a user of the one of the two or more selectable options stored in the memory.

11. The valve assembly of claim 9, wherein the electronic access mechanism includes a button on the valve assembly for selection to ensure user proximity to the valve assembly.

12. The valve assembly of claim 9, wherein the electronic access mechanism includes a sense element configured to be sensed by the valve assembly.

13. The valve assembly system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to provide an alert in response to determining that one or more sensed parameters goes beyond one of the adjustable threshold values.

14. The valve assembly system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to shut down the valve in the closed position in response to determining that one or more of the sensed parameters goes beyond a corresponding one of the one or more fixed threshold values.

15. The valve assembly system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to:

provide an alert in response to determining that one or more sensed parameters goes beyond one of the adjustable threshold values; and

shut down the valve, in the closed position, in response to determining that one or more of the sensed parameters goes beyond a corresponding one of the one or more fixed threshold values.

16. The valve assembly system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to:

issue a first alert when a value related to a first sensed parameter goes beyond a first adjustable threshold value; and

issuing a second alert when a value related to a second sensed parameter goes beyond a second adjustable threshold value.

17. The valve assembly system of claim 8, wherein the valve assembly further comprises one or more sensors inputs for receiving one or more remote parameters from one or more remotely located sensors, wherein the one or more remotely located sensors are outside of and not integral with the valve body, the valve and the valve actuator, and the one or more remote parameters are not sensed in the fluid path of the valve body upstream or downstream of the valve.

18. A method of operating a valve assembly comprising:

receiving input related to a selection of one or more safety standards via a user interface, wherein each safety standard designates two or more threshold values, wherein one or more of the threshold values is an adjustable threshold value that is adjustable by a user in the field, and one or more of the threshold values is a fixed threshold value that is not adjustable by a user in the field;

sensing one or more sensed parameters of the valve assembly;

transferring values of the one or more sensed parameters to a controller of the valve assembly;

using the controller of the valve assembly to determine one or more valve conditions based on the one or more sensed parameters and the two or more threshold values designated by the selected safety standard;

displaying an indication of the one or more valve conditions on a user interface;

shutting down the valve assembly if a value related to one or more of the sensed parameters goes beyond a corresponding one of the one or more fixed threshold values; and

allowing the valve assembly to operate but issuing an alert if a value related to one or more sensed parameters goes beyond a corresponding one of the one or more adjustable threshold values.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

issuing a first alert when a value related to a first sensed parameter goes beyond a first adjustable threshold value; and

issuing a second alert when a value related to a second sensed parameter goes beyond a second adjustable threshold value.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein

the value related to the first sensed parameter is sensed by a local sensor sensing one or more local parameters within the valve assembly;

and

the value related to the second sensed parameter is sensed by a remote sensor sensing one or more remote parameters outside of the valve assembly.