ROTARY PLUG VALVE

• US 3,687,416 A
• Filed: 11/30/1970
• Issued: 08/29/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Frank H. Mueller
• Original Assignee: Frank H. Mueller
• Inventors: Mueller, Frank H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weakley, Harold W.
• Application Number:
  US05/093,919
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• Field of Search: 251/164,165
• US Class Current: 251/164
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 5/0278 on the plug

Abstract

A tapered rotary plug valve having a resilient O-Ring secured to the periphery of an axial section of the valve plug and surrounding the plug port so as to contact the opposed surface of the valve seat.

Claims

1. A rotary plug valve comprising:

a housing member having a circular tapered valve seat provided with at least one flow port;

a tapered plug member rotatable in said seat and having a flow passage terminating in at least one radial port movable into or out of registration with said seat port to open or close the valve;

a resilient endless packing ring interposed between the opposed surfaces of said members and secured to one of said members, said endless packing ring being arranged to surround said seat port in the closed position of the valve;

pressureresponsive sealing ring means carried by one of said members and interposed between said opposed surfaces adjacent each end of said seat to effect a pressure tight seal between said members at each end of said seat in all operative positions of said plug member; and

interengaged means associated with said members for retaining said plug member in operative relation with said seat and for effecting axial seating movement of said plug member relative to said seat during rotation of said plug member from its open to its closed position and unseating movement during rotation from its closed to its open position, said resilient endless packing ring being compressed between said opposed surfaces to provide a fluid-tight seal therebetween when the valve is in said closed position and the compression of said resilient endless packing ring being progressively reduced as said plug member is rotated from said closed to said open position.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 including check means associated with the members operative to limit rotation of the plug member to movement between the open and closed positions, and wherein the interengaged means is disengageable by rotation of said plug member through an angle greater than that through which said plug member rotates in moving between said open and closed positions, whereby removal of said plug member from said operative relation with said valve seat is effectively thwarted.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 wherein the interengaged means is disposed adjacent the smaller end of the seat and includes threads integral with the plug member, a retaining member rotatably carried by the housing member and having threads engaged with said plug threads, and means securing said retaining member against movement relative to said housing member, and the check means includes angularly spaced abutments integral with said housing member and disposed adjacent the larger end of said seat and radial projection means integral with said plug member and alternatively engageable with said abutments.

4. The structure defined in claim 3 wherein the housing member is provided with an annular extension at the small end of the valve seat and the retaining member is received at least partially within said extension and including mutually engaged means on said retaining member and said housing member for limiting the extent of movement of said retaining member into said extension.

5. The structure in claim 4 wherein the Securing means includes pin means extending with a drive fit through a hole in the extension and at least partially into the retaining member.

6. The structure defined in claim 4 wherein the securing means includes a set screw threaded through the extension and engaged with the retaining member.

7. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the resilient endless packing ring is disposed within an endless groove in the surface of the plug.

8. The structure defined in claim 7 wherein the packing ring comprises an O-ring and the groove is generally rectangular in radial section.

9. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the resilient endless packing ring is disposed within an endless groove in the valve seat surrounding the seat port.

10. The structure defined in claim 9 wherein the packing ring comprises an O-ring and the groove is generally rectangular in radial section.

11. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the pressure-responsive sealing ring means are individual O-rings disposed in circumferential grooves in the one member and are compressed between the bottoms of said grooves and the opposed surface of the other member to provide a tight seal between the plug member and seat at each end of the latter in all positions of rotation of said plug member.

12. The structure defined in claim 11 in which the opposed surface of the other member is provided adjacent each end thereof and beyond a central tapered section with cylindrical sections of uniform diameter constantly engaged by the corresponding individual O-rings during axial movements of the plug member to thereby maintain a constant degree of physical compression of each O-ring between said members during said movements.

13. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the valve seat includes an inlet port and an outlet port and the resilient endless packing ring is disposed within an endless groove in the surface of the plug and arranged to surround said inlet port of said seat in the closed position of the valve.

14. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein the valve seat includes an inlet port and an outlet port and the resilient endless packing ring is disposed within an endless groove in the valve seat surrounding said outlet port of said seat.