Spring assembly for floating seat ring

• US 4,266,566 A
• Filed: 07/26/1979
• Issued: 05/12/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cooper Cameron Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: ACF Industries Holding Corporation (Icahn Associates Holding LLC)
• Inventors: Partridge, Charles C., Kacal, Gary W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Weakley, Harold W.
• Application Number:
  US06/060,951
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 137/316, 251/174, 251/316, 267/165
• US Class Current: 137/316
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 5/201 with the housing or parts of the housing mechanically pressing the seal against the plug
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/6116 With holding means functioning only during transportation assembly or disassembly

Abstract

A spring assembly (56) for a floating seat ring (40) to urge the seat ring into sealing engagement with the movable valve member. The seat ring is mounted in an enlarged bore portion at the valve chamber and has an annular rear face in opposed relation to a shoulder defined by the enlarged bore portion. The improved spring assembly is mounted in the spring pocket formed between the rear face and the shoulder and has a plurality of undulated annular wave springs (58, 60) about the seat ring. Each pair of contiguous wave springs is staggered so that the front nodes of one wave spring in each contiguous pair is in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of each contiguous pair. A flat portion (44A) on the outer circumference of the seat ring is in nested relation to a cooperating flat portion (64) on the inner circumference of the wave spring to maintain the wave spring in an oriented staggered relation.

Claims

1. In a valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet flow passages communicating with a valve chamber, a valve member mounted in said valve chamber for movement between open and closed positions relative to the flow passages, an annular shoulder at the juncture of each flow passage with the valve chamber, and a seat ring mounted about each flow passage and having an annular rear face in opposed spaced relation to the associated shoulder to provide a spring pocket therebetween, the improvement comprising:

an annular spring assembly in the spring pocket between said rear face and said shoulder adapted to urge the seat ring toward the valve member, said spring assembly including at least a pair of contiguous undulated annular wave springs about the seat ring each wave spring having a plurality of rear and front nodes, the rear nodes on the rearmost wave spring being in contact with said shoulder and the front nodes on the foremost wave spring being in contact with said rear face, said pair of contiguous wave springs being staggered with the front nodes of one wave spring of said pair in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of said pair, and means to maintain each pair of wave springs in such staggered position.

2. In a valve as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means to maintain each pair of wave springs in staggered position comprises a flat portion about the outer circumference of the seat ring and a cooperating nesting flat portion about the inner circumference of the wave springs to hold the wave springs against rotative movement.

3. In a ball valve as set forth in claim 1 wherein each wave spring has a plurality of alternate front nodes and intervening rear nodes, the front nodes being spaced circumferentially of the wave spring about ninety (90) degrees with respect to each other.

4. A top entry ball valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet flow passages communicating with a valve chamber, a ball mounted in said valve chamber for rotation between open and closed positions relative to the flow passages, an upper cover plate removably secured to the valve body and permitting removal of the ball from the valve body when the cover plate is removed, an annular shoulder at the juncture of each flow passage with the valve chamber;

a seat ring mounted about each flow passage and having an annular rear face in opposed spaced relation to the associated shoulder to provide a spring pocket therebetween;

an annular spring assembly in the spring pocket between said rear face and said shoulder adapted to urge the seat ring toward the ball, said spring assembly including at least a pair of undulated annular wave springs about the seat ring each wave spring having a plurality of rear and front nodes, the rear nodes on the rearmost wave spring being in contact with said shoulder and the front nodes on the foremost wave spring being in contact with said rear face, said pair of contiguous wave springs being staggered with the front nodes of one wave spring of said pair in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of said pair, means to maintain each pair of wave springs in such staggered position, means to urge the seat ring to a retracted position in which the wave springs are compressed, and means to hold the seat ring in the retracted position.

5. A top entry ball valve as set forth in claim 4, wherein said means to hold the seat ring in retracted position comprises a plunger adapted to contact the outer circumference of the wave springs to urge the inner circumference of the wave springs into frictional engagement with the seat ring, said plunger being operated from a position outside the valve body.

6. A top entry ball valve as set forth in claim 4 wherein said means to maintain each pair of wave springs in staggered position comprises at least one rivet connecting said pair together.