Air admittance valve assembly
First Claim
1. A one-way valve assembly for preventing the escape of gases from a system while permitting the venting of ambient air into the system under vacuum conditions, said valve assembly comprising:
- a) a valve body having an upper portion and a bottom portion for connection to and communication with the closed system, said upper portion having at least one air inlet portion communicating with the ambient environment;
b) a valve chamber positioned within said upper portion of said valve body, said valve chamber having a wall communicating with said at least one air inlet portion and said wall further having an upwardly extending valve seat forming a valve outlet portion between said valve seat and said valve body upper portion, said valve outlet portion being in communication with said valve body bottom portion;
c) a flexible sealing membrane having a generally thin unsupported sealing area positioned for sealing under tension said valve seat of said valve chamber; and
d) a cap structure connected to said upper portion of said valve body, said cap structure having alignment means for positioning said flexible sealing membrane for movement with respect to said valve seat of said valve chamber.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A one directional flow valve assembly for a fluid system. The valve assembly is comprised of a valve body having an internal valve chamber in communication with the ambient environment with a valve seat of a predetermined configuration. The assembly further has a cap structure with means to position and align a sealing membrane with respect to the valve seat. A flexible elastomeric sealing diaphragm is provided which is under tension when the diaphragm is in a sealing configuration. A carrier plate structure may be provided to position the sealing diaphragm. The sealing member is in tension adjacent to the sealing seat when in a sealing position.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A one-way valve assembly for preventing the escape of gases from a system while permitting the venting of ambient air into the system under vacuum conditions, said valve assembly comprising:
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a) a valve body having an upper portion and a bottom portion for connection to and communication with the closed system, said upper portion having at least one air inlet portion communicating with the ambient environment;
b) a valve chamber positioned within said upper portion of said valve body, said valve chamber having a wall communicating with said at least one air inlet portion and said wall further having an upwardly extending valve seat forming a valve outlet portion between said valve seat and said valve body upper portion, said valve outlet portion being in communication with said valve body bottom portion;
c) a flexible sealing membrane having a generally thin unsupported sealing area positioned for sealing under tension said valve seat of said valve chamber; and
d) a cap structure connected to said upper portion of said valve body, said cap structure having alignment means for positioning said flexible sealing membrane for movement with respect to said valve seat of said valve chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An air admittance valve for a plumbing drain and waste system comprising:
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a) a valve body having a centrally disposed air inlet chamber in communication with the ambient environment, said air inlet chamber having a wall with an upwardly extending peripheral wall edge forming a valve seat;
b) a flexible, elastomeric tension sealing membrane having an unsupported sealing area positioned above said valve seat, said tension sealing membrane being constructed and arranged for flexibly sealing against said valve seat; and
c) means to guide said sealing membrane with respect to said valve seat in said valve body. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. In an air admittance valve for connection to a plumbing system having a valve body with a peripheral air inlet, a valve structure comprising:
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a) a circular valve seat defining the termination of the air inlet in said valve body, said valve seat further comprising a thin sealing surface having a predetermined configuration;
b) a carrier structure having an axial, centrally disposed guide means and a downwardly disposed outer ridge;
c) a tension sealing membrane having an exterior edge portion attached to said outer ridge of said carrier structure, said tension sealing membrane having a generally thin unsupported sealing area aligned with said circular valve seat; and
d) said valve structure being constructed and arranged whereby upon a negative pressure differential air is admitted to the valve body through said circular valve seat by the movement of said sealing membrane from said valve seat and whereby upon a pressure differential of zero or above said sealing membrane flexibly seals under tension said sealing surface of said valve seat to thereby seal a plumbing system. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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23. A process for venting into a closed system from the ambient environment comprising:
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a) connecting a one-way valve structure to the closed system, said valve structure having a valve body having a connecting end, a guided flexible tension sealing member with a generally thin unsupported sealing area and an internal valve chamber with a continuous valve seat in communication with the ambient environment;
b) floating said flexible sealing member above the valve seat of the valve chamber upon a negative pressure differential in the closed system with respect to ambient pressure; and
c) flexibly sealing in a state of tension said non-supported sealing area of said flexible membrane against the valve seat upon the equalization of pressure in the closed system. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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- 26. A fluid admittance valve assembly for a system comprising a valve body having an upper chamber, a fluid intake chamber, a lower chamber, a flexible tension diaphragm having a non-supported sealing area, and means for connecting said assembly to a system, said fluid intake chamber having a continuous wall terminating to form an upwardly disposed valve seat and means to communicate with the ambient environment, said flexible diaphragm being constructed and arranged for movement in said upper chamber and being positioned above said valve seat of said air intake chamber, said lower chamber being in fluid communication with said upper chamber, whereby said non-supported sealing area of said flexible diaphragm moves from and to a tensioned sealing engagement with said valve seat to equalize negative differentials between the ambient environment and the pressure of a system when in communication with said upper chamber of said valve body.
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32. A gas admittance valve for allowing ambient gas into a system, said valve comprising:
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a) a centrally positioned gas intake chamber, said gas intake chamber further comprising at least one intake chamber wall, a means to communicate with the ambient gas, and a single valve seat defining an outlet and having an upwardly disposed top sealing edge;
b) a valve chamber, said valve chamber having an interior surface; and
said valve chamber being in communication with the system and with said gas intake chamber through the outlet defined by said valve seat;
c) a flexible tension diaphragm having a thin unsupported sealing area positioned inside said valve chamber and above said valve seat, whereby said flexible diaphragm can move to engage and create a seal with said valve seat whenever a positive or no pressure differential exists and to disengage from said valve seat whenever a negative pressure differential exists;
said flexible diaphragm having a periphery; and
said thin unsupported sealing area of said flexible diaphragm being capable of conforming under tension to the top sealing edge of said valve seat; and
d) a means for connecting said valve to the system. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for allowing ambient gas into a system, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) attaching a gas admittance valve to the end of a pipe that is part of the system, said gas admittance valve comprising;
i) a centrally positioned gas intake chamber, said gas intake chamber further comprising at least one intake chamber wall, a means to communicate with the ambient gas, and a single valve seat defining an outlet and having an upwardly disposed top sealing edge;
ii) a valve chamber, said valve chamber having an interior surface; and
said valve chamber being in communication with the system and with said gas intake chamber through the outlet defined by said valve seat;
iii) a flexible tension diaphragm having a non-supported and tensionable sealing area positioned inside said valve chamber and above said valve seat, whereby said flexible diaphragm can move to engage and create a seal with said valve seat whenever a positive or no pressure differential exists and to disengage from said valve seat whenever a negative pressure differential exists;
said flexible diaphragm having a periphery; and
said flexible diaphragm being capable of conforming to the top sealing edge of said valve seat; and
iv) a means for connecting said valve to the system;
b) providing make-up gas to the closed system when a negative pressure differential exists, as follows;
i) allowing ambient gas into said gas intake chamber;
ii) next allowing the ambient gas to raise said flexible diaphragm from and break its seal with said valve seat;
iii) next allowing the ambient gas to flow into and through said valve chamber and into the closed system; and
iv) causing said non-supported sealing area of said flexible diaphragm to reengage under a state of tension and reestablish a seal with said valve seat when the negative pressure differential no longer exists; and
c) maintaining a seal between said tensioned sealing area of said flexible diaphragm and said valve seat when a positive or no pressure differential exists.
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Specification