Double-disc gate valve

Patent · Tue Jan 16 04:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:6222425

Wheatley, S J

The invention relates to an improvement in a conventional double-disc gate valve having a vertically movable gate assembly including a wedge, spreaders slidably engaged therewith, a valve disc carried by the spreaders. When the gate assembly is lowered to a selected point in the valve casing, the valve discs are moved transversely outward to close inlet and outlet ports in the casing. The valve includes hold-down means for guiding the disc-and-spreader assemblies as they are moved transversely outward and inward. If such valves are operated at relatively high differential pressures, they sometimes jam during opening. Such jamming has been a problem for many years in gate valves used in gaseous diffusion plants for the separation of uranium isotopes. The invention is based on the finding that the above-mentioned jamming results when the outlet disc tilts about its horizontal axis in a certain way during opening of the valve. In accordance with the invention, tilting of the outlet disc is maintained at a tolerable value by providing the disc with a rigid downwardly extending member and by providing the casing with a stop for limiting inward arcuate movement of the member to a preselected value during opening of the valve.

• Assignee: Dept. of Energy
• Patent Number(s): US 4134571
• OSTI ID: 6222425
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050501* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Uranium Enrichment-- Gaseous Diffusion-- (-1989)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
42 ENGINEERING
420200 -- Engineering-- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques
CONTROL EQUIPMENT
DESIGN
EQUIPMENT
FLOW REGULATORS
GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANTS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ISOTOPE SEPARATION PLANTS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
VALVES