GB1578202A - Diverter valve - Google Patents

Description

(54) DIVERTER VALVE (71) We, DYNAMIC AIR INC., a Corporation organised and existing under the laws of the State of Minnesota, United States of America, of 1125 Wolters Boulevard, St. Paul, Minnesota 55110, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to a diverter valve for use in a pneumatic conveyor system.

One of the uses of pneumatic conveyor lines is to transport granular materials from one location to another, often with selective intemediate diversion of the materials into bins or secondary pneumatic conveying systems. It is necessary to switch or divert the material from the pneumatic conveyor line into the secondary systems by use of some type of pneumatic switch or diverter valve which will divert the material to the secondary system and will also seal the connection points on the two systems so that the material will not escape into the environment.

One of the problems inherent with prior art pneumatic diverter valves has been the difficulty in obtaining a good seal as well as obtaining accurate alignment of the conveying tubes of the two systems. If accurate alignment of the conveyor tubes is not maintained, the tubes may become damaged by the fast moving material or leakage of the material may occur. Still other problems inherent with prior art deflecting or diverting units are that they must withstand tremendous amount of force because of the general high momentum generated by the fast movement of heavy material in the conveyor tubes. This force makes it difficult to properly seal the pneumatic conveying tubes to the pneumatic switches.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved diverter valve.

The invention provides a diverter valve for use in a pneumatic conveying system comprising: an inlet; a plurality of outlets; a rotor mounted intermediate the inlet and the plurality of outlets, the rotor including a valve member mounted so that one end of the valve member is in alignment with the inlet and the other end can be in alignment with any one of the plurality of outlets; the rotor further carrying a blanking plate or plates which register with that outlet or those outlets not in alignment with the valve member and close it or them off; and inflatable annular sealing members for sealing the one end of the valve member to the inlet and the other end of the valve member to a selected one of the plurality of outlets.

The invention will be described further by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a partial sectional top view of a preferred form of a valve of the invention; Fig. 2, is a front view of the valve; Fig. 3, is a cross section through an inflatable seal used in the valve; and Fig. 4, shows the inflatable seal of Fig.

3 in its expanded position.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 generally designates a preferred diverter valve of the present invention. The multi-position switching valve comprises a main frame 11 having an inlet 12 on the top side and a plurality of discharge outlets 13, 14, 15, and 16. Inlet 12 would normally be connected to the primary pneumatic conveying line and discharge outlets 13, 14, 15, and 16 would be connected to the secondary pneumatic systems or storage areas. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 2, there are eight secondary discharge outlets located concentrically around inlet 12 but only four are shown in the cutaway view. The number of secondary discharge outlets could be increased or decreased by placing the discharge outlets on a larger or smaller diameter circle.

Centrally located in unit 10 is a rotatable support 20 which rotatably supports a main plate 21 which is connected to an angled pneumatic discharge tube 23 and a set of seven tube covers. As the tube covers are identical, only tube cover 24 will be described. Tube cover 24 comprises a flat cover section 26, a cylindrical member 27 which is fastened on one end to cover 26 and on the other to plate 21 through fastening members 29. The entire plate section 21, including the members mounted thereto, are free to rotate around a central axis C, which is concentric with inlet 12.

The top section 35 of tube 23 is centrally located with respect to the inlet 12 so that rotation of tube 23 about axis CL does not result in off-setting the alignment of inlet 12 with tube section 35.

The rotation of tube 23 is accomplished by a motor 44 and drive mechanism 39 which rotates sprocket wheel 38 which is fastened to tube 23. Rotating sprocket wheel 38 provides rotation of lower end 40 of tube 23. One can position end 40 with respect to any particular secondary discharge port. In the present embodiment, tube end 40 is shown being located with respect to discharge port 13. A tube sealing mechanism, while too small to be seen in detail in the embodiment of Fig. 2, is generally designated by reference numeral 50 and is located concentrically with respect to each of the secondary discharge ports.

Similarly, a tube sealing mechanism designated by numeral 51 is concentrically mounted to collar 36 on fluid inlet 12. In order to more fully appreciate the sealing mechanism, reference should be made to Figs. 3 and 4 which show the sealing mechanism in an enlarged view. The sealing mechanism shown in Fig. 4 comprises a hollow inflatable annular tube 60 having a sealing ridge 61 thereon. The ridge 61 contains concentric ridges 65 for forming a tight seal with flat sealing surfaces which are located on the upper and lower ends of tube 23. Reference to Fig. 3 shows the annular tube in a deflated condition with ridge member 61 retracted approximately halfway from its fully extended position. In the retracted position tube 23 can be rotated to any desired position as the seal ridge 61 will not be engaging the sealing surface on tube 23.In the inflated or expanded condition shown in Fig. 4, i.e., with air pressure in annular tube 60, member 61 forms a tight sealing enclosure at the top and bottom ends of tube 23.

In the preferred embodiment a sealing mechanism 50 or 51 is located concentric to each of the secondary discharge tubes as well as concentric to both ends of the angled diverging tube 23. Thus, the operator can seal all secondary tubes as well as the tubes that are connected through tube 23.

Once the material has been diverted to a secondary outlet and it is desired to change to a different secondary outlet, the operator deflates the seals. With the seals deflated and in the retracted position, tube 23 can freely rotated to the proper position. In the preferred embodiment, positioning of tube 23 is electrically controlled by position microswitches (not shown). Also, in the preferred embodiment each of the secondary outlets are sealed to prevent any back flow.

However, if desired the secondary outlets could be left unsealed by not inflating the sealing mechanisms.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A diverter valve for use in a pneumatic conveying system comprising: an inlet; a plurality of outlets; a rotor mounted intermediate the inlet and the plurality of outlets, the rotor including a valve member mounted so that one end of the valve member is in alignment with the inlet and the other end can be in alignment with any one of the plurality of outlets; the rotor further carrying a blanking plate or plates which register with that outlet or those outlets not in alignment with the valve member and close it or them off; and inflatable annular sealing members for sealing the one end of the valve member to the inlet and the other end of the valve member to a selected one of the plurality of outlets.

2. A valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular sealing members are concentric with the inlet and with the outlets.

3. A valve as claimed in claim 2 wherein the annular sealing members each include a sealing ridge.

4. A valve as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein means are provided for rotating the valve member.

5. A valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the means for rotating the valve member includes a power drive mechanism.

6. A diverter valve substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. view. The number of secondary discharge outlets could be increased or decreased by placing the discharge outlets on a larger or smaller diameter circle. Centrally located in unit 10 is a rotatable support 20 which rotatably supports a main plate 21 which is connected to an angled pneumatic discharge tube 23 and a set of seven tube covers. As the tube covers are identical, only tube cover 24 will be described. Tube cover 24 comprises a flat cover section 26, a cylindrical member 27 which is fastened on one end to cover 26 and on the other to plate 21 through fastening members 29. The entire plate section 21, including the members mounted thereto, are free to rotate around a central axis C, which is concentric with inlet 12. The top section 35 of tube 23 is centrally located with respect to the inlet 12 so that rotation of tube 23 about axis CL does not result in off-setting the alignment of inlet 12 with tube section 35. The rotation of tube 23 is accomplished by a motor 44 and drive mechanism 39 which rotates sprocket wheel 38 which is fastened to tube 23. Rotating sprocket wheel 38 provides rotation of lower end 40 of tube 23. One can position end 40 with respect to any particular secondary discharge port. In the present embodiment, tube end 40 is shown being located with respect to discharge port 13. A tube sealing mechanism, while too small to be seen in detail in the embodiment of Fig. 2, is generally designated by reference numeral 50 and is located concentrically with respect to each of the secondary discharge ports. Similarly, a tube sealing mechanism designated by numeral 51 is concentrically mounted to collar 36 on fluid inlet 12. In order to more fully appreciate the sealing mechanism, reference should be made to Figs. 3 and 4 which show the sealing mechanism in an enlarged view. The sealing mechanism shown in Fig. 4 comprises a hollow inflatable annular tube 60 having a sealing ridge 61 thereon. The ridge 61 contains concentric ridges 65 for forming a tight seal with flat sealing surfaces which are located on the upper and lower ends of tube 23. Reference to Fig. 3 shows the annular tube in a deflated condition with ridge member 61 retracted approximately halfway from its fully extended position. In the retracted position tube 23 can be rotated to any desired position as the seal ridge 61 will not be engaging the sealing surface on tube 23.In the inflated or expanded condition shown in Fig. 4, i.e., with air pressure in annular tube 60, member 61 forms a tight sealing enclosure at the top and bottom ends of tube 23. In the preferred embodiment a sealing mechanism 50 or 51 is located concentric to each of the secondary discharge tubes as well as concentric to both ends of the angled diverging tube 23. Thus, the operator can seal all secondary tubes as well as the tubes that are connected through tube 23. Once the material has been diverted to a secondary outlet and it is desired to change to a different secondary outlet, the operator deflates the seals. With the seals deflated and in the retracted position, tube 23 can freely rotated to the proper position. In the preferred embodiment, positioning of tube 23 is electrically controlled by position microswitches (not shown). Also, in the preferred embodiment each of the secondary outlets are sealed to prevent any back flow. However, if desired the secondary outlets could be left unsealed by not inflating the sealing mechanisms. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A diverter valve for use in a pneumatic conveying system comprising: an inlet; a plurality of outlets; a rotor mounted intermediate the inlet and the plurality of outlets, the rotor including a valve member mounted so that one end of the valve member is in alignment with the inlet and the other end can be in alignment with any one of the plurality of outlets; the rotor further carrying a blanking plate or plates which register with that outlet or those outlets not in alignment with the valve member and close it or them off; and inflatable annular sealing members for sealing the one end of the valve member to the inlet and the other end of the valve member to a selected one of the plurality of outlets.

2. A valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular sealing members are concentric with the inlet and with the outlets.

3. A valve as claimed in claim 2 wherein the annular sealing members each include a sealing ridge.

4. A valve as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein means are provided for rotating the valve member.

5. A valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the means for rotating the valve member includes a power drive mechanism.

6. A diverter valve substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.