GB2190718A - Pipe coupling for disconnectably mounting components in-line - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a device 10 for connecting components to pipework, for example connecting up components or structural elements such as valves, pumps, measuring elements or control elements in plants conveying media, for example industrial processing plants. The device may consist of a flange plate 12 and a shut-off fitting made integral with this. Any equipment or structural elements can be connected to the flange plate. The device can be fully installed, together with a pipe system and be connected to the pipe system while the particular structural element is connected to the flange plate when necessary. By this means, a rectilinear pipe layout and simple installation and dismounting of the particular structural elements is rendered possible. As shown the component 48 can be connected in line between the pipes 44,46 via passages 40 and 42 and inlet 22 and outlet 24. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Connection device for pipework This invention relates to a device for connecting components to pipework.

The invention is particularly, though not exclusively, applicable to a device for adding, connecting or combining components, such as apparatus, monitoring equipment or control equipment etc. for installations conveying media, particularly industrial processing installation.

In the field of conveying media, for example in industrial processing installations, process plants, re-processing plants but also in valve galleries and sample-taking points, the components such as valves, throttles, pumps, monitoring or control equipment are at present connected individually to the pipelines in question.

Since, when the installations are built, the nature, size and dimensions of the components or equipment to be connected up are generally not yet fixed, the pipes cannot initially be laid and provided with connecting flanges for the equipment to be connected up.

Instead, it is necessary to fit the equipment in later, the pipes being cut to length and only then can they be connected to the components or equipment to be added.

To this must be added the fact that a shutoff valve usually has to be installed in the pipeline in front of and behind the particular piece of equipment in order to be able to shut off the pipeline during a repair or a change of function so that the equipment in question can be dismounted.

Thus large space requirements and a heavy installation expense are necessary which, inter alia, also leads to a large number of sealing positions. The items of equipment have to be made to fit the pipe system individually, a repair, a change of function or an extension of function is very expensive and complicated and access is difficult during servicing, maintenance and repair.

In contrast, it is the object of the invention to provide a device which is essentially permits a compact form of construction, less installation expense and simple installation and dismounting of the components, while avoiding these disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the invention, this is achieved in that the device is constructed from a flange plate for the connection of the particular component and a fitting made integral with the flange plate. The flange plate may appropriately have given dimensions, particularly standardized dimensions which renders possible easy installation and dismounting or the particular components.

Preferable, the flange plate has two connections and the fitting consists, for example, of two shut-off valves by means of which the inlet to and outlet from the flange plate and hence from and to the component connected up can respectively be shut off.

The measures according to the invention render it possible, for example during the building of an industrial processing plant conveying media, to lay the pipe system completely and to connect up to the pipe system and install the device according to the invention, consisting for example of flange plate with integrated shut-off valves, from the beginning, wherever the individual items of equipment or components are to be connected up later.

The individual items of equipment then only need to be connected to the particular flange plate, which is possible with a few screws, but it is no longer necessary to recondition the laid pipes and perhaps shift the shut-off members or to adapt both individually to the various components or items of equipment.

The device according to the invention permits a compact form of construction; it has small space requirements and it permits a unit-construction system and a moudular assembly of functional groups. The individual items of equipment can be rapidly dismounted and installed; a rapid change of function is possible; the pipework can be largely prepared and prefabricated; a small number of interfaces is achieved and a rectilinear pipe layout which is a particular advantage. Finally the accessibility for servicing and maintenance, flushing and cleaning of the installation is simplified and hence also more economical.

One form of embodiment of the invention is explained in detail below, by way of example, with reference to the drawing in which Figure 1 shows, in section, a device consisting of flange plate with integrated shut-off valves.

Figure 2 shows a plan view, partially in section, of the device of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 shows a side view of the device in the viewing direction Z of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 shows partially in plan view, partially in section, a device according to the invention with a flange-mounted component in the form of a throttle valve or a shut-off valve.

The device 10 illustrated in the drawing is formed from a flange plate 12 with integrated shut-off fitting 14. The flange plate 12 and the shut-off fitting 14 form a structural unit which is fully installed, together with the pipe system, during the building of an industrial processing plant for example.

In the preferred form of example illustrated, the fitting 14 consists of two shut-off valves 16, 18 which render it possible to shut off the inlet 22 to the device and the outlet 24 from the device.

Formed in a housing 20, which is made integral with the flange plate 12, are two valve seats 26 of which the right-hand one in Fig. 1 is connected to the inlet 22 and the left-hand one to the outlet 24. The inlet 22 and the outlet 24 are preferably coaxial as Fig. 1 shows.

Cooperating with the valve seats 26 are the two shut-off valve 16, 18, each of which comprises a valve head 28 and a valve stem 30 connected to this. The two valve stems 30 are each held in a bracket flange 36 and can be actuated manually or by means of a motor. As known per se, the valve stems may be provided with an external thread for this purpose which engages in a corresponding internal thread in the praticular bracket flange 36 so that they can be adjusted axially and as a result the valve seats 26 can be opened and closed.

The sealing off of the valve stems 30 from the outside is effected by means of stuffing boxes 32 and stuffing-box nuts 34. The bracket flanges 36 are secured to the housing 20 by means of screws 38.

As Fig. 2 shows in particular, the connecting plate 12 is provided with connecting passages 40 and 42.

The connecting passages 40 and 42 extend through the flange plate 12 into the housing 20, the connecting passage 40 being in communication with the inlet 22 through the right-hand valve seat 26 in Fig. 1. The connecting passage 42 is correspondingly in communication with the outlet 24 through the left-hand valve seat 26 in Fig. 1.

The connecting passages 40 and 42 preferably extend transversely to the central axis of inlet 22 and outlet 24 and transversely to the central axes of the shut-off vlaves 16 and 18 respectively.

The required item of equipment, for example a throttle valve 48 as shown in Fig. 4, is connected to the connecting passages 40, 42.

The throttle valve 48 has a housing 50 with connecting passages 52 and 54, a valve seat 56, a valve head 58 and a valve stem 60.

The housing 50 of the throttle valve 48 is suitably firmly screwed to the flange plate 12 with screws using the necessary seals, its connecting passage 52 being in communication with the connecting passage 40 of the flange plate while its connecting passage 54 is in communication with the conecting passage 42 of the flange plate 12.

Thus the device 10, consisting of the flange plate 12 and the fitting 14, can also be installed during the laying of the pipe system, as already mentioned, and be connected to the pipelines 44 and 46 which, as Fig. 4 shows, are made rectilinear which consideralby simplifies the preparation of the pipes and the laying of the pipe system in comparison with former methods with which pipe bends etc. were necessary.

Thus the pipe system and the device 10 can be laid complete and the components, such as the throttle valve 48 shown in Fig. 4 for example, can be connected up at any desired later time. These components can easily be exchanged and they can easily be removed from repair after the two shut-off valves 16, 18 have been closed. On the other hand, if the circulation of the medium is to be maintained in the pipline, the flange plate 12 can be closed by a simple sealing plate after the component has been removed and the shutoff valves 16, 18 can be re-opened.

Changes in the individual functions, exchange of equipment or addition of other equipment can be largely prepared without interfering in the current process so that only very short interruption times result for the actual exchange of the equipment.

As a result of combining function units round the flange plate, this also takes over the reception of the connection interfaces within the subassembly arrangement as a result of which the number of interfaces is reduced and a precisely planned rectilinear pipeline layout is rendered possible.

Thus a subassembly of pipework and components can be considered as a component and can be connected to the rest of an installation through the device described.

A fitting with two valves is illustrated in the drawing but a plurality of such shut-off valves may also be used, as may other forms of fitting, e.g. by-pass valves.

Claims (9)

1. A device for connecting components to pipework, comprising a fitting operably connectable to pipework, and a coupling on said fitting to meet with a complementary coupling on a given component, whereby components can be operably connected through the device to the pipework, and can be removed or replaced without removal of the device from the pipework.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the coupling and complementary coupling comprise flanged plates integral with the fitting.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which the fitting comprises two or more shutoff valves by means of which an inlet port and an outlet port to the fitting may be shut off from connection to the coupling.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 in which said inlet and outlet ports are connected through the shut-off valves to separate connecting passages in the coupling.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 in which the connecting passages extend transversely to the central axis of inlet and outlet ports, which are colinear.

6. A device as claimed in any preceding claim in which the coupling has given dimensions, particularly standardised dimensions.

7. A device for connecting components to pipework and substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

8. A method of constructing installations comprising pipework linking components, characterised in that the pipework is assembled using devices as claimed in any preceding claim, and the components are then removably connected to the pipework through the devices.

9. A constructional system for use in the method of claim 8 comprising a range of devices as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, said devices having standardised couplings to allow ready interconnection or connection with components.