Quick-acting, self-resetting fluid pressure release valve assembly

Claim 1

A quick-acting, self-resetting, fluid pressure release valve comprising: a valve body defining a chamber therein having an inner end open to a source of fluid under pressure and an outer end open to a region of lower pressure, a valve seat plate mounted within said valve body for limited axial movement with respect thereto and dividing said valve body chamber into a low pressure side and a high pressure side, said valve seat plate having an opening therethrough, a Belleville spring mounted within the low pressure side of said valve body to yieldably support said valve seat plate between the inner and outer ends of said valve body, a valve disc movably mounted within the high pressure side of said valve body and biased towards said valve seat plate, said valve disc being adapted to close said opening in said valve seat plate, and means carried within the high pressure side of said valve body to limit movement of said valve disc to a predetermined point at which point movement of said valve seat plate has caused said Belleville spring to reach its negative spring rate region, whereby as said valve seat plate moves in response to increasing fluid pressure, said opening therein remains closed by said valve disc until said predetermined point is reached whereupon movement of said valve disc is stopped as said Belleville spring snaps allowing said valve seat plate to move rapidly away from said valve disc causing said valve to substantially instantaneously reach its fully open position allowing the rapid release of pressurized fluid therethrough before said valve seat plate returns to its closed position against said valve disc in response to the action of said Belleville spring.