Spring assembly for floating seat ring

Claim 2

In a valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet flow passages communicating with a valve chamber, a valve member mounted in said valve chamber for movement between open and closed positions relative to the flow passages, an annular shoulder at the juncture of each flow passage with the valve chamber, and a seat ring mounted about each flow passage and having an annular rear face in opposed spaced relation to the associated shoulder to provide a spring pocket therebetween, the improvement comprising: an annular spring assembly in the spring pocket between said rear face and said shoulder adapted to urge the seat ring toward the valve member, said spring assembly including at least a pair of contiguous undulated annular wave springs about the seat ring each wave spring having a plurality of rear and front nodes, the rear nodes on the rearmost wave spring being in contact with said shoulder and the front nodes on the foremost wave spring being in contact with said rear face, said pair of contiguous wave springs being staggered with the front nodes of one wave spring of said pair in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of said pair, and means to maintain each pair of wave springs in such staggered position.

Claim 3

In a valve as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means to maintain each pair of wave springs in staggered position comprises a flat portion about the outer circumference of the seat ring and a cooperating nesting flat portion about the inner circumference of the wave springs to hold the wave springs against rotative movement.

Claim 4

In a ball valve as set forth in claim 1 wherein each wave spring has a plurality of alternate front nodes and intervening rear nodes, the front nodes being spaced circumferentially of the wave spring about ninety (90) degrees with respect to each other.

Claim 5

A top entry ball valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet flow passages communicating with a valve chamber, a ball mounted in said valve chamber for rotation between open and closed positions relative to the flow passages, an upper cover plate removably secured to the valve body and permitting removal of the ball from the valve body when the cover plate is removed, an annular shoulder at the juncture of each flow passage with the valve chamber; a seat ring mounted about each flow passage and having an annular rear face in opposed spaced relation to the associated shoulder to provide a spring pocket therebetween; an annular spring assembly in the spring pocket between said rear face and said shoulder adapted to urge the seat ring toward the ball, said spring assembly including at least a pair of undulated annular wave springs about the seat ring each wave spring having a plurality of rear and front nodes, the rear nodes on the rearmost wave spring being in contact with said shoulder and the front nodes on the foremost wave spring being in contact with said rear face, said pair of contiguous wave springs being staggered with the front nodes of one wave spring of said pair in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of said pair, means to maintain each pair of wave springs in such staggered position, means to urge the seat ring to a retracted position in which the wave springs are compressed, and means to hold the seat ring in the retracted position.

Claim 6

A top entry ball valve including a valve body having inlet and outlet flow passages communicating with a valve chamber, a ball mounted in said valve chamber for rotation between open and closed positions relative to the flow passages, an upper cover plate removably secured to the valve body and permitting removal of the ball from the valve body when the cover plate is removed, an annular shoulder at the juncture of each flow passage with the valve chamber; a seat ring mounted about each flow passage and having an annular rear face in opposed spaced relation to the associated shoulder to provide a spring pocket therebetween; an annular spring assembly in the spring pocket between said rear face and said shoulder adapted to urge the seat ring toward the ball, said spring assembly including at least a pair of undulated annular wave springs about the seat ring each wave spring having a plurality of rear and front nodes, the rear nodes on the rearmost wave spring being in contact with said shoulder and the front nodes on the foremost wave spring being in contact with said rear face, said pair of contiguous wave springs being staggered with the front nodes of one wave spring of said pair in opposed contact relation to the rear nodes of the other wave spring of said pair, means to maintain each pair of wave springs in such staggered position, means to urge the seat ring to a retracted position in which the wave springs are compressed, and means to hold the seat ring in the retracted position.

Claim 7

A top entry ball valve as set forth in claim 4, wherein said means to hold the seat ring in retracted position comprises a plunger adapted to contact the outer circumference of the wave springs to urge the inner circumference of the wave springs into frictional engagement with the seat ring, said plunger being operated from a position outside the valve body.

Claim 8

A top entry ball valve as set forth in claim 4 wherein said means to maintain each pair of wave springs in staggered position comprises at least one rivet connecting said pair together.