Butterfly valve plate for a pneumatic surge valve

Claim 2

A butterfly valve plate, comprising: a generally circular valve disk having an upstream side and a downstream side; means for mounting said valve disk within a flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position respectively to substantially prevent and permit fluid flow through the flow conduit, said mounting means including a generally diametrically extending stem hub on said valve disk for receiving an actuator shaft for rotatably supporting said valve disk within the flow conduit, said stem hub defining a smoothly contoured and generally convex protrusion on at least a portion of said downstream side of said valve disk; and a pair of perforated, part-circular acoustic fences disposed generally at the periphery of said valve disk respectively on said upstream and downstream sides thereof, said fences being positioned generally in symmetric relation to and on opposite sides of a central axis defined by said stem hub; said stem hub including a noise reduction collar of generally convexly curved shape on said downstream side of said valve disk generally at the periphery thereof and having a size and shape to substantially fill the space between said stem hub and the adjacent end of said downstream-side acoustic fence.

Claim 3

The butterfly valve plate of claim 1 wherein said stem hub is formed on an axis offset at a small angle relative to said valve disk.

Claim 4

The butterfly valve plate of claim 2 wherein said small angle is about ten degrees.

Claim 5

The butterfly valve plate of claim 1 wherein each of said acoustic fences extends through a part-circle increment of about 150 degrees.

Claim 6

The butterfly valve plate of claim 1 wherein said noise reduction collar extends axially from the downstream side of said valve disk with an axial dimension substantially conforming to the axial dimension of said downstream-side acoustic fence.

Claim 7

The butterfly valve plate of claim 1 wherein said acoustic fences each have a generally part-spherical shape.

Claim 8

The butterfly valve plate of claim 1 further including a peripheral seal member on said valve disk for sealingly engaging the flow conduit when said valve disk is in the closed position.

Claim 9

A butterfly valve plate, comprising: a generally circular valve disk having an upstream side and a downstream side; means for mounting said valve disk within a flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position respectively to substantially prevent and permit fluid flow through the flow conduit, said mounting means including a generally diametrically extending stem hub on said valve disk for receiving an actuator shaft for rotatably supporting said valve disk within the flow conduit, said stem hub defining a smoothly contoured and generally convex protrusion on at least a portion of said downstream side of said valve disk; and a perforated part-circular acoustic fence generally at the periphery of said valve disk on said downstream side thereof, said fence being positioned generally in symmetric relation to a central axis defined by said stem hub and extending through a part-circle increment of less than 180 degrees; said stem hub including a noise reduction collar of generally convexly curved shape on said downstream side of said valve disk generally at the periphery thereof and having a size and shape to substantially fill the space between said stem hub and the adjacent end of said acoustic fence.

Claim 10

A butterfly valve plate, comprising: a generally circular valve disk having an upstream side and a downstream side; means for mounting said valve disk within a flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position respectively to substantially prevent and permit fluid flow through the flow conduit, said mounting means including a generally diametrically extending stem hub on said valve disk for receiving an actuator shaft for rotatably supporting said valve disk within the flow conduit, said stem hub defining a smoothly contoured and generally convex protrusion on at least a portion of said downstream side of said valve disk; and a perforated part-circular acoustic fence generally at the periphery of said valve disk on said downstream side thereof, said fence being positioned generally in symmetric relation to a central axis defined by said stem hub and extending through a part-circle increment of less than 180 degrees; said stem hub including a noise reduction collar of generally convexly curved shape on said downstream side of said valve disk generally at the periphery thereof and having a size and shape to substantially fill the space between said stem hub and the adjacent end of said acoustic fence.

Claim 11

The butterfly valve plate of claim 8 wherein said stem hub is formed on an axis offset at a small angle relative to said valve disk.

Claim 12

The butterfly valve plate of claim 9 wherein said small angle is about ten degrees.

Claim 13

The butterfly valve plate of claim 8 wherein said acoustic fence extends through a part-circle increment of about 150 degrees.

Claim 14

The butterfly valve plate of claim 8 wherein said noise reduction collar extends axially from the downstream side of said valve disk with an axial dimension substantially conforming to the axial dimension of said acoustic fence.

Claim 15

The butterfly valve plate of claim 8 further including a peripheral seal member on said valve disk for sealingly engaging the flow conduit when said valve disk is in the closed position.

Claim 16

In a pneumatic surge valve having a flow conduit and a butterfly valve plate rotatably mounted within the flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position, an improved valve plate comprising: a generally circular valve disk having an upstream side and a downstream side; means for mounting said valve disk within said flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position respectively to substantially prevent and permit fluid flow through the flow conduit, said mounting means including a generally diametrically extending stem hub on said valve disk for receiving an actuator shaft for rotatably supporting said valve disk within the flow conduit, said stem hub defining a smoothly contoured and generally convex protrusion on at least a portion of said downstream side of said valve disk; and a pair of perforated, part-circular acoustic fences disposed generally at the periphery of said valve disk respectively on said upstream and downstream sides thereof, said fences being positioned generally in symmetric relation to and on opposite sides of a central axis defined by said stem hub; said stem hub including a noise reduction collar of generally convexly curved shape on said downstream side of said valve disk generally at the periphery thereof and having a size and shape to substantially fill the space between said stem hub and the adjacent end of said downstream-side acoustic fence.

Claim 17

In a pneumatic surge valve having a flow conduit and a butterfly valve plate rotatably mounted within the flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position, an improved valve plate comprising: a generally circular valve disk having an upstream side and a downstream side; means for mounting said valve disk within said flow conduit for movement between a closed position and an open position respectively to substantially prevent and permit fluid flow through the flow conduit, said mounting means including a generally diametrically extending stem hub on said valve disk for receiving an actuator shaft for rotatably supporting said valve disk within the flow conduit, said stem hub defining a smoothly contoured and generally convex protrusion on at least a portion of said downstream side of said valve disk; and a pair of perforated, part-circular acoustic fences disposed generally at the periphery of said valve disk respectively on said upstream and downstream sides thereof, said fences being positioned generally in symmetric relation to and on opposite sides of a central axis defined by said stem hub; said stem hub including a noise reduction collar of generally convexly curved shape on said downstream side of said valve disk generally at the periphery thereof and having a size and shape to substantially fill the space between said stem hub and the adjacent end of said downstream-side acoustic fence.

Claim 18

The valve plate of claim 14 wherein said stem hub is formed on an axis offset at a small angle relative to said valve disk.

Claim 19

The valve plate of of claim 15 wherein said small angle is about ten degrees.

Claim 20

The valve plate of claim 14 wherein each of said acoustic fences extends through a part-circle increment of about 150 degrees.

Claim 21

The valve plate of claim 14 wherein said noise reduction collar extends axially from the downstream side of said valve disk with an axial dimension substantially conforming to the axial dimension of said downstream-side acoustic fence.

Claim 22

The valve plate of claim 14 wherein said acoustic fences each have a generally part-spherical shape.

Claim 23

The valve plate of claim 14 further including a peripheral seal member on said valve disk for sealingly engaging the flow conduit when said valve disk is in the closed position.