Patent ID: 9507319
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: B41J,E21B,G03G

Claim Text:
1. A valve for metering fluid flow in drilling operations, comprising: a housing for connection at a drill string; at least one port formed in the housing that communicates an inner diameter with an outer diameter of the housing; a sleeve located within the housing, the sleeve axially movable relative to the housing between a closed position and a metered position; at least one port formed in the sleeve that communicates fluid from an inner diameter of the sleeve with an outer diameter of the sleeve, wherein the port of the sleeve at least partially aligns with the port of the housing when the sleeve is in metered position to allow fluid to flow from within sleeve to an outer annular space, and the sleeve blocking the port of the housing when sleeve is in closed position; a spring element within the housing that biases the sleeve to the closed position; and an orifice within the sleeve sized such that downward flow within the drill string exerts a downward force on the sleeve to move the sleeve downward to the metered position, wherein the orifice is located with an orifice ring fastened with a shear member to the inner diameter of the sleeve wherein a sealing object may be dropped through the drill string and land sealingly on the orifice ring, enabling fluid pressure to be applied to the drill string to shear the orifice ring from the sleeve.