Patent ID: 9718009
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: B01D,F16K

Claim:
1. A pressure sensitive valve assembly comprising an orifice surround, a pressure relief spring, and a valve plug comprising a valve head and first and second retention legs, wherein: the valve head of the valve plug comprises a continuous partition defining a fluid barrier; the pressure sensitive valve assembly is configured to transition between a closed state where the orifice surround engages a sealing side of the valve head and an open state characterized by increased compression in the pressure relief spring and where the sealing side of the valve head is spaced from the orifice surround; the first and second retention legs of the valve plug are spaced apart from one another, extend from a leg base positioned at the sealing side of the valve head to a distal end of the retention leg, and comprise respective seating regions, tapered transition regions, and clearance regions; the respective clearance regions of the first and second retention legs extend from the valve head to the tapered transition regions of the first and second retention legs; the tapered transition regions of the first and second retention legs extend outwardly from the clearance regions to the seating regions of the first and second retention legs such that the first and second retention legs collectively define a seating region diameter that is greater than a clearance region diameter of the valve plug; each of the respective seating regions comprises a spring engaging hook structurally configured to receive a seating portion of the pressure relief spring; each spring engaging hook comprises an inner guiding face, an outer containing face substantially parallel to the inner guiding face, and a bridging face extending from the inner guiding face to the outer containing face; the inner guiding face and the outer containing face of each spring engaging hook are oriented substantially parallel to a direction of compression of the pressure relief spring and are spaced apart from one another by a hook width that is at least as large as a radial thickness dimension of the seating portion of the pressure relief spring; the pressure relief spring is compressed between the orifice surround and the spring engaging hooks to bias the pressure sensitive valve assembly towards the closed state; the inner guiding face of each spring engaging hook extends from the bridging face of the spring engaging hook to the tapered transition region of the retention leg; the outer containing face of each retention leg extends from the bridging face of the spring engaging hook of the retention leg to a hook terminus that is displaced from the bridging face by a containment length that is at least as great as one-half of the hook width.