VALVE

Abstract: The present invention relates to a valve, particularly a valve suitable for use in product pipelines of foodstuffs industry, said valve comprising an essentially cylindrical valve body (2) having three ports (1) and further comprising a plug member for closing the ports and further incorporating rotating means of said plug member that are spaced at essentially equal angles (120 DEG ) apart about the outer perimeter of the valve body (2) and the exterior of said valve having formed or attached thereto at said ports such pipe nozzles (16, 17) or similar union members that are suited for pipe or hose connections and of which pipe nozzles one nozzle (17) serves for the inlet of the product while the other two nozzles (16) serve for the outlet of the product. According to the invention, both of the exhaust nozzles (16) are designed as bends with an essentially constant radius of curvature so that, at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of each exhaust nozzle forms an angle smaller than 120 DEG with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle (17).

Description: Valve The present invention relates to a valve, particularly a valve suitable for use in product pipelines of foodstuffs industry, said valve comprising an essentially cylindrical valve body having three ports and further comprising a plug member for closing the ports and further incorporating rotating means of said plug member that are spaced at essentially equal angles (120°) apart about the outer perimeter of the valve body and the exterior of said valve having formed or attached thereto at said ports such pipe nozzles or similar union members that are suited for pipe or hose connections and of which pipe nozzles one nozzle serves for the inlet of the product while the other two nozzles serve for the outlet of the product. Such valves are used particularly in the piping of equip¬ ment in the foodstuffs industry for transferring a fluid material, frequently also in the form of a thick paste such as melt-processed cheese, ready-made food materials etc. from a processing tank forward along the production line. The valve may also be used for controlling a product flow in a desired direction at piping branchings or for closing the inlet pipe of a material. Obviously, the material flow being controlled may be in the form of a liquid, thin or thick paste or other flowing fluid. Known from FI Pat. Nos. 59,293 and 60,766 are valves suit- able for the above-described use. In these valves the plug member may be easily rotated from one port to another by turning a handle. Owing to the small number elements wear¬ ing under use, their design is simple and easy to maintain. The transfer of thick, low-viscosity pastes leaves rela¬ tively large amounts of the material in the piping that during purging must be washed away. At worst, the foodstuff material being produced may thus be lost by as much as 100 kg per washing cycle in, e.g., an ID 100 mm pipeline. It is easy to understand that the accumulating economic loss will be extremely large when the product sales value is, e.g., 30 FIM/kg typical. Known in the art are methods of recovering product remain¬ ing in the piping. For example, it is possible to push through the pipe a cylindrical, slightly resilient purging piece having a diameter essentially equal to the inner diameter of the pipe, whereby said piece ejects in front of it the material remaining in the pipe. However, in conven¬ tional designs a problem herein arises therefrom that such a purging piece cannot be pushed through a three-way valve, because the 90° spacing typical between the inlet and exhaust ports in such a valve is too acute. A cylindrical purging piece cannot simply be negotiated through the perpendicular angle. Obviously, the angle must be made straighter. Here, an advantageous arrangement is to space the ports, and the pipe nozzles as well, 120° apart. How¬ ever, a 90" valve cannot directly be replaced by such a conventional three-way valve, because the exhaust nozzles of the replacing valve are oriented in incorrect direc¬ tions. Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel type of three-way valve for the above- described application, said valve being suitable for replacing conventional 90° valves and permitting the ejec¬ tion of a pipe purging piece through the valve. The valve according to the invention is characterized in that both of the exhaust nozzles are designed as bends with an essen¬ tially constant radius of curvature so that, at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of each exhaust nozzle forms an angle smaller than 120° with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle. An advantageous embodiment of the invention is character¬ ized in that at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of each exhaust nozzle forms an essentially 90° angle with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle. The invention provides a valve suitable for replacing con¬ ventional three-way valves of a similar function and facil¬ itating an almost complete purging of piping also through a valve, whereby the recovery of the product being made is improved significantly, and hence, economical savings are gained, too. In the following, the invention will be described in great¬ er detail with reference to the annexed drawings in which Figure 1 shows a conventional valve sectioned along a vertical plane; Figure 2 shows the valve of Fig. 1 sectioned along line II-II; Figure 3 shows a valve according to the invention in a top view without the operating and rotary elements; and Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the valve according to the invention without the operating and rotary elements. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, therein is shown a conventional valve (according FI Pat. No. 59,293) having to a valve body 2 seated in a leak-proof manner a plug member 3 which is attached to a semicircular part 6 of the valve rotating stub shaft elements 4, 5. The semicircular part 6 and the stub shaft elements 4, 5 together form the valve rotating shaft which is mounted on bearings and sealed by means of a bushing 10 on the valve cover 11. The valve operating handle 12 is attached to the upper end 5 of the valve rotating shaft by means of a pin 13, whereby the plug member 3 can be slidably moved along the inner perimeter of the valve body 2 by turning the handle 12. The plug member 3 can be turned so as to close a desired port 1, whereby the fluid flow through the port is cut off. The supporting stub shaft 8 of the valve rotating shaft is slidably adapted to the bottom 7 of the valve body 2 and the tension of the semicircular part 6 of the valve rotat¬ ing stub shaft elements 4, 5 relative to the rotatable valve plug part can be adjusted by means of a tightening nut 14. The PTFE flange 15 acts as the bottom bearing of the support stub shaft 8, simultaneously acting as an additional resilient element. The end of the semicircular part 6 of the rotating shaft 4, 5 resting against the support stub shaft 8 is shaped forked, whereby the semi- circular part 6 stays correctly aligned while simultaneous¬ ly permitting flexible movement of the curved part with respect to its support stub shaft during the adjustment of the latter. Owing to the conical shape of the support stub shaft 8, the support stub shaft can exert a further outward oriented force at the forked end of the semicircular part 6 thus providing additional sealing of the plug part 3 against the inner perimeter 9 of the valve body 2. The above description is related to a conventional valve. The reason thereto is that also the valve according to the present invention can utilize similar closing and rotating technique. The difference between the present invention and the prior art will be evident from diagrams of Figs. 3 and 4 in which the closing/rotating elements of Figs. 1 and 2 are omitted for greater clarity. In the valve illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, the ports and corresponding pipe nozzles, which are oriented outward from the valve body, are spaced 120° apart about the outer perimeter of the valve body 2. Moreover, the exhaust pipe nozzles 16 are bent with an essentially constant radius of curvature so that, at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of each exhaust nozzle forms an angle smaller than 120° with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle 17. In detail, the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4 has at the end of the curved part of the nozzle the cross- sectional plane of the exhaust nozzle 16 forming an essen- tially 90° angle with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle 17. To a person versed in the art, it is obvious that the different embodiments of the invention are not limited to the above-described exemplifying embodiment, but rather may be varied within the scope and spirit of the annexed claims.

Claims: Claims : 1. A valve, particularly a valve suitable for use in product pipelines of foodstuffs industry, said valve com- prising an essentially cylindrical valve body (2) having three ports (1) and further comprising a plug member (3) for closing the ports and further incorporating rotating means (4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12) of said plug member that are spaced at essentially equal angles (120°) apart about the outer perimeter of the valve body (2) and the exterior of said valve having formed or attached thereto at said ports such pipe nozzles (16, 17) or similar union members that are suited for pipe or hose connections and of which pipe nozzles one nozzle (17) serves for the inlet of the product while the other two nozzles (16) serve for the outlet of the product, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that both of the exhaust nozzles (16) are designed as bends with an essentially constant radius of curvature so that, at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of each exhaust nozzle forms an angle smaller than 120° with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle (17) . 2. A valve as defined in claim 1, c h a r a c t e r - i z e d in that, at the end of the curved part of the nozzle, the cross-sectional plane of the exhaust nozzle (16) forms an essentially 90° angle with respect to the cross-sectional plane of the inlet nozzle (17).

Inventors: YLAE-HAEKKINEN ERKKI, YLAE-HAEKKINEN, ERKKI
Applicants: LEVENT OY, YLAE HAEKKINEN ERKKI, YLAE-HAEKKINEN, ERKKI
Application year: 1996
Main classification: F16K11
IPC codes: F16K11