Patent Publication Number: US-2023151893-A1

Title: Seal ring structure for low torque valve fire-safe

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a seal ring structure, and particularly to a seal ring member using a plurality of leak grooves for reducing the torque required to rotate valve balls. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The industry is the main support of economics. Most industries feature complicated production processes. Most raw materials adopted in the production processes, semi-finished products, and products are flammable and explosive, possibly leading to fire and explosion events. 
     The valves used in easily ignitable scenarios might have potential danger in fire. Generally, the valves used in these scenarios should be specially designed so that the valves still maintain certain sealing and operation properties after fire burn for a certain period. To measure the flame tolerance of valves, the fire type-test is an important index. 
     A general valve fire type-test requires:
     1. Increasing or stabilizing the pressure to a high test pressure: Under the test pressure, operate the valve under test to the fully open position.   2. Operability: After a fire type-test, uses an operational shaft installed at the valve under test to open the value fully from the closed position with high test pressure without using wrenches or extended shafts.   

     After performing fire type-test (30 minutes) on the refractory ball valve according to the prior art, since the valve ball in the valve has contacted and squeezed the metal fire-lip and due to high pressure difference on both sides of the valve ball, the valve ball will contact the metal fire-lip tightly. Then the valve cannot be opened or closed manually. Consequently, the requirement of operability in a fire type-test cannot be satisfied. 
     To solve the above problem according to the prior art, the present invention provides a seal ring structure which can reduce the torque required to rotate valve balls after a fire type-test. Thereby, the requirement of operability in a fire type-test can be satisfied. 
     SUMMARY 
     An objective of the present invention is to provide a seal ring member. A first ring opening of the seal ring member includes a plurality of leak grooves on the periphery. When seal ring member and the valve ball squeeze each other, the plurality of leak grooves can reduce the torque required to rotate the valve ball. 
     To achieve the above objective and efficacy, the present invention provides a seal ring member, which includes a first ring opening on one side and a second ring on the other side. The first ring opening includes a plurality of leak grooves on a periphery. The length of each of the plurality of leak grooves is smaller than a ring length of the seal ring member. By using the seal ring structure, the torque required to rotate the valve ball can be reduced after a fire type-test. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the seal ring structure further comprises a valve side lid, a ball pad ring, and a valve ball. The valve side lid includes a first connecting side and a second connecting side. The first connecting side is used for disposing the seal ring member. One side of the ball pad ring is disposed against the valve side lid and the seal ring member. The valve ball is disposed on the other side of the ball pad ring. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the seal ring structure further comprises a valve body with one side disposed at the valve side lid. A linkage member passes through the top of the valve body. A support part is disposed at the bottom inside the valve body. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the valve ball is disposed inside the valve body. The valve ball is disposed below the linkage member and on the support part. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, a first diameter of the first ring opening is smaller than a second diameter of the valve ball. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the periphery of the first ring opening includes a contact surface corresponding to the valve ball. The plurality of leak grooves pass through the contact surface. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the number of the plurality of leak grooves is even. In addition, the plurality of leak grooves are disposed symmetrically. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of leak grooves are curved, respectively. 
     According to an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of leak grooves are triangular, respectively. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    shows a stereoscopic structure according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    shows a cross-sectional view of the valve structure according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  3 A  to  FIG.  3 B  show schematic diagrams of the operations according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  4    shows a schematic diagram of the leak groove structure according to another embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG.  5    shows an enlarged view according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In order to make the structure and characteristics as well as the effectiveness of the present invention to be further understood and recognized, the detailed description of the present invention is provided as follows along with embodiments and accompanying figures. 
     To solve the problem according to the prior art as described above, the present invention provides a seal ring member with a plurality of leak grooves on a periphery of the first ring opening. When the seal ring member and the valve ball squeeze each other, the plurality of leak grooves can reduce the torque required to rotate the valve ball and hence avoiding inability of manual opening and closing of the valve, which is caused by tight contact between the valve ball and the metal fire-lip due to high pressure difference on both sides of the valve ball after the valve is heated. Inability of manual opening and closing of valves leads to incompliance of fire type-test. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  1   , which shows a stereoscopic structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the present embodiment provides a seal ring structure comprising a seal ring member  10 . According to the present embodiment, the seal ring member  10  is disposed inside the valve and replaces the fire-lip of the valve. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  1    again. As shown in the figure, according to the present embodiment, the seal ring member  10  includes a first ring opening  12  on one side and a second ring opening  14  on the other. The first ring opening  12  communicates with the second ring opening  14  and forming a channel. A periphery of the first ring opening  12  includes a plurality of leak grooves  16 . A leak-groove length L1 of each of the plurality of leak grooves  16  is smaller than a seal-ring-member length L2 of the seal ring member  10  so that the plurality of leak grooves  16  do not penetrate the seal ring member  10 . According to the present embodiment, the material of the seal ring member  10  is metal, such as stainless steel or heat tolerant alloys. Nonetheless, the present embodiment is not limited to the examples. 
     According to the present embodiment, the number of the plurality of leak grooves  16  is even. In addition, the plurality of leak grooves  16  are disposed symmetrically for enabling uniform force distribution on the seal ring member  10  and avoiding damages owing to fatigue. 
     According to the present embodiment, the plurality of leak grooves  16  of the seal ring member  10  are curved, respectively. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  1    again and to  FIG.  2   , which shows a cross-sectional view of the valve structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figures, according to the present embodiment, the seal ring structure further comprises a valve side lid  20 , a ball pad ring  30 , and a valve ball  40 . The valve side lid  20  includes a first connecting side  22  on one side for disposing the seal ring member  10 . The valve side lid  20  includes a second connecting side  24  on the other side. The first connecting side  22  and the second connecting side  24  are communicated to form a channel. The channel formed by communicating the first ring opening  12  and the second ring opening  14  of the seal ring member  10  and the channel formed by communicating the first connecting side  22  and the second connecting side  24  are communicated. One side of the ball pad ring  30  is disposed against the valve side lid  20  and the seal ring member  10 . The valve ball  40  is disposed on the other side of the ball pad ring  30 . The ball pad ring  30  is used for buffering the contact between the seal ring member  10  and the valve ball  40  for preventing mutual rubbing there between, which will reduce the usage lifetime. 
     According to the present embodiment, the seal ring structure further comprises a valve body  50  with one side disposed at the valve side lid  20 . A linkage member  52  passes through the top of the valve body  50 . A support part  54  is disposed at the bottom inside the valve body  50 . According to the present embodiment, the valve ball  40  is disposed inside the valve body  50 . The valve ball  40  is disposed below the linkage member  52  and on the support part  54 . According to the present embodiment, when the linkage member  52  is rotated, the valve ball  40  will be driven to rotate accordingly. The support part  54  is used for supporting the valve ball  40  and allowing the valve ball  40  to rotate thereon. 
     According to the present embodiment, a first diameter D 1  of the first ring opening  12  of the seal ring member  10  is smaller than a second diameter D 2  of the valve ball  40  for preventing the valve ball  40  from falling into the seal ring member  10 . 
     Please refer to  FIG.  3 A  to  FIG.  3 B , which show schematic diagrams of the operations according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figures, according to the present embodiment, in a fire type-test, the valve side lid  20  and the valve body  50  are burned and heated. The valve side lid  20  and the valve body  50  are heated by receiving heat H. Once the ball pad ring  30  inside the valve body  50  is burned and removed (for example, by melting), the space will be created for the ball pad ring  30 . The valve ball  40  is squeezed by a fluid A from the upstream, making the valve ball  40  to move toward and contact the seal ring member  10 . According to the present embodiment, to re-rotate the valve ball  40 , the plurality of leak grooves  16  of the seal ring member  10  can reduce the torque to rotate the linkage member  52  correspondingly. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  4    and  FIG.  5   .  FIG.  4    shows a schematic diagram of the leak groove structure according to another embodiment of the present invention;  FIG.  5    shows an enlarged view according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figures, according to the present embodiment, the periphery of the first ring opening  12  includes a contact surface  122  corresponding to the valve ball  40 . The plurality of leak grooves  16  pass through the contact surface  122 . The contact surface  122  corresponds to the curved surface of the valve ball  40 . When the valve ball  40  contacts the contact surface  122 , the valve ball  40  perfectly fits the contact surface  122 . According to the present embodiment, the plurality of leak grooves  16  of the seal ring member  10  are triangular, respectively. Different shapes of the plurality of leak grooves  16  can be adopted to adapt to different valves and valve balls. 
     The seal ring structure according to the present embodiment can include the leak grooves with the required number and size. It can achieve sealing after combustion, as well as reducing the operational torque by preventing high pressure difference. Thereby, the situation of inability in re-operating valves and valve balls can be avoided. 
     To sum up, the present invention provides a seal ring structure with a plurality of leak grooves on a periphery of the ring opening. The number and size of the plurality of leak grooves can be designed according to the requirements. When the seal ring member and the valve ball squeeze each other after a fire type-test, the plurality of leak grooves can reduce the torque required to rotate the valve ball and hence avoiding inability of manual opening and closing of the valve, which is caused by tight contact between the valve ball and the metal fire-lip due to high pressure difference on both sides of the valve ball after the valve is heated. Inability of manual opening and closing of valves leads to incompliance of fire type-test. 
     Accordingly, the present invention conforms to the legal requirements owing to its novelty, nonobviousness, and utility. However, the foregoing description is only embodiments of the present invention, not used to limit the scope and range of the present invention. Those equivalent changes or modifications made according to the shape, structure, feature, or spirit described in the claims of the present invention are included in the appended claims of the present invention.