Patent ID: 8905075

Claim:
A high pressure rotary shear valve assembly having a housing defining an interior wall, said shear valve assembly comprising: a stator member defining a substantially planar stator face and at least two or more stator channels in fluid communication with said stator face at corresponding stator ports, said stator face being composed substantially of one of a metallic material and a ceramic material; and a rotor assembly including: a valve shaft having a rotational axis, a head portion coupled to a distal portion of said valve shaft, said head portion defining a distal facing seating surface, a rotor member having a substantially planar rotor face defining one or more rotor channels and an opposite, proximal facing contact surface, said rotor face being composed substantially of one of a metallic material and a ceramic material, said stator member and said rotor member being sufficiently compressed together at a high compression pressure enabling leak-tight, high pressure fluid flow between corresponding stator ports and at least one rotor channel at a rotor-stator interface therebetween, and a compliant element supportively disposed between the head portion and the rotor member such that a proximal contact face of said compliant element contacts the distal facing seating surface of said head portion along a first contact area, and an opposite, distal contact face of said compliant element contacts the proximal facing contact surface of said rotor member along a second contact area, said compliant element further being comprised of a polymer based material exhibiting high tensile and compressive strength sufficient to permit the transfer of the high compressive forces in an axial direction to the rotor face, yet sufficiently compliant to permit minute pivotal, self-reorientation of the substantially planar rotor face about said rotational axis to an orientation substantially parallel to and substantially flush against the stator face.