REDUCED-ENCUMBRANCE PLATE VALVE

The present invention refers to a reduced- encumbrance plate valve, in particular for closing offtakes of pressurised mains.

Plate valves are known in the art, usually made of steel, typically used for closing mains offtakes for transporting water, gas or other pressurised fluids.

Such known valves are generally composed of a valve body crossed by a duct or a through-opening that can be closed through a sliding or rotary bulkhead inside the valve body and rotating around a rotation axis parallel to the possible direction of fluid flow through the opening. An example of such valves is disclosed in patent n. FR-A-I 349 662.

In known valves, the valve body is generally shaped as a parallelepiped, with external sizes that are extremely bigger than the sizes of the closing bulkhead contained therein. Such sizes, though sometimes necessary to provide the valve

with the structural resistance necessary to guarantee a high reliability with respect to the very high pressure values with which it has to operate, make known valves excessively encumbrant, heavy and difficult to handle by responsible operators for their installation.

Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems by providing a reduced-encumbrance plate valve in which the valve body has smaller sizes with respect to known prior art valves, and optimised for guaranteeing housing and movement of the closing bulkhead inside it.

Another object of the present invention is providing a reduced-encumbrance plate valve internally equipped with at least one reinforcing element that allows guaranteeing the same reliability and structural resistance of known prior art valves, though using a valve body with extremely lower and optimised sizes.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with a reduced- encumbrance plate valve as described in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the

dependent claims.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which

- Figure 1 shows a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the reduced-encumbrance plate valve according to the present invention;

- Figure 2 shows a sectional view of the reduced- encumbrance plate valve of the present invention along section line A-A in Figure 1;

- Figure 3 shows an enlargement of the part contained in box A in Figure 2;

- Figure 4 shows a sectional view of the reduced- encumbrance plate valve of the present invention along section line B-B of Figure 1;

- Figure 5 shows a sectional view of the reduced- encumbrance plate valve of the present invention along section line C-C in Figure 1; and

- Figure 6 shows a sectional view of the reduced- encumbrance plate valve of the present invention along section line D-D in Figure 1.

With reference to the Figures, it is possible to note that the reduced-encumbrance valve 1 according to the present invention comprises at least one valve body 3 crossed by at least one through-duct 5 and at least one closing bulkhead 7 movable inside the valve body 3 from a closing position in which it completely closes the through- duct 5 to an opening position of the duct 5 in which it allows a fluid, such as for example water or gas, to cross the duct 5, and vice versa. In particular, the valve body 3 is equipped with external shapes and sizes defined by the envelope of positions assumed by the closing bulkhead 7 passing from the closing position to the opening position. In particular, the valve body 3 can be made of at least two plane plates, parallel, overlapped and spaced, in which the surfaces define walls of an internal recess 8 to the valve body 3 within which the closing bulkhead 7 can move to open or close the through-duct 3. With particular reference to Figures 2 and 3, it is possible to note that the two plates of the valve body 3 are

preferably made integral through suitable fastening means, such as, for example, at least one bolt 21 passing through both plates and engaging at least one bush 23 obtained inside a through-screw 25 with hollow head.

The through-duct 5 can be equipped with a first end equipped with connecting means to an end of an offtake of a mains to which the valve 1 according to the present invention can be applied: in particular, such connecting means can comprise at least one manifold or one connecting flange 27. Similarly, the through-duct 5 can be equipped with a second end equipped with connecting means to any- appropriate fixture such as for example a mains closing device or a mains drilling device: also in this case, such connecting means can comprise at least one manifold or one connecting flange 29.

In a preferred embodiment of the reduced- encumbrance valve 1 according to the present invention, the closing bulkhead 7, substantially shaped as a petal, is pivoted around at least one rotation pin 9 having a rotation axis (designated by reference axis R-R of Figure 4) substantially parallel to the possible direction of the fluid flow through the duct 5 (designated by reference

axis F-F of Figure 2) when the closing bulkhead 7 is in its opening position, since the surface of the closing bulkhead 7 itself is substantially orthogonal to the rotation axis R-R. With particular reference to Figure 4, it is possible to note that the rotation pin 9 is preferably housed inside a related housing seat 11 equipped with at least one groove 13 engaged as abutment by at least one external and circular crown 15 of the rotation pin 9 in such a way as to prevent the pin 9 from being withdrawn from the valve body 3. A first end of the rotation pin 9 is then equipped with a rotation head 17 cooperating with the closing bulkhead 7 to allow this latter one to rotate around the rotation axis R-R and a second end 19 of the rotation pin 9 goes out of the valve body 3 to allow actuating the closing bulkhead 7 manually or by interposing a suitable control panel (not shown) with manual or automatic actuation.

With particular reference to Figures 1 and 5, it is possible to note that the reduced-encumbrance plate valve 1 according to the present invention further comprises at least one reinforcing element 31 adapted to limit the distortions of the valve body 3 once subjected to the pressure exerted by

the fluid inside the mains on which it is applied. Preferably, the reinforcing element 31 comprises at least one passing, reinforcing pin 33 housed inside a housing seat obtained through the valve body 3 in a position substantially orthogonal with respect to the surface of the closing bulkhead 7. The reinforcing pin 33 further passes through at least one slit 35 crossing the closing bulkhead 7: obviously, the shape of the slit 35 will be such as not to prevent the opening and closing movement of the closing bulkhead 7. In particular, the reinforcing pin 33 has a first end thereof made integral with one of the plates of the valve body 3, for example through a threading 37, and a second end equipped with at least one head 39 equipped with at least one neck 41, initially not abutting against at least one shoulder of the housing seat of the reinforcing pin 33: in this way, the material composing the valve body 3 is initially free of being distorted without creating high tensions in the reinforcing pin 33; instead, once having reached a predetermined distortion level of the valve body 3, the distortion itself takes the neck 41 to abut against the shoulder of the housing seat, transferring part of the distortion tensions

to the reinforcing pin, limiting the following distortions of the valve body 3. Obviously, in case of breakage or maintenance, the reinforcing pin 33 can be accessible through a suitable protecting door 43, the removal of which allows accessing the head 39 for unscrewing the reinforcing pin 33 from the valve body 3.

The reduced-encumbrance plate valve 1 according to the present invention can further be equipped with at least one internal pressure equalising system: with particular reference to Figures 1 and 6, it is possible to note that such system comprises at least one first orifice 45 communicating with the duct 5 upstream of the closing bulkhead 7 and a second orifice 47 communicating with the duct 5 downstream of the closing bulkhead 7. Moreover, the first and the second orifice, respectively 45 and 47, can be communicated through a third orifice 49 crossing the internal recess 8 of the valve body 3 housing the closing bulkhead 7. The third orifice 49 is then equipped with at least one equalising valve 51 communicating with the external environment.