General Electric Company

Donald H Davis

John G Mossey

Jens Kure-Jensen

Solomon Jenkins, Iii

Slotted, fluid-flow dividing therefor employed in a fluid valve not only to reduce noise but also to shift the frequency spectrum of the noise energy. The slotted therefor is formed integrally with the valve seat. Additionally, the cross-sectional shape of the slots may be varied to more precisely control the lift characteristic of the valve.

Silent valve

A valve operator is disclosed for controlling an inlet valve to a large fluid-driven turbomachine such as a steam turbine. Such a valve is subject to a fast closing requirement under emergency trip conditions and at other times, the valve may be required to provide a precise steam flow regulating function. The present invention responds to these various requirements by providing a valve operator capable of fast closing by means of a disk-dump valve within the valve operator for rapid hydraulic fluid evacuation. In addition, the precise control of steam flow is accomplished by including a double-acting hydraulic cylinder within the valve operator.

Valve operator

A butterfly valve comprises a valve disc mounted on and rotatable with a shaft disposed across the inner diameter of a cylindrical valve casing, said shaft being rotatably supported at each end by a bearing within the valve casing. Fluid flow through the valve casing is controlled by rotating the valve disc from a fully open position through a fully closed position. A shaft seal and bearing is disclosed which prevents leakage of the controlled fluid out of the valve casing axially along the valve disc shaft even under conditions of shaft flexure. Moreover, the shaft seals adjust to the shaft flexure to obviate binding between the shaft and shaft seals.

Shaft bearing and seals for butterfly valves

A combined stop and intercept valve is provided for controlling steam flow from a high-pressure steam turbine to a low-pressure steam turbine and comprises a substantially cylindrical casing having two identical butterfly discs fixed to rotatable shafts and disposed within the casing one immediately downstream of the other. Under normal operating conditions, both the stop (upstream) and intercept (downstream) valves are opened providing a relatively unrestricted passage for the flow of steam. During a turbine overspeed condition when the turbine speed reaches 103% of rated speed, the intercept valve closes substantially all the way. The stop valve backs up the intercept valve. Should the turbine speed reach 108% of rated speed, the stop valve closes completely shutting off the flow of steam to the low-pressure turbine. When opened, the discs partially overlie each other so that any wakes in the steam flow produced by the stop disc will not cause the intercept disc to flutter. The interior of the casing is provided with annular grooves which receive valve seats with which the discs mate in a face sealing arrangement. The positions of the seats in the grooves may be adjusted in an axial direction to maintain optimum sealing with the discs when the shafts flex under the pressure of the steam flow.

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Scotia, NY, United States of America

Donald H Davis