Currently, in order to provide fire safety in process industry, an arrangement of multiple elements is provided, with each such assemb1y comprising a heat detector (usually a thermocouple), a relay, an actuator (usually electrical, hydraulic, or pneumatic) and a power source The heat detector, when it detects fire temperature, sends an electrical signal to a relay, which uses this low level signal to control the power from a power source, either electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic. The applied power drives the actuator to close the valve. Actuating power itself and relay supporting power is derived from a network overlapping the process industry fluid network and such power sources are vulnerable to fire. It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,582, issued May 23, 1972, to W. F. Jackson et al. and in U.K. Pat. No. 1308107 of Vereinigte Flugtechnishche WerkeFokker GmbH, published Feb. 28, 1973, to use as the temperature detector an element made of a nickel titanium alloy and having a temperature actuated shape memory. This provides local relay function and power independent of external power. This arrangement is slower to act than is necessary, is too expensive for widespread use, occupies a large volume of space, and because of the large number of component parts is less reliable than needed. Also of interest are the sprinkler control valve systems described in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 890,026, filed Sept. 28, 1986 by Schetky et al., now abandoned, for fire sprinkler valve-opening mechanism and the like using shape memory actuation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an emergency valve module which meets a need for reliable, fast response valves with self contained power source, in a way that is economical for effecting shut down of process fluid flow.
It is a further object of the invention to provide simple test capability integral to the valve consistent with the foregoing object.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds