Long life rotary gate valve for aircraft vacuum toilet system
US6325356A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 5, 1997 |
| Grant date | Dec 4, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 5, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02T50/40
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A light weight gate valve and method for a aircraft vacuum toilet system. The valve resists jamming due to scale buildup, thereby reducing maintenance costs associated with repair or cleaning. The gate valve is intended for mounting between two portions of a sewer pipe connected between a waste receiving bowl and a waste reservoir. More particularly, the gate valve includes a housing having an internal valve chamber with an inlet opening opposing an outlet opening. A slice-of-pie shaped rotary gate is mounted within the chamber of the housing for rotation about a predetermined axis to selectively allow fluid communication between the inlet and outlet of the housing for flushing of the toilet. The gate has opposing side surfaces, each of which opposes an associated sidewall of the chamber enclosing the gate. The distance between each the side surface of the gate and its associated sidewall of the chamber is from 0.050 inch to 0.120 inch. While this separation is small enough to prevent most foreign objects from becoming wedges between the disk and the housing, this separation is sufficient to significantly reduce valve maintenance due to scale build-up on the sides of the gate. Othe…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.