CN114288599B - Compact quick-opening valve and fire extinguishing system - Google Patents

Abstract

In order to provide a valve device (10), in particular for a fire-extinguishing agent fluid, comprising a housing (11) having a container connection (12) for connection to a pressurized fluid container (20) in a height direction (H), having a fluid outlet (13) oriented substantially transversely to the container connection (12), which valve device is compact and can be actuated with minimal effort independently of the internal pressure of the connected fire-extinguishing agent container (20), the invention proposes that a valve piston (15) is implemented which can be moved in the transverse direction (Q) between a blocking position and an open position, wherein a counter-pressure device (30) is located on the side of the valve piston (15) opposite the fluid outlet (13), which counter-pressure device holds the valve piston (15) in a blocking position, wherein the valve piston (15) is arranged to occupy the open position by an increase in pressure at the fluid outlet (13) relative to the counter-pressure device (30).

Description

Compact quick opening valve and fire extinguishing system

Technical field

The invention relates to a valve device, in particular suitable for fire extinguishing agent fluids, comprising a housing having a container connection for heightwise connection to a pressurized fluid container, having a container connection substantially transversely to said container. Connection oriented fluid outlet. The invention also relates to a fire extinguishing system having such a valve device.

In the field of fixed fire-extinguishing systems, so-called quick-opening valves are used, which deliver pressurized extinguishing agent within a very short time.

This quick-opening valve has a fire-extinguishing fluid inlet, a fire-extinguishing fluid outlet, and a flow chamber extending from the fire-extinguishing fluid inlet to the fire-extinguishing fluid outlet. In order to distinguish between the stationary state of the fire-extinguishing fluid container and the activated state of the fire-extinguishing fluid container, known quick-opening valves have a valve piston and a valve seat. The valve piston is movable between a release position or an open position and a blocked position such that the valve piston and the valve seat bear against each other in a fluid-tight manner in the blocked position and are spaced apart from each other in the open position. In the open position, the fire-extinguishing fluid inlet and the fire-extinguishing fluid outlet can be connected to one another in a fluid-conducting manner.

Background technique

In known quick-opening valves, the valve piston is directed parallel to or along a common axis toward the fire-extinguishing fluid outlet. In this arrangement, positioning of the valve piston in the blocked position requires a continuous supply of reaction force. Therefore, in order to open the valve piston a higher opening force is required than the reaction force. Therefore, in order to actuate such quick-opening valves, high energy must be consumed. Such valves are also shown in EP0582041A1 or EP2428714A1, in which the valve piston and the container connection for the fire-extinguishing agent container are arranged in series with one another.

Contents of the invention

It is an object of the invention to provide a compact valve arrangement which can be actuated with minimal energy expenditure, independent of the internal pressure of the connected fire-extinguishing agent container.

This object is achieved by the features given in claim 1 and claim 10 . Further advantageous developments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

According to one aspect of the invention, a valve arrangement is provided, in particular for a fire extinguishing agent fluid. The valve device can preferably be designed as an axial valve or a cross valve or a radial valve or a transverse valve.

The valve device has a housing with a container connection for connection to a pressurized fluid container in the height direction of the valve device. The height direction preferably coincides with the extension direction of the fluid container. The fluid container can be designed as an extinguishing agent container, which contains a liquid, gaseous or powdered extinguishing agent or extinguishing agent fluid under pressure.

Furthermore, the valve device has a fluid outlet oriented essentially transversely to the container connection. The fluid outlet can be connected to the container connection via the pressurized flow chamber. The valve device is also provided with a valve piston, wherein the valve piston is designed to be laterally movable between a blocked position and an open position and to close the fluid outlet in a fluid-tight manner relative to the container connection in the blocked position. The transverse direction is preferably oriented orthogonally to the height direction.

A counter-pressure device is positioned on a side of the valve piston opposite the fluid outlet and maintains the valve piston in a blocked position, wherein the valve piston is configured to occupy, at least partially, an increase in pressure at the fluid outlet relative to the counter-pressure device. to occupy) open position.

The pressure increase may be produced by an overpressure at the fluid outlet or by a negative pressure in or on the counterpressure device.

The valve device can be switched between a blocked position and an open position without damage or reversibly. There is no need to replace components such as rupture discs.

The overpressure in the extinguishing agent container relative to the valve piston arranged transversely to the valve piston seat acts in both directions, namely to the right and to the left. Overall, this makes the force on the valve piston correspond to zero. Since this measure only requires overcoming the friction of the closing seal and the spring force of the retaining spring or counter-pressure device to actuate the valve arrangement. Thereby, the valve device can be actuated with minimal energy requirements.

The counter-pressure device requires only minimal force on the valve piston since the fluid container has no force acting on the valve piston in the blocked position. The counter-pressure device preferably has return means arranged to act on the valve piston in order to exert a return force on the valve piston in the direction of the blocking position.

When the valve piston can be moved in a bore or groove between a blocked position and an open position, the design of the valve device can be particularly compact and technically simple. Therefore, the valve piston does not require a defined valve seat positioned in the piston housing. The valve piston can be arranged directly in the bore of the piston housing.

According to another embodiment, the counter-pressure device is provided for receiving pressure from the pressurized release line to position the valve piston in the blocked position against the force of the retaining spring. If triggering occurs in such a situation, a pressure drop occurs in the trigger line, ie by means of this pressure drop the retaining spring can no longer be pressed in, so that the valve piston is moved by the retaining spring into the open position.

Alternatively, the counter-pressure device has negative pressure. For this purpose, the fluid outlet can also be subjected to negative pressure. If triggering occurs, the negative pressure in the fluid outlet is replaced by ambient pressure, for example by a bursting element in the line connected to the fluid outlet, whereby the counter-pressure device is no longer able to hold the valve piston in the blocked position and the valve piston is displaced to the open position.

The valve arrangement can be realized in a technically particularly simple manner if the valve piston can be moved into the open position by an excess pressure at the fluid outlet, in which the valve piston can be locked in the open position by the relief pressure. Once the friction of the seal on the valve piston and the spring force of the back-pressure device are overcome, the relief pressure through the flow chamber can hold the valve piston in the open position until the overpressure of the fluid container substantially equals the ambient pressure. The valve piston can then be moved into the blocking position again by means of the counter-pressure device.

According to another embodiment, the valve piston is arranged inside the flow chamber or downstream of the flow chamber in the outflow direction of the fire-extinguishing agent fluid. By arranging the valve piston inside the flow chamber, the height of the piston housing and the valve arrangement can be reduced.

If the valve piston has a flow surface facing the container connection when the valve piston is in the open position, the fire-extinguishing fluid flowing through the flow chamber when the valve piston is in the open position can escape with particularly low losses. For example, the valve piston can have a round surface facing the container connection, which in the open position is circulated by the outflowing extinguishing agent fluid. In particular, pressure losses at the valve arrangement can be minimized by this measure.

The valve device can be particularly reliable if the housing or the piston housing has an overpressure protection device, through which the container connection can be connected to the fluid outlet or the container connection can be connected to the external environment in the event of an overpressure. implementation. The overpressure protection device can be designed, for example, in the form of an overpressure opening with an overpressure valve or a rupture disk. Overvoltage protection devices can be designed as safety devices against overpressure, and can also be designed as burst caps, burst elements, burst screws, burst barrels, etc. If a predetermined pressure is exceeded within the flow chamber, within the fluid inlet and/or within the container connection, then the overpressure protection device may be triggered or rendered ineffective and a fluid-carrying connection to the external environment open. The overpressure protection device can preferably act independently of the state or position of the valve piston.

According to another embodiment, an exhaust valve and a triggering device for controlling the exhaust valve are arranged in the housing, wherein the exhaust valve and/or the triggering device are laterally connected to the container in the housing The parts are arranged staggered. Due to this positioning of the exhaust valve and the triggering device the height of the valve arrangement can be minimized. In particular, the exhaust valve and the triggering device can be tilted laterally relative to the fluid outlet.

The valve device can be arranged directly on the fluid container or fire-extinguishing agent container, or it can be connected indirectly to the fluid container, for example via a hose connection or pipe connection.

The valve device can be connected particularly efficiently to existing reporting or alarm systems when an alarm switch is arranged in the housing, which alarm switch is arranged for recording the open position of the valve piston or a pressure loss in the flow chamber or The pressure in the fluid outlet increases. As a result of this measure an electrical or mechanical signal can be generated, for example when the valve piston moves into the open position. The alarm switch may be, for example, a Hall sensor or an infrared sensor or a light barrier electronically connected to the control device or drive. The control device or driver can be integrated into the alarm switch or designed as an external device.

According to another aspect of the invention, a fire suppression system is provided. A fire extinguishing system has a valve device according to the invention, wherein a fire extinguishing agent container is fluidly connected to a container connection of the valve device. The fluid outlet of the valve device is connected to at least one fire extinguishing line.

The fire extinguishing system also has a trigger line arranged to create an imbalance between the pressure in the counter-pressure device and the pressure in the fluid outlet, by which imbalance the valve piston can be displaced from a blocked position to an open position. This measure makes it possible to provide a fire extinguishing system that operates in an energy-saving manner.

When the counter-pressure device of the valve device is subject to negative pressure and the fire extinguishing line is used as a trigger line subject to negative pressure, the fire extinguishing system can be constructed with a minimum number of lines. For example, a trigger line may have locally distributed bursting elements that burst upon increasing temperature. By bursting of at least one bursting element, a connection is established between the fire-extinguishing line serving as the trigger line and the surroundings of the fire-extinguishing system, so that the pressure in the fire-extinguishing line and the fluid outlet increases. This imbalance between the back pressure device and the pressure in the fluid outlet causes the valve piston's return spring to move the valve piston to the open position. Therefore, the fire extinguishing agent fluid can enter the fluid outlet from the fluid container and enter the fire extinguishing line. The extinguishing agent fluid can escape from the fire extinguishing line via the burst bursting element or through nozzles and/or sprinklers provided for this purpose.

When the counter-pressure device of the valve device is exerted an overpressure to compress the retaining spring of the valve piston, the fire extinguishing system can function based on an alternative principle of action, in which the counter-pressure device is fluidly connected to the trigger discharge line. This measure allows the trigger line to be separated from the fire extinguishing line, so that the fire extinguishing agent fluid can be directed in a more targeted manner. The trigger line, for example, becomes leaky in the event of a trigger, allowing overpressure in the counterpressure device to escape. The fluid outlet thus has an overpressure relative to the counter-pressure device and the valve piston can be biased into the open position, whereby the extinguishing agent fluid escapes from the fluid container.

Description of drawings

Several exemplary embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The attached picture is as follows:

1a, b are sectional views of a valve device according to an embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2a,b are cross-sectional views of Figure 1a, illustrating the open and blocked positions of the valve piston,

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating details of the valve arrangement in Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a fire extinguishing system having the valve arrangement of Figure 1,

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fire extinguishing system with a valve device according to another embodiment of the invention.

Detailed ways

Figures 1a and 1b show a sectional view of a valve device 10 according to an embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment shown, the valve device 10 is provided for liquid, gaseous or powdered fire extinguishing agent fluids.

The valve device 10 has a housing 11 with a container connection 12 which is adapted for connection in the height direction H with a pressurized fluid container 20 . The valve device 10 is designed as a quick-opening valve, in particular a radial valve or a crossover valve.

Furthermore, a fluid outlet 13 is provided on the housing 11 . The fluid outlet 13 is oriented essentially transversely to the container connection 12 . The fluid outlet 13 may extend in a transverse direction Q which points transversely to the height direction H.

The fluid outlet 13 can be connected to the container connection 12 via a pressurized flow chamber 14 . The valve device 10 also has a valve piston 15 , which is also arranged in the housing 11 . The valve piston 15 is positioned in a bore 16 in the housing 11 and can be positioned fluid-tightly in a blocked position via a housing-side sealing means 17 .

In the embodiment shown, the valve piston 15 is arranged in the blocking position and together with the sealing means 17 closes the flow chamber 14 extending from the fluid container 20 to the fluid outlet 13 . Fluid is thereby prevented from entering the fluid outlet 13 from the fluid container 20 via the flow chamber 14 .

The valve piston 15 is designed to be movable in the transverse direction Q between a blocked position and an open position. In particular, the valve piston 15 can be moved between an open position and a blocked position in such a way that the valve piston 15 does not require a defined valve seat, since the sealing effect is achieved by the sealing means 17 .

In the embodiment shown, the valve piston 15 is designed as a hollow piston. Depending on the field of application, the valve piston 15 can also be made of solid material.

On the side of the valve piston 15 opposite the fluid outlet 13 , a counter-pressure device 30 is located, which holds the valve piston 15 in the blocked position. For this purpose, an inner retaining spring 31 in the counter-pressure device 30 is pressed in the transverse direction Q against the valve piston 15 in order to lock it in the blocking position. The retaining spring 31 can press directly on the valve piston 15 or transmit the force to the valve piston 15 via an intermediate piston 32 .

By way of example, the valve piston 15 is also sealed relative to the counter-pressure device 30 via sealing means 17 to inhibit fluid exchange between the counter-pressure device 30 and the fluid container 20 .

The retaining spring 31 is preferably designed in such a way that the normal air pressure in the fluid outlet 13 is already sufficient to press the valve piston 15 against the retaining spring 31 . The valve piston 15 is therefore arranged to assume an open position by an increase in pressure at the fluid outlet 13 relative to the counter-pressure device 30 .

A top view of the valve device 10 is shown in FIG. 1 b. Shown here are a pressure indicator 33 arranged on the housing 11 for the pressure present in the flow chamber 14 of the fluid container 20 , a manual trigger switch 34 and an alarm switch 35 .

The pressure indicator 33 is, for example, a pressure gauge with a mechanical display. The presence of sufficient pressure in the extinguishing agent container or fluid container 20 is monitored by means of a mechanically movable indicator needle.

The alarm switch 35 is provided to register the open position of the valve piston 15 or a pressure loss in the flow chamber 14 or a pressure increase in the fluid outlet 13 . The alarm switch 35 is designed as a device for sounding an alarm if triggered.

For example, the alarm switch 35 is implemented as an alarm pressure switch in the form of a mechanical limit switch monitoring. In this case, the presence of pressure in the outlet region or fluid outlet 13 is monitored by means of a mechanically movable switch. When the valve device 10 is triggered, ie when the valve piston 15 opens, the alarm switch 35 is actuated. For example, the alarm function is monitored manually and/or visually and/or electronically.

The cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 a is shown in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b to illustrate the open and blocked positions of the valve piston 15 . Therein, the valve piston 15 is shown in a blocked position in Figure 2a and in an open position in Figure 2b.

In this case, FIG. 2 a shows that the valve piston 15 has an annular flow surface 18 which faces the container connection 12 when the valve piston 15 is in the open position. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the flow region 18 is embodied as an end-side rounding or phasing of the valve piston 15 .

Figures 3a, 3b and 3c show cross-sectional views illustrating details of the valve arrangement of Figure 1 . In FIGS. 3 a and 3 c an additional charging valve 38 is provided, which is protected from external contamination by a blind screw 39 .

When the fluid container 20 is filled with fire extinguishing agent, motive gas can be introduced through the inflation valve 38 to pressurize the fluid container 20 . For example, compressed air or inert gas can be used as motive gas.

In particular, FIG. 3 b shows the positioning of the exhaust valve 36 in the housing 11 and the triggering means for controlling the exhaust valve 36 .

The triggering device is designed as an overpressure protection device 37 , by means of which the container connection 12 can be connected to the fluid outlet 13 or the container connection 12 can be connected to the external environment in the event of an overpressure.

In the embodiment shown, the overpressure protection device 37 is designed as a bursting disc or bursting element, which is connected to the vent valve 36 in order to release the overpressure to the external environment.

A schematic illustration of a fire extinguishing system 100 with the valve arrangement 10 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 4 . The fire extinguishing system 100 has a valve device 10 , wherein a fire extinguishing agent container 20 is fluidly connected to a container connection 12 of the valve device 10 . The fluid outlet 13 of the valve device 10 is connected to at least one fire extinguishing line 110, 111.

In the embodiment shown, the fire extinguishing lines 110 , 111 are simultaneously designed as trigger lines and have heat-sensitive bursting elements 113 arranged in series with the nozzles 112 of the fire extinguishing lines 110 , 111 .

The counter-pressure device 30 of the valve device 10 is subjected to negative pressure, and the fire extinguishing lines 110, 111 are used as trigger lines subjected to negative pressure. By bursting at least one bursting element 113 , a connection is established between the fire extinguishing lines 110 , 111 serving as trigger lines and the surroundings of the fire extinguishing system 100 , so that the pressure in the fire extinguishing lines 110 , 111 and at the fluid outlet 13 increases. This imbalance between the pressure in the counter-pressure device 30 and the fluid outlet 13 causes the retaining spring 31 of the counter-pressure device 30 to move the valve piston 15 into the open position. Therefore, the fire extinguishing agent fluid can enter the fluid outlet 13 from the fluid container 20 and enter the fire extinguishing lines 110, 111. The fire-extinguishing agent fluid can escape from the fire-extinguishing lines 110 , 111 via burst bursting elements 113 or via nozzles 112 and/or sprinklers provided for this purpose.

Furthermore, it is clear in FIG. 4 that a riser 21 leading to the flow chamber 14 is arranged in the fluid container 20 . Depending on the application, riser 21 may be rigid or flexible. Depending on the location of the fluid container 20, the standpipe 21 may follow the route or position of the fire extinguishing agent fluid within the fluid container 20.

Figures 5a and 5b show schematic cross-sections of a fire extinguishing system 100 with a valve device 10 according to a further embodiment of the invention. The valve device 10 is shown in FIG. 5 b in the blocked position of the valve piston 15 , whereas in FIG. 5 b the valve device 10 is shown in the open position of the valve piston 15 . Unlike the fire extinguishing system 100 shown in FIG. 4 , here the fire extinguishing line 110 and the triggering line 114 are designed separately from each other.

The counter-pressure device 30 of the valve device 10 is exerted with an overpressure in order to compress the retaining spring 31 of the valve piston 15 . The back pressure device 30 is connected to the trigger line 114 in a fluid conductive manner. This measure enables the trigger line 114 to be separated from the fire extinguishing line 110 . In Figure 5a, the valve device 10 is in a closed or unactivated state, so the valve piston 15 is arranged in the blocked position.

Figure 5b shows the fire extinguishing system 100 with the valve device 10 in which the valve piston 15 has been displaced into the open position. For example, in the event of a trigger, the trigger line 114 becomes leaky because the burst element 113 bursts due to the effect of heat and causes leakage. This allows overpressure in the counterpressure device 30 to escape. The fluid outlet 13 therefore has an overpressure compared to the counter-pressure device 30 and the valve piston 15 can be deflected into the open position against the retaining spring 31 to enable the escape of the extinguishing agent fluid from the fluid container 20 .

Furthermore, it is clear in FIGS. 5 a and 5 b that the valve piston 15 has an alternative annular flow surface 18 designed as an annular groove and facilitates the annular flow of the extinguishing agent fluid when the valve piston 15 is in the open position, for example by suppressing turbulence. Way.

List of reference signs

100 fire extinguishing system

110 First fire extinguishing line

111 Second fire extinguishing line

112 Nozzles for fire extinguishing lines

113 Burst element triggering the pipeline

114 trigger pipeline

115 Explosive Explosive Elements

10 valve assembly

11 shell

12 Container connection part

13 Fluid outlet

14 flow chamber

15 valve piston

16 Hole in housing

17 Sealing components

18 circulation surface

20 fluid containers

21 riser

30 Back pressure device

31 Retaining spring of counter-pressure device

32 middle piston

33 pressure indicator

34 Manual trigger switch

35 alarm switch

36 exhaust valve

37 Overvoltage protection device

38 inflation valve

39 blind screws

H height direction

Q horizontal

Claims (8)

1. Fire extinguishing system (100) comprising a valve device (10), wherein a pressurized fluid container (20) is fluidly connected to a container connection (12) of the valve device (10), wherein a fluid outlet (13) of the valve device (10) is connectable to at least one fire extinguishing line (110, 111), a counter pressure device (30) of the valve device (10) is subjected to a negative pressure, and the fire extinguishing line (110, 111) is used as a triggering line (114) subjected to the negative pressure, wherein the valve device (10) comprises a housing (11) having a container connection (12) for connection to the pressurized fluid container (20) in a height direction (H), having a fluid outlet (13) oriented substantially transversely to the container connection (12), wherein the fluid outlet (13) is connectable to the container connection (12) via a flow chamber (14), and having a valve piston (15), wherein the valve piston (15) is designed to be movable in a transverse direction (Q) between a blocking position, in which the valve piston (15) is kept in fluid-tight against the container connection (12), and an open position, in which the valve piston (15) is kept in fluid-tight against the fluid outlet (13) on one side of the valve piston (15), wherein the valve piston (15) is arranged to assume an open position by a pressure increase at the fluid outlet (13) relative to the counter-pressure device (30), wherein the counter-pressure device (30) has a negative pressure, wherein an exhaust valve (36) and a triggering device for controlling the exhaust valve (36) are arranged in the housing (11), wherein the exhaust valve (36) and/or the triggering device are arranged in the housing (11) offset in the transverse direction (Q) from the container connection (12).

2. Fire extinguishing system according to claim 1, wherein a counter-pressure device (30) of the valve device (10) is applied with an overpressure to compress a retaining spring (31) of the valve piston (15), wherein the counter-pressure device (30) is in fluid connection with the trigger line (114).

3. Fire extinguishing system according to claim 1, wherein the valve piston (15) is movable in a hole (16) or groove between a blocking position and an open position.

4. A fire suppression system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the valve piston (15) can be moved to an open position by an overpressure at the fluid outlet (13), wherein the valve piston (15) can be locked in the open position by an overflow pressure.

5. A fire suppression system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the valve piston (15) is arranged within the flow chamber (14) or downstream of the flow chamber (14) in the outflow direction of the fire suppressant fluid within the flow chamber (14).

6. A fire suppression system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the valve piston (15) has a circulating surface (18), wherein in an open position of the valve piston (15) the circulating surface (18) faces the container connection (12).

7. A fire extinguishing system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the housing (11) has an overpressure protection device (37), by means of which overpressure protection device (37) the container connection (12) can be connected to the fluid outlet or the container connection (12) can be connected to the external environment in case of overpressure.

8. A fire suppression system according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein an alarm switch (35) is arranged in the housing (11), which alarm switch (35) is arranged for registering an open position of the valve piston (15) or a pressure loss in the flow chamber (14) or a pressure increase in the fluid outlet (13).