Wear-resistant valve for transporting particulate matter and method of making

1. A valve for controlling the flow of abrasive particles along a predetermined path from the outlet of a hopper to a conveying line in a particle collection or transportation system; the valve comprising:

a valve body having an inlet section and an outlet section; the inlet section being adapted to be coupled to the outlet of the hopper; the inlet section and outlet section defining a first passageway between the inlet section and the outlet section through which the abrasive particles can flow, the first passageway having an outlet section centerline and an inlet section centerline forming an angle α of at least 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees between the inlet section centerline and the outlet section centerline;

a gate housing having an entrance portion coupled to the outlet section of the valve body and an exit portion adapted to be coupled to the conveying line; the gate housing defining a second passageway between the entrance portion and the exit portion through which the abrasive particles can flow;

a gate assembly that has an open position and a closed position, the gate assembly including a gate that is sized to occlude the second passageway and an annular seat located proximate to the entrance portion of the gate housing and adapted to contact and mate with the gate; the annular seat having an inner perimeter sized or positioned relative to the outlet section of the valve body such that a portion of the inner perimeter is at least partially hidden from the flow of the abrasive particles when the gate assembly is in the open position; the gate assembly being in the closed position when the gate contacts the seat such that the flow of abrasive particles is occluded; and

an actuating means to cause the gate assembly to reversibly move between the open and closed positions.

2. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the valve further comprises an access cover having an inner surface with a curvature adapted to the valve body defining the first passageway.

3. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the actuating means is a pneumatic actuator; the actuator being shaped in a manner that the actuator is mountable in at least two orientations offset from each other by 180 degrees, allowing the actuator to be mounted on either side of the valve.

4. The valve of claim 1 , wherein the outlet section of the valve body further comprises a throat area having a cross-sectional width W tv and a length L t ;

wherein the length L t is within the relationship: 0≦L t ≦0.3·W tv .

5. The valve of claim 4 , wherein the cross-sectional width W tv is greater than about 3.75 inches and the length L t is less than about 1 inch.

6. The valve of claim 1 , the second passageway further having an entrance portion centerline the outlet section of the valve body terminating in an outlet port; wherein the outlet section centerline and the entrance portion centerline are offset such that the outlet port is not concentric with the annular seat.

7. The valve of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the outlet section of the valve body and the second passageway of the gate housing has a hardened interior area with a hardness that is greater than the hardness of other areas in the first passageway of the valve body or in the second passageway of the gate housing.

8. The valve of claim 7 , wherein the hardened interior area has a hardness value greater than about 400 Brinell.

9. The valve of claim 8 , wherein the hardened interior area includes hard metal carbide grains.

10. The valve of claim 9 , wherein the hard metal carbide grains are selected as being one from the group of iron carbides, chromium carbides, and mixtures thereof.

11. The valve of claim 9 , wherein the hard metal carbide grains are embedded in a matrix softer than the hard metal carbide grains.

12. The valve of claim 9 , wherein the hard metal carbide grains are approximately the same in size as the abrasive particles.

13. The valve of claim 4 , wherein the outlet section of the valve body further comprises a metal or ceramic wear resistant insert; the insert having a hardness value greater than the hardness exhibited by other areas in the outlet section of the valve body.

14. The valve of claim 13 , wherein the valve further comprises an access cover having an inner surface with a curvature adapted to the valve body defining the first passageway; the insert being formed integrally as part of the access cover.

15. A valve for controlling the flow of abrasive particles along a predetermined path from the outlet of a hopper to a conveying line in a particle collection or transportation system; the valve comprising:

a valve body having an inlet section and an outlet section; the inlet section being adapted to be coupled to the outlet of the hopper; the inlet section and outlet section defining a first passageway between the inlet section and the outlet section through which the abrasive particles can flow;

a gate housing having an entrance portion coupled to the outlet section of the valve body and an exit portion adapted to be coupled to the conveying line; the gate housing defining a second passageway between the entrance portion and the exit portion through which the abrasive particles can flow;

a gate assembly that has an open position and a closed position, the gate assembly including a gate that is sized to occlude the second passageway and an annular seat located proximate to the entrance portion of the gate housing and adapted to contact and mate with the gate; the annular seat having an inner perimeter sized or positioned relative to the outlet section of the valve body such that a portion of the inner perimeter is at least partially hidden from the flow of the abrasive particles when the gate assembly is in the open position; the gate assembly being in the closed position when the gate contacts the seat such that the flow of abrasive particles is occluded; and an actuating means to cause the gate assembly to reversibly move between the open and closed positions,

the second passageway further having an entrance portion centerline; wherein the second passageway of the gate housing is further defined by an inner wall slanted in the exit portion such that an acute angle β is established as measured between a line drawn parallel to the inner wall in the exit portion and the entrance portion centerline extending through the exit portion.

16. The valve of claim 15 , wherein the angle β is established in the inner wall at the interface between the entrance portion and the exit portion; the inner wall having an overall length L y and the entrance portion having a predetermined length L x ; wherein the length L x is within the relationship: 0.2·L y ≦L x ≦0.7·L y .

17. The valve of claim 15 , wherein the angle β is about 15 degrees.

18. The valve of claim 15 , wherein the inner wall of the gate housing further comprises a metal or ceramic wear resistant insert; the insert exhibiting a hardness value greater than the hardness exhibited by other areas in the second passageway of the gate housing.

19. A valve for controlling the flow of abrasive particles along a predetermined path from the outlet of a hopper to a conveying line in a particle collection or transportation system; the valve comprising:

a valve body having an inlet section and an outlet section; the inlet section being adapted to be coupled to the outlet of the hopper; the inlet section and outlet section defining a first passageway between the inlet section and the outlet section through which the abrasive particles can flow;

a gate housing having an entrance portion coupled to the outlet section of the valve body and an exit portion adapted to be coupled to the conveying line; the gate housing defining a second passageway between the entrance portion and the exit portion through which the abrasive particles can flow;

a gate assembly that has an open position and a closed position, the gate assembly including a gate that is sized to occlude the second passageway and an annular seat located proximate to the entrance portion of the gate housing and adapted to contact and mate with the gate; the annular seat having an inner perimeter sized or positioned relative to the outlet section of the valve body such that a portion of the inner perimeter is at least partially hidden from the flow of the abrasive particles when the gate assembly is in the open position; the gate assembly being in the closed position when the gate contacts the seat such that the flow of abrasive particles is occluded; and an actuating means to cause the gate assembly to reversibly move between the open and closed positions,

wherein the outlet section of the valve body further comprises a throat area having an inner cross-section with a cross-sectional width W tv and the annular seat has an inner width W sv ; wherein the width W sv is greater than the width W tv .

20. The valve of claim 19 , wherein the annular seat and the throat area both have a circular cross-section or both have a non-circular cross-section.

21. The valve of claim 19 , wherein the annular seat is positioned non-concentrically with respect to the orifice in the throat area of the outlet section of the valve body.

22. The valve of claim 21 , wherein the positioning of the inner surface of the annular seat with respect to the orifice in the throat area is further defined by a predetermined distance D s ; wherein the distance D s is within the relationship: 0<D s ≦0.25·W tv .

23. The valve of claim 22 , wherein the distance D s between the inner surface of the annular seat and the orifice in the throat area of the outlet section is at least about 400 mils.

24. The valve of claim 22 , wherein the valve further comprises an outlet adapter.

25. The valve of claim 24 , wherein the outlet adaptor has an outlet adapter width W o and the exit portion of the gate housing further comprises an exit port with a lower surface extending lower than the inner cross-section of the throat area by a height differential H Δ ; the height differential H Δ and the outlet adaptor width W o following the relationship: 0<H Δ ≦0.5·W o .

26. The valve of claim 25 , wherein the height differential H Δ and the distance D s follows the relationship: D s ≈0.25·H Δ .

27. A particle transportation system for collecting and controlling the flow of abrasive particles between a particle collector and a disposal unit or compounding vessel; the particle transportation system comprising:

at least one hopper to collect the abrasive particles having an inlet and an outlet; the inlet being in communication with the particle collector for receiving the abrasive particles;

at least one conveying line; the conveying line being in communication with the disposal unit or compounding vessel for delivery of the abrasive particles;

a valve for controlling the flow of the abrasive particles between the hopper and the conveying line; the valve including,

a valve body having an inlet section coupled to the outlet of the hopper and an outlet section, the inlet section and outlet section defining a first passageway between the inlet section and the outlet section, the first passageway further having an outlet section centerline and an inlet section centerline forming an angle α of at least 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees between the inlet section centerline and the outlet section centerline,

a gate housing having an entrance portion coupled to the outlet section of the valve body and an exit portion coupled to the conveying line, the entrance portion and the exit portion defining a second passageway having an inner wall,

a gate assembly having an open position and a closed position, the gate assembly including a gate that is sized to occlude the second passageway, and an annular seat located adjacent to the entrance portion of the gate housing and adapted to contact and mate with the gate; the annular seat having an inner perimeter and being sized or positioned relative to the outlet section of the valve body such that a portion of the inner perimeter is at least partially hidden from the flow of abrasive particles when the gate assembly is in the open position, the gate assembly being in the closed position when the gate contacts the seat such that the flow of abrasive particles is occluded, the second passageway having an entrance portion centerline; the inner wall of the second passageway being slanted in the exit portion such that an acute angle β is established as measured between a line drawn parallel to the inner wall in the exit portion and the entrance portion centerline extending into the exit portion, and

an actuating means to cause the gate assembly to reversibly move between the open and closed positions; and

at least one selected from the group of a pressure source, a vacuum source, and a combination of both a pressure source and a vacuum source for causing the abrasive particles to flow from the particle collector to the disposal unit or compounding vessel.

28. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , wherein the outlet section in the valve body is further defined by an outlet port having a width W tv and the annular seat has a predetermined distance D s from the outlet port; wherein the distance D s is within the relationship: 0<Ds0.25 W tv .

29. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , wherein the inner wall has an overall length L y and the entrance portion having a predetermined length L x , wherein the length L x is within the relationship: 0.2·L y ≦L x ≦0.7·L y .

30. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , wherein the angle β is about 15 degrees.

31. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , the first passageway further having an outlet section centerline and an inlet section centerline forming an angle α of at least 90 degrees and less than 180 degrees between the inlet section centerline and the outlet section centerline.

32. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , wherein the abrasive particles are caused to flow from the particle collector to the disposal unit or compounding vessel through the use of a vacuum source.

33. The particle transportation system of claim 27 , wherein the abrasive particles comprise at least one selected from the group of fly ash, concrete, cement, aluminum oxide, calcium carbonate, ceramic dusts, clays, flour, foundry sand, magnesium oxide, metallic salts, silica, soda ash, talc, titanium dioxide, and zinc oxide.