IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
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국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
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출원번호 |
US-0957836
(2010-12-01)
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등록번호 |
US-8421643
(2013-04-16)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
- Grumstrup, Bruce Frederick
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출원인 / 주소 |
- Fisher Controls International LLC
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대리인 / 주소 |
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
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인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
0 인용 특허 :
4 |
초록
▼
The present invention comprises methods for testing the valve seating integrity of a valve. The valve components that determine valve seating integrity are typically a valve seat and a valve closing element that engages the valve seat to close the valve. Examples of the test method described herein
The present invention comprises methods for testing the valve seating integrity of a valve. The valve components that determine valve seating integrity are typically a valve seat and a valve closing element that engages the valve seat to close the valve. Examples of the test method described herein respectively test valve seating integrity during opening of the valve and during closing of the valve, and do so in all instances without interrupting the operation of a process control system that includes the valve, without isolating the valve, and without relying on user analysis.
대표청구항
▼
1. A method for testing valve seating integrity for a valve, the method comprising: providing a process control system including a valve;receiving a control signal value from a controller of the process control system;operating the valve in accordance with the control signal value that reflects the
1. A method for testing valve seating integrity for a valve, the method comprising: providing a process control system including a valve;receiving a control signal value from a controller of the process control system;operating the valve in accordance with the control signal value that reflects the extent to which the valve is to be open;performing a valve closing operation according to the received control signal value;reading the control signal value and position data of the valve;determining whether the control signal value is below a predetermined cutoff value associated with the valve seating integrity;when the control signal value is determined to be below the predetermined cutoff value, determining whether the position data is above the cutoff value;when the position data is determined to be above the cutoff value, reading and storing the position data and pressure data associated with the valve closing operation;determining whether the position data indicates a continuation of the valve closing operation;while the position data indicates a continuation of the valve closing operation, continuing the reading and storing of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve closing operation;performing a comparison between the stored position data and pressure data accumulated during the valve closing operation to a previously stored set of position data and pressure data corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity;making a determination from the comparison whether a predetermined threshold associated with the previously stored set of position data and pressure data has been exceeded; andgenerating an alert in response to the determination that the threshold was exceeded. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the performing of the valve closing operation is configured to occur during normal process plant operations, wherein the controller sends the control signal to the valve in response to a closed loop process control operation of a control routine configured to be executed by the controller. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the performing of the valve closing operation is configured to occur during normal process plant operations, wherein the controller is configured to process the position data as feedback information for use by a closed loop control routine configured to be executed by the controller. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the cutoff value for the valve closing operation is 0.5%. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the control signal value is a setpoint. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: wherein the position data indicates a relative position of a valve closing element with respect to a valve seat. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein: the threshold value is a tolerance value determined for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the stored position and pressure data. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein: the threshold value is a mathematically calculated slope value determined for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the stored position and pressure data. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein: the continuing the reading and storing of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve closing operation is continued until the read position data indicates the valve is not moving. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein: the alert comprises a visible alert indication or an alarm message. 11. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising: reading and storing a plurality of instances of said pressure and position data;performing the comparison for each instance of said data; andcompleting the comparison when all instances of the read and stored data have been included in the comparison. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein: the previously stored set of data includes at least one of either (i) use set of data provided by the manufacturer of the valve or (ii) a set of data previously gathered from the valve when the valve seating integrity was undeteriorated. 13. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein: the previously stored set of data includes a model data set based on pressure and position data gathered from valves other than the valve undergoing testing. 14. A method for testing valve seating integrity for a valve, the method comprising: providing a process control system including a valve;receiving a control signal value from a controller of the process control system;operating the valve in accordance with the control signal value that reflects the extent to which the valve is to be open;performing a valve closing operation according to the received control signal value;reading the control signal value and position data of the valve;determining whether the control signal value is below a predetermined cutoff value associated with the valve seating integrity;when the control signal value is determined to be below the predetermined cutoff value, determining whether the position data is above the cutoff value;when the position data is determined to be above the cutoff value, reading the position data and pressure data associated with the valve closing operation;performing a comparison between a value based on the position data and pressure data that was read during the valve closing operation with a threshold value corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity;making a determination from the comparison whether a predetermined threshold has been met; andgenerating an alert in response to the determination that the threshold was met. 15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein: the value based on the position data and pressure data that was read during the valve closing operation is a mathematically determined slope value and the threshold value is a threshold slope value determined from a previously stored set of position data and pressure data corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity. 16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising: determining whether the position data indicates a continuation of the valve closing operation; andwhile the position data indicates a continuation of the valve closing operation, continuing the reading of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve closing operation. 17. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein: the threshold value is a tolerance value determine for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the read position and pressure data. 18. A method for testing valve seating integrity for a valve, the method comprising: providing a process control system including a valve;receiving a control signal value from a controller of the process control system;operating the valve in accordance with the control signal value that reflects the extent to which the valve is to be open;performing a valve opening operation according to the received control signal value;reading the control signal value and position data of the valve;determining whether the control signal value is above a predetermined cutoff value associated with the valve seating integrity;when the control signal value is determined to be above the predetermined cutoff value, determining whether the position data is below the cutoff value;when the position data is determined to be below the cutoff value, reading and storing the position data and pressure data associated with the valve opening operation;determining whether the position data indicates a continuation of the valve opening operation;while the position data indicates a continuation of the valve opening operation, continuing the reading and storing of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve opening operation;performing a comparison between the stored position data and pressure data accumulated during the valve opening operation to a previously stored set of position data and pressure data corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity;making a determination from the comparison whether a predetermined threshold associated with the previously stored set of position data and pressure data has been met; andgenerating an alert in response to the determination that the threshold was met. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein: the performing of the valve opening operation is configured to occur during normal process plant operations, wherein the controller sends the control signal to the valve in response to a closed loop process control operation of a control routine configured to be executed by the controller. 20. The method of claim 18, wherein: the performing of the valve opening operation is configured to occur during normal process plant operations, wherein the controller is configured to process the position data as feedback information for use by a closed loop control routine configured to be executed by the controller. 21. The method of claim 18, wherein: the cutoff value for the valve opening operation is 0.5%. 22. The method of claim 18, wherein: the control signal value is a setpoint. 23. The method of claim 18, wherein: wherein the position data indicates a relative position of a valve closing element with respect to a valve seat. 24. The method of claim 18, wherein: the threshold value is a tolerance value determined for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the stored position and pressure data. 25. The method of claim 18, wherein: the threshold value is a mathematically calculated slope value determined for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the stored position and pressure data. 26. The method of claim 18, wherein: the continuing the reading and storing of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve closing operation is continued until the read position data indicates the valve is not moving. 27. The method of claim 18, wherein: the alert comprises a visible alert indication or an alarm message. 28. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising: reading and storing a plurality of instances of said pressure and position data;performing the comparison for each instance of said data; andcompleting the comparison when all instances of the read and stored data have been included in the comparison. 29. The method of claim 18, wherein: the previously stored set of data includes at least one of either (i) a set of data provided by the manufacturer of the valve or (ii) a set of data previously gathered from the valve when the valve seating integrity was undeteriorated. 30. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein: the previously stored set of data includes a model data set based on pressure and position data gathered from valves other than the valve undergoing testing. 31. A method for testing valve seating integrity for a valve, the method comprising: providing a process control system including a valve;receiving a control signal value from a controller of the process control system;operating the valve in accordance with the control signal value that reflects the extent to which the valve is to be open;performing a valve opening operation according to the received control signal value;reading the control signal value and position data of the valve;determining whether the control signal value is above a predetermined cutoff value associated with the valve seating integrity;when the control signal value is determined to be above the predetermined cutoff value, determining whether the position data is below the cutoff value;when the position data is determined to be below the cutoff value, reading the position data and pressure data associated with the valve opening operation;performing a comparison between a value based on the position data and pressure data that was read during the valve opening operation with a threshold value corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity;making a determination from the comparison whether a predetermined threshold has been met; andgenerating an alert in response to the determination that the threshold was met. 32. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein: the value based on the position data and pressure data that was read during the valve opening operation is a mathematically determined slope value and the threshold value is a threshold slope value determined from a previously stored set of position data and pressure data corresponding to an acceptable valve seating integrity. 33. The method as recited in claim 32, further comprising: determining whether the position data indicates a continuation of the valve opening operation; andwhile the position data indicates a continuation of the valve opening operation, continuing the reading of the position data and the pressure data associated with the valve closing operation. 34. The method as recited in claim 31, wherein: the threshold value is a tolerance value determine for each of a predetermined set of position and pressure data that correspond with the read position and pressure data. 35. A method for automatically testing a valve seating integrity of a valve in a process control system, wherein the valve includes a valve seat and a valve closing element that moves respectively toward and away from the valve seat during a closing operation and an opening operation of the valve, the method comprising: receiving a setpoint from a controller of the process control system;moving the valve closing element toward a position corresponding to the setpoint for the valve;performing a valve seating integrity test, automatically, by gathering valve seating integrity test data during movement of the valve closing element toward the position corresponding to the setpoint;performing the valve seating integrity test by evaluating valve seating integrity test data without interrupting the operation of the process control system and without isolating the valve from the process control system;wherein the operation of the process control system includes a closed loop process control operation including the movement of the valve closing element toward the position corresponding to the setpoint. 36. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein: the setpoint is received by a positioner; andthe positioner is configured to evaluate the valve seating integrity test data. 37. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein: the setpoint is received by a positioner; andthe positioner is configured to store the valve seating integrity test data and send the valve seating integrity test data to a software application, wherein the software application evaluates the valve seating integrity test data. 38. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein: the setpoint is received by a positioner; andthe positioner sends the valve seating integrity test data to a software application either continuously or after having determined that the valve closing operation or the valve opening operation has reached a state for evaluation. 39. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein: the setpoint is received by a positioner; andthe positioner is configured to continuously evaluate the valve seating integrity test data either by comparing a predetermined set of valve seating integrity test data that corresponds with the gathered valve seating integrity test data, or by determining a mathematically calculated slope value based on the gathered valve seating integrity test data and comparing the mathematically calculated slope value with a threshold slope value. 40. The method as recited in claim 35, wherein: the setpoint is received by a positioner; andthe positioner is configured to continuously evaluate the valve seating integrity test data either by comparing a predetermined set of valve seating integrity test data that corresponds with the gathered valve seating integrity test data, or by determining a mathematically calculated slope value based on the gathered valve seating integrity test data and comparing the mathematically calculated slope value with a threshold slope value; andthe valve seating integrity test data includes position data and/or pressure data, and time data; or position data and pressure data.
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