TAC, LLC Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20110062366 | BALL VALVE WITH ANTI-ROTATIONAL PRESSURE PLATE - A ball valve having an anti-rotational pressure plate that allows for a balanced pressure load on a valve member is provided. Additionally, the pressure plate can also fix the rotation of an adjacent flow disk, allowing for angular-orientation specific flow characterizing features to be used with the flow disk. By fixing the rotation of the flow disk, the ball valve can characterize flows using a greater variety of flow disk geometries, including angular-orientation dependent and angular-orientation independent flow disks. Further, the pressure plate could also be directly in the form of a flow disk that has anti-rotation features. | 03-17-2011 |
20090287736 | BACnet Communication Status Objects and Methods of Determining Communication Status of BACnet Devices - BACnet objects and methods for efficiently monitoring the communication status of networks and devices in a building automation and control system are presented. A pair of bus communication status objects, including a server object and a client object, provide the communication status of an MS/TP network as an OCTET String transmitted only upon a change of value (COV) of the communication status of a device on the network. Individual devices may be monitored with a device communication status object, in conjunction with or apart from the bus communication status objects. For MS/TP devices, automatic configuration and monitoring in a controller is provided. For other devices, a user interface is provided through a graphical tool to allow configuration to specify the desired device and/or network for monitoring. | 11-19-2009 |
20090194724 | Two Position Actuator Impact Limiter - A valve actuator for controlling a valve is provided. The valve actuator includes a torque transfer arrangement interposed between a return spring and a drive gear, the drive gear being biased by loading provided by the return spring. A drive coupling is interposed between the drive gear and the return spring and transfers load of the return spring to the drive gear. A torque transfer arrangement between the drive gear and drive coupling permits limited relative angular movement of the drive coupling relative to the drive gear. | 08-06-2009 |
20090194723 | Two Position Actuator With Mechanical Hold - A valve assembly including a valve actuator and valve is provided. The valve actuator includes a mechanical hold arrangement configured to allow manually setting the position of the valve actuator and its drive gear and to oppose any loading provided by a return spring biasing the valve actuator and drive gear out of the set position. The valve actuator includes a spring lever and a recess in which the spring lever is secured to lock the position of the valve actuator and drive gear when the electric motor of the valve actuator is de-energized. The valve actuator can be reconfigured to provide mechanical holding for manually setting the orientation of the drive gear when a return spring load is provided in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. | 08-06-2009 |
20080315144 | Dynamic Ball Valve Sealing Device For Three-Way Valves - A ball valve having improved sealing between the valve member and the valve body is presented. Improved sealing is realized by providing a sealing member that is allowed to float on the outer surface of the valve member in the closed position. By being able to float on the outer surface, the sealing member can compensate for any variations in the valve member as a result of machining tolerances or variations in position of the valve member due to changes in pressure within the valve, thereby providing dynamic sealing The dynamic sealing is also provided by configuring the valve member such that it causes the sealing member to be exposed to a higher biasing force in the closed position than in the open position. | 12-25-2008 |
20080287260 | Speed Controlled Spring Return Actuator - An actuator including a motor, clutch, gear train, solenoid, clock spring, and air brake is provided. The motor is configured to drive a control valve. The clutch is operably coupled to the motor and configured to prevent the motor from transferring more than a predetermined amount of torque. The gear train is operably coupled to the clutch and configured to receive the predetermined amount of torque from the motor. The solenoid is operably coupled to the gear train and configured to disengage one of the gears in the gear train from adjacent gears. The clock spring is operably coupled to another of the gears in the gear train, configured to store mechanical energy supplied by the motor, and configured to drive the control valve. The air brake is operably coupled to the gear train and configured to dissipate a portion of the mechanical energy released by the clock spring. | 11-20-2008 |