Flap valve sealing arrangement

Abstract

Flap valves include a valve housing and a flap disc in a flow channel of the valve housing. The flap disc can be pivoted between an open position and a closed position. The flow channel on its outer circumference includes a sealing lip arrangement, which has two elastic sealing lips arranged at a distance from each other in the direction of flow. With the valve disc in the closed position, the sealing lips bear under elastic prestress against the sealing surface of the valve disc to form a seal and thereby form an annular cavity surrounding the sealing surface of the valve disc. Further, with the flap disc in the closed position, the passage of fluid from the high-pressure side in the flow channel to the low-pressure side of the flow channel prevented due to the cross-sectional areas of the two sealing lips of the sealing lip arrangement being inclined or bent towards the inside of the annular cavity.

1 . A flap valve, comprising:
 a valve body configured to be coupled between two sections of pipe, wherein the valve body defines a flow channel configured for a fluid to flow through;   a flap disc pivotably coupled to the valve body within the flow channel, wherein the flap disc is configured to rotate between a closed position wherein the flap disc blocks a flow of the fluid through the flow channel and an open position wherein the flap disc does not block the flow of the fluid through the flow channel; and   a pair of elastic sealing lips coupled to an inner circumference of the flow channel of the valve body within the flow channel,   wherein the pair of elastic sealing lips comprise a first sealing lip and a second sealing lip,   wherein each of the first and second sealing lips define an inner surface and an outer surface;   wherein in the closed position the outer surface under elastic prestress contacts and forms a seal with a sealing surface on an outer periphery of the flap disc, and an annular cavity is defined between the inner surface of the first sealing lip, the inner surface of the second sealing lip, and the sealing surface of the flap disc, and   wherein the first sealing lip and the second lip are inclined and/or bent toward each other to define the annular cavity.   
     
     
         2 . The flap valve of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second sealing lips are each attached to a support ring,
 wherein the support ring is configured to be inserted into a matching annular recess on the inner circumference of the flow channel of the valve body.   
     
     
         3 . The flap valve of  claim 2 , wherein in the first and second sealing lips and/or the support ring are produced in an additive process from metallic materials with at least one of elasticity and hardness of different portions of the first and second sealing lips and/or the support ring being different from other portions. 
     
     
         4 . The flap valve of  claim 1 , wherein the annular cavity defined between the sealing lips is fluidically connected to a pressure medium channel leading out of the valve body. 
     
     
         5 . The flap valve of  claim 4 , wherein the pressure medium channel leading out of the valve body is connected to a pressure medium source. 
     
     
         6 . The flap valve of  claim 4 , wherein the pressure medium channel leading out of the valve body is connected to a collecting device configured for detecting leakages. 
     
     
         7 . The flap valve of  claim 4 , wherein the pressure medium channel leading out of the valve body is connected to a supply configured for delivering a setting and/or curable sealing agent. 
     
     
         8 . A method for operating the flap valve according to  claim 5 , comprising:
 positioning the flap disc in the closed positioned; and   pressurizing the annular cavity defined between the first and second sealing lips with the pressure medium source in order to increase a sealing force of the outer surfaces against the sealing surface on the outer periphery of the flap disc.   
     
     
         9 . A method for observing and/or monitoring leakages of the flap valve according to  claim 6 , comprising:
 positioning the flap disc in the closed positioned;   collecting fluid from the annular cavity in the collecting device.   
     
     
         10 . A method for sealing the flap valve according to  claim 7 , comprising:
 positioning the flap disc in the closed positioned;
 filling the annular cavity with the setting and/or hardenable sealing agent through the pressure medium channel. 
   
     
     
         11 . The flap valve of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second sealing lips define an arcuate profile wherein the outer surfaces are convex and the inner surfaces are concave,
 wherein the outer convex surfaces of the first sealing lip and the second sealing lip face away from each other, and the inner concave surfaces of the first sealing lip and the second sealing lip face toward each other to define the annular cavity.   
     
     
         12 . A flap valve, comprising:
 a valve body configured to be coupled between two sections of pipe, wherein the valve body defines a flow channel configured for a fluid to flow through;   a flap disc pivotably coupled to the valve body within the flow channel, wherein the flap disc is configured to rotate between a closed position wherein the flap disc blocks a flow of the fluid through the flow channel and an open position wherein the flap disc does not block the flow of the fluid through the flow channel; and   
       a pair of elastic sealing lips coupled to an outer circumference of the flap disc, 
       wherein the pair of elastic sealing lips comprise a first sealing lip and a second sealing lip, wherein each of the first and second sealing lips define an inner surface and an outer surface;
 wherein in the closed position the outer surface under elastic prestress contacts and forms a seal with a sealing surface on an inner circumference the flow channel of the valve body, and an annular cavity is defined between the inner surface of the first sealing lip, the inner surface of the second sealing lip, and the sealing surface of the flow channel, and 
 wherein the first sealing lip and the second lip are inclined and/or bent toward each other to define the annular cavity. 
 
     
     
         13 . The flap valve of  claim 12 , wherein the first and second sealing lips are each attached to a support ring,
 wherein the support ring is configured to be inserted into a matching annular recess on the outer circumference of the flap disc.   
     
     
         14 . The flap valve of  claim 13 , wherein in the first and second sealing lips and/or the support ring are produced in an additive process from metallic materials with at least one of elasticity and hardness of different portions of the first and second sealing lips and/or the support ring being different from other portions. 
     
     
         15 . The flap valve of  claim 12 , wherein the annular cavity defined between the sealing lips is fluidically connected to a pressure medium channel leading out of the valve body.