Abstract: A sealed and pressure balanced lubricating system for high pressure rotary equipment includes a housing with a bore divided by a slidable piston into a lubricant chamber and a gas chamber. The gas chamber communicates with an area of the equipment which is exposed to high gas pressure and the lubricant chamber communicates with bearings within the equipment. During operation gas pressure forces the piston against the lubricant to pressure feed the bearings. A relief valve in the piston is opened, after the equipment stops and the pressure therein returns to atmospheric, in the event that pressurized gas has become entrained in the lubricant due to leakage past shaft seals. Such gas forces the piston back towards the gas chamber; the relief valve contacts an actuator and is opened; and the gas escapes to atmosphere through the piston and the gas chamber.

Abstract: A low loss synchronous magnetic drive system for high pressure, high horsepower applications is disclosed. A carrier member driven by a drive motor carries spaced apart sets of drive magnets with the magnets of one set being of opposite polarity to the longitudinally aligned magnets of the other set. An output shaft carrying driven magnets oriented similarly to the drive magnets is also provided. A metallic hyperbaric barrier separates the drive and driven magnets. The barrier includes an outer cylinder having circumferentially spaced, radially directed, narrow slots extending therealong. Within the cylinder is a plurality of axially adjacent annular laminations insulated from each other. During operation the combination of the slotted cylinder, the laminations and the magnet arrangement keeps eddy currents generated in the barrier at a minimum, ensuring a high efficiency drive operable at speeds and pressures heretofore unattainable.

Abstract: A magnetic drive assembly includes a housing having a pair of end flanges, an annular drive member containing a plurality of drive members and internally thereof a driven member containing a plurality of driven magnets. The drive and driven members are bearingly supported by the end flanges so that rotation of the drive member results, through magnetic interaction, on rotation of the driven member. A barrier separates the driven and drive members and extends between the end flanges to hermetically seal the driven member. The barrier is formed from a plurality of abutting axially adjacent annular laminations held in axial compression by the end flanges, the laminations being formed of a non-magnetic material. In one embodiment the laminations have a chevron shape in radial cross-section whereby adjacent laminations are nestable with each other.

Abstract: A torque transmitting assembly for effecting rotation of a valve member such as a butterfly valve is hermetically sealed to the valve housing. It includes a rotor member having a plurality of circumferentially spaced permanent magnets of opposite polarity and a driver magnet assembly having a like plurality of circumferentially spaced permanent magnets of opposite polarity facing the magnets mounted to the rotor. The two sets of magnets are separated by a stainless steel separator which hermetically seals the rotor. The driver magnet assembly is rotatable about the separator so that magnetic coupling forces effect a following rotation of the rotor and hence of the valve member. A magnetic indicator may be used to identify the rotational position of the rotor. The entire assembly is hermetically sealed and no packing is required. The assembly is especially useful to control a valve in a hazardous environment wherein no leakage of the fluid being controlled by the valve member is permissible.

Abstract: A magnetic drive for coupling mechanical power to the interior of a high pressure vessel is disclosed. The drive includes an output or driven portion including a non-magnetic housing hermetically sealed to a wall of the vessel and containing an output shaft which extends into the vessel. The shaft is mounted for rotation in bearings contained within a cylindrical extension of the housing projecting into the vessel interior. The opposite end of the shaft carries a plurality of permanent magnet segments coaxial therewith and is located within a high pressure gas barrier of the housing external of the vessel. Input power is provided by an input shaft connected to a power source, the input shaft carrying a housing which is coaxial to the gas barrier and has permanent magnets therein which will interact with the output shaft magnets upon rotation of the input shaft to cause rotation of the output shaft.