Aerator valve assembly

摘要

An aerator valve assembly adapted to provide selective fluid communication between a supply of pressurized gas and a pressure vessel and adapted to provide selective fluid communication between the pressure vessel and a bulk material handling structure, includes a valve housing (11) including a valve body (12), an end cap (58) adapted to be connected to the supply of pressurized gas, and a piston seat (100) having an outlet port adapted to provide fluid communication with the bulk material handling structure. The valve body includes a port (21) adapted to provide fluid communication with the pressure vessel. A piston (150) is located within a chamber of the valve body between the end cap and the piston seat. The piston is selectively slidable between an extended position wherein the piston creates a metal-to-metal seal with the piston seat to seal the outlet port closed and a retracted position wherein the seal is broken. The piston includes a diaphragm (152) that is adapted to engage the piston seat and that includes a plurality of fluid passages (158) adapted to provide fluid communication between the supply of gas and the port of the valve body. The piston includes a cylindrical skirt (154) extending from the diaphragm that slidably engages a bearing (46) on the interior wall of the valve body to provide proper piston alignment. A biasing member (170) extends between the piston (150) and the end cap (58) and resiliently biases the piston from the retracted position to the extended position. <IMAGE>