US 11231124 B2 / Jan 25, 2022

Isolation valve for fluid flow regulation

An isolation valve can be used subsea such as with a fluid handling system which may be associated with a subsea Christmas tree and comprises a housing comprising a material created by a sintering process and a vertical axis defined in-between a first housing end and a second housing end; two or more seats comprising a sintered material and disposed radially opposite each other; a first annulus extending through a predetermined portion of the second housing end and the first seat at a first position radially offset from and substantially parallel to the vertical axis; a second annulus extending through a predetermined portion of the second housing end and the second seat at a second position radially offset from the first annulus along the vertical axis and substantially parallel to the housing vertical axis; a first fluid port disposed through the second end of the housing and in fluid communication with the first annulus; second fluid port disposed through the second end of the housing and in fluid communication with the second annulus; and an actuator disposed at least partially within the housing and rotatable about the vertical axis of the housing, the actuator comprising a sintered material, the actuator configured to allow fluid flow in a first rotational position of the actuator and block fluid communication in a second rotational position of the actuator, and a predetermined surface uniformly machined to a surface of the first seat which is exposed to the fluid annulus and to a surface of the second seat which is exposed to the fluid annulus, the predetermined surface defining a metal-to-metal seal at the exposed surfaces of the first seat and the second seat when the actuator is in the second rotation position.