CN113639064A

CN113639064A - Valve with a valve body

Info

Publication number: CN113639064A
Application number: CN202110381860.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马跃; 郑自腾; 迈克尔·汉克
Original assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc
Current assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc
Priority date: 2020-04-27
Filing date: 2021-04-09
Publication date: 2021-11-12

Abstract

The application discloses a valve includes: a housing having a housing cavity and at least two housing openings; the valve body is rotatably arranged in the accommodating cavity of the shell and comprises a valve body top, a valve body bottom and a valve body side wall, the valve body side wall comprises an upper valve body side wall and a lower valve body side wall which are connected with each other, the outer surface of the upper valve body side wall is a part of cylindrical surface, and the outer surface of the lower valve body side wall is in a shape of gradually reducing the diameter in the direction from top to bottom; a seal disposed on the valve body sidewall, the seal configured to cooperate with the housing such that the valve body sidewall is capable of sealingly closing the at least one housing opening. The valve of the present application is compact and small in size and height. And the volume of the valve body and the sealing element can be as small as possible under the condition that the required size of the shell opening is fixed. Meanwhile, the valve body and the sealing piece can be mounted in the shell together through the mounting port, so that the valve body and the sealing piece are convenient to assemble, can be automatically assembled and can be manufactured in batches.

Description

Valve with a valve body

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a valve, and more particularly, to a coolant control valve for use in a battery pack.

Background

A battery pack for an electric vehicle includes a plurality of battery packs, and the battery packs are required to maintain their temperatures within a certain range when supplying or charging power to an internal combustion engine. The conventional battery pack further comprises a cooling liquid channel, and cooling liquid flowing in the cooling liquid channel can be controlled through a control valve or a temperature regulating valve, so that the temperature of the battery assembly can be regulated.

Disclosure of Invention

At least one object of the present application is to provide a valve comprising: the shell is provided with a shell cavity and at least two shell openings, and the at least two shell openings are communicated with the shell cavity; a valve body rotatably disposed within the housing cavity of the housing, the valve body including a valve body top, a valve body bottom, and a valve body sidewall, the valve body top being connected to a rotating shaft, the valve body sidewall being connected between the valve body top and the valve body bottom, and the valve body sidewall extending circumferentially around an axis of the rotating shaft, the valve body being configured to open or close at least one of the at least two housing openings through the valve body sidewall as the valve body rotates about the rotating shaft; and a seal disposed on the valve body sidewall, the seal configured to cooperate with the housing such that the valve body sidewall can sealingly close the at least one of the at least two housing openings; wherein, the valve body lateral wall includes interconnect's upper portion valve body lateral wall and lower part valve body lateral wall, upper portion valve body lateral wall with the valve body top links to each other, lower part valve body lateral wall with the valve body bottom links to each other, and wherein, the surface of upper portion valve body lateral wall is partial cylindrical surface to from last direction extremely down, the surface of lower part valve body lateral wall is the shape that the diameter reduces gradually.

According to the above, the housing has a housing bottom and a housing side wall, the housing side wall encloses the housing cavity, the housing opening is disposed on the housing side wall, the bottom of the housing side wall is connected to the housing bottom, the top of the housing side wall forms a mounting opening communicated with the housing cavity, and the valve body is mounted in the housing cavity through the mounting opening; wherein the housing sidewall comprises an upper housing sidewall and a lower housing sidewall, the upper housing sidewall is disposed above the lower housing sidewall, the housing sidewall is configured to form fit with the valve body sidewall, and the seal is configured to abut the housing sidewall.

According to the above, the valve further comprises at least two fluid conduits, which are arranged outside the housing in correspondence with the housing opening and are formed integrally with the housing.

According to the above, the bottom of the shell is provided with the supporting shaft extending into the cavity of the shell, the bottom of the valve body is provided with the shaft hole for receiving the supporting shaft, and the supporting shaft and the rotating shaft are coaxially arranged.

According to the above, the sealing member is integrally formed on the valve body side wall through an injection molding process.

According to the above, the seal is an annular seal shaped and dimensioned to surround the housing opening and to abut the housing sidewall surrounding the housing opening when the valve body sidewall closes the housing opening.

According to the above, the outer surface of the lower valve body side wall is a partial spherical surface, and the inner surface of the lower housing side wall is a semi-spherical surface.

According to the above, the valve body side wall and the housing side wall are uniform in thickness.

According to the above, the valve further comprises: an actuator mechanism comprising a transmission assembly, the transmission assembly comprising: a worm for connecting with a drive shaft; a first gear having an upper gear and a lower gear capable of synchronously rotating, the number of teeth of the lower gear being smaller than that of the upper gear, the upper gear being engaged with the worm; and a second gear having a number of teeth greater than that of the lower gear, the second gear being meshed with the lower gear of the first gear; the second gear is connected with the rotating shaft of the valve body to drive the rotating shaft to rotate.

According to the above, the actuator mechanism further comprises a box body connected above the housing, the transmission assembly is disposed in the box body, and the rotation shaft passes through the box body and is connected with the second gear, wherein a first sealing ring is disposed between the rotation shaft and the box body, and a second sealing ring is disposed between the second gear and the box body.

According to the above, the valve further comprises: the valve cover is welded on the mounting opening of the shell so as to close the mounting opening, the box body is arranged above the valve cover, and the rotating shaft of the valve body penetrates through the valve cover so as to extend into the box body.

According to the above, the bottom of the box body or the valve cover is connected with two blocking walls capable of contacting with the top of the valve body, and the top of the valve body rotates between the two blocking walls.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective block diagram of a valve according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the valve shown in FIG. 1 taken along line A-A;

FIG. 2B is an exploded perspective view of the valve shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the valve body of the valve shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3B is a front view of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4A is a perspective view from above of the housing of the valve shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4B is a front view of FIG. 4A;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are exploded perspective views of the actuator mechanism of the valve of FIG. 1 at two angles;

FIG. 6A is a top view of the transmission assembly and motor shown in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6B is a front view of the transmission assembly and motor shown in FIG. 5A;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are partial exploded perspective views of the valve of FIG. 1 at two angles closing the fluid conduit;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are partial exploded perspective views of the valve of FIG. 1 at two angles when the valve opens a fluid conduit;

FIG. 9 is a perspective block diagram of a valve according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10A is a cross-sectional view of the valve shown in FIG. 9 taken along line A-A;

fig. 10B and 10C are exploded perspective views of the valve shown in fig. 9 at two angles.

Detailed Description

Various embodiments of the present application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. It should be understood that although directional terms, such as "front," "rear," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like may be used herein to describe various example structural portions and elements of the application, these terms are used herein for convenience of description only and are intended to be based on the example orientations shown in the figures. Because the embodiments disclosed herein can be arranged in a variety of orientations, these directional terms are used for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as limiting.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a valve 100 according to an embodiment of the present application, illustrating an overall structure of the valve 100. As shown in fig. 1, the valve 100 includes a housing 101, a valve body 208 (shown in fig. 2A and 2B), and an actuator mechanism 110, the actuator mechanism 110 being located above the housing 101. The housing 101 has two

fluid conduits

105 and 106, the fluid conduit 106 being an inlet conduit for connection to a source of cooling fluid and the fluid conduit 105 being an outlet conduit for connection to a cooling channel inside the battery pack. As one example,

fluid conduits

105 and 106 are integrally formed with housing 101. The valve body 208 is rotatably disposed within the housing 101 and can be rotated to open the fluid conduit 105 and the fluid conduit 106 to allow coolant from a source of coolant to flow into the valve 100 through the fluid conduit 106 and out of the valve 100 from the fluid conduit 105 and into the cooling channels within the battery pack to condition the battery assembly (not shown) within the battery pack, or rotated to close the fluid conduit 105 or the fluid conduit 106 to disconnect the coolant from the cooling channels within the battery pack. The actuator mechanism 110 includes a cartridge 102, and a motor 550 and a drive assembly 581 are provided in the cartridge 102, as will be shown in detail in the exploded views of the actuator mechanism 110 in fig. 5A and 5B. The motor 550 and the transmission assembly 581 are used to drive the valve body 208 to rotate. A communication connection 107 is connected to one side of the actuator mechanism 110 for delivering power and control signals to a motor 550 within the actuator mechanism 110.

Fig. 2A is a sectional view of the valve 100 shown in fig. 1 taken along line a-a, fig. 2B is an exploded perspective view of the valve 100 shown in fig. 1, and fig. 2A and 2B are views for explaining the internal structure of the valve 100.

As shown in fig. 2A and 2B, the housing 101 has a housing cavity 213, the top of the housing 101 has a mounting port 217 communicating with the housing cavity 213, and the valve body 208 is rotatably mounted in the housing cavity 213 through the mounting port 217. The fluid line 105 and the fluid line 106 can communicate with each other via the housing receptacle 213. The housing 101 has a housing opening 238 that communicates with the fluid conduit 105. In this embodiment, rotation of the valve body 208 can open or close the housing opening 238 corresponding to the fluid conduit 105. In other embodiments, rotation of the valve body 208 may also open or close the housing opening corresponding to the fluid conduit 106. Specifically, the valve body 208 has an open position and a closed position, and is rotatable between the open position and the closed position. In the state shown in fig. 2A, the valve body 208 is in the closed position, and can close the fluid conduit 105 by blocking (or closing) the housing opening 238. The valve 100 further includes a seal 218 disposed on the valve body 208 and configured to abut a housing sidewall (see housing sidewall 433 in fig. 4A and 4B) surrounding the housing opening 238 to ensure that the valve body 208 sealingly blocks (or closes) the housing opening 238, preventing liquid from flowing into the fluid conduit 105 from a gap between the valve body 208 and the housing sidewall. Thus, with the valve body 108 closing the housing opening 238 and the fluid conduit 105, the coolant cannot flow out of the fluid conduit 105 even though it flows into the valve 100 from the fluid conduit 106.

The top of the valve body 208 is provided with a rotary shaft 215. A support shaft 209 extending toward the housing chamber 213 is provided at the bottom of the housing 101, and the support shaft 209 is connected to the bottom of the valve body 208. The rotary shaft 215 and the support shaft 209 are arranged coaxially, that is to say the rotary shaft 215 and the support shaft 209 have a common axis about which the valve body 208 can be rotated to close the housing opening 238 in its closed position or to open the housing opening 238 in its open position. In the example shown, the rotary shaft 215 extends into the case 102 of the actuator mechanism 110 to be received by a transmission assembly 581 (shown in fig. 5A) of the actuator mechanism 110, thereby enabling the actuator mechanism 110 to drive the rotary shaft 215 to rotate. In order to prevent the coolant in the housing volume 213 from penetrating into the actuator mechanism 110, a first sealing ring 211 is provided at the connection between the rotary shaft 215 and the housing 102. Further, a second sealing ring 212 is disposed between a second gear 557 (see fig. 5A and 5B) in the transmission assembly 581 for receiving the rotation shaft 215 and the case 102. In this embodiment, the first seal ring 211 is an x-shaped seal ring, and the second seal ring 212 is an o-shaped seal ring.

Fig. 3A and 3B show a specific structure of the valve body 208, in which fig. 3A is a perspective view of the valve body 208 as viewed from the side, and fig. 3B is a front view of fig. 3A. As shown in fig. 3A and 3B, the valve body 208 includes a valve body top 321, a valve body bottom 322, and a valve body sidewall 323. The rotating shaft 215 is coupled above the valve body top 321, and a support shaft hole 319 for receiving the support shaft 209 is provided on the valve body bottom 322. The valve body top 321 and the valve body bottom 322 are substantially parallel and have a profile substantially in the shape of a sector, for example a 90 sector, with two

limit side walls

328 and 329 formed in the two radial directions of the sector of the valve body top 321, the two

limit side walls

328 and 329 serving to form a limit structure that limits the valve body 208 in the valve body closed position and the valve body open position.

Valve body sidewall 323 is connected between valve body top 321 and valve body bottom 322. The valve body side wall 323 extends at an angle, for example, about 90 °, circumferentially around the axis x of the rotary shaft 215. That is, the outer surface of the valve body side wall 323 is in the shape of a circular arc in any cross section perpendicular to the axis x. For ease of processing and material savings, the valve body sidewall 323 has a uniform thickness, i.e., the outer surface of the valve body sidewall 323 has substantially the same shape as the inner surface. The body side wall 323 includes an upper body side wall 325 connected to the body top 321 and a lower body side wall 326 connected to the body bottom 322, the upper body side wall 325 and the lower body side wall being smoothly connected to each other at the middle of the body side wall 323, and the upper body side wall 325 being connected above the lower body side wall 326. Specifically, upper body sidewall 325 is a generally cylindrical, straight wall that extends vertically from the outside edge of body top 321 toward body bottom 322. The bottom of upper body sidewall 325 smoothly converges inwardly toward axis x to join the edge of body bottom 322 to form lower body sidewall 326. That is, in an axial section through the valve body side wall 323 and the axis x of the rotary shaft 215, the outer surface of the upper valve body side wall 325 is at the same distance from the axis, while the outer surface of the lower valve body side wall 326 is in a shape in which the diameter is gradually reduced, that is, the distance from the axis of the outer surface of the lower valve body side wall 326 is gradually reduced. In this embodiment, the outer surface of the upper body side wall 325 is a partially cylindrical surface and the outer surface of the lower body side wall 326 is a partially spherical surface. Because valve body sidewall 323 extends circumferentially about axis x by approximately 90 °, upper body sidewall 325 and lower body sidewall 326 form an incomplete cylindrical shape and an incomplete spherical shape in the circumferential direction. In some other embodiments, the outer surface of the lower body sidewall 326 may also be partially conical in shape, or the like.

The sealing member 218 is an annular sealing member which is integrally formed on the valve body side wall 323 through an injection molding process and slightly protrudes outward from the valve body side wall 323 for contact with the case side wall of the case 101. In the present embodiment, the shape and size of the seal 218 correspond to the shape and size of the valve body side wall 323, that is, the shape of the sealing surface of the seal 218 is closed and the shape conforms to the shape of the valve body side wall 323. The height of seal 218 is substantially equal to the distance separating valve body top 321 and valve body bottom 322, and the width of seal 218 is substantially equal to the width of valve body sidewall 323. Also, the shape and size of the seal 218 generally corresponds to the shape and size of the housing opening 238. Thus, the seal 218 and valve body 208 can be designed to nearly match the shape and size of the housing opening 238, as required by the shape and size of the housing opening 238, resulting in a compact design and no wasted space. In this embodiment, the seal 218 is integrally formed on the valve body sidewall 323 through an insert molding process, eliminating the need for additional seal assembly mounting structure, further facilitating the mounting process of the valve body 208 and the seal 218.

Fig. 4A and 4B show a specific structure of the housing 101, where fig. 4A is a perspective view of the housing 101 as seen from the top, and fig. 4B is a front view of the housing 101.

As shown in fig. 4A and 4B, the housing 101 includes a housing side wall 433 and a housing bottom 432, the housing bottom 432 is connected to the bottom of the housing side wall 433, and the top of the housing side wall 433 forms a substantially circular mounting opening 217. Housing sidewall 433 and housing bottom 432 together form housing receptacle 213 that communicates with mounting port 217. The housing sidewall 433 has

housing openings

238 and 439, the housing opening 238 communicating with the fluid conduit 105, and the housing opening 439 communicating with the fluid conduit 106. The support shaft 209 extends from the housing base 432 into the housing receptacle 213 to connect with the support shaft bore 319 on the valve body 208.

The housing sidewall 433 includes an upper housing sidewall 435 and a lower housing sidewall 436, and the upper housing sidewall 435 is smoothly connected above the lower housing sidewall 436. For ease of processing and material savings, the housing sidewall 433 has a uniform thickness, i.e., the outer surface of the housing sidewall 433 has a shape that is substantially the same as the inner surface. As one example, upper housing sidewall 435 is cylindrical in shape and the bottom of upper housing sidewall 435 extends smoothly into housing receptacle 213 to meet the edge of housing bottom 432 to form lower housing sidewall 436. In this embodiment, the shape and size of housing sidewall 433 matches the shape and size of valve body sidewall 323, e.g., the inner surface of upper housing sidewall 435 and the outer surface of upper valve body sidewall 325 are coaxially disposed cylindrical surfaces, and the inner surface of lower housing sidewall 436 and the outer surface of lower valve body sidewall 326 are concentrically disposed partial spherical surfaces, to enable seal 218 on valve body sidewall 323 to abut housing sidewall 433. In the present embodiment, when the valve body 208 is in the closed position, the seal 218 surrounds the housing opening 238 and abuts the housing sidewall 433 surrounding the housing opening 238 such that the valve body sidewall 323 can sealingly close the housing opening 238. When valve body 208 is in the open position, seal 218 abuts the remainder of housing sidewall 433 and valve body sidewall 323 no longer closes housing opening 238, such that

housing openings

238 and 439 communicate with each other through housing receptacle 213 inside housing 101, thereby communicating fluid conduit 105 and fluid conduit 106 with each other. It should be noted that in some other embodiments, the shape and size of housing sidewall 433 need not match the shape and size of valve body sidewall 323, but rather only the shape and size of seal 218 matches the shape and size of housing opening 238.

In the embodiment of the present application, since the housing sidewall 433 and the valve body sidewall 323 are cylindrical in the upper half part and spherical in shape with the lower half part shrinking inward, the radial dimension of the housing accommodating cavity 213 is gradually reduced from top to bottom, so that the valve body 208 can be directly installed in the housing accommodating cavity 213 of the housing 101 from the installation port 217. Since the sealing member 218 is directly formed integrally with the valve body 208 through an injection molding process, after the valve body 208 is inserted into the housing receiving cavity 213 of the housing 101, the sealing function of the sealing member 218 can be achieved through dimensional matching without additional components for installing the sealing member, so that the processing process is simple and easy to implement, and the structure is compact. Also, the spherical shape of housing sidewall 433 and valve body sidewall 323 also reduces the resistance to flow of coolant fluid in housing receptacle 213.

Fig. 5A and 5B are exploded perspective views of the actuator mechanism 110 at two angles, for illustrating the specific structure of the actuator mechanism 110. As shown in fig. 5A and 5B, the actuator mechanism 110 includes a case 102, and the case 102 includes an upper case 551 and a lower case 552, and a space for accommodating internal components is formed between the upper case 551 and the lower case 552. These internal components include a motor 550 and a transmission component 581, wherein the motor 550 is connected to an external power source and a control circuit through a communication connector 107, and drives a rotation shaft 215 extending into the box 102 to rotate through the transmission component 581, so as to drive the valve body 208 to rotate.

Specifically, the transmission assembly 581 comprises a worm 559, a first gear 553 and a second gear 557, wherein the worm 559 is sleeved on a driving shaft 558 of the motor 550 and rotates along with the rotation of the driving shaft 558. The first gear 553 includes an upper gear 554 and a lower gear 556 which are connected by the same shaft 563 to achieve synchronous rotation of the two gears, and in this embodiment, the upper gear 554 is adapted to be engaged with the worm 559 to be driven by the worm 559 and to cause the lower gear 556 to rotate synchronously. The second gear 557 includes a tooth portion 567 and a hollow cylinder portion 568 extending downward from a lower side of the tooth portion 567, the tooth portion 567 and the hollow cylinder portion 568 rotating together, and in this embodiment, the tooth portion 567 is adapted to mesh with the lower gear 556 of the first gear 553 to be driven by the lower gear 556, and the hollow cylinder portion 568 rotating together therewith. The hollow cylinder 568 has a receiving passage 560 therein for receiving the rotary shaft 215 and driving the rotary shaft 215 to rotate together, thereby rotating the valve body 208. As an alternative example, the rotating shaft 215 and the inner wall of the receiving channel 560 are provided with matching cut surfaces so that the hollow cylinder 568 can rotate the rotating shaft 215.

As shown in fig. 5A and 5B, the lower case 552 has a through hole 561 extending through the lower case 552, and the through hole 561 can receive the hollow cylinder 568 of the second gear 557 to fix the second gear 557 at a predetermined position in the case 102. A second seal ring 212 is provided between the hollow cylindrical portion 568 and the hole wall of the through hole 561. The second sealing ring 212 can further prevent the coolant in the housing 101 from penetrating into the box 102 from the through hole 561, which may affect the operation of the motor 550 and the transmission assembly 581. The second gear 557 is provided at the top with a protrusion 555, and the protrusion 555 is used to engage with a cylinder 565 extending downward from the bottom of the upper case 551, so as to press the second gear 557 against the second sealing ring 212 and fix the second gear 557 in the axial direction of the second gear 557.

A base 571 extending downward and surrounding the through hole 561 is provided on the lower surface of the lower case 552. The housing 101 is fixedly connected to the actuator mechanism 110 by a base 571 to prevent the coolant in the housing 101 from seeping out. As an example, the housing 101 is fixedly coupled to the base 571 by a welding process, which may eliminate the need for additional sealing structures between the housing 101 and the actuator mechanism 110. A semicircular limiting boss 575 which protrudes downwards is arranged on the lower surface of the base 571, and the end parts of the two sides of the limiting boss 575 are provided with blocking

walls

572 and 573 which are approximately vertical to the lower surface of the base 571. When the rotating shaft 215 of the valve body 208 passes through the through hole 561 and is received by the hollow cylinder 568 of the second gear 557, the rotating shaft 215 is rotated by the rotation of the second gear 557, and the valve body 208 is rotated. As the valve body 208 rotates, the valve body top 321 of the valve body 208 rotates between the blocking

walls

572 and 573 of the limit tabs 575. When the valve body 208 is rotated to its closed position, the limit side wall 328 of the valve body top 321 abuts against the blocking wall 573 of the limit tab 575 (see fig. 7A and 7B); when the valve body 208 is rotated to its open position, the limit sidewall 329 of the valve body top 321 abuts the blocking wall 572 of the limit tab 575 (see fig. 8A and 8B). It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a mating alignment structure, such as a male-female mating structure, may also be provided between the housing 101 and the lower case 552 to allow the housing 101 and the lower case 552 to be coupled in a predetermined position. Such that the valve body 208 is able to properly close the housing opening 238 in the housing 101 when restrained in the closed position by the blocking wall 573.

Holes

564 and 562 for fixing the upper and lower ends of the shaft 563 are respectively provided at corresponding positions of the upper and

lower cases

551 and 552, thereby enabling to fix the shaft 563 inside the case 102 and thus to fix the position of the first gear 553. In this embodiment, the motor 550 does not need additional structural fixings, directly by providing a portion of the housing 102 shaped to just accommodate the motor 550. Therefore, the motor 550, the first gear 553, and the second gear 557 can be fixedly disposed within the case 102, and a complicated mounting structure is not required to be additionally provided, and the mounting is convenient.

Fig. 6A shows a top view of the driving assembly 581 and the motor 550, and fig. 6B shows a front view of the driving assembly 581 and the motor 550 for explaining a specific operation process of the driving assembly 581.

As shown in fig. 6A and 6B, the first gear 553 is disposed at a side of the worm 559, the second gear 557 is disposed in front of the worm 559 and the first gear 553, and the second gear 557 is located below the worm 559 and the first gear 553, such that the worm 559, the first gear 553, and the second gear 557 are arranged in a substantially triangular shape. In this embodiment, a first reduction in the rotation of the drive shaft 558 is achieved by engagement of the worm 559 with the second gear 557. In the first gear 553, the diameter of the upper gear 554 is larger than that of the lower gear 556, and the number of teeth of the upper gear 554 is larger than that of the lower gear 556. And the number of teeth of the second gear 557 is greater than that of the lower gear 556. Therefore, when the first gear 553 rotates, the upper gear 554 and the lower gear 556 rotate around the shaft 563 in synchronization, and the second gear 554 is driven to rotate by the lower gear 556 having a smaller number of teeth, thereby realizing a second reduction in the rotation of the drive shaft 558.

By designing the transmission assembly 581 as a worm and two gears in a triangular arrangement and using flat shaped gears, a two-stage reduction of the drive shaft 558 is achieved, which guarantees the reduction requirement of the drive shaft 558 while saving as much space as possible in the arrangement and simplifying the structure of the transmission assembly 581.

Fig. 7A and 7B show partial exploded perspective views at two angles of closing the fluid conduit 105 to illustrate the closed position of the valve body 208 when the valve body 208 closes the housing opening 238. Fig. 8A and 8B show partial exploded perspective views at two angles of opening the fluid conduit 105 to illustrate the open position of the valve body 208 when the valve body 208 opens the housing opening 238.

As shown in fig. 7A and 7B, when the valve body 208 is in its closed position, the valve body sidewall 323 of the valve body 208 aligns with the housing opening 238 on the housing sidewall 433 of the housing 101 to close the housing opening 238. In the state shown, seal 218 on valve body sidewall 323 aligns with and abuts housing sidewall 433 which surrounds housing opening 238, so that valve body sidewall 323 and seal 218 are able to sealingly close housing opening 238 and, in turn, fluid conduit 105.

In the state shown in the figure, the stopper side wall 328 of the valve body 208 abuts against the stopper wall 573 of the lower case 552, and the valve body 208 cannot rotate toward the stopper wall 573 but can rotate only toward the stopper wall 572.

When the actuator mechanism 110 receives a control signal to open the valve 100, the drive shaft 558 of the motor 550 is rotated in a reverse direction (or counterclockwise) and the valve body 208 is rotated toward the blocking wall 572 until the valve body 208 moves to the open position as shown in fig. 8A and 8B.

As shown in fig. 8A and 8B, when the valve body 208 is in its open position, the valve body side wall 323 of the valve body 208 is misaligned with the housing opening 238 on the housing side wall 433 of the housing 101 to open the housing opening 238. In the state shown, seal 218 on valve body sidewall 323 follows valve body 208 to align with other portions on housing sidewall 433 without interfering with the flow of cooling fluid from fluid conduit 106 to fluid conduit 105 through housing plenum 213 in housing 101.

In the state shown in the figure, the stopper side wall 329 of the valve body 208 abuts against the stopper wall 572 of the lower case 552, and the valve body 208 cannot rotate in the direction of the stopper wall 572 but can rotate only in the direction of the stopper wall 573.

Similarly, when the actuator mechanism 110 receives a control signal to close the valve 100, the drive shaft 558 of the motor 550 is rotated in a forward direction (or clockwise direction) and the valve body 208 is rotated toward the blocking wall 573 until the valve body 208 moves to the closed position as shown in fig. 7A and 7B.

The valve 100 of the present embodiment includes the actuator mechanism 110, the valve body 208, and the housing 101, and the connection structure of the actuator mechanism 110 and the housing 101 is provided inside the housing 101, and the connection structure of the valve body 208 and the housing 101 is also provided inside the housing 101, which makes the valve 100 compact and small in size and height. And the size of the valve body 208 and the seal 218 corresponds to the size of the housing opening, the volume of the valve body 208 and the seal 218 can be as small as possible given the required size of the housing opening. Meanwhile, the valve body 208 and the sealing member 218 of the valve 100 can be installed together into the housing 101 through the installation opening 217, the assembly is convenient, the automatic assembly is possible, and the mass production is possible.

It should be noted that, although the valve 100 in the present embodiment includes only two fluid conduits, more fluid conduits may be provided according to actual needs, and the housing opening and the valve body structure and the angle of rotation of the control valve body are correspondingly provided.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a valve 900 according to another embodiment of the present application, illustrating an overall structure of the valve 900. As shown in fig. 9, the valve 900 also includes an actuator mechanism 910 and a housing 901, the actuator mechanism 910 including a cartridge 902 and a communication joint 107, and

fluid conduits

105 and 106 provided on the housing 901. The valve 900 has substantially the same structure as the valve 100, and differs from the valve 100 in that a valve cover 903 is further provided between the actuator mechanism 910 and the housing 901, and the actuator mechanism 910 is provided on the housing 901 via the valve cover 903.

Fig. 10A to 10C are views for illustrating a specific structure of the valve 900, in which fig. 10A is a sectional view of the valve 900 shown in fig. 9 taken along a line a-a, and fig. 10B and 10C are exploded perspective views of the valve 900 at two angles.

As shown in fig. 10A-10C, the valve 900 also includes a valve body 208 and a seal 218, the valve body 208 is mounted to the housing receptacle 1013 of the housing 901 via a mounting port 1017, and the structure of the valve body 208 and the seal 218 is the same as that of the valve body 208 and the seal 218 in the valve 100 and will not be described again. The housing 901 is also provided with a housing opening 1038 communicating with the fluid conduit 105 and with a support shaft 1009 connected to the valve body 208. In the present embodiment, a first seal 1011 is provided between the rotary shaft 215 of the valve body 208 and the valve cover 903 for preventing the coolant fluid in the housing 901 from seeping out from between the valve cover 903 and the valve body 208. A second seal 1012 remains disposed between the rotatable shaft 215 of the valve body 208 and the drive assembly within the cartridge body 902.

As shown in fig. 10B and 10C, the cassette 902 also includes an upper cassette 1051 and a lower cassette 1052, and the transmission assembly 581 and the motor are housed between the upper cassette 1051 and the lower cassette 1052. The valve cover 903 is provided with a through hole 1088, and the rotating shaft 215 of the valve body 208 can extend into the actuator mechanism 910 after passing through the through hole 1088 and is connected with the transmission assembly 581. In this embodiment, the mounting seat 1071 is no longer provided at the bottom of the lower case 1052 but at the bottom of the valve cap 903. The case 901 is coupled to a mounting seat 1071 at the bottom of the valve cover 903 by a welding process so that the valve cover 903 can close a mounting opening 1017 of the case 901. The mounting block 1071 also has blocking

walls

1072 and 1073 that limit the rotation of the valve body 208 between the open and closed positions by engagement of the limiting

side walls

328 and 329 of the valve body 208 with the blocking

walls

1072 and 1073. In this embodiment, the edge of the valve cover 903 is further provided with a positioning post 1091 extending downward, and correspondingly, the top of the housing 901 is provided with an ear portion 1082 protruding outward, and the ear portion 1082 is provided with a positioning hole 1083. When the valve cover 903 and the housing 901 are connected together, the positioning column 1091 is inserted into the positioning hole 1083 to position and mount the valve cover 903 and the housing 901, so that the blocking

walls

1072 and 1073 on the valve cover 903 can just limit the valve body 208 to rotate to the corresponding positions when abutting against the blocking

walls

1072 and 1073, and the housing opening on the housing 901 is closed or opened.

In the present embodiment, the lower box 1052 and the valve cover 903 are connected by a fastening structure, and as an example, two ends of the valve cover 903 are respectively provided with a convex boss extending upwards, the boss is provided with mounting

holes

1085a and 1085b, and the head and the side of the lower box 1052 are respectively connected with

fasteners

1086a and 1086b at corresponding positions. The lower box 1052 and the bonnet 903 can be connected together by the fitting of the

fasteners

1086a, 1086b and the mounting

holes

1085a, 1085 b.

In this embodiment, the valve 900 is somewhat larger in footprint than the valve 100, compared to the valve 100, by having more of the bonnet 903 than the valve 100, but the actuator mechanism 910 is removable due to the fastener connection between the bonnet 903 and the actuator mechanism 910. And valve gap 903 and casing 901 can the location be connected, the installation of being more convenient for.

The empty space inside the battery pack is usually not much, but the flow rate of the circulating cooling liquid cannot be too small in order to ensure the temperature regulating effect of the cooling liquid on the battery pack. Therefore, it is necessary to make the valve as small as possible while ensuring a necessary flow area of the cooling liquid in the valve and good sealing property by incorporating the valve in the battery pack.

The support on the casing is inside protruding to the casing in the valve of this application, stretches out in the drive axial executor mechanism on the valve body, has reduced the height of valve. And the valve of this application only needs three sealing member just can realize the sealing performance of valve, and the part quantity that needs is few, and the structure of valve is compacter, does not have redundant structure, and under the certain circumstances of valve body and casing wall thickness, the space that the valve occupy is little. In addition, this application still sets up to the shape of a hemisphere semicolumn through the valve body lateral wall with the valve body and the casing lateral wall of casing, and the size of valve body lateral wall is the same with casing open-ended size almost, under the prerequisite of guaranteeing casing open-ended size, has reduced the size of valve body. And the sealing member can be integrated on the valve body side wall, and the direct insertion installing port just can install, simple to operate, had both guaranteed the leakproofness of valve moreover, can also make the structure of valve compacter. From this, the valve of this application can have small, the leakproofness good, simple structure, the advantage of the assembly of being convenient for.

Although the present application will be described with reference to the particular embodiments shown in the drawings, it should be understood that numerous changes to the valves and seals of the present application may be made without departing from the spirit and scope and background of the teachings of the present application. Those of ordinary skill in the art will also realize that there are different ways of altering the structure of the embodiments disclosed in this application that fall within the spirit and scope of the application and the claims.

Claims

1. A valve, characterized by comprising:

a housing (101,901), the housing (101,901) having a housing receptacle (213,1013) and at least two housing openings (238,439), the at least two housing openings (238,439) communicating with the housing receptacle (213,1013);

a valve body (208), said valve body (208) rotatably disposed within said housing receptacle (213,1013) of said housing (101,901), said valve body (208) comprising a valve body top (321), a valve body bottom (322), and a valve body sidewall (323), said valve body top (321) being connected to a rotating shaft (215), said valve body sidewall (323) being connected between said valve body top (321) and said valve body bottom (322), and said valve body sidewall (323) extending circumferentially about an axis (x) of said rotating shaft (325), said valve body (208) configured to open or close at least one housing opening (238) of said at least two housing openings (238,439) via said valve body sidewall (323) as said valve body (208) rotates about said rotating shaft (215); and

a seal (218), said seal (218) disposed on said valve body sidewall (323), said seal (218) configured to cooperate with said housing (101) to enable said valve body sidewall (323) to sealingly close said at least one housing opening (238) of said at least two housing openings (238,439);

wherein, valve body lateral wall (323) includes interconnect's upper portion valve body lateral wall (325) and lower part valve body lateral wall (326), upper portion valve body lateral wall (325) with valve body top (321) link to each other, lower part valve body lateral wall (326) with valve body bottom (322) link to each other, and wherein, the surface of upper portion valve body lateral wall (325) is partial cylindrical face, and on from last direction down, the surface of lower part valve body lateral wall (326) is the shape that the diameter reduces gradually.

2. The valve of claim 1, wherein:

the shell (101,901) is provided with a shell bottom (432) and a shell side wall (433), the shell side wall (433) encloses the shell accommodating cavity (213), the shell opening (238,439) is arranged on the shell side wall (433), the bottom of the shell side wall (433) is connected to the shell bottom (432), the top of the shell side wall (433) is provided with a mounting port (217) communicated with the shell accommodating cavity (213), and the valve body (208) is mounted in the shell accommodating cavity (213) through the mounting port (217);

wherein the housing sidewall (433) comprises an upper housing sidewall (435) and a lower housing sidewall (436), the upper housing sidewall (435) being disposed above the lower housing sidewall (436), the housing sidewall (433) being disposed in a form fit with the valve body sidewall (323), and the seal (218) being configured to abut the housing sidewall (433).

3. The valve of claim 2, wherein:

the valve (100) further comprises at least two fluid ducts (105,106), the at least two fluid ducts (105,106) being arranged outside the housing (101) in correspondence with the housing opening (238,439) and being integral with the housing (101).

4. The valve of claim 2, wherein:

the novel valve is characterized in that a supporting shaft (209) extending into the housing accommodating cavity (213) is arranged at the bottom of the housing (432), a shaft hole (319) for receiving the supporting shaft (209) is formed in the bottom of the valve body (322), and the supporting shaft (209) and the rotating shaft (215) are coaxially arranged.

5. The valve of claim 2, wherein:

the sealing member (218) is integrally formed on the valve body sidewall (323) through an injection molding process.

6. The valve of claim 5, wherein:

the seal (218) is an annular seal shaped and dimensioned to encircle the housing opening (238) and abut the housing sidewall (433) surrounding the housing opening (238) when the valve body sidewall (323) closes the housing opening (238).

7. The valve of claim 1, wherein:

the outer surface of the lower valve body side wall (326) is a partial spherical surface, and the inner surface of the lower housing side wall (436) is a semi-spherical surface.

8. The valve of claim 7, wherein:

the valve body side wall (323) and the shell side wall (433) are uniform in thickness.

9. The valve of claim 2, further comprising:

an actuator mechanism (110), said actuator mechanism (110) comprising a transmission assembly (581), said transmission assembly (581) comprising:

a worm (559), the worm (559) being adapted to be connected to a drive shaft (558);

a first gear (553), the first gear (553) having an upper gear (554) and a lower gear (556) capable of synchronous rotation, the number of teeth of the lower gear (556) being less than that of the upper gear (554), the upper gear (554) being engaged with the worm (559); and

a second gear (557), the second gear (557) having a greater number of teeth than the lower gear (556), the second gear (557) meshing with the lower gear (556) of the first gear (553);

wherein the second gear (557) is connected to the rotary shaft (215) of the valve body (208) to drive the rotary shaft (215) to rotate.

10. The valve of claim 9, wherein:

the actuator mechanism (110) further comprises a box body (102), the box body (102) is connected above the shell (101), the transmission assembly (581) is arranged in the box body (102), the rotating shaft (215) penetrates through the box body (102) and is connected with the second gear (557), a first sealing ring (212) is arranged between the rotating shaft (215) and the box body (102), and a second sealing ring (211) is arranged between the second gear (557) and the box body (102).

11. The valve of claim 10, further comprising:

a valve cover (903), the valve cover (903) being welded on the mounting opening (1017) of the housing (901) to close the mounting opening (1017), the box body (902) being disposed above the valve cover (903), the rotation shaft (215) of the valve body (208) passing through the valve cover (903) to extend into the box body (902).

12. The valve of claim 11, wherein:

two blocking walls (572,573,1072,1073) capable of contacting with the top of the valve body are connected to the bottom of the box body (102) or the valve cover (903), and the valve body top (321) of the valve body (208) rotates between the two blocking walls (572,573,1072,1073).