GB2176872A

GB2176872A - Ball valve faucet

Info

Publication number: GB2176872A
Application number: GB08507061A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Karsten Laing
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-03-21
Filing date: 1985-03-19
Publication date: 1987-01-07
Also published as: GB8507061D0

Abstract

In a single-lever mixing faucet comprising a ball closure member 2, 3 the inlet seals 8 are each constructed of a hard, relatively non-resilient material and formed with a concave sealing surface. Preferably the seals Band a sealing plate 18 (21, 30, 40, 51 Figures 2-5) set into the closure member are formed of ceramics e.g. silicon carbide, silicon nitrate, aluminium oxide, or zirconium oxide. Also revealed is a method of grinding a particular sealing plate (40, Figure 4) by fastening a plurality of such plates (Figure 5) on an auxiliary ball and then grinding them, preferably in a centreless ball grinder. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Faucet The present invention relates generally to mixing valves especiaily adaptable for use in domestic bathrooms and kitchens, and, more particularly, to such mixing valves which are selectively adjustable by a single lever to provide a corresponding variation in mix of two fluids (e.g., hot and cold water).

A well-received type of domestic bathroom faucet has as a sealing and mixing element a ball with at least two openings for cold and hot water entrance and at least one opening for mixed water exit. This ball valve is pivotably located in a fixed seat that permits the ball to swivel around a vertical axis as well as around a horizontal axis. The cold and warm water inlet channels are typically provided with elastic rubber gasket rings. The advantage of such a mixing valve is based on its simplicity, whereas a disadvantage is that the elastic rubber rings wear off considerably resulting in continuous dribble.

While for normal water faucet arrangements non-wearing ceramic valve plates with gliding surfaces of extreme accuracy are frequently used, whereby accuracy can be obtained through relatively inexpensive lapping treatment, similar treatments for ball-shaped elements are not known.

In accordance with the described invention the mixing ball valve is constructed of a synthetic plastic, but those areas which cover the openings in the gasket rings are made of plates of a non-abrasive ceramic material which provides excellent fluid sealing properties. Also, gasket rings forming the counter/ parts to the plates are produced from the same ceramic materials. Plates and rings overlap, at least partly in each position of the ball during operation, and in this way the ceramic material critical parts are reduced to relatively small elements the surface of which can be machined and lapped by conventional low-cost methods.

A further improvement consists in that the sealing plates and gasket rings are rotatably mounted on supporting films of PTFE (i.e., polytetrafluoroethylene), for example. Accordingly, relative rotation of sealing plates and sealing rings does not result in scratches on the sealing surfaces.

Various forms of faucet or mixing valve embodying the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational, sectional view through a said mixing valve; Figure 2 is a top plan view of the valve of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic view of a second form of said mixing valve; Figure 4 shows a third form of mixing valve with a spherical sealing segment; and Figure 5 is a partially fragmentary view showing how the segments of Figure 4 may be machined.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a domestic, faucet having a ball mixing valve formed as a unit with lever 1. This ball valve is constructed of two hollow hemispherical sheils 2 and 3 located within housing 4 and at a spherical working clearance 20 thereto. The housing includes two openings 11 and 11', connected with cold water entrance pipe 6 and with a hot water entrance pipe (not shown), respectively. A third opening 7 communicates with the outlet pipe of the faucet.

In the openings 11 and 11' there are sealing rings 8 and 8' made out of ceramic material, each of the rings being forced by springs 10 against the outer surface of the ball valve. Rubber gaskets 9 seal the surface of the rings facing the spring against the inner wall of the openings 11 and 11' in housing 4. The surface of ring 8 facing the ball valve has a spherical concave configuration and the ring opening coincides with the hole 12 in the ball valve so that water can flow into the inner space 13 of the hemispherical shells 2,3. This water throughput leaves the inside of the ball valve via channel 7 which communicates with the outlet pipe for the faucet.

If the ball is adjustably rotated about the axis 14 in a forward direction, the opening of the sealing ring 8 coincides with the opening 15 in the ball shell 3 (Figure 2). Now only hot water can enter the valve inner space 13 and leave through channel 7. Any in-between valve position produces a mixture of hot and cold water.

If the ball is rotated around the horizontal axis 25 (Figure 2) by the angle 16 in direction of arrow 17, the ceramic sealing plate 18 closes the entrance opening of the sealing ring 8 so that the water no longer has access to the inner space 13 nor to the working clearance 20. The sealing plate 18 has a spherical sealing surface with a spherical radius identical to the radius of the ball valve and the concave surface of the sealing ring 8. In this position the sealing ring 8 is shifted relative to the spherical shell 3 into the dotted position 19 (Figure 2).

In the lower part of Figure 2 a round sealing plate 21 is shown while in the upper part of this same figure the sealing plate 18 of a larger diameter is shown. The sealing plate 18 has an indentation 22 enclosing about half of the circumference of the hole 12. Through this configuration it is guaranteed at any position of the ball valve that the sealing ring 8 remains with at least half of its surface contacting the sealing plate 18, while sealing ring 8', to the contrary, stays in one end position only with a very small part 24 of its surface on the sealing plate 21 causing undesirable high specific pressure resulting in higher wear.

A further advantageous effect is achieved by arranging the opening 11' eccentrically to the sealing plate 21 outer edges. In this way the active sealing parts 8 and 21 can rotate relative to each other with no scratches being produced.

The material for the sealing ring 8 and the sealing plates 18 or 21 should be exceptionally hard, such as, for example, aluminium oxide, zirconium oxide, silicon carbide, silicon nitrate or other harcl materials with advantageous sealing properties.

Figure 3 shows a variant of the invention in which one sealing plate 30 covers both rings 8 and 8'. The indentations 31, 32, 33 and 34 are of such geometry and dimensions that the sealing rings 8 and 8' overlap in any position with the sealing plate 30 by more than 50% of their sealing surfaces.

Figure 4 shows another variant of the invention, where instead of a round plate 30, a segment of a hollow ball 40 is used. This segment includes indentations 41, 42, 43 which also embrace the holes 41', 42' and 43' for about one-half of their respective circumferences.

Figure 5 shows a method of producing segments by forming a hollow ball from a plurality of segments 40. Eight segments are secured to an auxiliary ball 52 (e.g., by gluing). On both poles 50 two spherical cups 51 of the same materials as the segments 40 are affixed to the auxiliary ball. The segments 40 together with the two cups 51 form an uninterrupted spherical surface. Therefore, grinding and lapping can be done with conventional centerless ball grinders. As soon as the required precision is achieved the securing means (e.g., giue) is destroyed, for example by heat, so that with each ball eight segments are gained.

Claims

1. A faucet for selectively mixing hot and cold water by manipulation of a single lever, the faucet comprising a ball valve having a first and a second water entrance opening and spring-loaded inlet seals located in a housing about hot and cold inlet water openings, said inlet seals being constructed of hard relatively non-resilient material, each said seal having a concave surface conforming to the outer surface of said ball valve.

2. A faucet according to Claim 1, in which the inlet seals are constructed of silicon carbide, aluminium oxide, zirconium oxide or silicon nitrate.

3. A faucet according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which sealing plate means constructed of a generally non-resilient hard material are mounted on the ball valve and have a curved concave surface conforming to that of the ball valve.

4. A faucet according to Claim 3, in which the sealing plate means are constructed of silicon carbide, silicon nitrate, aluminium oxide or zirconium oxide.

5. A faucet according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, in which said plate means include an indentation from an edge conforming in geometry and dimensions to approximately one-half of an inlet water opening.

6. A faucet according to any one of Claims 3 to 5, in which a first and a second sealing plate means are provided spaced apart on the ball valve a distance substantially equal to the spacing between the hot and cold inlet water openings.

7. A ball faucet constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 and 2, or as modified by Figure 3, or as modified by Figure 4, of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

7. A faucet according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, in which said sealing plate means include at least three indentations.

8. A faucet according to Claim 3 or Claim 4, in which said sealing plate means have the general geometry of a segment of the ball valve with at least three edge indentations.

9. A faucet according to Claim 8, in which the sealing plate means have a general geometry of a segment of a hollow ball and wherein the curve of the rim facing the water openings conforms with a part of the water openings and the curve of the rim facing the opposite side matches said curve.

10. A method of grinding the sealing plate means for a faucet according to Claim 5 or Claim 6, the method comprising using a ball having a diameter substantially twice the thickness of said sealing plate means, substantially eight said sealing plate means being fastened to said ball and two end plates being provided so that said bail carries over the whole circumference either sealing plate means or said end plates and said ball being ground in a ball grinding machine.

11. A faucet constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 and 2, or as modified by Figure 3, or as modified by Figure 4, of the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

12. A method according to Claim 10 and substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings.

1. A ball faucet for hot and cold water with a handle for moving a spherical ball of the faucet, said handle being pivotable in the faucet housing about a substantially vertical axis and about a substantially horizontal axis, said ball having at least two openings in the hemisphere facing the inside of the faucet housing which can be aligned with corresponding openings in said housing, which openings in said housing have spring-ioaded sealing rings (8,8'), the faucet being characterised in that (a) the rings are composed of ceramic material and have concave surfaces whose radii are identical with the radius of the ball; (b) the part (2) of the ball (2,3) which covers the surfaces of the rings when the faucet is in the OFF position is composed of a plate (18,21,30,40) of ceramic material with one convex surface having a spherical radius which is identical with the radius of the ball; and (c) the maximum pivotal angle about the substantially horizontal axis (25) and the maximum pivotal angle (16) about the substantially vertical axis are such that the outer rim of the plate (18,21,30,40) always maintain contact with the inner rim of the ring (8,8').

2. A ball faucet according to Claim 1, wherein the plate (18) has a recess matching the diameter of the hole (11) of the ring (8).

3. A ball faucet according to Claim 1, wherein the ball (2,3) has two plates (21), the distance between the centres of the plates being substantially the same as the distance between the centres of the holes (11) in the faucet housing.

4. A ball faucet according to Claim 1, wherein the rim of the plate (30) has at least three recesses (32,33,34).

5. A ball faucet according to Claim 4, wherein the plate consists of a segment (40) of a hollow sphere.

6. A ball faucet according to Claim 5, having a configuration wherein recesses (41,42,43) have protruding counterparts on the trailing edge (45), so that a plurality of segments (40) together with two end plates (51) form a hollow sphere.