IL212385A

IL212385A - Fluid controller

Info

Publication number: IL212385A
Application number: IL212385A
Authority: IL
Original assignee: Fujikin Kk
Priority date: 2008-10-24
Filing date: 2011-04-14
Publication date: 2014-05-28
Also published as: JP2010101438A; TW201027017A; CN102197252A; JP5205213B2; IL212385A0; TWI397660B; KR101268214B1; KR20110066182A; CN102197252B; WO2010047220A1

Description

Fluid Controller on>>3 pi FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fluid controller that controls a flow of a fluid flowing through a fluid passage provided inside its body by opening or closing the fluid passage, and more particularly to a fluid controller that needs to be heated or cooled from outside.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A fluid controller that is heated or cooled using a heat medium is conventionally known, for example, as disclosed in JP 1 1 -125344.

Heating with use of hot water as a heat medium is advantageous over heating with use of a heater in that it does not require electricity, and it can util ize high-temperature waste water or the like. On the other hand, the temperature of the hoi water cannot be easily raised as compared to the heating with a healer, and therefore an improvement in heating efficiency is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a fluid controller that can improve heating efficiency in applications in which hot water is used.

A fluid controller according to the present invention includes a body including a block part - provided with a fluid passage and a cylindrical part extending from a top surface of the block part; and an actuator for opening and closing the fluid passage inside the body, wherein the top surface of the block part of the body is covered with an upper cover that forms an upper heat medium space for holding a heat medium between the upper cover and an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical part of the body, a bottom surface of the block part of the body is covered with a lower cover that forms a lower heat medium space for holding a heat medium between the lower cover and the bottom surface of the block part of the body, and at least one heat medium passage communicating the upper heal medium space and the lower heal medium space is formed inside the block part of the body so as not to interfere with the fluid passage.

In the present invention, the terms "up" and "down" should be understood to refer to a distal end side and a base end side (block part side), respectively, of the cylindrical part of the body. However, the terms "up" and "down" are used for convenience and may be used in cases where (he up and down directions are oriented horizontal, or inverted.

The fluid controller may be a typical open/close valve, or may be a control valve. In either case, the configuration of the fluid controller including the actuator is not limited, and may have a variety of configurations and functions. Specifically, a heating or cooling configuration for a fluid controller including a body provided with a fluid passage and an actuator for opening and closing (controlling) the fluid passage can be achieved, while using a conventional actuator, by providing an upper cover and a lower cover so as to sandwich the block part of the body from above and below so as to form heat medium spaces respectively between the body and the upper cover and between the body and the lower cover, and further by providing a heat medium passage communicating the heat medium spaces with each other inside the body.

The heal medium flowing through the heat medium passage may be hot water (for heating), cooling water (for cooling), steam, or other l iquids and gases (readily evaporable liquids or fluids with good thermal conductivity).

The body is coated in parts thai are in contact with the heat medium as required (in accordance with the type of heat medium). The coating may be applied only on the surface of the body, or, not only on the body surface but on the flow path surface of the heal medium passage (entire surface in contact with the heat medium).

Planar heaters are heating means commonly used in fluid controllers, which, however, require electricity and may not easily be adopted in some cases. Heating with the use of high-temperature waste water may be desirable in some cases from the point of energy saving. Thus, the fluid controller according to the present invention is suitable for such applications.

The body and the like of the fluid controller are made of stainless steel such as SUS316 or 316L, for example. The lower cover and the upper cover, correspondingly, may be made of stainless steel such as SUS316, for example, but the material is not limited to thereto.

Since a plurality of heat medium passages are provided inside the body, highly efficient heating or cool ing is achieved as compared to. heating or cool ing only from outside of the body. Pressure loss can be reduced by adjusting the number of (he heat medium passages and the diameters of respective passages. Further, when applying the invention to an existing fluid controller, while an outer shape of the fluid controller needs to be changed and additional upper and lower covers are necessary, the internal structure (other than the heat medium passage) can be used as it is, and thus a fluid controller that is efficiently heated or cooled using a heat medium can readily be achievetl.

According to the fluid controller of the present invention, since heat medium passages are formed inside the block part of the body, heating or cooling efficiency is high, and, a reduction in pressure loss can easily be achieved by adjusting the number of the heat medium passages and the diameters of respective passages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS I n order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a side view showing one embodiment of a fluid controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the fluid controller according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the fluid controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view of the fluid controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan sectional view (sectional view along line V-V of FIG. 2) of the fluid controller according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 to FIG, 5 show one embodiment of a fluid controller according to the present invention.

A fluid controller 1 includes a body 2 having a square prismatic block pari 3 provided with a fluid passage and a cylindrical part 4 extending upward from a top surface of the block part, an upper cover 1 1 provided on the top surface of the block part 3 of the body 2, a lower cover 12 provided on a bottom surface of the block part 3 of the body 2, and an actuator 5 mounted on top of the body 2 via a gland 6.

To the block part 3 of the body 2 are provided an inlet joint 7 and an outlet joint 8. Although not shown, a stem driving mechanism for shutting and opening the fluid passage inside the fluid controller 1 is accommodated inside a casing 5a of the actuator 5. The stem driving mechanism includes, for example, a piston fixed to the upper end of a stem, a biasing member biasing the piston downward, and a compressed air introducing part introducing compressed air to the lower side of the piston. The stem is disposed inside the cylindrical part 4 of the body 2 so as to be movable up and down, and this stem driving mechanism moves the stem up and down using an operating pressure of compressed air so that a valve element disposed inside the block part 3 of the body 2 moves up and down or deforms with the up and down movement of the stem to shut and/or open the fluid passage. The gland 6 is mounted to the lop surface of the cylindrical part 4 of the body 2 by means of a plurality of bolts 9 through a flange 6a at the lower end thereof, and is coupled to the actuator 5 by means of a nut 10.

The upper cover 11 is provided to form an upper heat medium space (S ) for holding a heat medium between the upper cover 1 1 and an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical part 4 of the body 2. The upper cover 1 1 is tubular with a square prismatic outer surface and a cylindrical inner surface, and mounted to the top surface of the block part 3 of the body 2 by means of bolts 13 passed through four corners thereof from above. The lower cover 12 is provided to form a lower heat medium space (S2) for holding a heat medium between the lower cover 12 and the bottom surface of the block part 3 of the body 2. The lower cover 12 is a square prismatic block member having a recess 25, and mounted to the bottom surface of the block part 3 of the body 2 by means of bolts 14 passed through four corners thereof from below.

A heal medium introducing joint 15 for introducing a heat medium inside is provided to the upper cover Π . A heat medium discharging joint 16 for discharging the heat medium from inside is provided to the lower cover 12. Although the joints 15 and 16 herein are fastening joints using ferrules 15a and 16a, it goes without saying that other types of joints can also be used.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the cylindrical part 4 of the body 2 includes small-diameter part 21 continuous with the top surface of the block part 3, and a large- diameter part 22 continuous with and on top of the small-diameter part 21. The outside diameter of the large-diameter part 22 is smaller than the diameter (length of one side of I t) the square) of the top surface of the block part 3 by the thickness of the upper cover 1 1 , while the outside diameter of the small-diameter part 21 is smaller than the outside diameter of the large-diameter part 22, whereby the upper heat medium space (SI ) is secured between the outer circumferential surface of the small-diameter part 21 and the inner circumferential surface of the upper cover 11.

The inside diameter of the upper cover 1 1 is set equal to the outside diameter of the large-diameter part 22 of the cylindrical part 4. The lower surface of the upper heat medium space (S3 ) is defined by the top surface of the block part 3, while the upper surface of the upper heat medium space (SI) is defined by the lower surface of the large-diameter part 22 of the cylindrical part 4. The upper surface of the upper cover 1 1 and the upper surface of the large-diameter part 22 of the cylindrical part 4 are coplanar with each other and pressed down by the flange 6a of the gland 6.

Between an outer circumferential surface near the lower end of the large- diameter part 22 of the cyl indrical part 4 and an inner circumferential surface of the upper cover 1 1 is interposed an O-ring 23 for providing a seal. The top of the block part 3 has an outside diameter equal to the diameter of the inner circumference of the upper cover 11 so that the lower end of the upper cover 1 1 can fit therein. Between an outer circumferential surface of this top of the block part 3 and an inner circumferential surface of the upper cover 11 is also interposed an O-ring 24 for providing a seal.

A cylindrical recess 25 is formed in the top surface of the lower cover 12. The circumferential surface and the bottom surface of the recess 25 and the bottom surface of the block part 3 form the lower heat medium space (S2), The diameter of the circum ference of the recess 25 is slightly smaller than the diameter of the inner circumference of the Lipper cover 1 1. Between a peripheral portion of the top surface of the lower cover 12 and an outer circumferential portion of (he bottom surface of the block part 3 is interposed an O-ring 26 for providing a seal.

A plurality of heal medium passages 27 are provided along a pitch circle encircling the small-diameter part 21 of the cylindrical part 4 so as to extend through the block part 3 up and down. The upper ends of the heat medium passages 27 communicate with the space between the outer circumferential surface of the small-diameter part 21 and the inner circumferential surface of the upper cover 11 , i.e., the upper heat medium space (S i ), while the lower ends of the heat medium passages 27 communicate wilh the opening of the recess 25 in the lower cover 1.2, i.e., the lower heat medium space (S2).

In FIG. 5, the block pari 3 of the body 2 includes a fluid passage 3a that generally extends from the left side to the right side of the drawing as indicated by broken lines in Ihe figure. The heat medium passages 27 are provided opposite to each other, three each on both sides of the fluid passage 3a, so as not to interfere with the fluid passage 3a.

Thus a heat medium circulation passage is formed, in which the heal medium introduced from the heat medium introducing joint 15 of the upper cover 1 1 flows through the upper heat medium space (S I), the plurality of heat medium passages 27, and the lower heat medium space (S2), and is discharged from the heat medium discharging joint 16 of the lower cover 12, The heat medium can also be introduced from the joint 16 of the lower cover 12 and discharged from the joint 15 of the upper cover 11 , For some fluid controllers 1, prevention of condensation of moisture in ambient air on the outer surface is an issue, which may occur when the body 2 or the like is cooled because of adiabatic cooling due to adiabalic expansion when the pressure of the fluid is adjusted from a high level to a low level. If hot water is used as the heat medium in this case, the fluid controller 1 can effectively be heated, so that condensation can be prevented. Alternatively, by using cooling water as the heat medium, the fluid controller 1 can be cooled.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, in a fluid controller that requires heating or cooling from outside, if hot water is used as a heat medium, the fluid controller can effectively be heated, which enables, for example, prevention of condensation, whereas, if cooling water is used as the heat medium, the fluid controller can be cooled. Thus, a fluid controller that is efficiently heated or cooled using a heat medium is readily achieved.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A fluid controller comprising: a body including a block part provided with a fluid passage and a cylindrical part extending from a top surface of the block part; and 5 an actuator for opening and closing the fluid passage inside the body, wherein the top surface of the block part of the body is covered with an upper cover that forms an upper heat medium space for holding a heat medium between the upper cover and an outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical part of the body, a bottom surface of the block part of the body is covered with a lower cover that It) forms a lower heat medium space for holding a heat medium between the lower cover and the bottom surface of the block part of the body, and at least one heat medium passage communicating the upper heat medium space and the lower heal medium space is formed inside the block part of the body so as not to interfere with the fluid passage. 15

2. The' fluid controller according to claim 1 , wherein one of the upper cover and the lower cover is provided with a heat medium introducing joint for introducing the heat medium inside, while the other one of the upper cover and the lower cover is provided with a heat medium discharging joint for discharging the heat medium from inside.

3. The fluid controller according to claim 1, wherein 20 the cylindrical part of the body includes a cylindrical small-diameter part continuous with the lop surface of the block part, and a cylindrical large-diameter part continuous with and on top of the small-diameter part, the large-diameter part having an outside diameter smaller than a diameter of the top surface of the block part by a thickness of the upper cover, and 25 the small-diameter part having an outside diameter smaller than the outside diameter of the large-diameter part, whereby the upper heat medium space is secured between an outer circumferential surface of the small-diameter part and an inner circumferential surface of the upper cover.

4. The fluid controller according to claim 3, wherein the upper cover has an inside 30 diameter equal to the outside diameter of the large-diameter part of the cylindrical part of the body, the upper heat medium space having a lower surface defined by the top surface of the block part and an upper surface defined by a lower surface of the large-diameter part. of the cylindrical part, an upper surface of the upper cover being coplanar with an upper surface of the large-diameter part of the cylindrical part.

5. S. The fluid controller according to claim 1 , wherein a recess is formed in the top surface of the lower cover, the lower heat medium space being formed by circumferential and bottom surfaces of the recess and the bottom surface of the block part of the body.

6. The fluid controller according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of heat medium passages are provided along a pitch circle encircling a small-diameter part of the cylindrical part of the body so as to extend through the block part up and down, upper ends of the heat medium passages communicating with a space between an outer circumferential surface of the small-diameter part and an inner circumferential surface of the upper cover, which is the upper heal medium space, and lower ends of the heat medium passages communicating with an opening of a recess of the lower cover, which is the lower heat medium space. For the Applicants, WOLFF, ItREGMAN AND GOLLER