JP2000257738A - Flow rate control valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control valve by an ultrasonic motor for preventing the flow out of the worn powder of a rotor generated between a drive piece and rotor to the valve port. SOLUTION: The control valve main body 1 formed to a seal up structure by welding a vibration piece 10 joined a piezoelectric element 2 or electric strain element on the upper surface of an elastic body 6, a cylinder 7 and a body 9 having a valve port 8 respectively is provided in this control valve. In the control valve main body 1, a rotor 3 rotated by the vibration of the vibration piece 10 through a drive piece 4 and a valve element 5 for changing the opening for the valve port 8 by making the rotation of the rotor 3 to a proper energizing means are provided. A turning type seal packing 11 is provided between the rotor 3 and the cylinder 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flow control valve connected to an air conditioner, a refrigerator, or the like and using an ultrasonic motor for controlling a flow rate of a refrigerant or the like, which is generated by friction between a driver and a rotor. The present invention relates to a control valve for preventing abrasion powder flowing out to a valve port or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, when an ultrasonic motor for driving a piezoelectric element with a high-frequency voltage in an ultrasonic region is combined with a control valve,
A control valve that is small and has excellent controllability can be configured.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a conventional control valve using an ultrasonic motor, which has been filed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 10-331937. Hereinafter, the prior art will be described with reference to FIG.

A conventional control valve includes a vibrator 10 in which a piezoelectric element 2 is joined to an upper surface of an elastic body 6, a cylinder 7 having an inflow pipe 12 on a side surface, a valve port 8 and an outflow pipe 13. The control valve body 1 is formed by joining the elastic body 6, the cylinder 7, and the body 9 to each other in a closed structure by welding or the like. The control valve body 1 accommodates a rotor 3, a driver 4 and a valve body 5, and the rotor 3 is pressed against the driver 4 by an appropriate urging means. Further, the valve element 5 is capable of controlling the opening of the valve port 8 by rotating together with the rotor 3. Although not shown, the rotor 3 may have a lining material attached to its upper surface in some cases.

[0004] The thrust spring 14 applies a thrust load to the driver 4 and the body 9 and rotates together with the rotation of the rotor 3 and the valve element 5. In addition, a cylindrical hole formed at the center of the valve body 5 includes:
A spring 15 is inserted, and the ball 16 is brought into contact with a recess 17 formed in the center of the body 9 via the spring 15. The thrust spring 14
Since the spring force is set to be larger than that of the spring 15, the lower surface of the valve body 5 is constantly pressed against the body 9 and also pressed toward the driver 4 via the rotor 3.

The valve element 5 has a stopper piece formed by projecting a part of the outer peripheral portion outward, and the stopper piece reaches the valve port 8 at a reference position (fully closed state) of the valve element 5. At this time, the rotation of the rotor 3 is stopped by abutting against a stopper pin 18 implanted and fixed to the body 9.

Next, the operation of the prior art will be described.
The driving mechanism of the related art is an ultrasonic motor in which the driving element 4 is vibrated by the piezoelectric element 2 and the rotor 3 is rotated. Although the description of the operation principle is omitted, it is a so-called standing wave driven ultrasonic motor. In the prior art, the gap between the valve port 8 of the body 9 and the flow groove of the valve element 5 is changed by rotating the valve element 5 using the rotational movement of the rotor 3, and the flow rate to the valve port 8 is reduced. To control.

[0007]

As described above, the conventional control valve using an ultrasonic motor generates torque due to the friction between the driver 4 and the rotor 3, so that abrasion powder of the lining material is generated over a long period of operation. However, there is a problem that the abrasion powder is deposited on the valve opening and causes a decrease in accuracy of the flow rate control.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to remove abrasion powder of a rotor generated between a driver and a rotor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a control valve using an ultrasonic motor that prevents outflow to a mouth or the like.

[0009]

That is, the present invention provides a vibrator 10 in which a piezoelectric element 2 or an electrostrictive element is joined to an upper surface of an elastic body 6, a cylinder 7, and a body 9 having a valve port 8. Are formed in a hermetically sealed structure by welding or the like, and a control valve main body 1 is provided. In the control valve main body 1, a rotor 3 that is rotated by a vibrator 10 via a driver 4;
A control valve using an ultrasonic motor provided with a valve body 5 for changing the opening of the valve port 8 with the valve port 8 by an appropriate urging means, wherein the valve rotates between the rotor 3 and the cylinder 7. This is a flow rate control valve provided with a dynamic seal packing 11.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the elastic element 6, the cylinder 7, and the body 9 having the valve port 8 are hermetically sealed by welding or the like, respectively, and the piezoelectric element 2 or the electrostrictive element is connected to the outside of the elastic element. An electric signal in an ultrasonic range is applied to the element, and a valve element 5 for controlling a flow rate is rotated while sliding on a body 9 via a rotor 3 pressed against an internal driver 4.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The flow control valve according to the present embodiment includes a vibrator 10 in which a piezoelectric element 2 is joined to an upper surface of an elastic body 6, a cylinder 7 having an inflow pipe 12 on a side surface, and a valve port 8, similarly to a conventional product. The control valve main body 1 includes a body 9 provided with an outflow pipe 13, and the elastic body 6, the cylinder 7, and the body 9 are each formed by welding and the like to form a closed structure. The control valve body 1 accommodates a rotor 3, a driver 4 and a valve body 5, and the rotor 3 is pressed against the driver 4 by an appropriate urging means. Further, the valve element 5 is capable of controlling the opening of the valve port 8 by rotating together with the rotor 3. The inflow pipe 12 may be connected to the body 9 (not shown) instead of being attached to the side of the cylinder 7.

The difference between the control valve body 1 of the present invention and the conventional product will be described. In the present invention, the rotor 3
A rotary seal packing 11 is provided between the rotary seal and the cylinder 7, and the rotary seal packing 11 has an umbrella shape that spreads in a direction in which the pressure of the seal portion is increased by fluid pressure.

Therefore, in the product of the present invention using the rotary seal packing 11, the packing can prevent the wear powder of the rotor generated between the driver 4 and the rotor 3 from flowing out to the valve port or the like. Therefore, unlike the conventional product, the abrasion powder does not deposit on the valve opening, and does not cause a decrease in the accuracy of the flow rate control.

The thrust spring 14 applies a thrust load to the driver 4 side and the body 9 side and rotates together with the rotation of the rotor 3 and the valve body 5. Spring 15 into the cylindrical hole
Is inserted, the ball 16 abuts against the concave portion 17 at the center of the body 9 via the spring 15, and the thrust spring 14 is set to have a larger spring force than the spring 15. The present invention and the conventional product are exactly the same in that the lower surface is pressed against the body 9 and also pressed against the driver 4 via the rotor 3.

The operation of the driving mechanism according to the present invention is the same as that of the prior art, and will not be described.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which only the rotor, the rotary seal packing, and the cylindrical portion are shown. In this case, the shape of the rotary seal packing is tapered to improve the sealing performance with the cylinder.

Although not particularly shown, the present invention can be realized by dividing the piezoelectric element 2 into even numbers. In addition, when the polarization direction of the piezoelectric element 2 is divided into two parts by + and-, the present invention can be realized by a series connection in which all areas are set to the same direction.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the shape of the rotary seal packing provided between the rotor and the cylinder of the control valve body has an umbrella shape that expands in the direction of sealing by fluid pressure. Further, the effect that the wear powder generated by the friction of the rotor can be prevented from flowing out to the valve port side and the deterioration of the flow rate accuracy can be reduced is remarkable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of a flow control valve according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view showing only the vicinity of a rotary seal packing according to a second embodiment of the flow control valve according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a conventional flow control valve using an ultrasonic motor.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 control valve body, 2 piezoelectric element, 3 rotor,
4 driver, 5 valve element, 6 elastic body, 7 cylinder, 8 valve port, 9 body, 10 vibrator, 11 rotary seal packing, 12 inflow pipe, 13 outflow pipe, 14 thrust spring,
15 spring, 16 ball, 17 recess formed in the center of the body, 18 stopper pin,

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vibrator (10) in which a piezoelectric element (2) or an electrostrictive element is joined to an upper surface of an elastic body (6), and a cylinder (7).
And a body (9) having a valve port (8) are each formed in a sealed structure by welding or the like to provide a control valve body (1), and a vibrator (10) is provided in the control valve body (1). Driver (4) by vibration of
An ultrasonic motor provided with a rotor (3) rotating through a valve, and a valve (5) for changing the degree of opening of the valve port (8) by an appropriate urging means for rotating the rotor (3). A flow control valve according to claim 1, wherein a rotary seal packing (11) is provided between said rotor (3) and said cylinder (7).