JP2003042335A - Combination faucet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve workability, and to lower the manufacturing cost by reducing the number of parts items when assembling a cartridge provided with a temperature adjusting function in a combination faucet using a temperature sensing spring made of a shape memory alloy to adjust temperature of the mixture water. SOLUTION: The cartridge 9 of the combination faucet A is formed by fastening a first member 10 and a second member 14 to each other by screwing for integration. The first member 10 houses a spindle 12 connected to a temperature adjusting handle 8 and a feeder screw member 13 screwed to the periphery of the spindle 12 and connected to a bias spring 29, and the second member 14 houses a control valve 24 and the temperature sensing spring 30.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a mixing faucet for automatically adjusting the temperature of mixed water by mixing hot water and water. The present invention relates to a mixing faucet using a temperature-sensitive spring made of a memory alloy. 2. Description of the Related Art In a mixing faucet for adjusting the temperature of mixed water by mixing hot water and water, the temperature of the mixed water, which is controlled by the hot water supply pressure or the fluctuation of the water supply pressure, changes, and the temperature of the mixed water becomes constant. Since the mixed water cannot always be discharged, a thermostatic mixing faucet that can automatically adjust the water to return to a set temperature has been conventionally known. The thermostatic mixing faucet uses a wax element as a means of sensing the temperature of the mixed water, and the control valve is moved by the thermal expansion and contraction of the wax element to adjust the opening of the hot water inlet and the water inlet to control the temperature. Although the mixed water at the temperature set by the handle is spouted, the calorie of the mixed water is not directly transmitted to the wax element, the response to the temperature change is slow, the fluctuation of the hot water supply pressure or the water supply pressure, and the temperature adjustment handle There is a problem in that the undershoot or overshoot in which the cold water or hot water is spouted temporarily when the set temperature is changed by the operation of 大 き い is large. Especially when the overshoot is large, high-temperature hot water is spouted suddenly. Was bad. Therefore, recently, a mixing faucet using a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy instead of a wax element has become widespread. A well-known mixing faucet using a temperature-sensitive spring made of such a shape memory alloy is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-15205.
FIGS. 3 and 4 of Japanese Patent Publication No. 0 (FIG.
(B)). 3 (a) and 3 (b), a cartridge 55 having an automatic temperature control function is connected to a temperature control handle 52 and a main body 51.
The first member 5 is detachably attached from the left end of the first member 5.
6, the second member 60 and the third member 61 can be integrally joined by screw joining, and the second member 60 has a control valve 63 whose both end faces in the axial direction face the hot water supply chamber 53 and the water chamber 54, respectively. The spindle 57 having one end connected to the temperature control handle 52 is rotatably incorporated into the first member 56, and the spindle 57 and the first member 56 are rotatably incorporated into the first member 56. In between, a feed screw member 58 screwed to the spindle 57 is incorporated in the first member 56 so as to move only in the axial direction and not rotate around the axis, and further urges the control valve 63 toward the water valve seat 62. The third member 6 accommodates a bias spring 64 for
1 accommodates a temperature-sensitive spring 65 made of a shape memory alloy for urging the control valve 63 toward the hot water valve seat 59 side. Accordingly, by operating the temperature control handle 52,
The temperature of the mixed water is set by moving the control valve 63 via the feed screw member 58 and the bias spring 64 to adjust the respective opening degrees of the water valve seat 62 side and the hot water valve seat 59 side. When the temperature of the mixed water changes due to the supply pressure of hot water and temperature fluctuation, the temperature-sensitive spring 65 expands and contracts, and corrects the temperature to maintain the temperature of the mixed water at the set temperature. [0005] In the above, in order to assemble the cartridge, the first member contains the spindle, the lead screw member and the bias spring separately, the second member contains the control valve, and the third member contains the control valve. It is necessary to accommodate temperature-sensitive springs, accommodate a large number of articles in each member, and screw them together.Assembling work is troublesome, productivity is poor, and it is not suitable for mass production. Could not be produced. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an assembly of a cartridge having an automatic temperature control function in a mixing faucet for controlling the temperature of mixed water using a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy. In order to improve workability by reducing the number of parts at the time,
It is an object of the present invention to be able to manufacture at low cost. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a main body in which a hot water chamber, a water chamber, and a mixing chamber are formed in an axial direction, and housing chambers communicating with the chambers are formed, and a housing chamber for the main body. And a cartridge provided with a temperature control function. The cartridge forms a hot water inlet communicating with the hot water chamber of the main body and a water inlet communicating with the water chamber, and slides in the axial direction inside the hot water inlet. Control valve for adjusting the supply amount of hot water from the furnace and the supply amount of water from the water inlet, a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy for biasing the control valve from one side, and biasing the control valve from the other side And a biasing force of the bias spring is adjusted by operating a temperature adjusting handle connected to the cartridge via a spindle, and the temperature of the mixed water is adjusted. Screw the second member together The first member accommodates a spindle connected to the temperature control handle and a feed screw member screwed to the outer periphery of the spindle and coupled with a bias spring, and the second member has a control valve and a temperature-sensitive element. The spring is housed. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a main body 1 of a mixing faucet A has a horizontally long cylindrical shape, and a hot water chamber 2 in which hot water is supplied from a hot water supply source in an axial direction inside, and water is supplied from a water supply source. A water chamber 3, a storage chamber 4 in which a cartridge 9 having a temperature control function is detachably mounted, and a mixing chamber 5 for supplying mixed water adjusted by the cartridge 9 to the outside are formed. The hot water chamber 2 and the water chamber 3 communicate with the storage chamber 4, and a cartridge 9 is mounted on the left end in the drawing.
An opening 6 is formed to be inserted for insertion into a hole. The cartridge 9 is substantially cylindrical, and has a structure in which the first member 10 and the second member 14 are screwed together and integrally connected with the hot water side valve seat member 22 being sandwiched in the middle.
A plurality of sealing members 11, 15, and 15a are mounted on the outer peripheral surface, are housed in the housing chamber 4 from the opening 6 of the main body 1 in a watertight manner, and the fixing nut 7 is screwed into the opening 6. Body 1
Is assembled. A spindle 12 having one end connected to a temperature control handle 8 is accommodated in the first member 10 so as to be rotatable and non-displaceable in the axial direction by a clip 12a mounted on the outer peripheral surface. The formed male screw portion 12b is screwed into a female screw portion 13a formed on the inner peripheral surface of the feed screw member 13, and the feed screw member 13 is provided with a rotation preventing convex portion 13b formed on the outer peripheral surface. Member 10
Engages with the rail groove 10a drilled in the axial direction on the inner peripheral surface of
The inside of the first member 10 is moved in the axial direction by the rotation of the spindle 12, but is not rotated. The second member 14 has a peripheral surface on which the hot water chamber 2 of the main body 1 is provided.
And an annular hot water inlet 1 communicating with the hot water chamber 2
6, facing the water chamber 3 of the main body 1, forming an annular water inlet 17 communicating with the water chamber 3, and forming an outlet 19 on the side surface communicating with the mixing chamber 5 of the main body 1, As shown in FIG. 2, ring-shaped strainers 20, 20 are mounted so as to entirely cover the hot water inlet 16 and the water inlet 17 without any gap. The strainer 20 is a ring-shaped net material such as a thin metal wire or a synthetic resin wire. Hot water or water supplied from the hot water chamber 2 or the water chamber 3 to the inside of the cartridge 9 always passes through the strainer 20. As a result, the hot water or foreign matter contained in the water is trapped by the strainer 20 and is prevented from entering the inside of the cartridge 9. A control valve 24 is slidably accommodated in the second member 14 in the axial direction.
Is a substantially cylindrical large-diameter portion 25 on the outer peripheral side and a small-diameter portion 26 on the inner peripheral side.
The hot water side valve seat member 2 is provided at both ends of the large diameter portion 25.
2 and a water valve seat 1 formed on the inner peripheral side of the water inlet 17.
And a water-side seating portion 25b which is seated on the outer peripheral surface of the second member 14. A seal member 25c, which is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the second member 14 in a water-tight manner, is provided substantially at the center of the outer peripheral surface. I am wearing it. Further, a support member seating portion 26a for supporting a support member 34 described later is provided at one end of the small diameter portion 26.
6, a passage 27 through which hot water and water pass is formed,
A stirring member 28 for promoting mixing of hot water and water is formed integrally with the passage 27. The control valve 24 is connected to the hot water valve seat 2
3 is slidable in the axial direction between the water valve seat 18 and the distance between each of the valve seats 23 and 18, the supply amount of hot water and water is changed, and the temperature of the mixed water is adjusted. It has become. Inside the cartridge 9, the control valve 24 is slid in the axial direction by operating the temperature adjustment handle 8 to adjust the temperature of the mixed water, and the temperature of the mixed water due to pressure fluctuations on the hot water supply side or the water supply side, and the like. In order to respond to the change and slide the control valve 24 to the set temperature, the control valve 2
A bias spring 29 and a temperature-sensitive spring 30 are housed on both sides of 4, respectively. The bias spring 29 is formed of a normal spring material having a constant spring constant with respect to a temperature change,
The temperature-sensitive spring 30 is made of a shape memory alloy such as a nickel-titanium alloy whose spring constant changes with a change in temperature. Therefore, the control valve 24 is configured so that the biasing force of the bias spring 29 and the force of the temperature-sensitive spring 30 are applied from both sides. Upon receiving the force, the position in the axial direction is determined by the balance, and when the temperature-sensitive spring 30 changes the spring constant due to a change in temperature, the control valve 24 is moved. The feed screw member 13 has a nut 32 attached to the cylindrical portion 13c with the bias spring 29 and the spring receiving member 31 fitted on the outer periphery of a cylindrical portion 13c formed to protrude so as to face the control valve 24. When screwed into the inner circumference, a small diameter flange 31 formed at one end of the spring receiving member 31
a engages with the head 32a of the nut 32, the spring receiving member 31 is movably connected between the feed screw member 13 and the nut 32, and the bias spring 29 is connected to the annular member formed on the feed screw member 13. The receiving part 13d and the annular large-diameter flange part 31b formed at the other end of the spring receiving member 31 are connected in a compressed state, and the other end of the spring receiving member 31 is connected to the control valve 24. Is supported by the small-diameter portion 26. The temperature-sensitive spring 30 is provided with a flange 35 of a support member 34 housed in a temperature-sensitive chamber 33 formed in the second member 14.
And an annular flange portion 21 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the second member 14
And the supporting member 34 is a temperature-sensitive spring 3
The biasing force of 0 is elastically supported by the support member seating portion 26a of the control valve 24, and the biasing force is exerted on the control valve 24 in the direction of increasing the distance between the water valve seat 18 and the water-side seating portion 25b,
It has a function of adjusting the position of the control valve 24 with the bias spring 29 and automatically adjusting the temperature so that mixed water having a preset temperature can be continuously supplied by operating the temperature adjustment handle 8. The procedure for assembling the cartridge 9 in this embodiment will be described. After the spindle 12 is housed inside the first member 10, the clip 12 a is locked from the outside of the first member 10 to the outer periphery of the spindle 12, 1
2 is rotatable but not axially displaceable. Next, in a state where the bias screw 29 and the spring receiving member 31 are coupled to the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 13c, the feed screw member 13 is screwed with the female screw portion 13a to the male screw portion 12b of the spindle 12 to rotate the spindle 12. The convex portion 13b formed on the outer peripheral surface of the feed screw member 13 moves toward the inside of the first member 10 in a state of being engaged with the rail groove 10a formed on the inner peripheral surface of the first member 10. Next, a hot water side valve seat member 22 is sandwiched between the inner peripheral surface of the opening of the first member 10 and the outer peripheral surface of the feed screw member 13, and the second valve in which the control valve 24 and the temperature-sensitive spring 30 are accommodated. When the member 14 is screwed into the first member 10, the assembly of the cartridge 9 is completed. In the mixing faucet of the present invention, when the temperature of the mixed water passing through the temperature sensing chamber 33 becomes higher than the temperature set by the temperature adjusting handle 8, the axis of the temperature sensing spring 30 becomes longer because the spring constant becomes higher. The support member 3
1, the distance between the hot water valve seat 23 and the hot water side seating portion 25a is reduced, and the distance between the water valve seat 18 and the water side seating portion 25b is widened. Then, the flow rate of the water supplied from the water chamber 3 to the cartridge 9 increases, and the temperature of the mixed water is returned to the set value. Next, when the temperature of the mixed water passing through the temperature-sensitive chamber 33 becomes lower than the temperature set by the temperature adjusting handle 8, the temperature-sensitive spring 30 is deformed so that the axis becomes shorter because the spring constant becomes lower, and The distance between the valve seat 18 and the water-side seating portion 25b is reduced, the distance between the hot-water valve seat 23 and the hot-side seating portion 25a is widened, and the flow rate of the hot water supplied from the hot water chamber 2 to the cartridge 9 increases. To the set temperature. The case where the normal mixed water is discharged from the mixing faucet A will be described. In FIG. 1, the same amount of hot water and water are supplied from the hot water inlet 16 and the water inlet 17 of the cartridge 9, and after being mixed, a predetermined amount of water is supplied. Is discharged to the outside through the mixing chamber 5. In this case, the temperature is set by rotating the temperature adjusting handle 8 to move the axial position of the feed screw member 13 linked to the spindle 12,
9, the axial position of the control valve 24 is slid, and the distance between the hot water valve seat 23 and the hot water side seating portion 25a, the water valve seat 1
The adjustment is performed by adjusting the interval between the second seat 8 and the water-side seating portion 25b. In this case, when the supply pressure on the hot water side rises and the temperature of the mixed water passing through the temperature sensing chamber 33 becomes higher than the temperature set by the temperature adjustment handle 8, the spring constant of the temperature sensing spring 30 increases and the axis of the temperature sensing spring 30 increases. The control valve 24 is slid to the left in the drawing. As a result, the distance between the hot water valve seat 23 and the hot water side seating portion 25a becomes narrow, the distance between the water valve seat 18 and the water side seating portion 25b becomes wide, and the water inlet 17
The operation is performed so that the flow rate of the water supplied from the mixer increases and the temperature of the mixed water drops to the set value. Conversely, the supply pressure on the water side rises,
Is lower than the temperature set by the temperature adjustment handle 8, the temperature-sensitive spring 30 has a lower spring constant and is deformed by the biasing force of the bias spring 29 so as to be shortened in the axial direction. , The control valve 24 is slid rightward in the figure. Thereby, the hot water valve seat 23 and the hot water side seating portion 25a
Is increased, the interval between the water valve seat 18 and the water-side seating portion 25b is reduced, and the flow rate of the hot water supplied from the hot water inlet 16 increases so that the temperature of the mixed water rises to the set value. Due to the action of the temperature-sensitive spring 30, the control valve 24 slides between the hot water valve seat 23 and the water valve seat 18 even if the supply pressure on the hot water side or the water side fluctuates. Is adjusted to reach the target temperature. According to the present invention, there is provided a main body in which a hot water chamber, a water chamber, and a mixing chamber are formed in the axial direction and a housing chamber communicating with each chamber is formed. A cartridge having an adjusting function, the cartridge forming a hot water inlet communicating with the hot water chamber of the main body and a water inlet communicating with the water chamber, and sliding in the axial direction of the inside to discharge hot water from the hot water inlet. A control valve for adjusting the supply amount and the water supply amount from the water inlet, a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy for urging the control valve from one side, and a bias spring for urging the control valve from the other side And a mixing faucet for adjusting the temperature of the mixed water by adjusting the biasing force of the bias spring by operating a temperature adjustment handle connected to the cartridge via a spindle, wherein the cartridge comprises a first member and a second member. Structure that is screwed together and joined together The first member accommodates a spindle connected to the temperature control handle and a feed screw member screwed to the outer periphery of the spindle and coupled with a bias spring, and the second member includes a control valve and a temperature-sensitive spring. The first screw is accommodated in the first member while the bias spring is coupled to the feed screw member.
The cartridge can be assembled by screwing and fastening the member and the second member, and the workability is greatly improved by reducing the number of parts at the time of assembly, the working time is shortened, and the mixing faucet is manufactured at low cost. Can be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front vertical sectional view showing a main part of a mixing faucet of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cartridge. FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanatory views of a conventional technique, in which FIG.
(B) is an exploded perspective view. [Description of Signs] 1 Main body 2 Hot water chamber 3 Water chamber 4 Storage chamber 5 Mixing chamber 8 Temperature adjustment handle 9 Cartridge 10 First member 12 Spindle 13 Feed screw member 14 Second member 16 Hot water inlet 17 Water inlet 24 Control valve 29 Bias Spring 30 Temperature sensing spring A Mixing faucet

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    F term (reference) 2D060 BB01 BC01 BE15                 3H057 AA12 BB32 DD13 EE03 FC04                       HH14                 3H067 AA16 CC32 DD03 DD23 DD43                       GG13

Claims (1)

Claims 1. A main body in which a hot water chamber, a water chamber, and a mixing chamber are formed in an axial direction and a housing chamber communicating with each chamber is formed, and a temperature adjustment is performed by being mounted in the housing chamber of the main body. A cartridge having a function, the cartridge forming a hot water inlet communicating with the hot water chamber of the main body and a water inlet communicating with the water chamber, and sliding the inside in the axial direction to supply hot water from the hot water inlet. A control valve for adjusting the amount and the amount of water supplied from the water inlet, a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy for urging the control valve from one side, and a bias spring for urging the control valve from the other side. In a mixing faucet that accommodates and adjusts the biasing force of a bias spring by operating a temperature adjustment handle connected to the cartridge via a spindle and adjusts the temperature of the mixed water, the cartridge includes a first member and a second member screwed. It is a structure that is fastened and joined together
A first member accommodating a spindle connected to the temperature control handle, a feed screw member screwed to an outer periphery of the spindle and coupled with a bias spring, and a second member accommodating a control valve and a temperature-sensitive spring; A mixing faucet characterized by the following.