JP2007100769A - Pressure regulating device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate forming of a guide part of a valve element without impairing guide property to reduce a cost of a pressure regulating device. <P>SOLUTION: A pressure regulator 1 comprises: a housing 11 having a fuel inlet port 18 and a fuel outlet port 19 and a fuel passage 14 connecting the ports; a spherical valve element 12 disposed in the fuel passage 14 and having a spherical seal face 12a; a seal part 17 having an opening part 22 which communicates with the fuel inlet port 18 and formed to have a diameter smaller than that of the spherical valve element 12, and in which a peripheral part 22a of the opening part 22 is abutted with the seal face 12a of the spherical valve element 12 to close the fuel passage 14; and a valve spring 13 exerting the spherical valve element 12 toward the seal part 17. A guide part 23 is adjacent to the seal part 17. The guide part 23 has an inner peripheral diameter D2 larger than a diameter D1 of the opening part 22 and smaller than a diameter D0 of the spherical valve element 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a pressure control device that adjusts fluid pressure, and more particularly, to a pressure control device used in a fuel supply system of an engine.

  In a fluid supply system such as an automobile fuel supply system and a hydraulic circuit, various pressure control devices are used to prevent the fluid pressure from becoming excessive. As such a pressure control device, a pressure regulator using a diaphragm, a check valve, and the like are known. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-166059 (Patent Document 1) includes a check valve type pressure regulator. A fuel supply device is shown. In the pressure regulator of Patent Document 1, the opening and closing of the valve is controlled by the movement of the valve body (sleeve) held by the compression coil spring, and the pressure (fuel pressure) of the fuel discharged from the fuel supply device is adjusted. Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 48-46220 (Patent Document 3) discloses a pressure regulator using a valve having a spherical surface and a spring.

  4A and 4B are explanatory views showing the configuration of the valve mechanism in such a conventional pressure control device, where FIG. 4A is a plan view and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view. In the valve mechanism of FIG. 4, a spherical valve body 53 is disposed between a small diameter flow path 51 and a large diameter valve chamber 52. A boundary portion between the flow path 51 and the valve chamber 52 is a seal portion 54, and the flow path 51 is closed when the spherical valve body 53 comes into contact therewith. A valve guide 55 projects from the bottom of the valve chamber 52 from four directions. The diameter of the inner peripheral surface of the valve guide 55 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the spherical valve body 53, and the side of the spherical valve body 53 is guided by the valve guide 55. The spherical valve body 53 is pressed against the seal portion 54 from above by a valve spring 56 while being held by the valve guide 55.

When fluid pressure is applied from the flow path 51 side and the fluid pressure exceeds the urging force of the valve spring 56, the spherical valve body 53 moves upward. At this time, the spherical valve body 53 moves while being held by the valve guide 55, and when the spherical valve body 53 is detached from the seal portion 54, the flow path 51 is opened. On the other hand, when the fluid pressure decreases and the urging force of the valve spring 56 wins, the spherical valve body 53 moves downward by the urging force of the valve spring 56. Also in this case, the spherical valve body 53 moves while being held by the valve guide 55, and the flow path 51 is closed when the spherical valve body 53 comes into contact with the seal portion 54.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-166059 JP-A-61-117549 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 48-46220

  In the valve mechanism as shown in FIG. 4, since the spherical valve body 53 operates while being held by the valve guide 55, it is possible to reduce noise and pulsation due to vibration of the valve body. However, if there is an unnecessarily large gap between the spherical valve body 53 and the valve guide 55, there is a possibility that abnormal noise may be caused. Moreover, if the gap between the two is too small, the valve body may not operate smoothly. For this reason, when forming the valve guide 55, high accuracy is required, and high-precision molds and parts processing are required, which causes a cost increase.

  An object of the present invention is to easily form a guide portion of a valve body without impairing guide performance, and to reduce the cost of a pressure control device.

  A pressure control device according to the present invention includes a housing including a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet connected to the fluid inlet through a flow path, a valve body disposed in the flow path, and the interior of the housing. And an opening formed in the fluid inflow port and having a smaller diameter than the valve body, and the valve body is in contact with an edge of the opening to seal the flow path And an elastic member that urges the valve body toward the valve portion, and is provided in the housing adjacent to the seal portion, and an inner peripheral diameter D2 thereof is larger than a diameter D1 of the opening portion. And a guide portion formed with a diameter (D0> D2> D1) smaller than the diameter D0 of the valve body.

  In the present invention, the guide portion is provided adjacent to the seal portion, and the inner peripheral diameter D2 is larger than the opening diameter D1 and smaller than the valve body diameter D0 (D0> D2> D1). As a result, the portion of the valve body having a diameter smaller than the diameter comes into contact with the guide portion, and the valve body is held there. The guide portion is formed with high accuracy by a punching process together with the seal portion, and high-precision molds and parts processing are not required for forming the guide portion, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced correspondingly.

  In the pressure control device, a punching process may be performed on the seal portion and the guide portion by the valve body. At this time, the sealing portion and the guide portion can be simultaneously punched. In addition, the center of the inner periphery of the guide portion may be arranged at a position eccentric from the center of the opening, whereby the valve body is arranged in a form near one side in the flow path. The behavior of the valve body at the time is stabilized, and further vibration prevention is achieved.

  Another pressure control device of the present invention includes a housing including a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet connected to the fluid inlet via a flow path, and formed in the housing, and communicates with the fluid inlet. And a valve body that is disposed in the flow path, is in contact with the seal section in an eccentric state with respect to the center of the opening, and closes the flow path by corresponding contact And an elastic member that urges the valve body toward the seal portion and presses the valve body against the seal portion.

  In the present invention, the valve body is in contact with the seal portion in an eccentric state, and the valve body is disposed at a position shifted from the center of the fluid flow in the opening. For this reason, when the fluid pressure increases and the valve body lifts against the urging force of the elastic member, the valve body moves in one direction and opens in one direction of the opening. Therefore, even if the flow of fluid around the valve body is biased, the valve body stably moves in one direction, the behavior of the valve body is stabilized when the valve is opened, and the vibration of the valve body is suppressed.

  The pressure control device may further include a guide portion that is formed in the housing so as to have a diameter larger than that of the opening, and the inner peripheral center of the guide is arranged at a position eccentric with respect to the center of the opening. good. By providing such a guide portion, the valve body is held there when the valve is opened, and the behavior of the valve body is further stabilized.

  According to the pressure control device of the present invention, in the pressure control device including the seal portion that is formed in the housing and is closed by the contact of the valve body, the guide portion is provided adjacent to the seal portion. Since the inner peripheral diameter D2 is larger than the opening diameter D1 and smaller than the valve body diameter D0 (D0> D2> D1), the valve body is held by this guide part. The guide portion can be formed with high accuracy by the punching process together with the seal portion. This eliminates the need for high-precision molds and parts processing when forming the guide portion, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost.

  Further, in the pressure control device of the present invention, by disposing the center of the inner periphery of the guide portion at a position eccentric from the center of the opening, the valve body can be arranged in a form close to one of the flow paths, It is possible to stabilize the behavior of the valve body when the valve is opened and to further prevent vibration.

  According to another pressure control device of the present invention, in the pressure control device including a seal portion formed in the housing and closed by the contact of the valve body, the valve body is located with respect to the center of the opening. Since it is in contact with the edge of the opening in an eccentric state, the valve body can be arranged at a position deviated from the center of the fluid flow in the opening, and the valve body is unidirectional when the valve is opened. It is possible to move it with priority. Therefore, even if the flow of fluid around the valve body is biased, the valve body can move stably in one direction, and the behavior of the valve body when the valve is opened can be stabilized, and vibration of the valve body can be suppressed. It becomes possible to do. As a result, the occurrence of fuel pulsation can be suppressed, noise generation and malfunction can be prevented, and the usable flow rate range can be expanded.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a pressure regulator (pressure control device) that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The pressure regulator 1 in FIG. 1 is disposed at the discharge port of the fuel supply device, for example, as in Patent Document 1, and adjusts the pressure of the fuel supplied to the engine to a predetermined level.

  The pressure regulator 1 has a configuration in which a spherical valve body 12 made of a steel ball and a valve spring (elastic member) 13 are accommodated in a metal housing 11. A fuel flow path 14 is formed through the housing 11. A large-diameter channel 15 is formed on the fuel downstream side (upper side in the figure) of the fuel channel 14, and a small-diameter channel 16 is formed on the upstream side (lower side in the figure). A spherical valve body 12 and a valve spring 13 are accommodated in the large-diameter channel 15. A seal portion 17 is formed at the boundary between the large-diameter channel 15 and the small-diameter channel 16. The end of the small diameter channel 16 is a fuel inlet (fluid inlet) 18.

  A downstream end of the large-diameter channel 15 is a fuel outlet (fluid outlet) 19, and a stopper 21 is fixed thereto. The stopper 21 is formed in a ring shape, and one end side of the valve spring 13 is in contact with the upstream side (lower end surface) thereof. The valve spring 13 is a conical coil spring, and the other end is in contact with the spherical valve body 12. The spherical valve body 12 is normally pressed against the seal portion 17 by the urging force of the valve spring 13.

  The seal portion 17 is provided with an opening 22 communicating with the fuel inlet 18. The diameter D1 of the opening 22 is smaller than the diameter D0 of the spherical valve body 12. When the sealing surface (surface) 12 a of the spherical valve body 12 comes into contact with the edge 22 a of the opening 22, the opening 22 is blocked by the spherical valve body 12 and the fuel flow path 14 is closed. A guide portion 23 is formed adjacent to the seal portion 17 on the downstream side (upper side in the drawing) of the seal portion 17. 2A and 2B are explanatory views showing the configuration of the guide portion 23, where FIG. 2A is a plan view of the guide portion 23, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged sectional view thereof.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the guide portion 23 protrudes from the bottom of the large-diameter channel 15 and extends from the inner wall surface 15 a of the large-diameter channel 15 toward the center. The guide portions 23 are equally arranged at four locations, and are formed in a wall shape having a width B. An inner peripheral surface 23a of the guide portion 23 is a curved surface having a diameter D2. The inner peripheral diameter D2 of the guide portion 23 is larger than the diameter D1 of the opening 22 and smaller than the diameter D0 of the spherical valve body 12 (D0> D2> D1). Therefore, a portion of the valve body seal surface 12 a having a diameter smaller than the diameter contacts the guide portion 23, and the spherical valve body 12 is held by the guide portion 23.

  The guide portion 23 is punched together with the seal portion 17 so as to be in close contact with the spherical valve body 12. The punching process is performed to improve the accuracy of the seal portion 17, the spherical valve body 12 is pressed against the seal portion 17 and the guide portion 23, and the two are brought into contact with no gap. Therefore, when the spherical valve body 12 abuts on the seal portion 17, it also abuts on the guide portion 23 together with it, and the oblique lower portion of the valve body is held by the guide portion 23. As described above, in the pressure regulator 1, since the guide portion 23 is formed with high accuracy by the punching process, high-precision molds and parts processing are not necessary when forming the guide portion. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost as compared with the conventional pressure regulator as shown in FIG.

  In such a pressure regulator 1, when fuel is supplied from the fuel inlet 18 and the pressure thereof is increased, the spherical valve body 12 moves (rises) against the urging force of the valve spring 13. As a result, the spherical valve body 12 is detached from the seal portion 17, the small-diameter channel 16 and the large-diameter channel 15 communicate with each other, and the fuel channel 14 is opened. At this time, since the lower part of the spherical valve body 12 is held by the guide part 23 and the movement in the lateral direction (valve body circumferential direction) is restricted, abnormal noise and pulsation due to vibration of the valve body are suppressed.

  On the other hand, the guide part 23 of the pressure regulator 1 has a smaller height in the flow path direction than the conventional valve guide 55 as shown in FIG. For this reason, when the lift amount of the valve body increases, the clearance in the lateral direction (valve body circumferential direction) also increases, and there is a risk that the lateral movement cannot be regulated. However, in a pressure regulator used in a fuel supply device or the like, the actual lift amount of the valve body is about 0.3 mm at the maximum, so that it is not greatly separated from the guide portion 23 formed with high precision by punching. No problems such as vibration occur.

  Next, a pressure regulator (pressure control device) 31 that is Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part thereof. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected about the member similar to Example 1, and the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The pressure regulator 31 of FIG. 3 is disposed at a position where the guide portion 23 is eccentric with respect to the seal portion 17. Other configurations are the same as those of the pressure regulator 1 of the first embodiment. Here, an eccentric amount of dimension e is set between the center C1 of the seal portion 17 and the center C2 of the guide portion 23 in a direction connecting the opposing guide portions 23p and 23q. The guide portion 23p is formed longer by e along the radial direction than the guide portion 23q, whereby the spherical valve body 12 is also arranged biased to the left side in the drawing. Further, the inner peripheral surfaces 23a of the guide portions 23r and 23s are formed in a slightly inclined shape so as to be along the seal surface 12a of the biased spherical valve body 12.

  In such a pressure regulator 31, the corner portions X and Y of the seal portion 17 and the guide portion 23 q, shown by broken lines in FIG. 3A, are crushed during partial punching, and the close contact with the spherical valve body 12 is ensured. Is done. In this way, by decentering the guide portion 23 with respect to the seal portion 17, the spherical valve body 12 has a shape that is close to one side. It becomes possible to prevent.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the pressure regulator has been described as an example of the pressure control device. However, the present invention can be applied to other types of pressure control devices such as a check valve, and the pressure can be adjusted there. It becomes possible to expand the range and suppress the generation of abnormal noise. In the above-described embodiment, the pressure regulator used in the fuel supply system of the engine has been described as an example. However, the use thereof is not limited to the engine, and can be applied to various hydraulic circuits. Further, the fluid to be regulated is not limited to engine fuels such as gasoline and light oil, but can be applied to water, air, hydraulic circuit hydraulic oil, and the like.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the pressure regulator using a spherical steel ball as the valve body has been described. However, a sleeve-like member having a lower end portion that is hemispherical can also be used as the valve body. The configuration itself is not limited to the above-described one.

It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the pressure regulator which is Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of a guide part, (a) is a top view of a guide part, (b) is the expanded sectional view. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the structure of the pressure regulator which is Example 2 of this invention, (a) is a top view of a guide part, (b) is the expanded sectional view. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the valve mechanism in the conventional pressure control apparatus, (a) is the top view, (b) is sectional drawing.

Explanation of symbols

1 Pressure regulator (pressure control device)
11 Housing 12 Spherical valve body 12a Seal surface 13 Valve spring (elastic member)
14 Fuel flow path 15 Large diameter flow path 15a Inner wall surface 16 Small diameter flow path 17 Seal part 18 Fuel inflow port 19 Fuel outflow port 21 Stopper 22 Opening part 22a Edge part 23 Guide part 23a Inner peripheral surface 23p, 23q, 23r, 23s Guide part 31 Pressure regulator (pressure control device)
51 Flow path 52 Valve chamber 53 Spherical valve body 54 Seal portion 55 Valve guide 56 Valve spring D0 Valve body diameter D1 Opening portion diameter D2 Guide portion inner diameter B Guide portion width C1 Seal portion center C2 Guide portion center e Eccentricity Quantity X Corner of seal part Y Corner of guide part

Claims (5)

A housing comprising a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet communicated with the fluid inlet through a flow path;
A valve body disposed in the flow path;
An opening formed in the housing and communicating with the fluid inlet and having a smaller diameter than the valve body, and the valve body is closed by contacting the edge of the opening. A seal portion to be made,
An elastic member for urging the valve body toward the valve portion;
It is provided in the housing adjacent to the seal portion, and its inner peripheral diameter D2 is larger than the diameter D1 of the opening and smaller than the diameter D0 of the valve body (D0>D2> D1). And a guide portion formed on the pressure control device.   The pressure control device according to claim 1, wherein the sealing portion and the guide portion are punched by the valve body.   3. The pressure control device according to claim 1, wherein the center of the inner periphery of the guide portion is disposed at a position eccentric from the center of the opening. 4. A housing comprising a fluid inlet, and a fluid outlet communicated with the fluid inlet via a flow path;
A seal portion formed in the housing and having an opening communicating with the fluid inlet;
A valve body disposed in the flow path, in contact with the seal portion in an eccentric state with respect to the center of the opening, and closing the flow path by corresponding contact;
A pressure control device comprising: an elastic member that urges the valve body toward the seal portion and presses the valve body against the seal portion.   5. The pressure control device according to claim 4, wherein a guide portion is formed in the housing so as to have a larger diameter than the opening, and an inner peripheral center thereof is eccentrically positioned with respect to the center of the opening. A pressure control device further provided.

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