JP2009047215A - Air valve - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air valve with a little number of components, a simple structure, and no movable part. <P>SOLUTION: This air valve is provided with a bulkhead 21 separating a space at a pipe inside and a space at a pipe outside in a valve box 19. The bulkhead 21 comprises a laminated body of gas liquid separating layers 23 through which gas can pass but liquid can not pass, and permeable reinforcement layers 25 preventing breakage of the gas liquid separating layer due to pressure with putting the gas liquid separating layers 23 therebetween. The gas liquid separating layer 23 comprises porous resin sheet having water repellency. The reinforcement layer 25 comprises, in an embodiment, a metal plate having many small holes 27 formed thereon. The bulkhead 21 is formed in a disk shape, and is air-tightly and liquid-tightly fixed on the valve box 19 at a circumference thereof. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an air valve used to discharge air mixed in water through a water pipe or the like to the outside of the pipe.

  In waterworks pipes, air valves are installed in appropriate sections in order to discharge air mixed in the water flowing through the pipes to the outside of the pipes and to suck air into the pipes when draining the water in the pipes. Yes. This type of conventional air valve is generally provided with a float chamber at the bottom of the valve box, and the float is accommodated in the float chamber so as to be movable up and down. The valve body provided in is operated to discharge and inhale air (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-25377

  However, the conventional air valve that opens and closes the valve by moving the float up and down has a large number of parts and a complicated structure. Therefore, the assembly is troublesome and the dismantling and assembling work at the time of maintenance becomes complicated. Moreover, since it is necessary to ensure water-tightness and airtightness while providing a movable part inside, precise parts design is required and the price tends to be high.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an air valve having a small number of parts, a simple structure, and no moving parts.

  In the air valve according to the present invention, a partition that separates the space inside the tube and the space outside the tube is provided in the valve box. The partition includes a gas-liquid separation layer that allows gas to pass but does not allow liquid to pass. The gas-liquid separation layer is sandwiched between the gas-liquid separation layers and a reinforcing layer having air permeability for preventing damage due to pressure. By adopting such a configuration, the structure of the air valve can be a simple structure having no movable part.

  In the present invention, the partition wall may be formed in a plate shape, and its periphery may be fixed to the valve box in an airtight and liquidtight manner. The shape of the partition formed in a plate shape can be a disk shape, a substantially square shape, or a substantially rectangular shape. In the case of a substantially square shape or a substantially rectangular shape, the corner portion is preferably formed so as to have a radius of a predetermined dimension. In comparison between a disk shape and a substantially rectangular shape or a substantially rectangular shape, a disk shape is particularly desirable.

  Further, in the present invention, the partition wall is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the peripheral edge on one end side thereof is hermetically and liquid-tightly fixed to the valve box with the opening on the one end side open, and the opening on the other end side does not allow liquid to pass therethrough. It can also be set as the structure closed with the member. The shape of the partition wall formed in a cylindrical shape is formed in a cylindrical shape or a substantially rectangular tube shape, but the shape in which the partition wall shape is formed in a rectangular tube shape has a round shape at the corner portion of the square tube. Is desirable. In comparison between a cylindrical shape and a rectangular tube shape, a cylindrical shape is particularly desirable.

  Moreover, in this invention, it is preferable that the said gas-liquid separation layer is comprised with the porous resin sheet which has hydrophobicity.

Here, “hydrophobic” means a property that does not have an affinity for water and does not adsorb or absorb water. Water repellency (water repellent property) is also included in hydrophobicity. There are cases where the resin itself has hydrophobicity and cases where hydrophobicity (water repellency) is imparted by surface treatment.
Further, the “sheet” includes a film (film) shape and a thin plate shape.

  Since the air valve according to the present invention separates the space in the pipe and the space outside the pipe by the partition wall having the gas-liquid separation layer, the air in the water pipe passes through the gas-liquid separation layer and is discharged outside the pipe. Since the water in the water pipe cannot pass through the gas-liquid separation layer, it does not leak out of the pipe. Therefore, only the air in the pipe can be discharged out of the pipe. In addition, the gas-liquid separation layer is generally composed of a porous resin sheet or the like, and has low mechanical strength. Therefore, when used alone, the gas-liquid separation layer may be damaged by water pressure or atmospheric pressure. Since it is sandwiched between the reinforcing layers, the gas-liquid separation layer can be prevented from being damaged by water pressure or atmospheric pressure. The air valve according to the present invention has no moving parts, is structurally simple, and requires a small number of parts. Therefore, assembly is easy, maintenance is easy, and the price can be reduced.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1A illustrates an embodiment of the present invention. The air valve 11 is attached to, for example, a flange 17 of the branch cylinder portion 15 protruding from the upper portion of the water supply pipe 13. This is the same as the conventional air valve. The air valve 11 includes a cylindrical valve box 19. A disc-shaped partition wall 21 is provided in the valve box 19 to separate the space inside the tube and the space outside the tube vertically. The partition wall 21 is composed of a laminate of a gas-liquid separation layer 23 that allows gas to pass but not liquid and a breathable reinforcing layer 25 that sandwiches the gas-liquid separation layer 23.

  The gas-liquid separation layer 23 is composed of a porous resin sheet having hydrophobicity. As the hydrophobic resin sheet having hydrophobicity, a monotran film manufactured by NAC Co., Ltd., Exepor manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics Co., Ltd., a bore flon membrane manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Fine Polymer Co., Ltd., or the like can be used. In addition, as the constitution of the porous resin sheet, when the sheet is composed only of the hydrophobic film-like resin sheet, a hydrophobic resin woven fabric or a hydrophobic resin-made non-woven fabric is appropriately laminated on the film-like resin sheet. It can be configured. Moreover, the hole diameter of these porous resin sheets is set to about 5-20 micrometers, for example. By doing so, gas molecules such as air and water vapor pass through the sheet because the molecular size is smaller than the pore diameter, but water can not pass through the sheet. Of course, in the porous sheet, if a resin material having a higher hydrophobic level is selected, the range of the pore diameter can be set wider than the range. The strength of the porous resin sheet can be increased by increasing not only the reinforcing layer but also the thickness of the sheet.

  The reinforcing layer 25 prevents the gas-liquid separation layer 23 having low mechanical strength from being damaged by water pressure or atmospheric pressure. For example, a metal plate in which a large number of small holes 27 are formed as shown in FIG. Etc. can be configured. Further, the reinforcing layer 25 can be composed of a fine wire mesh, a honeycomb structure in which holes are oriented in the thickness direction, a non-woven fabric having air permeability, and the like, and can also be composed of a combination of these materials.

  The periphery of the partition wall 21 is fixed to the valve box 19 in an airtight and liquidtight manner. The structure for fixing the partition wall 21 to the valve box 19 is, for example, as follows. An annular projecting edge 29 is integrally formed in the lower part of the valve box 19, a female thread part 31 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the valve box 19, and a male thread part 33 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the female thread part 31. The formed male screw ring 35 is screwed. The disc-shaped partition wall 21 is mounted on the annular protruding edge 29 in the valve box 19 and is fixed to the valve box 19 by screwing and tightening the male screw ring 35 from above. Although packing is interposed between the annular projecting edge 29 and the partition wall 21 and between the partition wall 21 and the male screw ring 35, illustration is omitted.

  A dust-proof cap 39 is attached to the upper end of the valve box 19 via a spacer 37. For this reason, the space above the partition wall 21 communicates with the external space through a gap between the valve box 19 and the cap 39.

  A flange 41 is integrally formed on the outer periphery of the valve box 19. The air valve 11 is mounted on the water supply pipe 13 by fastening and fixing the flange 41 of the valve box 19 to the flange 17 on the water supply pipe 13 side with a bolt and nut 43.

  When the air valve 11 is attached to the water supply pipe 13, the space inside the pipe and the space outside the pipe are separated by the partition wall 21. In this state, for example, when air accumulates in the cylindrical portion 15, the partition wall 21 is air permeable as a whole. Therefore, the accumulated air is pushed by water pressure, passes through the partition wall 21, and is discharged to the outside. Even if all the air under the partition wall 21 is discharged and the water in the tube comes into contact with the partition wall 21, the gas-liquid separation layer 23 does not allow water to pass through, so the water in the tube does not leak to the outside. In this state, water pressure is applied to the gas-liquid separation layer 23, but the gas-liquid separation layer 23 is protected by the reinforcing layer 25, so there is no risk of breakage. Further, when the water in the pipe 13 is discharged, the case where the pressure of the air in the cylinder portion 15 becomes lower than the atmospheric pressure (when it becomes a so-called negative pressure) is similarly protected.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the air valve according to the present invention. The air valve 11 is greatly different from the air valve of the first embodiment in that the partition wall 21 is formed in a cylindrical shape and is arranged coaxially with the valve box 19. The cylindrical partition wall 21 is a laminate of a cylindrical gas-liquid separation layer 23 that allows gas to pass but not liquid, and a breathable reinforcing layer 25 that sandwiches the gas-liquid separation layer 23 from the inner periphery and the outer periphery. It is configured.

  A metal gutter 47 having an opening 45 at the center is fixed to the lower end of the cylindrical partition wall 21. The gutter plate 47 has a cylindrical projection 49 upward, and the cylindrical projection 49 is fitted to the inner periphery of the lower end portion of the cylindrical partition wall 21, and the outer periphery of the lower end portion of the cylindrical partition wall 21 is annularly tightened. By fastening with the member 51, it is fixed to the lower end of the cylindrical partition wall 21 in an airtight and liquid tight manner.

  In addition, a metal disc 53 that closes the opening on the upper end side of the cylindrical partition wall 21 is fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical partition wall 21. The circular plate 53 has a cylindrical protrusion 55 facing downward, and the outer periphery of the upper end of the cylindrical partition 21 is annularly tightened with the cylindrical protrusion 55 fitted to the inner periphery of the upper end of the cylindrical partition 21. By fastening with the member 57, it is fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical partition wall 21 in an airtight and liquidtight manner.

  As described above, the cylindrical partition wall 21 to which the flange plate 47 and the circular plate 53 are fixed is fixed to the annular protrusion 29 formed inwardly at the lower part of the valve box 19 with a bolt nut 59. Therefore, it is attached to the valve box 19.

  Since the configuration other than the above is the same as that of the air valve shown in FIG. 1, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  With the above configuration, the inside of the cylindrical partition wall 21 communicates with the space inside the tube, the outside of the cylindrical partition wall 21 communicates with the space outside the tube, and the space inside the tube and the space outside the tube are separated from each other by a gas-liquid separation layer. Therefore, the valve function similar to that of the first embodiment can be obtained. Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the area of the gas-liquid separation layer 23 can be increased by increasing the length of the cylindrical partition wall 21 without increasing the diameter of the valve box 19, the amount of air discharged A large air valve can be configured.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 3 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. The air valve 11 is different from the air valve of the second embodiment in that an annular projecting edge 29 is formed inwardly at the upper end of the valve box 19, and the flange 47 and the disc 53 are fixed to the annular projecting edge 29. That is, the cylindrical partition wall 21 is fixed upside down. Since the configuration other than the above is the same as that of the air valve shown in FIG. 2, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted. Even with such a configuration, the same effect as in the second embodiment can be obtained.

Sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the air valve which concerns on this invention. Sectional drawing which shows other embodiment of the air valve which concerns on this invention. Sectional drawing which shows other embodiment of the air valve which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

11: Air valve, 13: Water pipe, 15: Branch tube part, 17: Flange, 19: Valve box 21: Partition wall, 23: Gas-liquid separation layer, 25: Reinforcement layer, 27: Small hole, 29: An annular protrusion 31: Female thread part, 33: Male thread part, 35: Male thread ring, 37: Spacer 39: Cap, 41: Flange, 43: Bolt and nut, 45: Opening, 47: Plate 49: Cylindrical protrusion, 51: Annular fastening member 53: disc, 55: cylindrical protrusion 57: annular tightening member, 59: bolt and nut

Claims (4)

  A partition that separates the space inside the tube and the space outside the tube is provided in the valve box, and the partition sandwiches the gas-liquid separation layer that allows gas to pass but does not allow liquid to pass. An air valve comprising a laminate of a gas-liquid separation layer and a breathable reinforcing layer that prevents damage due to pressure.   The air valve according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall is formed in a plate shape, and its periphery is fixed to the valve box in an airtight and liquidtight manner.   The partition wall is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the peripheral edge on one end side thereof is hermetically liquid-tightly fixed to the valve box with the opening on the one end side open, and the opening on the other end side is blocked with a member that does not allow liquid to pass through. The air valve according to claim 1, wherein:   The air valve according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the gas-liquid separation layer is composed of a porous resin sheet having hydrophobicity.

Images