JP2521637B2 - Flow controller - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flow rate adjusting device equipped with a water governor for adjusting the flow rate of water flowing into a water heater, a water heater, etc., and further, the flow rate of water is adjusted and the flow rate is measured. Flow rate adjusting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a flow rate adjusting valve has a cylindrical case having an inflow port formed in a lower portion and an outflow port formed in an upper side portion, and a detachable closure for closing an upper end opening of the case. And a member. Inside the case, a water governor having a valve body that moves in the vertical direction to adjust the flow rate according to a difference in flow pressure between the upstream side and the downstream side, and the valve body between the water governor and the closing member. A coil spring is provided that is urged downward and moves in the same direction by expanding and contracting in the vertical direction according to the temperature change of the fluid, thereby adjusting the flow rate.

By the way, in the above-mentioned case, the coil spring is usually smaller in diameter than the water governor, and the inner diameter of the upper end portion thereof is made equal to the diameter of the coil spring in order to give a guide function when the coil spring expands and contracts in the vertical direction. Together, it has a smaller diameter than the lower end. Therefore, in order to assemble the above-mentioned water governor and coil spring in the case, the coil spring and the water governor are housed in the case in order from the large-diameter lower end opening, and then the water governor is coiled. The spring is pushed up against the urging force of the spring, and in this state, a retaining ring is attached to the annular groove formed on the inner peripheral surface of the lower end of the case, and the retaining ring receives the water governor to assemble.

However, in the flow rate adjusting device having the above structure, when assembled, the retaining ring is provided in the annular groove formed on the inner peripheral surface of the lower end portion of the case while the water governor is pushed up against the biasing force of the coil spring. The assembly work is very troublesome because it must be installed. Furthermore, in a water heater or the like, a flow sensor for measuring the flow rate is provided together with this type of flow rate adjusting valve. Both are separately provided in the flow path. For this reason, the work of assembling the two in a water heater or the like must be performed separately,
There is a problem that the assembly work requires a long time and the manufacturing cost rises.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to eliminate such inconvenience, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flow rate adjusting device capable of facilitating the assembling work and reducing the manufacturing cost. And

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a cylindrical case having an inflow port formed in a lower part and an outflow port formed in a lateral part of an upper part, and an upper end of the case. And a detachable closing member for closing the opening portion, and in the case, a water governor having a valve body that moves in the up-down direction to adjust the flow rate according to the difference in the flow pressure between the upstream side and the downstream side, The valve body is provided between the water governor and the closing member so as to urge the valve body downward, and the valve body is moved in the same direction by expanding and contracting in the vertical direction due to the temperature change of the fluid, thereby increasing the flow rate. A flow regulating device accommodating a coil spring for adjustment, wherein the case has a step portion formed on an inner peripheral surface thereof for receiving a peripheral edge of the water governor, and the water from an upper end opening portion of the case. Can accommodate the governor and the coil spring Between the water governor and the closing member, a tubular member is fitted on the coil spring to guide the expansion and contraction of the coil spring in the vertical direction, and the upper end of the cylindrical member is brought into contact with the closing member. It is characterized by being housed in a state.

Further, according to the present invention, the tubular member forms a flow path between an inner tubular portion for accommodating the coil spring with the upper end portion of the coil spring engaged, and the inner tubular portion. It is characterized in that it is integrally provided with an outer cylinder part which is formed, and a communication port facing the outflow port at the time of accommodation is formed in the outer peripheral part of the outer cylinder part.

Further, according to the present invention, a diaphragm for separating the upstream side and the downstream side is provided in the upper part of the water governor, and the diaphragm is provided between the inner cylinder part and the outer cylinder part. It is characterized in that a receiving member that receives the diaphragm when moved to the side is integrally provided.

Further, according to the present invention, between the water governor and the inflow port, there is provided a cylindrical flow sensor which can be inserted into the case from an opening of an upper end portion of the case, and a peripheral edge of the case is the case of the case. It is housed in a state of being received by a step formed on the inner peripheral surface, and a flow path is formed between the flow sensor and the water governor.

[0010]

In order to assemble the flow rate adjusting device of the present invention, first,
The water governor is inserted through the opening of the upper end of the case, the peripheral edge of the water governor is received by the step, and then the coil spring and the tubular member are sequentially inserted. Next, the closing member is pressed downward against the urging force of the coil spring to close the upper end opening of the case, thereby completing the assembly.

Further, before closing the upper end opening of the case with the closing member, the tubular member is pressed downward by hand, and then the jig rod is inserted from the outlet and the tip thereof is inserted into the outer tubular portion. The tubular member is fixed to the accommodation position when it is fitted into the communication port.
Therefore, when closing the upper end opening of the case with the closing member, it is possible to assemble the closing member without applying the biasing force of the coil spring to the closing member.

Further, when the diaphragm is moved to the downstream side, if the diaphragm is received by the receiving member integrally provided between the inner cylinder part and the outer cylinder part, when the diaphragm moves more than necessary. In addition, the diaphragm can be protected and the receiving member need not be separately provided.

Further, when the flow sensor is inserted from the upper end opening of the case and the peripheral edge thereof is received by the step, the flow sensor, the water governor, the coil spring and the tubular portion are inserted from the upper end opening of the case. The flow rate adjusting device integrated with the flow sensor can be easily assembled only by sequentially inserting and closing the opening with the closing member.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a flow rate adjusting device which is an example of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the flow rate adjusting device,
FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of the tubular member.

First, the overall structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the flow rate adjusting device 1, an inflow port 3 is provided at the lower end of a cylindrical case 2 provided in the up-down direction, and a lateral side of the upper end. The outlet 4 is provided in the. The upper end opening 5 of the case 2 is closed by screwing a closing member 6 thereto. In the case 2, a water governor 8 having a valve body 7 that moves in the vertical direction and adjusts the flow rate according to the difference between the upstream and downstream fluid pressures is accommodated. A coil spring 9 is provided between the water governor 8 and the closing member 6 while urging the valve body 7 downward. The coil spring 9 expands and contracts in the vertical direction according to the temperature change of the fluid to move the valve body 7 in the same direction, thereby adjusting the flow rate. A tubular member 10 that guides the expansion and contraction of the coil spring 9 in the vertical direction is externally inserted into the coil spring 9, and the upper end of the tubular member 10 is in contact with the closing member 6. Further, a flow sensor 12 is housed between the water governor 8 and the inflow port 3, and a flow path 13 is formed between the flow sensor 12 and the water governor 8.

The case 2 has a large-diameter hole portion 14 and a small-diameter hole portion 15 sequentially formed from the upper end to the lower end. At the lower end of the large-diameter hole portion 14, a step portion 17 that receives the lower end peripheral edge of the water governor 8 via the regulating member 16 is formed.
The regulation member 16 is for regulating the protruding position of the valve body 7 of the water governor 8. On the other hand, a step portion 19 that receives the case 18 of the flow sensor 12 is formed at the lower end portion of the small diameter hole portion 15. In the figure, reference numerals 20 and 21 indicate
They are a filter for filtration provided with a magnet that adsorbs iron powder and the like contained in the water flowing in from the inflow port 3, and a filter for rectifying the water guided to the flow sensor 12, respectively.

Next, for convenience of explanation, the flow sensor 12,
The water governor 8, the coil spring 9, and the tubular member 10 will be described in this order. The flow sensor 12 includes a cylindrical case 18 having an upper lid 18a. Inside the case 18, an impeller 23, to which a magnet 22 whose rotation speed changes according to the flow rate of a fluid flowing in the case, is externally fixed, is provided.
Are housed in the vertical direction. The change in the magnetic field due to the change in the rotation speed of the impeller 6 is detected by a detection unit (not shown), and the flow rate of the fluid flowing in the case 18 is detected by the detection.

The water governor 8 has a cylindrical valve member 26 having a valve seat 25 at its lower end. In the valve member 26, a tubular valve body 7 is disposed so as to be movable in the vertical direction with its tip end protruding downward from the valve member 26. The valve body 7 is provided with the valve member 2 via the diaphragm 30.
It is supported by 6. The valve body 7 is biased upward by a spring 28 provided between the valve body 7 and the valve member 26. A valve portion 28a is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the valve body 7, and the valve portion 28a is adapted to sit on the valve seat 25 and close the valve opening 29 when the valve body 7 moves up. The position of the tip of the valve body 7 when descending is regulated by the regulating member 16 described above.

In this embodiment, the coil spring 9 is made of a temperature-sensitive metal such as a shape memory alloy, and expands and contracts in the vertical direction according to the temperature of the inflowing water, whereby the spring load is applied to the valve body 7. Is added to move the valve body 7 in the same direction to change the opening area of the valve port 29 to adjust the flow rate. Therefore,
The inflowing water is adjusted to have a differential pressure according to the temperature, has a flow rate according to the temperature, and flows out from the outflow port 4.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the tubular member 10 has an outer tubular portion 31 having substantially the same diameter as the water governor 8. A communication port 31a is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylindrical portion 31 so as to face the outflow port 4 when accommodated. A plurality of ribs 32 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the outer tubular portion 31 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The inner portion of each rib 32 accommodates the coil spring 9 and forms an inner tubular portion 33 that forms a flow path with the outer tubular portion 31. The upper end of each rib 32 is connected by an annular member 34, and the upper end of the coil spring 9 engages with the annular member 34 via a flange 9b of a needle 9a inserted in the coil spring 9. It is like this.

On the other hand, the lower end portion of each rib 32 has an outer cylindrical portion 31.
Is located above the lower end of each rib 32 and between the lower end of each rib 32 and the lower end of the outer tubular part 31 is a receiving part that receives the diaphragm 30 when the diaphragm 30 moves downstream. 35 is integrally formed. The receiving surface of the receiving portion 35 has a shape corresponding to the outer surface of the diaphragm 30. Thus, when the diaphragm 30 moves to the downstream side more than necessary, it is received by the receiving surface to protect the diaphragm 30. Further, by providing the receiving portion 35 integrally with the tubular member 10, it is not necessary to separately provide a receiving member for protecting the diaphragm 30, so that the number of parts can be reduced.

Next, a method of assembling the flow rate adjusting device 1 having the above-described structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the flow sensor 12, the regulating member 16, the water governor 8, from the upper end opening 5 of the case 2. The coil spring 9, the needle 9a, and the tubular member 10 are sequentially inserted and housed in the case 2. In the housed state, the lower end peripheral edge of the flow sensor 12 (the peripheral edge of the case 18) is received by the step portion 19, and the lower end peripheral edge of the valve member 26 of the water governor 8 is connected to the step portion 17 via the regulating member 16. It has been taken.

Next, the tubular member 10 is attached to the coil spring 9 by hand or the like.
It is pressed downward against the urging force of (1) to expose the communication port 31a formed in the outer tubular portion 31 to the outflow port 4. Then, in this state, the jig rod 36 is inserted from the outflow port 4, the tip thereof is fitted into the communication port 31a, and the tubular member 10 is fixed to the accommodation position. After that, the closing member 6 is screwed and fixed to the upper end opening 5, and the opening 5 is closed to complete the assembly.

In the flow rate adjusting device 1 having the above structure, the flow sensor 12, the regulating member 16, the water governor 8, the coil spring 9, the needle 9a and the tubular member 1 are opened from the upper end opening 5.
0 are sequentially accommodated in the case 2 and the opening 5 is closed by the closing member 6.
Since the assembly can be done simply by closing the outside from the outside, the assembly work can be facilitated compared to the case where the retaining ring is mounted on the inner peripheral surface of the case as in the past. You can

Further, at the time of assembly, since the opening 5 is closed by the closing member 6 in a state where the tubular member 10 is fixed at the accommodation position by the jig rod 36, the closing member 6 has a coil spring at the time of closing. Is not applied. Therefore, the closing member 6 can be easily screwed and fixed.

Further, since the flow sensor 12 is integrally housed on the upstream side of the water governor 8, as in the conventional case,
Compared with the case where the flow sensor and the flow rate adjusting valve are separately attached to the water heater or the like, the assembling work can be performed in a shorter time, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified as appropriate without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the flow sensor 12 is integrally housed between the water governor 8 and the inflow port 3, but this is not necessarily the case, and the flow sensor 12 can be provided separately. Is.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the flow rate adjusting device of the present invention, the water governor, the coil spring and the tubular member are sequentially accommodated in the case from the opening of the upper end portion of the case and the closing member is provided. Since the assembly can be done by simply closing the opening from the outside, the assembly work is easier than the case where the retaining ring is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the case as in the conventional case. Can be realized.

Further, at the time of assembling work, if the upper end opening of the case is closed by the closing member while the tubular member is fixed to the accommodating position by the jig rod, the closing member is fitted with a coil spring. Since the assembling can be performed without applying the biasing force, the closing member can be easily attached.

Further, when the receiving member is integrally provided between the inner tubular portion and the outer tubular portion, the diaphragm can be protected when the diaphragm moves more than necessary, and the receiving member can be protected. Since it is not necessary to separately provide the component, the number of parts can be reduced.

Further, the flow sensor can be integrally housed on the upstream side of the water governor, and compared with the conventional case where the flow sensor and the flow rate adjusting valve are separately attached to the water heater or the like. The assembling work can be performed in a short time, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a flow rate adjusting device that is an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a flow rate adjusting device.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view of a tubular member.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Flow control device, 2 ... Case, 3 ... Inflow port, 4 ... Outflow port, 5 ... Upper end opening part, 6 ... Closing member, 7 ... Valve body, 8 ...
Water governor, 9 ... Coil spring, 10 ... Cylindrical member, 12 ...
Flow sensor, 17, 19 ... Step portion, 30 ... Diaphragm, 31 ... Outer cylinder portion, 31a ... Communication port, 33 ... Inner cylinder portion, 3
5 ... Receiver

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cylindrical case having an inflow port formed in a lower part and an outflow port formed in a lateral side of an upper part, and a detachable closing member for closing an opening of an upper end portion of the case. Inside the case, there is a water governor having a valve body that moves in the vertical direction to adjust the flow rate according to the difference in the flow pressure between the upstream side and the downstream side, and the valve body is lowered between the water governor and the closing member. And a coil spring for adjusting the flow rate by moving the valve element in the same direction by expanding and contracting in the vertical direction according to the temperature change of the fluid, The case has a step portion formed on an inner peripheral surface thereof for receiving a peripheral edge of the water governor, and the water governor and the coil spring can be accommodated from an opening portion of an upper end portion of the case. And the coil member between the closing member and A flow rate adjusting device, characterized in that a tubular member that is externally inserted and guides the expansion and contraction of the coil spring in the vertical direction is housed with its upper end portion in contact with the closing member. 2. The tubular member includes an inner tubular portion for accommodating the coil spring with the upper end portion of the coil spring engaged with the tubular member,
An outer cylinder part that forms a flow path between the inner cylinder part and the inner cylinder part is integrally provided, and a communication port facing the outflow port at the time of accommodation is formed on the outer peripheral part of the outer cylinder part. Flow control device. 3. A diaphragm for separating an upstream side and a downstream side is provided on an upper portion of the water governor, and the diaphragm is moved to a downstream side between the inner cylinder part and the outer cylinder part. The flow rate adjusting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a receiving member for sometimes receiving the diaphragm is integrally provided. 4. A cylindrical flow sensor, which is insertable into the case from an upper end opening of the case, is provided between the water governor and the inflow port, and has a peripheral edge on an inner peripheral surface of the case. 4. The flow rate adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate adjusting device is accommodated in a state of being received by the formed step portion, and a flow path is formed between the flow sensor and the water governor. .