JP2833228B2 - Shut-off valve - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shut-off valve which is built in a gas meter and shuts off (closes) and returns (opens) a gas passage in response to a signal from an electronic circuit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A so-called microcomputer meter, which has already been put into practical use, monitors the flow rate of a gas as well as measures and integrates the amount of gas used. When the microcomputer continuously flows or receives a signal from an external sensor such as a gas leak alarm, the microcomputer determines that the state is abnormal, and supplies a current to the shut-off valve to cut off gas to prevent a danger in advance. When safety is confirmed after the shutoff valve is shut off and the shutoff valve is to be returned (opened), a human operator presses a mechanical reset button provided on the gas meter to return.

Conventionally, this type of shut-off valve is normally held open by a permanent magnet when it is normal, and when an abnormal condition occurs and shuts off, a current flows through the coil in a direction to reduce the attraction force of the permanent magnet and the force of the spring is reduced. Was shut off. However, in recent years, there has been a need to remotely control the return operation from indoors.
And the coil current at the time of this return is larger than that at the time of interruption,
It is necessary to increase the power supply capacity of the dry battery, and there is a demand for the development of a shut-off valve that can return with low power.

[0004] For example, FIG. 4 shows a construction disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 2-44178, in which a plunger 21 is formed in a hollow shape, slidably provided in a plunger tube 23, and an auxiliary valve is provided at a lower end of the plunger 21. The body 26 is connected. At the upper end of the plunger 21, a suction piece 27 is
And a compression spring 30 between a spring receiver 29 at the lower end of a rod 28 and the sub-valve body 26 which are disposed to face the suction piece 27.
Is provided. A main valve 25 having a sub-valve seat 24 facing the sub-valve 26 is slidably provided on the outer peripheral edge of the lower end of the plunger tube 23. A tension spring 32, which is weaker than the compression spring 30, is provided between the main valve 25 and the lower portion of the drive unit 22.

When an electric current for moving the plunger 21 toward the drive unit 22 is supplied to the coil 33, the plunger 2
1 moves to open the sub-valve element 26 first, and then the main valve 25 moves to the drive section 22 side by the tension spring 32, and the main valve 25
Was separated from the main valve seat 33 and the gas flow was restored.

[0006]

However, FIG.
When the main valve 25 is opened, the main valve 25 is supported only by the relatively weak tension spring 32, and the main valve 25 may move in the closing direction due to the gas flow or vibration, thereby obstructing the gas flow. there were.

The positioning of the main valve 25 and the main valve seat 33 depends on the gap between the sliding portions of the plunger tube 23 and the sub-valve 26 and the main valve 25. When the main valve seat 33 is slightly tilted, it closes. There was a problem that the properties were poor.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to realize a highly reliable shutoff valve that can shut off (close) and return (open) with low power.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a first means of the present invention is to provide a driving unit for moving a protruding plunger with a balance between an electromagnetic force and a biasing force of a spring; The main part of the gas having a main valve seat on the opposing surface of the plunger, a sub-valve provided at the protruding end of the plunger, and a sub-valve seat abutting on the sub-valve. A main valve having the auxiliary valve seat on the back surface,
A sub-passage for gas pierced in the sub-valve seat of the main valve, a spring passage protruding from the sub-valve and penetrating from the sub-valve, and a spring receiver integrally held by the sub-valve, and interposed between the drive unit and the main valve. A main spring that biases the main valve toward the main valve seat, a biasing force greater than that of the main spring when the main valve is open, interposed between the main valve and the spring receiver, and It has a sub-spring that contacts the seat.

The second means of the present invention comprises a guide cylinder fixed to the main valve by slidably contacting the side surface of the sub-valve, and at least a contact surface between the guide cylinder and the sub-valve seat. It has a spherical secondary valve.

[0011]

According to the first means described above, the shut-off valve of the present invention can be applied between the upstream side having the sub-valve seat of the main valve and the downstream side facing the main valve seat, that is, both sides of the main valve. When the main valve is closed with a large differential pressure of the gas to be supplied, the plunger moves toward the drive section when a valve-opening current is supplied to the drive section. At this time, the plunger moves against the biasing force of the sub-spring, and first the sub-valve is separated from the sub-valve seat and opened, and the sub-passage circulates, and gas enters the downstream side of the main valve from the sub-passage. I do.
When the differential pressure decreases, the differential pressure decreases the differential pressure that has pressed the main valve toward the main valve seat, and the urging force of the sub-spring compressed by the movement of the plunger decreases the differential pressure and the main spring. , The main valve moves toward the drive section, and the main passage circulates.

According to the above-mentioned second means, the shut-off valve of the present invention is arranged such that when the drive section is fixed at an angle to the main valve seat, the spherical surface of the sub-valve is rotated by the guide cylinder and the sub-valve seat. The main valve is freely contacted, and the main valve is inclinedly contacted with the main valve seat and pressed by the main spring, so that the gas flow can be shut off as in the case where each of the sub passage and the main passage is not inclined.

[0013]

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 to 3 show the open / closed state of the shut-off valve according to the first embodiment. The drive unit K includes a hollow coil 1 for providing an exciting force for moving the plunger 3 up and down in the drawing, a yoke 4 for forming a magnetic circuit, and a suction. A permanent magnet 5 for exciting the piece 2; a base 6 in which the yoke 4 is screwed into the main passage S to be airtightly fixed; a guide pipe 7 on which the plunger 3 slides; 8a
Is made up of

A spherical sub-valve 9 is formed at one end of the plunger 3, and a pin 10 projects from the sub-valve 9, and a spring receiver 11 is locked. 12 is a main valve body,
The main valve portion 12a abutting on the main valve seat 13 of the main passage S and the sub valve 9
And a sub-valve seat 12b that contacts the sub-passage 14
Are formed. Reference numeral 15 denotes a guide cylinder made of plastic having good slippage, which slidably abuts when the side surface of the sub-valve 9 and the sub-valve seat 12b are closed by the sub-valve 9.

A main spring 1 is provided between the base 6 and the main valve 12.
A sub spring 17 is interposed between the spring receiver 11 and the main valve 12 by receiving a compressive load. Coil 1
Is supplied with electric power for opening and closing the main valve 12 from an electronic circuit unit (not shown).

The closed state of the shut-off valve shown in FIG. 1 will be described based on the above configuration. The main valve 12 is pressed against the main valve seat 13 by the compression force of the main spring 16 to close the main passage S. At this time, the plunger 3 is pulled by the compression force of the sub-spring 17 and the sub-valve 9 is pressed against the sub-valve seat 12b to close the sub-passage 14, and the gas flows not only in the main passage S but also in the sub-passage 14. Is shut off. The attraction force of the plunger 3 is reduced by the distance of the pitch l from the attraction piece 2, and the biasing force of the sub-spring 17 is superior, so this state is maintained by itself.

Next, an initial operation for opening the shut-off valve shown in FIG. 2 will be described. First, when a current for moving the plunger 3 upward is passed through the coil 1, the sum of the exciting force of the coil 1 and the exciting force of the suction piece 2 becomes larger than the urging force of the sub-spring 17 pulling the sub-valve 9 downward. The plunger 3 moves upward by a distance l and is attracted to the suction piece 2. Then, the sub-spring 17 is compressed, the sub-valve 9 is separated from the sub-valve seat 12b, the sub-passage 14 is opened, and gas flows downstream of the main passage S (the side where the sub-spring 17 is located).

Next, the open state of the shut-off valve shown in FIG. 3 will be described. When the gas flows from the sub-passage 14 in the state of FIG. 2, the differential pressure that has pressed the main valve 12 against the main valve seat 13 with the differential pressure of each pressure of the gas on the upstream side and the downstream side is changed to the downstream side. Decreases due to pressure increase. On the other hand, in the state shown in FIG. 1, the main valve 12 is closed because the differential pressure applied to the main valve 12 and the compressive force of the main spring 16 are larger than the suction force of the suction piece 2. Main valve 12 is replaced with main valve seat 13
The force of pressing against is reduced. The force for pressing the main valve 12 against the main valve seat 13 by adding the pressing force to the urging force of the main spring 16 becomes larger than the urging force of the sub-spring 17 generated by the plunger 3 moving the distance l. The main passage S is opened by releasing the valve 12 from the main valve seat 13.

The main valve 12 has an upper end of the plunger 3 and the suction piece 2.
And stops at a position that is a distance l longer than when closed. Thereafter, even when the energization of the coil 1 is stopped, the plunger 3 contacts the suction piece 2 and is sucked by a strong suction force, and the main valve 12 is held in this state by itself. When the gas flows in a state where the main valve 12 is opened, a force that pushes the flow and vibration of the gas toward the downstream side is applied to the main valve 12 to the urging force of the main spring 16. However, the plunger 3 is attracted by the strong suction force of the suction piece 2 and resists this force.
In order for the main valve 12 to move downward, the auxiliary valve seat 12b must overcome the urging force of the auxiliary spring 17 pressing the auxiliary valve 9 against the auxiliary valve 9. However, this urging force is set to be larger than the urging force of the main spring 16 and the difference is set to be larger than the force acting on the main valve 12 to push the main valve 12 to the downstream side. l It is stably maintained in the position moved upward.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the difference between the urging forces of the two springs 16 and 17 in the open state of the main valve 12 is set to be larger than the force by which the gas flow or vibration tries to close the main valve 12, and The urging force of the main spring 16 when the main valve 12 is closed can be suppressed, and the current applied to the coil 1 for opening the main valve 12 can be reduced, so that the capacity and power of the battery power supply can be reduced. Further, since the position of the main valve 12 in the open state is constant, it is possible to design the gas passage resistance to be small,
It can be expected that the shut-off valve will be downsized.

It is also conceivable that the driving section K is inclined and fixed with respect to the main valve seat 13.
3, the plunger 3 also moves up and down on the inclined axis. When the main valve 12 is fixed perpendicular to the plunger 3, the main valve 12 is in contact with the main valve seat 13 at the above-mentioned inclination angle, and the main passage S cannot be closed properly.
However, the sub-valve 9 is guided by the guide cylinder 15 and abuts on the sub-valve seat 12b by a rotatable swing mechanism. The small urging force of both the springs 16 and 17 not only in the sub-passage 14 but also in the main passage S. Can be closed properly. In this way, if the swing mechanism is employed, the driving unit K which is considered to occur frequently in practical use
It is not necessary to press the main valve 12 against the main valve seat 13 with the unnecessarily strong urging force of the main spring 16 even when the inclination is fixed.
The urging force of the main spring 16 can be reduced to further reduce power consumption.

The main valve 12 is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and if the contact portions of the springs 16 and 17 are protected by metal or the like, the valve seats 12b and 13 of the sub-valve 9 and the main valve 12 are formed. The closing performance is further improved, and the urging force of both springs 16 and 17 is further reduced, so that the power consumption of the shut-off valve can be further reduced.

[0023]

As described above, according to the shut-off valve of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the present invention, the main valve can be stably maintained in the open state while suppressing the urging force of the main spring to reduce the electric power when the valve of the drive unit is opened, and the gas flow can be reduced. By reducing the passage resistance, the size of the shut-off valve can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the swinging mechanism including the spherical sub-valve and the guide cylinder can close the sub-passage and the main passage correctly even when the drive unit is tilted and fixed to the main valve seat, and further reduction in power consumption is expected. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a shut-off valve according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a closed state;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the initial stage of the release.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the state at the time of opening.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional shut-off valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 K drive unit 3 plunger 9 sub valve 11 spring receiver 12 main valve 12b sub valve seat 13 main valve seat 14 sub passage S main passage 15 guide cylinder 16 main spring 17 sub spring

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-290281 (JP, A) JP-A-2-44178 (JP, U) JP-A-63-18685 (JP, U) JP-A-55-177566 (JP, U) , U) Hikaru 2-110778 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F16K 31/00-31/11 F16K 1/00-1/54

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A driving section for moving a protruding plunger in balance with an electromagnetic force and a biasing force of a spring, a driving section having a plunger protruding inside and a hermetic arrangement of the driving section, and a main valve seat on an opposing surface of the plunger. A main passage having a gas, a sub-valve provided at a protruding end of the plunger, a sub-valve seat abutting on the sub-valve, a main valve having the sub-valve seat on the back surface, and a sub-valve seat of the main valve A sub-passage of gas perforated in the sub-valve, a spring receiver protruding from the sub-valve, penetrating the sub-passage, integrally held by the sub-valve, and a main valve interposed between the drive unit and the main valve so that the main valve is located on the main valve seat side. And a sub-spring interposed between the main valve and the spring receiver, and having a stronger urging force than the main spring when the main valve is opened to abut the sub-valve against the sub-valve seat. Shut-off valve with. A guide cylinder fixed to the main valve by slidably contacting the side surface of the sub-valve, and a sub-valve having at least a spherical contact surface between the guide cylinder and the sub-valve seat. 1
The described shut-off valve.