JP3071119B2 - Flow control valve and air conditioner - 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 control valve and an air conditioner provided with the same, and more particularly, to a flow control valve which is disposed in the middle of a pipe through which a predetermined fluid flows, and which controls the flow of the fluid through the pipe. The present invention relates to a flow control valve for controlling a flow rate and an air conditioner in which the flow control valve is applied to a hot water valve for controlling a flow rate of hot water flowing through a hot water heat exchanger.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An air conditioner (hot water air conditioner) that cools with a refrigerant and heats with hot water has been known. In this hot water air conditioner, a circulation pipe of the hot water is arranged under the floor of the room to be conditioned, and the warm water is circulated through the circulation pipe during the operation in the heating mode, so that the room to be harmony is moved from under the floor. Heated.

[0003] The flow rate of the hot water flowing through the circulation line is controlled by a predetermined flow control valve provided in the middle of the circulation line.

However, the opening and closing of this flow control valve is
Since the electrical control is performed by a complicated electric circuit using a stepping motor, equipment for controlling the opening and closing of the flow control valve requires a considerable amount of cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above fact, the present invention provides a flow control valve and an air conditioner provided with the same, which can simplify the control of the flow rate of a fluid such as hot water flowing through a circulation pipe and reduce the equipment cost. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is arranged in the middle of a pipe through which a predetermined fluid flows, and controls the flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipe. A valve body for adjusting the opening and closing amount of the pipeline, an operating member for operating the valve body in the opening and closing direction by a predetermined reciprocating movement, and expansion or contraction according to a temperature change. A thermal expansion member that contracts and displaces the operating member, a heating unit that heats the thermal expansion member, and heating that controls a heating amount of the heating unit and adjusts a degree of opening and closing of the valve body through the operating member. Control means, the thermal expansion member
The relationship between the amount of temperature rise and the amount of expansion of the thermal expansion member is stored.
Storage means, which is preset based on the relationship.
The heating amount, which is a flow rate, is calculated to control the heating control means.
And a controlling microcomputer .

Further, according to the present invention, a heat source device for generating hot water and circulating the hot water to a hot water heat exchanger through a predetermined pipe, and a flow rate of the hot water flowing through the hot water heat exchanger An indoor unit mounted with the hot water heat exchanger via a hot water valve for controlling the air conditioner, wherein the hot water valve adjusts an opening and closing amount of the pipeline. An operating member for operating the valve body in the opening and closing direction by a predetermined reciprocating movement, a thermal expansion member for expanding or contracting according to a temperature change to displace the operating member, and a heating means for heating the thermal expansion member Heating control means for controlling the amount of heating of the heating means and adjusting the degree of opening and closing of the valve via the operating member; and increasing the temperature of the thermal expansion member
Storage means for storing the relationship between the amount and the amount of expansion of the thermal expansion member
And the flow rate is set in advance based on the relationship
Calculating the heating amount and controlling the heating control means
And a microcomputer .

[0008]

In the flow control valve according to the first aspect of the present invention, the information is stored in the storage means.
The stored temperature increase of the thermal expansion member and the expansion of the thermal expansion member
Heating with a flow rate set in advance based on the relationship with tension
When the heating amount of the thermal expansion member is calculated and the heating control unit starts heating the thermal expansion member by the heating unit (or increases the heating amount), the temperature of the thermal expansion member increases, and the thermal expansion member changes its temperature. It expands according to. Due to this expansion, the thermal expansion member displaces the operating member. Due to the displacement of the operating member, the valve element operates in a predetermined opening / closing direction of the pipeline, that is, in either the opening direction or the closing direction. This allows
The flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipeline increases or decreases. On the other hand, when the heating control means stops heating (or reduces the amount of heating) of the thermal expansion member by the heating means, the temperature of the thermal expansion member decreases, and the thermal expansion member gradually contracts. Due to this contraction, the thermal expansion member displaces the operation member in a direction opposite to the direction at the time of expansion. Due to the displacement of the operating member, the valve element operates in a direction opposite to that in the above-described expansion. Thus, the flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipeline is controlled in a manner opposite to that at the time of the expansion. Thus, by controlling the heating amount of the heating means, it is possible to realize the control of the flow rate of the fluid, so that it is possible to simplify the control of the flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipeline and reduce the equipment cost. .

[0009] In the air conditioner according to claim 2, serial
The amount of temperature rise of the thermal expansion member stored in the storage means and the thermal expansion
Flow rate preset based on the relationship with the expansion amount of the tension member
When the heating amount of the heating means is calculated and the heating control means starts heating the thermal expansion member by the heating means (or increases the heating amount), the temperature of the thermal expansion member rises, and the thermal expansion member It expands according to the temperature change. Due to this expansion, the thermal expansion member displaces the operating member. Due to the displacement of the operating member, the valve element operates in a predetermined opening / closing direction of the pipeline, that is, in either the opening direction or the closing direction. Thereby, the flow rate of the hot water flowing through the pipe increases or decreases. On the other hand, when the heating control means stops heating (or reduces the amount of heating) of the thermal expansion member by the heating means, the temperature of the thermal expansion member decreases, and the thermal expansion member gradually contracts. Due to this contraction, the thermal expansion member displaces the operation member in a direction opposite to the direction at the time of expansion. Due to the displacement of the operating member, the valve element operates in a direction opposite to that in the above-described expansion. Thereby, the flow rate of the hot water flowing through the pipeline is controlled in a manner opposite to that at the time of the expansion. As described above, by controlling the heating amount of the heating means, it is possible to control the flow rate of the hot water, so that it is possible to simplify the control of the flow rate of the hot water flowing through the pipeline and reduce the equipment cost. .

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, a schematic configuration of an air conditioner (air conditioner) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The air conditioner (air conditioner) of the present embodiment includes an indoor unit 10 installed indoors, an outdoor unit 12 installed outdoors, and a water heater 92 corresponding to the heat source unit of the present invention. In addition,
In the embodiment described below, the hot water circulation path is provided with a hot water supply circuit 90 in which the hot water supplied by the household water heater 92 circulates.
And hot water is supplied from the hot water supply circuit 90. However, the heat source device of the present invention is not limited to this, and a heat source device dedicated to the air conditioner may be provided.

The indoor unit 10 has an evaporator 16B constituting a refrigeration cycle and a radiator 16A to which hot water is supplied. The indoor unit 10 is integrally formed such that the evaporator 16B is located on the windward side of the radiator 16A. A heat exchanger 16 is provided. In the vicinity of the indoor heat exchanger 16, a fan 17 for passing the indoor heat exchanger 16 and blowing air to the room to be conditioned is provided. The evaporator 16B is connected to pipes 18 and 34.
Is connected to the outdoor heat exchanger in the outdoor unit 12 via the air-conditioning unit, and a refrigerant circulation path for circulating the refrigerant between the indoor unit 10 and the outdoor unit 12 is formed. Radiator 1
6A is connected to the above-described hot water supply circuit 90 via the pipes 53 and 55, and a hot water circulation path for circulating hot water between the indoor unit 10 and the water heater 92 is formed.

Next, the hot water circulation path and the refrigerant circulation path will be described. The evaporator 16B of the indoor heat exchanger 16 is
The outdoor unit 1 is connected via a refrigerant pipe 18 composed of a thick pipe.
2 is connected to the second valve 20. The valve 20 is connected to the valve 32 via a muffler 22, an accumulator 24, a compressor 26, an outdoor heat exchanger 28, and a capillary tube 30. And the valve 32
Is connected to the indoor heat exchanger 1 through a pipe 34 composed of a thin tube.
6 to form a closed refrigerant circuit, that is, a refrigeration cycle. In the vicinity of the outdoor heat exchanger 28, a fan 29 for passing the outdoor heat exchanger 28 to blow air is provided.

The radiator 16A of the indoor heat exchanger 16
Is connected to the hot water supply circuit 9 via the pipes 53 and 55 as described above.
When the hot water valve 62 is opened, the hot water circulating in the hot water supply circuit 90 is supplied to the pipe 53 and the radiator 16.
A, the pipe 55 is circulated in this order, that is, the hot water circulation path can be circulated. The hot water supply circuit 90 is further connected with a hot water supply pipe 94 for a bath and a hot water supply pipe 96 for a kitchen.

Next, a configuration for controlling the opening and closing of the hot water valve 62 provided in the indoor unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

A power supply 104 of 100 volts alternating current (AC)
Powers on a heater 108 for heating a thermal expansion member 116 (see FIG. 3) described later. A phototriac 102 is inserted in the electric circuit connecting these,
The phototriac 102 is connected to the microcomputer 100 via the output terminal 100A. The power supply 1
Reference numeral 04 is also connected to a rectifier circuit 107 including a transformer 106. The rectifier circuit 107 detects a zero-cross point (point where the voltage becomes “0”) of the rectified wave that has been full-wave rectified by the rectifier circuit 107. It is connected to the input terminal 100C of the microcomputer 100 via the zero cross circuit 109.

In the zero cross circuit 109, the transistor 105 is turned on / off based on the full-wave rectified waveform, and a pulse wave is input to the input terminal 100C at the zero cross point. The energization state of the phototriac 102 is controlled based on the rise of the pulse wave. In addition, a thermal expansion member 116 described later is used.
In order to detect the temperature t near the thermal expansion member 116,
A thermistor 110 is installed on the outer wall of a cylindrical housing 111 in which is disposed. This thermistor 110
Is connected to the microcomputer 1 via the input terminal 100B.
00 is connected.

The heater 108 and the thermistor 110
Is disposed near a hot water valve 62 that controls the flow rate of hot water flowing through a pipe formed inside the pipe 53 described above. Hereinafter, the configuration of the hot water valve 62 and the devices disposed in the vicinity thereof will be described with reference to FIG.

The hot water valve 62 includes a ring-shaped valve 122,
Valve fitting 120 that abuts on valve 122 to stop the flow of hot water
And a body 130 that supports the valve fitting 120 via the O-ring 128 and forms a hot water flow passage in the hot water valve 62, and is fixed to the valve fitting 120 at the lower end and supported via the O-ring 132 and the retaining ring 134. An elongated cylindrical shaft 112 supported by a member 126 is provided. The upper part of the shaft 112 is inserted into a cylindrical housing 111, and a disk-shaped upper plate 118 is fixed to the upper end of the shaft 112. Above the upper plate 118 in the housing 111, a thermal expansion member 116
It is arranged so that no gap is formed between each of the inner wall 1 and the upper plate 118. Note that the thermal expansion member 116 has a property of expanding with an increase in its temperature, and the expansion amount is slightly proportional to the temperature increase amount although it has some hysteresis. Information (relational expression) indicating the relationship between the amount of temperature rise of the thermal expansion member 116 and the amount of expansion of the thermal expansion member 116 is stored in a ROM (not shown) built in the microcomputer 100.
Is stored in advance.

The elastic force of the helical spring 124 integrally mounted on the support member 126 acts on the shaft 112 in the upward direction (the direction opposite to the arrow A) in FIG. Thereby, the valve fitting 120 fixed to the lower end of the shaft 112 is
It is in contact with the valve 122 and is urged upward. by the way,
The shaft 112 is not fixed to the support member 126 but is only supported by the support member 126 via the O-ring 132 and the retaining ring 134 as described above. ) Is configured to be able to move in the downward direction when the force is received from the outside.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. When a set flow rate P of the hot water to be circulated through the pipe 53 and a flow control start instruction by the hot water valve 62 are input to the microcomputer 100 via predetermined input means (not shown), the control routine shown in FIG. The execution is started by the microcomputer 100.

In step 150, the set flow rate P of the input hot water is fetched, and in the next step 152, the opening Q of the hot water valve 62 is set according to the set flow rate P fetched. As the opening degree Q here, for example, an opening degree determined from approximately full opening to full closing in approximately five stages can be used. In the next step 154, the expansion amount V of the thermal expansion member 116 necessary for realizing the set opening degree Q of the hot water valve 62 is set. In the next step 154, the expansion amount of the thermal expansion member 116 is set to the expansion amount V. The target temperature T at a predetermined position in the vicinity of the thermal expansion member 116 in the target state is calculated.

In the next step 158, the input terminal 100
B by detecting the voltage input to B and calculating the resistance value of the thermistor 110, the current thermal expansion member 116
A nearby temperature t is detected. In the next step 160, it is determined whether or not the current temperature t is lower than the target temperature T. At first, the result is affirmative because the temperature t is lower than the target temperature T, and at step 162, the phototriac energizing time S1 for setting the temperature t to the target temperature T is calculated.

In the next step 166, duty control based on the photo triac energizing time S1 is executed as follows. That is, when the zero cross point A of the supply voltage E having a waveform as shown in FIG. 5 is recognized by detecting the rise of the output voltage of the zero cross circuit 109 input through the input terminal 100C, the photo triac 102 is energized. Thereafter, at the time TA when the phototriac energizing time S1 has elapsed, the phototriac 102
Stop supplying power to

During the energization, the thermal expansion member 11
6 is heated by the heater 108 and the thermal expansion member 116 is heated.
Will expand. When the thermal expansion member 116 expands, the shaft 112 moves in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3, so that the valve fitting 120 fixed to the shaft 112 also moves in the direction of arrow A, and a gap is formed between the valve fitting 120 and the valve 122. Will expand. Thereby, the hot water that has received a predetermined pressure in the flow direction indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 3 and that has stayed in the region 53A passes more between the valve fitting 120 and the valve 122. After passing through the inside of the metal fitting 120 (area 53B), it reaches the area 53C and flows in the arrow B direction.

On the other hand, when the power supply is stopped, the heater 10
8, the heating of the thermal expansion member 116 is stopped, and the thermal expansion member 116 contracts. When the thermal expansion member 116 contracts, the shaft 112 is moved in a direction opposite to the arrow A in FIG.
Moves, the valve fitting 120 fixed to the shaft 112 also moves in the direction opposite to the arrow A, and the gap between the valve fitting 120 and the valve 122 is narrowed. Thereby, the piping 53
Will decrease the flow rate of hot water.

In the next step 168, it is determined whether or not the set flow rate P has been reset by the operator.
If has not been reset by the operator, the process returns to step 158, and the temperature t near the thermal expansion member 116 is again set.
Is detected, and step 160 is performed based on the detected temperature t.
166. On the other hand, when the set flow rate P has been reset by the operator, the process returns to step 150, the reset set flow rate P is fetched, and steps 152 to 166 are executed based on the set flow rate P.

Thereafter, when the duty control based on the phototriac energizing time S1 in step 166 is repeatedly executed, the temperature t near the thermal expansion member 116 increases.
When the temperature t becomes equal to or higher than the target temperature T, step 1
No is reached at 60 and the routine proceeds to step 164. When the temperature t becomes equal to or higher than the target temperature T, the photo triac 1
It is not necessary to energize the photo triac 102 in step 164, and the photo triac energization time S1 is set to "0" in step 164, and the photo triac 102 is not energized in the next duty control in step 166. As a result, the heater 108 is not energized, and the temperature t near the thermal expansion member 116 decreases.

Thereafter, when the temperature t becomes lower than the target temperature T again, the result is affirmative in step 160 and steps 162 and 16
6 will be executed again.

By continuing the above processing, the temperature t
Can be maintained near the target temperature T, whereby
The flow rate of the hot water can be maintained near the set flow rate P.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present embodiment, the flow rate of hot water can be controlled in a plurality of stages. In the control based on the expansion amount of the thermal expansion member 116,
Although a slight error occurs, the control of the flow rate of the hot water is usually sufficient if three to five steps are performed, so the above error is within an allowable range. Further, since the flow rate control of the hot water can be realized by the duty control of the phototriac 102, the control of the flow rate of the hot water flowing through the pipeline can be simplified and the equipment cost can be reduced. The valve for controlling the opening / closing operation by utilizing the expansion / contraction of the thermal expansion member as described above is not limited to being applied to the hot water valve of the hot water air conditioner as in the present embodiment, but also has a predetermined pipe line. It can also be applied to a valve that controls the flow rate of another fluid such as cold water or oil.

Further, as the thermal expansion member in the present embodiment, a substance, for example, metal or the like, which can fluctuate while maintaining a specific relation such that the temperature rise amount and the expansion amount of the member is substantially proportional or the like can be used. .

[0033]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the control of the flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipeline and to reduce the equipment cost.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that the control of the flow rate of the hot water flowing through the pipeline can be simplified and the equipment cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an air conditioner according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electric circuit related to open / close control of a hot water valve.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a configuration related to open / close control of a hot water valve.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control routine relating to opening / closing control of a hot water valve.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram relating to a phototriac switching time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 indoor unit 12 outdoor unit 53 pipe 55 pipe 62 hot water valve 92 water heater (heat source unit) 100 microcomputer 102 photo triac 108 heater (heating means) 110 thermistor 112 shaft 116 thermal expansion member 118 upper plate 120 valve fitting 122 valve

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A flow control valve, which is disposed in the middle of a pipeline through which a predetermined fluid flows, and controls a flow rate of the fluid flowing through the pipeline, and adjusts an opening / closing amount of the pipeline. A valve element, an operating member that operates the valve element in the opening and closing direction by a predetermined reciprocating movement, a thermal expansion member that expands or contracts in response to a temperature change and displaces the operating member, and heats the thermal expansion member. Heating means for controlling the amount of heating of the heating means, and adjusting the degree of opening and closing of the valve body via the operating member ; and an amount of increase in the temperature of the thermal expansion member and expansion of the thermal expansion member. amount
Storage means for storing the relationship with
Calculating the heating amount to be a preset flow rate and
A flow control valve , comprising: a microcomputer that controls heating control means . 2. A heat source device for generating hot water and circulating the hot water to a hot water heat exchanger through a predetermined pipe, and a hot water valve for controlling a flow rate of the hot water flowing through the hot water heat exchanger. An air conditioner comprising: an indoor unit mounted with the hot water heat exchanger, wherein the hot water valve comprises: a valve body for adjusting an opening / closing amount of the pipeline; An operating member that operates the valve body in the opening and closing direction; a thermal expansion member that expands or contracts in response to a temperature change to displace the operating member; a heating unit that heats the thermal expansion member; and a heating amount of the heating unit. Heating control means for controlling the degree of opening and closing of the valve body via the operating member, and the amount of temperature rise of the thermal expansion member and the amount of expansion of the thermal expansion member
Storage means for storing the relationship with
Calculating the heating amount to be a preset flow rate and
An air conditioner , comprising: a microcomputer that controls heating control means .