JP4476695B2 - Valve actuator - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a rotary valve such as a ball valve and a butterfly valve, and an actuator mounted on another valve. In particular, it is easy to center components, and when connecting to the valve, the output shaft of the actuator and the rotary shaft of the valve It is related with the actuator of the valve | bulb which was able to ensure the coaxiality accurately.

  As an actuator mounted on a valve, for example, in an actuator using an electric motor as a drive source, a gear that meshes with an electric motor and a drive shaft of the electric motor to reduce and transmit the rotational force from the electric motor. And an output shaft that rotates by the rotational force transmitted through the gear group. These series of output transmission parts are positioned and disposed on a metal bottom plate (corresponding to the lower cover). These parts are covered with a metal cover. Further, a female screw portion is provided on the bottom surface of the bottom plate, and a bolt locked to a flange portion of the valve is fastened to the female screw portion to connect with the valve body.

  For example, in Utility Model Registration No. 2505422 (Patent Document 1), a top plate on which an electric motor is mounted is nut-fastened to a male screw portion of a screw tap erected on the top surface of the bottom plate. In addition to supporting the gear group and the output shaft, a bolt locked to the flange portion of the valve is tightened into a female screw portion provided on the bottom surface of the bottom plate, thereby establishing connection with the valve body.

  Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-66788 (Patent Document 2) discloses a valve bonnet and a cylinder formed by fitting a cylindrical portion that protrudes downward from a bottom surface of a bottomed cylindrical yoke that opens upward into a cylindrical valve bonnet. By tightening the bolts to the female screw parts provided on the side surfaces of each part, and fixing the yoke flanges to the female screw parts provided on the bottom plate of the actuator, the actuator body and the valve body are connected. Yes.

Furthermore, there are some which do not use many fixing members such as bolts and nuts as in Japanese Patent No. 2877213 (Patent Document 3). In Japanese Patent No. 2877213, a nipple member fixed to a valve body is inserted into a central hole drilled in a cylindrical housing (bottom plate) of an actuator, and a nut screwed onto the nipple member is tightened. Thus, a structure for connecting the actuator body and the valve body is disclosed.
Utility Model Registration No. 2505422 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-66788 Japanese Patent No. 2877213

However, in the conventional actuators including Patent Documents 1 and 2, a series of output transmission parts including a gear mechanism, an output shaft, and the like are positioned and arranged on a metal bottom plate (corresponding to a lower cover). And the actuator drive unit and the valve body are assembled by means of attaching to the bottom plate using separate attachment means. Therefore, when connecting to the valve body, the actuator output shaft and the valve body It is not easy to ensure the coaxiality with the rotating shaft, and it is necessary to frequently adjust the angle and position between the components mounted on the bottom plate. In some cases, it is necessary to adjust the position by removing it from the bottom plate. was there. Furthermore, since many fixing members such as bolts and nuts are used, it takes a lot of man-hours from assembly of the actuator to connection to the valve body.

  In addition, actuator covers that cover internal components such as output transmission parts are often made of resin from the viewpoint of weight reduction and design, but for the lower cover corresponding to the bottom plate, Since the lower surface is the connection part with the valve, there are still many metal parts from the viewpoint of strength, and when this is made of resin, insert a metal nut for connecting the valve into the lower cover. It is necessary to secure the connection strength with the valve body. For this reason, it takes a lot of man-hours to manufacture the cover, and it takes man-hours and costs for disassembling the cover when discarding the actuator and separating the material during recycling, resulting in a decrease in the recycling rate and the accompanying environmental deterioration. There are concerns. In addition, when the bottom plate is made of iron casting or ADC, there is a drawback that the cost increases due to an increase in the number of parts due to the heavy use of fixing members, in addition to performing tapping.

  Furthermore, when replacing or inspecting parts placed on the bottom plate (lower cover), after removing a number of fixing members, individual components must be removed from the bottom plate. In addition, there is a risk that the removed fixing member may be lost.

  Further, in the structure of Patent Document 3, since the components constituting the actuator drive unit are individually fixed to the cylindrical housing (bottom plate) of the actuator, assembly of the actuator still requires a lot of man-hours, When attaching and detaching the actuator to and from the valve body, there is a problem that parts must be removed from the housing of the actuator.

The present invention has been developed as a result of intensive studies in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to reduce the number of fixing members such as bolts and nuts, reduce the number of assembling steps, and components It is an object of the present invention to provide a valve actuator that can easily and accurately ensure the coaxiality between the output shaft of the actuator and the rotation shaft of the valve when connecting to the valve .

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is an actuator for a valve in which a resin actuator cover comprising an upper cover and a lower cover is attached to a mounting flange of the valve via a bolt. A drive unit provided with a gear mechanism and an output shaft is arranged between the upper plate and the lower plate in the cover via a spacer, and a mounting hole opened at the bolt mounting position of the lower plate and a bottom portion of the lower cover The cylindrical part of the valve connection nut having a female thread part is inserted into the insertion hole opened at the bolt mounting position, and a head having a larger diameter than the cylindrical part is provided at the upper part of the cylindrical part, and the lower surface of the head is In addition to engaging with the upper surface of the lower plate, a bolt attached to the mounting flange is screwed onto the female screw portion, and the bottom portion of the lower cover is sandwiched and fixed by the mounting flange and the lower plate. An actuator of a valve that is sealed by mounting an O-ring between the cylindrical portion and the lower cover.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the pressing unit is formed inside the upper cover to be assembled to the lower cover, and when the upper and lower covers are assembled, the driving unit is pressed and clamped by the pressing unit, and the driving unit is installed in the cover. It is a valve actuator with built-in .

According to the present invention, the cylindrical portion of the valve connection nut is provided outside the output shaft with the bottom portion of the lower cover sandwiched and fixed between the lower plate and the mounting flange . It is easy to center the components, and the drive unit and valve body can be connected directly, so there is no need for misalignment when connecting to the valve body, and the actuator output shaft and valve rotation It became possible to ensure the coaxiality with the shaft accurately and easily. For this reason, the conventional angle adjustment and position adjustment operations between components have been greatly reduced, and highly accurate valve control has become possible. Further, in the conventional structure, the drive unit consisting of a gear group, an output shaft, and the like are connected via a lower cover corresponding to the bottom plate of the actuator, so this lower cover is accompanied by the rotation of the output shaft. Although it was necessary to provide strength sufficient to withstand the rotational reaction force, according to the present invention, since the valve is directly connected to the drive unit, the drive unit receives the rotational reaction force, and the lower cover Only the clamping force sandwiched between the drive unit and the valve is applied to the drive unit. Therefore, the entire cover can be made of resin and reduced in weight. Furthermore, the actuator can be attached to and detached from the valve body without removing the drive unit.

By inserting it through an O-ring into an insertion hole provided between the cylindrical portion and the lower cover , there is an effect of reliably preventing dust and liquid from entering the actuator.

Even when an electric motor is used as the drive source, the position of the drive unit and the actuator cover that contains the drive unit are firmly held without being affected by vibrations specific to the electric motor or external vibrations. The effect of doing .

One embodiment of a valve actuator according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the actuator of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing the actuator of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a state where the upper cover is removed in the actuator of the present invention. FIG. The actuator 1 of the present embodiment is equipped with an electric motor 2 as a drive source, a gear mechanism 3 that decelerates and transmits the rotational force from the electric motor 2, and the rotational force transmitted through the gear mechanism 3. The drive shaft 6 is configured by disposing the output shaft 4 and the like rotated on the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 5 made of steel plate. As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, in this embodiment, an upper plate 9 is firmly screwed to a cylindrical spacer 7 erected on the lower plate 5 via screws 8 or the like. The electric motor 2 is placed in a state where the drive shaft 2a is inserted through the motor. The drive shaft 2a of the electric motor 2 meshes with a gear mechanism 3 that is rotatably supported by the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 5, and the gear mechanism 3 is inserted through the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 5, It meshes with the gear portion 4a of the output shaft 4 that is rotatably supported. In the figure, 5a is a lower bearing mounted in the bearing hole of the lower plate 5, and 9a in the figure is an upper bearing mounted in the bearing hole of the upper plate 9.

  Further, in the gear mechanism 3, the clutch rod 3c is slidably contacted with the intermediate gear 3b urged upward by the spring 3a. When the actuator 1 is manually operated, the clutch rod 3c is pushed down to move the gear. By releasing the meshing, the output shaft 4 can be manually operated without resisting the reduction ratio of the gear mechanism 3. Therefore, in this embodiment, the spring 3 a and the clutch rod 3 c are also components of the drive unit 6.

  The drive unit 6 is provided with a connecting portion 10 at a position where the output shaft 4 is centered. In this embodiment, a nut member (hereinafter referred to as a valve connection nut) is employed as the connecting portion 10. The valve connection nut 10 includes a cylindrical portion 10 a having an internal thread portion formed on the inner surface, and the cylindrical portion 10 a. The head portion 10b has a larger diameter. As shown in FIG. 3, the lower plate 5 is provided with two mounting holes 5b for inserting the valve connection nut 10 in the circumferential direction of the output shaft 4 in this embodiment, and these mounting holes 5b, 5b. The valve connection nuts 10 and 10 that are inserted into the lower plate 5 are set so as to be exposed on the lower surface of the lower plate 5. In the present embodiment, the head portion 10b of the valve connection nut 10 is formed in a columnar shape, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a prismatic shape such as a hexagon. Moreover, the plate | board thickness of the lower plate 5 made from a steel plate in a present Example is about 2.5-3.0 mm, and the name of the internal thread part of the valve connection nut 10 is M6.

  The height of the head portion 10b of the valve connection nut 10 is suppressed to the same height as the upper surface of the lower bearing 5a attached to the output shaft 4, and the assembly of the valve connection nut 10 to the drive unit 6 is facilitated. . The lower end 10c of the valve connection nut 10 is substantially flush with the bottom surface 12a of the actuator cover 12 described later, and this surface is in close contact with the actuator mounting portion of the valve 20 when connected to the valve 20 described later. I have to. The material of the valve connection nut 10 is made of metal (for example, brass) in this embodiment, but may be made of heat insulating resin. In this case, heat conduction from the valve 20 is blocked by the valve connection nut 10. Therefore, the dew condensation phenomenon in the actuator 1 can be prevented. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a retaining ring.

  In addition to the valve connection nut 10, a valve connection bolt having a male thread portion can be adopted as the connecting portion 10, but the sealing performance with a waterproof / dustproof O-ring 15 described later, From the viewpoint of ease of assembly, the nut member shown in the present embodiment is preferable. Further, the number and insertion position of the valve connection nut 10 to be used are not limited to the present embodiment, but are positions where the output shaft 4 is centered, including the number of parts, the number of assembly steps, and the valve body. In view of this strong connection, the embodiment shown in this embodiment is preferable.

  In the figure, reference numeral 12 denotes an actuator cover made of resin in the present embodiment, which is composed of an upper cover 13 and a lower cover 14. Parts that need to be covered in a sealed state, such as the drive unit 6, are built in the cover 12. . As shown in the drawing, the lower cover 14 is sandwiched between the drive unit 6 and the actuator mounting portion of the valve 20, in this embodiment, the mounting flange 21, surrounding the outer peripheral surface of the drive unit 6, As shown in FIG. 3, on the inner side of the upper cover 13, cylindrical or semi-cylindrical pressing portions 13 a protrude in four places in this embodiment. When the upper and lower covers are assembled, the drive unit is built in the cover 12 in a state where the upper plate 9 of the drive unit 6 is pressed by the pressing portion 13a. Accordingly, the drive unit 6 and the actuator cover 12 are firmly held in position. In the figure, 13b is an output shaft insertion hole provided in the upper cover 13, and 13c in the figure is a clutch rod insertion hole. A retaining ring 3d locked to the clutch rod 3c is in contact with the lower peripheral edge of the clutch rod insertion hole 13c via an O-ring, and the upward movement of the intermediate gear 3b with which the clutch rod 3c contacts is restricted. Yes.

  The lower cover 14 has an output shaft insertion hole 14a through which the output shaft 4 is inserted and inserted into the lower surface of the actuator cover 12, and an insertion hole 14b into which the valve connection nut 10 inserted into the lower plate 5 is inserted. 14b are formed, and waterproof and dustproof O-rings 15 made of elastic rubber are mounted on the inner end surfaces of the insertion hole 14a of the output shaft 4 and the insertion hole 14b of the valve connection nut 10, respectively. As will be described later, for the assembly of the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14, fastening fixing using a fastening member or locking and fixing such as a fitting structure using an uneven portion can be employed. Further, the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14 are configured to be positioned with respect to each other in a state where the drive unit 6 is sandwiched, and the gasket 16 interposed between the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14. Is not pressed excessively.

  Further, by attaching a plate member 17 equipped with a valve opening degree detection member such as a magnetic element or a valve opening degree indication member such as an LED to the upper plate 9 of the drive unit 6, these components are also combined with the drive unit 6. Since it is unitized and can be housed in the cover 12 while being firmly held in position, the assembly work of the actuator is facilitated, and internal components such as the drive unit 6 can be used as a unit from the cover 12 during maintenance. It can be taken out, and the refueling work and the specific work of the malfunctioning part can be easily performed.

Next, a method for assembling the valve actuator will be described.
FIG. 4 is a separation view showing an example of a method of assembling the valve actuator according to the present invention. First, the electric motor 2, the gear mechanism 3 that transmits the rotational force from the electric motor 2 at a reduced speed, the output shaft 4 that rotates by the rotational force transmitted through the gear mechanism 3, and the like are respectively attached to the lower plate 5. Arrange. In this embodiment, an upper plate 9 is firmly screwed to a cylindrical spacer 7 erected on the lower plate 5 via screws 8 or the like, and the drive shaft 2a is inserted into the upper plate 9 in a state where it is inserted. An electric motor 2 is placed. The gear mechanism 3 is supported by the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 5, and the output shaft 4 is supported by the upper plate 9 and the lower plate 5 with the upper bearing 9 a and the lower bearing 5 a mounted thereon. As a result, the drive shaft 2a of the electric motor 2 is engaged with the gear mechanism 3, and the gear mechanism 3 is disposed in engagement with the gear portion 4a of the output shaft 4, and the rotational force from the electric motor 2 is applied to the output shaft. 4 is decelerated to 4 and transmitted. By attaching a plate member 17 equipped with a valve opening degree detection member such as a magnetic element or a valve opening degree indication member such as an LED to the upper plate 9 of the drive unit 6, these components are unitized together with the drive unit 6. can do.

  Next, the valve connection nuts 10 and 10 are inserted into the mounting holes 5 b and 5 b provided in the lower plate 5. As an insertion method, in this embodiment, it is attached by press-fitting. However, an adhesive may be used together or a separate locking part may be provided, which is optional depending on the implementation.

  After the drive unit 6 is assembled, the drive unit 6 is accommodated in the actuator cover 12 including the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14. A waterproof / dustproof O-ring 15 made of elastic rubber is mounted on the inner end face of the insertion hole 14a of the output shaft 4 provided in the lower cover 14 and the insertion holes 14b, 14b of the valve connection nut 10. The output shaft 4 through which the lower plate 5 was inserted and the valve connecting nuts 10 and 10 were set in this state, and a rubber gasket 16 was attached to the outer periphery of the lower cover 14 and then provided on the upper cover 13. With the pressing portion 13a pressed against the upper plate 9 of the driving unit 6, the driving unit 6 is sandwiched between the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14, and bolts 18 are inserted into holes provided in the upper and lower covers. The nut 19 is tightened and fixed. The assembled actuator 1 is connected to appropriate valves according to implementation, for example, rotary valves such as ball valves and butterfly valves, and open / close valves such as gate valves and globe valves.

  FIG. 5 is a separation view showing another example of the actuator assembly method according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, the upper cover 13 and the lower cover 14 are fixed to each other by fastening with bolts 18 and nuts 19. In this embodiment, the upper cover 13 is formed with a recess 13d and the lower cover 14 is formed with a protrusion 14c. By fitting these uneven portions, the upper cover 13 and The lower cover 14 is locked and fixed. The other steps are the same as those described above, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the connection between the actuator main body 1 and the valve main body 20 will be described. A valve connection nut that is inserted into the lower plate 5 of the drive unit 6 and whose lower end 10 c is substantially flush with the bottom surface of the actuator cover 12. 10, a male screw member locked to the mounting flange 21 of the valve 20, a bolt 23 equipped with an insulator 22 in this embodiment, is screwed together to connect the actuator body 1 and the valve body 20. At this time, the lower surface 12a of the cover 12 and the mounting surface of the mounting flange 21 are in close contact with each other, and a firm tightening is realized. In this embodiment, the insertion flat surface 24a formed at the upper end of the rotary shaft 24 of the valve 20 is inserted into the bifurcated portion 4b formed at the lower end of the output shaft 4 of the actuator 1, so that the output shaft 4 and the rotary shaft 24 are integrated. Although it couple | bonds so that it may rotate, of course, a coupling | bonding means is not limited to this.
Thus, since the valve body 20 is directly connected to the drive unit 6 formed by unitizing a series of output transmission parts, the connection state is strong, and the output shaft 4 of the actuator 1 and the valve are connected. The degree of coaxiality with the 20 rotation shafts 24 is easily and reliably ensured with excellent accuracy.

The valve actuator of the present invention can be configured as an electric type, a pneumatic type, etc., and can be used in various fields such as a general-purpose industrial use and an air conditioner, a rotary valve such as a ball valve and a butterfly valve, It is possible to provide a valve actuator that can be applied to an on-off valve such as a gate valve or a globe valve.

It is side surface sectional drawing which showed the actuator of the valve | bulb in this invention. It is front sectional drawing which showed the actuator of the valve | bulb in this invention. FIG. 6 is a partially omitted plan view showing a state where an upper cover is removed. It is the separation figure which showed an example of the assembly method of the actuator of the valve | bulb in this invention. It is the separation figure which showed the other example of the assembly method of the actuator of the valve | bulb in this invention.

1 Actuator 3 Gear mechanism 4 Output shaft 5 Lower plate
5b Mounting hole 6 Drive unit
10 Valve connection nut
10a Cylindrical part
10b Head 12 Actuator cover 13 Upper cover 13a Pressing part 14 Lower cover 14b Insertion hole 15 O-ring 20 Valve 21 Mounting flange 23 Bolt

Claims (2)

A valve actuator in which a resin actuator cover comprising an upper cover and a lower cover is attached to a valve mounting flange via a bolt, and a spacer is provided between the upper plate and the lower plate in the actuator cover. A drive unit provided with a gear mechanism and an output shaft is disposed, and a female screw portion is provided in a mounting hole opened in the bolt mounting position of the lower plate and an insertion hole opened in the bolt mounting position of the bottom of the lower cover. Insert the cylindrical part of the valve connection nut that has a head with a larger diameter than the cylindrical part at the top of this cylindrical part, and engage the lower surface of this head with the upper surface of the lower plate and attach it to the mounting flange A bolt is screwed onto the female screw portion, and the bottom portion of the lower cover is sandwiched and fixed by the mounting flange and the lower plate, and an O-ring is attached between the cylindrical portion and the lower cover for sealing. Shi A valve actuator characterized by that. The pressing portion is formed inside the upper cover assembled to the lower cover, when assembling the upper and lower covers, by pressing sandwich the drive unit in the press section, according to claim 1 which has been built a drive unit in the cover The valve actuator described in 1.

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