JP4639977B2 - Valve unit - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a valve unit that is interposed in a pipeline and opens and closes the pipeline by driving a motor.

  For example, in various devices that handle water, such as washing machines and dishwashers, a stepping motor drive for opening and closing the drain line in response to a signal from the device is provided in the drain line for draining the water after use. The valve unit by is incorporated.

  As a conventional valve unit of this type, a drive piece is engaged with a feed screw that is rotationally driven by the stepping motor so as to be linearly movable along the feed screw, and this drive piece is connected to the drain line. Widely used is a valve member that closes a valve seat provided in a communicating valve chamber so that the valve member can move forward and backward with respect to the valve seat.

  According to the conventional valve unit, the motor is driven by the signal from the device, the feed screw is rotated, and the drive piece and the valve member integrated therewith are linearly advanced and retracted with respect to the valve seat. Thus, the drainage line can be opened and closed.

  By the way, in the above valve unit, in general, when the valve seat is closed by the valve member and the drainage line is closed, the stepping motor is provided with the valve of the original valve member in order to securely close the valve seat by the valve member. A method is adopted in which the valve member is pressed against the valve seat by rotating more than the contact position with respect to the seat.

  For this reason, particularly when the drainage line is closed or opened from a closed state, an excessive force acts on the tip of the valve member. There was a problem that the tooth of the engagement portion with the driving piece was damaged.

  Therefore, in order to avoid the above-mentioned problems, it is necessary to increase the mechanical strength of the material constituting the valve member, the feed screw, etc., so that the degree of freedom of design is restricted and the product cost is increased. There was a point.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and can reliably prevent an excessive force from acting on a valve member or the like even when a valve seat provided therein is closed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a valve unit capable of improving the degree and extending the durability life without using a high-strength material.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a housing that is interposed in a pipe line and has a motor fixed to one end part thereof, and is integrated with the housing and communicated with the pipe line at a tip part thereof. A valve body having a valve chamber formed therein, and a conversion mechanism that converts the rotational motion of the motor into a linear motion inside, and is provided at the tip of the conversion mechanism and is movably provided in the valve chamber, A valve unit that closes the valve seat formed in the valve chamber, and opens and closes the piping path by moving the valve member forward and backward with respect to the valve seat. A feed screw member that is rotationally driven by a motor and has a male screw formed on the outer peripheral portion thereof, and a female screw that engages with the male screw of the feed screw member is formed, and is driven linearly by the rotational motion of the feed screw member. Piece and, a biasing member producing repulsive force when it is provided compressed between the driving members and the valve member, and the valve member is movably provided with a valve in the valve chamber Comprising a body, a flange portion provided at an end portion on the motor side and fixed to the housing, and a bellows that is capable of connecting and unifying the flange portion and the valve body and is extendable and contractible. Is.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the male screw of the feed screw member according to the first aspect meshes with the female screw of the driving piece at a position where the valve member opens the valve seat, and the valve The member is formed at a position where the engagement with the female screw of the driving piece is disengaged at a position where the member closes the valve seat.

  In the valve unit according to claim 1, when the valve seat is closed by the valve member and the pipe line is closed, when the motor is operated and the feed screw member is rotated, the drive piece that meshes with the feed screw member Moves toward the valve seat. Then, the urging member interposed between the driving piece and the valve member is compressed, and the valve member is pressed and moved by the repulsive force to finally close the valve seat.

At this time, since the valve member is pressed against the valve seat by the repulsive force of the urging member, an excessive force acts on the tip of the valve member and the tip portion is worn early, or the feed screw member and There is no risk of damage to the teeth of the engagement portion with the drive piece.
Even if the liquid in the valve unit is frozen, only the urging member operates in a direction to reduce the repulsive force when opening the valve member. There is no risk of damage due to excessive force acting on the surface.

  Furthermore, according to the invention described in claim 2, since the male screw of the feed screw member is formed so that the engagement with the female screw of the driving piece is disengaged at the position where the valve member closes the valve seat, the valve member Even if the motor is rotated excessively when the valve seat is closed due to the above, the feed screw member only rotates idle, and no force for driving the drive piece and thus the valve body to the valve seat side is generated.

  As a result, like the conventional one, when closing the valve seat, it is possible to reliably prevent an excessive force from acting on the tip portion of the valve member or the engagement portion between the feed screw member and the drive piece, Therefore, the degree of freedom in design is improved and the durability life can be extended without using a high-strength material.

  1 to 3 show an embodiment of a valve unit according to the present invention. The valve unit includes a large-diameter cylindrical housing 2 having a motor 1 fixed to one end thereof, and other housings 2. A small-diameter cylindrical valve main body 3 integrated at the end portion with a mounting screw 2a is schematically configured. And the connection port 4 with the inflow side of a piping path is formed in the front-end | tip part of the valve main body 3, and the valve chamber 3a is formed in an inside by forming the connection port 5 with the outflow side in an intermediate part side wall. ing. In addition, the code | symbol 6 is a discharge port for escaping the liquid which flowed in from the inflow side connection port 4 temporarily, and storing in a tank etc. separately, when the outflow side connection port 5 side is closed.

  On the other hand, the motor 1 incorporates a stepping motor and a reduction gear train that meshes with its rotation shaft. The final stage gear shaft 1a of the reduction gear train protrudes into the housing 2, A pinion gear 7 is attached to the outer periphery. Here, the gear shaft 1 a is rotatably supported by an intermediate plate 8 interposed between the motor 1 and the housing 2.

  At the center of the housing 2, a feed screw (feed screw member) 10 is supported in the axial direction by a thrust receiving plate 9 and is rotatably provided around the axis. In the feed screw 10, a gear 10a is integrally formed on the outer periphery of the base end portion, and the pinion gear 7 is engaged with the gear 10a. Further, a gear portion (male screw) 11 is formed in a predetermined range on the outer periphery on the front end side of the feed screw 10. A driving piece 12 that engages with a female screw 12 a formed on the inner peripheral surface of the gear portion 11 is provided so as to be movable in the left-right direction in FIG. 3 by the rotation of the feed screw 10.

  On the other hand, a valve member is provided outside the feed screw 10 and the drive piece 12 so as to surround them. The valve member includes a flange portion 14 provided at one end and engaged with a step portion 13 between the housing 2 and the valve main body 3, a valve body 15 provided at the other end, the flange portion 14 and the valve. The body 15 is connected to and integrated with a bellows 16 that is stretchable.

  Here, the valve body 15 is a cylindrical member whose inside is closed by the end face plate 15a, and the length dimension thereof is formed so as to be able to close the valve chamber opening (valve seat) 5a of the connection port 5. Has been. A drive plate 17 is disposed on the end face plate 15 a of the valve body 15 facing the drive piece 12, and a repulsive force is generated between the drive plate 17 and the drive piece 12 when compressed. The resulting spring (biasing member) 18 is interposed.

In addition, a locking projection 19 is formed on the inner wall of the valve body 3 so that the valve body 15 abuts at a position where the valve body 15 seals the valve chamber opening 5 a of the connection port 5.
Further, the gear portion 11 of the feed screw 10 is formed such that the tip 11a thereof is disengaged from the internal thread 12a of the drive piece 12 at a position where the valve body 15 closes the opening 5a.

  In the valve unit having the above configuration, when the valve body 15 shown in FIG. 3 is retracted, fluid such as steam or water from a pipe line (not shown) is supplied from the connection port 4 on the inflow side of the valve body 3 to the valve unit 15. It flows from the connection port 5 on the outflow side to the pipe line through the chamber 3a. And when closing the said piping path, the motor 1 is operated and the feed screw 10 is rotated by the pinion gear 7. FIG.

  Then, the drive piece 12 engaged with the feed screw 10 moves toward the valve chamber opening 5a side of the connection port 5, and as a result, the spring interposed between the drive piece 12 and the drive plate 17. 18 is compressed, and the valve body 15 is pressed through the drive plate 17 by the repulsive force. Then, the valve body 15 moves while the bellows 16 of the valve member extends, and finally closes the opening 5a as shown by a dotted line position in FIG.

  At this time, the valve body 15 abuts against the locking projection 19 by the repulsive force of the spring 18 and closes the opening 5a, so that an excessive force acts on the valve body 15 and the early stage. There is no possibility of causing wear or damage to the teeth 11 and 12a at the engagement portion between the feed screw 10 and the drive piece 12.

  In addition, since the screw portion 11 of the feed screw 10 is formed so that the engagement with the female screw 12a of the drive piece 12 is disengaged at the position where the valve body 15 closes the opening 5a, the opening portion by the valve body 15 Even if the motor 1 is rotated excessively when the motor 5a is closed, the feed screw 10 only runs idle, and no force is generated to drive the drive piece 12 and the valve body 15 toward the opening 5a.

  For this reason, when closing the opening part 5a, it can prevent reliably that excessive force acts on the meshing part of the valve body 15, the feed screw 10, and the drive piece 12, etc. Therefore, the freedom degree of design As a result, the endurance life can be extended without using a high-strength material.

  Further, since the repulsive force from the spring 18 acts on the drive piece 12 on the side that moves it to the motor 1 side, when the motor 1 is rotated in the reverse direction to open the piping, the repulsion is performed. Due to the force, the female screw 12a of the driving piece 12 and the screw portion 11 of the feed screw 10 are engaged again and moved to the left in FIG.

  As a result, since the urging force by the spring 18 is reduced, the valve body 15 is also shown by the contraction force (returning force to the original shape) of the extended bellows 16 or the fluid pressure from the connection port 4 on the inflow side of the valve body 3. By being pushed to the middle left and the opening 5a is opened, the fluid again flows from the outflow side connection port 5 to the pipe line through the valve chamber 3a. By connecting the end of the spring 18 to the drive plate 17 and the valve body 15 integrally, the valve body 15 is also integrated via the spring 18 when the drive piece 12 moves to the left in the figure. You may make it move to the left in the figure.

  Further, even when a liquid such as water in the valve unit is frozen, only the spring 18 extends when the valve body 15 is opened, so that the periphery of the valve body 15 and the opening 5a, etc. There is no risk of damage caused by excessive force.

It is a side view which shows one Embodiment of the valve unit of this invention. It is a front view of FIG. It is the top view of FIG. 2 which showed the principal part by the AA line cross section of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Motor 2 Housing 3 Valve body 4 Connection port with inflow side 5 Connection port with outflow side 10 Lead screw (feed screw member)
11 Gear (Male thread)
11a End of gear part 12 Drive piece 12a Female thread 14 Flange part 15 Valve element (valve member)
16 Bellows 18 Spring (biasing member)

Claims (2)

A housing having a motor fixed to one end and a valve body integrated with the housing and formed with a valve chamber communicating with the piping at the tip; A conversion mechanism that converts the rotational motion of the motor into a linear motion; and a valve member that is provided at the tip of the conversion mechanism and is movably provided in the valve chamber and can close the valve seat formed in the valve chamber. A valve unit that opens and closes the pipe line by moving the valve member forward and backward with respect to the valve seat;
The conversion mechanism is rotationally driven by the motor and has a feed screw member having a male screw formed on the outer periphery thereof, and a female screw that meshes with the male screw of the feed screw member. A drive piece that moves linearly, and a biasing member that is provided between the drive piece and the valve member and generates a repulsive force when compressed ,
The valve member includes a valve body movably provided in the valve chamber, a flange portion provided at an end on the motor side and fixed to the housing, and the flange portion and the valve body are integrally connected. A valve unit characterized by comprising a bellows that can be expanded and contracted .   The male screw of the feed screw member meshes with the female screw of the drive piece at a position where the valve member opens the valve seat, and the female screw of the drive piece at a position where the valve member closes the valve seat. The valve unit according to claim 1, wherein the valve unit is formed at a position where the engagement is disengaged.

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