JPH01203772A - Automatic selector valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To drive an automatic selector valve by a driving device having a small output by controlling a valve body by the opening/closing operation of a pilot valve body driven by a continuous drive type actuator for minute distance. CONSTITUTION:The valve bodies 3 are arranged in symmetry around a continuous drive type actuator D' for minute distance, and a partitioning wall 15 having a nearly cylindrical form is projectingly installed between the branched conduits 11 and 12. A main valve seat 16 is formed at the top edge of the partitioning wall 15, and the outer periphery of a diaphragm 18 made of soft material is installed in watertight state onto the inner surface 17 of a conduit on the inflow side, and the center part of the diaphragm 18 is attached onto the main valve seat 16. When only the opening/closing operation of a pilot valve body 25 is carried out, the opening/closing operation of the valve body 13 is executed by the pressure of a conduit 19 on the inflow side.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (b) Industrial application fields The present invention relates to an automatic switching valve.

(b) Conventional technology Conventionally, in automatic switching valves in which the flow of fluid is switched by an electrically driven valve body interposed at a branch point of a pipe, the electric actuator and the valve body are directly connected. It was linked together.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention As mentioned above,
Because the actuator and the valve body are directly interlocked and connected, it takes a large amount of drive energy to operate the valve body against the fluid pressure in the pipeline. It had the disadvantage of requiring .

(d) Means for Solving Problems In the present invention, in an automatic switching valve that is interposed at a branch point of a pipe and switches the discharge pipe by operating a valve body, the valve body is replaced by a pilot valve body. The present invention provides an automatic switching valve in which the pilot valve element is driven by an electrically driven minute distance stepless drive type actuator, which is interlocked and connected to a diaphragm that is controlled by the opening and closing operations of the valve.

In addition, here, micro-distance stepless drive type actuators include laminated piezoelectric actuators, piezoelectric bimorph actuators, stepping linear motors, piezoelectric linear motors, ultrasonic linear motors, combinations of ultrasonic motors (rotary type) and rotating screws, and stepping A combination of a motor (rotary type) and a rotating screw.

(E) Function/Effect According to this invention, when the pilot valve body is opened and closed by the infinitesimal distance stepless Iil drive type actuator, the diaphragm is actuated by the fluid pressure in the pipe, and the valve body is actuated to open and close the flow path. Since the switching operation is performed, the actuator only needs to operate the pilot valve element, and less energy is required to drive the switching valve.

Therefore, it becomes possible to drive the automatic switching valve even with a small main power driving device, and it is possible to save energy and downsize the device.

(f) Examples The present invention will be explained in detail below based on examples shown in the attached drawings.

Figure 1 shows an automatic switching valve (B) located downstream of the hot water mixing valve (8).
), and an automatic switching valve (8) switches the flow direction of hot water whose temperature is adjusted by a hot water mixing valve (8).

The hot water mixing valve (8) connects the water side pipe (1) and the hot water side pipe (2).
A hot water valve seat (4) (4°) is provided on the hot water side pipe (2) side and the hot water side pipe (3) side, and the water side pipe (1) and the hot water side A substantially cylindrical valve body (6) is slidably inserted into the partition wall (5) provided between the pipes (2).
6), the hot water side and water side valve seats (4) (4°
) to adjust the temperature of the mixed hot water discharged from the hot water pipe (3), and the temperature sensor (7) provided in the hot water pipe (3) adjusts the temperature of the mixed hot water Detects the temperature of the valve body (6) via the control device (C) shown in FIG.
Micro distance stepless drive type actuator (D) connected to
The temperature of the mixed hot water discharged from the hot water pipe (3) is maintained at a preset temperature by controlling the operation of the hot water pipe (3).

Note that (8) in the figure is a spring for restoring the valve body (6), and when the restraining force of the plunger (9) of the actuator (D) is lost due to a power outage, etc., the valve seat (8) on the hot water side 4)
This prevents the risk of hot mixed water being discharged by closing the lid.

A hot water mixing device is provided, and on the left (8), the pipe line (10) that communicates with the hot water pipe line (3) of the hot water mixing valve (A) is branched into two forks, and the branch pipe line (11) and Valve bodies (13) (13) respectively interposed in the branch pipe line (12), and each valve body (13) (1
3) consists of one minute distance stepless drive type actuator (Do).

Each valve body (13) (13) is connected to the actuator (Do
) are arranged symmetrically around the branch pipe (11
) (12) is provided with a substantially cylindrical partition wall (15) projecting therein, a main valve seat (16) is formed at the tip edge of the partition wall (15), and the inner surface of the pipe on the inflow side (17 ) The outer periphery of a diaphragm (18) made of a flexible material is attached in a watertight manner to the main valve Ju (16
), thereby cutting off communication between the inflow side pipe line (19) and the outflow side pipe line (20).

In addition, a small diameter orifice (21) is bored in the peripheral edge of the diaphragm (18) facing the inflow side pipe line (19), so that the inflow side pipe line (19) and the diaphragm (18) are connected to each other. It communicates with a pressure chamber (22) formed on the side opposite to the main valve seat (16), and furthermore, a pilot valve seat (23) and a pilot passage (24) are provided in the center of the diaphragm (18). A pilot valve body (25) which communicates the pressure chamber (22) with the outflow side pipe (20) and is interlocked and connected to the same valve seat (23) with a minute distance stepless drive type actuator (Do).
Communication between the pressure chamber (22) and the outflow side pipe (20) is opened and closed by bringing the tip surfaces of the pressure chamber (22) into contact with the pressure chamber (22).

In addition, the pilot valve body (25) has a valve seat (23) at its tip.
) is connected with an elastic body for contact with the

In particular, the orifice (21) is connected to the pilot valve seat (23).
) and the same passage (24), and when the pilot passage (24) is closed, the pressure chamber (22)
The pressure increases and the diaphragm (18) is pushed against the main valve seat (16).
) direction to close the valve body (13). When the pilot passage (24) is open, the pressure chamber (2
2) is reduced and the diaphragm (18) separates from the main valve Ju (16) due to the pressure in the inflow side pipe (19), opening the valve body (13) (13).

As mentioned above, if only the pilot valve bodies (25) (25) are opened and closed, the valve bodies (13) (13) will be opened and closed by the pressure in the inlet pipe (19). Therefore, the minute distance stepless drive type actuator (Do) that controls the opening/closing operation of the automatic switching valve (8) only needs to operate the pilot valve body (25) (25), and the valve body is directly driven. This means that the same actuator (Do) with a smaller output will suffice compared to the one with the same output.

In the figure, (E) and (E') indicate the casing of the micro-pressure M stepless drive actuator (D) and (D'), and (26) indicates that the mixed hot water enters the same actuator (D) and (D') rm. U-shaped or Y-shaped with low sliding resistance to prevent
The letter-shaped gasket (27) is an O-ring to prevent leakage between the water side pipe (1) and hot water side pipe (2) of the hot water mixing valve (A), and the automatic vibration of the valve body (6). It also serves as a friction damper to attenuate the

The micro-pressure M stepless drive type actuator (D) provided in the hot water mixing valve (8) is a piezoelectric actuator that is one form of the same actuator, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the actuator (D) The plunger (9) is installed in a cylindrical casing (E) having front and rear walls (a) and (b) so as to be movable back and forth concentrically and along the axis, and the outer circumferential surface of the plunger (9) is A piezoelectric element assembly consisting of four piezoelectric elements (e), (f), (g), and (h) is arranged concentrically on the top.

Furthermore, in the illustrated embodiment, the piezoelectric elements (q) and (h) are disposed in the center of the casing (D) and are located on the front wall (a).
) with the proximal end fixed to the retainer (fixed to the old tip).

In addition, (iHj) has its base end connected to the piezoelectric element ((J) (h)
It is a cantilever-shaped elastic bridge that is fixed to the front and rear walls and extends toward the front and rear walls (a) and (b).

The ends of the elastic bridges (i) and (j) have piezoelectric elements (e) and (f) attached to their outer peripheral surfaces, and brake shoes (k) (+) are fixed to their inner peripheral surfaces. .

Of these piezoelectric elements (e), (f), (g), and (h), piezoelectric elements (e) (f) contract when the power is turned on, and piezoelectric elements (g) and (h) contract when the power is turned off. It is configured to

That is, the piezoelectric elements (e) and (f) contract when energized,
The inner diameter is reduced to clamp the plunger (9), and in a state where no current is applied, the inner diameter is expanded to release the plunger (9). On the other hand, piezoelectric element (a) (
h) is in a contracted state on the plunger (9) in the axial direction when it is not energized, and when it is energized, it extends on the plunger (9) and increases its total length in the axial direction.

Then, the plunger (9) connects these four piezoelectric elements (
By controlling e)(f)(g)(h) by a control device (C) described later, it is possible to move in the axial direction.

The piezoelectric elements (e), (f), (g), and (h) are as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
It is a cylindrical element formed by laminating the cylinders in the axial direction. Electrodes are provided at both ends of the cylinder, and the cylinder is configured to be activated by applying a voltage to both ends.

Note that the piezoelectric element piece can be made of, for example, piezoelectric ceramics, and examples of such piezoelectric ceramics include AB
PZT[Pb(Zr.

Ti)03] system, or PLZT [Pb (Zr, Ti
) Oa ], PT (PbT i Oa ) system, or a three-component system based on pzT can be used.

In addition, the piezoelectric elements (e), (a), and (h) are made by stacking a large number of thin ring-shaped piezoelectric elements in the radial direction around the axis of the plunger (9), as shown in Fig. 3. It can also be formed. In this case, the direction of the applied voltage is changed by 90 degrees.

In addition, in the above configuration, piezoelectric elements (e) (f) ((J
)(h) can have not only a circular cross section but also a rectangular cross section, for example, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,
It can also be formed from separate pieces.

Further, the plunger (9) is connected to the brake shoe (k) (1
), it is desirable to have a small coefficient of linear expansion, high hardness, strength, creep resistance, and wear resistance, and high processing accuracy.
For example, a ceramic material may be considered.

Further, FIG. 6 shows the configuration of a control device (C) for controlling the piezoelectric actuator (D).

As illustrated, the control device (C) includes a microprocessor (r), an input/output interface (S) (t),
It consists of a memory (U) that stores control programs for the hot water mixing valve (A) and the automatic switching valve (B), and the input interface (S) includes a mixed hot water temperature setting device (50),
A temperature sensor (7), a branch pipe open/close button (51) (52), and both branch pipe close buttons (53) are connected, and the output interface (1) is connected to a hot water mixing valve (A) and an automatic switching valve (B). ) is connected to the minute distance stepless drive actuator (D) (Do), and according to the above program, the actuator (D) of the hot water mixing valve (A) is used to adjust the temperature of the mixed hot water.
The actuator (Do) of the automatic switching valve (B) is operated to switch the outflow direction of the mixed hot water and adjust the flow.

Next, the plungers (
9) The movement of (30) will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9.

When a difference occurs between the detected value of the temperature sensor (7) shown in Fig. 6 and the temperature set by the temperature setting device, or when any of the branch pipe opening/closing buttons (51052) is pressed, the control f (C) generates a drive pulse according to the drive sequence program read from the memory (U), and as shown in FIG. 7, voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element (e) to
By reducing the inner diameter of the piezoelectric element (e), the plunger (9) is clamped, and by releasing the voltage application to the piezoelectric element (f) and expanding the inner diameter of the piezoelectric element (f), the plunger (9) is clamped. 9) Release the clamp.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the piezoelectric element (!;I) (h)
When a voltage is applied to extend the piezoelectric elements (g) and (h), the piezoelectric elements (g) and (h) move in the direction of the arrow, and accordingly, the plunger (9) to which the piezoelectric element (e) is clamped also moves in the direction of the arrow.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 9, by releasing the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element (e) and expanding the inner diameter of the piezoelectric element (8), the clamp of the plunger (9) is released and the piezoelectric element Cf ) to clamp the plunger (9) by reducing the inner diameter of the piezoelectric element (f) and release the applied voltage to the piezoelectric elements (g) and (h), the piezoelectric element (g) (h) is contracted in the direction of the arrow, and the plunger (9)
moves further in the direction of the arrow.

After that, by repeating the above operation, the plunger (
9) can be moved in a linear manner with a stroke on the μm order or sub-μm order, and various devices and machines can be operated precisely.

The minute distance stepless drive type actuator (Do) provided in the automatic switching valve (B) has the same configuration as the actuator (D) of the hot water mixing valve (A) described above, except for the plunger part. , the plunger (30) of the automatic switching valve (8) is formed into a substantially cylindrical shape, and has a proximal enlarged diameter portion (2) of the pilot valve body (25) (25) at both internal ends.
5a) (25a), and each proximal enlarged diameter part (25a) (
A coil spring (31) having a biasing force in the expansion direction is interposed between each pilot valve body (25) (25a).
5) in the direction of the pilot valves (23) (23) to close both valve valves (23) (23) when the actuator (Do) is not energized.

In addition, locking inner flanges (32) (32) are provided on the inner peripheral surface of both ends of the plunger (30), and each pilot valve body (
25) A pulp stem having a diameter smaller than the one plunger (30) extending outward from the proximal enlarged diameter portion (25a) (shi5a) of (25) is inserted through the plunger (30).
When the is operated in one direction, left or right, the pilot valve seat (23) in this operating direction remains closed, and the pilot valve seat (23) on the opposite side to the operating direction is closed by the locking inner flange (32). The pilot valve body (25) is separated from the valve seat (23) by the contact between the base end enlarged diameter portion (25a) and the valve body (13) can be opened.

The operation of this valve body (13) is as described above.
This is done by operating the diaphragm (18) using the pressure in step 2), and the pilot valve body (25) (25)
When the pilot valve seat (23) provided on the diaphragm (18) is positioned between fully open and fully open, the pilot valve seat (23) provided on the diaphragm (18)
5), the opening degree of the direction valve M (23) becomes small (large) and the resistance increases (decreases).
2) becomes high (low), the pressing force on the diaphragm (18) becomes large (small), and the pilot valve body (25) and the valve seat (23) are separated from each other (close to each other). It operates.

In other words, during the opening/closing operation of valve # (13), that is, the opening/closing operation of the pilot valve seat (23) provided on the diaphragm (18), the pilot valve body is linked to the infinitesimal distance continuously driven actuator (Do). A negative fluid feedback loop will be formed through the pressure fluctuations in the pressure chamber (22) in relation to the position of the diaphragm (18) from the orifice (21) to the pressure chamber (22). The amount of fluid flowing into the pilot valve seat (
Balance occurs at a position where the amounts of fluid flowing out of the pressure chamber (22) from the pressure chamber (23) are equal, and that position is maintained.

The position of the pilot valve body (25) mentioned above can be set to any position between the fully open and fully closed positions of the valve body (13) using a minute distance stepless drive type actuator (Do). Since the position of the diaphragm (18), that is, the opening degree of the valve body (13) can be determined with the position as a target, it is possible to control the actuator (Do) to cause the valve body (13) to adjust the flow rate. It is possible.

Therefore, by providing a flow rate sensor (100) in the conduit (10) and inputting the output of the sensor (100) to the control device (C), the discharge amount of mixed hot water can be automatically controlled.

Further, during the above operation, the pilot valve body (25) only sets the target position of the diaphragm (18), so the actuator (D) required for the operation of the pilot valve body (25) is
The output of o) can be extremely small.

In addition, in this embodiment, the plungers (9) (30) have diameter-reduced tip portions formed or connected to their tips, and the tip portions (q) and the end faces of the pilot valve bodies (25) (25) The area (pressure-receiving area) is significantly smaller than the cross-sectional area of the plungers (9) and (30).

Therefore, when used in valves, etc., as described later, the pressure receiving area can be significantly reduced, so the plunger (9) (30)
Granja (903
0) can be minimized, and the plungers (9) and (30) can be driven accurately.

In addition, the step part of the plunger (9) (30) can be attached to the rear surface of the rear wall, etc. when the plunger (9) (30) has moved a certain distance forward (for example, at a fully open position or a position slightly further advanced than that). If you make contact with the plunger (
9) It is possible to restrict further advance of (30), and it is possible to reliably prevent damage to the diaphragm, etc. of the on-off valve due to excessive advance.

In addition, since the actuation amount of the plungers (9) and (30) is proportional to the number of driving pulses applied to the actuators (D) and (D'), an open-ended control circuit is sufficient.
The structure of the device (C) can be simplified.

Valve body (13) (13) of automatic switching valve (B) as above
By driving the pilot valve bodies (25) (25), which form part of the In addition, the opening and closing operation of the valve body (13) is slowed down to prevent water hammer and abnormal noise.
By reducing the control output required for switching the facing valve (B), the control device (C) can be made smaller and smaller, and
If the control device (C) loses its control function due to a power outage, etc.
The plunger (30) becomes free and both branch pipes (
11) (12) can be closed to automatically stop the discharge of mixed hot water.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a hot water mixing device equipped with an automatic switching valve according to the present invention. 2 to 5 are side views of the piezoelectric element. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device. FIG. 7 to FIG. 9 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the minute distance stepless drive type actuator. (B): Automatic switching valve (D'): v1 short distance stepless drive type actuator (1
3) : Valve body (18) : Diaphragm (25) : Pilot valve body

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) In an automatic switching valve that is located at a branch point of a pipe and switches the discharge pipe by operating the valve body, the valve body (
13) is interlocked and connected to a diaphragm (18) controlled by the opening/closing operation of a pilot valve body (25), and the pilot valve body (25) is controlled by an electrically driven minute distance stepless drive type actuator (D'). A driven automatic switching valve.