JPH09112715A - Flow rate control valve - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control valve which can suppress an increase of operation torque for turning a valve element made of resin material when the valve element is inflated. SOLUTION: A valve element 2 which is made of a resin material and has a control flow passage 21 which controls an area of opening of a hot water passage 13 is provided inside a valve housing 1 having a hot water inlet passage 11 and a hot water outlet passage 12 in such a manner that the valve element 2 can turn. A slide member 3 is provided along an inner peripheral face of the water outlet passage 12 in such a manner that it can slide, and an end 41 of a seal member 4 is fixed on the slide member 3. The outer end of the seal member 4 is energized against the valve element 2 by a plate spring 6 and adheres to the valve element 2.

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 suitable for use as a hot water flow control valve for a vehicle heating system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a flow control valve suitable for use as a hot water flow control valve for a vehicle heating system, etc., see FIG. 3 of Nippon Denso Koho Giho No. 92-132 (issued on Sep. 15, 1993). Some are disclosed. In this prior art,
As shown in FIG. 8, the valve body 2 is rotatably arranged in the valve housing 1. The valve housing 1 is formed with a hot water inlet passage 11 through which hot water flows in and a hot water outlet passage 12 through which hot water flows out.

By rotating the valve body 2 inside the valve housing 1, the control flow passage 21 formed in the valve body 2 is opened and closed to control the flow rate of hot water to the hot water outlet passage 12. Further, the valve body 2 is provided with the seal member 4 provided on the outer peripheral portion of the portion 121 of the hot water outlet passage 12 protruding toward the valve body 2 side.
Sealed by The seal member 4 is fitted in close contact with one end of the hot water outlet passage 12, and is further fixed by being tightened by a wire 5. And the leaf spring 6
The seal member 4 is pressed against the valve body 2 side.

[0004]

The upstream side (left side in the figure) of the valve body 2 is in contact with the inner wall of the valve housing 1, and the seal member 4 is fixed to one end of the hot water outlet passage 12. Therefore, as the warm water temperature rises, the valve body 2
Is made of a resin material, the thermal expansion thereof causes the valve body 2 to press the seal member 4 while elastically deforming it, and the force (pressing force) of the valve body 2 pressing the seal member 4 increases. Then, when the valve body 2 is rotated, the frictional force between the valve body 2 made of a resin material and the seal member 4 made of a rubber material is increased, and the operation torque required to rotate the valve body 2 is increased. There is a problem of increasing the number.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to obtain a flow control valve capable of suppressing an increase in operating torque for rotating the valve body when the valve body made of a resin material thermally expands.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following technical means. In the flow control valve of the invention described in claims 1 to 4, a seal member (4) is provided in the fluid outlet passage (12) of the valve housing (1) so as to be slidable in the fluid flow direction. ) Is an elastic body (6,
It is characterized in that it is urged by 6 ') to be in close contact with the valve body (2).

Therefore, when the valve body thermally expands due to the temperature rise of the fluid and the valve body pushes the seal member, the seal member slides, so that the force with which the valve body presses the seal member (compression force) increases. On the other hand, when the valve body is rotated, the frictional force between the valve body and the seal member does not increase, and the operating torque for rotating the valve body can be suppressed. Particularly, in the invention according to claim 2, the fluid outlet passage (11)
In addition, the sliding member (3) is slidably provided, and one end (41) of the seal member (4) is fixed to the sliding member (3).

In this case, since the seal member is slidable with respect to the fluid outlet passage via the sliding member, it is impossible to directly slide the seal member along the inner peripheral surface of the fluid outlet passage. Moreover, the seal member does not need to be specially surface-treated so as to reduce the frictional force between the inner peripheral surface of the fluid outlet passage and one end of the seal member, and the seal member can be easily obtained from a rubber material or the like.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a hot water flow control valve of a vehicle heating system shown in FIG. 5 will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 5, the hot water flow control valve 100 of the present invention receives the engine cooling water (warm water) flowing out from the engine 20, and the hot water flow control valve 10
The engine cooling water flowing out from 0 is installed at a position where it flows into the heater core 30. Then, the heating capacity of the vehicle heating device is adjusted by adjusting the flow rate of the engine cooling water flowing into the heater core 30. Here, the water pump 40 is driven by the engine 20, and the thermostat 50 controls the flow of engine cooling water to the radiator 10 and the bypass circuit 60.

First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on. 1 and 2 show a flow control valve 10
0 is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view as seen from the arrow A in FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the front side of the paper of FIG. 1 will be referred to as the upper surface of the flow control valve 100, and the back side of the paper of FIG. 1 will be referred to as the lower surface of the flow control valve 100. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a substantially hollow cylindrical valve housing made of a resin material such as nylon having excellent heat resistance and moldability.

One end of the valve housing 1 is a hollow cylindrical hot water inlet passage 11 into which engine cooling water flows, and the other end is a hollow cylindrical hot water outlet passage 12 from which engine cooling water flows out, and the central portion is A hot water passage 13 that leads from the hot water inlet passage 11 to the hot water outlet passage 12. Here, the diameters of the hot water inlet passage 11 and the hot water outlet passage 12 are the same. 2 is
It is a substantially cylindrical valve body made of a resin material having excellent heat resistance such as polyacetal. The valve body 2 is provided inside the hot water passage 13 of the valve housing 1 so as to be rotatable about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 1, and controls the opening area of the hot water passage 13. Further, in the valve body 2 arranged as shown in FIG. 1, the hot water inlet passage 11 and the hot water outlet passage 12 are arranged so that all the engine cooling water flowing from the hot water inlet passage 11 flows to the hot water outlet passage 12. A control channel 21 having the same diameter is formed.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a substantially hollow cylindrical sliding member made of a resin material having excellent heat resistance and moldability, which is arranged upstream of the hot water outlet passage 12 and extends along the inner peripheral surface of the hot water outlet passage 12. And slide with a slight gap. Reference numeral 4 is a substantially hollow cylindrical seal member made of a rubber material having excellent heat resistance such as nitrobutadiene rubber, and one end 41 is a sliding member 3
The outer peripheral surface on the upstream side of is sealed.

Further, the other end 42 of the seal member 4 is along the periphery of the control passage 21 of the valve body 2 in FIG. 1 by the urging force of the leaf spring 6 (see FIG. 4) as an elastic body in the present invention. It is in close contact. A gap c is provided between the seal member 4 and the step portion 132 of the hot water passage 13. The size of the gap c is configured to be sufficiently larger than the thermal expansion amount of the valve body 2 which will be described later in the fluid flow direction.

Specifically, one end 41 of the seal member 4 is closely fitted to the outer peripheral surface of one end of the sliding member 3 on the valve body 2 side, and the outer peripheral portion of the above-mentioned fitted portion of the seal member 4 is fitted. , Wire 5
Is fixed to the sliding member 3 by means of. The other end 42 of the seal member 4 is wider than the one end 41 of the seal member 4 in the radial direction. Then, the other end 4 of the seal member 4
The first protrusion 421 protruding in a ring shape from the inner peripheral surface of
The valve body 2 is closely adhered along the periphery of the control flow passage 21, and the tip portion 422 of the other end 42 of the seal member 4 is provided only in the axial direction of the valve body 2 in the periphery of the control flow passage 21 of the valve body 2. It adheres closely.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the leaf spring 6 is formed by bending both ends in the longitudinal direction of a rectangular member made of a corrosion-resistant metal spring material such as stainless steel to form bent portions 62, 62. A hole 61 is formed in the center.
Then, in FIG. 1, both end bent portions 62, 6 of the leaf spring 6 are
2 is supported by step portions 131, 131 formed in the hot water passage 13, and the seal member 4 is fitted into the hole portion 61 of the leaf spring 6 to arrange the valve body 2 as shown in FIG. Spring 6
Is applied to the other end 42 side of the seal member 4 to bring the other end 42 of the seal member 42 into close contact with the valve body 2.

In this way, the upstream side of the valve body 2 is in contact with the upstream side of the hot water passage 13 of the valve housing 1, and the downstream side of the valve body 2 is in close contact with the seal member 4 and is rotatably fixed. .
Here, the leaf spring 6 includes the other end 42 of the seal member 4 and the valve body 2.
The elastic force is as small as possible within the range in which the pressure-bonded state can be maintained. As a result, the valve body 2 can be rotated lightly.

As shown in FIG. 3, a shaft 25 for rotating the valve body 2 is provided at the center of the upper surface of the valve body 2.
Is integrally provided, and the shaft 25 has a first through hole 134 protruding in a hollow cylindrical shape on the upper surface of the hot water passage 13.
Is rotatably fitted in. In addition, the first through hole 134
O in the groove 134a formed in a ring shape along the inner peripheral surface of the
The ring 7 is arranged and sealed. The shaft 25 is configured to be rotationally driven by an actuator such as a motor (not shown). Here, the rotational drive of the shaft 25 may be performed manually.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the lower surface of the hot water passage 13 is provided with a second through hole 133 protruding in a hollow cylindrical shape. Then, the second through hole 1 of the valve housing 1
The valve body 2 is fixed in the vertical direction in the drawing by the cover 8 fixed to the 33 peripheral portion 133a by heat welding. The cover 8 is made of a resin material having excellent heat resistance and moldability.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the ring-shaped concave portion 22 formed on the upper surface of the valve body 2 and the convex portion 135 formed on the inner wall surface of the upper surface of the hot water passage 13 are fitted to each other to fit the valve body 2. Prevents play in the radial direction. In addition, the ring-shaped recess 23 on the lower surface of the valve body 2, the recess 24 formed in the center of the lower surface of the valve body 2 and the projections 81, 82 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 8 are fitted to each other. Play in the radial direction of the valve body 2 is prevented.

The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Valve body 2 of hot water flow control valve 100 shown in FIG.
The engine which flows into the heater core 30 (see FIG. 5) by the hot water flow control valve 100 by rotating the valve body 2 about the axis of the valve body 2 to open and close the control flow path 21 to control the opening area of the hot water passage 13. The heating capacity of the vehicle heating system is adjusted by adjusting the flow rate of cooling water.

Specifically, by disposing the valve body 2 as shown in FIG. 1, the control flow passage 21 of the valve body 2 is fully opened, and all the engine cooling water flowing from the hot water inlet passage 11 to the hot water outlet passage 12. By flowing out and rotating the valve body 2 by 90 ° from the state of FIG. 1, the control flow passage 21 of the valve body 2 can be completely closed as shown in FIG. Then, the temperature of the engine 10 (see FIG. 5) rises after the start of operation, and the hot water inlet passage 11
When the temperature of the engine cooling water flowing into the valve rises, the valve body 2 made of a resin material such as polyacetal having a higher coefficient of thermal expansion than a metal material or a resin material such as nylon thermally expands. Then, the elastic force of the leaf spring 6 is as small as possible as described above, and since the gap c is provided between the seal member 4 and the step portion 132 of the hot water passage 13, the thermal expansion of the valve body 2 is accompanied. The downstream side of the valve body 2 pushes the seal member 4 to push the seal member 4
Can slide together with the sliding member 3.

Therefore, as in the prior art, the seal member 4
As compared with the case where the valve body 2 is fixed to the state before expansion without sliding, the force (pressing force) against which the valve body 2 presses the seal member 4 becomes small, and the valve body 2 is rotated when the valve body 2 is rotated. The frictional force between the seal member 4 and the seal member 4 does not increase, and the torque required to rotate the valve body 2 does not increase. Also,
In the process of rotating the valve body 2 from the state of FIG. 1 to the state of FIG. 2, the seal between the seal member 4 and the control flow passage 21 of the valve body 2 is released, and the engine cooling water is sealed in the hot water passage. Although it also flows to the outside of the member 4, since the sliding member 3 slides with respect to the hot water outlet passage 12 with a slight gap, engine cooling water leaking from the gap in the present embodiment is not provided. It is negligible.

The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In the first embodiment, the seal member 4 is clamped and fixed to the sliding member 3 by the wire 5, but in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. The seal member 4 is press-fitted and fixed. In this case, the sealing member 4 is pressure-bonded and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the sliding member 3 by its own elastic force. By doing so, since the wire 5 is not used, the number of parts is reduced, and the work of tightening and fixing the seal member 4 to the sliding member 3 by the wire 5 is not necessary, so that the assembling work is facilitated.

Although the seal member 4 is press-fitted and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the sliding member 3, the seal member 4 may be pressure-bonded and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the sliding member 3. Below, the 3rd Embodiment of this invention is described based on FIG. In the first embodiment, the leaf spring 6 is used as the elastic body,
In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a coil spring 6'is used. In this case, one end of the coil spring 6'abuts on the step portions 132 formed on both side surfaces of the central portion 13 of the valve housing 1 on the hot water outlet passage 12 side,
The other end of the coil spring 6 ′ has the other end 4 of the seal member 4.
2 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface. By doing this, the first
The same effect as the leaf spring 6 of the above embodiment is shown. Here, the coil spring 6'has an elastic force approximately equal to that of the leaf spring 6 of the first embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the sliding member 3 is configured to slide along the inner peripheral surface of the hot water outlet passage 12. However, the sliding member 3 is a conventional technique shown in FIG. At the portion 1 of the hot water outlet passage 12 protruding toward the valve body 2
The seal member 4 may be fixed to the outer peripheral portion of the sliding member 3 by sliding along the outer peripheral surface of 21 so as to have a slight gap. By doing so, when the valve body 2 thermally expands, the seal member 4 can be slid to the downstream side (right side in the drawing) together with the sliding member 3.

Further, in the above embodiment, the seal member 4
Is slidably provided in the hot water outlet passage 12 via the sliding member 3, but the outer circumferential surface of the one end 41 of the seal member 4 is coated with Teflon to directly feed the hot water outlet passage 12
It may be slidable along the inner peripheral surface of the. Further, in the above embodiment, the front side of the paper surface of FIG. 1 is the upper surface and the back side of the paper surface is the lower surface. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and even if the upper surface is arranged downward, You may arrange.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a flow rate control valve according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a state where a control flow path is fully opened.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the flow control valve according to the first embodiment of the present invention in a state where the control flow path is fully closed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the leaf spring of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a vehicle heating device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a flow control valve showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a flow control valve showing a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a flow rate control valve in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Valve housing, 11 ... Hot water inlet passage, 12 ... Hot water outlet passage, 13 ... Hot water passage, 2 ... Valve body, 21 ... Control passage,
3 ... Sliding member, 4 ... Seal member, 41 ... One end of seal member, 42 ... The other end of seal member, 6 ... Leaf spring.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A valve body (2) made of a resin material is rotatably provided in a valve housing (1) having a fluid inlet passage (11) at one end and a fluid outlet passage (12) at the other end. ,
From the fluid inlet passage (11) to the fluid outlet passage (1
A flow control valve for controlling the flow of fluid into the valve housing (1), the fluid outlet passage (12) of the valve housing (1)
A seal member (4) slidable in the fluid flow direction, and the seal member (4) is urged by an elastic body (6, 6 ') to be in close contact with the valve body (2). A flow control valve characterized in that 2. A valve housing (1) having a fluid inlet passage (11) at one end and a fluid outlet passage (12) at the other end, and made of a resin material, and rotatable inside the valve housing (1). A valve body (2) provided with a control flow passage (21) for controlling an opening area of a fluid passage (13) communicating from the fluid inlet passage (11) to the fluid outlet passage (12).
A sliding member (3) slidably provided along the inner peripheral surface of the fluid outlet passage (11), one end (41) fixed to the sliding member (3) and the other end ( 42) protrudes toward the valve body (2) side and the valve body (2)
A seal member (4) that is in close contact with the valve body (1) and the seal member (4), and the other end (42) of the seal member (4) is connected to the valve body (2). A flow control valve comprising an elastic body (6, 6 ') biased to the side. 3. The flow control valve according to claim 1, wherein the elastic body comprises a leaf spring member (6). 4. The flow control valve according to claim 1, wherein the elastic body is composed of a linear spring member (6 ′).