JPH10292872A - Hot water/cool water mixing valve device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the generation of an unpleasant noise by expansion and contraction of a heat-sensitive spring consisting of a form memory element at a high speed in the process of regulating the temperature, so as to vibrate a movable valve body severely. SOLUTION: This device is composed by providing a hot water inlet 12; a cool water inlet 14; a movable valve body 16 to regulate the opening of the hot water inlet 12 and the cool water inlet 14; a heat-sensitive spring 26 which consists of a form memory element to energize the movable valve body 16 in the direction to narrow the opening of the hot water inlet 12 and to width the opening of the cool water inlet 14; and a bias spring 34 to energize the movable valve body 16 in the direction reverse to the heat-sensitive spring 26 in a specific energizing force. In this case, a cylinder chamber 32; a piston 36 which is connected to the movable valve body 16 in the integrally moving condition as well a fitted slidable on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder chamber 32; and a damper device which makes the fluid in the cylinder chamber 32 input and output between the inside and the outside of the cylinder chamber 32 so as to generate a fluidization resistance following the movement of the piston 36, and furnishes a small passage width of communication hole 42 to suppress the movement of the movable valve body 16; are also provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hot and cold water mixing valve device, and more particularly, to a hot and cold water mixing valve device using a temperature-sensitive spring composed of a shape memory element such as a shape memory alloy or a shape memory resin as a temperature sensing element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a hot and cold water mixing faucet, there is widely used a water and water mixing valve provided with a water and water mixing valve device for automatically adjusting the temperature of the mixed water to a set temperature by sensing the temperature of the mixed water with a thermosensitive element. ing. As the temperature sensing element, an element using a temperature sensing spring made of a shape memory alloy is known.

FIG. 3 shows an example. In the figure, 200 is a housing, 202 and 204 are hot water inlets and water inlets, respectively, and 205 is a movable valve body for adjusting the opening of the hot water and water inlets 202 and 204.

Reference numeral 206 denotes a temperature-sensitive spring made of a shape memory alloy housed in a mixing chamber 208. The temperature-sensitive spring 206 moves the movable valve body 205 to the left in the drawing, that is, narrows the opening of the hot water inlet 202 and closes the water inlet 204. The movable valve body 205 is urged in a direction to widen the opening.

[0005] Reference numeral 210 denotes a bias spring housed in a bias spring chamber 212, which applies a biasing force to the movable valve body 205 in a direction opposite to that of the temperature-sensitive spring 206.
Reference numeral 216 denotes a movable member that moves in the left-right direction in the figure by operation of a temperature control operation unit (temperature adjustment operation unit).
Reference numeral 218 denotes a spring receiver which comes into contact with one end of the bias spring 210 and receives the spring force, and is formed integrally with the movable valve body 205.

[0006] In this hot water mixing valve device, the hot water inlet 2
When the temperature of the mixed water of hot water and water flowing from the water inlet 02 and the water inlet 204 is higher than the set temperature, the temperature-sensitive spring 206 made of a shape memory alloy is deformed in shape to increase the spring force, The leftward biasing force on the movable valve body 205 is increased.

As a result, the movable valve body 205 moves to the left in the drawing to narrow the opening of the hot water inlet 202 and widen the opening of the water inlet 204. As a result, the inflow of hot water decreases, the inflow of water increases, and the temperature of the mixed water decreases. When the temperature of the mixed water finally reaches the set temperature, the movable valve body 205 balances to the position. Stop.

When a temperature-sensitive spring 206 made of such a shape memory alloy is used as a temperature-sensitive body, a conventional temperature-sensitive element in which a movable valve element is moved by pushing or retracting a piston rod by expansion and contraction of wax. Compared to the body, it has a good response to the temperature of the mixed water, and has the characteristic that the temperature of the mixed water can be quickly adjusted.

[0009]

However, on the other hand, there is a problem that good responsiveness causes another problem. That is, in the process of adjusting the temperature, the temperature-sensitive spring 206
Violently expands and contracts, causing the movable valve body 205 to vibrate, causing unpleasant abnormal noise and causing a serious fluctuation in the pressure on the primary side.

[0010] This phenomenon is caused by reducing the squeeze allowance of the O-ring 214 that seals between the movable valve body 205 and the housing 200, or using a lip packing or a fluorine resin seal member instead of the O-ring 214. This is particularly noticeable when a seal member having a small frictional force with the inner peripheral surface of the housing 200 is used.

If the frictional force by the O-ring 214 is large,
When adjusting the temperature of the mixed water from the low side to the high side,
The movable valve element 20 is adjusted when the temperature is adjusted from the high temperature to the low temperature.
It has been experienced that a so-called hysteresis phenomenon occurs in which the balance position of No. 5 is different, and in order to avoid this, when the crushing allowance of the O-ring 214 is reduced or the sealing member is changed to reduce the frictional force. The followability of the movable valve body 205 with respect to the expansion and contraction of the temperature-sensitive spring 206 increases, and the movable valve body 205 vibrates at a high frequency,
It causes abnormal noise.

[0012]

The hot water mixing valve device of the present invention has been devised to solve such a problem. According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hot water mixing valve device comprising: (a) a hot water inlet, (b) a water inlet, (c) a movable valve body for adjusting the opening of the hot water inlet and the water inlet, D) A shape memory alloy element which urges the movable valve body in a direction to narrow the opening of the hot water inlet and widen the opening of the water inlet and changes the urging force in response to the temperature of the mixed water. A hot-water mixing valve device comprising: a warm spring; and (e) a bias spring for urging the movable valve body with a predetermined urging force in a direction opposite to the temperature-sensitive spring.
(A) a cylinder chamber; (b) a piston slidably fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder chamber and coupled to the movable valve body in an integrally moving state; Accordingly, a damper device having a communication hole having a small flow path width for causing fluid in the cylinder chamber to flow in and out between the inside of the cylinder chamber and the outside to generate flow resistance and suppress movement of the movable valve body. It is characterized by having been provided.

In a second aspect of the present invention, the cylinder chamber is formed of a bias spring chamber for accommodating the bias spring.

[0014] The hot and cold water mixing valve device according to claim 3 is characterized in that:
In any one of (2) and (5), the piston is provided so as to cover an opening of the cylinder chamber, and the communication hole is provided in a piston forming the cover.

[0015] The hot and cold water mixing valve device according to the fourth aspect is the second aspect.
In any one of the third to fifth aspects, the piston is also used as a spring receiver that contacts one end of the bias spring.

[0016]

As described above, the hot and cold water mixing valve device according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a small-sized valve for communicating between the inside and outside of the cylinder chamber, the piston fitted in the cylinder chamber and moving integrally with the movable valve body. In this hot water mixing valve device, a temperature-sensitive spring composed of a shape memory element increases a spring force in response to a change in mixed water temperature. Also in the case where the pressure is changed, the movement of the movable valve body is suppressed by the damper device, and the movable valve body is prevented from vibrating violently at a high frequency during temperature adjustment. Therefore, generation of abnormal noise due to intense vibration of the movable valve body is favorably prevented. In addition, the problem that the primary pressure fluctuates drastically is also solved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the cylinder chamber is formed by a bias spring chamber accommodating a bias spring. In this case, the bias spring chamber is provided with a bias spring chamber. The chamber accommodating the spring and the cylinder chamber can also be used, so that the structure of the valve device can be simplified and the valve device can be made compact.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the hot-water mixing valve device, the piston is formed as a lid for the opening of the cylinder chamber, and the communication hole is provided in the piston. Can be formed.

Further, in the case where the communication hole is provided in the piston itself as described above, the conventional water mixing valve device using the temperature-sensitive spring is not particularly modified, and only the piston having such a communication hole is incorporated. The advantage that the damper device can be simply configured can be obtained.

In this case, the piston can also serve as a spring receiver for receiving one end of the bias spring. In this way, the structure of the hot and cold water mixing valve device can be further simplified, and the required number of members can be reduced.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a housing of a hot water mixing valve device, 12 denotes a hot water inlet, 14 denotes a water inlet, 16
Is a movable valve body that adjusts the opening degree of the hot water inlet 12 and the water inlet 14 by moving in the axial direction (the left-right direction in the figure).

The movable valve body 16 has a cylindrical shape, has a passage 18 therein, and has an annular O
A ring groove 20 is formed, and an O-ring 22 as a sealing member is mounted therein. Note that a lip packing or another sealing member can be used instead of the O-ring 22.

Reference numeral 24 denotes a mixing chamber in which a temperature-sensitive spring 26 is housed. The temperature-sensitive spring 26 is made of a shape memory alloy which is a shape memory element in this example, and one end (the left end in the figure) of the temperature-sensitive spring 26 abuts on a ring-shaped spring receiver 28 formed integrally with the movable valve body 16. And the urging force is applied to the movable valve body 1
6, the opening of the hot water inlet 12 is narrowed,
This has the effect of extending the opening of the water inlet 14.

Here, a temperature-sensitive spring 26 made of a shape memory alloy is used.
Changes the spring force according to the level of the temperature of the mixed water, and changes the urging force on the movable valve body 16. The ring-shaped spring receiver 28 is integrally connected to the movable valve body 16 via the arm 30.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a cylinder chamber. The cylinder chamber 32 also serves as a bias spring chamber, in which a bias spring 34 is housed.

Reference numeral 36 denotes a piston which is connected to the movable valve body 16 via the arm 30, that is, is formed integrally with the movable valve body 16, and has an O-ring groove 38 formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof and is mounted therein. Watertight and slidably fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder chamber 32 via the O-ring 40. The piston 36 is provided so as to cover the opening of the cylinder chamber 32, and the cylinder chamber 32 is substantially sealed.

The piston 36 also functions as a spring receiver that comes into contact with one end (the right end in the drawing) of the bias spring 34. A communication hole 42 having a small flow path width is provided at the center of the piston 36 so that the inside and outside of the cylinder chamber 32 communicate with each other.

In this embodiment, the communication hole 42, the piston 36 and the cylinder chamber 32 constitute a damper device for suppressing the movement of the movable valve body 16. In the figure, reference numeral 44 denotes a movable member which moves in the left-right direction in the figure by operation of a temperature control operation unit (temperature adjustment operation unit), and reference numeral 46 denotes an outlet through which mixed water flows out.

Next, the operation of the hot and cold water mixing valve device of this embodiment will be described. In the hot water mixing valve device of the present embodiment, while the hot water from the hot water inlet 12 flows into the mixing chamber 24 through the passage 18 of the movable valve body 16, the water from the water flow inlet 14 also flows into the mixing chamber 24, where Hot water and water are mixed, and the mixed water flows out of the outlet 46 to the outside.

In the case of the hot water mixing valve device of this embodiment, the mixing chamber 24
A temperature-sensitive spring 26 made of a shape memory alloy contacts the mixed water inside, and changes the spring force in response to the mixed water temperature, that is, the leftward urging force on the movable valve body 16 to set the temperature of the mixed water. Automatically adjust to temperature.

That is, when the temperature of the mixed water is higher than the set temperature, the spring force of the temperature-sensitive spring 26 increases and the movable valve body 16
To the left in the figure. As a result, the movable valve body 16 moves to the left in the figure to narrow the opening of the hot water inlet 12 and widen the opening of the water inlet 14, thereby reducing the inflow of hot water and increasing the inflow of water. On the other hand, when the temperature of the mixed water is lower than the set temperature, the spring force of the temperature-sensitive spring 26 decreases, and the movable valve body 16 moves rightward in the figure to increase the inflow of hot water and decrease the inflow of water. Let it.

The movable valve body 16 does not immediately stop at the set final balance position when the temperature is adjusted from the high temperature side to the low temperature side or when the temperature is adjusted from the low temperature side to the high temperature side. It reciprocates in the left-right direction while repeating the run, and converges to the finally set balance position while gradually reducing the amount of the overrun.

When the temperature-sensitive spring 26 made of the above-mentioned shape memory alloy is used as the temperature-sensitive body, the response speed of the temperature-sensitive spring 26 to the mixed water temperature is high, so that the movable valve body 16 is violently moved in the left-right direction. It vibrates, causing the above-mentioned abnormal noise and a problem of violently changing the primary pressure.

In this embodiment, however, the movement of the movable valve body 16 (reciprocating movement in the figure) based on the expansion and contraction of the temperature-sensitive spring 26 is controlled by the damper including the cylinder chamber 32, the piston 36, and the communication hole 42. It can be suppressed by the device.

That is, when the movable valve body 16 moves to the left in the figure, the piston 3 formed integrally with the movable valve body 16
Due to 6, the internal volume of the cylinder chamber 32 is reduced to a positive pressure, and hot water and water in the cylinder chamber 32 tend to flow outside (to the right of the piston 36) through the communication hole 42.
At this time, since the passage width of the communication hole 42 is formed small, a relatively large flow resistance is generated in the communication hole 42, and the flow resistance causes the movable valve body 16 including the piston 36 to move leftward in the drawing. Is suppressed.

On the other hand, when the movable valve element 16 moves to the right in the drawing, the inside of the cylinder chamber 32 becomes negative pressure, so that hot water and water try to flow into the cylinder chamber 32 through the communication hole 42. At this time, a flow resistance is generated, and the movement of the movable valve body 16 in the right direction in the drawing is suppressed.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the communicating holes 42 are formed on both left and right sides of the piston 36 in the drawing.
It is possible to provide an annular projection 48 as shown in (A) or a chamfer 50 as shown in FIG.

When the annular projection 48 is provided as shown in FIG. 2A, it becomes difficult for hot water and water to flow through the cylinder chamber 32, and when the chamfered portion 50 is provided as shown in FIG. In addition, the circulation of hot water and water to the cylinder chamber 32 is facilitated. That is, even if the communication holes 42 have the same diameter, the effect of suppressing the movement of the movable valve body 16 can be changed.

As described above, in the hot and cold water mixing valve device of the present embodiment, the movement of the movable valve body 16 can be suppressed by the damper device, and the vibrating of the movable valve body 16 at a high frequency during temperature adjustment can be prevented. . Therefore, generation of abnormal noise due to intense vibration of the movable valve body 16 can be favorably prevented. In addition, the problem that the primary pressure fluctuates drastically with this can be solved.

In the hot water mixing valve device of this embodiment, the bias spring chamber is formed by the cylinder chamber 32, so that the structure of the valve device can be simplified and the valve device can be made compact.

Further, in this embodiment, the communication hole 4 is formed in the piston 36 itself.
Since the two are provided, the communication hole 42 can be easily formed and the damper device can be configured simply by incorporating the piston 36 without particularly modifying the conventional hot / water mixing valve device using the temperature-sensitive spring.

In the hot water mixing valve apparatus of this embodiment, the piston 36 also serves as a spring receiver for abutting one end of the bias spring 34, so that the structure of the valve apparatus can be further simplified and the number of required members is reduced. it can.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, this is merely an example. For example, a spring receiver for the bias spring 34 can be formed separately from the piston and 36,
In addition, the bias spring chamber and the cylinder chamber can be configured separately. Further, the present invention can be configured in various modified forms without departing from the gist of the present invention, such as that the temperature-sensitive spring 26 can be formed of a shape memory resin.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a hot water mixing valve device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing various examples of a main part in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a conventional hot and cold water mixing valve device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Housing 12 Hot-water inlet 14 Water-inlet 16 Movable valve body 26 Temperature-sensitive spring 32 Cylinder chamber 34 Bias spring 36 Piston 42 Communication hole

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A water inlet and a water inlet.
(C) a movable valve body for adjusting the opening of the hot water inlet and the water inlet; and (iv) biasing the movable valve body in a direction to narrow the opening of the hot water inlet and widen the opening of the water inlet. And (e) biasing the movable valve element with a predetermined biasing force in a direction opposite to the temperature-sensitive spring, the temperature-sensitive spring being configured to change the biasing force in response to the temperature of the mixed water. In a hot and cold water mixing valve device having a bias spring, (a) a cylinder chamber and (b) a piston slidably fitted to an inner peripheral surface of the cylinder chamber and connected to the movable valve body in an integrally moving state. And (c) a small flow path width for causing the fluid in the cylinder chamber to enter and exit between the cylinder chamber interior and the outside with the movement of the piston to generate flow resistance and to suppress the movement of the movable valve body. A hot and cold water mixing valve device provided with a damper device having a communication hole. 2. The hot and cold water mixing valve device according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder chamber is formed by a bias spring chamber that houses the bias spring. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the piston is provided so as to cover an opening of the cylinder chamber, and the communication hole is provided in a piston forming the cover. A hot and cold water mixing valve device. 4. The hot and cold water mixing valve device according to claim 2, wherein the piston also serves as a spring receiver that abuts one end of the bias spring.