JPH11118057A - Actuator with manual operating mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an actuator dispensing with a rotational operating tool such as a spanner and capable of being manufactured in its compact size, by improving operability through a process of decreasing operating force in the manual operation and by providing no special manual operating part. SOLUTION: In an actuator composed of a main body 1 provided with an electric motor 3 and a reduction gear train 5, and a cover 7 so attached as to be attached to and detached from the main body 1, the cover 7 is rotatably supported on the main body 1, and an internal gear 13 is provided in the cover 7 and the main body 1 so that the internal gear 13 to be meshed with an internal gear 5c of the reduction gear train 5 may be rotated with the cover 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an actuator with a manual operation mechanism, and more particularly, to a manual operation mechanism of an electric actuator mounted on a valve such as a ball valve or a butterfly valve or other mechanical equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional electric actuator of this type is usually provided with a manual operation mechanism for opening and closing a valve at the time of a power failure or the like.
Conventionally, various things have been proposed. As a specific example of this conventional method, first, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 49-35022, an output shaft or an intermediate shaft of an actuator is protruded to the outside of a casing, and this protruding portion is fixed to a predetermined position. 2. Description of the Related Art There is a known type in which a stem of a valve is manually operated by being rotated using a tool such as a spanner. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-2214, the lower end of the output shaft protruding from the lower part of the actuator and the upper end of the stem protruding from the upper part of the valve are connected by a connector. There has been proposed an apparatus that opens and closes a valve by manually operating a stem of the valve by rotating the stem.

[0003]

However, the former structure requires a sealing member for sealing the protruding portion in order to maintain the hermeticity of the portion where the protruding portion protrudes from the casing. You need tools,
Further, the latter structure for rotating the connector has disadvantages in that the connector is disposed below and outside the actuator, so that the size of the connector cannot be satisfied and the demand for compactness cannot be satisfied.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional structure, since the operating force at the time of manual operation is increased, the operating force is reduced by providing a clutch mechanism in the actuator to disconnect the gears. Due to the mechanism, the structure is complicated, and in any case, not only is a tool such as a predetermined spanner required, but also a restriction on the installation location of a valve for turning the spanner is required, A space for turning a tool such as a spanner must be secured in the actuator itself, and therefore, there have been various problems such as inconvenience in rotating the spanner or the like in a narrow place.

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems. The operability is improved by reducing the operating force at the time of manual operation, and the product can be compactly manufactured without providing a special manual operation portion. It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and useful actuator which does not require a rotary operation tool such as a spanner.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an actuator comprising a body having a motor and a reduction gear train and a cover detachably mounted thereon, the cover being rotatably supported by the body. And one of the reduction gear train
An actuator with a manual operation mechanism provided with the internal gear in the cover or the main body so that the internal gear meshing with the gear rotates integrally with the cover.

The above-mentioned internal gear is formed integrally with the inner periphery of the cover, or provided so as to be fixed to the inner periphery of the cover.

Further, the cover is rotatably fitted to the main body, and the cover is supported so as to be displaceable by a predetermined amount in a direction orthogonal to the rotation, and the cover is urged in the direction of displacement, so that the cover is displaced against the urging force. Thus, the internal gear and one gear of the reduction gear train may be made to mesh with each other.

In an actuator having a cover rotatably provided on a main body, an opening display section is provided on one of the main body and the cover, and the other is provided with an indication of opening and closing, and the opening is displayed by rotating the cover. You can also do it.

The cover is supported so as to be displaceable by a predetermined amount in a direction orthogonal to the rotation, the cover is urged in one direction, and the internal gear is rotatably supported by the main body and meshes with one gear of a reduction gear train. At the same time, the cover and the internal gear may engage with each other by the displacement of the cover against the urging force to rotate integrally.

The actuator with the manual operating mechanism, in which the internal gear and the one gear of the reduction gear train mesh with each other by the displacement against the urging force, makes the one gear of the reduction gear train freely displaceable in the axial direction. It can be urged in the same direction as that of the cover to prevent failure due to gear interference.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment in which an actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to the present invention is applied to a rotary valve such as a ball valve or a butterfly valve will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an actuator with a manual operation mechanism, in which a main body 1 serving as a base of the actuator is formed in a short columnar shape, and an electric motor 3 is provided on an intermediate holding plate 2 provided inside the main body 1. And the drive shaft 4 of the motor 3 is connected to a plurality of gears 5a, 5b, 5c. . .
The output shaft 6 protrudes from the lower part of the main body 1 by meshing with a gear integrated with the output shaft 6 via a reduction gear train 5 composed of

The output shaft 6 is connected to a valve stem (not shown) to open and close the valve. Further, according to the present embodiment, the main body 1 of the actuator is mounted and fixed to a flange formed on the upper portion of the valve with a bolt or the like. Although not shown, the output shaft 6 is provided in the main body 1.
By operating a limit switch with a cam provided in the above, for example, by rotating the output shaft 6 bidirectionally at a rotation angle of about 90 degrees, a rotary valve such as a ball valve or a butterfly valve is opened and closed. Like that.

In FIG. 3, a cylindrical cover 7 with a top plate is fitted to the main body 1 and fitted to the step 1a of the main body 1 to cover the main body 1.
Further, an O-ring 9 is mounted in a mounting groove 8 formed on the outer periphery of the main body 1, and the cover 7 is rotatably attached to the main body 1 via the O-ring 9. Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover 7 is
Up to three pawls 10 are formed, and the pawls 10 are locked in the engaging grooves 11 of the main body 1 to prevent the cover 7 from coming off. The cover 7 is made of metal or resin.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, a retaining ring formed by a C-ring 12a which can squeeze into the engagement groove 11 and be fitted to the peripheral end 71 when pushed by the cover end, as shown in FIG. As shown, the cover 7 is prevented from falling off by a retaining ring formed by an E-ring 12b that enters the arc-shaped notch 72 provided in the cover and fits into the engagement groove 11.
Without being limited to these, appropriate retaining means are appropriately selected according to the implementation.

On the inner periphery of the cover 7, an internal gear 13 is formed integrally with the cover 7 as shown in FIG. 8, or as shown in FIGS. The protrusions 13a provided at appropriate intervals on the upper surface of the cover 7 are fitted and fixed to the recesses provided in the stepped portions 7a of the inner peripheral wall of the cover 7, or the internal gear 13 is adhered to the inner periphery of the cover 7 by bonding. It may be fixed by means such as press fitting.

The internal gear 13 has
The cover 7 is provided so as to mesh with an intermediate gear 5c, which is one gear of the reduction gear train 5, and rotate in conjunction with the intermediate gear 5c. The intermediate gear 5c is not limited to this, and one gear of the reduction gear train 5 and the internal gear 13 may be meshed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, one of the main body 1 and the cover 7 is provided with an opening degree display section 14 as a mark.
Open (O) and closed (S) are displayed on the other side, and the cover 7 rotates with the rotation of the output shaft 6, and the rotation of the cover 7 displays, for example, the opening degree of the valve.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
When the electric motor 3 is driven, the output shaft 6 is rotated by the speed reduction by the reduction gear train 5, and the stem (not shown) of the valve connected to the output shaft 6 is rotated by the rotation of the output shaft 6. Open and close. At this time, as shown in FIG. 1, the intermediate gear 5c, which is one gear of the reduction gear train 5, is engaged with the internal gear 13, so that the output shaft 6
The cover 7 provided integrally with the internal gear 13 is rotated together with the rotation of the internal gear 13, and by the rotation of the cover 7, the function of the indicator can be exerted by using the opening display section 14 as a mark (see FIG. 7).

If it is necessary to manually operate the actuator at the time of a power failure or the like, the cover 7 is gripped by hand from the outside and the cover 7 itself is directly rotated. Since the output shaft 6 can be rotated by rotating the reduction gear train 5 via the intermediate gear 5c meshing with the valve 13, it is possible to manually open and close the valve or manually operate other mechanical devices. it can.

In the above example, the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c are always engaged with each other.
In addition, an example will be described in which the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c are engaged only during manual operation, and the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c are not engaged during normal operation.

First, as shown in FIG. 11, an elastic member 15 such as a coil spring or a plurality of disc springs is provided between the lower portion of the cover 7 and the step 1a of the main body 1. It is supported so that it can be displaced by a predetermined amount in the direction orthogonal to the rotation,
The cover 7 is urged in the direction of displacement so that the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c, which is one gear of the reduction gear train 5, mesh with each other by a displacement against the urging force. Then, at the time of manual operation, the output shaft 6 is manually operated in the same manner as in the above example by turning the cover 7 by hand while the cover 7 is pressed down and the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c are engaged. Can be.

Next, when the hand is released from the cover 7 after the end of the manual operation, the cover 7 moves upward in FIG.
And the intermediate gear 5c are disengaged from each other. When the motor 3 is driven in this state, the output shaft 6 can be rotated without rotating the cover 7.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, a spring 1 is attached to a shaft 16 of an intermediate gear 5c which is one gear of the reduction gear train 5.
7, and the intermediate gear 5 c is urged by the spring 17 in the same direction as that of the cover 7. When the cover 7 is pushed down during manual operation, the intermediate gear 5c is lowered when the teeth overlap, and when the cover 7 is slightly turned to release the overlap, the intermediate gear 5c is raised, and the internal gear 1c is raised.
3 and the intermediate gear 5c can reliably mesh with each other,
Failure due to interference between gears can be prevented.

The elastic member 15 can be provided inside the cover such as the upper surface of the electric motor 3 and the inside of the cover 7 in addition to the mounting example as shown in FIG. It suffices if the internal gear 13 and the intermediate gear 5c can mesh with each other by the displacement against the urging force,
These can be arbitrarily made according to the implementation.

Next, another example in which the internal gear and the intermediate gear mesh with each other only during manual operation will be described with reference to FIGS. In this structure, as in the example of FIG. 11, the cover 7 is provided so as to be displaceable in the direction orthogonal to the rotation, and the internal gear 13 is provided on the main body 1 so as to be rotatable and non-upwardly displaceable. Is engaged. The cover 7 and the internal gear 13 are engaged with each other by the displacement of the cover 7 against the urging force to rotate integrally. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.
2, the intermediate gear 5c of the reduction gear train 5 of the main body 1 meshes with the internal gear 18 rotatably supported by the main body 1, and the engagement groove 1 is formed around the outer periphery of the internal gear 18.
9 are formed, and a plurality of convex portions 20 which are engaged with the engagement groove 19 when the cover 7 is pressed down are provided on the inner peripheral surface of the cover at appropriate intervals.

As shown in FIG. 13, a plurality of convex pieces 22 are provided on the upper surface of the internal gear 21 at appropriate intervals.
When the cover 7 is pushed down, the projection 23 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the cover 7 is locked. FIG. 12 and FIG.
In the example of No. 3 as well, an elastic member such as a spring is attached as in FIG.
The cover 7 is always moved in a direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the cover 7 to disengage the intermediate gear 5c and the internal gears 18 and 21. During manual operation, the cover 7 is gripped by hand and pushed down to rotate. By doing so, the internal gears 18 and 21 and the intermediate gear 5c mesh with each other, so that the output shaft 6 can be manually operated.

The above embodiment has been described with respect to an example in which the present invention is applied to a valve such as a ball valve or a butterfly valve. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an actuator of a driving machine.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above, the present invention has the following excellent effects. The operability at the time of manual operation of the actuator is extremely good, and the product can be manufactured more compactly than the conventional product, and a large rotating operation force can be given by the gripping force of the hand,
Extremely good manual operability. In addition, since the gear is engaged with one gear in the middle of the reduction gear train of the actuator, a large operation force is not required, and the opening degree can be displayed on the outer periphery, so that it is easy to see and surely visually recognized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a reference diagram showing a cover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view showing an actuator according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial front view showing an example of a cover retaining means in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing another example of a cover retaining means.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing still another example of a cover retaining means.

FIG. 7 is a partial front view showing an opening degree display section of the actuator.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view in which an internal gear is integrally formed on the inner periphery of the cover.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an internal gear is fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the cover.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the internal gear of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway enlarged sectional view showing another embodiment of the actuator according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing still another embodiment of the actuator according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing still another embodiment of the actuator according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 3 Electric motor 5 Reduction gear train 5c Intermediate gear 6 Output shaft 7 Cover 13, 18, 21 Internal gear 14 Openness display part 15 Elastic member 17 Spring 22 Convex piece

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An actuator comprising a main body having a motor and a reduction gear train and a cover detachably attached thereto, wherein the cover is rotatably supported by the main body, and one of the reduction gear trains.
An actuator with a manual operation mechanism provided with an internal gear in a cover or a main body so that an internal gear meshing with the gear rotates integrally with the cover. 2. The actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the internal gear is provided integrally with the cover. 3. The cover is supported so as to be displaceable by a predetermined amount in a direction orthogonal to the rotation, and the cover is urged in the direction of displacement, so that the internal gear and one gear of the reduction gear train are displaced by the urging force. The actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is engaged. 4. The actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein an opening degree is displayed on the main body and the cover. 5. A cover is supported so as to be displaceable by a predetermined amount in a direction orthogonal to the rotation, the cover is urged in one direction, and an internal gear is rotatably supported by the main body, and one of the gears of the reduction gear train. 2. The actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the cover and the internal gear engage with each other due to the displacement of the cover against the engagement and the urging force, so that the cover and the internal gear rotate together. 6. The actuator with a manual operation mechanism according to claim 3, wherein one gear of the reduction gear train is axially displaceable and urged in the same direction as the cover is urged to prevent a failure due to interference of the gears.