JPS5840060B2 - thermostatic mixing valve - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermostatic mixing valve that mixes separately supplied hot water and cold water to a desired temperature and automatically maintains this mixed water temperature.

Conventionally, thermostatic mixing valves of this type have various structures known, and for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-33371 as shown in FIG.

To explain this, the control valve body 22 is biased toward the handle 48 by an operating spring 24, and when the handle 48 is rotated to move the operating shaft 38 forward, the operating spring 22 is biased toward the handle 48.
Compressing the handle 48 requires a large amount of rotational force, whereas retracting the operating shaft 38 requires only a small amount of rotational force by extending the operating spring 24, and the rotational force varies depending on the direction of rotation of the handle 48. It was difficult to operate.

Therefore, since a large amount of rotational force is required to move the actuating shaft 38 forward, it may be possible to improve the sliding by applying grease to the threaded engagement part d'. This caused the handle 48 to rotate naturally, causing the temperature setting to be incorrect.

The object of the present invention is to solve these problems and to provide a handle that is extremely easy to operate, can be operated with uniform force at all times, and can be rotated smoothly.

The basic structure of the present invention is that one of the engagement means is non-rotatable but movable in the axial direction, and the other is screwed between the operating shaft and the spindle shaft and between the operating shaft and the main body. By interposing a spring between the actuating shaft and the spindle shaft or the actuating shaft and the main body, which are engaged by a coupling means and by a retaining means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, the actuating spring can be This counteracts the force of the spring and prevents the spring from becoming twisted.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In the figure, A is the main body, and 1, 2.3 are the hot water flow path, water flow path, and mixed water flow path that are respectively defined inside the main body. The water flow path 2 and the mixed water flow path 3 are adjacent to each other with a second partition wall 5 in between.

The hot water flow path 1 and the water flow path 2 each have a hot water inlet 6 and a water inflow lower, and the hot water inlet 6 is used as a hot water source, and the water inflow lower is used as a water supply source. Connectors 8 and 9 that communicate with each other are connected.

Further, the mixed water flow path 3 communicates with a discharge section 11 via an on-off valve 10.

On the other hand, insertion holes 12 and 13 are coaxially bored in the first partition wall 4 and the second partition wall 5 to connect the hot water flow path 1 and the water flow path 2, and the water flow path 2 and the mixed water flow path 3, respectively. Furthermore, openings 14 and 15 are provided in the main body A on the groove flow path 1 side and the water flow path 2 side, respectively, coaxially with the insertion holes 12 and 13. A lid 16 is attached to the opening 14 opened in the main body A on the side of the water channel 2, and a cylindrical liner 17 is attached to the opening 15 opened in the main body A on the side of the water channel 2, thereby forming the main body A'.

The lid 16 has a cylindrical portion 18 that is screwed into the opening 14 and extends into the hot water flow path 1, and the tip of the cylindrical portion 18 constitutes a hot water valve seat 19.

The liner 17 is made up of a cylindrical front member 17a and a rear member 17b screwed to the front member 17a.The liner 17 is inserted and screwed into the mixed water channel 3 from the opening 15, and the front member 17a is connected to the second partition wall 5.
The water valve seat 20 is inserted through the insertion hole 13 and extends into the water flow path 2, and forms a water valve seat 20 from its tip.

The liner 17 also has through holes 2 in the rear side of the front member 17a.
1 to communicate the inside of the liner 17 and the mixed water flow path 3.

Reference numeral 22 is a control valve body formed in a cylindrical shape that corresponds to the hot water valve seat 19 and the water valve seat 20, respectively. The hot water side control valve a1 corresponds to the hot water valve seat 19 and the water valve seat 20, respectively, with its front and rear ends forming a hot water side control valve a1.

The control valve body 22 is located near the opening end on the water valve seat 20 side.
A partition plate 23 is provided to partition this in the diametrical direction, and an operating spring 24 is elastically mounted between the partition plate 23 and the lid 16.
side, that is, the operating section C side to be described later.

Further, the partition plate 23 is provided with a through hole 25 passing through it in the thickness direction.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an element case, which is formed into a cylindrical shape with an opening at the rear and is slidably disposed within the front member 17a of the liner 17, and has a protrusion 27 protruding from the center of the outer surface of the bottom of the element case as a partition of the control valve body 22. It comes into contact with the center of the plate 23.

The element case 26 is also provided with through holes 28 and 29 in its bottom and rear peripheral surface.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a temperature-sensing section housed in the element case 26. Wax, which is very sensitive to temperature changes and has a high expansion and contraction rate, is sealed in the case 31 as a temperature-sensing body 32. Thermal expansion and contraction of the hot body 32 causes the protruding shaft 33 to extend and contract from the rear of the case 31.

The temperature-sensing section 30 is fixed in the middle to a step 34 provided on the inner peripheral surface of the element case 26 by a fixing ring 35, so that the rear part protrudes from the element case 26 and connects to the step 36 formed on the front member 17a. An element guide 37 held between the connecting end of the rear member 17b is slidably inserted and extends into the rear member 17b.

Note that the temperature sensing section 30 may be a bellows or a temperature sensing pipe in which ethyl alcohol, Freon gas, or the like is sealed.

An operating section C is provided on the rear member 17b.

The operating section C consists of an operating shaft 38, a spindle shaft 39, etc.
The operating shaft 38 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and its outer periphery is the main body portion A'.
%, that is, the inner circumference of the rear member 17b of the liner 17 is engaged with the screw engagement means d, and by rotation, the main body part A
′ is moved in the axial direction.

Further, the operating shaft 38 has a cap-shaped element holder 40 screwed onto the peripheral surface of its front opening, and a safety spring receiver 41 is spline-engaged with the inner peripheral surface of the element holder 40 within the operating shaft 38.
is slidably housed on the inner peripheral surface of the operating shaft 38.

The rear part of the case 31 of the temperature sensing section 30 is attached to the element presser 40 of the operating shaft 38, and the protruding shaft 33 protruding from the rear part of the case 31 is inserted through the operating shaft 38 and screwed into the center part of the safety spring receiver 41. They abut on the adjustment screws 42, respectively.

Further, the operating shaft 38 has a rear opening formed with a small diameter through a stepped portion 43, and the tip of a spindle shaft 39, which extends through the rear opening and inserts the rear end of the liner 17, is connected to the spline groove and the spline shaft or hexagonal hole. are engaged by an engaging means e such as a hexagonal shaft that cannot be rotated but is movable in the axial direction, and a safety spring 44 is elastically loaded between the safety spring receiver 41 and the stepped portion 43, so that the safety spring is always engaged. The receiver 41 is brought into contact with the element presser 40.

The spindle shaft 39 has a flange 45 in the middle, and the flange 45 is locked to a step 46 provided at the opening of the liner 17 so that it rotates relative to the main body A' but does not move in the axial direction. A handle 48 is fixed to the outer end of the liner 17 by a retaining ring 47 through spline engagement, and a spring 49 is inserted between the flange 45 of the spindle shaft 39 and the stepped portion 43 of the operating shaft 38. The actuating shaft 38 is biased in the opposite direction against the actuating spring 24.

At this time, the spindle shaft 39 and the operating shaft 38 rotate together, and only the operating shaft 38 moves in the axial direction, so the spring 4
9 rotates and expands and contracts together with the handle 48.
Does not get twisted due to rotation.

Note that the spring 49 is not limited to the embodiment described above, and may be interposed between the operating shaft 38 and the main body A as shown in FIG.

In this case, the actuating shaft 38 and the main body A are engaged by means of a retaining means e that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, that is, by spline engagement, and the actuating shaft 38 and the spindle shaft 39
are engaged by screw engagement means d to prevent the spring 49 from being twisted by rotation of the handle 48, as in the previous embodiment.

Therefore, such a thermostatic mixing valve is operated by operating section C.
That is, when the handle 48 is rotated to rotate the spindle shaft 39 and the operating shaft 38 is moved forward, the spring 49 is expanded, and the element presser 40 fixed to the front end of the operating shaft 38 causes the temperature sensing portion 30 to be moved forward. The control valve body 22 is pushed forward and moves forward (toward the hot water valve seat 19 side) via the element case 26 that engages with the temperature sensing portion 30, and the operating spring 24 is compressed.

Conversely, when the handle 48 is rotated in the opposite direction to move the operating shaft 38 backward, the spring 49 is compressed, the operating spring 24 is expanded, and the control valve body 22 is moved rearward (towards the water valve seat 20).

By moving these control valve bodies 22, the opening degrees of the hot water side control valve a and the water side control valve A are adjusted, respectively, and the ratio of the inflow amount of hot water and water is adjusted.
In other words, the temperature of the mixed water is set.

In this state, the hot water that has entered the hot water flow path 1 passes through the hot water side control valve a1 control valve body 22 and the through hole 25, and the water that has entered the water flow path 2 passes through the water side control valve. Each element case 26
The mixture enters the element case 26 through the through hole 28 at the bottom, flows while contacting the temperature sensing part 30, and flows into the through hole 29 on the circumferential surface of the element case 26 and the through hole 21 on the circumferential surface of the liner 17.
The mixed water flows into the mixed water channel 3 through the on-off valve 10 and is supplied to the discharge section 11 .

At this time, if there is a change in hot water supply or water supply pressure, etc. and the temperature of the mixed water becomes higher or lower than the set temperature, the temperature sensing part 3
0 automatically adjusts the opening of the valve to maintain the temperature of the mixed water.

That is, if the temperature of the mixed water rises due to reasons such as an increase in hot water supply pressure, the wax that is the temperature sensing element 32 of the temperature sensing section 30 expands and pushes out the protruding shaft 33.

Since the rear end of this protruding shaft 33 is held down by the adjustment screw 42, the temperature sensing section 30 itself moves forward.

Therefore, the element case 26 engaged with the temperature sensing part 30
moves forward in a direction to close the hot water side control valve a, in other words, the control valve body 22 approaches the hot water valve seat 19 against the elastic force of the actuating spring 24 and closes the hot water side control valve a. The opening degree of the control valve body 22 becomes smaller and the inflow of hot water decreases, and at the same time
moves away from the water valve seat 20 in the direction of opening the water side control valve, and the opening degree of the water side control valve increases, increasing the amount of water flowing in and lowering the temperature of the mixed water.

When the temperature of the mixed water falls below the set temperature, the operation is completely opposite to that described above, and the mixed water is always maintained at the set temperature.

Since the present invention has the above configuration, it has the following advantages.

■ The operating shaft of the operation part and the spindle shaft and the operating shaft and the main body are engaged by an engaging means that cannot rotate one side but is movable in the axial direction, and the other one by a screw engaging means. At the same time, the operating shaft and the spindle shaft are engaged by a locking means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, or a spring is interposed between the operating shaft and the main body, so that it can be operated by rotating the handle. When the shaft is moved forward, the actuating spring is compressed, but the spring is also stretched; conversely, when the actuating shaft is moved backward, the actuating spring is stretched, but the spring is compressed, and the actuating springs transfer their force to each other. This cancels out the rotational force caused by the difference in the direction of rotation of the handle, making it easier to operate and preventing the handle from rotating spontaneously.

■ The spring is interposed between the actuating shaft and the spindle shaft, or the actuating shaft and the main body, which are engaged by an engaging means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, so in the former case, the actuating shaft and the spindle Only the operating shaft moves while the shaft rotates with the handle; in the latter case, the operating shaft does not rotate relative to the main body but moves only in the axial direction, and the spring is simply compressed and expanded without being twisted by the rotation of the handle. from,
In addition to not being twisted, deformed, or broken, the handle does not rotate unevenly due to the spring being twisted, and the handle does not suddenly become heavy during rotation, and the handle always rotates smoothly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the thermostatic mixing valve of the present invention, with FIG. 1 being a longitudinal sectional front view and FIG. 2 being an enlarged cross-sectional view with the connector removed. FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts showing another embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional example. A'... Main body, a, b... Control valve (
hot water side control valve, water side control valve), c... operation section, d
...Screw engagement means, e...Engagement means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, 1...
Hot water channel, 2...Water channel, 3...Mixed water channel, 24...Operating spring, 30...
・Temperature sensing part, 38... Operating axis, 39...
Spindle shaft, 48... Handle, 49...
···spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main body including a water flow path, a hot water flow path, and a mixed water flow path where these two flow paths merge, a temperature-sensing section that is disposed in the mixed water flow path and is sensitive to the temperature of the mixed water, and the temperature-sensing section. a control valve that is actuated by the controller to control the mixed water temperature to a set temperature, an operating section that moves the operating position of the temperature sensing section to set the mixed water temperature, and an operating spring that biases the control valve element toward the operating section. The operating section includes a spindle shaft to which a handle is attached and rotates with respect to the main body but does not move in the axial direction, and an operating shaft that contacts the temperature sensing section and moves in the axial direction with respect to the main body. The shaft and the spindle shaft and the operating shaft and the main body are engaged by a retaining means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction on one side and a threaded engagement means on the other side, and the above-mentioned A thermostatic mixing valve characterized in that an operating shaft and a spindle shaft are engaged with each other by an engaging means that cannot rotate but is movable in the axial direction, or a spring is interposed between the operating shaft and the main body.