JPS6123987Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a hot water mixing faucet, and more particularly to a hot water mixing faucet suitable for maintaining a constant temperature of mixed water.

In general, in baths, etc., water and hot water can be mixed to obtain mixed hot water at the desired temperature, and
A mixing faucet is used that can adjust the amount of water flowing out.

However, even if the mixed water temperature is set at a constant temperature on the mixing faucet side, the mixed water temperature will change due to changes in the amount of hot water, water temperature, water pressure, etc., and it is not possible to always obtain mixed hot water at a constant temperature. The problem is that it can't be done.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, a conventional method has been to incorporate a wax thermostat into the mixing faucet.

However, in this type of device, the thermostat forms a single mass as a wax element because the thermal expansion of wax is utilized, and the valve and thermostat that adjusts hot water and water are responsible for the adjustment operation. In order to achieve good balance, it is necessary to place it at the center of the shaft. For this reason, the lever for opening/closing the faucet and adjusting the flow rate and the temperature setting member must be installed in separate locations, resulting in a complex and large structure that is difficult to operate, and wax-based thermostats have poor responsiveness. There are drawbacks such as inaccurate fine adjustment.

The present invention was devised to solve these conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a hot water mixer faucet that has a simple structure, is easy to operate, and allows accurate fine adjustment. be.

This invention focuses on the fact that shape memory alloys deform with temperature changes, and uses an adjustment member made of shape memory alloy to finely adjust the valve that adjusts the amount of inflowing hot water by operating a temperature setting member. It is.

Shape memory alloy is a general term for alloys that, after being deformed, return to their original shape when subjected to temperature changes such as heating. ₃ Al, CuAlNi,
This phenomenon occurs in alloys such as AuCd, Fe ₃ Pt, InTl, NiAl, CuZn, CuZnAl, and others.

The cause of such shape memory is now generally understood as the phenomenon of martensitic transformation. This is due to a transformation called thermoelastic martensitic transformation, in which martensite grows continuously as the temperature decreases, and conversely contracts as the temperature increases, and these can undergo a reversible transition.
Martensite formed by deformed twin crystals generated and grown due to temperature drop or stress has good consistency with the parent phase by heating, so it is absorbed into the parent phase and disappears due to reverse transformation. In other words, the cause of the deformation at low temperatures is eliminated by heating, so the original shape is restored, and this is thought to be the cause of the memorability. Therefore, this phenomenon can basically be understood through the mechanism described above, and by searching for the composition and heat treatment conditions that cause thermoelastic martensitic transformation due to twin deformation,
Combinations of various metals can be found.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on an illustrative embodiment.

In the figure, 1 is a cylindrical main body having a hot water inlet 2 and a cold water inlet 3, and a cap 4 screwed into the lower end of the main body 1 has a faucet 5 that can be rotated horizontally. There is. And cold water is the second
As shown in the figure, a constant amount of water is always supplied into the main body 1 as indicated by arrow C through an annular cold water inlet passage 6 and slit 7 connected to the cold water inlet 3, and hot water is supplied into the main body 1 through an annular cold water inlet passage 6 connected to the cold water inlet 3 and a slit 7 connected to the hot water inlet 2. The warm water is supplied into the main body 1 as shown by the arrow H through the hot water inlet passage 8, and as will be described in detail later, the two are mixed within the main body 1 and discharged from the faucet 5.
The discharge amount from the faucet 5 is adjusted by a flow rate regulating valve 9 disposed within the main body 1 and having a seal ring 9a attached to the circumferential surface. The lower end of a shaft 10 provided at the axial center of the main body 1 is connected to the flow rate regulating valve 9, and this shaft 10 connects to a lever 11 provided at the upper end of the main body 1 that rotates in the horizontal direction. The faucet 5 is opened and closed and the amount of discharge from the faucet 5 is adjusted by moving the lever 11 up and down through known means.

Inside the main body 1, a cylindrical slide member 12 is disposed coaxially with the shaft 10, and at a position of the slide member 12 corresponding to the hot water inflow passage 8,
It moves up and down together with the slide member 12 to open and close the flow path between the hot water inflow passage 8 and the main body internal space 1a,
A valve 13 that adjusts the amount of hot water flowing into the main body 1
is fixed around the perimeter. A male threaded member 1 fitted around the shaft 10 is attached to the female threaded portion at the upper end of the slide member 12.
4 are screwed together, and the slide member 12 is adapted to slide up and down by the rotation of this male threaded member 14. Further, the male threaded member 14 is configured to be rotated via any known means by rotating a temperature setting member 15 with a temperature scale provided coaxially with the lever 11 at a position immediately below the lever 11. . A relief spring 16 is interposed at the lower part of the male threaded member 14.

A large diameter skirt portion at the bottom of the slide member 12 is provided with a number of holes 17, and the lowermost end thereof is fitted into the annular guide groove 4a of the cap 4. Further, inside the slide member 12 facing the position of the hole 17, there are many holes 1.
9 is fixed, and in the ring-shaped space between the double cylinder made up of the inner cylinder 18 and the skirt portion of the slide member 12, a reversible shape memory alloy such as CuZnAl is fixed. A coiled actuating spring 20 is interposed. This operating spring 2
0 flows downward as shown by arrow A and enters holes 17 and 19.
It senses the temperature change in the mixed water (a mixture of hot water and cold water) passing through it, expands and contracts, and slightly moves the slide member 12 up and down to finely adjust the amount of hot water flowing into the main body 1. ing.

A coiled bias spring 21 is interposed in the guide groove 4a of the cap 4 to urge the slide member 12 in the opposite direction to the operating spring 20. This bias spring 21 ensures that the operating spring 20 operates accurately. gender is guaranteed.
That is, shape memory alloys have different expansion and contraction temperatures because there is a difference between the Ms (martensite start) point and the As (austenite start) point. For this reason, the bias spring 21 applies an opposite force to the actuating spring 20 to reduce the amount of displacement caused by temperature, thereby reducing hysteresis.

In addition, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 22 is
This is a scale indicating point for adjusting the scale of the temperature setting member 15.

Next, the effect will be explained.

In use, first, the temperature setting member 15 is rotated to set a predetermined temperature. Then, the valve 1 is opened via the male screw member 14 and the slide member 12.
3 moves up and down, and the amount of hot water flowing into the main body 1 from the hot water inlet 2 through the hot water inflow passage 8 is adjusted. Since the amount of cold water flowing into the main body 1 from the cold water inlet 3 through the cold water inlet passage 6 and the slit 7 is always constant, the mixed water temperature of both can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of hot water.

Next, the lever 11 is rotated to open the flow rate adjustment valve 9. Then, the hot water and cold water are mixed in the main body 1 and are discharged from the faucet 5 through the holes 17 and 19.

In this state, if the cold water pressure changes due to the use of a large amount of cold water elsewhere, for example, the holes 17 and 19
The temperature of the mixed water passing through will change.
Then, this change in water temperature is immediately detected by the actuating spring 20 as the mixed water flows through the holes 19 in the skirt and touches the actuating spring 20 along the surface of the skirt, and the actuating spring 20 expands and contracts. The valve 13 is then finely adjusted.
Thereby, the temperature of the mixed water discharged from the faucet 5 is maintained constant.

In addition, the lever for opening/closing the faucet and adjusting the flow rate and the temperature setting member are arranged coaxially and close to each other, making it easy to operate, and the operating spring is installed coaxially with the shaft of the flow rate regulating valve and the slide member, etc. Therefore, the size of the mixing faucet can be reduced.

Furthermore, since the flow rate adjustment using a shape memory alloy allows for a larger expansion/contraction stroke than that using wax, adjustment over a wide temperature range is possible. Shape memory alloys can control the temperature of the material itself, so unlike wax, its performance does not vary depending on the manufacturing accuracy of the element, such as the accuracy when it is sealed into a container, and there is no performance deterioration due to changes over time. Furthermore, since the structure is simple, the overall structure is simple and reliability is improved.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the case where fine adjustment is made using the coiled actuating spring 20 was explained.
It does not necessarily have to be coiled.

In the above embodiment, the operating spring 20 is made of a reversible shape memory alloy, but if the bias spring 21 is a return spring, it can be made of a non-reversible shape memory alloy such as TiNi. When TiNi is used, corrosion resistance is improved and it is hygienic.

The present invention has been described above based on the preferred embodiments. According to the present invention, a hot water mixing faucet is provided which has a simple structure, is easy to operate, and can be expected to have accurate fine adjustment. In the present invention, the adjustment member made of shape memory alloy is provided along the surface of the perforated cylindrical skirt of the slide member, which is displaced up and down by the rotation of the temperature setting member, so that the holes in the skirt can be adjusted. The penetrating mixed water contacts the regulating member well, and rapid deformation of the regulating member can be obtained when the temperature of the mixed water changes. Furthermore, the coaxial arrangement of the temperature setting member and the operating lever portion of the flow rate regulating valve shaft in the present invention improves operability as described above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a partial sectional view of FIG. 1. 1... Body, 2... Hot water inlet, 3... Cold water inlet, 5... Faucet, 9... Flow rate adjustment valve, 11... Lever, 12... Slide member, 13... Valve,
15... Temperature setting member, 20... Shape memory alloy actuating spring, 21... Bias spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. (a) A cylindrical main body having a hot water inlet and a cold water inlet, (b) A faucet provided at the bottom of the main body and discharging mixed hot and cold water, (c) The main body. (d) a shaft that is provided so as to be able to slide up and down in the axial direction inside the main body, and has a flow control valve at the lower end that adjusts the flow rate to the faucet; (e) a temperature setting member rotatably supported on the upper part of the main body coaxially with the shaft and controlling the temperature of the mixed water discharged from the faucet; (f) this temperature (g) a slide member fitted around the shaft inside the main body so as to move up and down in conjunction with the rotation of the setting member; (h) a hot water inflow adjustment valve that moves up and down and changes its opening to adjust the amount of hot water flowing into the main body from the hot water inlet; a cylindrical skirt portion forming an annular space as a flow path for a mixture of hot and cold water and having a number of holes through which the mixed water flows radially inward; (i) a connection between the skirt portion and the bottom of the body; A shape memory alloy is provided along the surface of the skirt portion so as to be interposed therebetween, and deforms in response to temperature changes of the mixed water, and finely adjusts the opening degree of the hot water inflow adjustment valve via a slide member. A hot water mixer faucet comprising an adjustment member made of 2. The hot water mixer faucet according to claim 1, in which the adjusting member made of a shape memory alloy is coiled. 3 Utility model registration claim No. 2 in which the skirt portion is a double tube with a larger diameter than the other portion of the slide member, and a coiled adjustment member is inserted between the double tubes.
Mixing faucet for hot water and cold water as described in section.