US3680589A

US3680589A - Mounting block for fluid control valve

Info

Publication number: US3680589A
Application number: US40268A
Authority: US
Inventors: Michael Anthony Jeans; Frank Oxley Baines
Original assignee: Louis Newmark Ltd
Current assignee: Louis Newmark Ltd
Priority date: 1969-06-19
Filing date: 1970-05-25
Publication date: 1972-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 1989-08-01
Also published as: GB1310110A; DE2030044A1

Abstract

A mounting block for an hydraulic valve is a rectangular parallelepiped having pairs of ports in two opposed faces thereof, the ports of each pair being similarly disposed with respect to a reference plane. A third face of the block is provided with one or more arrays of ports, each array including two ports connected respectively with said channels and two further ports communicating by further channels with a pair of ports in a fourth face of the block. The further pair of ports are disposed with respect to a further plane, perpendicular to the reference plane, in the same disposition as the first pairs.

Description

United States Patent Jeans et al.

[ 51 Aug. 1, 1972 [54] MOUNTING BLOCK FOR FLUID [21] Appl.No.: 40,268

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 3,076,473 2/1963 Wadey ..l37/271 X 3,384,114 5/1968 Hathaway et a]. ..l37/561 X 3,391,703 7/1968 Kay ..137/561 X 3,407,834 10/1968 Brandenberg ..137/271 3,516,436 6/1970 Klaus et a1. ..137/608 X 3,556,144 1/1971 Bickers et al. 137/608 X 3,561,469 2/1971 Kellstrom et a1 ..l37/608 X Primary Examiner-Samuel Scott Attorney-Lawrence E. Laubscher 57 ABSTRACT- A mounting block for an hydraulic valve is a rectangular parallelepiped having pairs of ports in two opposed faces thereof, the ports of each pair being similarly disposed with respect to a reference plane. A third face of the block is provided with one or more arrays of ports, each array including two ports connected respectively with said channels and two further ports communicating by further channels with a pair of ports in a fourth face of the block. The further pair of ports are disposed with respect to a further plane, perpendicular to the reference plane, in the same disposition as the first pairs.

l0 Claim, 12 Drawing Figures mm H912 sum 2 or 5 INVENTORS ATTORNEY PATENTEHAus 1 I972 v 3.680.589

sum u or s Ml hae/ ,4. Isa n5 PPM/1k gab-165 INVENTOR5 kafiiw m ATTORNEY PATENTEDMJI;- 1 me SHEU 5 OF 5 Fig. /2

MOUNTING BLOCK FOR FLUID CONTROL VALVE This invention relates to fluid control apparatus and in particular to mounting blocks suitable for the mounting of fluid control valves.

Arrangements of mounting blocks for fluid control systems are already known, but such systems have suffered from the disadvantage that, while they permit the mounting of a plurality of control valves supplied by common inlet and outlet connections, they have not been readily adaptable to permit the ready connection of inter-related control valves with a minimum of pipework.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a mounting block for an hydraulic valve so constructed that a plurality of the blocks may be secured together to permit the interconnection of related valves of an hydraulic control system with a minimum of pipework.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mounting block assembly for hydraulic control valves which enables associated valves to be hydraulically interconnected with a minimum of pipework.

In one embodiment of mounting blockaccording to the invention the block has two opposed parallel faces, each face having therein a pair of ports disposed in a predetermined relation to a common reference plane. The ports in the two faces are connected by parallel channels within the block.

Those features of the invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.

Further features and advantages of mounting blocks in accordance with the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a unit mounting block;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the block of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the block of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken along the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a cross-section taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is an isometric representation of the manner in which two mounting blocks may be fitted together;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are two views in co-ordinate directions of an hydraulic control apparatus using the assembly of two mounting blocks shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a pipe diagram showing the control effected by the arrangement of FIG. 9 and 10; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the mounting block of FIGS. 1-3.

The mounting block shown in FIGS. 1-7 is a unit block and may be extended in the direction of its length to form a unitary assembly including a plurality of port arrangements of the kind now to be described. The block shown is of rectangular and specifically crosssquare section, though this is not essential to its function which requires only that it shall have a plurality of planar faces of which two are parallel.

The block 1 shown has in its end face 101 shown in FIG. 3 a pair of ports 2 and 3 which are disposed in a predetermined relation to a reference plane parallel to the length of the block and indicated by chain-line 4. Similar ports are provided in the opposed end 102 of the block and the ports are connected by channels or

conduits

2a and 3a contained within the block. Conveniently, though not necessarily, the ports and channels are formed by drilling through the block, though other methods of hole formation may be used to produce the channels when desired. Associated with ports 2, 3 is a plurality of fastening holes. In the embodiment illustrated four screw-threaded

holes

5, 6, 7 and 8 are disposed symmetrically with respect to the ports 2, 3. An additional port 9 may be provided extending through the length of the block to accommodate electrical leads for valve control purposes.

In the third face 103 of the block shown in FIG. 1 are provided four ports 10, ll, 12 and 13 which are disposed in a standard J.I.C. array, and are accompanied by appropriately spaced fixing holes 14 and a locating hole 15. The inlet and

outlet ports

10 and 11 communicate with the

conduits

21 and 3a of ports 2 and 3 via a first pair of internal conduits 10a and 110, respectively, as seen in FIG. 4 and 6, while the controlled

ports

12 and 13 communicate via a second pair of conduits 12a and 130, respectively with a further pair of

ports

16 and 17 which are provided in a fourth face 104 of the block and are disposed in the same predetermined relation to a plane, represented by chain line 18, which is perpendicular to the reference plane 4, as the relation of ports 2, 3 to the reference plane. Ports l6 and 17 are provided with screw threads for the fastening thereto of external pipes.

Associated with

ports

16, 17 is an array of four

fixing holes

19, 20, 21 and 22 disposed symmetrically with reference to

ports

16, 17 and spaced similarly to holes 5-8 of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 7, these fixing holes pass through the thickness of the block. In this manner it is made possible to secure a transfer block to the block shown, so that the inlet and outlet ports of the added block communicate with the controlled ports of the first. Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 8, where a transfer block 30 is shown with its inlet and

outlet ports

31, 32 aligned with the controlled ports 33, 34 of a three-unit block 35. In this manner a fluid circuit may be controlled by the series combination of a valve fitted to block 35 at position A, a valve 39 fitted to transfer block 30 at position B and a further valve at position C. The two blocks will be held together by fixing bolts such as 36, 37 passing through holes in

blocks

35 and 30 and engaging in screw-threaded holes in the proximate face of valve 39.

Transfer block 30 covers two sets of ports on the third face of block 35, the ports 33, 34 controlled by a valve mounted in position A and further ports at D which are blanked by a cover plate E. A diagonal transfer channel 32a within block 30 couples port 34 of block 35 with port 34a of the transfer block, whereas port 31 of the transfer block passes directly through the block.

A control system employing a similar assembly is shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. A block 45 carries three

control valves

46, 47 and 48 while an intermediate valve position is blanked by a cover plate 49 sealing the ports therein. A transfer block 50 coupled to the ports controlled by valve 47 carries two

sequence valves

51 and 52. Pump and

tank pipes

53, 54 are connected by way of a relief valve 55 to the ports of block 45 which are controlled by valve 46. A further tank pipe 54a is connected to one of the manifold ports of block 45, of which the other end is closed by a plug 54b. The second manifold port is closed at both ends by

plugs

56, 57. The controlled ports of sequence valve 51 are connected by way of

pipes

60, 61 to a punch actuating cylinder 62, while the controlled ports of sequence valve 52 are connected by way of

pipes

63, 64 to a clamp actuating cylinder 65. The ports on block 45 which are controlled by valve 48 are connected by way of

pipes

66, 67 with a cylinder 68 arranged to actuate a transfer mechanism.

The arrangement shown may be varied by disposing a further mounting block in place of either of

sequence valves

51, 52, so that further electromagnetically actuated valves may be coupled in sequence with valve 47. It will be understood that valves other than the simple electromagnetically actuated spool valves illustrated may be used in conjunction with a mounting block or an assembly of mounting and transfer blocks according to the invention to construct control systems of considerable complexity, without the necessity than a minimum of pipework.

Most types of control valve are preferably mounted with the spindle axes horizontal, and it will be seen that as assembly of mounting blocks according to the invention permits large numbers of interconnected valves to be mounted in this position without the necessity for using adaptor members of any kind. What I claim is: 1. A said mounting BLOCK for an hydraulic control valve, said block having first (101) and second (102) parallel opposed planar faces, and third (103) and fourth (104) planar faces normal to each other and to said first and second faces, respectively,

each of said first (101) and second (102) faces containing a pair of ports (2,3), the ports in each of said pair of ports being disposed in the same predetermined relation relative to each other and to a common reference plane (4) perpendicular to said faces; said third face (103) containing an array of four ports (10, 11, 12 and 13);

said fourth face (104) containing a further pair of ports (16, 17 disposed in said predetermined relation relative to each other and to a further plane (18) perpendicular to said reference plane and to said fourth face;

said block containing therein a pair of parallel conduits (2a, 3a) connecting the ports of said first face with corresponding ports to said second face, respectively, said block also containing a first pair of internal conduits (a, 11a) connecting said parallel conduits with two of the ports 10, 11) of for more the array of said third face, respectively, and a secondpair of internal conduits (12a, 13a) connecting the other two ports (12, 13) of said array with said further pair of ports 16, 17), contained in said fourth face, respectively, whereby a pair of said mounting blocks may be connected with the fourth face of one block abutted against either the of he ot r bloc 2. The. invention define by c aim 1, 251111161 characterized in that said block includes a plurality of bores extending through said block perpendicular to said third face thereof.

3. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by having the form 'of a rectangular parallelepiped.

4. The invention defined by claim 1, wherein said array of ports in said third face includes a fifth port communicating with an additional channel ,in said block, said additional channel extending between said opposed faces of said block parallel to said parallel channels therein.

5. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by a plurality of screw-threaded holes in each of said opposed faces, said holes being symmetrically disposed with respect to said two ports in said face.

6. The invention defined by claim 5, further characterized by a closure plate secured to one of said opposed faces by screws engaged in said screw-threaded holes.

- 7. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by a plurality of said arrays on said third'face thereof.

first or second fac 8. A mounting assembly for a plurality of hydraulic and means mounting said transfer block on said third face of said mounting block with each of said sets of ports aligned with one of said arrays of ports on said third face.

9. The invention defined by claim 7, further characterized by each said array of ports in said third face including a respective fifth port, all said fifth ports communicating with a common additional channel in said block, said additional channel extending between said opposed faces of said block parallel to said parallel channels therein. I

10. An assembly in accordance with claim 9 wherein each of said blocks is connected to another of said blocks by means of bolts passing through said bores in one of said blocks.

Claims

1. A said mounting BLOCK for an hydraulic control valve, said block having first (101) and second (102) parallel opposed planar faces, and third (103) and fourth (104) planar faces normal to each other and to said first and second faces, respectively, each of said first (101) and second (102) faces containing a pair of ports (2,3), the ports in each of said pair of ports being disposed in the same predetermined relation relative to each other and to a common reference plane (4) perpendicular to said faces; said third face (103) containing an array of four ports (10, 11, 12 and 13); said fourth face (104) containing a further pair of ports (16, 17) disposed in said predetermined relation relative to each other and to a further plane (18) perpendicular to said reference plane and to said fourth face; said block containing therein a pair of parallel conduits (2a, 3a) connecting the ports of said first face with corresponding ports to said second face, respectively, said block also containing a first pair of internal conduits (10a, 11a) connecting said parallel conduits with two of the ports (10, 11) of the array of said third face, respectively, and a second pair of internal conduits (12a, 13a) connecting the other two ports (12, 13) of said array with said further pair of ports (16, 17), contained in said fourth face, respectively, whereby a pair of said mounting blocks may be connected with the fourth face of one block abutted against either the first or second face of the other block.

2. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized in that said block includes a plurality of bores extending through said block perpendicular to said third face thereof.

3. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by having the form of a rectangular parallelepiped.

4. The invention defined by claim 1, wherein said array of ports in said third face includes a fifth port communicating with an additional channel in said block, said additional channel extending between said opposed faces of said block parallel to said parallel channels therein.

7. The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by a plurality of said arrays on said third face thereof.

8. A mounting assembly for a plurality of hydraulic control valves comprising the combination of: a first mounting block in accordance with claim 7; a transfer block having parallel faces, with a plurality of sets of valve mounting ports extending between said faces, and a channel within said transfer block connecting a port in one of said sets with a port in another said set; and means mounting said transfer block on said third face of said mounting block with each of said sets of ports aligned with one of said arrays of ports on said third face.

9. The invention defined by claim 7, further characterized by each said array of ports in said third face including a respective fifth port, all said fifth ports communicating with a common additional channel in said block, said additional channel extending between said opposed faces of said block parallel to said parallel channels therein.