Over-molded splines for rotary valves

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10240682-B2
Application number	US-201715657282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2017
Priority date	Jul 24, 2017
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

Rotary valve assemblies are disclosed, for example, for use in a thermal management system. The assembly may include a first rotary valve including a primary shaft including a hollow portion defining a first inner cavity and a first spline piece disposed within the first inner cavity on one end and including a primary spline feature on an opposite end, the primary spline feature having one or more primary splines. A second rotary valve may include a secondary shaft including a hollow portion defining a second inner cavity and a second spline piece disposed within the second inner cavity and including a secondary spline feature having one or more secondary splines. One or both of the first spline piece and the second spline piece may be formed of metal. The primary splines and the secondary splines may be configured to mesh together to form a spline joint between the rotary valves.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rotary valve assembly, comprising:
a first rotary valve including:
a primary shaft including a first spline piece having a primary spline feature including one or more primary splines;

a second rotary valve including:
a secondary shaft including a second spline piece having a secondary spline feature including one or more secondary splines; and

the one or more primary splines and the one or more secondary splines configured to mesh together to form a spline joint between the first and second rotary valves;
wherein at least one of the primary or secondary shafts has a hollow portion defining an inner cavity, at least one of the first spline piece or the second spline piece is formed of metal, and a portion of the metal spline piece is disposed within and over-molded by the hollow portion.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the primary and secondary shafts includes the hollow portion and each of the first spline piece and the second spline piece are formed of metal and a have a portion disposed within the hollow portion of the primary and secondary shafts.

3. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein an outer surface of the metal spline piece is textured.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the primary spline feature is a male spline feature and the secondary spline feature is a female spline feature configured to receive the primary spline feature.

5. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the secondary spline feature is a male spline feature and the primary spline feature is a female spline feature configured to receive the primary spline feature.

6. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the primary spline feature and the secondary spline feature have a keyed configuration.

7. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the keyed configuration is a single key configuration.

8. The assembly of claim 6 , wherein the keyed configuration is a multiple key configuration.

9. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the primary and secondary spline features have a pair of mating polygon axial cross-sections.

10. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first spline piece and the second spline piece are each formed of a metal having a coefficient of thermal expansion of at least 20×10 −6 m/(m° C.).

11. A rotary valve assembly, comprising:
a first rotary valve including:
a primary shaft including a first spline piece having a primary spline feature including one or more primary splines;

a second rotary valve including:
a secondary shaft including a second spline piece having a secondary spline feature including one or more secondary splines; and

the one or more primary splines and the one or more secondary splines configured to mesh together to form a spline joint between the first and second rotary valves;
wherein:
at least one of the primary or secondary shafts has a hollow portion defining an inner cavity;
the first spline piece is formed of metal, and further includes a middle section between the primary shaft and the primary spline feature; and,
a portion of the first spline piece is disposed within the hollow portion.

12. The assembly of claim 11 , wherein the middle section is configured to be supported by a bearing.

13. A method, comprising:
over-molding a primary shaft of a first rotary valve onto a first end of a first metal spline piece, a second end of the first metal spline piece including a primary spline feature;
over-molding a secondary shaft of a second rotary valve onto a second metal spline piece including a secondary spline feature; and
coupling the primary and secondary spline features together to form a metal-on-metal spline joint between the first and second rotary valves.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising texturing an outer surface of the first end of the first metal spline piece and an outer surface of the second metal splice piece prior to the over-molding steps;
over-molding the primary shaft of the first rotary valve onto the textured outer surface of the first end of the first metal spline piece; and
over-molding the secondary shaft of the second rotary valve onto the textured outer surface of the second metal spline piece.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first metal spline piece includes a middle section between the first end and the second end, and the method further includes supporting the middle section in a bearing.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein over-molding the secondary shaft of the second rotary valve onto the second metal spline piece includes over-molding an entire length of the secondary shaft onto the second metal spline piece.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the second metal spline piece includes a tertiary spline feature on an opposite side from the secondary spline feature, and the method further includes coupling the tertiary spline feature with a tertiary shaft.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the primary spline feature has a polygon shape in axial cross-section and the secondary spline feature includes a polygon cavity sized and configured to receive the primary spline feature.

19. A rotary valve assembly, comprising:
a first rotary valve including:
a primary shaft including a first spline piece having a primary spline feature including one or more primary splines;

a second rotary valve including:
a secondary shaft including:
a hollow portion defining an inner cavity, the inner cavity extending from a first end of the secondary shaft to a second, opposite end of the secondary shaft; and,
a metal second spline piece disposed within the hollow portion, the metal second spline piece extending from the first end of the secondary shaft to the second end and having a secondary spline feature including one or more secondary splines, the secondary spline feature located at the first end of the secondary shaft;

the one or more primary splines and the one or more secondary splines configured to mesh together to form a spline joint between the first and second rotary valves; and,
the metal second spline piece includes a tertiary spline feature at the second end of the secondary shaft that is configured to receive a tertiary shaft.

Assignees

• Schaeffler Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Lou Zheng

Classifications

• F01P7/14

  the coolant being liquid · CPC title

• F16K11/085

  with cylindrical plug · CPC title

• F01P2007/146

  using valves · CPC title

• F16K27/065 Primary

  with cylindrical plugs · CPC title

• F16K11/0873 Primary

  the plug being only rotatable around one spindle · CPC title