Electrically-driven flow rate control valve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10794512-B2
Application number	US-201916446852-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 20, 2019
Priority date	Jul 9, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

Provided is an electrically-driven flow rate control valve capable of controlling a flow rate of fluid while application of a high pressure of the fluid to a sub valve body connected to an electric motor is suppressed. A flow rate control valve includes a casing, an elevation drive device, and a main valve body. When the sub valve body moves upward by the elevation drive device, oil in a back pressure chamber is discharged. Moreover, the oil in a first oil chamber flows into the back pressure chamber while the flow rate of the oil is regulated. A balance among pressures in the back pressure chamber, the first oil chamber, and the second oil chamber changes, and the main valve body opens. When the main valve body is closed, a direct application of the pressure of the back pressure chamber to the sub valve body is blocked.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrically-driven flow rate control valve comprising:
a casing including a first fluid chamber, a second fluid chamber, a fluid-chamber communication port for causing the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber to communicate with each other, and a cylinder portion, wherein a reception port capable of receiving a fluid from an outside of the casing into the first fluid chamber and a discharge port capable of discharging the fluid from the second fluid chamber to the outside of the casing are formed on the casing;
an electric motor;
a main valve body which is stored in the cylinder portion so as to be movable between a main-valve-body open position and a main-valve-body sealing position along a predetermined axial direction, forms a back pressure chamber which the fluid can enter into/exit from between the main valve body and the cylinder portion, and includes a main-valve-body distal end portion capable of sealing the fluid-chamber communication port and a main-valve-body base end portion facing the back pressure chamber on an opposite side of the main-valve-body distal end portion in the axial direction, wherein the main-valve-body distal end portion opens the fluid-chamber communication port, thereby permitting communication of the fluid between the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber when the main valve body is arranged at the main-valve-body open position, and the main-valve-body distal end portion seals the fluid-chamber communication port, thereby shutting off the communication of the fluid between the first fluid chamber and the second fluid chamber when the main valve body is arranged at the main-valve-body sealing position;
a communication path capable of causing the first fluid chamber the back pressure chamber to communicate with each other;
a flow-rate regulating mechanism, which is arranged in the communication path, and regulates a flow rate of the fluid so as to reduce the flow rate of the fluid flowing from the first fluid chamber toward the back pressure chamber; and
a sub valve body, which is stored in the back pressure chamber, includes a sub-valve-body flow path communicating with the outside of the casing and a sub-valve-body communication port causing the back pressure chamber and the sub-valve-body flow path to communicate with each other, receives a driving force generated by the electric motor, thereby being capable of relatively moving along the axial direction with respect to the main valve body between a sub-valve-body open position and a sub-valve-body sealing position, opens the sub-valve-body communication port, thereby permitting the fluid in the back pressure chamber to be discharged via the sub-valve-body flow path to the outside of the casing when the sub valve body is arranged at the sub-valve-body open position, and seals the sub-valve-body communication port, thereby shutting off the communication of the fluid between the back pressure chamber and the sub-valve-body flow path when the sub valve body is arranged at the sub-valve-body sealing position,
wherein the main valve body has such a shape as satisfying a relationship of AS<AT where AS is an area of the main-valve-body distal end portion projected in the axial direction, and AT is an area of the main-valve-body base end portion projected in the axial direction.

2. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve according to claim 1 ,
wherein the main valve body includes:
a first valve-body portion including the main-valve-body base end portion; and
a second valve-body portion including the main-valve-body distal end portion,

wherein the maximum dimension of the first valve-body portion in a cross section orthogonal to the axial direction is set to be larger than the maximum dimension of the second valve-body portion in the cross section so as to satisfy the relationship of AS<AT.

3. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve according to claim 2 , further comprising a sub fluid chamber defined by at least a step portion between the first valve-body portion and the second valve-body portion and the cylinder portion, wherein a part of the sub fluid chamber is opened so as to be capable of internally receiving the fluid while extending as the main valve body moves from the main-valve-body sealing position to the main-valve-body open position.

4. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a discharge flow path, which communicates with the sub-valve-body flow path, and leads the fluid having flown from the back pressure chamber into the sub-valve-body flow path to the outside of the casing; and
a sub communication path causing the discharge flow path and the sub fluid chamber to communicate with each other.

5. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 1 ,
wherein the fluid-chamber communication port has a circular shape as viewed along the axial direction, and
wherein the main-valve-body distal end portion has a conical shape capable of sealing the fluid-chamber communication port along the axial direction.

6. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 1 ,
wherein the main valve body includes an inner space, which communicates with the back pressure chamber on an opposite side of the main-valve-body distal end portion, and is formed into a tubular shape along the axial direction, and into which the sub valve body can enter, and a distal-end inner wall portion defining a side of the main-valve-body distal end portion of the inner space,
wherein the sub valve body includes a cylindrical portion arranged at least in an end portion on a side of the distal-end inner wall portion, and the sub-valve-body communication port is opened in the cylindrical portion, and
wherein the distal-end inner wall portion includes a recessed portion, which permits the cylindrical portion of the sub valve body to enter, and is brought into close contact with an entirety in a peripheral direction of the cylindrical portion.

7. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 6 , wherein the sub-valve-body communication port is opened on an end surface crossing the axial direction of the cylindrical portion of the sub valve body.

8. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 7 , wherein the recessed portion of the distal-end inner wall portion is formed into a conical shape, and an inclined surface of the recessed portion is in close contact with an entirety in the peripheral direction of a peripheral edge of the end surface of the cylindrical portion when the sub valve body is arranged at the sub-valve-body sealing position.

9. The electrically-driven flow rate control valve, according to claim 6 ,
wherein the sub-valve-body communication port is opened on a side surface extending along the axial direction of the cylindrical portion of the sub valve body,
wherein the recessed portion is formed into a cylindrical shape so that the cylindrical portion can enter, and
wherein the sub-valve-body communication port is arranged at such a position of the cylindrical portion that the sub-valve-body communication port is sealed when the cylindrical portion enters into the recessed portion as the sub valve body moves, and the sub-valve-body communication port communicates with the back pressure chamber when the cylindrical portion separates from the recessed portion as the sub valve body moves.

Assignees

• Kobe Steel Ltd

Inventors

• Morita Kei
• Sugano Naoki
• Maekawa Satoshi
• Igaue Takayuki

Classifications

• F16K31/406 Primary

  acting on a piston · CPC title

• F16K39/024

  using an auxiliary valve on the main valve · CPC title

• G05D7/0635

  by action on throttling means (G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence) · CPC title

• F16K31/04 Primary

  using a motor · CPC title

• F25B41/06

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic