Coolant valve for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11525519-B2
Application number	US-201917259827-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2019
Priority date	Jul 17, 2018
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

Coolant valve for a vehicle includes a housing having a plurality of coolant ports, a valve element arranged in an adjustable manner in the housing in order to connect or disconnect coolant ports, and at least one seal arrangement. The seal arrangement bears in a sealing manner against the housing on one side and in a sealing manner against the valve element on the other side, the seal arrangement having a carrier element made of a first material and a sealing element made of a second material, the second material being softer than the first material. The sealing element has a first sealing lip bearing against the valve element and the carrier element having a supporting portion. The first sealing lip protrudes beyond the supporting portion with a free end, and the first sealing lip is pressed against the supporting portion when coolant flows through the coolant valve.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A coolant valve for a vehicle, comprising a housing having a plurality of coolant ports, and a spherical-shell-shaped or hemispherical-shell-shaped valve element mounted in a rotatable manner in the housing in order to connect or disconnect coolant ports, and at least one seal arrangement arranged in the region of at least one coolant port, said seal arrangement bearing in a sealing manner against the housing on one side and in a sealing manner against the valve element on the other side, wherein the seal arrangement has an annular carrier element made of a first material and an annular sealing element made of a second material, the second material being softer than the first material, wherein the annular sealing element is connected to and carried by the annular carrier element, wherein the annular sealing element has a first annular sealing lip bearing against the valve element and the annular carrier element has an annular supporting portion adjacent the first annular sealing lip, the first annular sealing lip protruding radially inward beyond a radially inner edge of the annular supporting portion such that a radially inward free end portion of the first sealing lip is exposed beyond the radially inner edge of the annular supporting portion, wherein the radially inward free end portion flexes away from the annular supporting portion as the radially inward free end portion bears against the valve element, and part of the first annular sealing lip being pressed against the annular supporting portion when coolant flows through the coolant valve, wherein the part is located radially outward of the radially inner free end portion, wherein the annular carrier element has a latching portion by which the annular carrier element is latched to the housing, wherein the latching portion has at least one latching protrusion and/or at least one latching receptacle, and wherein the housing has at least one corresponding latching receptacle and/or at least one corresponding latching protrusion.

2. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the part of the first annular sealing lip is lifted at least partially from the annular supporting portion when coolant is not flowing through the coolant valve.

3. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the annular sealing element has a second sealing lip bearing against the housing.

4. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the second sealing lip is configured in an annular manner.

5. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a radial length of the radially inward free end portion of the first annular sealing lip to an overall radial length of the first annular sealing lip is at most 0.4.

6. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the latching portion has a thickness that runs in a direction of an axis of the seal arrangement, wherein the latching receptacle defines a recess that receives the latching portion, wherein a dimension of the recess that runs in the direction of the axis of the seal arrangement is larger than the thickness such that the latching portion has a clearance, relative to the recess, to enable some movement of the latching portion in the direction of the axis of the seal arrangement.

7. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the seal arrangement is produced in a two-component injection-molding process.

8. A coolant circuit of a vehicle, comprising a plurality of coolant lines and at least one coolant valve, arranged in the coolant circuit, as claimed in claim 1 , the coolant ports of said coolant valve being connected to the coolant lines.

9. A vehicle comprising a coolant circuit as claimed in claim 8 .

Assignees

• Illinois Tool Works

Inventors

• Gramss Rainer
• Hauk Torsten

Classifications

• F01P7/14

  the coolant being liquid · CPC title

• F16K5/208

  with tongue-shaped means · CPC title

• F01P2007/146

  using valves · CPC title

• F16K5/0678 Primary

  in which only one of the components of the composite packing is contacting the plug · CPC title