JP2851782B2 - Disc valve - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disk valve comprising a movable valve body and a fixed valve body used for a faucet or a hot-water mixing faucet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A faucet valve used for a faucet or a hot and cold water mixing faucet is formed by sliding two disc-shaped valve bodies in sliding contact with each other to form a fluid passage formed in each valve body. It opens and closes.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, a solid valve body 30 and a movable valve body 20 are arranged so as to be in contact with each other at sliding contact surfaces 21 and 31, and as shown in FIG. Lever 4
By sliding the movable valve body 20 by the operation 0, the fluid passages 22 and 32 formed in the valve bodies 20 and 30 are opened and closed, and the flow rate of the fluid is controlled.

[0004] In addition, the disc valve 10 of this type is required to have a sliding property and a sealing property, and a material excellent in abrasion resistance because it is constantly rubbed with each other. Hard metal or ceramic has been used for the body 20 and the fixed valve body 30.

[0005] By the way, the slidability and the sealing property are contradictory. For example, in order to enhance the sealing property, the sliding contact surface must be made extremely smooth, but it is known that the slidability is impaired. A typical example of this was linking. It has a very smooth surface 1
It is a phenomenon that occurs when the members of the pair are rubbed against each other, the occurrence of snagging and abnormal noise, and the phenomenon that finally sticks and stops moving, various solutions have been proposed to prevent such linking. It is considered. As an example, of a pair of valve elements, one sliding contact surface is a surface having a center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.2 μm or less, and the other sliding contact surface is a center line average roughness (Ra) 0.3. The present applicant has previously proposed a disk valve having a surface of .about.0.6 .mu.m (see JP-A-1-116386).

Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-206875, 61-
244980, 62-4949, 62-37517
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-209, there is a valve in which one valve body is formed of a porous body having a three-dimensional network structure, and the open pores are filled with a lubricant such as resin or oil.

[0007]

However, in a disk valve in which minute irregularities are formed on the sliding contact surface, a lubricant is indispensable to maintain the slidability, and one of the sliding contact surfaces is slightly rough. Therefore, during long-term use, the lubricant flows out and slides between the sliding contact surfaces having projections and depressions, so that there is a possibility that the sliding torque is increased and the sealing property is impaired. .

Further, depending on the type of the lubricant, it is not possible to avoid deterioration during the long-term use and deterioration of the sliding characteristics due to adhesion of dust and the like.

In addition, the sliding contact surface becomes smooth due to the sliding wear, and eventually linking occurs.

On the other hand, in the case where the resin is filled in the open pores of the porous body, the resin which has a lubricating action such that the resin portion having a low hardness is firstly shaved and then the entire surface is shaved. Since it did not come into contact with the material, the sliding torque varied. In addition, there is a problem that the hardness is low due to the porous body as compared with the dense counterpart material, and as a result, the material is worn in a short period of time.

Attention has been paid to amorphous diamond having excellent wear resistance and a small coefficient of friction today, and a sliding member in which a film made of the amorphous diamond is formed on a ceramic member has been proposed ( JP-A-3-2231
No. 90).

However, amorphous diamond has poor adhesion and has problems such as film peeling and sealing properties when used for disc valves such as force-set valves, and has not been put to practical use yet.

An object of the present invention is to complete a disk valve provided with an amorphous hard carbon film such as amorphous diamond, which allows smooth sliding without linking and maintains its performance for a long period of time. It is to provide a disc valve which can be used.

[0014]

In view of the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, the sliding contact surface of one of the two discs in the disc valve has a center line average roughness (Ra) of 0. .2 .mu.m or less and flatness of 1 .mu.m or less, and the other valve body is formed on a substrate having a center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.15 to 0.4 .mu.m and having a film thickness of 0.4 to 1.0 .mu.m and Raman. The two peaks of the Raman spectrum in the spectroscopic analysis were 1333 cm ^-1 for diamond and 155 for graphite, respectively.
A sliding contact surface is formed by coating an amorphous hard carbon film existing in the vicinity of 0 cm ^-1 , and the sliding contact surfaces are brought into sliding contact with each other.

[0015]

According to the present invention, since the amorphous hard carbon film is formed on one of the valve elements, the sliding property is excellent and the linking can be prevented.

Further, since the sliding surface of the valve body provided with the amorphous hard carbon film has an optimum surface roughness in consideration of the adhesion of the film, there is no peeling of the film. In addition, since the sliding surface of the other valve element is also a smooth surface, the sealability is not impaired without damaging the film. Therefore, the sliding characteristics can be maintained for an extremely long time.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which valve elements of a force-set valve, which is an example of a disk valve according to the present invention, are brought into sliding contact with each other. FIG. 2 shows only the movable valve element 20 and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing only a fixed valve body 30.

As shown in FIG. 1, the disk-shaped fixed valve body 30 and the movable valve body 20 are kept in contact with each other at sliding contact surfaces 21 and 31 and the movable valve body 20 is moved to move each other. Fluid passages 22 and 32 provided in the valve bodies 20 and 30
Is opened and closed to adjust the flow rate of the fluid.

Further, since the valve bodies 20 and 30 are required to be made of a material which has excellent wear resistance and is hardly deformed, each of the valve bodies 20 and 30 is made of a hard metal such as brass, stainless steel, a cemented carbide or ceramics. The valve bodies 20 and 30 are formed.

Here, the ceramic is alumina,
A sintered body mainly composed of zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, or the like, which can be obtained by mixing a predetermined amount of an auxiliary agent. For example, at least one of CaO, SiO ₂ , and MgO is used for alumina, and C, B, B ₄ C, and Al are used for silicon carbide.
₂ O ₃ , Y ₂ O _3, etc.
Oxides and nitrides of elements a and 3a are added as sintering aids, and zirconia is added with a stabilizer such as Y ₂ O ₃ , CaO and MgO.

The sliding surface 21 of the movable valve body 20 shown in FIG. 2 is formed on a surface having a surface roughness (Ra) of 0.2 μm or less. This is because if the surface roughness is larger than 0.2 μm, the sliding contact surface 31 of the fixed valve body 30 will be worn during sliding, and preferably a smooth surface roughness (Ra) of 0.1 μm or less. It is desirable to have a surface. It is important that the flatness of the sliding contact surface 21 be 1 μm or less in order to maintain the sealing property.

On the other hand, the fixed valve body 30 shown in FIG.
The surface 4 is coated with a uniform amorphous hard carbon film 33 by a thin film forming means such as a PVD method, a CVD method, or a sputtering method to form the sliding contact surface 31.

As shown in Table 1, amorphous hard carbon is a material having excellent hardness and high wear resistance and a very low dynamic friction coefficient. , And the performance can be maintained for a long period of time.

[0025]

[Table 1]

However, the amorphous hard carbon has poor adhesion to other members, and may be separated from the surface of the base 34 as it slides with the movable valve body 20. Therefore, the surface of the base 34 is formed to have a center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.15 to 0.4 μm. The reason is that if the surface roughness of the base 34 is smaller than the center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.15 μm, a sufficient anchor effect cannot be obtained, and the film 33 peels off when sliding with the movable valve element 20. This is because there is fear. However, if the surface of the base 34 is made larger than the center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.4 μm in order to provide an anchor effect, the unevenness of the sliding contact surface 31 becomes too large, and conversely, the sealing property is impaired.

Although amorphous hard carbon has a very small dynamic friction coefficient, it can greatly reduce the sliding torque. However, if the sliding surface 31 is too smooth, linking may occur. It is important that the sliding surface 31 of the body 30 has the same surface roughness as that of the surface of the base body 34. Therefore, the thickness width h of the amorphous hard carbon film 33 is 0.4 to 1.
The range is 0 μm.

That is, if the thickness h of the film 33 is smaller than 0.4 μm, the film 33 will be worn in a short period of time because it is too thin. Conversely, if the thickness h is larger than 1.0 μm, This is because the variation in the thickness h becomes large and a uniform film 33 cannot be formed, so that the surface roughness of the sliding contact surface 31 becomes large.

Moreover, although amorphous hard carbon does not have a hardness as high as diamond (Vickers hardness: 10,000 kg / mm ² ), it has a hardness of 200 Vickers hardness.
Since it is a material having a very high hardness of 0 to 5000 kg / mm ² , it is very difficult and requires a lot of labor to perform polishing. Therefore, if the thickness h is set to 1.0 μm or less, the film 33 will not be worn in a short period of time, and the film 33 having a uniform thickness h can be formed. There is no need for

Amorphous hard carbon is very dense, has no crystal grain boundaries, has an amorphous structure in which glass is broken, and has a regular crystal structure. It has a composition different from that of cubic boron nitride (cBN) or hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). However, it may have an amorphous structure containing some crystalline material.
Further, when this amorphous hard carbon is examined by using a Raman spectroscopic analyzer often used for identifying graphite and diamond, the peak position of 1333 cm ^{-1 of} diamond and the peak position of graphite as shown in FIG.
Each peak has a peak near 550 cm ^-1 .

However, the peak of the amorphous hard carbon used in the present invention may be biased toward either diamond or graphite, and is preferably biased toward the diamond peak position.

In the embodiment, the example in which the valve element having the amorphous hard carbon film is used as the fixed valve element 30 is shown. It goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained even if it is used.

Embodiment 1 Next, a disc valve according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the forset valve shown in FIG. 1 as an example.

Movable valve element 2 constituting a forcset valve
Both the fixed valve body 30 and the fixed valve body 30 are formed of alumina ceramics, and the surface of the base 34 forming the fixed valve body 30 is coated with an amorphous hard carbon film 33.

Each valve element is prepared by adding alumina powder having a purity of 90% or more and an average particle diameter of about 3 μm to Si powder as a sintering aid.
O ₂ is added in an amount of 0.5% by weight or more, MgO and CaO are added in an amount of 0.2% by weight or more, a binder is added in a predetermined amount, and the mixture is pulverized in a ball mill. Granulate. Next, after the obtained granules are dry-formed, about 16% in an oxidizing atmosphere.
By firing at a firing temperature of 00 ° C., a valve body made of alumina ceramics is obtained.

However, it is necessary to use alumina powder having a purity of 90% or more. If alumina powder having a purity of less than 90% is used, the abrasion resistance is greatly deteriorated. I can't keep sex.
Also, SiO ₂ , MgO, and C added as sintering aids
If at least one of aO does not satisfy the above range, the particles are shed during sliding, and the surface roughness of the sliding contact surface cannot be maintained, resulting in water leakage.

When the forcset valve is used for a hot and cold water mixing tap, it may be better to increase the thermal shock resistance because the alumina ceramic forming the valve body is rapidly heated. In such a case, besides the sintering aid, TiO
₂ is added in the range of 2 to 10% by weight based on the total. If TiO ₂ is added in the above range, the thermal shock resistance of the alumina ceramic can be improved, and even if hot water having a high temperature exceeding 100 ° C. suddenly flows in, the valve body may be deformed or damaged. Absent.

Two valve bodies obtained in this way are prepared, one of them is a movable valve body 20 and its sliding contact surface 2
1 is 0.2 μm or less in center line average roughness, and flatness is 1 μm
polished to less than m.

The other is a fixed valve body 30, and the surface of the base body 34 is polished so that the center line average roughness is 0.15 to 0.4 μm and the flatness is 1 μm or less.
Further, carbon ions obtained by ionizing benzene (C ₆ H ₆ ) gas with a filament are deposited on the surface of the base 34 by an ion accelerator, and an amorphous hard carbon film 33 having a thickness h of 0.4 to 1.0 μm is formed. Form. Then, if the sliding surfaces 21 and 31 of the movable valve body 20 and the fixed valve body 30 are brought into sliding contact with each other, the force-set valve according to the present invention can be obtained.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 1 Here, a prototype of the forced valve shown in FIG.
A sliding experiment was performed by varying the surface roughness of the surface of Sample No. 4.

The forset valve used in this experiment has a diameter of 30 mm and a diameter of 15 mm in a disk-shaped body.
a movable valve body 20 having a fluid passage 22 having a diameter of 4 mm;
A fluid passage 32 having a diameter of 5 mm is formed in a disk-like body having a thickness of 0 mm and a thickness of 5 mm.
3 is combined with a fixed valve body 30 coated. The sliding surface 21 of the movable valve body 20 has a flatness of 1 μm,
In addition, the center line average roughness is finished to 0.2 μm, and the thickness h is 0.5 μm on the surface of the base 34 forming the fixed valve body 30.
m was coated with an amorphous hard carbon film 33 and the surface roughness of the substrate 34 was varied as shown in Table 2.

The fixed valve 30 has an alumina purity of 94%.
The movable valve body 20 is made of alumina ceramics containing 0.5% by weight of MgO, 0.5% by weight of CaO, and 5.0% by weight of SiO _2. In order to enhance thermal shock resistance due to its large thickness, alumina purity is 91%, MgO is 0.5% by weight, CaO is 0.5% by weight, SiO ₂ is 5.0% by weight,
And it is formed of alumina ceramics containing TiO ₂ 3.0% by weight.

While pressing the movable valve body 20 against these solid valve bodies 30 with an axial force of 30 kgf by a casing, hot water of 80 ° C. is supplied to the fluid passages 22 and 32 at 1 kg / cm.
2, and the movable valve body 20 was slid by the operation lever 40.

The results are as shown in Table 2.

[0045]

[Table 2]

As can be seen from Table 2, if the surface roughness of the substrate 34 is less than 0.15 μm in center line average roughness, the film 33 is peeled off and cannot be used as a valve.
If the surface roughness of the substrate 34 is larger than 0.4 μm in center line average roughness, the film 33 is not peeled off, but the unevenness of the sliding contact surface 31 is too large. Occurred.

On the other hand, in the forset valve having the fixed valve body 30 formed to have a center line average roughness of 0.15 to 0.4 μm, which is within the scope of the present invention, the film 33 does not peel off. Thus, the movable valve body 20 could be slid smoothly without water leakage.

The substrate 34 is made of stainless steel, cemented carbide,
Alternatively, the same experiment was performed on the fixed valve body 30 made of silicon carbide or silicon nitride. However, if the surface of the valve body 30 was formed to have a center line average roughness of 0.15 to 0.4 μm, The movable hard disk 20 could be slid smoothly without the amorphous hard carbon film 33 being peeled off.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 2 Next, the surface roughness of the sliding contact surface 21 of the movable valve body 20 and the thickness and width of the amorphous hard carbon film 33 coated on the fixed valve body 30 were measured by using the forset valve shown in FIG. An experiment was performed on the sliding load when h was changed.

The movable valve body 20 and the fixed valve body 30 both had the shapes used in Experimental Example 1. However, the surface of the base 34 that covers the amorphous hard carbon film 33 is provided with a center line average roughness in the range of 0.15 to 0.4 μm.

The surface roughness of the sliding contact surface 21 of the movable valve body 20 used in this experiment and the thickness h of the amorphous hard carbon film 33 coated on the base 34 are as shown in Table 2. In addition, as a comparative / reference example, a forset valve without the amorphous hard carbon film 33 was also prepared, and the same experiment was performed.

[0052]

[Table 3]

The measurement conditions in this test were the same as those in Experimental Example 1. The sliding load when operating the operating lever and sliding the movable valve body 20 100,000 times was 0.8 kgf.
Those which did not exceed slidability were judged as good.

FIG. 5 shows the results.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, the amorphous hard carbon film 3
Sample No. 3 not provided In the case of the valve No. 6, the sliding surfaces 21 and 31 were worn out in a short period of time, causing linking and increasing the sliding load, which was not practical.

The sample No. In the valve No. 5, the thickness h of the amorphous hard carbon film 33 is thinner than 0.4 μm, so that the film 33 starts to be worn by about 50,000 slides, and the sliding load is reduced by about 90,000 times. It exceeded 8 kgf and could not clear 100,000 times. Sample No. In the valve of No. 4, since the sliding surface 21 of the movable valve body 20 has a center line average roughness of 0.2 μm or more, the film 3 can be slid about 20,000 times.
Wear of 3 starts, and the sliding load is 0.8kg in about 50,000 times
f has been exceeded.

Further, the sample No. The sample No. 3 is the sample N
o. Although the surface roughness of the sliding contact surface 21 is smoother than that of the movable valve body 20 of No. 4, the center line average roughness (Ra) is larger than 0.2 μm. Membrane 3
Wear of 3 started, and the sliding load was 0.8 kg in about 70,000 times
f has been exceeded.

On the other hand, the sample No. 1 and No. 1 The two valves are both sliding contact surfaces 21 of the movable valve body 20.
Is not more than 0.2 μm in center line average roughness, and the film 33
The thickness h is in the range of 0.4 to 1.0 μm, so that it has excellent slidability, and the film 33 remains even after 100,000 times of sliding, and the sliding load exceeds 0.8 kgf. There was no.

The movable valve body 20 is made of brass or stainless steel,
Alternatively, a similar experiment was carried out using silicon carbide or silicon nitride, but the sliding contact surface 21 had a surface roughness (Ra) of 0.2 μm.
m and a flatness of 1 μm or less
The sliding load did not exceed 0.8 kgf even after 10,000 times of sliding.

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention, of the disc valve composed of two valve elements, the sliding contact surface of one of the valve elements has a center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.2 μm or less. The flatness is 1 μm or less, and the other valve element has a center line average roughness (Ra).
Has a thickness of 0.4 to 0.4 μm on a substrate having a thickness of 0.15 to 0.4 μm.
1.0 μm, and two peaks of Raman spectrum in Raman spectroscopy were 1333 of diamond, respectively.
The amorphous hard carbon film present in the vicinity of ¹ cm- ¹ and 1550 cm- ¹ of graphite is coated to form a sliding surface, and the sliding surfaces are brought into sliding contact with each other. It is excellent, and since excellent slidability can be obtained without using a lubricant, linking does not occur and its performance can be maintained for an extremely long time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing only a valve element of a force-set valve which is an example of a disk valve according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the movable valve body of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the fixed valve body of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a Raman spectrum of an amorphous hard carbon film covering the fixed valve body of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of cycles and the sliding load in the forset valve of the present invention and a comparative example.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view showing an operation state of a general forceet valve, and FIG. 6A is a view in which a fluid passage is opened;
(B) is a diagram in which the fluid passage is blocked.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Fawset valve 20: Movable valve 21: Sliding surface 30: Fixed valve 31: Sliding surface 33: Amorphous hard carbon film 34: Base 40: Operating lever

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-116386 (JP, A) JP-A-5-296248 (JP, A) JP-T-63-501237 (JP, A) (58) Investigation Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) F16K 3/02 C04B 41/87 F16K 11/06 F16K 25/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A center line average roughness (Ra) of 0.2μm or less, a valve body flatness has the following sliding surface 1 [mu] m, the center
On the surface of a substrate having a line average roughness (Ra) of 0.15 to 0.4 μm, two peaks of a Raman spectrum having a thickness of 0.4 to 1.0 μm and Raman spectroscopic analysis are respectively provided.
1333 cm ^{-1 of} diamond and 15 of graphite
Coating an amorphous hard carbon film existing near 50 cm ^-1
A combination of a sliding surface is constructed a valve body Te disc valve.