JP3209882B2 - On-off valve leak test equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a mechanical opening / closing valve in which a valve body is spring-biased to a seat member having a central through hole in a valve housing. The present invention relates to a simple and small-sized leak test apparatus capable of inspecting the presence or absence of leakage at a required pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional apparatus for detecting the occurrence of leakage due to forgetting to assemble parts, assembling failure, defective machining of a sealing surface, insufficient closing force of a valve body, etc., a fixed opening / closing valve has a fixed valve. To measure the pressure change, leakage amount, etc. after a lapse of a predetermined time by supplying negative pressure or positive pressure of With any of these devices, it is possible to inspect the on-off valve for leakage with a required accuracy.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional technique, it is necessary to separately provide a means for generating a negative pressure or a positive pressure, which complicates the structure of the apparatus and increases the size of the apparatus. In addition to this, there is a problem that it is essential to ensure high pressure resistance and sealing properties of the device piping system. The present invention has it been made result of investigation as object to solve the above problems of the prior art, the object, installation of negative pressure and positive pressure generating means for inspection of the present invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized and inexpensive on-off valve leak test device which is simple in structure and does not need to secure such a high pressure resistance and sealing property in a piping system by making it unnecessary.

[0004]

A leak test apparatus for an on-off valve according to the present invention detects a leak from an on-off valve formed by spring-biasing a valve body into a seat member having a central through hole in a valve housing. An air passage that is air-tightly connected to the seat member side of the valve housing, and a liquid line that is open to the atmosphere selectively communicated with the air passage. Are provided at each of the vertical rising portions, the upper end of the vertical rising portion of the air passage is located above half of the liquid supply height of the vertical rising portion of the liquid pipeline, and between the air passage and the liquid pipeline. A switching valve for normally opening the air passage to the atmosphere, the liquid being supplied to the liquid conduit and causing a liquid weight to act on the air in the air passage under the communication between the liquid conduit and the air passage. ,
A detecting means for detecting a change in the liquid level is provided at a position near the liquid conduit.

Preferably, the overflow passage is branched from a predetermined height of the liquid conduit. In addition, the liquid level fluctuation detecting means is an optical detecting means, and at least the liquid conduit corresponding to the optical detecting means is made of a transparent material.

By the way, the air passage connecting portion to the valve housing has a hollow passage, in the valve housing periphery, and the insert member which come in contact in an airtight manner through a seal member, spring biased, It is preferable to comprise a work holding member projecting forward from the tip of the insertion member, and a stopper for restraining the work holding member from slipping forward, and more preferably, the connecting portion is positioned at a predetermined position. Is provided with a cylinder that moves forward and backward with respect to the on-off valve that is positioned and supported.

[0007]

In this leak test apparatus, when inspecting the on-off valve for leaks, an air passage opening to the atmosphere is air-tightly connected to the valve housing by a connection portion provided therein, and the liquid passage to a predetermined height is provided. Is connected to the air passage by the operation of the switching valve,
The weight of the liquid acts on the atmospheric pressure air in the air passage,
This presses the air in the passage toward the valve housing. In this case, if there is a leak in the on-off valve,
The air in the air passage leaks to the atmosphere via the on-off valve, and the liquid level in the liquid pipe is reduced. It is possible to easily, quickly, and accurately find the presence of a sealing defect.

Here, the inspection of the closing force acting on the valve body can be performed by selecting the amount of liquid in the liquid conduit and increasing the air pressure in the air passage to a required value. , Against such an increase in air pressure,
When the closing force of the valve body is insufficient, air leakage similar to that described above occurs, and the liquid level falls below a predetermined range.

On the other hand, when there is no leakage in the closing valve and when the closing force of the valve body is sufficiently large,
The air in the air passage is somewhat compressed by the liquid weight,
As a result, the liquid level will drop, but the drop in the liquid level at this time is extremely small. Can be easily and accurately confirmed. Thus, according to this device, neither negative pressure nor positive pressure generating means is provided, and therefore,
It is possible to easily, easily and sufficiently accurately inspect for the presence or absence of leakage from the on-off valve without having to impart high pressure resistance and sealing properties to the piping system.

In this apparatus, a vertical rising portion is provided in each of the air passage and the liquid conduit, and an upper end of the vertical rising portion of the air passage is connected to a vertical rising portion of the liquid conduit.
If it is located above half of the liquid supply height, the required length in the liquid line can be sufficiently reduced, and the liquid in the liquid line can be reduced due to leakage of the on-off valve. Even if the liquid enters the air passage, the liquid in the air passage is always in the rising part of the air passage, like a manometer.
Since the liquid level in the liquid conduit is balanced with the liquid in the air passage, the liquid level in the air passage does not exceed the rising portion, so that the on-off valve as a work is not contaminated by the liquid in the conduit. .

In the case where the overflow passage is branched from a predetermined height of the liquid conduit, the liquid is supplied to the liquid conduit until the liquid overflows from the overflow passage. Since the liquid storage height in the pipeline can always be exactly constant, the device structure is simpler than in the case where only a fixed amount of liquid is supplied to the liquid pipeline by using a fixed amount supply device. Things. In addition, when the overflow passage is provided, the liquid used in the previous leak test and remaining in the liquid pipe can be used as it is for the next test. Since it is necessary to completely discharge the liquid used in the previous test, there is also a disadvantage that the cycle time is increased and the working efficiency is reduced.

In addition, the detecting means in this apparatus can be appropriately selected from various known ones according to the kind of liquid and the like. When the detection means is used, the structure of the detection means can be simplified, the cost of the detection means can be effectively reduced, and the presence or absence of leakage can be detected with sufficiently high accuracy. Furthermore, in this device, the connection of the air passage to the valve housing has a hollow passage,
An insertion member that comes into air-tight contact with the inner peripheral surface of the valve housing via a sealing material, a work pressing member that is biased by a spring and protrudes forward from a distal end of the insertion member, and a front side of the work pressing member. When the air passage is connected to the valve housing, the insertion member is securely inserted into the valve housing with the work holding member fully holding the on-off valve when connecting the air passage to the valve housing. can plugged, it is possible to effectively prevent the accidental displacement of the opening and closing valve in the middle of the front or insertion of insertion of the insertion member. On the other hand, when releasing the connection as described above, the opening / closing valve is clamped by the work holding member until the insertion member that comes into airtight contact with the inner peripheral surface of the valve housing is sufficiently removed from the valve housing. Thus, it is possible to prevent the on-off valve from being lifted integrally with the insertion member while frictionally engaging the insertion member. If a cylinder for moving the connection portion of the air passage forward and backward with respect to the on-off valve is provided, the connection of each of the plurality of air passages to each valve housing and the release thereof are automatically performed. At the same time, and efficiently and accurately.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below based on illustrated examples. FIG. 1 is a side view showing a part of an embodiment of the present invention as a cross section, in which 1 is an air passage, 2 is a liquid conduit selectively connected to the air passage 1, and 3 shows switching valve connected to both of them, for example, conductive magnetic switching valve, respectively. Here, a flexible air passage 1 having one end connected to the electromagnetic switching valve 3 is extended upward, preferably vertically upward, through a base plate 4 to which the electromagnetic switching valve 3 is fixed, and an intermediate portion thereof. The other end is wound around the guide pipe 5 and extended downward, and the connection 6 to the on-off valve provided at the other end thereof is connected to the bracket 7 projecting downward from the base plate 4. .

The liquid line 2 is provided so as to extend upward from the electromagnetic switching valve 3, preferably also vertically upward, over a required length, and the vertical position of the liquid line 2 is set on the base plate. , And is maintained by a support member 8 having a substantially channel-like planar shape. The liquid pipe 2 is opened at its upper end to the atmosphere, and a liquid supply passage 9 is connected to an upper end thereof, and preferably, an overflow passage 1 branched from a predetermined height position thereof.
0 is provided.

Here, the electromagnetic switching valve 3 normally opens the air passage 1 to the atmosphere, thereby setting the internal air to the atmospheric pressure, and normally connects the liquid conduit 2 and the air passage 1 to each other. In this way, the liquid supplied from the liquid supply passage 9 to the liquid conduit 2 and stored in the conduit up to the height of the overflow passage 10 is blocked.
Here, the liquid in the pipeline is always kept in a non-pressurized state because the upper end of the liquid pipeline 2 is open to the atmosphere.

Further, in this apparatus, the liquid line 2
At a position substantially corresponding to the branch portion of the overflow passage 10, detecting means for detecting a change in the liquid level, in other words, a relatively large decrease in the liquid level, preferably an optical device comprising a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion. provided specific detection knowledge means 11, at least, a liquid conduit portion corresponding to the optical sensing means 11, allows the transmission of light, the glass tube is composed of plastic pipe other transparent tube 2a.

The optical detecting means 11 is composed of a light emitting section 12 and a light receiving section 13 which are arranged with the liquid conduit 2 therebetween, as shown in a partial sectional plan view of FIG. Each of the parts 13 has a bracket 15, also mounted in a substantially plate-like manner, mounted on a flat plate 14.
Are screwed and held on the respective flange portions 16. Here, the flat plate 14 is fixed to the support member 8.

In such an optical detecting means 11, for example, while a liquid exists between the light emitting section 12 and the light receiving section 13, when the liquid is a transparent liquid, the light is emitted from the light emitting section 12. By refraction of light by its liquid,
When the liquid is an opaque liquid, the light does not reach the light receiving portion 13 due to the light shielding, but the liquid does not exist between the two due to the lowering of the liquid level beyond a predetermined amount. In this case, the light from the light emitting section 12 reaches the light receiving section 13 via the transparent tube 2a. Therefore, according to this, the presence or absence of light sensing by the light receiving unit 13 determines whether or not the liquid level has dropped, and
The presence / absence of leakage of the on-off valve can be detected.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an essential part illustrating the connecting portion 6 provided at the end of the air passage 1 together with an on-off valve positioned and supported at a predetermined position. In FIG. , And 18 denote pallets for positioning and supporting the on-off valve 17 at the expected positions.

The on-off valve 17 of this embodiment includes a cylindrical valve housing 19 having an upper large-diameter hole and a lower small-diameter hole,
A seat member 20 made of, for example, rubber, which is fitted and fixed in the upper large-diameter hole of the valve housing 19, and an annular ridge 21 provided on the lower surface of the seat member 20, are pressed to exhibit a closing function. Valve body 2
2 and a spring member 23 for pressing the valve body 22 against the annular ridge 21 with a required force.
When the force acting on the central through hole 24 of the seat member 20 overcomes the pressing force of the spring member 23, the valve body 2
Second, it functions to open the valve itself.

By the way, the connecting portion 6 connected to the on-off valve 17 includes an insertion member 28 having a hollow passage 27 in a hollow block 26 connected to a flexible air passage portion via an elbow 25, for example. And the valve housing 1 at the distal end of the insertion member 28.
An O-ring 29 as a sealing material is fitted to a portion inserted into the inner peripheral surface of 9, and a work pressing member 30 arranged around the distal end of the insertion member 28 is attached to the upper surface of the workpiece and the hollow block 26. While being pressed by the spring member 31 interposed therebetween to project forward from the tip of the insertion member 28,
The work holding member 30 is pulled out of the hollow block 2.
6, the work holding member 30 and the spring member 3
Lower inward flanges having a 1 in the cylindrical cover 32 which surrounds Nyo, it can be configured by restraining the stopper 33 in other words.

Here, the connecting portion 6 configured as described above
The connection to the bracket 7 is preferably carried out on a horizontal plate 34 fixed to the lower end of the bracket 7,
5 is mounted, and the piston rod 36 of the lift cylinder 35 is connected to the hollow block 26. According to this, based on the operation of the lifting cylinder 35, the connecting portion 6 can be quickly and accurately displaced up and down so that the connecting portion 6 is connected to the on-off valve 17 and the disconnection thereof is always properly performed. it can. In this case, when a plurality of hollow blocks 26 are connected via the movable bracket, the plurality of connecting portions 6 can be vertically displaced synchronously.

The operation of the device configured as described above will be described below. In order to inspect the on-off valve 17 for leakage, as shown in FIG. 3, the on-off valve 17 positioned and supported by the pallet 18 is positioned directly below the connection portion 6, and the elevating cylinder 35 is operated there. Let's connect
Is displaced downward.

According to this, first, the work holding member 30 comes into contact with the opening / closing valve 17 under the action of the spring member 31 and, as shown in FIG. Then, based on the compression deformation of the spring member 31, the insertion member 28 enters the inside of the valve housing 19 to a predetermined depth under the compression deformation of the O-ring 29.

After the connecting portion 6 and thus the air passage 1 are airtightly connected to the on-off valve 17, the electromagnetic switching valve 3 is operated to cut off the communication between the air passage 1 and the atmosphere. This provides a communication between the air passage 1 and the liquid line 2, whereby the weight of the liquid previously supplied into the liquid line to a predetermined height acts on the atmospheric air in the air line. The liquid weight in this case is the specific weight of the liquid,
The height can be adjusted as required by selecting the supply height of the liquid to the liquid conduit 2 and the like. In this state, the liquid level of the liquid hardly decreases over a certain period of time.
When the light from the light does not reach the light receiving unit 13, the on-off valve 17
It is determined that no leakage exists. On the other hand, the decrease in the liquid level exceeds a predetermined value, and as a result, the light emitting unit 12
When the light reaches the light receiving unit 13, the on-off valve 1
7 is determined to have a leak.

In the case where the leakage of the on-off valve 17 is severe, the liquid in the liquid pipe 2 flows down to the on-off valve 17 during the predetermined time, and the on-off valve 17 is contaminated by the fluid. In order to prevent this, as shown in FIG. 1, it is preferable that the upper end of the vertical rising portion 1a of the air passage 1 be located above half of the liquid supply height H to the liquid conduit 2, According to, even if leakage is severe, the liquid in the liquid conduit 2, before the reach the opening and closing valve 17, balance in the state of being distributed uniformly in the air passage 1 and the liquid conduit 2 Will be. This is also effective when all of the air passages 1 are constituted by vertical rising portions.

Incidentally, the inner diameter of the air passage 1 is
In the case where it is considerably larger than that of the above, it is possible to prevent the liquid from flowing down to the on-off valve 17 even if the upper end position of the vertical rising portion 1a is lower than the above.

After the inspection of one on-off valve 17 is completed in this way, the electromagnetic switching valve 3 causes the air passage 1 to open.
The air passage 1 is opened to the atmosphere by interrupting the communication between the liquid passage 2 and the liquid line 2. Subsequently, the liquid line 2 is replenished with a reduced amount of liquid, and the operation of the elevating cylinder 35 causes the connection portion 6 to be opened. From the on-off valve 17.

The replenishment of the reduced liquid into the liquid line 2 is performed until the liquid overflows from the overflow passage 10 or regardless of the amount of the reduced liquid.
By supplying an amount that slightly exceeds the predetermined storage amount of the liquid in the liquid conduit 2 from the liquid supply passage 9 to the liquid conduit 2, it can be performed accurately and quickly.

When the connecting portion 6 is disengaged by the operation of the elevating cylinder 35, the work holding member 30 causes the spring member 31 to recover and deform when the insertion member 28 retreats due to the piston rod 36 retreating. , The work holding member 30 continues to clamp the open / close valve 17 until the insertion member 28 is sufficiently removed from the valve housing 19, so that the open / close valve 17 Despite the presence of frictional forces between the pallet and the pallet, it will be reliably maintained on the pallet. As described above, after a series of operations on one on-off valve 17 is completed, the same operation as described above is performed on the other on-off valves 17 conveyed immediately below the connection portion 6 to prevent leakage. The on-off valve where is present is taken out of the line.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need to provide any means for generating negative pressure and positive pressure, and it is not necessary to impart high pressure resistance and sealing properties to the piping system. In addition, the presence / absence of leakage from the on-off valve can be easily, easily and accurately inspected.

Here, if the upper end of the vertical rising portion of the air passage is located above half of the liquid supply height to the liquid conduit, the leaky on-off valve is prevented from being contaminated by the liquid. When the overflow passage is provided in the liquid conduit, the liquid storage height in the liquid conduit can be quickly and easily set to an accurate constant height.

When an optical detecting means is used as the detecting means, the structure can be simplified, the apparatus cost can be further reduced, and excellent leak detection accuracy can be obtained. Further, when the connecting portion of the air passage is composed of an insertion member, a spring-biased work holding member, and a stopper, the connection of the air passage to the on-off valve is always ensured. , The tailgating of the on-off valve can be sufficiently prevented. In addition, when the connecting portion is moved forward and backward by a cylinder, connection and disconnection of the plurality of air passages to and from the respective on-off valves are automatically performed simultaneously, efficiently, and accurately. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view partially showing a cross section of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view showing an arrangement example of optical detection means.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a main part, illustrating a connection part together with an on-off valve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Air passage 1a Vertical rising part 2 Liquid conduit 2a Transparent tube 3 Electromagnetic switching valve 4 Base plate 6 Connecting part 9 Liquid supply passage 10 Overflow passage 11 Optical detection means 12 Light emitting part 13 Light receiving part 15 Bracket 16 Flange part 17 Opening / closing valve 18 Pallet 19 Valve housing 20 Seat member 21 Annular ridge 22 Valve body 23 Spring member 24 Central through hole 25 Elbow 26 Hollow block 27 Hollow passage 28 Insertion member 29 O-ring 30 Work holding member 31 Spring member 32 Cylindrical cover 33 Stopper 34 Horizontal Plate 35 Lifting cylinder 36 Piston rod

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01M 3/04 G01M 3/26

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device for detecting the leakage of an on-off valve which is biased by a spring in a valve body within a valve housing to a seat member having a central through hole, wherein the valve housing is hermetically sealed on the seat member side. An air passage connected to the air passage, and a liquid conduit open to the atmosphere selectively communicated with the air passage.
A vertical riser on the vertical riser of the air passage.
End at half the liquid feed height at the vertical rise of the liquid line
A switching valve positioned above the air passage and the liquid passage for normally opening the air passage to the atmosphere, being supplied to the liquid passage and communicating between the liquid passage and the air passage; Below, of the liquid that acts on the air in the air passage by the weight of the liquid,
An on-off valve leak test device provided with a detecting means for detecting a change in liquid level. 2. A leak test device having a predetermined height formed by branches the overflow passage from claim 1, wherein the opening and closing valve of the liquid conduit. Wherein while the optical sensing means said detection means, at least, a leak test of the optical detection means and formed by a transparent corresponding liquid pipe portion according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the on-off valve apparatus. 4. An insertion member having a hollow passage at the connection portion of the air passage to the valve housing and having an air-tight contact with the inner peripheral surface of the valve housing through a sealing material, and being inserted by being biased by a spring. a work holding member protruding from the front end of the member to the front side, the work pressing member, according to claim 1 comprising constituted by a stopper which restrains the exit of the forward side, claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the on-off valve Leak test equipment. Of 5. The air passage, the connection to the valve housing, according to claim 1 formed by providing a cylinder for advancing and retracting displacement with respect to the positioning support the opening and closing valve, according to claim 2, claim 3 or claim 4, wherein On-off valve leak test equipment.