JP4837466B2 - Flow control valve device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a flow rate adjusting valve device that moves a valve body by operating a handle from a fully closed position toward a fully open position to increase the flow rate of fluid.

Conventionally, this kind of flow control valve device has been widely used for various faucets and the like.
By the way, in the case of the conventional flow control valve device, when the handle is operated from the fully closed position toward the fully open position, the flow rate of water increases almost proportionally to the maximum flow rate according to the operation amount of the handle, for example, the rotation operation amount. In this case, when you want to drain water at a large flow rate, the handle must be fully rotated to the fully open position or close to the fully open position. There was a problem with.

  For example, in a faucet installed in a bathroom, when water is poured by turning the water discharge pipe to the bathtub side, it is common to discharge water (discharge water) at a high flow rate so that the hot water is finished in as short a time as possible. In this case, even if the handle is operated in an attempt to increase the water flow rate (water discharge rate) quickly, the water flow rate does not easily become high and it may cause irritation.

  In this case, with a predetermined handle position on the way from the fully closed position to the fully open position as a boundary (as a flow rate switching position), the flow rate is increased with the handle operation at a small flow rate according to the handle operation up to the flow rate switching position. In addition, in the large flow rate region after the flow rate switching position is exceeded, it is conceivable that the increase in the flow rate with respect to the handle operation amount is rapidly expanded as compared with the small flow rate region so far.

However, in this case, if the handle can be freely operated from the small flow rate region to the large flow rate region beyond the flow rate switching position, various adverse effects occur.
For example, when washing small items in a bathroom washroom, etc., water is discharged at a small flow rate, but at this time, suddenly when the handle is operated to increase the flow rate in order to slightly increase the amount of water. If the handle is moved beyond the flow rate switching position to the large flow rate side, a large amount of water comes out unexpectedly, and small items are washed away, which causes a problem of loss.

  Alternatively, in the case of a faucet installed in a wash basin or hand basin, if a large amount of water comes out unexpectedly against the user's intention when the handle is operated, the water from the faucet However, it causes water splashing on the bowl surface and is applied to the user's clothes, resulting in an unpleasant feeling to the user.

The present invention has been made to solve such problems.
In Patent Document 1 below, when the handle is operated from the fully closed position to the fully open position, the handle operation is blocked at the middle position, and the handle can be further operated from there to the fully open position by unlocking. The point which provided the locking means to the handle | steering_wheel is disclosed.

  However, the disclosure of Patent Document 1 shows that the degree of increase in the flow rate with respect to the handle operation is almost continuous and the same between the small flow rate side and the large flow rate side from the lock position by the lock means. It is different.

JP-A-3-180630

  The present invention is based on the circumstances as described above, and it is possible to increase the flow rate of fluid such as water under a small amount of handle operation, and unintentionally operate the handle to a large flow rate range when operating the handle. The present invention has been made for the purpose of providing a flow rate control valve device that can prevent such a situation.

Thus, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the flow control valve device that moves the valve body by operating the handle from the fully closed position toward the fully open position to increase the flow rate of the fluid, the valve body is closed. a spring pushing in the direction, and a spring pressing the valve body in the direction opposite to the opening direction, the provided predetermined handle positions on the way reaching the fully open position from the fully closed position and the flow rate switching position,該全closed The spring force of the spring that pushes in the valve opening direction when switching from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range. Or by switching the spring force of the spring that pushes in the valve closing direction to a small value, in the small flow rate range, the flow rate is increased in accordance with the handle operation at a small flow rate and with the handle operation, and after the flow rate switching position is exceeded. In the large flow area, the small By switching the amount of movement of the valve body under the same handle operation amount in the amount range to a larger amount than the amount of movement of the valve body in the small flow region, the handle operation is performed compared to the small flow region. An increase in the flow rate with respect to the volume rapidly expands, and the handle prevents the operation of the handle toward the large flow rate region at the flow rate switching position, and the lock is released to the large flow rate region side. It is characterized in that there is provided a locking means for enabling the operation of the handle.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the flow rate of water as the fluid in the faucet is adjusted.

Effects and effects of the invention

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the small flow rate range from the fully closed position to the flow switching position in the middle of the fully open position, the flow rate is increased according to the handle operation, and the flow rate is increased with the handle operation. In the large flow rate range beyond the position, the increase in the flow rate with respect to the handle operation amount is suddenly expanded compared to the small flow rate range, and the handle has a handle to the large flow rate side at the flow rate switching position. Locking means that prevents the operation and enables the operation of the handle to the large flow rate side by unlocking, according to the present invention, for example, when this is applied to a faucet in a bathroom, When hot water is poured into the bathtub, water can be discharged from the water discharge pipe at a large flow rate under a small handle operation amount, and the operation for hot water can be simplified.

  Further, in the present invention, the handle operation from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range is prevented by the lock means, and the lock operation by the lock means is released to enable the handle operation from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range side. Therefore, when the handle is operated to increase the amount of water slightly while washing small items under a small amount of water in the small flow area, the handle unexpectedly moves to the large flow area side, It is possible to prevent inconvenience that water suddenly flows out at a large flow rate and small items are washed away.

  The present invention can be applied to a flow control valve device that adjusts the flow rate of a fluid other than water, and is particularly suitable for application to a flow control valve device that adjusts the flow rate of water as a fluid in a faucet. (Claim 2).

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a flow rate adjustment valve device for water supply, 12 denotes a casing thereof, and a water inlet 14 and an outlet 16 are provided.
Reference numeral 18 denotes a valve body. The valve body 18 moves forward from the closed state shown in FIG. 1 to the left in the figure to widen the opening of the inlet 14 and outlet 16, that is, the opening of the valve, and vice versa. The valve opening is reduced by moving in the right direction in the figure, and finally the valve closed state shown in FIG. 1 is obtained.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a bias spring made of a metal coil spring housed in the spring housing chamber 22. One end (the right end in the figure) is brought into contact with the valve body 18, and the valve body 18 is closed in the valve closing direction, that is, the valve opening degree is increased. It is energizing in the direction to make it smaller.
Reference numeral 24 denotes a rotary handle, and a large-diameter shaft portion 26 is provided on the handle 24 so as to be integrally rotated.

A male screw 28 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 26, and the male screw 28 is screwed into a female screw 32 on the inner peripheral surface of the advance / retreat member 30.
The advancing / retreating member 30 also has a male spline portion 34 formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and the male spline portion 34 is engaged with a female spline portion 36 formed on the inner peripheral side of the casing 12.
Therefore, in this embodiment, when the handle 24 is rotated, the advancing / retreating member 30 moves forward and backward in the left-right direction in the drawing by screw feed of the male screw 28 and the female screw 32.

Metal coil springs 38 and 40 transmit the force in the forward direction (leftward in the figure) of the advance / retreat member 30 to the valve body 18 via the intermediate member 42 fixed to the valve body 18 and push it in the valve opening direction. The push springs are arranged in series with each other.
Here, the spring constant of the push spring 38 is set to be larger than the spring constant of the push spring 40.

One end (right end in the figure) of the push spring 38 is in contact with the advance / retreat member 30 and the other end (left end in the figure) is in contact with the intermediate member 42.
On the other hand, the forward spring 40 has one end (right end in the figure) in contact with the intermediate member 42 and the other end (left end in the figure) in contact with the spring receiver 44.

The spring receiver 44 has a stopper 46 standing in the axial direction, and until the intermediate member 42 abuts against the stopper 46, the spring force obtained by combining the push springs 38 and 40 arranged in series is the valve body 18. On the other hand, it is made to act as leftward pushing force in the figure.
In addition, after the pressing spring 40 contracts and the intermediate member 42 contacts the stopper 46, the spring force of the pressing spring 38 acts directly on the valve body 18 via the stopper 46, that is, via the spring receiver 44. I'm damned.

As shown in FIG. 2, the handle 24 is provided with a push button type lock button (lock means) 48 so as to rotate integrally with the handle 24.
The lock button 48 is urged by a spring 50 in a direction protruding from the handle 24.
The lock button 48 is provided with an abutment portion 52, and the abutment portion 52 abuts against the stopper surfaces 56 and 58 at both ends in the circumferential direction of the stopper portion 54 provided inside the handle 24. The rotational position of the handle 24 is regulated.

In this embodiment, the state where the contact portion 52 is in contact with the stopper surface 56 is the fully closed position of the handle 24, and the position where the contact portion 52 is in contact with the stopper surface 58 is the flow rate of the handle 24 described later. This is the switching position.
In this embodiment, when the lock button 48 is pushed inward in a state where the contact portion 52 is in contact with the stopper surface 58, the stopper action (locking) by the contact between the contact portion 52 and the stopper surface 58 is performed here. The action 24 is released, and the handle 24 can be further rotated counterclockwise in the drawing.

  In the flow control valve device 10 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3I, when the handle 24 in the fully closed position (water-stopped state) is rotated counterclockwise in the figure, ), The contact portion 52 of the lock button 48 contacts the stopper surface 58 of the stopper portion 54 at a certain position, and further rotation of the handle 24 in the same direction is prevented.

Then, when the lock button 48 is pushed in, the contact portion 52 is disengaged radially inward from the stopper surface 58, and the stopper action (lock action) is released. Here, the handle 24 can be further rotated counterclockwise. .
FIG. 3 (III) shows the state in which the handle 24 is rotated to the maximum in this way (the fully open position of the handle 24).

  In the present embodiment, the range from the fully closed position (water stop state) of the handle 24 to the contact portion 52 of the lock button 48 contacts the stopper surface 58 of the stopper portion 54 is a small flow rate region described later, and from there. Further, when the handle 24 is rotated counterclockwise, a large flow rate region described later is obtained.

That is, the handle 24 can be freely rotated without pushing the lock button 48 in the small flow rate region, and after turning the handle 24 to the maximum in the small flow rate region, by pushing the lock button 48, This can be freely rotated up to and in the large flow rate region.
That is, the lock button 48 is provided so as to prevent further rotation of the handle 24 when the handle 24 is rotated to a position where it is just a boundary between the small flow rate region and the large flow rate region, that is, the flow rate switching position.

4 and 5 show the operation of the flow control valve device of the present embodiment.
In this embodiment, when the handle 24 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 3 from the fully closed position toward the fully open direction, the advance / retreat member 30 moves forward in the left direction in the drawing, and the forward force in FIG. This is transmitted to the valve body 18 via the springs 38 and 40, and is pushed in the left direction in the drawing, that is, in the valve opening direction.

  At this time, a combined spring force of the push springs 38 and 40 arranged in series is applied to the valve body 18. The total spring force obtained by combining the push springs 38 and 40 is a soft spring force because the push springs 38 and 40 are arranged in series with each other. The amount of movement of the body 18 is small.

L-1 in the flow rate specific line L in FIG. 6 represents the relationship between the handle operation amount and the flow rate at this time.
When the handle 24 is rotated to a certain position (flow rate switching position) in this way, the intermediate member 42 comes into contact with the stopper 46 of the spring receiver 44 as shown in FIG.
The position at this time is the flow rate switching position of the handle 24. At this time, the contact portion 52 of the lock button 48 provided on the handle 24 contacts the stopper surface 58 of the stopper portion 54 provided on the inner side of the handle 24. Whereupon further counterclockwise rotation of the handle 24 is prevented.
The spring constant of the push spring 40 is smaller than the spring constant of the push spring 38. Therefore, when the handle 24 is rotated from the fully closed position, the push spring 40 is compressed against the push spring 38. The deformation amount (deflection amount) is larger than that of the push spring 38.

Now, as described above, the handle 24 is prevented from further rotation by the locking action by the lock button 48 at the flow rate switching position. When the lock button 48 is pushed in here, the handle 24 is further directed to the fully open position from there. That is, it becomes possible to operate toward the large flow rate side.
Therefore, when the lock button 48 is pressed and the handle 24 is rotated counterclockwise, at this time, the pushing spring 40 does not act on the valve body 18, so that the pushing spring 40 becomes dead and is pushed. Only the spring force of the dynamic spring 38 acts as a pushing force for the valve body 18.

Since the spring force of the push spring 38 alone is larger than the total combined spring force of the push springs 40, the movement of the valve element 18 is performed under the same rotational operation amount of the handle 24 thereafter. Therefore, in the large flow rate region after the flow rate switching position is exceeded, the increase in the flow rate with respect to the operation amount of the handle 24 is rapidly expanded compared to the small flow rate region.
L-2 in the flow rate specific line L in FIG. 6 represents the degree of increase in the flow rate in this large flow rate region.

FIG. 5 shows a state when the handle 24 is rotated in the large flow rate region and brought into the fully open position, that is, when the valve element 18 is completely opened.
The decrease in the flow rate when the handle is operated in the reverse direction from the fully opened position of the handle is opposite to the above, and the flow rate changes in the direction from the maximum flow rate in FIG.

  According to the present embodiment as described above, for example, when this is applied to a faucet in a bathroom, when hot water is poured from the water discharge pipe to the bathtub, water is discharged from the water discharge pipe at a large flow rate under a small handle operation amount. The operation for hot water can be simplified.

  Further, in this embodiment, the handle operation from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range is prevented by the locking means, and the lock 24 is released to enable the operation of the handle 24 from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range side. Therefore, trying to slightly increase the amount of water while showering water from the shower head for washing hair under a small amount of water in a small flow rate region, or washing small items with water discharged from the spout When the handle is operated, the inconvenience that the handle 24 unexpectedly moves to the large flow rate side and water suddenly flows out at a large flow rate can be prevented.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
In this example, push springs 60 and 62 made of metal coil springs are arranged in parallel between the intermediate member 42 fixed to the valve body 18 and the advance / retreat member 30, and one of the push springs 60 is a handle. Under the fully closed position of 24, one end (right end in the figure) and the other end (left end in the figure) are brought into contact with the advancing / retracting member 30 and the spring receiver 64. It is shorter than the dynamic spring 60 and does not work as a spring in the fully closed position of the handle 24. When the handle 24 is rotated to the flow rate switching position, the push spring 62 contacts the advance / retreat member 30 and the spring receiver 64. In this example, the combined spring force of the two pushing springs 60 and 62 thereafter acts as a leftward pushing force on the valve body 18 in the figure.
The other points are the same as described above.

In this embodiment, in the small flow rate range until the handle 24 reaches the flow rate switching position, only the spring force of one of the push springs 60 acts on the valve body 18, so that the valve is controlled relative to the rotational operation amount of the handle. The amount of movement of the body 18 is reduced.
On the other hand, after the flow rate switching position, the spring force of the two push springs 60 and 62 acts on the valve body 18 in parallel. At this time, the movement amount of the valve body 18 becomes larger than the operation amount of the handle 24. Therefore, in the large flow rate region, the increase in the flow rate with respect to the handle operation amount rapidly expands according to the flow rate specific line L-2 shown in FIG. 6 as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows still another embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, a super elastic alloy spring 66 is used as a bias spring.
A single push spring 68 made of a metal coil spring is disposed between the plate 42 fixed to the valve body 18 and the advance / retreat member 30.
Here, the transformation temperature of the superelastic alloy spring 66 is determined so as to exhibit superelasticity based on the stress-induced martensitic phase transformation within the operating temperature range and up to the maximum flow rate. That is, the transformation temperature of the superelastic alloy spring 66 is determined so that it becomes an austenite phase that is a parent phase in the operating temperature range.

FIG. 10 shows the load-strain characteristics of the superelastic alloy spring 66.
The superelastic alloy spring 66 is in the austenite state which is a parent phase in a normal operating temperature range. When a force is applied to the superelastic alloy spring 66 in this state, specifically, the valve body 18 is pushed leftward in FIG. When a force is applied to the alloy spring 66, the superelastic alloy spring 66 is initially elastically deformed in a normal elastic region (O to A in the figure) without martensite transformation.

Further, when a leftward force (load) in the figure is applied to the superelastic alloy spring 66 through the valve body 18, the superelastic alloy spring 66 is superexcited by stress-induced martensitic transformation when the limit A which is a normal elastic region is exceeded. Elasticity is developed, and the superelastic alloy spring 20 is deformed with the superelasticity.
In FIG. 10 , A to B represent deformation in the superelastic region, and as shown in the figure, the superelastic alloy spring 66 is greatly elastically deformed in the compression direction by a slight increase in load.

B in FIG. 10 is a state in which the handle 24 is rotated to the maximum opening, that is, a state in which the superelastic alloy spring 66 is compressed to the maximum within a set range. When rotating in the closing direction, the amount of deformation of the superelastic alloy spring 66 changes from B to C in FIG. 6, further changes to C to D, returns to the normal elastic region, and the load-strain characteristic The amount of deformation decreases along D to O, and finally restores to the original shape.

Specifically, when the handle 24 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 3 under the valve closed state of the valve body 18 shown in FIG. 8A, the advance / retreat member is shown in FIG. 8B. 30 advances in the left direction in the figure, and the valve body 18 is pushed leftward in the figure through the push spring 68 while the superelastic alloy spring 66 is compressed and elastically deformed in a normal elastic region, and the valve body 18 is opened. It moves in the valve direction to open the water inlet 14 and outlet 16 and increase its opening (valve opening).
Then, when the superelastic alloy spring 66 reaches the limit A of the normal elastic region in FIG. 10, the contact portion 50 of the lock button 46 just contacts the stopper surface 56 of the stopper portion 52 at this time. Rotation is prevented. The region up to here is a small flow rate region.

When the lock button 46 is pushed to release the lock, and the handle 24 is further rotated counterclockwise, the superelastic alloy spring 66 is superelastically deformed and deformed according to the load-strain characteristics A to B in FIG.
At this time, since the superelastic alloy spring 66 is easily and greatly deformed by a slight increase in force, the valve element 18 can be greatly opened only by slightly rotating the handle 24 within the range of AB. Moving in the valve direction, the flow rate rapidly increases, and finally reaches the maximum valve opening state shown in FIG. 9, that is, the maximum flow rate (a state corresponding to B in FIG. 10).
Thereafter, when the handle 24 is rotated in the opposite direction, the amount of deformation of the superelastic alloy spring 66 changes along B to C and C to D of the load-strain characteristics of FIG. Then, the water supply is stopped by further turning the handle 24 to the closed position.

FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the rotational operation amount of the handle 24 and the flow rate of the water supply, and the relationship between the handle operation amount and the flow rate corresponds to the load-strain characteristic of FIG.
In FIG. 11, 0, a, b, c, and d respectively correspond to 0, A, B, C, and D in FIG.

As shown in the figure, when the handle 24 is rotated to reach the position a, the flow rate suddenly changes, and even under the same rotational operation amount of the handle 24, the flow rate rapidly increases and changes.
The region from the origin 0 to a in FIG. 11 is a small flow rate region, and shifts to the large flow rate region when a is exceeded.
In FIG. 11, the position b is a state in which the handle 24 is rotated to the maximum opening, and when the handle 24 is rotated in the clockwise direction from this state, the flow rate is changed from b to c and further from c to d. It shifts to and moves to a small flow rate region.
Also in this embodiment, the flow control valve device can be operated in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, these are merely examples, and the present invention can be configured in various modifications without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

It is sectional drawing of the flow control valve apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the handle | steering-wheel in the same embodiment with the lock button. It is a figure which shows the operation state of the handle | steering-wheel in the embodiment. It is sectional drawing which showed one action state of the flow control apparatus of the embodiment. It is sectional drawing which showed one action state different from FIG. 4 of the embodiment. It is the figure which showed the relationship between the handle operation amount and flow volume in the same embodiment. It is a figure of other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure of other embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the operation state following FIG. 8 of embodiment of FIG. It is a figure showing the load-strain characteristic of the superelastic alloy spring in embodiment of FIG. It is the figure which showed the relationship between the handle operation amount and flow volume of embodiment of FIG.

10 Flow control valve device 18 Valve body 24 Handle 48 Lock button

Claims (2)

In a flow control valve device that moves the valve body by operating the handle from the fully closed position toward the fully open position to increase the fluid flow rate.
A spring that pushes the valve body in the valve closing direction and a spring that pushes the valve body in the reverse valve opening direction;
Said predetermined handle positions on the way reaching the fully open position from the fully closed position and flow rate switching position, large flow of small flow rate range from該全closed position until the flow rate switching position, from the flow rate switching position to the fully open position When switching from the small flow rate range to the large flow rate range, the spring force of the spring that pushes in the valve opening direction is switched largely or the spring force of the spring that pushes in the valve closing direction is switched small, Then, in accordance with the handle operation, the flow rate is increased with the handle operation, and the flow rate is increased with the handle operation. In the large flow rate region after the flow rate switching position is exceeded, the handle operation amount is the same as the handle operation amount in the small flow rate region. By switching the amount of movement of the valve body to be larger than the amount of movement of the valve body in the small flow rate region, an increase in the flow rate with respect to the handle operation amount is rapidly increased compared to the small flow rate region. In addition, the handle is provided with a locking means for preventing the operation of the handle to the large flow rate region side at the flow rate switching position and enabling the operation of the handle to the large flow rate region side by releasing the lock. A flow control valve device characterized by being.   The flow rate regulating valve device according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate of water as the fluid in the faucet is adjusted.

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