Abstract:
The invention relates to a device for regulating the flow of a liquid or gaseous medium, having a valve housing ( 11 ), which has at least one valve inlet ( 15, 16 ) and a valve outlet ( 17 ) as well as at least one valve opening ( 18, 19 ), located between the two and surrounded by a valve seat ( 21, 22 ); having a valve member ( 23 ) controlling the valve opening ( 18, 19 ); and having a valve member actuating device ( 14 ), which has a valve closing spring ( 36 ) and an actuator ( 37 ) operating counter to the valve closing spring. For creating a robust device with a long service life, and in which the valve member actuating device ( 14 ) is hermetically separated from the medium, the valve member ( 23 ) has a closing body ( 24 ), cooperating with the at least one valve seat ( 21, 22 ), and a frame ( 25 ), separated from the medium, for engaging the valve member actuating device ( 14 ), which frame surrounds the closing body ( 24 ) and is solidly joined to it.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION 
     The invention described and claimed hereinbelow is also described in European Patent Application EP 07023808.4 filed Dec. 8, 2007. This European Patent Application, subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides the basis for a claim of priority of invention under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     One known device for regulating a medium (European Patent Disclosure EP 1 536 169 A1) has a valve housing with a valve inlet and a valve outlet as well as a valve opening, located between the valve inlet and the valve outlet, that is surrounded by a valve seat. The valve opening and the valve seat are located in a valve chamber. The valve seat, for opening and closing the valve opening, cooperates with a valve member that is secured to the face end of an armature of an electromagnet, the armature protruding into the valve chamber. 
     The armature is guided axially displaceably in a guide sleeve, which in turn is inserted into the valve chamber and is sealed off in it from the chamber wall. A valve closing spring is located in a blind bore of the armature and is braced on one end on the armature and on the other on an adjusting pin that is accessible from the outside, and when the electromagnet is not excited, the valve closing spring, via the armature, presses the valve member against the valve seat. 
     When current is supplied to the electromagnet, the armature is displaced axially counter to the spring force of the valve closing spring, and the armature lifts the valve member from the valve seat, thus uncovering the valve opening, and depending on the stroke of the valve member, a greater or lesser quantity of a medium flows from the valve inlet to the valve outlet via the valve chamber. The valve chamber is constantly filled with medium, so that the valve member and the face end of the armature are always bathed by the medium. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the invention is to disclose a device for regulating the flow of a liquid or gaseous medium of the type defined at the outset, which with strict separation from the medium of the actuating device for the valve member that controls the flow of the medium, is sturdy and has a long service life. 
     The device according to the invention has the advantage of a structurally stable valve member, and by the subdivision into a closing body, bathed by the medium, and a frame separated from the medium, the actuating device engaging the frame, to the magnitude of the flow of medium, does not come into contact with the flow of the medium for actuating the closing body. Thus the device can be used with long service lives for the regulating the flow of aggressive gaseous or liquid media. The valve member can be manufactured economically, especially whenever, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the frame and the support of the closing body as well as the ribs that join the frame and the support are manufactured as a one-piece stamping from a metal sheet, and the regions of the valve member exposed to the medium, that is, the support, are covered with a coating, for instance of plastic, rubber, an elastomer, or the like. 
     Further special characteristics of the invention and features of the subject of the invention will become apparent from the further claims and the ensuing description. 
     In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, a further valve inlet and a further valve opening, surrounded by a further valve seat, are provided in the valve housing. Two sealing faces cooperating with both valve seats are embodied, transversely spaced apart from ribs, on the coating of the closing body. With the pivot bearing of the valve member in the valve housing, done via the ribs, a double-seat valve controlled by a single valve member and having two separate valve inlets and one common valve outlet can be implemented in a simple way, and the valve inlets can be made to communicate in alternation with the valve outlet. 
     The invention is described in further detail below in terms of an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a device for regulating the flow of a fluid; 
         FIG. 2  is a longitudinal section through a device in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a view from below of a valve member of the device in the direction of the arrow III in  FIG. 2 ; and 
         FIG. 4  is a section taken along the line IV-IV in  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The device shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  for regulating the flow of a fluid or flowing medium, such as a liquid or gaseous medium, has a two-part valve housing  11 , which is composed of an upper housing part  12  and a lower housing part  13 . The medium flows through the lower housing part  13 , while in the upper housing part  12 , an actuating device  14 , separated from the medium, is received at least partly for regulating the flow of the medium. 
     In the lower housing part  13  of the valve housing  11 , on sides facing away from one another, two valve inlets  15 ,  16  and one valve outlet  17  located between them are provided. Between the valve inlet  15  and the valve outlet  17 , there is a first valve opening  18 , and between the valve inlet  16  and the valve outlet  17 , there is a second valve opening  19 . The axes of the two valve openings  18 ,  19  are oriented parallel to one another. Both valve openings  18 ,  19  are located in a valve chamber  20 , which is embodied at the interface between the upper housing part  12  and the lower housing part  13 ; an upper part of the valve chamber  20  is machined into the upper housing part  12 , and a lower part of the valve chamber  20  is machined into the lower housing part  13 . 
     The first valve opening  18  is surrounded by a first valve seat  21 , and the second valve opening  19  is surrounded by a second valve seat  22 , in each case concentrically. The two valve openings  18 ,  19  are controlled by a single valve member  23 , and in alternation, one valve opening  18  is uncovered and the other valve opening  19  is closed. The valve member  23  is actuated by the actuating device  14 , which will be described in further detail hereinafter; when the actuating device  14  is inactive, the valve member  23  closes the first valve opening  18  and uncovers the second valve opening  19 , as is shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     The valve member  23  has a closing body  24 , located in the valve chamber  20 , that cooperates with the valve seats  21 ,  22 , and it also has a frame  25 , separated from the medium and surrounding the closing body  24  with spacing, that is solidly joined to the closing body  24 . The frame  25  is located in a hollow chamber  26  surrounding the valve chamber  20 . The hollow chamber  26  is likewise located at the interface between the two housing parts  12 ,  13 ; an upper part of the ringlike hollow chamber  26  is machined into the upper housing part  12 , and a lower part of the hollow chamber  26  is machined into the lower housing part  13 . 
     The valve chamber  20  and the hollow chamber  26  are hermetically separated from one another by a closed-ringlike seal  27  that is fixed between the two housing parts  12 ,  13 . The closing body  24  has a flat cross-shaped support  28  and a coating  29 , for instance of plastic, rubber, an elastomer, or the like, that sheathes the support  28 . The frame  25  is rigidly joined to the two shorter arms of the crosslike support  28  via ribs  30 ,  31 , for instance two in number, diametrically opposite one another centrally on the frame  25 , and the ribs  30 ,  31  penetrate the seal  27  transversely to its longitudinal direction, and after fastening of the seal  27  between the two housing parts  12 ,  13 , they form a pivot bearing for the valve member  23 . 
     Holes  32  and  33  are made on the ends of each of the two longer arms of the cross in the support  28 . In the production of the coating  29  that sheathes the support  28 , the holes  32 ,  33  are filled with plastic, and in the region of the holes  32 ,  33  on the underside of the coating  29 , facing toward the valve seats  21 ,  22 , sealing faces  34 ,  35  are embodied that cooperate with the valve seats  21 ,  22 . The valve seats  21 ,  22 , on sides of the pivot bearing of the valve member  23  facing away from one another and located at the same spacing from it and offset from one another, are plane and have different vertical spacings from the pivot bearing; the vertical spacing of the second valve seat  22  is greater than that of the first valve seat  21 . 
     The term vertical spacing is understood to mean the spacing of the plane, in which the plane valve seat  21  or  22  is located, from the pivot bearing. The sealing face  34  cooperating with the first valve seat  21  is oriented parallel to the plane of the frame  25  and support  28 , while the sealing face  35  that cooperates with the second valve seat  22 , which is offset relative to the first valve seat  21 , is oriented at an acute angle to the plane of the frame  25  and support  28 . The positioning angle of the sealing face  35  corresponds to the pivot angle of the valve member  23  by which the valve member  23 , is pivoted in order to close the second valve opening  19  and uncover the first valve opening  18 . 
     The frame  25 , the support  28 , and the two ribs  30 ,  31  joining them to one another are produced in one piece as a stamping from a metal sheet. The coating  29  is advantageously produced by extrusion coating of the support  28 , for instance with plastic, rubber, an elastomer, or the like. In the extrusion coating of the support  28 , simultaneously the closed-ringlike seal  27 , which covers the ribs  30 ,  31  on both sides that extend from the frame  25  to the support  28  and are in one piece with the frame  25  and the support  28 , is produced jointly from the same material. 
     It is understood that it is possible to provide the valve housing  11  with only one valve inlet, such as the valve inlet  15 , and the valve outlet  17 , with the valve member  23  remaining unchanged, but in that case the second sealing face  35  is omitted. 
     The valve member actuating device  14 , placed on the upper housing cap  12  of the valve housing  11  and received partly in the upper housing part  12 , has a valve closing spring  36  and an actuator  37 , with a drive member  38  for the valve member  23 , the drive member operating counter to the force of the valve closing spring  36 . The actuator  37  is placed on the upper housing part  12  and with a guide sleeve  44  for the drive member  38  it dips into a receiving chamber  45  embodied in the upper housing part  12 . A pressure fork  39  with two tines  391  is located on the face end of the drive member  38 . 
     The two tines  391 , as a result of the spring force of the valve closing spring  36  engaging the drive member  38 , rest on two points of the frame  25 , which are diametrically opposite one another at the first valve opening  18 . In  FIG. 3 , solely for the sake of clarity, these two points are shown in dashed lines on the frame  25  and are marked  251 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment shown, the pressure fork  39  is inserted loosely into a central face-end recess  40 . At the same time, a further pressure fork  41  is guided axially displaceably with two tines  411  ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ) in a guide shaft  42  that is machined into the upper housing part  12  of the valve housing  11 . The tines  411  of the further pressure fork  41  also rest on the frame  25 , specifically at two points  252  opposite one another at the second valve opening  19 , and are pressed against the frame  25  by a compression spring  43 , which is slipped onto the stem of the pressure fork  41 , and are braced on one end on the pressure fork  41  and on the other on the housing. 
     The spring force of the compression spring  43  is less than the spring force of the valve closing spring  36 , and thus the further pressure fork  41  is not capable of pressing the valve member  23 , with the sealing face  35 , onto the second valve seat  22  until, by axial displacement of the drive member  38 , the closing force of the valve closing spring  36 , acting on the valve closing member  23  at the site of the first valve opening  18 , has been rescinded. 
     A cover plate  46 , placed on the top of the upper housing part  12  and screwed in the valve housing  11 , closes off both the receiving chamber  45 , with fixation of the guide sleeve  44 , and the guide shaft  42  of the further pressure fork  41 , and the compression spring  43  seated on the pressure fork  41  is braced on the cover plate  46 . 
     If the actuator  37  is inactive, then the valve member  23  assumes its position in  FIG. 2 , in which the sealing face  34  is pressed by the valve closing spring  36  against the first valve seat  21  at the first valve opening  18 , and the sealing face  35  is lifted from the second valve seat  22  at the second valve opening  19 . In this case, a flow course is opened up from the valve inlet  16  to the valve outlet  17 , and the flow course from the valve inlet  15  to the valve outlet  17  is blocked. If the actuator  37  is activated, then the drive member  38  is displaced upward, counter to the force of the valve closing spring  36 . By the spring force of the compression spring  43 , the pressure fork  41  pivots the valve member  23  about the pivot bearing at the ribs  30 ,  31  and presses the valve member  23 , with the sealing face  35 , onto the second valve seat  22  at the second valve opening  19 . The flow course from the valve inlet  16  to the valve outlet  17  is blocked, and the flow course from the valve inlet  15  to the valve outlet  17  is opened. 
     In the exemplary embodiment described here, the actuator  37  is embodied as an electromagnet  47 , with an exciter coil  48  surrounding the guide sleeve  44 , a magnet core  49  that dips into the guide sleeve  44 , and an armature  50  that is axially displaceable in the guide sleeve  44  and that forms the drive member  38  of the actuator  37 . However, a piezoelectric, magnetostrictive, pneumatic, or similarly functioning actuator may be used as the actuator  37  instead. 
     In the described device for regulating the flow of a liquid or gaseous medium, manual actuation for uncovering the first valve opening  18  in the event of failure of the actuator  37  or for starting up the device without auxiliary energy is provided for. The manual actuation may be a rotatable, locking, or similar motion. In the exemplary embodiment shown with sliding actuation, the manual actuation involves has a sliding key  52 , which is displaceable counter to the force of a restoring spring  51  and which has a sliding wedge. When the sliding key  52  is pressed inward counter to the force of the restoring spring  51 , the sliding wedge slides underneath the pressure fork  39  and lifts it from the valve member  23  counter to the force of the valve closing spring  36 , so that by means of the compression spring  43 , the valve member  23  can be pivoted, thereby uncovering the first valve opening  18 .