Abstract:
An dual acting solenoid valve (DASV) is a device for controlling mediums as gases or fluids through two valves simultaneously using a dual position latching solenoid operated with a bi-stable permanent magnet activation system (BSPMAS) to allow the DASV to be electrically energy efficient and power versatile.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to a dual acting solenoid valve (DASV), which is a device for controlling the flow of a gas or fluid medium through two valves simultaneously and driven using a type of bi-stable permanent magnet actuator called a Dual Position Latching Solenoid (DPLS) to reduce the total energy requirement to control the valves, and more particularly to a DASV with the DPLS driven by the pulsed power system known as the Bi-Stable Permanent Magnet Activation System (BSPMAS) to allow the DASV to be energy efficient and power versatile. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Electromagnetic or solenoid valves for the dual flow control of a medium of gas or fluid, commonly known as three-way valves, can be found in the art of valves. For example, the MAGNETICALLY OPERATED VALVE of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 by W. C. Bremner etal, 1965 is a three-way valve that operates differently than the THREE-WAY MAGNETIC VALVE of U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,090 by J. G. Kenann etal, 1955. However, these are both valves design to operate off an electromagnet or solenoid singularly. Whereas, the dual acting solenoid valve (DASV) of the present invention is designed to operate two valves simultaneously off of one electromagnet or solenoid, regardless of the number of flow paths of the medium the valve controls. However, the valves that can be used in the present invention needs external accessibility to the stem or shaft that is part of the valve&#39;s moving member that controls the flow of the medium, That is, valves like U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447, wherein the armature r plunger) is enclosed in the device, cannot be used in the present invention, nor is U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 designed operate two other valves with its armature, Valves like the three-way valve of U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,090 having a stem (or extension) or the two-way valve of VALVE WITH MAGNETIC ACTUATOR of U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,791 by D. L. Wells, 1964 having an accessible end portion are usable in the present invention. 
         [0003]    The DASV of the present invention, uses a bi-stable permanent magnet actuator technique referred to as a Dual Position Latching Solenoid (DPLS) as it has similarity to the DUAL POSITION LATCHING SOLENOID of U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,450 by W. E. Chase, 1958, which contains a solenoid or one or more control coils to cause movement of an armature, a permanent magnet that supplies a hi-stable magnetic flux for alternately magnetically latching the armature against one of two poles, and uses a rapid power pulse to the control coil that allows the power to only be turned on during movement of the armature; making the DPLS energy efficient over conventional solenoids as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,090 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,791 and possibly over permanent magnet solenoids used in the art of valves. Further, the control coil and permanent magnet arrangement in a DPLS provides a more compact package over the design of conventional solenoids and permanent magnet solenoids of the same magnetic holding force used in the art of valves. 
         [0004]    For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 the flux from the control coil is used to repel the magnet armature and in conventional permanent magnet solenoids the flux from the control coil adds or subtracts from the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet, both requiring the force from the magnetic flux to be low in order to keep the coil and thus the input power low. In a DPLS, the flux from the control coil causes the flux from the permanent magnet to be redirected or diverted between one of two paths in the surrounding magnetic material; requiring little power to produce the two magnetic latching positions that provide a balanced bi-directional magnetic force at each latching position. Such that, a DPLS can be designed to have magnetic latching or holding forces against the pressure of the medium much higher than in valves like U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,090 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,791 or similar valves with control coils or solenoids of the same size, while requiring lower pulsed power due to the bi-stable dual flux path nature caused by the permanent magnet&#39;s position in the DPLS. 
         [0005]    To rapidly divert the path of the flux from the permanent magnet in a DPLS without increasing the solenoid or control coils, a pulse capacitor power system is needed. A pulse capacitor power system differs in power delivery from the pass-through capacitive mode shown in  FIG. 3  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447, the rectified AC mode of  FIG. 13  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447, or the direct battery switch. mode in U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,450. The difference is due to the fact that in a pulse capacitor power system, the control coils can be charged to the output voltage before turning on a switch to pass the activation current to ground. That is, in the pass-through capacitive mode of  FIG. 3  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 the capacitor is charged up to the output voltage after switching, in the rectified AC mode of  FIG. 13  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 the activation current is time varying being half off during a cycle, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,450 the direct battery switch mode is known to be slower than a pulsed capacitive mode, such that a battery requires a faster switch to be used to prevent the current from overheating the control coils, whereas the capacitor discharges its power in a rapid pulse. In General, these other patented devices show power circuits that are slower to activate and/or require higher power input verse a pulse capacitor power system, 
         [0006]    A pulse capacitor power system developed to power a DPLS is the BI-STABLE PERMANENT MAGNET ACTIVATION SYSTEM (BSPMAS) of U.S. Pat. No. 9,343,216. Together the DPLS and BSPMAS provide a compact, energy efficient and versatile power method for providing the reciprocate actuation required by the present invention. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The invention is composed primarily of two valves, each attached on opposite sides of a Dual Position Latching Solenoid (DPLS), which is pulsed powered to reciprocate the actions of the armature in the DPLS, which reciprocates the actions of the moving members in the valves that control the flow of the medium through the valve. Using a DPLS to operate two valves reduces the energy requirement over using two separate non-permanent magnet type solenoid valves. The DPLS further reduces the energy requirement by magnetically latching between activations cycles and uses less energy over other permanent magnet type solenoids of the same magnetic force capability due to its bi-stable dual flux path nature, The dual position latching solenoid (DPLS) has been shown to work at high magnetic holding force with no foreseen upper force limit for use in solenoid valves. Adapting a DPLS to two valves produces an energy efficient DASV with higher holding forces against the pressure of the medium than conventional permanent magnet solenoid valves for controlling the medium through the two valves simultaneously. It is then an objective of the present invention to provide an energy efficient DASV for use in various dual valve applications. 
         [0008]    The use of the pulsed capacitive power system known as the BSPMAS to active the control coils of the DPLS allows the DPLS to be versatile powered due to the charging of a capacitor and its rapid discharge into the control coils of the DPLS. The charge time of the capacitor is related to the power of the energy source, where high power electrical sources relates to quick charging time and low power electrical sources relates to slow charging time. Whereby, the power source requires matching to the reciprocation time of the present invention. 
         [0009]    Using a BSPMAS to operate the DPLS makes the present invention highly power versatile for controlling the flow of a medium through the two valves. It is then an objective of the present invention to provide a DASV that is highly power versatile for use in various dual valve applications. 
         [0010]    It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. 
         [0011]    Further, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples illustrate separate and independent valves about a DPLS, wherein integration of the valves about the DPLS into a less integrated design would still fall within the scope of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0012]    The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates the features of the present invention utilizing two poppet type two-way valves and one version of a Dual Position Latching Solenoid (DPLS); 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates the features of the poppet valve in  FIG. 1 , where  FIG. 2 a    is a normally opened valve and  FIG. 2 b    is a normally closed valve; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates the features of the DPLS in  FIG. 1 , where  FIG. 3 a    and  FIG. 3 b    show the two latching positions of the armature in the DPLS; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  illustrates the features of a bi-stable permanent magnet activation system (BSPMAS) that can be used with the present invention to activate the control coils in the DPLS to cause movement of the armature in the DPLS; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  illustrates the difference in the current traces for a current applied to a conventional solenoid in  FIG. 5 a    and for a current applied to a DPLS in  FIG. 5 a    using the BSPMAS of  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0018]      FIGS. 6-7  is  FIG. 1  to show the rightward movement of the valve members with the rightward movement of the armature in the DPLS in  FIG. 6  and the leftward movement of the valve members with the leftward movement of the armature in the DPLS in  FIG. 7 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0019]    Referring now to the drawings,  FIGS. 1-7  are provided to facilitate an understanding of the various aspects, features, and power application of the dual acting solenoid valve (DASV)  10  of the present invention using the DUAL POSITION LATCHING SOLENOID (DPLS)  30  of US PUP. 2012/0175974 and the BI-STABLE PERMANENT MAGNET ACTIVATION SYSTEM (BSPMAS) of U.S. Pat. 9,343,216 to facilitate operation of the two valves  20   a - b . In  FIGS. 1-7 , the dash boxes represent a combination of features. 
         [0020]    It is understood that a DPLS is a bi-stable permanent magnet actuator that uses the flux from the control coils to redirect or divert the flow path of the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet, and does not repel the magnet armature as in done in U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 or add or subtract from the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet that attracts the armature as is done in many conventional permanent magnet solenoids. 
         [0021]      FIG. 1  shows the embodiments of the dual acting solenoid valve (DASV)  10  comprising the two valves  20   a - b , the DPLS  30 , and a housing  40  firmly holding the DPLS  30  and firmly attached between the two valves  20   a - b.    
         [0022]      FIG. 2  shows representations of the valve  20  of  FIG. 1 , which is but one of many valve  20  designs that can be incorporated into the present invention. In  FIGS. 2 a - b   , the valve  20  is a two-way poppet type valve that is a variation of U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,791 with  FIG. 2 a    being a normally open valve and  FIG. 2 b    being a normally closed valve. The valve  20  is comprised of a valve housing  21  of a material commonly used for the type of flow medium applied, a stem or shaft  26  that transfers the force from the DPLS  30  of  FIG. 1  to the valve  20 , a poppet  22  with O-rings  28   a,    28   b  and  28   c  that accepts the force on the shaft  26  to control the flow of the medium through the housing  21 , a spring  23  to return the poppet  22  to the position shown, a closure  24  with sealing method as an O-Ring to prevent leakage of the medium and holding method as threads to prevent expulsion of the closure  24  from the housing  21  due to the force on the spring  23 , a spring adjustment  25  to balance the force on the poppet  22  through the shaft  26 , ports  27   a - b  for in and out flow path of the medium as indicated by the arrows with appropriate threads for connecting with tubing or piping with which the valve  20  is intended to be used. 
         [0023]    It is understood that the only difference in the normally open valve of  FIG. 2 a    and normally closed valve of  FIG. 2 b    is the design of the poppet  22 . 
         [0024]    It is also understood that the poppet  22  and shaft  26  are the moving members in the valve  20  for controlling flow of the medium. 
         [0025]    It is further understood that the stem or shaft  26  can be integral to the moving member in a valve.  FIG. 3  show cross-sectional views of the DPLS  30  of US PUP. 2012/0175974 in the two latching positions. The DPLS  30  is cylindrical in shape and comprises: an armature  31  composed of attractive pieces  31   a - b , and a shaft  31   c  firmly attached to the attractive pieces  31   a - b ; and a permanent-electromagnet composed of a toroidal shaped permanent magnet  32 , two control coils  33   a - b , two pole pieces  34   a - b . The attractive pieces  31   a - b  and the pole pieces  34   a - b  are preferably formed of soft iron, steel or some other magnetic material, with the preferred material being one which provides low reluctance, exhibits low hysteresis, and has a high magnetic flux density capability; likewise could be of laminate type construction. The permanent magnet  32  is preferably poled north inward-south outward with the south to north direction given by the direction of the large dark arrow. 
         [0026]    In  FIG. 3 , the path of the magnetic field from the permanent magnet  32  through the pole pieces  34   a - b  and attractive pieces  31   a - b  are illustrated for the magnetically latched attractive piece  31   a  in  FIG. 3 a    or  3   b  in  FIG. 3 b    by the thin solid arrows and for a the non-magnetically latched attractive piece  31   b  in  FIG. 3 a    or  31   a  in  FIG. 3 b    by the thin dashed arrows. Where the thin solid arrows represent a larger attractive magnetic force between an attractive pieces  31   a  or  31   b  and the pole pieces  34   a - b  than the thin dashed arrows. 
         [0027]    It is understood that when current is applied to one or both control coils  33   a - b  in one direction causes the attractive pieces  31   a - b  to move from a magnetically latched ( 31   a  in  FIGS. 3 a  and 31 b    in  FIG. 3 b   ) to a non-magnetically latched position ( 31   b  in  FIGS. 3 a  and 31 a    in  FIG. 3 b   ) and vice versa with oppositely directed applied current. 
         [0028]    It is also understood that under no current application to the control coils  33   a - b , one attractive pieces  31   a  or  31   b  will be magnetically latched to the pole pieces  34   a - b  and the other attractive pieces  31   b  or  31   a  will be non-magnetically latched to the pole pieces  34   a - b  and separated by a “gap” defined by the difference between the length of shaft  31   c  and the length of the pole pieces  34   a - b.    
         [0029]      FIG. 4  presents a slight alternate version of  FIG. 2  in the BSPMAS of U.S. Pat. No. 9,343,216. In  FIG. 4 , the BSPMAS  50  comprises a power source  51 , switches  52   a,    52   b,  and  52   b,  voltage conditioner  53 , capacitor  55 , and control circuit  56 . The high voltage side of the voltage conditioner  53  is connected to the high voltage side of the capacitor  55  and the control coils  33   a - b  in the DPLS  30  of the present invention as represented by the smaller dash box, whereby the low voltage side of the voltage conditioner  53  and capacitor  55  is connected to the common ground of the power source  51 . The control coils  33   a - b  in the DPLS of the present invention are also connected to the same common ground of the power source  51  through switches  52   b - c.    
         [0030]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , when switch  52   a  is turned on by the control Circuit  56 , power from the power source  51  is supplied to the voltage conditioner  53 . The voltage conditioner  53  is of design to convert the input voltage supplied by the power source  51  to the output voltage required to operate the present invention by supplying an input current to the capacitor  55 , as indicated by the small arrow  57   a,  and allows the present invention to be used with any electrical power source—making the present invention power versatile. The voltage on the capacitor  55  builds up as the input current is supplied by the voltage conditioner  53 , whereby the control circuit  56  may need to monitor the voltage on the capacitor  55 , as indicated by the control line from the voltage conditioner  53  to point  61 . The capacitor  55  is of design to deliver the output voltage and output current as a power pulse (voltage and current) to operate the present invention when switch  52   a  or  52   b  is turned on. The output current, as indicated by the large arrow  57   b,  from the capacitor  55  is delivered as a discharge current on the order of milli-seconds through the control coils  33   a - b  in the DPLS  30  of the present invention, when either switch  52   b  or  52   c  is turned on by the control circuit  56  to allow the output current to pass to the common ground. 
         [0031]    Although other powering circuits and control coil connections can be used, the placement of the switches  52   b - c  between the control coils  33   a - b  in the DPLS  30  of the present invention and the common ground has been found to be favorable to the use of solid state switches as the majority of the voltage drop is across the control coils  33   a - b.    
         [0032]    It is understood that the BSPMAS  50  of  FIG. 4  differs in power delivery from the pass-through capacitive, mode shown in  FIG. 3  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447, the rectified AC mode of  FIG. 13  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447, or the direct battery switch mode in U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,450. The difference is due to the fact that the BSPMAS, as shown in  FIG. 4 , allows the control coils  33   a - b  to be charged at the output voltage before turning on the switch  52   b  or  52   c,  where the pass-through capacitive mode of  FIG. 3  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 requires the capacitor to charge up after switching, the rectified AC mode of  FIG. 13  of U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,447 produces a time varying current being half off during a cycle, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,450 the direct battery switch mode is slower than the pulsed capacitive mode, such that it requires a fast switch to prevent the current from overheating the control coils  33   a - b , whereas the capacitor  55  discharges a rapid pulse, which bleeds to zero current as shown in  FIG. 5 b   , preventing overheating of the control coils  33   a - b.    
         [0033]      FIG. 5  are current traces to illustrate the difference between the pulsed output current delivered to the DPLS  30  of the present invention by the BSPMAS  50  of  FIG. 4  and steady state currents applied to conventional solenoids. 
         [0034]    As shown in  FIG. 5 a    when a DC voltage is impressed across the coil in a conventional solenoid, the current will rise to point (a), where the armature motion occurs as represented by the downward current to point (b), then the current moves along trace (c) to a “Steady State Current.” 
         [0035]      FIG. 5 b    is a pulsed current trace from a version of a DPLS  30  used in the present invention using the same capacitor/voltage setup and the method of  FIG. 4 , where  FIG. 5 b    shows the ideal pulsed current trace to the control coils  33   a - b  for minimum energy usage. In comparison to  FIG. 5 a   , the pulsed current trace in  FIG. 5 b   , does not show a high “Steady State Current” as once the capacitor is discharged, no more or very little power is delivered to the control coils  33   a - b . The absent of the “Steady State Current” represents an energy savings over prior art solenoids that are not of the DPLS design. 
         [0036]      FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  show the present invention with two normally open valves  20 ( a - b ) of  FIG. 2 a    in  FIG. 6  and two normally closed valves  20   a - b  of  FIG. 2 b    in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0037]    It is understood that the two valves  20   a - b  in the present invention can be one normally opened valve and one normally closed valve. 
         [0038]    It is also understood that the housings  21  of the valve  20   a  and the valve  20   b  are attached to the DPLS  30  housing  40  by any means appropriate to thinly prevent movement. 
         [0039]    In  FIG. 6  and with respect to  FIG. 3 a   , the attractive piece  31   a  is in the magnetically latched position while attractive piece  31   b  is in the non-magnetically latched position, to cause the poppet  22  in the left valve  20   a  to be in its normally opened position to allow passage of a medium from port  27   a  to port  27   b , and to cause the poppet  22  in the valve  20   b  to be in a closed position to prevent passage of a medium from port  27   a  to port  27   b,  where the solid arrows at port  27   a - b  in the left valve  20   a  represent flow of the medium and the dash arrow at port  27   a - b  in the right valve  20   b  represent no-flow of the medium. 
         [0040]    In  FIG. 7  and with respect to  FIG. 3 b   , the attractive piece  31   a  is in the non-magnetically latched position while attractive piece  31   b  is in the magnetically latched position, to cause the poppet  22  in the valve  20   b  to be in its normally closed position to prevent passage of a medium from port  27   a  to port  27   b,  and to cause the poppet  22  in the left valve  20   a  to be in a opened position to allow passage of a medium from port  27   a  to port  27   b , where the solid arrows at port  27   a - b  in the valve  20   a  represent flow of the medium and the dash arrow at port  27   a - b  in the right valve  20   b  represent no-flow of the medium. 
         [0041]    It is understood that by activating the DPLS  30  in  FIG. 6  or  FIG. 7  to reverse the latching of the attractive pieces  31   a - b  will reverse the flow of the medium in the valves  20   a - b.    
         [0042]    Using the BSPMAS of  FIG. 4 , operation of the DASV  10  is performed by sending a pulsed current to either control coil  33   a  or  33   b  in the DPLS  30  to cause the armature  31  in the DPLS  30  to move rightward or leftward and facilitate the movements of the poppets  22  in each valve  20   a - b  rightward or leftward, while compressing or decompressing the springs  23  in each valve  20   a - b.    
         [0043]    For example, in  FIG. 6 , the armature  31  in the DPLS  30  has moved rightward to allow the decompression of spring  23  in valve  20   a  to move the poppet  22  rightward in valve  20   a,  opening flow of the medium though valve  20   a,  while in valve  20   b  the poppet  22  is moved rightward by the movement of the armature  31  in the DPLS  30 , closing flow of the medium though valve  20   b  and compressing the spring  23  in valve  20   b.    
         [0044]    In  FIG. 7 , the armature  31  in the DPLS  30  has moved leftward to move the poppet  22  in valve  20   a  leftward, opening flow of the medium though valve  20   a  and compressing the spring  23  in valve  20   a,  while in valve  20   b  the decompression of the spring  23  in valve  20   b  moves the poppet  22  leftward, closing flow of the medium though valve  20   b.    
         [0045]    It is understood that the reverse leftward or rightward movement of the armature  31  in  FIGS. 6-7  cause reverse movement of the poppets  22  in valves  20   a - b , reverse compression-decompression of the springs  23  in the valves  20   a - b , and reverse flow of the medium though valves  20   a - b.    
         [0046]    It is also understood that other types of valves can be used in place of the two valves  20   a - b  without changing the scope of the invention. 
         [0047]    It is further understood that the moving members in the valves could be physically attached to the armature  31  of the DPLS  30 , levitating the need for the springs  23  in the two valves  20   a - b.