Patent Description:
Nowadays, refrigeration devices (such as air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.) on the market are usually equipped with an electronic expansion valve, so as to use the electronic expansion valve to adjust the refrigerant flow on the refrigerant circulation pipeline. The electronic expansion valve generally includes a valve body and a stator assembly nested on the valve body to drive a rotor of the valve body to rotate. A conventional stator assembly includes a coil assembly for nesting with the valve body, and the conductor frame of the coil assembly is provided with magnetic pole teeth for contact with the valve body. However, these magnetic pole teeth are not completely able to contact the valve body, and there is a gap between the two. In this state, when an instantaneous pulse voltage of several kV (such as a lightning strike) is generated on the coil assembly, the current on the coil assembly is difficult to conduct. As a result, it is easy to generate discharge between the magnetic pole teeth and the housing of the valve body, thereby interfering with the surrounding circuits, and even breaking down the housing of the valve body, resulting in a greater safety hazard. <CIT> relates generally to an electronic expansion valve, which makes the installation of the coil assembly more convenient and stable. <CIT> relates generally to an electronic expansion valve which improves the safety of use. <CIT> relates generally to an electric valve in which a rotation-preventing member is provided on a stator. <CIT> relates generally to an actuator for a control device. <CIT> relates generally to a valve coil and an expansion valve. <CIT> relates generally to a stator assembly of a stepper motor.

In the following, each of the described methods, apparatuses, embodiments, examples, and aspects, which do not fully correspond to the invention as defined in the claims is thus not according to the invention and is, as well as the whole following description, present for illustration purposes only or to highlight specific aspects or features of the claims. Embodiments not falling under the scope of the claims should be interpreted as examples useful for understanding the invention. The main objective of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic expansion valve, and the stator assembly is applied to the electronic expansion valve, which aims to reduce the discharge of the coil assembly of the stator assembly due to high-voltage pulses, so as to improve the safety performance of the electronic expansion valve.

In order to achieve the above objective, the present disclosure provides an electronic expansion valve. The electronic expansion valve includes a housing, a coil assembly and a fixing member. An outer surface of the housing is provided with an installation opening; the coil assembly is provided in the housing, the coil assembly includes a metal shell for mounting a coil; and the fixing member is inserted through the installation opening to be fixedly connected with the metal shell, and the fixing member is configured for connecting with the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve to electrically conduct the metal shell and the conducting tube.

In an embodiment, an annular protrusion is provided on an outer side of the housing along a periphery of the installation opening, and an installation groove is formed inside the annular protrusion for the fixing member to be fixedly installed.

In an embodiment, the fixing member includes a base and two clamping arms extending from both ends of the base, the base is fixed in the installation groove, and is fixedly connected with the metal shell, and the two clamping arms are configured for clamping the conducting tube.

In an embodiment, the metal shell has a connection surface opposite to the installation opening, the base is provided with a fixing hole, and the base is fixedly connected with the connection surface through the fixing hole.

In an embodiment, the connection surface is provided with a protruding portion extending into the installation opening, and the fixing hole of the base is configured for the protruding portion to be inserted into.

In an embodiment, the connection surface is provided with at least two protruding portions, and the base is provided with one fixing hole corresponding to each protruding portion.

In an embodiment, the base is welded with the connection surface at a position where the fixing hole is located.

In an embodiment, the stator assembly further includes a sealing material filled in the installation groove, the sealing material covering at least the connection surface.

In an embodiment, each of the two clamping arms includes a first arm connected to the base and a second arm extending from the first arm, and the second arm is bent in a direction away from the other clamping arm to form a clamping area for clamping the conducting tube between the second arms of the two clamping arms.

In an embodiment, the first arm of each of the two clamping arms is bent away from the other clamping arm.

In an embodiment, the stator assembly is provided with a channel extending along an axis of the coil assembly, the channel is configured for installing a valve body of the electronic expansion valve, and an inner wall surface of the metal shell of the coil assembly is provided with magnetic pole teeth located in the channel.

The present disclosure further provides an electronic expansion valve, including: a valve body and a stator assembly. The stator assembly is nested on the valve body. The electronic expansion valve includes a housing, a coil assembly and a fixing member. An outer surface of the housing is provided with an installation opening; the coil assembly is provided in the housing, the coil assembly includes a metal shell for mounting a coil; and the fixing member is inserted through the installation opening to be fixedly connected with the metal shell, and the fixing member is configured for connecting with the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve to electrically conduct the metal shell and the conducting tube.

The present disclosure further provides a refrigeration device, including: a refrigerant circulation pipeline; and an electronic expansion valve. The electronic expansion valve is installed on the refrigerant circulation pipeline. The electronic expansion valve includes a housing, a coil assembly and a fixing member. An outer surface of the housing is provided with an installation opening; the coil assembly is provided in the housing, the coil assembly includes a metal shell for mounting a coil; and the fixing member is inserted through the installation opening to be fixedly connected with the metal shell, and the fixing member is configured for connecting with the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve to electrically conduct the metal shell and the conducting tube.

In technical solutions of the present disclosure, the outer side of the housing of the stator assembly is equipped with a fixing member. The fixing member is electrically connected with the metal shell of the coil assembly. The fixing member is configured for connecting with the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve, so as to electrically conduct the coil assembly and the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve. Therefore, when the coil assembly generates an instantaneous pulse voltage of several kV (such as lightning strike, etc.), the discharge phenomenon between the magnetic pole teeth of the coil assembly and the casing of the valve body is avoided (for details, please refer to the introduction later). Based on this, an installation opening is also provided on the outer surface of the housing, so that the metal shell of the coil assembly can be exposed from the installation opening. Therefore, the operator can insert the fixing member into the interior of the housing through the installation opening, and then the fixing member is fixedly connected with the metal shell.

The realization of the objective, functional characteristics, and advantages of the present disclosure are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be noted that if there is a directional indication (such as up, down, left, right, front, rear. ) in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the directional indication is only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement, etc. of the components in a certain posture (as shown in the drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will change accordingly.

As shown in <FIG>, the present disclosure provides an embodiment of a stator assembly. The stator assembly <NUM> is applied to an electronic expansion valve, which aims to reduce the occurrence of the discharge of the coil assembly <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> due to high-voltage pulses, thereby improving the safety performance of the electronic expansion valve.

As shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the stator assembly <NUM> includes a housing <NUM>, a coil assembly <NUM> and a fixing member <NUM>. An outer surface of the housing <NUM> is provided with an installation opening <NUM>. The coil assembly <NUM> is provided in the housing <NUM>, and the coil assembly <NUM> includes a metal shell <NUM> for mounting a coil <NUM>. The fixing member <NUM> is inserted through the installation opening <NUM> to be fixed with the metal shell <NUM>, and the fixing member <NUM> is fixed with the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve to electrically conduct the metal shell <NUM> and the conducting tube.

The housing <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> is made of plastic material, so that the housing <NUM> has no electrical conductivity, thereby improving the safety performance of the stator assembly <NUM>. The metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> is made of metal material, such as a cold-rolled plate, so that the metal shell <NUM> has both electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability. The coil <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM> is wound in the metal shell <NUM>. The stator assembly <NUM> is provided with a channel extending along the axis of the coil assembly <NUM>, and an inner wall surface of the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM> is provided with magnetic pole teeth 121a located in the channel.

As shown in <FIG>, when the stator assembly <NUM> is assembled with the valve body <NUM> of the electronic expansion valve, the valve body <NUM> is first inserted into the channel of the stator assembly <NUM>, and the casing <NUM> of the valve body <NUM> is in contact with the magnetic pole teeth 121a, so that the valve body <NUM> and the stator assembly <NUM> are nested together. Then, the fixing member <NUM> on the outer side of the stator assembly <NUM> is fixedly connected to the conducting tube of the valve body <NUM>, so that the coil assembly <NUM> is electrically connected to the ground through the conducting tube. Therefore, when the coil assembly <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> generates an instantaneous pulse voltage of several kV (such as a lightning strike, etc.), the current on the coil assembly <NUM> is conducted to the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve through the fixing member <NUM>, and then conducted out through the conducting tube (e.g., conducted to the ground). Therefore, it is difficult to generate discharge between the magnetic pole teeth 121a of the coil assembly <NUM> and the casing <NUM> of the valve body <NUM>, thereby avoiding interference with surrounding circuits or breakdown of the casing <NUM> of the valve body <NUM>.

It should be noted that the conducting pipe of the valve body <NUM> of the electronic expansion valve includes a first conducting pipe <NUM> and a second conducting pipe <NUM>. One of the first conducting pipe <NUM> and the second conducting pipe <NUM> is an inlet conducting pipe, and the other is an outlet conducting pipe. The fixing member <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> may be fixedly connected with the first conducting tube <NUM> or may be fixedly connected with the second conducting tube <NUM>, which is not limited herein.

In this embodiment, considering that the coil assembly <NUM> is enclosed by the housing <NUM> and is blocked by the housing <NUM>, the fixing member <NUM> is not easy to be directly connected and assembled with the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM>. Therefore, an installation opening <NUM> is provided on the outer surface of the housing <NUM>, so that the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM> can be exposed from the installation opening <NUM>, the operator can insert the fixing member <NUM> into the interior of the housing <NUM> through the installation opening <NUM>, and then the fixing member <NUM> is fixedly connected with the metal shell <NUM>.

Since the fixing member <NUM> is used to electrically connect the coil assembly <NUM> and the valve body <NUM> of the electronic expansion valve, the fixing member <NUM> should be made of material with electrical conductivity, for example, the fixing member <NUM> should be made of metal material. It is worth mentioning that, in order to prevent the fixing member <NUM> from affecting the magnetic force of the coil assembly <NUM>, in an embodiment, the fixing member <NUM> is made of a non-magnetic metal material.

The fixing method of the fixing member <NUM> and the metal shell <NUM> may be welding or riveting. The connection method between the fixing member <NUM> and the conducting tube of the electronic expansion valve may be a clamping connection or a clamping connection, which will be described in detail later.

In technical solutions of the present disclosure, the outer side of the housing <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> is equipped with a fixing member <NUM>. The fixing member <NUM> is electrically connected with the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM>. The fixing member <NUM> is used for clamping and fixing to the valve body <NUM> of the electronic expansion valve, so as to electrically conduct the coil assembly <NUM> and the valve body <NUM> of the electronic expansion valve. Therefore, when the coil assembly <NUM> generates an instantaneous pulse voltage of several kV (such as lightning strike, etc.), the discharge phenomenon between the magnetic pole teeth 121a of the coil assembly <NUM> and the casing <NUM> of the valve body <NUM> is avoided (for details, please refer to the introduction later). Based on this, in order to facilitate the connection and fixation between the fixing member <NUM> and the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM>, an installation opening <NUM> is also provided on the outer surface of the housing <NUM>, so that the metal shell <NUM> of the coil assembly <NUM> can be exposed from the installation opening <NUM>. Therefore, the operator can insert the fixing member <NUM> into the interior of the housing <NUM> through the installation opening <NUM>, and then the fixing member <NUM> is fixedly connected with the metal shell <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment, an annular protrusion <NUM> is provided on an outer side of the housing <NUM> along a periphery of the installation opening <NUM>, and an installation groove <NUM> is formed inside the annular protrusion <NUM> for the fixing member <NUM> to be installed. The installation groove <NUM> communicates with the installation opening <NUM>. When installing the fixing member <NUM>, the base <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> is extended into the installation groove <NUM>, and the base <NUM> is pressed against the surface of the metal shell <NUM>, and then the base <NUM> and the metal shell <NUM> are riveted or welded.

The annular protrusion <NUM> not only increases the space for assembling the fixing member <NUM> and the metal shell <NUM>, but also can accommodate more solder or sealing material. The annular protrusion <NUM> surrounds the installation opening <NUM>, so that the water droplets on the outer surface of the housing <NUM> are not easy to fall into the installation opening <NUM>, and also difficult to enter the coil assembly <NUM>, which has a better waterproof effect.

As shown in <FIG>, in an embodiment, the fixing member <NUM> includes a base <NUM> and two clamping arms <NUM> extending from both ends of the base <NUM>. The base <NUM> is fixed in the installation groove <NUM> and is fixedly connected with the metal shell <NUM>, and the two clamping arms <NUM> are configured for clamping on the conducting pipe of the valve body <NUM>.

The base <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> cooperates with the two clamping arms <NUM> and is arranged in a U-like shape. The base <NUM> is fixedly connected with the metal shell <NUM>, and the connection is also an electrical connection. The two clamping arms <NUM> are disposed opposite to each other, and the two clamping arms <NUM> are clamped on the conducting tube of the valve body <NUM> to be electrically connected. The structure of the fixing member <NUM> is not limited to this. In other embodiments, the fixing member <NUM> is designed as a structure having a clamping and fixing function, such as an elastic buckle or a clamping claw.

Further, the metal shell <NUM> has a connection surface 121b opposite to the installation groove <NUM>, the base <NUM> is provided with a fixing hole 131a, and the base <NUM> is fixedly connected to the connection surface 121b through the fixing hole 131a. As for the connection manner of the fixing hole 131a and the connection surface 121b, two implementations are listed below.

In an embodiment, the connection surface 121b is provided with a protruding portion 121c extending into the installation opening <NUM>; the fixing hole 131a of the base <NUM> is for the protruding portion 121c to be inserted into. In one embodiment, the fixing hole 131a and the protruding portion 121c are in an interference fit, and the fixing member <NUM> and the metal shell <NUM> can be connected and fixed after the two fit together. Since the protruding portion 121c is a part of the metal shell <NUM>, after the fixing hole 131a and the protruding portion 121c are inserted and matched, they are in electrical contact and conduct.

During the above process of extending the base <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> into the installation groove <NUM>, the protruding portions 121c on the connection surface 121b of the metal shell <NUM> are correspondingly inserted into the fixing holes 131a of the base <NUM>, the protruding portion 121c is in interference fit with the fixing hole 131a, so as to confine the fixing member <NUM> in the installation groove <NUM>. In this way, operations such as welding or snapping on the fixing member <NUM> can be performed without holding the fixing member <NUM> by hand.

The number of the protruding portions 121c may be one, two or more, which is not specifically limited herein. According to the number of the protruding portions 121b, the number of the fixing holes 131a on the fixing member <NUM> is reasonably arranged, so that each protruding portion 121b corresponds to a fixing hole 131a inserted and matched therewith. In one embodiment, the fixing member <NUM> is provided with at least two fixing holes 131a; the metal shell <NUM> is provided with at least two protruding portions 121b, and each protruding portion 121b is inserted into the fixing hole 131a opposite to it.

In another embodiment, the base <NUM> is connected to the connection surface 121b by welding at the position where the fixing hole 131a is located. During welding, the welding material is melted and solidified between the fixing hole 131a of the base <NUM> and the connection surface 121b to form a welding structure, the welding structure not only connects and fixes the base <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> and the connection surface 121b, but also electrically conducts the two, so that the connection surface 121b and the metal shell <NUM> are electrically connected.

Based on any of the above embodiments, considering that if the connection surface 121b of the metal shell <NUM> is directly exposed to the environment through the installation groove <NUM>, moisture in the environment may enter into the metal shell <NUM> through the installation groove <NUM>, which may easily cause a short circuit of the coil assembly <NUM>. In view of this, in order to avoid this situation, in an embodiment, the stator assembly <NUM> further includes a sealing material <NUM> filled in the installation groove <NUM>, and the sealing material <NUM> at least covers the connection surface 121b.

The sealing material <NUM> fills the installation groove <NUM> to cover the installation groove <NUM>, so that it is difficult for water droplets in the environment to flow into the metal shell <NUM> through the installation groove <NUM>, so as to ensure the safe and stable operation of the coil assembly <NUM>. As for the specific type of the sealing material <NUM>, the sealing material <NUM> is preferably made of a material with insulating properties and waterproof properties, such as a silicone material, a rubber material, and the like.

As shown in <FIG>, based on any of the above embodiments, each of the two clamping arms <NUM> includes a first arm 132a connected to the base <NUM> and a second arm 132b extending from the first arm 132a, and the second arm 132b is bent in a direction away from the other clamping arm <NUM> to form a clamping area 132c for clamping the conducting tube between the second arms 132b of the two clamping arms <NUM>.

The two clamping arms <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> have elasticity, so that the two clamping arms <NUM> can be elastically opened and clamped. When clamping the fixing member <NUM> on the valve body <NUM>, it is possible to first open the two clamping arms <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM> to both sides of the conducting pipe of the valve body <NUM>, and release the two clamping arms <NUM> of the fixing member <NUM>. The two clamping arms <NUM> can clamp the conducting tube in the clamping area 132c, so that the fixing member <NUM> can be clamped and fixed on the valve body <NUM>. When disassembling, the valve body <NUM> can be released by applying external force to the two clamping arms <NUM> to open, and then the fixing member <NUM> can be disassembled.

Further, the first arm 132a of each clamping arm <NUM> is bent in a direction away from the other clamping arm <NUM>. In this way, each clamping arm <NUM> can be formed with two bending positions, so that the elasticity of the clamping arm <NUM> can be increased. Therefore, the fixing member <NUM> can be adapted to hold more conducting tubes with different diameters, thereby improving the applicability of the fixing member <NUM>, that is, the applicability of the electronic expansion valve.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the present disclosure further provides an electronic expansion valve, the electronic expansion valve includes a valve body <NUM> and a stator assembly <NUM>, and the stator assembly <NUM> is nested on the valve body <NUM>. The valve body <NUM> is provided with a first conducting pipe <NUM> and a second conducting pipe <NUM>, and both the first conducting pipe <NUM> and the second conducting pipe <NUM> belong to the conducting pipe of the valve body <NUM>. The specific structure of the stator assembly <NUM> refers to the above-mentioned embodiments. The fixing member <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM> is connected and fixed with the first conducting tube <NUM> or the second conducting tube <NUM>. Since the electronic expansion valve adopts all the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, it also has all the beneficial effects brought by the technical solutions of the above-mentioned embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

The first conducting pipe <NUM> serves as an inlet conducting pipe, and the second conducting pipe <NUM> serves as an outlet conducting pipe. Since the first conducting pipe <NUM> and the second conducting pipe <NUM> are usually metal pipes, such as copper pipes, both the first conducting pipe <NUM> and the second conducting pipe <NUM> have good electrical conductivity. Based on this, the fixing member <NUM> can be fixedly connected with the first conducting pipe <NUM> or the second conducting pipe <NUM> of the valve body <NUM>, which can be connected through the ground. Specifically, since the first conducting tube <NUM> extends axially (horizontally) perpendicular to the channel <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM>, the second conducting tube <NUM> axially extends along the channel <NUM> of the stator assembly <NUM>, so that the first conducting tube <NUM> is relatively close to the fixing member <NUM> and is opposite to the fixing member <NUM>. Therefore, the fixing member <NUM> can be optionally clamped and fixed to the first conducting tube <NUM>, and the clamping difficulty is less when the distance is shorter.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, the manner in which the fixing member <NUM> is clamped with the first conducting tube <NUM> and/or the second conducting tube <NUM>, as described in the previous embodiment, the fixing member <NUM> has two clamping arms <NUM> (as shown in <FIG>), the two clamping arms <NUM> are clamped on the first conducting pipe <NUM> or the second conducting pipe <NUM>, so that the fixing member <NUM> is fixedly connected to the first conducting pipe <NUM> or the second conducting pipe <NUM>. Of course, the manner in which the fixing member <NUM> is connected to the first conducting pipe <NUM> or the second conducting pipe <NUM> is not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, screw fixing or bundling fixing may also be used.

Claim 1:
An electronic expansion valve comprising:
a valve body (<NUM>) provided with a first conducting tube (<NUM>) and a second conducting tube (<NUM>); and
a stator assembly (<NUM>), wherein the stator assembly (<NUM>) is nested on the valve body (<NUM>), and the stator assembly (<NUM>) comprises:
a housing (<NUM>), a bottom surface of the housing (<NUM>) being provided with an installation opening (<NUM>);
a coil assembly (<NUM>) provided in the housing (<NUM>), wherein the coil assembly (<NUM>) comprises a metal shell (<NUM>) and a coil (<NUM>), and the metal shell (<NUM>) is configured for mounting the coil (<NUM>); and
a fixing member (<NUM>), the fixing member (<NUM>) being inserted through the installation opening (<NUM>) to be fixedly connected with the metal shell (<NUM>),
wherein the fixing member (<NUM>) of the stator assembly (<NUM>) is fixedly connected with the first conducting tube (<NUM>) or the second conducting tube (<NUM>) to electrically conduct the metal shell (<NUM>) and the first conducting tube (<NUM>) or the second conducting tube (<NUM>);
wherein an annular protrusion (<NUM>) is provided on the bottom surface of the housing (<NUM>), extending in a direction perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing, along a periphery of the installation opening (<NUM>), and wherein an installation groove (<NUM>) is formed inside the annular protrusion (<NUM>) for the fixing member (<NUM>) to be fixedly installed;
wherein the fixing member (<NUM>) comprises a base (<NUM>) and two clamping arms (<NUM>) extending from both ends of the base (<NUM>) in a direction perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing (<NUM>), wherein the base (<NUM>) is fixed in the installation groove (<NUM>), and is fixedly connected with the metal shell (<NUM>), and wherein the two clamping arms (<NUM>) are configured for clamping the conducting tube.