Patent ID: 7258058

Claim:
A metering valve, comprising: a valve body having an inlet and an outlet; a main poppet being disposed within the valve body between the inlet and the outlet, having a nose end and a control end, and being movable between a flow-passing position at which fluid flows from the inlet to the outlet, and a flow-blocking position at which fluid flow between the inlet and outlet is blocked; a solenoid-operated pilot element movable between a flow-blocking position at which pressurized fluid from the inlet pressurizes a control chamber in communication with the control end of the main poppet to urge the main poppet toward the flow-blocking position, and a flow-passing position at which the control chamber is communicated with a drain to move the main poppet toward the flow-passing position; and a relief valve element disposed between the inlet and the outlet and configured to drain pressurized fluid from the control chamber to move the main poppet toward the flow-passing position in response to a pressure at the inlet exceeding a predetermined pressure.