Patent ID: 7156629

Claim:
A piping structure in a tire vulcanizing machine having upper and lower molds and a bladder which expands and contracts by the supply and discharge of a fluid, the piping structure comprising: a panel block comprising a block main body which extends longitudinally in a vertical direction and has a block side connection surface at a side surface thereof, wherein a main flow path and a plurality of auxiliary flow paths are formed in an inner portion of the block main body, the main flow path being connected to a main pipe which is connected to an inner portion of the bladder and the auxiliary flow paths being connected to a plurality of branch pipes; and a plurality of panel valves, each panel valve comprising a valve main body which includes an inflow path, an outflow path, a valve port, a valve body for opening and closing the valve port to selectively communicate the inflow path with the outflow path and isolate the inflow path from the outflow path, the valve main body having a valve side connection surface at one side of an outer surface thereof, wherein the valve side connection surface of each panel valve includes a first inflow port communicating with the inflow path and a first outflow port communicating with the outflow path, and the block side connection surface of the block main body includes a plurality of second outflow ports and a plurality of second inflow ports communicating with either the main flow path or a respective one of the auxiliary flow paths, the plurality of panel valves are each attached to the block main body side-by-side in a vertical direction by connecting the respective valve side connection surface and the block side connection surface in a face-to-face connection such that the respective first inflow port and one of the second outflow ports are matched, and the plurality of panel valves include a steam supply valve, a gas supply valve, a shaving gas supply valve, a gas recovery valve and an exhaust valve, the exhaust valve being provided a lowest position on the block main body of the panel block with respect to the plurality of panel valves.