JP7481841B2 - Drive and valve device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a drive device and a valve device used in a valve device that controls the flow rate of a fluid by moving a valve body.

2. Description of the Related Art One example of a valve device in which a drive device is attached inside a valve body formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-233696.
Patent document 1 describes a structure in which a portion of the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical portion (part indicated by symbol 5) of a drive device equipped with a valve body 7 serves as an attachment portion and is attached in a state in which it is inserted from the opening side so as to contact the inner surface of a bottomed cylindrical valve body 1.

JP 2017-101741 A

In a structure such as that described in Patent Document 1, in which the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical part of the drive device is inserted and attached so that it contacts the inner surface of the bottomed cylindrical valve body, the dimensional precision of the contacting parts of both parts must be high in order to position the cylindrical part of the drive device relative to the valve body. For this reason, manufacturing it is not easy.

The object of the present invention is to facilitate the manufacture of a drive unit that is inserted and attached so that the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion of the drive unit contacts the inner surface of a bottomed cylindrical valve body.

To solve the above problems, the driving device according to the present invention is a driving device comprising a movable member, a driving section for driving the movable member, and an attachment section for attaching to a workpiece, the attachment section comprising a cylindrical section inserted into the workpiece, and a plurality of protrusions provided on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical section that come into contact with the workpiece to determine positioning relative to the workpiece.

According to this aspect, the mounting portion has a plurality of protrusions on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion that is inserted into the member to be attached, which contact the member to be attached and position the member to be attached. Since the positioning is performed by the plurality of protrusions, it is not necessary to perform the positioning process on the entire outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion, and it is only necessary to perform the process on the protrusions, which makes the manufacturing process easy.

In addition, in the above drive device of the present invention, it is preferable that the number of protrusions is an odd number of three or more.

According to this aspect, the number of protrusions is an odd number, three or more, so the relative arrangement of each protrusion can be appropriately set.

Furthermore, in the above drive device of the present invention, it is preferable that the number of protrusions is an even number of four or more.

According to this aspect, the number of protrusions is an even number of four or more, so the relative arrangement of each protrusion can be appropriately set.

In addition, in the driving device of the present invention, it is preferable that each of the even number of protrusions is arranged in pairs symmetrically with respect to the center of the cylindrical portion.

According to this aspect, the even number of protrusions are arranged in pairs symmetrically about the center of the cylindrical portion, so that the positioning process of the cylindrical portion having the protrusions can be easily performed in a well-balanced manner.

Furthermore, in the above drive device of the present invention, it is preferable that the number of the protrusions is four, and that the protrusions are arranged such that the line segments connecting the protrusions to the center of the cylindrical portion are at an angle of 90 degrees to adjacent protrusions.

According to this aspect, the four protrusions are arranged so that the line segments connecting them to the center of the cylindrical portion are adjacent to each other at an angle of 90 degrees. In other words, the four protrusions are arranged at positions that are equally divided into four parts, making it easier to improve the positioning accuracy.

In addition, in the driving device of the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of protrusions are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

According to this aspect, the multiple protrusions are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, making it easier to improve the positioning accuracy.

Furthermore, in the drive unit according to the present invention, it is preferable that each of the plurality of protrusions has a semicylindrical shape with the insertion direction as an axial direction.
Here, the term "semi-cylindrical shape" refers to a column whose cross section cut along a plane passing through the central axis is not limited to an exact semicircular column, but rather whose cross section cut along a plane parallel to the plane passing through the central axis but not passing through the central axis has a shape formed by a chord and an arc, in other words, a column whose surface as viewed from the axial direction is formed by an arc and a chord.

According to this aspect, each of the multiple protrusions has a semi-cylindrical shape with the insertion direction as the axial direction, which makes it easier to increase stability when attached to the mounting member compared to a convex curved shape, etc.

In the present invention, it is also preferable that the driving device has a flange on the rear side of the cylindrical portion in the insertion direction, the flange having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical portion.

When the cylindrical portion is attached to the workpiece, a gap is formed between each of the projections of the cylindrical portion and the workpiece.
According to this aspect, a flange having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical portion is provided on the rear side of the cylindrical portion in the insertion direction, so that when the cylindrical portion is attached to the workpiece, the flange can cover the gap.

To solve the above problems, the valve device according to the present invention is a valve device comprising a valve body formed in a bottomed cylindrical shape and a drive device of any one of the above aspects attached to the inside of the valve body, the drive device being attached to the valve body as the attached member by the attachment part, and performing valve operation between the drive device and the valve body by driving the movable member.

According to this aspect, the valve device can achieve the same effect as the drive device of any one of the above aspects.

The present invention makes it easy to manufacture a drive unit that is inserted and attached so that the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion of the drive unit contacts the inner surface of the bottomed tubular valve body.

1 is an overall perspective view illustrating an overview of a valve device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a perspective view showing the drive device according to the first embodiment, as viewed from a different direction. FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view of the drive device according to the first embodiment. 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating the arrangement of protrusions of a drive device according to another embodiment. 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating the arrangement of protrusions of a drive device according to another embodiment. 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating the arrangement of protrusions of a drive device according to another embodiment.

[Embodiment 1]
As an example of a valve device according to the present invention, a valve device 1 according to a first embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 1 to 3. The valve device 1 according to the first embodiment is used as a bypass valve for a throttle valve of a gasoline engine (not shown), and controls the amount of air flowing from the outside and heading toward the gasoline engine.
1, the valve device 1 includes a valve body 2 formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom, and a drive device 4 attached to the inside of the valve body 2 with the valve body 2 serving as a mounting member. Note that Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the valve device 1 with the valve body 2 and the drive device 4 disassembled, in other words, a state before the drive device 4 is attached to the valve body 2.

<Valve body>
The valve body 2 has a bottom 6 and a peripheral wall 8. The bottom 6 is formed in a disk shape. The peripheral wall 8 is formed in a cylindrical shape and extends in one direction from the outer periphery of the bottom 6. The thickness of the peripheral wall 8 is, for example, thicker than the thickness of the bottom 6. An opening 14 is formed on the peripheral wall 8 on the side opposite to the bottom 6. In this way, the valve body 2 is formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom.

In the following description, the thickness direction of the bottom 6 and the axial direction of the peripheral wall 8 will be referred to as the Z-axis direction. The open side of the peripheral wall 8 will be referred to as the +Z side, and the bottom 6 side of the peripheral wall 8 will be referred to as the -Z side. An inlet 10 is formed in the circular center of the bottom 6, penetrating the bottom 6 in the Z-axis direction. The inlet 10 has a circular shape when viewed from the Z-axis direction. The inlet 10 functions as an inlet through which air, as an example of a fluid, flows in.

An outlet 12 is formed in the peripheral wall 8 at a location on the -Z side of the center in the Z-axis direction, penetrating the peripheral wall 8 in the thickness direction. The outlet 12 functions as an outlet through which air, as an example of a fluid, flows. In the following explanation, the thickness direction of the peripheral wall 8 and the opening direction of the outlet 12 will be referred to as the X-axis direction. The X-axis direction is perpendicular to the Z-axis direction. The direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction and the Z-axis direction will be referred to as the Y-axis direction. The Z-axis direction is an example of a preset direction. The Y-axis direction is an example of an intersecting direction that intersects with the Z-axis direction.

The shape of the outlet 12 is circular when viewed from the X-axis direction. The diameter of the outlet 12 is, for example, larger than the diameter of the circle of the inlet 10. The length from the edge of the outlet 12 to the bottom 6 in the Z-axis direction is, for example, shorter than the length from the edge of the inlet 12 to the peripheral wall 8 in the X-axis direction. Air inside the valve body 2 flows through the outlet 12 toward the gasoline engine.

<Drive unit>
As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the drive unit 4 is an example of a valve body drive unit, and has a plunger 20 which is the valve body, i.e., the movable member, a drive unit 40 which drives the plunger 20, and an attachment unit 41 for attachment to the valve body 2 which is the member to be attached.
(Movable member/plunger)
Specifically, the plunger 20 is composed of a base portion 21 , a reduced diameter portion 22 , and an insertion portion 23 .
The base 21 is formed in a cylindrical shape with its axial direction being in the Z-axis direction and with a bottom that opens toward the +Z side. A female threaded hole (not shown) extending in the Z-axis direction is formed in the center of the inside of the base 21. This female threaded hole is formed to a length that reaches the reduced diameter portion 22. A lead screw 24, which will be described later, is inserted into the female threaded hole. The outer circumferential surface of the base 21 does not contact the peripheral wall portion 3 of the valve body 2.
The reduced diameter portion 22 is a portion that extends to the -Z side continuously from the -Z side end of the base portion 21 and is formed so that the -Z side has a smaller diameter than the +Z side. In other words, the reduced diameter portion 22 is formed in a truncated cone shape.

The insertion section 23 extends to the -Z side, continuing from the -Z end of the reduced diameter section 22, and is a section where the -Z side is smaller in diameter than the +Z side. In other words, the insertion section 23 is formed in a truncated cone shape with an outer diameter smaller than that of the reduced diameter section 22. The insertion section 23 is also the section that is inserted into the inlet 10. When viewed from the X-axis direction, the angle that the oblique side corresponding to the outer circumferential surface of the insertion section 23 makes with the Z-axis direction is preset, so that the flow rate of air when the insertion section 23 is inserted into the inlet 10 can be controlled.

The plunger 20 is provided inside the valve body 2 so as to be movable along the Z direction. The plunger 20 opens and closes the inlet 10 by retracting the insertion portion 23 from the inlet 10 or inserting it into the inlet 10.

(Drive part)
The drive unit 40 includes a motor body 42 , a circuit board (not shown), and the lead screw 24 .
The motor body 42 is formed in a cylindrical shape with its axial direction in the Z direction, and is attached to the valve body 2 with the opening 14 closed. The motor body 42 is configured as a stepping motor, as an example. In the figure, reference numeral 5 denotes a casing. The casing 5 holds the motor body 42. In the figure, reference numeral 7 denotes a connector housing.

The circuit board is supplied with power from a power supply unit (not shown) and is instructed as to the direction of rotation, thereby causing the motor body 42 to rotate in a forward direction or a reverse direction.
The lead screw 24 extends from the motor body 42 along the Z-axis direction toward the -Z side, and is rotated by operating the motor body 42. A male thread (not shown) is formed on the outer periphery of the lead screw 24. This male thread is screwed into the female thread of the female threaded hole. As a result, when the motor body 42 rotates the lead screw 24, the rotational motion is converted into linear motion, and the plunger 20 moves forward and backward in the Z-axis direction. In this way, the drive unit 40 moves the plunger 20 in the Z-axis direction.

(Mounting part, protrusion)
The mounting portion 41 comprises a cylindrical portion 43 which is inserted in the Z-axis direction into the opening 14 of the valve body 2, which is the member to be mounted, and a plurality of protrusions 47 which are provided on the outer circumferential surface 45 of the cylindrical portion 43 and come into contact with the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8 of the valve body 2 to position the mounting portion 41 relative to the valve body 2. In other words, the plurality of protrusions 47 are arranged concentrically with respect to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43, thereby enabling the above-mentioned positioning to be performed. The opening 14 of the valve body 2 is connected via a step portion 17 to the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 3, which has a smaller diameter than the opening 14.
In this embodiment, the number of the protrusions 47 is an even number, specifically, four protrusions 47 are provided. As shown in Fig. 3, the four protrusions 47 are arranged such that four line segments d connecting the four protrusions 47 to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43 are adjacent to each other at an angle of 90 degrees.
The number of protrusions 47 is not limited to four, but may be six as shown in the upper diagram (A) or eight as shown in the lower diagram (B) in FIG. 4, or may be an even number greater than that.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the multiple protrusions 47 can be said to be arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. In Figure 3, they are arranged at intervals of 1/4 of the circumference, in the upper drawing of Figure 4 (A), they are arranged at intervals of 1/6 of the circumference, and in the lower drawing of Figure 4 (B), they are arranged at intervals of 1/8 of the circumference.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the shape of the protrusion 47 is a semi-cylindrical shape with the Z-axis, which is the insertion direction, as its axial direction. The shape of the protrusion 47 is not limited to the semi-cylindrical shape. Any shape that allows for positioning may be used, such as a trapezoidal shape in which the portion where the protrusion 47 contacts the peripheral wall portion 3 of the valve body 2 is a flat surface, or a hemispherical shape.

The outer diameter of the cylindrical portion 43 is smaller than the inner diameter of the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8 of the valve body 2 by the amount of the protrusions 47. In other words, a gap is formed between the portions of the outer circumferential surface 45 of the cylindrical portion 43 between adjacent protrusions 47 and the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8 of the valve body 2. Due to the presence of this gap, only the portions of the multiple protrusions 47 come into contact with the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 3, making the positioning easier.
In this embodiment, a flange 48 having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical portion 43 is provided on the rear side (+Z direction side) of the cylindrical portion 43 in the insertion direction. The shape of the flange 48 is circular like the cylindrical portion 43, but is not limited to being circular as long as it has a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion 43.

<Description of Operation and Effects of First Embodiment>
1, by inserting the drive unit 4 into the peripheral wall portion 8 from the opening 14 of the valve body 2, the multiple protrusions 47 of the cylindrical portion 43 of the attachment portion 41 come into contact with the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8. This contact positions the drive unit 4 relative to the valve body 2. Specifically, the drive unit 4 is positioned so that the axis of the insertion portion 23 of the plunger 20 and the axis of the inlet 10 of the valve body 2 coincide with each other.

(1) According to this embodiment 1, the mounting portion 41 has a plurality of protrusions 47 on the outer circumferential surface 45 of the cylindrical portion 43 that is inserted into the valve body 2, which is the member to be mounted, that contact the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8 of the valve body 2 to position the mounting portion 41 relative to the valve body 2. Since the positioning is performed by the plurality of protrusions 47, it is not necessary to perform the positioning process on the entire outer circumferential surface 45 of the cylindrical portion 43, and only the protrusions 47 need to be processed, which makes the manufacturing process easy.

(2) Furthermore, a structure in which the protrusions 47 are an even number of four or more can be constructed by appropriately setting the relative position of each protrusion 47. Furthermore, in a structure in which the line segments d connecting the four protrusions 47 and the center C of the cylindrical portion 43 are arranged at an angle of 90 degrees to each other, the four protrusions are arranged at positions that are equally divided into four, making it easier to improve the positioning accuracy.
Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the multiple protrusions 47 are disposed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, which makes it easier to improve the positioning accuracy.

(3) Furthermore, according to this embodiment 1, each of the multiple protrusions 47 has a semi-cylindrical shape with the insertion direction (Z direction) as the axial direction, which makes it easier to increase stability when attached to the valve body 2 compared to a convex curved surface shape, etc.

(4) When the cylindrical portion 43 is attached to the valve body 2 , a gap is formed between each of the projections 47 of the cylindrical portion 43 and the inner surface 3 of the peripheral wall portion 8 of the valve body 2 .
According to this embodiment 1, a flange 48 having a larger diameter than the cylindrical portion 43 is provided on the rear side (+Z direction side) of the cylindrical portion 43 in the insertion direction, so that when the cylindrical portion 43 is attached to the valve body 2, the flange 48 can cover the gap.

[Embodiment 2]
Next, a second embodiment of the valve device according to the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 5. Note that parts common to the first embodiment will be given the same reference numerals and their description will be omitted. Also, description of the same functions and effects as the first embodiment will be omitted.

As shown in Fig. 5, in the second embodiment, an even number of protrusions 47 are arranged in pairs symmetrically with respect to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43. In the upper view (A) of Fig. 5, two pairs of four protrusions 47 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43. In this arrangement, the angle between adjacent line segments d is not 90 degrees (Fig. 3) as in the first embodiment. One of the two diagonal angles is an angle of 90 degrees or less, and the other is an angle of 90 degrees or more.
In the lower diagram (B) of Fig. 5, three pairs of six protrusions 47 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43. In this diagram (B), two of the three diagonal angles are at an angle of 90 degrees or less, and the remaining one is at an angle of 90 degrees or more. The two diagonal angles of the angle of 90 degrees or less are different angles. Such an arrangement is also possible.

According to this embodiment 2, each of the even number of protrusions 47 is arranged in pairs symmetrically with respect to the center C of the cylindrical portion 43, so that the positioning process of the cylindrical portion 43 having multiple protrusions 47 can be easily performed in a well-balanced manner.

[Embodiment 3]
Next, a valve device according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Note that parts common to the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals and their description will be omitted. Also, description of the same functions and effects as the first embodiment will be omitted.

As shown in Fig. 6, in the third embodiment, the number of protrusions 47 is an odd number equal to or greater than three. Here, a structure with three protrusions 47 is shown as an example. In the upper diagram (A) of Fig. 6, the angle between adjacent line segments is 120 degrees. That is, the three protrusions 47 are disposed at positions that divide 360 degrees into three equal parts.
In the bottom diagram of Figure 6 (B), adjacent line segments make different angles. Here, one angle is less than 90 degrees and the other two angles are greater than 90 degrees. Such an arrangement is also acceptable.
According to the third embodiment, the number of the protrusions 47 is an odd number, ie, three or more, so that the relative arrangement of the protrusions 47 can be appropriately set.

Other Embodiments
The drive unit and valve unit 10 according to each embodiment of the present invention are basically configured as described above, but it is of course possible to modify or omit parts of the configuration without departing from the gist of the present invention.

The valve device 1 has been shown to be used as a bypass valve for a throttle valve of a gasoline engine (not shown), but is not limited to this and can be applied to anything that controls a fluid that flows in from the outside and flows toward another outside.
The air flow may be reversed by interchanging the inlet 10 and the outlet 12 .

1... valve device, 2... valve body, 3... inner surface, 4... drive device,
5... casing, 6... bottom portion, 7... connector housing, 8... peripheral wall portion,
10 ... inlet, 12 ... outlet, 14 ... opening, 17 ... step portion,
20: plunger; 21: base portion; 22: reduced diameter portion; 23: insertion portion;
24: lead screw; 40: drive portion; 41: mounting portion;
42...motor body, 43...cylindrical portion, 45...outer circumferential surface, 47...projection portion, 48...flange,
C...center, d...line segment

Claims (8)

A movable member;
A drive unit that drives the movable member;
A drive device comprising:
The mounting portion is
A cylindrical portion to be inserted into the workpiece;
a plurality of protrusions provided on an outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion and contacting the workpiece to determine radial positioning with respect to the workpiece ;
a flange having a diameter larger than that of the cylindrical portion on a rear side in the insertion direction of the cylindrical portion ;
A drive device characterized by: 2. The drive device according to claim 1,
The number of the protrusions is an odd number of three or more.
A drive device characterized by: 2. The drive device according to claim 1,
The number of the protrusions is an even number of four or more.
A drive device characterized by: 4. The drive device according to claim 3,
The even number of protrusions are arranged in pairs symmetrically with respect to the center of the cylindrical portion.
A drive device characterized by: 4. The drive device according to claim 3,
The number of the protrusions is four,
The protrusions are arranged such that adjacent line segments connecting the protrusions to the center of the cylindrical portion are at an angle of 90 degrees.
A drive device characterized by: In the drive device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The plurality of protrusions are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
A drive device characterized by: In the drive device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
Each of the plurality of protrusions has a semi-cylindrical shape with the insertion direction as an axial direction.
A drive device characterized by: A valve body formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom;
A valve device comprising: the drive device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , which is attached inside the valve body;
The drive device is
The mounting portion is attached to the valve body as the mounted member,
A valve operation is performed between the movable member and the valve body by driving the movable member.
A valve device comprising:

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