Vehicle Thermal Management Integrated Water Valve and Flow Channel Control Method

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of control valves, and aims to solve the problem that the existing flow channel control devices can achieve relatively few medium flow forms, and provide a vehicle thermal management integrated water valve and a flow channel control method. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve includes a valve housing, which defines a plurality of valve chambers; each valve chamber is provided with a plurality of channel openings, and the adjacent valve chambers are correspondingly connected; a valve core is provided in the valve chamber, including an active valve core and a driven valve core; each driven valve core is directly or indirectly connected to the active valve core; the active valve core and the driven valve core each have at least one valve core flow channel; the active valve core is connected to an active gear, and the driven valve core is connected to a driven gear; the active gear and the driven gear are meshed and matched; the tooth circumference of the active gear has at least one toothless arc section, so that when the active gear rotates different circles or rotates in different rotation directions, the driven gear has different corresponding states. The beneficial effect of the present invention is that there are many flow channel forms.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of control valves, and in particular to a vehicle thermal management integrated water valve and a flow channel control method. Background Art

[0002] A water valve or a module formed by integrating multiple water valves is installed between various circulation loops as a device for controlling the flow direction and / or flow rate of a medium, for example, for use in vehicle thermal management.

[0003] However, the existing flow channel control device has the problem that the medium flow forms that can be realized are relatively few. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention aims to provide a vehicle thermal management integrated water valve and a flow channel control method to solve the problem that existing flow channel control devices have fewer achievable medium flow forms.

[0005] The embodiment of the present invention is achieved as follows:

[0006] A thermal management integrated water valve for a vehicle, comprising a valve housing, the valve housing defining a plurality of valve cavities; the valve housing is provided with a plurality of channel openings communicating with the valve cavities at locations corresponding to each of the valve cavities, and a group of channel openings between adjacent valve cavities are correspondingly communicated;

[0007] A valve core is disposed in each valve cavity, and a valve core as an active valve core is disposed in one of the valve cavities, and valve cores as driven valve cores are disposed in the other valve cavities; each driven valve core is directly or indirectly connected to the active valve core by transmission; the active valve core and the driven valve core each have at least one valve core flow channel;

[0008] The active valve core is connected to a driving gear, and the driven valve core is connected to a driven gear; the driving gear and the driven gear are meshed and matched;

[0009] The tooth circumference of the driving gear has at least one toothless arc segment, so that when the driving gear rotates different times or in different rotation directions, the driven gear has different corresponding states.

[0010] In one embodiment:

[0011] When the valve core rotates to some positions, the two ends of the valve core flow channel can correspond to or partially correspond to a group of channel openings of the same valve cavity to communicate with or partially communicate with the group of channel openings.

[0012] In one embodiment:

[0013] The driving gear is integrally arranged on the driving valve core, and the driven gear is integrally arranged on the corresponding driven valve core.

[0014] In one embodiment:

[0015] The outer diameter of the valve core is smaller than the inner diameter of the corresponding valve cavity. A valve port bushing and a valve port elastic member are provided at each of the channel openings; the valve port bushing communicates with the corresponding channel opening; the valve port elastic member is sleeved on the valve port bushing and abuts between the valve port bushing and the inner wall of the valve cavity, and the valve port bushing is elastically pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core, so that when the valve core rotates to make its valve core flow channel correspond to the valve port bushing, the channel opening communicates with the valve core flow channel through the valve port bushing, and when the valve core rotates to make its closed part correspond to the valve port bushing, the valve port bushing and the channel opening are closed by the valve core.

[0016] In one embodiment:

[0017] An intermediate bushing is provided at the connection between adjacent valve cavities in the valve housing, and the intermediate bushing has a flow port communicating with the adjacent valve cavities. The two ends of the intermediate bushing are respectively elastically abutted against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core in the adjacent valve cavities, so that when the valve core flow channels of the two valve cores both correspond to the intermediate bushing, the two valve core flow channels are communicated.

[0018] In one embodiment:

[0019] The valve housing includes a valve seat and a valve cover capable of covering the valve seat;

[0020] Each of the valve cores is rotatably fitted between the bottom wall of the valve seat and the valve cover.

[0021] In one embodiment:

[0022] An input shaft is connected to the upper part of the active valve core. The lower end of the input shaft is connected to the active valve core, and the upper end is an input end extending outside the valve cover, which is used to drive the active valve core to rotate under the drive of an actuator.

[0023] In one embodiment:

[0024] There is one active valve core and one driven valve core, which are respectively arranged in two valve cavities of the valve housing;

[0025] Four channel openings are circumferentially and uniformly arranged at each valve cavity, and a pair of channel openings of the two valve cavities are correspondingly connected to form a common flow channel;

[0026] The angle of the toothless arc section of the active gear is 90°, and it has a valve core flow channel with an included angle of 90° between the two open ends;

[0027] The driven valve core has two valve core flow channels with an included angle of 90° between the two open ends, and the two open ends of each valve core flow channel correspond to a group of adjacent channel openings.

[0028] The embodiment of the present invention also provides a flow channel control method, which is based on the aforementioned vehicle thermal management integrated water valve. When it is necessary to control the flow channel, an external force drives the active valve core to rotate. Under the meshing action of the active gear and the driven gear, the driven valve core will be in the corresponding state;

[0029] At this time, the valve core flow channel of the active valve core communicates with a group of adjacent channel openings, and another group of adjacent channel openings are closed by the active valve core; the two valve core flow channels of the driven valve core respectively communicate with two groups of adjacent channel openings; the required flow channel on-off state is realized through the communication state formed by the combination of the valve core flow channel of the active valve core and the valve core flow channel of the driven valve core. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0030] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings mentioned in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of the present invention, and therefore should not be regarded as a limitation of the scope. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other related drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0031] Figure 1 shows an exploded view of the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 3 shows a three-dimensional view of the valve sleeve in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 4 shows a three-dimensional view of the fixing plate in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 5 shows a three-dimensional view of the intermediate gland in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 6 shows the positional relationship between the active gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the first working condition;

[0037] Figure 7 shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the first working condition;

[0038] Figure 8 shows the positional relationship between the active gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the second working condition;

[0039] Figure 9 shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the second working condition;

[0040] Figure 10 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the third working condition;

[0041] Figure 11 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the third working condition;

[0042] Figure 12 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the fourth working condition;

[0043] Figure 13 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the fourth working condition;

[0044] Figure 14 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the fifth working condition;

[0045] Figure 15 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the fifth working condition;

[0046] Figure 16 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the sixth working condition;

[0047] Figure 17 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the sixth working condition;

[0048] Figure 18 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the seventh working condition;

[0049] Figure 19 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the seventh working condition;

[0050] Figure 20 Shows the positional relationship between the driving gear and the driven gear when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the eighth working condition;

[0051] Figure 21 Shows the flow channel connection form when the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve is in the eighth working condition.

[0052] Icons: 10 - Vehicle thermal management integrated water valve; 11 - Valve housing; 12 - Valve cavity; 13 - Channel opening; 14 - Valve core; 15 - Active valve core; 16 - Driven valve core; 17 - Valve core flow channel; 18 - Driving gear; 19 - Driven gear; 20 - Toothless arc segment; 21 - Annular space; 22 - Valve port bushing; 23 - Valve port elastic part; 24 - Connecting cylinder; 25 - Cylindrical part; 26 - Convex ring; 27 - Profile; 28 - Groove; 29 - Intermediate bushing; 30 - Flow port; 31 - Card slot; 32 - Fitting groove; 33 - Card edge; 34 - Semi-circular arc positioning edge; 35 - Fixed plate; 36 - Valve seat; 37 - Valve cover; 38 - Screw; 39 - Sealing ring; 40 - Lower rotating shaft; 41 - Lower shaft hole; 42 - Input shaft; 43 - Input end; 44 - Sealing ring; 45 - Upper rotating shaft; 46 - Upper shaft hole; 47 - Common flow channel; 48 - Channel opening one; 49 - Channel opening two; 50 - Channel opening three; 51 - Channel opening four; 52 - Channel opening five; 53 - Channel opening six; 54 - Channel opening seven; 55 - Channel opening eight; 56 - Valve core flow channel one; 57 - Valve core flow channel two; 58 - Valve core flow channel three; 59 - Marking point. Detailed implementation manners

[0053] To make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. Usually, the components of the embodiments of the present invention described and illustrated herein can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

[0054] Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed present invention, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0055] Embodiment

[0056] Refer to Figures 1 - 5 , this embodiment provides a vehicle thermal management integrated water valve 10, which includes a valve housing 11, and the valve housing 11 defines a plurality of valve cavities 12. The valve housing 11 is respectively provided with a plurality of channel openings 13 communicating with the valve cavity 12 at positions corresponding to each valve cavity 12, and a group of channel openings 13 between adjacent valve cavities 12 are correspondingly communicated. The adjacent valve cavities 12 mentioned here refer to the valve cavities 12 having a communication relationship, rather than only referring to the proximity of their positions. Of course, in most cases, the adjacent valve cavities 12 are close in position.

[0057] A spool 14 is respectively arranged in each valve cavity 12, and a spool 14 serving as an active spool 15 is arranged in one of the valve cavities 12, and spools 14 serving as driven spools 16 are respectively arranged in the other valve cavities 12; each driven spool 16 is directly or indirectly drivingly connected to the active spool 15; both the active spool 15 and the driven spools 16 have at least one spool flow channel 17. The so-called direct or indirect driving connection means that the driven spool 16 can be directly drivingly connected to the active spool 15, or can be drivingly connected to other driven spools 16, so as to form one or more strings of drive chains finally driven by the active spool 15.

[0058] The active spool 15 is connected with an active gear 18, and the driven spool 16 is connected with a driven gear 19; the active gear 18 and the driven gear 19 are meshed and matched.

[0059] At least one toothless arc segment 20 is provided on the tooth circumference of the active gear 18, so that when the active gear 18 rotates different numbers of turns or rotates in different rotation directions, the driven gear 19 has different corresponding states.

[0060] In this embodiment, when the spool 14 rotates to some positions, both ends of the spool flow channel 17 can correspond to or partially correspond to a group of channel openings 13 of the same valve cavity 12 to connect or partially connect this group of channel openings 13. The so-called some positions are determined by the arrangement position of the channel openings 13 and the radian size between the two ends of the spool flow channel 17. For example, for the case where there are four evenly distributed channel openings 13 and the angle between the two ends of the spool flow channel 17 is 90° in this embodiment, the spool 14 has four positions that can completely connect four groups of adjacent channel openings 13, and at the positions near these four positions, it will be in a state of partial connection. For other cases of the distribution of the channel openings 13 and the opening angle of the spool flow channel 17, it can be determined with reference to this.

[0061] In this embodiment, when the spool flow channels 17 of adjacent valve cavities 12 connect the channel openings 13, these two spool flow channels 17 are connected, so as to form the connection between the channel openings 13 corresponding to the two valve cavities 12. In other cases, each spool flow channel 17 is respectively used to connect the two channel openings 13 corresponding to its corresponding valve cavity 12.

[0062] In this embodiment, the active gear 18 is integrally arranged on the active spool 15, and the driven gear 19 is integrally arranged on the corresponding driven spool 16. In other embodiments, the active gear 18 can be arranged in a form of being connected to the active spool 15 by key connection, clamping or other forms, rather than being integrally arranged. The relationship between the driven spool 16 and the driven gear 19 is the same.

[0063] In this embodiment, the outer diameter of the valve core 14 is smaller than the inner diameter of the corresponding valve cavity 12. Thus, an annular space 21 is formed between the outer periphery of the valve core 14 and the inner periphery of the valve cavity 12. At each channel opening 13, a valve port bushing 22 and a valve port elastic member 23 are provided; the valve port bushing 22 communicates with the corresponding channel opening 13; the valve port elastic member 23 is sleeved on the valve port bushing 22 and abuts between the valve port bushing 22 and the inner wall of the valve cavity 12, and the valve port bushing 22 is elastically pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core 14, so that when the valve core 14 rotates to make its valve core flow passage 17 correspond to the valve port bushing 22, the channel opening 13 communicates with the valve core flow passage 17 through the valve port bushing 22, and when the valve core 14 rotates to make its closed part correspond to the valve port bushing 22, the valve port bushing 22 and the channel opening 13 are closed by the valve core 14.

[0064] In this embodiment, at the outer wall of the valve housing 11 corresponding to each channel opening 13, a connecting cylinder 24 is provided for connecting an external pipeline. The connecting cylinder 24 communicates with the valve cavity 12 through the channel opening 13. In this embodiment, the valve port bushing 22 includes a cylindrical portion 25 and a convex ring 26 that radially expands from one end of the cylindrical portion 25. The cylindrical portion 25 is fitted into the inner hole of the connecting cylinder 24, and the end face of the convex ring 26 away from the communicating cylinder is a surface 27 adapted to the outer peripheral surface of the valve core 14. For the case where the valve core 14 has a spherical outer peripheral surface, the surface 27 is a corresponding spherical arc surface. The valve port elastic member 23 can be an elastic rubber, which is sleeved on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 25 and elastically abuts between the convex ring 26 and the inner surface of the valve cavity 12 to elastically press the valve port bushing 22 against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core 14, so as to achieve sliding sealing, that is, on the basis of not preventing the rotation of the valve core 14, the sealing between the outer peripheral surface of the valve core 14 and the convex ring 26 is realized. Of course, a small amount of leakage between the two has little impact on the whole. At the same time, the valve port seal can also assist in sealing between the inner peripheral surface of the valve cavity 12 and the outer surface of the valve port bushing 22 to avoid liquid leakage from the annular space 21 to the connecting cylinder 24. Of course, the sealing performance here can also be achieved to a certain extent by the fitting seal between the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 25 and the inner peripheral surface of the connecting cylinder 24.

[0065] In this embodiment, the valve port bushing 22 is preferably made of low-friction materials such as plastics like PTFE, PVDF, PFA, PPS+GF+PTFE, etc.

[0066] In this embodiment, the valve port elastic member 23 is annular and is in a compressed state after pre-installation to store a certain amount of elastic force. To accommodate one end of the valve port elastic member 23, a groove 28 is formed on the surface of the convex ring 26 corresponding to the inner peripheral surface of the valve cavity 12, and one end of the valve port elastic member 23 is fitted into the groove 28.

[0067] In this embodiment, an intermediate bushing 29 is provided at the connection between adjacent valve cavities 12 inside the valve housing 11, and the intermediate bushing 29 has a flow port 30 communicating the adjacent valve cavities 12. Both ends of the intermediate bushing 29 are elastically abutted against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core 14 inside the adjacent valve cavities 12, so that when the valve core flow channels 17 of the two valve cores 14 both correspond to the intermediate bushing 29, the two valve core flow channels 17 are communicated. Optionally, opposite card slots 31 are provided on two opposite side surfaces at the connection between adjacent valve cavities 12 of the valve housing 11, and the annular intermediate bushing 29 is positioned and fixed between the two valve cavities 12 by a fixing plate 35 fitted between the two card slots 31. Optionally, a fitting groove 32 is provided at the axial middle position of the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate bushing 29. Both sides of the fixing plate 35 have card edges 33 fitted with the card slots 31, and a semi-circular arc positioning edge 34 capable of being inserted into the fitting groove 32 is provided at the lower end. In this way, the fixing plate 35 is inserted into the card slots 31 through the card edges 33 on both sides, and the semi-circular arc positioning edge 34 is inserted into the fitting groove 32 to realize the positioning and fixing of the intermediate bushing 29. Further, the parts of the intermediate bushing 29 located on both sides of the fixing plate 35 are elastically sealed and fitted on the valve cores 14 on both sides based on the fixing plate 35, so that the direct communication of the common flow channel can be limited.

[0068] In this embodiment, the intermediate bushing 29 can be made of an elastic material such as rubber or plastic.

[0069] In this embodiment, the valve housing 11 includes a valve seat 36 and a valve cover 37 capable of covering the valve seat 36. The valve seat 36 and the valve cover 37 can be detachably connected by screws 38. The valve seat 36 mainly encloses each valve cavity 12, and a sealing ring 39 is provided between the mating surfaces of the valve seat 36 and the valve cover 37 to achieve the sealing of the valve cavity 12 and avoid the leakage of the valve cavity 12. The cross section of the sealing ring 39 can be circular or rectangular or other shapes.

[0070] In this embodiment, each valve core 14 is rotatably fitted between the bottom wall of the valve seat 36 and the valve cover 37. The specific setting method can be: a lower rotating shaft 40 is fixedly provided at the middle position of the bottom wall of the valve seat 36, a lower shaft hole 41 is provided at the middle position of the bottom of the valve core 14, and the valve core 14 is rotatably sleeved on the lower rotating shaft 40 with its lower shaft hole 41.

[0071] An input shaft 42 is connected to the upper part of the active valve core 14. The lower end of the input shaft 42 is connected to the active valve core 14, and the upper end is an input end 43 extending outside the valve cover 37, which is used to drive the active valve core 15 to rotate under the drive of an actuator. In this embodiment, the input end 43 is set to be in the shape of an input gear or a spline type, etc. An opening is made in the valve cover 37 corresponding to the active valve core 15, and the input end 43 is rotatably fitted at the opening of the valve cover 37, and together with the lower rotating shaft 40, the active valve core 14 is rotatably installed. To ensure the sealing at the opening, a sealing ring 44 is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the input shaft 42 and the hole surface of the opening.

[0072] At the position of the valve cover 37 corresponding to the driven valve core 16, a downward upper rotating shaft 45 is connected. At the middle position of the upper part of the driven valve core 16, an upper shaft hole 46 is provided, and the driven valve core 16 is rotationally fitted on the upper rotating shaft 45 through its upper shaft hole 46. The upper rotating shaft 45 and the lower rotating shaft 40 are coaxially arranged.

[0073] The upper rotating shaft 45 and the lower rotating shaft 40 can be wrapped in the form of inserts when the injection-molded valve seat 36 is formed, or can be integrally formed by injection molding and wrapped at the bottom of the valve core 14.

[0074] In the illustration of this embodiment, there is one active valve core 15 and one driven valve core 16, which are respectively arranged in two valve cavities 12 of the valve housing 11. Four channel openings 13 are circumferentially and evenly arranged at each valve cavity 12, and a pair of channel openings 13 in the two valve cavities 12 are correspondingly connected to form a common flow channel 47. The angle of the toothless arc section 20 of the active gear 18 is 90°, and it has a valve core flow channel 17 with an included angle of 90° at both ends. The driven valve core 16 has two valve core flow channels 17 with an included angle of 90° at both ends, and the two ends of each valve core flow channel 17 correspond to a group of adjacent channel openings 13.

[0075] In other embodiments, it can be set that one active valve core 15 drives multiple driven valve cores 16 at the same time, or the driven valve core 16 drives a secondary driven valve core 16 to achieve more flow channel combination forms.

[0076] In the illustration of this embodiment, one valve cavity 12 corresponds to four pipelines; in other embodiments, it can also be designed as a combination of two three-way valves, two five-way valves, one three-way valve plus one five-way valve, etc.

[0077] In this embodiment, the valve core flow channel 17 is set as a 1 / 4 arc-shaped flow channel. In other embodiments, the shape of the valve core flow channel 17 can be designed according to the flow requirements of the vehicle thermal management circuit, such as a T-shaped three-way flow channel.

[0078] In the illustration of this embodiment, the angle of the toothless arc section 20 is 90°; in other embodiments, the angle of the toothless arc section 20 of the three-position valve can be selected as 120°, the five-position valve can be selected as 72°, and the six-position valve can be selected as 60°;

[0079] In the illustration of this embodiment, the active valve core 15 is designed with a section of toothless arc section 20; in other embodiments, multiple toothless arc sections 20 can also be arranged at intervals to achieve more flow channel combination forms that meet the flow requirements of the thermal management medium.

[0080] In this embodiment, the rotation angle of the active valve core 15 each time can be adjusted as needed. For example, it can be rotated to make the channel opening 13 partially coincide with the opening 30 of the valve core flow channel 17 to achieve the function of adjusting the medium ratio formed when it is not completely connected.

[0081] In the illustration of this embodiment, the driving gear 18 / driven gear 19 is integrally provided with the corresponding valve core 14; in other embodiments, the driving gear 18 / driven gear 19 can also be at other positions to achieve the linkage between the valve cores 14.

[0082] In the illustration of this embodiment, a valve port bushing 22 + a valve port elastic member are used to achieve sealing; in other embodiments, other sealing methods that can achieve the opening and closing of the flow port 30 can also be used.

[0083] In the illustration of this embodiment, a group of channel ports 13 are shared between the driving valve core 15 and the driven valve core 16; in other embodiments, the intermediate bushing 29 can also be dispersed, and two sets of independent spherical outer wall sealing structures are provided for the driving valve core 15 and the driven valve core 16; when using the intermediate bushing 29, it is not necessary to use the fixing plate 35 to assist in fixing the bushing, and a protruding feature can be directly set at the corresponding position of the valve cover 37 to press the intermediate bushing 29.

[0084] In this embodiment, the driven valve core 16 of the driven valve core 16 can be selected whether to add an auxiliary positioning mechanism according to the working conditions to prevent the driven valve core 16 from being misaligned due to accidental rotation caused by water flow impact, vibration, etc. during the toothless arc section 20 and non-engagement stroke of the driving valve core 15.

[0085] This embodiment provides a flow channel control method, which is based on the aforementioned vehicle thermal management integrated water valve 10. When it is necessary to control the flow channel, the driving valve core 15 is driven to rotate by an external force. Under the meshing action of the driving gear 18 and the driven gear 19, the driven valve core 16 will be in the corresponding state; at this time, the valve core flow channel 17 of the driving valve core 15 communicates with a group of adjacent channel ports 13, and another group of adjacent channel ports 13 are closed by the driving valve core 15; the two valve core flow channels 17 of the driven valve core 16 respectively communicate with two groups of adjacent channel ports 13; the required flow channel on-off state is achieved through the communication state formed by the combination of the valve core flow channel 17 of the driving valve core 15 and the valve core flow channel 17 of the driven valve core 16.

[0086] The meshing action here includes both the meshing transmission of the toothed tooth circumference of the driving gear 18 and the driven gear 19, and the action that the driven gear 19 is not driven when the toothless tooth circumference of the driving gear 18 corresponds to the driven gear 19.

[0087] In the research topic of the inventor, for new energy vehicles, there are clear requirements for the temperature range in functional areas such as the three-electric system and the passenger compartment. The heat exchange medium circulates between different circuits in real time according to the requirements. Through the heat exchange when the medium flows through, each functional area can be within the target temperature range.

[0088] For fuel vehicles, there are also clear requirements for the temperature in functional areas such as the engine block, turbocharger, transmission, and passenger compartment, and active management is required.

[0089] In some situations known to the inventors, since there are many areas in a vehicle that require thermal management, multiple water valves and actuators are usually required to cooperate to achieve the control purpose. The water valves are connected by pipelines, resulting in complex pipelines, numerous interfaces, large space occupation, high costs, etc. If multiple water valves are integrated into a thermal management module (in some designs, a water pump, a liquid replenishing kettle, etc. are also integrated synchronously), some pipeline, connector and other auxiliary parts can be omitted, and the overall collaborative management ability can be enhanced. However, these thermal management modules have some deficiencies:

[0090] 1. Multiple water valves are combined into a whole in terms of structure, but the actuators that drive the operation of each water valve still operate independently and individually drive a water valve spool 14, and the management logic is also designed separately for each actuator and the flow channel 17 of the water valve spool;

[0091] 2. Some thermal management modules axially integrate multiple water valve spools 14 (the shape is like a string of gourds), that is, one actuator and the same rotating shaft can be used to rotate integrally. However, since these spools 14 are located on multiple planes in the axial direction, the pipelines radially radiating outward with each spool 14 as the center are also distributed in multiple plane dimensions. The connecting pipelines need to cross between each plane to form a three-dimensional structure to form a specific communication and circulation function, resulting in complex pipelines and overall structure, numerous auxiliary parts, high design and manufacturing difficulties, or some circulation states are forced to be abandoned to improve the manufacturability of the product, and at the same time the cost is high and the reliability decreases.

[0092] 3. Some thermal management modules arrange multiple water valve spools 14 on the same plane, and gears are arranged on each spool 14 to mesh with each other. When one actuator drives one spool 14, the other spools 14 driven by meshing rotate synchronously. However, since the gear meshing state between each spool 14 is fixed, the combination ways that the flow channels in the spools 14 can achieve are few, and the forms of medium flow that can be achieved are also few.

[0093] By adopting the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve 10 in the embodiment of the present invention, the switching of more flow channel forms can be realized through fewer structural settings.

[0094] Specifically, the actuator controls the rotation and stop of the active spool 15, and the active spool 15 drives the driven spool to rotate and stop through transmission teeth, that is, one actuator controls two spools 14 through linkage; when the two spools 14 rotate, the internal flow channels synchronously rotate and change positions to form different flow channel form combinations, that is, the medium flow control function is realized.

[0095] For the convenience of description, the channel openings 13 are sequentially named as channel opening one 48, channel opening two 49, channel opening three 50, channel opening four 51, channel opening five 52, channel opening six 53, channel opening seven 54, and channel opening eight 55; among them, channel opening one 48, channel opening two 49, channel opening three 50, and channel opening four 51 are evenly distributed in the circumferential direction of the valve cavity 12 accommodating the active spool 15 in a clockwise manner; channel opening five 52, channel opening six 53, channel opening seven 54, and channel opening eight 55 are evenly distributed in the circumferential direction of the valve cavity 12 accommodating the driven spool 16 in a clockwise manner. Channel opening one 48 and channel opening five 52 are correspondingly connected and shared.

[0096] The spool flow channel 17 of the active spool 15 is named as spool flow channel one 56, and the two spool flow channels 17 of the driven spool 16 are named as spool flow channel two 57 and spool flow channel three 58.

[0097] An example of the medium flow direction and flow rate control principle is as follows:

[0098] When the active spool 15 and the driven spool 16 are at Figure 6 the initial 0° position (the initial 0° position can be indicated by setting a marking point 59 on the active gear 18 and the driven gear 19), channel opening two 49 and channel opening three 50 are connected through the spool flow channel one 56 of the active spool 15; channel opening seven 54 and channel opening eight 55 are connected through the spool flow channel three 58 of the driven spool 16. Since the corresponding bushings of the other channel openings 13 do not overlap with the spool flow channel 17, they are closed, and the medium cannot flow, thus realizing the first working condition, as Figure 7 ;

[0099] When the actuator (not shown in the figure) drives the active spool 15 to rotate clockwise by 90°, due to the meshing of the transmission teeth, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate counterclockwise to 90°, as Figure 8 shown in the position, channel opening three 50 and channel opening four 51 are connected through the spool flow channel one 56, and channel opening six 53 and channel opening seven 54 are connected through the spool flow channel three 58. The other channel openings 13 are closed, realizing the second working condition, as Figure 9 ;

[0100] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate clockwise by a total of 180°, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a total of 180°, as Figure 10 shown in the position, channel opening four 51 and channel opening six 53 are connected through the spool flow channel one 56 and the spool flow channel three 58, and channel opening seven 54 and channel opening eight 55 are connected through the spool flow channel two 57. The other channel openings 13 are closed, realizing the third working condition, as Figure 11 ;

[0101] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate clockwise by a total of 270°, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a total of 270°, as Figure 12At the position shown, the second channel port 49 and the eighth channel port 55 are connected through the first spool flow channel 56 and the third spool flow channel 58, the sixth channel port 53 and the seventh channel port 54 are connected through the second spool flow channel 57, and the other channel ports 13 are closed, realizing the fourth working condition, as Figure 13 ;

[0102] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate counterclockwise back to the 0° initial position, the driven spool 16 is also driven to rotate clockwise back to the 0° initial position, which is the same as Figure 6 and Figure 7 When the active spool 15 starts to continue rotating counterclockwise, since the active spool 15 has non - continuous transmission teeth, at this time the tooth profile disengages, losing the meshing and known transmission effect. During the toothless stroke, the driven spool 16 remains stationary. When the toothless stroke rotation of the active spool 15 is completed (this patent takes a 90° toothless angle as an example), the active spool 15 and the driven spool 16 just mesh again, completing the misalignment of the active spool 15 and the driven spool 16, as Figure 14 shown. At this time, the 132nd channel port and the 136th channel port are connected through the first spool flow channel 56 and the second spool flow channel 57, the seventh channel port 54 and the eighth channel port 55 are connected through the third spool flow channel 58, and the other channel ports 13 are closed, realizing the fifth working condition, as Figure 15 ;

[0103] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate counterclockwise by a total of 180°, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate clockwise by a total of 90°, as Figure 16 shown at the position. The 134th channel port and the eighth channel port 55 are connected through the first spool flow channel 56 and the third spool flow channel 58, the 136th channel port and the seventh channel port 54 are connected through the second spool flow channel 57, and the other channel ports 13 are closed, realizing the sixth working condition, as Figure 17 ;

[0104] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate counterclockwise by a total of 270°, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate clockwise by a total of 180°, as Figure 18 shown at the position. The 133rd channel port and the 134th channel port are connected through the first spool flow channel 56, the seventh channel port 54 and the eighth channel port 55 are connected through the second spool flow channel 57, and the other channel ports 13 are closed, realizing the seventh working condition, as Figure 19 ;

[0105] When the actuator drives the active spool 15 to rotate counterclockwise by a total of 360°, the driven spool 16 is driven to rotate clockwise by a total of 270°, as Figure 20 shown at the position. The second channel port 49 and the third channel port 50 are connected through the first spool flow channel 56, the sixth channel port 53 and the seventh channel port 54 are connected through the third spool flow channel 58, and the other channel ports 13 are closed, realizing the eighth working condition, as Figure 21 ;

[0106] If it is necessary to adjust back to the previous seven working conditions, the actuator drives the active valve core 15 to rotate clockwise back to the corresponding angle, and the driven valve core 16 also moves in conjunction or stops according to the meshing state of the transmission teeth and returns to the corresponding position synchronously.

[0107] In summary, this solution can achieve up to 8 working conditions with only one external actuator and two valve cores 14. In fact, if the two valve core flow channels 17 of the driven valve core 16 are not set symmetrically, there will be another 8 different working conditions that can be achieved (respectively when the active valve core 15 rotates clockwise for the second circle and counterclockwise for the second circle).

[0108] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A thermal management integrated water valve for vehicles, Features: The valve housing includes a plurality of valve cavities, wherein the valve housing is provided with a plurality of channel openings connected to the valve cavities at positions corresponding to the respective valve cavities, and a group of channel openings between adjacent valve cavities are connected to each other correspondingly; A valve core is disposed in each valve cavity, and a valve core as an active valve core is disposed in one of the valve cavities, and valve cores as driven valve cores are disposed in the other valve cavities; each driven valve core is directly or indirectly connected to the active valve core by transmission; the active valve core and the driven valve core each have at least one valve core flow channel; The active valve core is connected to a driving gear, and the driven valve core is connected to a driven gear; the driving gear and the driven gear are meshed and matched; The tooth circumference of the driving gear has at least one toothless arc segment, so that when the driving gear rotates different times or in different directions, the driven gear has different corresponding states; The active valve core and the driven valve core are both one and are respectively arranged in two valve cavities of the valve housing; Four channel openings are evenly distributed circumferentially at each valve cavity, and a pair of channel openings of the two valve cavities are connected to form a common flow channel; the angle of the toothless arc segment of the driving gear is 90°, and it has a valve core flow channel with an opening angle of 90° at both ends; the driven valve core has two valve core flow channels with an opening angle of 90° at both ends, and the openings at both ends of each valve core flow channel correspond to a group of adjacent channel openings.

2. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, Features: When the valve core rotates to some positions, the two ends of the valve core flow channel can correspond to or partially correspond to a group of channel openings of the same valve cavity to communicate with or partially communicate with the group of channel openings.

3. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, Features: The driving gear is integrally arranged on the driving valve core, and the driven gear is integrally arranged on the corresponding driven valve core.

4. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, Features: The outer diameter of the valve core is smaller than the inner diameter of the corresponding valve cavity, and a valve port pressing sleeve and a valve port elastic member are provided at each of the channel openings; the valve port pressing sleeve is connected to the corresponding channel opening; the valve port elastic member is sleeved on the valve port pressing sleeve and abuts between the valve port pressing sleeve and the inner wall of the valve cavity, and the valve port pressing sleeve is elastically pressed onto the outer peripheral surface of the valve core, so that when the valve core rotates so that its valve core flow channel corresponds to the valve port pressing sleeve, the channel opening is connected to the valve core flow channel through the valve port pressing sleeve, and when the valve core rotates so that its closed part corresponds to the valve port pressing sleeve, the valve port pressing sleeve and the channel opening are closed by the valve core.

5. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, Features: An intermediate compression sleeve is provided at the connecting part of adjacent valve cavities in the valve housing, and the intermediate compression sleeve has a flow passage opening connecting the adjacent valve cavities, and the two ends of the intermediate compression sleeve are elastically pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the valve core in the adjacent valve cavity, so that when the valve core flow passages of the two valve cores correspond to the intermediate compression sleeve, the two valve core flow passages are connected.

6. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, Features: The valve housing comprises a valve seat and a valve cover capable of covering the valve seat; Each of the valve cores is rotatably fitted between the bottom wall of the valve seat and the valve cover.

7. The vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 6, characterized in that: An input shaft is connected to the upper part of the active valve core. The lower end of the input shaft is connected to the active valve core, and the upper end is an input end extending outside the valve cover, which is used to drive the active valve core to rotate under the drive of the actuator.

8. A flow channel control method, characterized in that, Based on the vehicle thermal management integrated water valve according to claim 1, characterized in that: When it is necessary to control the flow channel, the active valve core is driven to rotate by an external force. Under the meshing action of the driving gear and the driven gear, the driven valve core will be in the corresponding state; At this time, the valve core flow channel of the active valve core communicates with a group of adjacent channel openings, and the other group of adjacent channel openings are closed by the active valve core; the two valve core flow channels of the driven valve core respectively communicate with two groups of adjacent channel openings; the required on-off state of the flow channel is realized through the communication state formed by the combination of the valve core flow channel of the active valve core and the valve core flow channel of the driven valve core.

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