Sealing device and valve device

Abstract

A sealing device 10 is attached to a valve device 1 including: a valve body 2 in which a valve body passage 3 opened at a curved outer peripheral surface 2a is formed; and a housing 5 that houses the valve body rotatably around a shaft 4 and has a flow path 8 that communicates with the valve body passage and is formed so as to be opened at an inner peripheral surface 6a. The sealing device includes: an annular seal part 11 that is attached so as to surround an opening 8a of the flow path and elastically contacts with the outer peripheral surface of the valve body; and an annular reinforcement part 12 that is arranged on an inner peripheral side of the seal part in a non-contact state with the outer peripheral surface of the valve body.

Description

Sealing device and valve device

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a sealing device and a valve device.

[0002] Conventionally, in a valve device provided with a housing that rotatably accommodates a valve body having a curved outer peripheral surface, a seal is provided to prevent leakage of fluid from between the opening on the inner peripheral surface side of the housing and the outer peripheral surface of the valve body. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, a packing having an annular seal portion that contacts the outer peripheral surface of a valve main body portion is disposed at an outlet opening facing the accommodating portion of a housing that accommodates a cylindrical valve main body portion. A rotary valve is disclosed.

[0003] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2021-143743

[0004] However, in the packing as described in Patent Document 1 above, when the valve main body portion rotates, there is a concern that the seal portion that contacts the outer peripheral surface of the valve main body portion may follow the rotation of the valve main body portion, and thus the seal portion may easily twist or deform toward the outlet side.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a sealing device and a valve device that can improve sealing performance.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, a sealing device according to the present disclosure is a sealing device attached to a valve device including a valve body in which a valve body passage opening on a curved outer peripheral surface is formed, and a housing that rotatably accommodates the valve body about an axis and is formed such that a flow path communicating with the valve body passage opens on an inner peripheral surface, the sealing device including an annular seal portion attached so as to surround the opening of the flow path and elastically contacting the outer peripheral surface of the valve body, and an annular reinforcing portion disposed on the inner peripheral side of the seal portion in a non-contact state with the outer peripheral surface of the valve body.

[0007] To achieve the above objective, the valve device according to the present disclosure is characterized by comprising: a valve body having a valve passage that opens on its curved outer surface; a housing that rotatably houses the valve body around an axis and has a flow path that communicates with the valve passage; an annular sealing portion that is attached so as to surround the opening of the flow path and elastically contacts the outer surface of the valve body; and an annular reinforcing portion that is disposed on the inner side of the sealing portion in a non-contacting state with respect to the outer surface of the valve body.

[0008] The sealing device and valve device relating to this disclosure can improve sealing performance by having the above-described configuration.

[0009] (a) and (b) are schematic partially cutaway cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a valve device equipped with an example of a sealing device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. (a) is a schematic perspective view of the sealing device, (b) is a schematic plan view of the sealing device, and (c) is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the view taken along the line X1-X1 in (b). (a) and (b) are schematic partially cutaway cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a valve device equipped with an example of a sealing device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. (a) is a schematic perspective view of the sealing device, (b) is a schematic bottom view of the sealing device, and (c) is a schematic cross-sectional view corresponding to the view taken along the line X2-X2 in (b).

[0010] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. In some figures, some of the detailed reference numerals used in other figures have been omitted. Figures 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams showing an example of a sealing device and an example of a valve device equipped therewith according to the first embodiment.

[0011] As shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b), the sealing device 10 according to this embodiment is attached to a valve device 1 which comprises a valve body 2 having a valve passage 3 that opens on its curved outer peripheral surface 2a, and a housing 5 which rotatably houses the valve body 2 around an axis 4 and has a flow path 8 that communicates with the valve passage 3 opening on its inner peripheral surface 6a. The valve device 1 according to this embodiment comprises a valve body 2 having a valve passage 3 that opens on its curved outer peripheral surface 2a, a housing 5 which rotatably houses the valve body 2 around an axis 4 and has a flow path 8 that communicates with the valve passage 3, and a sealing device 10.

[0012] Valve device 1 is installed to connect the fluid supply side flow path and the supply side flow path in order to change the flow path or adjust the flow rate of a fluid such as a liquid or gas. This valve device 1 may be installed in an automobile, for example, as a multi-control valve that switches the flow path of a coolant. The valve body 2 is cylindrical with a curved outer surface 2a, and is rotated by a drive unit such as a motor around an axis 4 whose axis coincides with the center of the valve body 2. In this example, a valve body passage 3 is provided in the valve body 2 that intersects in a cross shape. That is, the openings 3a of the valve body passage 3 are provided so as to open at four locations on the outer surface 2a of the valve body 2. The valve body passage 3 is provided so as to extend on the same plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the valve body 2. The intersections of the valve body passage 3 are located on the axis and are provided perpendicular to it. That is, four openings 3a are provided at equal intervals on the outer surface 2a of the valve body 2.

[0013] The housing 5 comprises a valve body housing 6 for housing the valve body 2 and a tubular section 7 to which a pipeline (not shown) through which fluid passes is connected. The valve body housing 6 is formed in a cylindrical shape coaxial with the valve body 2 so that the valve body 2 can be housed there. A small gap is formed between the inner circumferential surface 6a of the valve body housing 6 and the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 so that the valve body 2 can rotate. The tubular section 7 defines a flow path 8 that communicates with the valve body passage 3. The tubular section 7 is provided so as to protrude radially outward from the outer circumference of the valve body housing 6. In this example, four tubular sections 7 are provided in the housing 5 corresponding to the valve body passage 3 of the valve body 2. These tubular sections 7 are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the valve body housing 6 so that their respective openings 8a can coincide with the openings 3a of the valve body passage 3 of the valve body 2. The housing 5 is provided with a mounting section 9 to which a sealing device 10, described later, is attached. The mounting portion 9 is formed in an annular shape along the periphery of each opening 8a. This mounting portion 9 is formed to define the recessed step portion with a stepped wall surface 9a facing the center of the opening 8a (axis of the flow path 8) and a stepped bottom surface 9b facing the valve body 2 (see Figure 2(c)). The housing 5 and valve body 2 may be made of metal or synthetic resin.

[0014] As shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b), the valve body 2 is rotated around the axis 4 to a supply position that allows fluid passage and a shut-off position that blocks fluid passage. Specifically, as shown in Figure 1(a), when the valve body 2 is in the supply position, each of the openings 3a of the valve body passage 3 of the valve body 2 coincides with each of the openings 8a of the tubular portion 7, allowing fluid passage. The supply position of the valve body 2 is not limited to a position where the axis of the valve body passage 3 coincides with the axis of the flow path 8 of the tubular portion 7 (fully open position), but may also be stopped at a position where the axis of the valve body passage 3 is circumferentially offset from the axis of the flow path 8 of the tubular portion 7 (half-open position). As shown in Figure 1(b), when the valve body 2 is in the shut-off position, the portion on the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 where no opening 3a is formed coincides with each of the openings 8a of the tubular portion 7, making fluid passage impossible. In other words, when the valve body 2 is in the shut-off position, the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 closes each opening 8a of the tubular portion 7.

[0015] The sealing device 10 includes an annular sealing portion 11 that is mounted so as to surround the opening 8a of the flow path 8 and elastically contacts the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2, and an annular reinforcing portion 12 that is positioned on the inner circumferential side of the sealing portion 11 in a non-contact state with the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2. With this configuration, when the valve body 2 rotates, the annular reinforcing portion 12 on the inner circumferential side can suppress twisting and deformation of the sealing portion 11, thereby improving sealing performance. As a result, it is not necessary to increase the reaction force of the sealing portion 11 to prevent twisting and deformation of the sealing portion 11, and a torque reduction effect can also be expected. Furthermore, it is not necessary to provide protrusions or the like on the periphery of the opening 8a of the housing 5 to suppress deformation of the sealing portion 11 toward the opening 8a, which simplifies the structure of the housing 5 and improves the moldability of the housing 5. In this example, the sealing portion 11 and the reinforcing portion 12 are separate parts. For example, if the reinforcing part 12 is made of resin and integrally molded with the sealing part 11 by two-color molding or the like, advanced joining technology is required. However, if the reinforcing part 12 is a separate component, product development becomes easier.

[0016] Specifically, the sealing device 10 is attached to each of the mounting portions 9 of the housing 5 described above. In other words, in this example, four sealing devices 10 are attached to the valve device 1. Since these four sealing devices 10 have similar configurations, one will be described below as an example. As shown in Figure 1(a), the sealing device 10 has a through hole 15 that connects the valve passage 3 of the valve body 2 and the flow path 8 of the housing 5 when the valve body 2 is in the supply position. The reinforcing portion 12 is provided on the inner circumference side of the sealing portion 11 so as to partition this through hole 15. When the valve body 2 is in the closed position, this through hole 15 is closed as shown in Figure 1(b). In the illustrated example, the inner diameter of the through hole 15 is larger than the inner diameter of the valve passage 3 and smaller than the inner diameter of the flow path 8, but this is not the only example.

[0017] In this example, as shown in Figures 2(a) and 2(b), the sealing device 10 has an outer shape and a hole shape of the through hole 15 that are generally rectangular when viewed in the direction of penetration of the through hole 15 (the same direction as the opening direction of the opening 8a). In other words, the sealing portion 11 and the reinforcing portion 12 are generally formed in a rectangular tubular shape. As shown in Figure 2(c), when the sealing portion 11 is attached to the mounting portion 9, its outer circumferential surface 11b abuts against the stepped wall surface 9a of the mounting portion 9. The outer diameter of the sealing portion 11 may be formed to be slightly larger than the inner diameter of the mounting portion 9 so that the outer circumferential surface 11b elastically contacts the stepped wall surface 9a of the mounting portion 9. Also, when the sealing portion 11 is attached to the mounting portion 9, the first end surface 11c on one side in the penetration direction abuts against the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2, and the second end surface 11d on the other side in the penetration direction abuts against the stepped bottom surface 9b of the mounting portion 9. The sealing portion 11 is formed in a curved shape such that its first end face 11c is recessed toward the reinforcing portion 12, and is also formed to conform to the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2. Furthermore, the sealing portion 11 may be formed with a thickness dimension t1 along its through-direction that is slightly larger than the gap between the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 and the stepped bottom surface 9b of the mounting portion 9, such that the first end face 11c elastically contacts the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 and the second end face 11d elastically contacts the stepped bottom surface 9b of the mounting portion 9.

[0018] As shown in Figure 1(a), when the valve body 2 is in the supply position (fully open position), the first end face 11c of the seal portion 11 elastically contacts the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 so as to surround the opening 3a of the valve passage 3, thereby suppressing fluid leakage to the outside of the valve passage 3. On the other hand, as shown in Figure 1(b), when the valve body 2 is in the shut-off position, the first end face 11c of the seal portion 11 elastically contacts the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2 at a position that does not overlap with the opening 3a of the valve passage 3, thereby suppressing fluid leakage from the opening 8a of the flow path 8. This seal portion 11 is formed from an elastic material such as rubber. The material of the rubber used in this seal portion 11 is not particularly limited, but examples include NBR, H-NBR, EPDM, ACM, AEM, FKM, silicone rubber, etc.

[0019] As shown in Figure 2(c), the reinforcing portion 12 has a thickness dimension t2 along the through-direction (axial direction of the reinforcing portion 12) that is smaller than the thickness dimension t1 of the sealing portion 11, and its outer peripheral surface 12a is arranged to be in contact with the inner peripheral surface 11a of the sealing portion 11 over its entire surface. With this configuration, the structure of the reinforcing portion 12 can be simplified and made more compact compared to a configuration in which the reinforcing portion 12 is provided with a projection 13 or an insertion portion 14 as described later. The thickness dimension t2 of the reinforcing portion 12 may be an appropriate dimension from the viewpoint of creating a gap between the reinforcing portion 12 and the valve body 2 when the sealing device 10 is attached to the mounting portion 9, and from the viewpoint of suppressing deformation of the sealing portion 11 toward the center of the opening 8a. The thickness dimension t2 of the reinforcing portion 12 may be about 1 / 3 to 2 / 3 of the thickness dimension t1 of the sealing portion 11, and in the illustrated example, an example of about 1 / 2 is shown. Furthermore, the thickness dimension t2 of the reinforcing portion 12 may be 1 / 2 or more of the thickness dimension t1 of the sealing portion 11.

[0020] The reinforcing portion 12 is fitted into the sealing portion 11 in an internal manner. The reinforcing portion 12 may also be fitted into the sealing portion 11 in a crimp-fit ​​manner. In other words, the outer diameter of the reinforcing portion 12 may be formed to be slightly larger than the inner diameter of the sealing portion 11. Furthermore, the outer diameter of the reinforcing portion 12 is formed to be larger than the inner diameter of the flow path 8 so as not to move toward the flow path 8 side. When the sealing device 10 is attached to the mounting portion 9, the reinforcing portion 12 is positioned to abut against or be close to the stepped bottom surface 9b of the mounting portion 9, thereby suppressing deformation of the sealing portion 11 toward the center of the opening 8a. The radial thickness of the reinforcing portion 12 is smaller than the radial thickness of the sealing portion 11. The reinforcing portion 12 only needs to be configured to have higher rigidity than the sealing portion 11, and its material may be metal or synthetic resin. The synthetic resin material used in this reinforcing portion 12 is not particularly limited, but a synthetic resin material with excellent water resistance is preferred, such as PPA (polyphthalamide) and PPS (polyphenylene sulfide).

[0021] Next, other embodiments of the sealing device and the valve device equipped therewith will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, the differences from the previously described example will be mainly described, and similar components will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and their descriptions will be omitted or simplified. In the following embodiments, the same effects and other aspects as those described in the previously described example will also be omitted or simplified.

[0022] Figures 3 and 4 schematically show an example of a sealing device and an example of a valve device equipped therewith according to the second embodiment. The sealing device 10A according to this embodiment differs from the example described above mainly in the configuration of the reinforcing portion 12A. In this embodiment, as shown in Figures 3(a) and (b), the reinforcing portion 12A is provided with a projection 13 that abuts against the second end face 11d of the seal portion 11 and protrudes radially outward from the reinforcing portion 12A. With this configuration, it is possible to suppress the movement of the reinforcing portion 12A toward the valve body 2 relative to the seal portion 11, and it is possible to effectively suppress interference between the reinforcing portion 12A and the valve body 2. As shown in Figure 4(b), the projection 13 is provided in a flange shape around the entire circumference of the reinforcing portion 12A. As shown in Figure 4(c), a recessed step portion 9c is formed on the stepped bottom surface 9b of the mounting portion 9A of the housing 5A to receive this projection 13.

[0023] The reinforcing portion 12A is provided with an insertion portion 14 that protrudes from the sealing portion 11 when assembled to the sealing portion 11 and is inserted into the flow path 8. With this configuration, misalignment of the sealing device 10A relative to the flow path 8 can be suppressed. The insertion portion 14 is provided so as to extend toward the flow path 8 side from the flange-shaped projection 13. As shown in Figures 4(a) and (b), this insertion portion 14 is formed in a cylindrical shape similar to the portion of the reinforcing portion 12A that is fitted into the sealing portion 11. In the illustrated example, the outer diameter and inner diameter of the insertion portion 14 are formed to be the same as the outer diameter and inner diameter of the portion of the reinforcing portion 12A that is fitted into the sealing portion 11, respectively. The outer diameter of this insertion portion 14 may be formed to be slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the flow path 8.

[0024] In this embodiment, an example is shown in which a recessed step portion 9c for receiving the projection portion 13 is provided in the mounting portion 9A of the housing 5A, but such a recessed step portion 9c is not required. In this embodiment, a cylindrical insertion portion 14 is illustrated, but the insertion portion 14 may be composed of multiple insertion pieces provided at multiple locations spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the reinforcing portion 12A. Furthermore, the reinforcing portion 12A may not have such an insertion portion 14. In this embodiment, a flange-shaped projection portion 13 is illustrated, but the projection portion 13 may be composed of multiple projection pieces provided at multiple locations spaced apart in the circumferential direction of the reinforcing portion 12A.

[0025] In the above embodiments, the sealing devices 10 and 10A are formed in a generally rectangular shape when viewed in the through direction, but they may also be formed in a generally polygonal or circular shape. In the above embodiments, the valve body 2 is provided with valve passages 3 that intersect in a cross shape, but multiple valve passages 3 may be provided so as not to intersect in order to allow switching of the flow path. In this case, multiple valve passages 3 may be provided so as to extend at different positions in the axial direction of the valve body 2. Furthermore, the configuration is not limited to both ends of the valve passages 3 being open on the outer circumferential surface 2a of the valve body 2, but may also be configured such that at least one end of any of the valve passages 3 is open on one end face in the axial direction of the valve body 2. In the above embodiments, a cylindrical valve body 2 is exemplified, but it may also be spherical, truncated cone-shaped, or the like. In the above embodiments, four flow paths 8 are provided in the housings 5 ​​and 5A, but like the valve passages 3, the configuration is not limited to this example.

[0026] In the above embodiments, examples are shown in which the sealing portion 11 and the reinforcing portions 12, 12A are separate components. However, the sealing portion 11 and the reinforcing portions 12, 12A may be integrally molded by two-color molding or the like. In the first embodiment, a recessed step portion may be formed on the inner circumferential surface 11a of the sealing portion 11 to receive at least a part of the reinforcing portion 12. With such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the movement of the reinforcing portion 12 toward the valve body 2 side relative to the sealing portion 11. The configurations of each part and component of the sealing devices 10, 10A and valve devices 1, 1A according to the above embodiments are not limited to the examples described above, and various other configurations may be used.

[0027] 1, 1A Valve device 2 Valve body 2a Outer surface 3 Valve body passage 4 Shaft 5, 5A Housing 6a Inner surface 8 Flow path 8a Opening 10, 10A Sealing device 11 Seal part 11a Inner surface 11d Second end face (end face) 12, 12A Reinforcement part 12a Outer surface 13 Protrusion 14 Insertion part t1 Thickness dimension of seal part t2 Thickness dimension of reinforcement part

Claims

A sealing device to be attached to a valve device comprising: a valve body having a valve passage opening on its curved outer surface; and a housing that rotatably houses the valve body around an axis and has a flow path communicating with the valve passage opening on its inner surface, A sealing device characterized by comprising: an annular sealing portion that is attached so as to surround the opening of the flow path and elastically contacts the outer surface of the valve body; and an annular reinforcing portion that is disposed on the inner side of the sealing portion in a non-contacting state with the outer surface of the valve body. 　 In claim 1, A sealing device characterized in that the sealing portion and the reinforcing portion are separate entities. 　 In claim 1 or 2, The sealing device is characterized in that the reinforcing portion has a thickness dimension along the opening direction of the flow path that is smaller than the dimension of the sealing portion in the same direction, and its outer peripheral surface is arranged to be in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the sealing portion over its entire surface. 　 In claim 1 or 2, The sealing device is characterized in that the reinforcing portion is provided with a projection that abuts against the end face of the sealing portion and protrudes radially outward from the reinforcing portion. 　 In claim 4, The sealing device is characterized in that the reinforcing portion is provided with an insertion portion that protrudes from the sealing portion when assembled to the sealing portion and is inserted into the flow path. 　 A valve device comprising: a valve body having a valve passage opening on its curved outer surface; a housing that rotatably houses the valve body around an axis and has a flow path communicating with the valve passage; an annular sealing portion attached so as to surround the opening of the flow path and elastically contacting the outer surface of the valve body; and an annular reinforcing portion disposed on the inner side of the sealing portion in a non-contacting state with the outer surface of the valve body.

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