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EP-4550077-B1 - A CONTROL DEVICE FOR ATTACHING TO A VALVE ARRANGEMENT

EP4550077B1EP 4550077 B1EP4550077 B1EP 4550077B1EP-4550077-B1

Inventors

  • ROHWETTER, CHRISTOPH
  • Aschenbrenner, Wilhelm

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20231031

Claims (15)

  1. A control device (110, 210, 310) for attaching to a valve arrangement (150, 250) such that a valve spindle (151, 251) of the valve arrangement (150, 250) is actuable by the control device (110, 210, 310), wherein the valve spindle (151, 251) is movable relative to a valve body (152, 252) of the valve arrangement (150, 250) for adjusting a fluid flow through the valve arrangement (150, 250), the control device (110, 210, 310) comprising a housing (130, 230, 330) encompassing a thermal actuator (111, 211) configured to actuate the valve spindle (151, 251) in dependency of an ambient temperature around the control device (110, 210, 310) when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), the thermal actuator (111, 211) comprising an actuator body (112, 212), an expandable material element (113, 213) expandable inside the actuator body (112, 212) in dependency of the ambient temperature, and an actuator piston (114, 214, 314) coupled to the expandable material element (113, 213) such that the actuator piston (114, 214, 314) moves away from the actuator body (112, 212) when the expandable material element (113, 213) expands, wherein the actuator piston (114, 214, 314) is configured to connect to the valve spindle (151, 251) when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), an adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233; 341-343) configurable in different settings, wherein each one of the different settings sets a respective distance (d1) that the expandable material element (113, 213) has to move the actuator piston (114, 214, 314) relative to the actuator body (112, 212) to position the valve spindle (151, 251) at a given position relative to the valve body (152, 252) when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), and wherein the control device (110, 210, 310) is provided with a motor (121, 221, 321) operatively connected to the adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233; 341-343), wherein the motor (121, 221, 321) is operable so as to cause the adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233; 341-343) to shift from a current setting to another setting, and wherein the control device (110, 210, 310) is further provided with a resilient member (115, 215) arranged between the actuator body (112, 212) and the housing (130, 230, 330) of the control device (110, 210, 310), characterized in that the resilient member (115, 215) and actuator body (112, 212) are arranged such that when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250) and the valve spindle (151, 251) is in an advanced end position, the actuator body (112, 212) moves relative to the housing (130, 230, 330) of the control device (110, 210, 310) and compresses the resilient member (115, 215) when the expandable material element (113, 213) expands.
  2. The control device (110, 210, 310) according to claim 1, wherein the resilient member (115, 215) comprises a spring member.
  3. The control device (110, 210, 310) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a first end of the resilient member (115, 215) is stationarily arranged with respect to the housing (130, 230, 330) of the control device (110, 210, 310), and a second end of the resilient member (115, 215) is stationarily arranged with respect to the actuator body (112, 212).
  4. The control device (110, 210, 310) according to any previous claim, wherein the control device (110, 210, 310) is arranged to actuate the valve spindle (151, 251) in an axial direction of the control device (110, 210, 310) when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), and wherein the actuator body (112, 212) is arranged to move in the axial direction of the control device (110, 210, 310) when the expandable material element (113, 213) expands, when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), and when the valve spindle (151, 251) is in the advanced end position.
  5. The control device (110, 210, 310) according to any previous claim, wherein the resilient member (115, 215) is configured such that a force required to compress the resilient member (115, 215) is less than a force required to overcome a resistance to shift the adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233; 341-343) from a current setting to another setting when the motor (121, 221, 321) is not operated.
  6. The control device (110, 210, 310) according to any previous claim, wherein the resilient member (115, 215) is configured such that the force required to compress the resilient member (115, 215) is larger than a force required to overcome a resistance to actuate the valve spindle (151, 251) when the expandable material element (113, 213) expands, when the control device (110, 210, 310) is attached to the valve arrangement (150, 250), when the valve spindle (151, 251) is not in the advanced end position, and when the motor (121, 221, 321) is not operated.
  7. The control device (210) according to any previous claim, wherein the adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233; 341-343) is configurable in its different settings by shifting a position of the actuator body (212) relative to the valve body (252) when the control device (210) is attached to the valve arrangement (250).
  8. The control device (210) according to claim 7, wherein the housing (230) of the control device (210) comprises a first body part (231) configured to be rotationally locked to the valve body (252) when the control device (210) is attached to the valve arrangement (250), and wherein the control device (210) is provided with a second body part (232) rotatably attached to the first body part (231) around a first axis, wherein the actuator body (212) is attached to the second body part (232), and wherein the adjustment mechanism (231-233) is configured to shift the position the actuator body (212) relative to the valve body (252) by means of rotating the second body part (232) relative to the first body part (231) when the control device (210) is attached to the valve arrangement (250).
  9. The control device (210) according to claim 8, wherein the control device (210) comprises an intermediate body part (233) rotatably attached to the first body part (231) around a second axis, and wherein the intermediate body part (233) and the second body part (232) are arranged to transfer rotational movement of the intermediate body part (233) to the second body part (232) such that the second body part (232) moves along the first axis relative to the first body part (231), and wherein the motor (221) is arranged to rotate the intermediate body part (233) when operated.
  10. The control device (310) according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the adjustment mechanism (341-343) comprises an expandable part (341) configurable in different lengths, and wherein the expandable part (341) is arranged to connect the actuator piston (314) to the valve spindle (251) when the control device (310) is attached to the valve arrangement (250), and wherein the adjustment mechanism (341-343) is configurable in its different settings by means of configuring the expandable part (341) in its different lengths when the control device (310) is attached to the valve arrangement (250).
  11. The control device (310) according to claim 10, wherein the expandable part (341) comprises a first component (342) and a second component (343), wherein the first component (342) is connected to the second component (343) by a threaded connection, wherein the expandable part (341) is configurable in its different lengths by means of rotating the first component (342) relative to the second component (343).
  12. The control device (310) according to claim 11, wherein the motor (321) is arranged to rotate the first component (342) or the second component (343) when operated.
  13. The control device (110, 210) according to any previous claim, wherein the adjustment mechanism (126; 231-233) constitutes first means of setting the distance (d1), and wherein the control device (110, 210) is provided with second means of setting the distance (d1).
  14. The control device (210) according to claim 13 when dependent on claim 8 or 9, wherein the second means comprises a handle (234) arranged attached to the second body part (232), and wherein the handle (234) is configured to shift the position of the actuator body (212) relative to the valve body (252) by means of rotating the handle (234) relative to the first body part (231) when the control device (210) is attached to the valve arrangement (250) and when the motor (221) is not operated.
  15. A valve assembly comprising the control device (110, 210, 310) according to any of claims 1-14 and the valve arrangement (150, 250).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a control device for attaching to a valve arrangement, a valve assembly comprising the control device and the valve arrangement, and a fluid distribution system comprising the valve assembly. BACKGROUND A thermostatic radiator valve assembly provides a self-regulating control of fluid flow to a radiator. The thermostatic radiator valve assembly allows the temperature of a room to be controlled by changing the flow of hot water to the radiator. The thermostatic radiator valve assembly comprises a radiator valve arrangement and a control device attached to the radiator valve arrangement. The control device may also be called a thermostatic head. The radiator valve arrangement is provided with a valve comprising a valve spindle that controls an opening degree of the valve, where the opening degree of the valve controls the fluid flow through the valve arrangement. The control device is attached to the radiator valve arrangement such that the valve spindle of the radiator valve arrangement is actuable by the control device. The control device comprises a thermal actuator configured to actuate the valve spindle in dependency of an ambient temperature around the control device. The thermal actuator comprises an actuator body, an expandable material element (typically made of liquid, gas, or a wax) expandable inside the actuator body in dependency of the ambient temperature, and an actuator piston connected to the valve spindle and coupled to the expandable material element such that the actuator piston moves away from the actuator body when the expandable material element expands. As the ambient temperature increases, the valve will gradually close by means of the expandable material element expanding, which moves the actuator piston, which in turn moves the valve spindle. As a consequence, the amount of hot water entering the radiator is reduced as the ambient temperature increases. When the ambient temperature decreases, the valve will gradually open by means of the expandable material element contracting, which moves the actuator piston, which in turn moves the valve spindle. The thermal actuator thus enables setting a desired temperature for a room. The desired temperature is typically adjustable by an adjustment mechanism of the control device. The adjustment mechanism adjusts how much the expandable material element has to move the actuator piston relative to the actuator body to close the valve. Some control devices are provided with a handle rotatable relative to the radiator valve arrangement, where the handle is manually rotatable between different positions that set respective desired temperatures. In some control devices, rotation of the handle moves the actuator body between different positions relative to the radiator valve arrangement, which in turn changes how much the expandable material element has to move the actuator piston relative to the actuator body to close the valve. As an alternative, or complement, to the manual adjustment of the adjustment mechanism by a handle, the control device may be provided with a motor operatively connected to the adjustment mechanism, where the motor is operable so as to cause the adjustment mechanism to shift from a current setting to another setting. Even if known thermostatic radiator valve assemblies work well for their intended use, there is room for an improved control device for radiator valve arrangements and other types of valve arrangements. US 2018/259198 A1 is a relevant piece of prior art. SUMMARY An object of the present disclosure is to provide an improved control device for attaching to a valve arrangement. This and other objects, which will become apparent in the following, are accomplished by a control device and a valve assembly as defined in the accompanying independent claims. According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a control device for attaching to a valve arrangement such that a valve spindle of the valve arrangement is actuable by the control device, where the valve spindle is movable relative to a valve body of the valve arrangement for adjusting a fluid flow through the valve arrangement. The control device comprises a housing encompassing a thermal actuator configured to actuate the valve spindle in dependency of an ambient temperature around the control device when the control device is attached to the valve arrangement. The thermal actuator comprises an actuator body, an expandable material element expandable inside the actuator body in dependency of the ambient temperature, and an actuator piston coupled to the expandable material element such that the actuator piston moves away from the actuator body when the expandable material element expands, wherein the actuator piston is configured to connect to the valve spindle when the control device is attached to the valve arrangement. The housing further encompasses an adjustment mechanism configurable i