US-12618482-B2 - Valve

US12618482B2US 12618482 B2US12618482 B2US 12618482B2US-12618482-B2

Abstract

The invention provides a valve capable of suppressing unintended valve opening/closing by providing a play state during a manual operation and also enabling smooth transition from the play state to a rotation state. In the valve, a tip of another end portion of the stem and the engagement hole of an operation handle form a corresponding circumferential surface and a planar section continuous to the circumferential surface. Either one of the tip of the other end portion of the stem and the planar section of the engagement hole of the operation handle is formed to have two flat surfaces defining a predetermined angle, and thereby generates predetermined play when the operation handle is rotated in one direction after being rotated in another direction.

Inventors

Keisuke Ishibashi
Akihiro Harada
Tadayuki Yakushijin
Yusei Horikawa
Souta Hachiman
Toshiyuki Inada
Ryo Sugimura

Assignees

FUJIKIN INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220524
Priority Date: 20210527

Claims (14)

1 . A valve comprising: a valve body that is formed therein with a fluid channel and a valve seat arranged in the fluid channel; a diaphragm that abuts and separates from a seat surface of the valve seat; a hollow bonnet that fixes a circumferential edge of the diaphragm to the valve body; a diaphragm presser that abuts the diaphragm and presses the diaphragm against the valve seat; and a stem, one end portion of which is formed with a male screw on an outer circumferential surface, and another end portion of which is projected from the bonnet and is engaged with an engagement hole, the male screw being threaded to a female screw formed on an inner circumferential surface of the bonnet, and the engagement hole being formed in a central portion of an inner surface of an operation handle, wherein an end portion of said stem, opposite from said one end portion, forms a tip; a part of said tip is in the form of a convex circumferential surface having edges connected by a first connecting surface; a part of said engagement hole is in the form of a concave surface having edges connected by a second connecting surface; said first and second connecting surfaces are in engagement with each other; and one of said first and second connecting surfaces is in the form of a plane, and the other of said first and second connecting surfaces comprises two flat portions disposed at a predetermined oblique angle relative to each other, said predetermined oblique angle being such as to generate predetermined play when the operation handle is rotated in one direction after being rotated in another direction.
2 . The valve according to claim 1 wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the stem, the piston moving in the axial direction by a working fluid.
3 . The valve according to claim 1 , wherein the operation handle includes an operation section and a cylindrical section that covers the bonnet, an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical section is formed with a projected guide that is engaged with a groove of a cylindrical indicator fixed to the bonnet, the operation handle is constantly urged by urging means in a direction to cancel engagement between the operation handle and the stem, and the groove is formed with a circumferential groove and an axial groove in which the guide moves in an axial direction when the valve is in a fully closed or fully open state.
4 . The valve according to claim 3 , wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the stem, the piston moving in the axial direction by a working fluid.
5 . The valve according to claim 1 , wherein a cylindrical engagement member that is engaged with the engagement hole is attached to the tip of another end portion of the stem.
6 . The valve according to claim 5 , wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the stem, the piston moving in the axial direction by a working fluid.
7 . The valve according to claim 5 , wherein the operation handle includes an operation section and a cylindrical section that covers the bonnet, an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical section is formed with a projected guide that is engaged with a groove of a cylindrical indicator fixed to the bonnet, the operation handle is constantly urged by urging means in a direction to cancel engagement between the operation handle and the stem, and the groove is formed with a circumferential groove and an axial groove in which the guide moves in an axial direction when the valve is in a fully closed or fully open state.
8 . The valve according to claim 7 , wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the stem, the piston moving in the axial direction by a working fluid.
9 . A valve comprising: a valve body that is formed therein with a fluid channel and a valve seat arranged in the fluid channel; a diaphragm that abuts and separates from a seat surface of the valve seat; a hollow bonnet that fixes a circumferential edge of the diaphragm to the valve body; a diaphragm presser that abuts the diaphragm and presses the diaphragm to the valve seat side; a lower stem that is formed with a male screw on an outer circumferential surface, the male screw being threaded to a female screw that is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the bonnet; and an upper stem, one end portion of which is engaged with the lower stem, and another end portion of which is projected from the bonnet and is engaged with an operation handle, wherein in an engagement section between the upper stem and the lower stem, either one of end surfaces is formed with a pair of fan-shaped abutment sections, and the other end surface is formed with a projected section, the projected section having: a pair of substantially fan-shaped missing sections, each of which has a longer arc length than a circular arc of the fan-shaped abutment section; and a vertical surface that makes surface contact with a planar lateral surface of the fan-shaped abutment section.
10 . The valve according to claim 9 , wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the lower stem, the piston being movable in the axial direction by a working fluid.
11 . The valve according to claim 9 , wherein the operation handle includes an operation section and a cylindrical section that covers the bonnet, an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical section is formed with a projected guide that is engaged with a groove of a cylindrical indicator fixed to the bonnet, the operation handle is constantly urged by urging means in a direction to cancel engagement between the operation handle and the upper stem, and the groove is formed with a circumferential groove and an axial groove in which the guide moves in an axial direction when the valve is in a fully closed or fully open state.
12 . The valve according to claim 11 , wherein a piston and a cylinder are arranged between the diaphragm presser and the lower stem, the piston moving in the axial direction by a working fluid.
13 . A hybrid valve comprising: a valve body that is formed therein with a fluid channel; and a valve seat arranged in the fluid channel; a diaphragm that abuts and separates from a seat surface of the valve seat; a hollow bonnet that fixes a circumferential edge of the diaphragm to the valve body; a diaphragm presser that abuts the diaphragm and presses the diaphragm against the valve seat side; and a piston that causes the diaphragm presser to move in an axial direction by a working fluid or pressing means, and a stem that causes the piston to move in the axial direction by a manual operation, the hybrid valve having: the piston having a piston body, a pressing shaft, and a working fluid introduction shaft, the piston body slidingly contacting an inner circumferential surface of a cylinder, and the pressing shaft extending both sides in the axial direction from the piston body; a stepped cylindrical intermediate body that is fixed to the bonnet and is formed with an engagement cylindrical section on an opposite bonnet side, the engagement cylindrical section having a smaller diameter than a bonnet fixed side; and a rotary body that is formed with a working fluid introduction hole, through which the working fluid is introduced to a circumferential surface fitted to the engagement cylindrical section, wherein the intermediate body is formed therein with a central through-hole, to which the working fluid introduction shaft is fitted, and a communication hole that connects an internal channel of the working fluid introduction shaft and the working fluid introduction hole.
14 . The hybrid valve according to claim 13 , wherein the stem includes: a lower stem that is formed with a male screw on an outer circumferential surface, and one end of which presses the piston to the diaphragm side, the male screw being threaded to a female screw that is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the manual operation space; and an upper stem, one end portion of which is engaged with an engagement end portion formed at another end of the lower stem, and another end portion of which is projected from the manual operation space and is engaged with an operation handle, the operation handle includes an operation section and a cylindrical section that covers a tip of the engagement cylindrical section, an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical section is formed with a projected guide that is engaged with a groove of a cylindrical indicator fixed to the engagement cylindrical section, the operation handle is constantly urged by urging means in a direction to cancel engagement between the operation handle and the upper stem, and the groove is formed with a circumferential groove and an axial groove in which the guide moves in an axial direction when the valve is in a fully closed or fully open state.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a valve that controls a flow of a fluid, relate to a manual valve or a hybrid valve that can be opened/closed manually, and particularly relates to a valve that includes a safety mechanism for suppressing opening/closing of the valve caused by vibration or human error. BACKGROUND ART An opening/closing valve that is a fluid controller disclosed in PTL 1 enables automatic opening/closing thereof by movement of a stem caused by a pneumatic pressure, and also enables the movement of the stem by using a manual handle. In case of emergency, automatic opening/closing of the valve is disabled by manually rotating an operation handle. FIG. 19 illustrates an opening/closing valve 301 that is the fluid controller described in PTL 1. In this opening/closing valve 301, a casing 303, which includes a valve body and an actuator for actuating the valve body, is fixed to a valve body 302 formed with a channel and a valve seat therein. The opening/closing valve 301 enables a manual operation thereof by putting a handle member 305 onto an operation member 304 projected from an upper end of the casing 303, and also enables an automatic operation thereof by introducing a working fluid from a working fluid introduction hole 303a. FIG. 20(a) to (e) illustrate a procedure by the manual operation, and each illustrate a positional relationship between a guide projection 311, which is provided to an upper end portion of the casing 303, and a guide groove 314, which has a substantially inverted U-shape, in the handle member 305. An attachment guide section 317 of the guide groove 314 is formed in a manner to reach a lower end of a cylindrical section 312. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 20(a) to (c), when a lower end opening of the attachment guide section 317 is fitted to the guide projection 311, the guide projection 311 is guided by the attachment guide section 317 that extends in an up-down direction, and consequently, the entire handle member 305 can move downward. Then, the handle member 305 is engaged with a casing 303 when a small-diameter section 318 that is provided to an upper portion of the attachment guide section 317 is deformed, and the guide projection 311 to passes therethrough. When being in a state illustrated in FIG. 20(c), the handle member 305 can be rotated within a range where the guide projection 311 is guided by a manual rotation guide section 315 that extends in a circumferential direction, and this rotation, which is generated by operating an operation section 313 of the handle member 305, can rotate the operation member 304. This results in an automatic opening/closing disabled state illustrated in FIG. 20(d). In the state illustrated in FIG. 20(d), when the handle member 305 is lifted, the guide projection 311 is guided by a locked position movement guide section 316, which extends in the up-down direction, and moves relatively downward in the locked position movement guide section 316 while the handle member 305 moves to a position illustrated in FIG. 20(e). In this state, when a stop member, such as a padlock or a wire lock, is inserted in a stopper insertion section 319, the handle member 305 is maintained in a non-rotatable state. However, such a case is also assumed that a worker walks away from a site while the handle member 305 is not in the non-rotatable state where the handle member 305 is lifted and the stop member is inserted in the stopper insertion section 319. In such a case, when another worker hits the handle member 305, or equipment vibrates, the handle member 305 is possibly rotated, and the valve is possibly opened/closed unexpectedly. A combination valve that is disclosed in PTL 2 also enables the movement of the stem by the pneumatic pressure and the movement of the stem by the manual handle. In this combination valve, as illustrated in FIG. 21, when a cuboidal projected section 401 is engaged with a groove 402, which has a slightly greater width dimension than this projected section 401, a coupled portion between an upper stem and a lower stem, both of which are coupled to a manually operated handle, transmits rotation of the handle from the upper stem to the lower stem. Then, when the lower stem is threaded to a screw section on an inner circumferential surface of a bonnet, rotary motion is converted to linear motion, and this linear motion can press the valve body toward the valve seat. At this time, since there is a predetermined clearance between the projected section 401 in an end portion of the upper stem and the groove 402 in an end portion of the lower stem illustrated in FIG. 21, the mere rotation of the upper stem by a predetermined angle (an angle α in an illustrated example) does not transmit the rotation of the handle and the upper stem to the lower stem. With so-called play at this predetermined angle, unexpected opening/closing of the valve can be suppressed even when the worker hits the handle unexpectedly or the equipmen