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US-12618489-B2 - Electromechanical valve and a sorting manifold comprising a plurality of stacked such valves

US12618489B2US 12618489 B2US12618489 B2US 12618489B2US-12618489-B2

Abstract

An electromechanical valve ( 10 ), comprising in a housing ( 20 ), a valve mechanism. The valve mechanism comprises a core ( 34 ) of magnetizable material surrounded by a coil ( 32 ) to be supplied with excitation current, a stack ( 36 ) of plates of magnetic material secured in a first end thereof, and a valve seat ( 38 ). The stack ( 36 ) of plates is provided in a space between the core ( 34 ) and the valve seat ( 38 ) to open/close the valve in response to an excitation current supplied to said coil ( 32 ) by displacing the stack ( 36 ) of plates from the valve seat when excitation current is supplied to the coil ( 32 ), the stack of plates providing a return spring force when the stack of plates is attracted to by an energized coil, wherein the core ( 30 ) is plate shaped and less than 3 mm thick.

Inventors

  • Per-Ove Johansson

Assignees

  • STACCATO TECHNOLOGIES AB

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20230525
Priority Date
20220609

Claims (12)

  1. 1 . An electromechanical valve, comprising in a housing, a valve mechanism comprising a core of magnetizable material surrounded by a coil to be supplied with excitation current, a stack of plates of magnetizable material secured in a first end thereof a valve seat, wherein the stack of plates is provided in a space between the core and the valve seat to open/close the valve in response to an excitation current supplied to said coil by displacing the stack of plates from the valve seat when excitation current is supplied to said coil, the stack of plates providing a return spring force when the stack of plates is attracted to by an energized coil, wherein the core is plate shaped having a thickness of less than 3 mm.
  2. 2 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein the core has an attraction section facing the stack of plates with no coil wound around the attraction section.
  3. 3 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 2 , wherein the attraction section forms a projection from the core.
  4. 4 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 3 , wherein the projection is a lip off-set from the plane of the core.
  5. 5 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein the core is less than 1 mm thick.
  6. 6 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein the valve seat has a slit shaped seat opening.
  7. 7 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 6 , wherein the slit shaped seat opening has a wider mid-section.
  8. 8 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of outlets is provided in the housing and wherein at least two valve assemblies are provided where each of said at least two valve assemblies are associated with a respective outlet.
  9. 9 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein the core is U-shaped with two legs.
  10. 10 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 9 , wherein the coil is only wound around one of the legs of the U-shaped core or a section of one of the legs of the U-shaped core.
  11. 11 . The electromechanical valve according to claim 1 , wherein the core has a cross section where the width is at least 5 times the thickness of the core.
  12. 12 . A sorting manifold comprising a plurality of stacked valves according to claim 1 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/SE2023/050512 filed May 25, 2023 which designated the U.S. and claims priority to SE Patent Application No. 2250691-9 filed Jun. 9, 2022, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates generally to valves and more specifically to an electromechanical valve. The disclosure also relates to arrangements including such valves. BACKGROUND In some applications, it is desired to pack pneumatic valves with high density. One such application is the sorting of goods with air bursts. Sorting with air bursts is common in, but not limited to, the of applications of sorting grains, seeds, and other fairly light items in quality and/or properties sorting. This is commonly done with foodstuffs, items for recycling, and manufacturing as well as for mineral concentration. The sorting is done by identifying which items that are to be placed in a different path and then separating them from the main flow(s). Feeding can be done with hoppers, belts, special cavity drums and other means. In for example US2012152810, a sorting device for sorting out parts by means of air blasts is described. The sorting device comprises an air blast generator having a generator housing in which at least one reversibly deflectable diaphragm unit bounds a working chamber connected to an ejection opening. The discharge of an air blast from the working chamber through the ejection opening can be caused by the activation of the diaphragm unit. There is a constant desire to improve the performance and robustness of valves to be used in various applications such as in sorting devices. Hence there exists a need for an improved valve and in particular a valve suitable for sorting applications. SUMMARY An object of the invention is to overcome or at least partly reduce the disadvantages with prior valves and to provide an improved valve that can be used for e.g., sorting application and be used as a sorting device. Another object is to provide a compact valve that can be used in applications where valves are stacked such that a plurality of valves can be packaged to form an assembly. Hereby a plurality of valves can be placed next to one another and detachably joined to one another. To obtain an efficient assembly of stacked valves the valve preferably has a flat design as seen in the stacking direction. These objects and/or other are, at least partly, attained by the electromechanical valve according to the present invention as set out in the appended claims. In accordance with the invention an electromechanical valve is provided. The valve comprises in a housing a valve mechanism. The valve mechanism comprises a core of magnetizable material surrounded by a coil to be supplied with excitation current and a stack of plates of magnetizable material secured in a first end thereof. The valve mechanism further comprises a valve seat. The stack of plates is provided in a space between the core and the valve seat to open/close the valve in response to an excitation current supplied to said coil by displacing the stack of plates from the valve seat when excitation current is supplied to said coil. The stack of plates provides a return spring force when the stack of plates is attracted to by an energized coil and where the core is plate shaped having a thickness of less than 3 mm. Hereby the valve can be made very thin which is desired in many applications such as sorting applications. In accordance with one embodiment, the core has an attraction section facing the stack of plates with no coil wound around the attraction section. Hereby the valve can be made thinner without reducing the performance of the valve. The attraction section can form a projection from the flat core. In accordance with some embodiments the projection is a lip off-set from the plane of the core. Hereby an even thinner valve can be provided. In accordance with some embodiments the flat core has a rectangular cross-section. The core can be less than 1 mm thick. In accordance with one embodiment, the valve seat has a slit shaped seat opening. Hereby the performance of the valve can be improved and more air can pass through the valve in a short time. The slits shaped seat opening can have a wider mid-section. Hereby opening time can be reduced in that air pressure is more easily equalized. In accordance with some embodiments, a plurality of outlets is provided in the housing. Also at least two valve assemblies are provided in the housing where each of said at least two valve assemblies are associated with a respective outlet. Hereby the dimensions of the housing can be reduced and the air outlets can be spaced close together since no walls need to be provided between two adjacent air outlets. In accordance with one embodiment, the core is U-shaped with two legs. Hereby a space efficient implementation of the