VALVE, IN PARTICULAR EXPANSION VALVE

Abstract

Valve (1), in particular expansion valve, is described including a valve element driven by an actuator and being arranged in a valve housing arrangement (4, 5, 15), wherein the valve housing arrangement (4, 5, 15) includes a housing (4), a tube (15) connected to the housing (4) and at least one connector (5) extending from the housing (4), wherein the actuator comprises a rotary motor having a stator and a rotor, the rotor being arranged inside the tube (15) and the stator being arranged outside the tube (15). A simple way is needed to position the stator and the rotor relative to each other. To this end the stator is fixed to a stator holder (16) which is arranged around the tube (15) and connected to the housing arrangement (4, 5, 15).

Claims

1. A valve, in particular expansion valve, comprising a valve element driven by an actuator and being arranged in a valve housing arrangement, wherein the valve housing arrangement comprises a housing, a tube connected to the housing and at least one connector extending from the housing, wherein the actuator comprises a rotary motor having a stator and a rotor, the rotor being arranged inside the tube and the stator being arranged outside the tube, wherein the stator is fixed to a stator holder which is arranged around the tube and connected to the housing arrangement.

2. The valve according to claim 1, wherein the stator holder is connected to the housing arrangement by means of a snap connection arrangement comprising at least one snap connection.

3. The valve according to claim 2, wherein the stator holder comprises a recess and the connector is arranged within the recess.

4. The valve according to claim 3, wherein the recess comprises a form adapted to a contour of the connector.

5. The valve according to claim 4, wherein the connector comprises at least in a region extending from the housing a cylindrical cross section and the recess comprises at least partly a circular form.

6. The valve according to claim 2, wherein the stator holder comprises a plurality of recesses, the recesses being arranged around a rotational axis of the rotor.

7. The valve according to claim 3, wherein the recess together with the connector forms part of the snap connection arrangement.

8. The valve according to claim 3, wherein the recess is limited by two elastically deformable members.

9. The valve according to claim 1, wherein stator holder comprises at least one hook member on a side of the housing remote from the tube.

10. The valve according to claim 9, wherein the hook member snaps behind the housing before the recess snaps around the connector.

11. The valve according to claim 3, wherein the stator holder comprises a plurality of recesses, the recesses being arranged around a rotational axis of the rotor.

12. The valve according to claim 4, wherein the stator holder comprises a plurality of recesses, the recesses being arranged around a rotational axis of the rotor.

13. The valve according to claim 5, wherein the stator holder comprises a plurality of recesses, the recesses being arranged around a rotational axis of the rotor.

14. The valve according to claim 4, wherein the recess together with the connector forms part of the snap connection arrangement.

15. The valve according to claim 5, wherein the recess together with the connector forms part of the snap connection arrangement.

16. The valve according to claim 6, wherein the recess together with the connector forms part of the snap connection arrangement.

17. The valve according to claim 4, wherein the recess is limited by two elastically deformable members.

18. The valve according to claim 5, wherein the recess is limited by two elastically deformable members.

19. The valve according to claim 6, wherein the recess is limited by two elastically deformable members.

20. The valve according to claim 7, wherein the recess is limited by two elastically deformable members.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] An embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawing, wherein:

[0019] FIG. 1 shows schematically a sectional view of a valve,

[0020] FIG. 2 shows a sideview of the valve,

[0021] FIG. 3 shows a sectional view C-C according to FIG. 2,

[0022] FIG. 4 shows a bottom view of the valve and

[0023] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a stator holder.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] FIG. 1 shows schematically a valve 1 in form of an expansion valve comprising a valve element 2 cooperating with a valve seat 3. The valve seat 3 is formed in a housing 4. Two connectors 5, 6 extend from the housing 4. The valve element 2 is movable within the housing 4. One connector 5 extends perpendicular to the moving direction of the valve element 2 and the other connector 6 extends parallel to the moving direction of the valve element 2.

[0025] The valve element is driven by a rotary motor 7 via a transmission 8 comprising a lead screw 9 and a lead nut 10. The lead nut 10 is connected to the valve element 2.

[0026] The lead screw 9 is connected to a shaft 11 of a rotor 12 which is part of the rotary motor 7. The rotary motor 7 comprises as well a stator 13 and electrical connectors 14.

[0027] The rotor 12 is arranged inside a tube 15. The tube 15 is connected to the housing 4, for example by welding. The housing 4, the connector 5 and the tube 15 together form a housing arrangement. The stator 13 is arranged outside the tube 15.

[0028] The stator 13 of the motor 7 must be precisely positioned in respect to the rotor 12. To this end a stator holder 16 is provided which is shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 without stator. FIG. 1 shows the valve 1 without stator holder 16. The fixation of the stator 13 to the stator holder 16 can be realized in many different ways. It is, for example, possible to mould the stator holder 16 onto the stator 13 or to use fixation elements.

[0029] The stator holder 16 comprises a bore which is adapted to the tube 15, i. e. the stator holder 16 can be pushed onto the tube 15. The bore is surrounded by a shell 18. The shell 18 comprises a first section 19 surrounding the tube 15 and a second section 20 in the region of the housing 4. The second section 20 comprises four elastically deformable members 21 which can briefly be termed “legs”. Each pair of elastically deformable members 21 delimit a recess 22. The recess 22 continues into a slot 23 in the first section 19. Furthermore, the recess 22 is open at the side opposite to the slot 23.

[0030] The recess 22 is of circular form over more than 180°. The connector 5 is at least in a region 24 adjacent to the housing 4 of cylindrical form, so that the recess 22 can snap over the connector 5 once the stator holder 16 is in the correct position.

[0031] Furthermore, the elastically deformable members 21 each comprise a hook member 25 which can snap behind the housing 4. The hook members 25 snap behind the housing 4 before the recess snaps around the connector 5.

[0032] As it is shown, in particular in FIG. 5, four recesses 22 are provided which are distributed evenly in circumferential direction. Accordingly, the stator holder 16 can be mounted onto the tube 15 in for different angular positions, wherein the different angular positions differ from each other by 90°.

[0033] Once the stator holder 16 has been mounted, two snap connections have been snapped in. The first snap connection is formed by the recess 22 and the connector 5. The second snap connection is provided by the hook elements 25 and the housing 4. The last-mentioned snap connection secures the stator holder 16 on the housing arrangement against pulling forces trying to pull the stator holder 16 away from the valve housing 4.

[0034] The other snap connection formed by the recess 22 and the connector 5 has basically two functions: it secures the stator holder 16 against a rotational movement relative to the tube 15, i. e. it forms a torque arm. Furthermore, it secures the correct positioning of the stator holder 16 in axial direction, so that the stator 13 can be arranged in correct alignment with the rotor 12 in order to transfer the maximum torque from the stator 13 to the rotor 12. In addition, the snap recess 22 grips sufficiently around the connector 5, so that it produces likewise a holding force securing the stator holder 16 on the housing arrangement against forces trying to pull the stator holder 16 from the tube 15. The elastically deformable members 21 are dimensioned such that they can be deformed during the mounting process, but cannot be deformed by a torque generated by the motor 7. In other words, the side walls of the recess 22 can produce a sufficiently large reaction torque to take up the torque by the motor 7 during operation.

[0035] While the present disclosure has been illustrated and described with respect to a particular embodiment thereof, it should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications to this disclosure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.