Abstract
Coolant valve for a vehicle includes a housing having a plurality of coolant ports, a valve element arranged in an adjustable manner in the housing in order to connect or disconnect coolant ports, and at least one seal arrangement. The seal arrangement bears in a sealing manner against the housing on one side and in a sealing manner against the valve element on the other side, the seal arrangement having a carrier element made of a first material and a sealing element made of a second material, the second material being softer than the first material. The sealing element has a first sealing lip bearing against the valve element and the carrier element having a supporting portion. The first sealing lip protrudes beyond the supporting portion with a free end, and the first sealing lip is pressed against the supporting portion when coolant flows through the coolant valve.
Claims
1. A coolant valve for a vehicle, comprising a housing having a plurality of coolant ports, and a spherical-shell-shaped or hemispherical-shell-shaped valve element mounted in a rotatable manner in the housing in order to connect or disconnect coolant ports, and at least one seal arrangement arranged in the region of at least one coolant port, said seal arrangement bearing in a sealing manner against the housing on one side and in a sealing manner against the valve element on the other side, wherein the seal arrangement has an annular carrier element made of a first material and an annular sealing element made of a second material, the second material being softer than the first material, wherein the annular sealing element is connected to and carried by the annular carrier element, wherein the annular sealing element has a first annular sealing lip bearing against the valve element and the annular carrier element has an annular supporting portion adjacent the first annular sealing lip, the first annular sealing lip protruding radially inward beyond a radially inner edge of the annular supporting portion such that a radially inward free end portion of the first sealing lip is exposed beyond the radially inner edge of the annular supporting portion, wherein the radially inward free end portion flexes away from the annular supporting portion as the radially inward free end portion bears against the valve element, and part of the first annular sealing lip being pressed against the annular supporting portion when coolant flows through the coolant valve, wherein the part is located radially outward of the radially inner free end portion, wherein the annular carrier element has a latching portion by which the annular carrier element is latched to the housing, wherein the latching portion has at least one latching protrusion and/or at least one latching receptacle, and wherein the housing has at least one corresponding latching receptacle and/or at least one corresponding latching protrusion.
2. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the part of the first annular sealing lip is lifted at least partially from the annular supporting portion when coolant is not flowing through the coolant valve.
3. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular sealing element has a second sealing lip bearing against the housing.
4. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 3, wherein the second sealing lip is configured in an annular manner.
5. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein a ratio of a radial length of the radially inward free end portion of the first annular sealing lip to an overall radial length of the first annular sealing lip is at most 0.4.
6. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the latching portion has a thickness that runs in a direction of an axis of the seal arrangement, wherein the latching receptacle defines a recess that receives the latching portion, wherein a dimension of the recess that runs in the direction of the axis of the seal arrangement is larger than the thickness such that the latching portion has a clearance, relative to the recess, to enable some movement of the latching portion in the direction of the axis of the seal arrangement.
7. The coolant valve as claimed in claim 1, wherein the seal arrangement is produced in a two-component injection-molding process.
8. A coolant circuit of a vehicle, comprising a plurality of coolant lines and at least one coolant valve, arranged in the coolant circuit, as claimed in claim 1, the coolant ports of said coolant valve being connected to the coolant lines.
9. A vehicle comprising a coolant circuit as claimed in claim 8.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in greater detail in the following text using figures, in which, diagrammatically:
(2) FIG. 1 shows a coolant valve according to the invention in accordance with a first exemplary embodiment in a perspective view,
(3) FIG. 2 shows a seal arrangement of the coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 1, in a perspective view,
(4) FIG. 3 shows a carrier element of the seal arrangement which is shown in FIG. 2, in a perspective view,
(5) FIG. 4 shows a sealing element of the seal arrangement which is shown in FIG. 2, in a perspective view,
(6) FIG. 5 shows a detail of a sectional illustration of the coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 1, without a valve element,
(7) FIG. 6 shows the illustration from FIG. 5, with a valve element in one operating state,
(8) FIG. 7 shows the illustration from FIG. 6, in a second operating state,
(9) FIG. 8 shows a detail of an enlargement of the illustration from FIG. 6,
(10) FIG. 9 shows a detail of an enlargement of the illustration from FIG. 7,
(11) FIG. 10 shows a coolant valve according to the invention in accordance with a second exemplary embodiment in a perspective view,
(12) FIG. 11 shows a seal arrangement of the coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 10, in a perspective view,
(13) FIG. 12 shows a carrier element of the seal arrangement which is shown in FIG. 11, in a perspective view,
(14) FIG. 13 shows a sealing element of the seal arrangement which is shown in FIG. 11, in a perspective view,
(15) FIG. 14 shows a detail of a sectional illustration of the coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 10, without a valve element,
(16) FIG. 15 shows the illustration from FIG. 14, with a valve element in a first operating state,
(17) FIG. 16 shows the illustration from FIG. 15, in a second operating state,
(18) FIG. 17 shows a detail of an enlargement of the illustration from FIG. 15,
(19) FIG. 18 shows a detail of an enlargement of the illustration from FIG. 16,
(20) FIG. 19 shows a further detail of an enlargement of the illustration from FIG. 5,
(21) FIG. 20 shows a marked perspective view of the seal arrangement from FIG. 2 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, and
(22) FIG. 21 shows a marked perspective view of the seal arrangement from FIG. 2 in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2.
(23) Unless specified otherwise, identical designations denote identical objects in the figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
(24) The coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 1 has a valve element 10, a spherical-shell-shaped valve element 10 in the example which is shown. In the example which is shown, it has an aperture 12 and bearing journals 14 which are arranged on opposite sides and of which only one can be seen in FIG. 1. Via the bearing journals 14, the valve element 10 is mounted pivotably in a housing (not shown in greater detail in FIG. 1 for reasons of illustration). It can be pivoted, for example, by way of an electric drive, controlled by way of a control device. The coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 1 is installed in a cooling circuit of a vehicle, such as a car or truck with an internal combustion engine and/or electric motor. The housing has, for example, three coolant ports, it being possible, for example, for a coolant port which is connected to a coolant inflow to be connected to a first or a second of the two further coolant ports by way of pivoting of the valve element 10. At least the two further coolant ports are assigned in each case one seal arrangement 16. The seal arrangements 16 are of identical configuration and are arranged merely in a mirrored manner.
(25) The construction of the seal arrangement 16 is to be described in greater detail using FIGS. 2 to 4. The seal arrangement 16 comprises an annular carrier element 18 (shown in FIG. 3) made of a first, substantially inelastic plastic, and a likewise annular sealing element 20 (shown in FIG. 4) made of a second, elastic plastic which is softer than the first plastic of the carrier element 18. The seal arrangement is produced in a two-component injection molding method, the carrier element 18 and the sealing element 20 being connected to one another exclusively mechanically by way of overflow channels. Chemical coupling between the carrier element 18 and the sealing element 20 is avoided by way of a suitable material selection. The sealing element 20 has a first sealing lip 22 which bears in a sealing manner against the valve element 10 in the assembled state. Moreover, the sealing element 20 has a second sealing lip 24 which, in the assembled state, bears against a portion of the housing of the coolant valve, which portion delimits the coolant port. The carrier element 18 has a supporting portion 26, against which the first sealing lip 22 can bear, as can be seen, in particular, in FIGS. 5 to 9, the first sealing lip 22 protruding radially to the inside beyond the supporting portion 26. Moreover, FIGS. 5 to 9 show a part of the housing of the coolant valve at the designation 28. As can be seen, in particular, in the enlarged illustrations of FIGS. 8 and 9, the carrier element 18 has, on its outer side, an annularly circumferential latching protrusion 30 which is received in a latching manner into a corresponding annular latching receptacle 32 of the housing 28.
(26) The latching action prevents firstly that the supporting portion 26 can bear against the valve element 10. Moreover, the latching connection has a clearance 31 in the axial direction of the seal arrangement 16 (at the top and bottom in FIGS. 8 and 9), as can be seen on the basis of a comparison of the height of the latching protrusion 30 and the latching receptacle 32.
(27) FIGS. 6 and 8 show the assembled state with a valve element 10, there being substantially no pressure application by way of coolant. In this state, the first sealing lip 22 is lifted from the supporting portion 26 with slight elastic deformation, and there is a large active length of the first sealing lip 22 for the sealing action. In the case of a coolant flow through the coolant valve and a corresponding pressure application (from the bottom to the top in FIGS. 6 to 9), in contrast, pressing of the first sealing lip 22 onto the supporting portion 26 occurs, with the result that only the relatively short radial overhang of the first sealing lip 22 beyond the supporting portion 26 is available as active length for the sealing action.
(28) FIG. 10 shows a coolant valve according to the invention in accordance with a further exemplary embodiment. With regard to the configuration and function, it corresponds as far as possible to the coolant valve which is shown in FIG. 1. It differs merely with regard to the configuration of the seal arrangements 16′. As can be seen, in particular, in FIGS. 11 to 13, the seal arrangement 16′ also has a carrier element 18′ made of a substantially inelastic hard plastic, and a sealing element 20′ made of a softer, elastic plastic. Once again, the seal arrangement 16′ is manufactured using the two-component injection molding method and is connected to one another merely mechanically by way of corresponding overflow channels. The sealing element 20′ once again has a first sealing lip 22′ which bears against the valve element 10 in the assembled state, and a second sealing lip 24′ which bears against the housing 28′ of the coolant valve in the assembled state. It can be seen using the sectional illustrations of FIGS. 14 to 18 that the sealing function corresponds substantially to the sealing function which is described in respect of the first exemplary embodiment, the pressure application direction in the case of coolant flow through the coolant valve being different in this case, namely from right to left and from left to right in FIGS. 15 to 18. As can be seen in FIGS. 15 and 17, if no coolant flows through the coolant valve and there is a corresponding lack of pressure application, the first sealing lip 22′ is once again lifted from the supporting portion 26′ of the carrier element 18′ with slight elastic deformation. There is therefore a large active length for the sealing action. In the case of pressure application (as shown in FIGS. 16 and 18), in contrast, the first sealing lip 22′ is pressed onto the supporting portion 26′ again, with the result that only a relatively short active length is available for the sealing action.
(29) In the case of the second exemplary embodiment, the carrier element 18′ has a latching protrusion 30′ which runs around in an annular manner on its inner face and is once again received in a latching manner with some axial play into a corresponding annular latching receptacle 32′ of the housing 28′.
(30) The length ratios of the first sealing lip 22 are to be illustrated on the basis of the enlarged illustration of FIG. 19 which to this extent corresponds to the right hand image detail of FIG. 5. The radial overhang of the free end of the first sealing lip 22 beyond the supporting portion 24 is shown at the length designation 34. The overall length of the first sealing lip 22 is shown at the designation 36, measured in each case in the radial direction. Here, the length 34 is approximately one third of the length 36. The length 34 acts as an active length for a sealing action when a system pressure acts along the arrow 38 (that is to say, toward the top in FIG. 19), whereas the greater length 36 acts as an active length for the sealing action in the opposite direction along the arrow 40 (that is to say, toward the bottom in FIG. 19). FIG. 20 illustrates the shorter annular region which is denoted by way of the length 34 in FIG. 19 in a hatched manner at the designation 44. The annular region which is denoted by way of the length 36 in FIG. 19 is illustrated in a hatched manner at the designation 42 in FIG. 21.
LIST OF DESIGNATIONS
(31) 10 Valve element 12 Aperture 14 Bearing journal 16 Seal arrangement 16′ Seal arrangement 18 Carrier element 18′ Carrier element 20 Sealing element 20′ Sealing element 22 First sealing lip 22′ First sealing lip 24 Second sealing lip 24′ Second sealing lip 26 Supporting portion 26′ Supporting portion 28 Housing 28′ Housing 30 Latching protrusion 30′ Latching protrusion 32 Latching receptacle 32′ Latching receptacle 34 Radial overhang 36 Overall length 38 Arrow 40 Arrow 42 Annular region 44 Annular region
