Rotary Drive with Functional Module Arrangement

Abstract

A fluid-actuated rotary drive with a housing in the form of a tubular body, which has a piston space extending in an axial direction of the housing, in which is movably guided a drive piston assembly for driving a rotatably mounted output shaft, wherein the housing has at one axial end an end face, which is open towards the piston space, with at least one mounting section suitable for the attachment of a housing cover, and with a function module assembly which includes an electronic assembly for monitoring, control and/or regulation of the rotary drive and/or a control valve assembly for actuation of the rotary drive, wherein the function module assembly is placed on the end face and secured by means of at least one mounting section.

Claims

1. A fluid-actuated rotary drive with a housing in the form of a tubular body, which has a piston space extending in an axial direction of the housing, in which is movably guided a drive piston assembly for driving a rotatably mounted output shaft, wherein the housing has at one axial end an end face, which is open towards the piston space, with at least one mounting section suitable for the attachment of a housing cover, and with a function module assembly which includes an electronic assembly for monitoring, control and/or regulation of the rotary drive and/or a control valve assembly for actuation of the rotary drive, and wherein the function module assembly is placed on the end face and secured by means of the at least one mounting section.

2. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein the piston space has a piston space section which extends into the function module assembly.

3. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein the function module assembly has a partition wall which closes the piston space preferably with sealing.

4. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 3, wherein the function module assembly has a module compartment in which the electronic assembly and/or the control valve assembly is provided, and the partition wall separates the piston space section from the module compartment, while the piston space section and the module compartment are arranged coaxially and/or one behind the other in the axial direction of the housing.

5. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein the cross-section of the function module assembly corresponds substantially to the cross-section of the housing at its axial end.

6. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, further comprising a housing cover, which is placed on an end face of the function module assembly facing away from the housing.

7. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 6, wherein the housing cover is fixed by at least one mounting means engaging in the at least one mounting section.

8. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 7, wherein the function module assembly has at least one mounting hole, through which the at least one mounting means is guided or in which the at least one mounting means is fixed.

9. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 7, wherein the housing cover has at least one mounting hole, through which the at least one mounting means is guided.

10. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 7, wherein the at least one mounting section comprises at least one mounting hole, to accommodate the at least one mounting means.

11. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein the rotary drive is single-acting and has at least one restoring spring mounted in the piston space.

12. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein, at the end face of the housing, at least one housing passage, through which at least one electrical and/or fluidic connecting line is guided into the function module assembly, opens out and/or at least one housing-side operating passage leading into a chamber of the piston space opens out.

13. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 12, wherein the function module assembly has on the end face which faces the housing at least one module channel, which is flush in the axial direction with the at least one housing passage and through which the at least one electrical and/or fluidic connecting line is guided, and/or has at least one module-side operating passage flush in the axial direction with the at least one housing-side operating passage.

14. The fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1, wherein the function module assembly has one or more function modules lined up one behind the other in the axial direction of the housing.

15. A process valve assembly comprising a fluid-actuated rotary drive according to claim 1 and a valve fitting with a spindle, a valve member and two piping connections arranged coaxially along a direction of piping, wherein the fluid-actuated rotary drive is mounted on the valve fitting, the output shaft of the fluid-actuated rotary drive is coupled mechanically via the spindle to the valve member of the valve fitting, and the direction of piping runs parallel to the axial direction of the housing.

Description

[0068] Exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing, in which

[0069] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a rotary drive according to a first embodiment

[0070] FIG. 2 an exploded view of the rotary drive according to the first embodiment

[0071] FIG. 3 a perspective sectional view of the rotary drive according to the first embodiment

[0072] FIG. 4 a perspective view of a rotary drive according to a second embodiment

[0073] FIG. 5 an exploded view of the rotary drive according to the second embodiment

[0074] FIG. 6 a perspective view of a process valve assembly according to to a third embodiment

[0075] In the following description of the Figures, the same designations are used for functionally identical components of the depicted embodiments, wherein a repeated description of functionally identical components is omitted.

[0076] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a rotary drive 10 according to a first embodiment.

[0077] The rotary drive 10 of the first embodiment is suitable to be mounted on a valve fitting, in order to actuate a valve member of the valve fitting, thereby influencing or controlling a fluid flow.

[0078] The rotary drive 10 has a housing 1, tubular or in the form of a tubular body, which extends in an axial direction 26. An output shaft 6 runs through the housing 1, perpendicular to the axial direction 26. The output shaft 6 is mounted rotatably around an imaginary rotation axis 25 and is driven by a drive piston assembly 19, not depicted. The output shaft 6 is suitable for actuating the valve member of the aforementioned valve fitting.

[0079] The housing 1 has a piston space 11 extending in the axial direction 26, in which the drive piston assembly 19 is movably guided to drive the rotatably mounted output shaft 6.

[0080] The housing 1 also has at an axial end 2i.e. at an end of the housing 1 in the axial direction 26an end face 3 open towards the piston space 11, with at least one mounting section 5 suitable for the attachment of a housing cover 4.

[0081] At the end face 3 a function module assembly 7 is placed on the housing 1 and fixed by means of at least one mounting section 5. The function module assembly 7 includes an electronic assembly for monitoring, control and/or regulation of the rotary drive and/or a control valve assembly 27 for actuation of the rotary drive.

[0082] The function module assembly 7 has substantially the same cross-section as the housing 1 at the axial end 2 and therefore represents effectively an extension of the housing 1 in the axial direction 26. Preferably, the function module assembly 7 has the same cross-section as the housing 1 at the axial end 2. At this point, cross-section means in particular the outer course of the respective body periphery perpendicular or normal to the axial direction 26. In this context, connections at the function module assembly and/or the housing may be ignored. Preferably, the function module assembly 7 comprises a tubular body with the same cross-section as the housing 1 in the form of a tubular body, and is attached flush with the latter.

[0083] Placed on the axial end of the function module assembly 7 facing away from the housing 1 is a housing cover 4. The housing cover 4 similarly has substantially, preferably precisely, the same cross-section as the housing 1 at the axial end 2. The housing cover 4 is fastened to the function module assembly 7 and/or the housing 1 with the aid of mounting means 9, here in the form of screws.

[0084] The mounting means 9 are guided through mounting holes 14 in the housing cover 4 and the function module assembly 7 to mounting sections of the housing 1, where they are fixed in place.

[0085] According to the invention, therefore, the function module assembly 7 is attached to an axial end 2 of the housing 1 with the aid of already existing mounting sections suitable for the mounting of the housing cover 4. In this way, as already explained above, the benefit of a practical and compact design is obtained.

[0086] In addition, the cross-section of the function module assembly 7 facing the rotary drive 10 has a the same geometry as the housing cover 4 and assumes its taskfor example the preferably pressure-tight sealing of the piston space.

[0087] FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the rotary drive 10 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 shows in particular the end face 3 at the axial end 2 of the housing 1, and the mounting sections 5 provided there in the form of mounting holes. The figure also shows the first driving piston 19A located in the piston space 11. In the depicted view, the first driving piston 19A is located at the axial end 2 of the housing 1, for which reason the part of the piston space 11 belonging to the housing 1 is not visible.

[0088] The mounting sections 5, together with the housing passages 16, are distributed around the opening to the piston space 11 on the end face 3. Also provided on the end face 3 is a housing-side operating passage 22. The housing passages 16 are used to guide electrical and/or fluidic connecting lines from the function module assembly 7 into the housing 1. The housing-side operating passage 22 is provided to supply a chamber of the piston space 11 with compressed air, by means of a control valve assembly located in the function module assembly 7, in order to effect a movement of the drive piston assembly 19. At this point it should be mentioned that not all passages or passage openings shown in FIG. 2 need be occupied or used.

[0089] The function module assembly 7 has on the end face, which faces the housing 1, module channels arranged to correspond with the housing passages 16. This means that the module channels are so arranged that they and the housing passages 16 are aligned flush with one another in the axial direction when the function module assembly 7 is attached to the housing 1, so that a passage is formed between the function module assembly 7 and the housing 1. The function module assembly 7 also has at least one module-side operating passage, which is arranged so as to correspond to the housing-side operating passage 22. As an alternative or in addition to this configuration, the module-side operating passage may also be arranged to correspond to one of the housing passages 16.

[0090] Due to this configuration of the rotary drive 10, the electrical and/or pneumatic connections between the housing 1 and the function module assembly 7 may be guided within the body formed by the function module assembly 7 and the housing 1.

[0091] Also shown in FIG. 2 are the mounting holes 14 of the housing cover 4 and the mounting holes 15 of the function module assembly 7. The mounting holes 14 and 15 are arranged so as to be flush with and correspond to one another, so that the housing cover may be fastened to the function module assembly 7 by the mounting means 9. The function module assembly 7 in turn is fastened to the housing 1 by at least one separate mounting means or by a screw, which is provided on the end face which faces the end face 3 of the housing 1.

[0092] This separate fastening of the housing cover 4 to the function module assembly 7 and of the function module assembly 7 to the housing 1 provides the advantage that the housing cover 4 may be removed from the function module assembly 7 while maintaining a pressure-tight seal of the piston space 11. Consequently, the function module assembly 7 is accessible from the front, while at the same time the pressure-tightness of the piston space 11 can be maintained.

[0093] However, as an alternative to the configuration described above, each of the housing cover 4 and the function module assembly 7 may also be fastened to the same mounting section 5 of the housing 1 by the same mounting means 9.

[0094] FIG. 3 shows a perspective sectional view of the rotary drive 10 according to the first embodiment. The rotary drive 10 is shown here without the housing cover 4.

[0095] In the present view, the first driving piston 19A is in a position shifted somewhat backwards, i.e. away from the function module assembly 7. This makes it possible to see, in the front at the axial end 2 of the housing 1, a part of the piston space 11 belonging to the housing 1. The piston space section 12 belonging to the function module assembly 7 connects at the part of the piston space 11 belonging to the housing 1. The piston space 11 therefore also extends, on account of the piston space section 12, into the function module assembly 7.

[0096] Shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the first driving piston 19A, is a second driving piston 19B arranged coaxially to the first driving piston. The two driving pistons 19A and 19B include gear racks, not shown here, each aligned in the axial direction and in meshing engagement with a driven pinion 29 fitted to the output shaft 6, in order to convert a linear movement of the driving pistons 19A and 19B into a rotary movement of the output shaft 6. In particular, the gear racks are here arranged on opposite sides of the output shaft 6, so that linear movements of the driving pistons 19A and 19B in opposite directions are converted into respective rotary movements of the output shaft 6. Thus the output shaft 6 rotates in a first direction of rotation when the driving pistons 19A and 19B run towards one another, and in a second direction of rotation when the driving pistons 19A and 19B move away from one another. Alternatively to the arrangement of gear racks and driven pinion 29, a tumbler yoke (scotch yoke) may also be used to convert the linear movement of the drive piston assembly 19 into a rotary movement of the output shaft 6.

[0097] The driving pistons 19A and 19B divide the piston space 11 into two chambers 11A and 11B. The first chamber 11A is divided into two and is located between the first driving piston 19A and the partition wall 13, also between the second driving piston 19B and the rear closure of the piston space 11. The second chamber 11B is positioned between the first driving piston 19A and the second driving piston 19B.

[0098] The depicted rotary drive 10 functions according to the double-acting principle; i.e. that the chambers 11A and 11B can be supplied with different pressures so that, by means of pressurisation, actuation of the output shaft 6 in both directions of rotation is possible. For pressurisation of the chambers, in the example shown the control valve assembly 27 is used. This is connected to the two chambers via suitable module-side and housing-side operating passages.

[0099] The function module assembly 7 includes a module compartment 21 which, as shown by way of example in FIG. 3, may include the control valve assembly 27. The control valve assembly 27 includes for example a 5/2- or 5/3-way valve with two pilot valves. The module compartment 21 is separated from the piston space section 12 by the partition wall 13. The function module assembly 7 thus forms the termination of the piston space 11.

[0100] As an alternative to the double-acting rotary drive 10 shown in FIG. 3, the rotary drive according to the invention may also be designed as single-acting. In this case, only the second chamber 11B can be supplied with pressure, while the first chamber 11A is vented. Consequently, by means of pressurisation, it is possible to actuate the output shaft 6 only in a first direction of rotation. In order to allow actuation of the output shaft 6 in a second direction of rotation as well, restoring springs are inserted into the piston space 11 and the piston space section 12 respectively of the single-acting rotary drive, and are supported at one end on the first driving piston 19A and at the other end on the partition wall 13. To accommodate the restoring springs, suitable accommodation sections, such as e.g. cylindrical recesses, may be provided in the partition wall 13 and in the first driving piston 19A. Alternatively, the restoring springs may also be inserted between the second driving piston 19B and the rear end of the piston space 11, with provision of suitable accommodation sections, such as e.g. cylindrical recesses, in the second driving piston 19B and the rear end.

[0101] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a rotary drive 20 according to a second embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the embodiment described above in that, for the second embodiment, the function module assembly 7 includes two function modules 17 and 18, lined up one behind the other.

[0102] The housing cover 4 and the function module 18 are here fastened to the function module 17 preferably by means of the same mounting means 9. The function module 17 is then fastened by means of at least one separate mounting means, which is provided on the end face 3 of the function module 17 facing the end face of the housing 1, to the mounting section or sections 5 of the housing 1. Because of this separate mounting, the housing cover 4 and the function module 18 may be removed without releasing the fastening between the function module 17 and the housing 1. This is of particular advantage when the function module 17 and the housing 1 form a unit which gives pressure-tight sealing of the piston space 11.

[0103] As an alternative to this, the housing cover 4 and the two function modules 17 and 18 may also be fastened to the housing 1 of the rotary drive 20 by the same mounting means 9. In this case it is possible in an advantageous manner for several function modules to be fastened to the housing 1 using the same mounting means 9 and the same mounting sections 5.

[0104] FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the rotary drive 20 depicted in FIG. 4. As is evident in FIG. 5, the function modules 17 and 18 have substantially the same cross-section as the housing 1 at is axial end 2. By this means, the installation space of the rotary drive 10 is enlarged only in its axial direction 26 when the function modules 17 and 18 are attached.

[0105] In addition, the mounting holes 15 of the function modules 17 and 18 are arranged to correspond to one another so that, when the function modules 17 and 18 are placed together, they lie flush to or on top of one another in the axial direction. This means that the same mounting means 9 may be used for fastening the housing cover 4 and the function module 18 to the function module 17.

[0106] FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a process valve assembly 30 of a third embodiment. The process valve assembly 30 includes the rotary drive 10 described above. As an alternative to this, the process valve assembly 30 includes the rotary drive 20 described above. The rotary drive 10 is mounted on a valve fitting 24 and, together with the latter, forms the process valve assembly 30. The rotary drive 10 serves in this connection to actuate by means of the output shaft 6 a valve member such as a damper, butterfly valve, cone valve, ball valve or ball cock of the valve fitting 24. For this purpose, the output shaft 6 of the rotary drive 10 is mechanically connected to a spindle of the valve fitting 24. The spindle in turn is mechanically coupled to the valve member of the valve fitting 24, so that the valve member is actuated through actuation of the spindle.

[0107] The rotary drive 10 shown in FIG. 6 also has an indicator device 23 which serves to detect and make visible the position of the valve member via the position of the output shaft 6.

[0108] As shown in FIG. 6, the installation space of the rotary drive 10 is extended in the axial direction 26 by the attachment according to the invention of the function module assembly 7 at the axial end 2 of the housing 1. The axial direction 26 corresponds to the direction of piping 32 of the valve fitting 24, as may be seen in the alignment of the ports 31A, 31B of the valve fitting 24. Normally, going from the rotary drive 10 in the direction of piping 32i.e. directly above the pipingthere is sufficient space that an extension of installation space in this direction generally presents no problem. The process valve assembly 30 according to the invention therefore has an especially space-saving design.

[0109] In operation, the process valve assembly 30 is supplied with compressed air from a line connected to an external pressure connection of the rotary drive 10. The compressed air is fed through the control valve assembly 27, which is for example in the form of a 5/3-way valve, in particular bistable. The outlets of the control valve assembly 27 are connected via corresponding operating passages with the chambers 11A and 11B of the piston space 11. The outlets of the control valve assembly 27 are switched according to a control command to a pressure or venting state so as to hold the driving pistons 19A and 19B in their current position or to move them towards or away from one another, or to hold them in a defined position. The control command is output to the control valve assembly 27 for example by an electronic assembly located in the function module assembly 7. Through the movement of the driving pistons 19A and 19B the output shaft 6 is actuated, which in turn actuates the spindle of the valve fitting 24 and finally the valve member of the valve fitting 24.