Valve arrangement and piston mechanism equipped with similar valve arrangement

Abstract

 The invention relates to a valve arrangement containing at least two valves (2 and 3) with a body (7,4) and a seat (8,6). The valves (2 and 3) are located inside of each other, whereby the outer valve (3) contains a hollow body (4) with a passage (5), whereby a part of this body (4) forms the seat (8) for the body (7) of the inner valve (2) located inside the body (4).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a valve arrangement containing at least two valves with a body and a seat.

[0002] A similar valve arrangement is used on for example piston mechanisms, where the head of cylinder contains two valves located next to each other closing either the inlet conduct or the outlet conduct.

[0003] In open position each valve creates a ring-shaped passage in between the valve body and the valve seating located in the head of the cylinder. The outer diameter of this ring-shape is limited to less than half of the diameter of the cylinder. Apart from the stroke of the valves the passage of valves is therefore rather limited.

[0004] This invention aims a valve arrangement which can eliminate this disadvantage and create a bigger passage than the above mentioned known valve arrangements, and which is still relatively simple and cheap.

[0005] According to the invention, this object is reached by the fact that the valves are arranged inside each other, whereby the outer valve consists of a hollow body with passages, whereby part of this body creates the valve seating for the body of the inner valve.

[0006] The body of the outer valve is for instance funnel-shaped.

[0007] Preferable these valves are concentric.

[0008] The valves can be attached to the same conduct and replace for instance a non-return valve. In such cases normally only one valve is being used. The valve arrangement with at least two valves according to the disclosure, permits to increase sensibly the passage without occupying more space.

[0009] Because the valve arrangement consists of at least two valves, it can also be connected to two different conducts, whereby one valve can close-off one conduct and an other valve can close-off the other conduct.

[0010] In this case, the hollow body of the outer valve who can close-off one of the conducts, should contain a passage as a part of the other conduct that can be closed-off by the inner valve.

[0011] Preferably, these valves can be actuated by a displacement mechanism like for instance a cam-shaft that can raise the bodies from their seats.

[0012] Through these passages two different fluids can flow in either the same or opposite direction.

[0013] In this latter case this valve arrangement can be a part of piston mechanism.

[0014] The invention relates therefore also to a valve arrangement which is typically a part of a piston mechanism containing at least one cylinder, whereby a movable piston is connected to a crank-shaft through a connecting-rod, whereby the end of the cylinder contains a least two conducts, an inlet conduct and an outlet conduct connected to the inside of the cylinder, whereby one valve of the valve arrangement is the inlet valve in the suction conduct and the other valve an outlet valve in the pressure conduct.

[0015] Known valve arrangements mounted in piston mechanisms contain one inlet valve and one outlet valve located next to each other in the head of the cylinder whereby, apart from the stroke of the valves, the passage of the valves is limited.

[0016] Because of this limited passage, pressure-drops and consequent pressure-losses are created.

[0017] This disadvantage is being avoided by the invention.

[0018] The outer valve can have a diameter which is approximately the same as the diameter of the cylinder, while the inner valve can contain a diameter which is approximately the same as the diameter of the embouchure of the passage of the outer valve. This way the passages can be maximised while the losses are minimised.

[0019] The inner valve can be the outlet valve in the pressure conduct and the outer valve can be the inlet valve in the suction conduct.

[0020] The displacement mechanism is capable of moving directly or indirectly either both valves, so the passage of the outer valve is open and the passage of the inner valve is closed-off, or only the inner valve so the passage of the inner valve is open and the passage of the outer valve is closed-off.

[0021] This displacement mechanism can be a cam-shaft containing one cam per cylinder.

[0022] The piston mechanism can be a pump or explosion motor.

[0023] In explosion motors, with the limited valve passages these pressure losses are having a negative effect on the power.

[0024] The invention also relates to a piston mechanism containing at least one cylinder whereby a movable piston is connected to a crank-shaft through a connecting-rod, whereby the end of the cylinder contains a least two conducts, an inlet conduct and an outlet conduct connected to the inside of the cylinder through apertures that can be closed-off separately by a valve arrangement consisting of an inlet valve in the suction conduct and an outlet valve in the pressure conduct, whereby both valves have a body working together with a seat and co-operating with a displacement mechanism, characterised in that the valves of the valve arrangement are located inside each other, whereby the outer valve contains a hollow body, a part of which forming the seat for the body, located inside it, of the inner valve, and this outer valve, which can close-off one of the conducts, has a passage which is a part of the other conduct that can be closed-off by the inner valve.

[0025] The piston mechanism can be an explosion motor and contain an ignition with inside the cylinder at least one ignition pole consisting of two co-operating contacts where in between an electrical tension can applied.

[0026] In combustion motors large amounts of gasses have to flow in and out the cylinder. With the combustion motors with the known valve arrangement, referred pressure-losses occur during either inlet stroke or outlet stroke but because of the pressure losses at the valve in the suction conduct there will never be a maximum amount of air and possibly fuel as a gas sucked into the cylinder during this short period of time causing a lack of fresh explosive mixture.

[0027] This extra filling-loss also has negative effects on the power of the motor.

[0028] The gas mixture has to be brought to explosion, theoretically at the end of the compressing stroke when the piston at the top dead end. Because the explosion of the gas mixture can not take place instantly, generally the ignition is being initiated earlier meaning a few degrees before the piston reaches the top dead end. This deviation also means a certain, loss of power.

[0029] To reduce said losses, it is known to use pre-outlet and after-inlet in combustion engines by pulling ahead the moment the outlet opens with 45° on the crank-shaft and postponing the moment the inlet closes-off by 45° the crank-shaft. This causes to have a better filling of the cylinder during the inlet but losses during the outlet.

[0030] Other common solutions make use of compressors to raise the pressure at the inlet valve and improve the filling. The speed of the gasses of the exhaust is used to drive this compressor

[0031] Nevertheless these compressors or turbos contain a certain inertia causing them to speed-up very slowly when the motor accelerates. The compression of these compressors also causes a certain heating of the air, possibly with fuel, creating a negative effect on the filling of the cylinder. To remedy this, the air has to be cooled-off after the compression in a cooling device making these combustion engines rather expensive.

[0032] Often four or even more valves per cylinder are used to increase the passage of the inlet and outlet valves.

[0033] Similar solution works with on all revolution speeds but driving these different valves is relatively extensive and expensive. In most cases two top cam shafts per cylinder row are used with for each valve a cam.

[0034] All said disadvantages can be avoided by equipping an explosion motor with a valve arrangement according to the said invention.

[0035] Because of the construction the valve arrangement it is no longer possible to locate the ignition poles centrally in the cylinder head as usual.

[0036] For this reason a special execution of the invention locates the ignition poles on the piston and/or on one of the valves preferably the inner valve.

[0037] A contact located on the piston can be isolated electrically from the piston.

[0038] Some existing explosion motors use several sparking-plugs per cylinder or sparking-plugs with several ignition poles allowing to have a faster ignition and bigger internal efficiency.

[0039] For the same reason several ignition poles according to the invention can be located on the piston and/or a valve.

[0040] To better understand the characteristics of the invention, hereafter follows an example without any limiting character a favourable execution of a valve arrangement and piston mechanism equipped with said valve arrangement according to the invention described with reference to the enclosed drawings wherein:

figure 1 schematically shows a valve arrangement according to the invention ;

figure 2 shows a cross section of a piston mechanism according to the invention ;

figures 3 to 5 show cross sections similar to the one of figure 2 but with different positions of the valves.

[0041] The shown valve arrangement located in conduct 1 consists of an inner valve 2 concentrically surrounded by an outer valve 3.

[0042] This outer valve 3 contains a hollow body 4, in the shown example funnel-shaped, this is a body 4 widening towards one end, containing an internal passage 5 that increases in diameter to said end and co-operates with a ring-shaped seat 6 located at the inside of conduct 1 that co-operates with the widest end of body 4.

[0043] The inner valve 2 contains a massive conical body 7 that co-operates with a ring-shaped seat 8 located at the inside of the widest end of the funnel-shaped body 4.

[0044] The top of the body 7 ends in a stem 9 that contains at its free end a collar 10 and creates a guiding for the hollow stem 11 which is connected with arms 12 to the body 4 of valve 3.

[0045] This way the valves 2 and 3 may shift relative to each other, whereby the shaft 11 creates a stop for the collar 10 of the stem 9 and the body 7.

[0046] When there is a flow in the conduct 1 in the direction indicated by the arrow 13 in figure 1, the body 7 gets pressed against the seat 8 and while this body 7 stays in contact with the seat 8, the body 4 gets pressed against seat 6 as shown in figure 1.

[0047] With a flow in the opposite direction, the bodies 4 and 7 are released from their matching seats 6 and 8.

[0048] As is, this valve arrangement acts as a non-return valve, but with a double and thus bigger passage for the fluid when it flows in the opposite direction of the arrow 13.

[0049] One or both bodies 4 and 7 can have a spring pushing these bodies 4 and 7 in open or closed-off position when there is no or little flow.

[0050] In figures 2 to 5 a piston mechanism is shown, containing a different embodiment of the said valve arrangement. Similar elements are marked with the same references.

[0051] The piston mechanism shown in these figures 2 to 5 is part of a four-stroke explosion engine and contains a number of cylinders 14, where there is only one visible in the figures, with movable pistons 15 connected through a connecting-rod 16 to a common crank-shaft 17 located in a crank-case.

[0052] At one end, this is on the head of the cylinder 14, a first conduct 18 ends centrally inside the cylinder 14 and can be closed-off by the inner valve 2 of the valve arrangement, while a second conduct 19 ends inside the cylinder 14, around the embouchure of the conduct 18, which second conduct 19 can be closed-off by the outer valve 3.

[0053] The passage 5 is part of the first conduct 18 and the outer valve 3 creates a movable end of this conduct 18.

[0054] In the given example the first conduct 18 is an outlet or pressure conduct and the inner valve 2 is the outlet valve.

[0055] The other conduct 19 consequently is the inlet or suction conduct and the outer valve the aspiring valve.

[0056] The outer valve 3 has a diameter which is practically equal to the diameter of the cylinder 14.

[0057] This valve 3 consists out of a funnel-shaped body 4 that widens in the direction of the inside of the cylinder 14 and is thus provided with a passage 5 widening towards this inside and a hollow stem 11 connected through arms 12 with the upper narrowest end of the body 4.

[0058] The inner valve 2 also consists out of a conical shaped body 7 and a stem 9 which moves through the hollow stem 11.

[0059] The seat 6 for the body 4 of the outer valve 3 is created by this part of the head of the cylinder 14 that is located around the embouchure of the conduct 19, while this body 4 forms the seat 8 for the body 7 of the inner valve 2 which can close-off the passage 5 through the body 4.

[0060] The difference between the inner diameters of said seats 6 and 8 is equal to the thickness of the widest end of the funnel-shaped body 4 and is relatively small.

[0061] Consequently this body 4 is a part of the conduct 18 and forms a telescopic end of it. For this reason the arms 12 can not close-off the passage 5.

[0062] Because the body 4 forms the effective part of the outer valve 3, and is of course movable, while the pressure conduct 18 at the inside of the head of the cylinder 14 is stationary, the narrow end of the body 4 has to stay in contact with the inner side of the stationary part of the pressure conduct 18 during the movement of the outer valve 3 to eliminate leaks between the pressure conduct 18 and the suction conduct 19.

[0063] The upper part of the stem 11 of the outer valve 3 has a thickened end 20. Between this thickened end 20 and the head of the cylinder, the stem 11 is surrounded by a spring 21 that pushes the valve 3 towards its closed-off position and consequently pushes the stem 11 outwardly with respect to the cylinder 14.

[0064] In said closed-off position this end 20 is located in the curve of a cam 22, located on a cam-shaft 23 on top of the cylinder 14, that creates a displacement mechanism for the valves 2 and 3.

[0065] The stem 9 of the outlet valve 2 also has, at the location of said thickened end 20 of the stem 11 and inside of this stem 11 a thickened end 24. Between this thickened end 24 and an inside collar 25 of the stem 11, the stem 9 is surrounded by a spring 26 that pulls the body 7 towards the body 4 through the stem 9 while the thickened end 24 of the stem 9 is in a slot 27 in the thickened end 20.

[0066] On top of this thickened end 24 there is a lever 28 of which one end is attached to a support 30, located on top of the cylinder through a pivot shaft 29, and of which the other end is bent. This lever 28 also co-operates with the said cam 22. The pivot shaft 29 is perpendicular to the stem 11 and parallel to the axis of the cam shaft and the lever 28 runs through the slot 27 of the thickened end 20.

[0067] The piston mechanism shown in the drawings also contains inside each cylinder 14 an ignition mechanism which only has been detailed in figure 4.

[0068] The ignition mechanism contains several, in the given example four, ignition poles created by pairs of co-operating and facing contacts 31 and 32 between which a tension is supplied.

[0069] The contacts 31, connected to a tension supply which is not shown in the figures, are sunk into the upper side of the piston 15 and insulated from the metal of the piston 15 by an electrically insulating material.

[0070] The contacts 31 are connected through a conducting ring 34 to a main conductor 35 that runs to the lower end of the piston where it connects to a flexible electrical power supply cable 36 to connect to a high-tension supply which is a coil.

[0071] The other contacts 32 which are connected to the mass of the cylinder 14 are located on the outside of the body 7 of the inner valve 2.

[0072] In a different configuration, these contacts 32 can also be located on the piston 15. In another configuration both contacts 31 and 32 can be located on the piston.

[0073] The way the said valve arrangement works is simple and as following :

[0074] During the inlet stroke, as shown in figure 2, the cam 22 of the cam shaft 23 pushes both the thickened end 20 of the stem 11 and the lever 28 down where this lever 28 pushes the thickened end 24 of the stem 9 down.

[0075] Because of this, the stem 11 is pushed, against a counter acting spring 21, together with the stem 9 over a determined distance, so that the body 7 stays in contact with the seat 8 which means that the outer valve 3, which is the inlet valve, opens but the other valve 2 still closes-off the passage 5 and consequently the pressure conduct 18.

[0076] The position of the pivot shaft 29 can be adjusted relative to the support 30 so the moment the lever 28 is pushed down by the cam 22 which is also the moment the inner valve is pushed down, can be changed.

[0077] At this moment the crank-shaft 17, which rotates twice as fast as the cam shaft 23, moves the piston 15 in the direction indicated by the arrow 37 so that air or a mixture of fuel and air can be sucked through a relatively large aperture created by the open outer inlet valve 3.

[0078] When the piston 15 reaches its lower dead end position, the cam 22 is no longer in contact with the thickened end 20 causing the outer valve to close-off.

[0079] At the same time the cam 22 is also no longer in contact with the lever 28 causing the inner valve 2 to move together with the outer valve 3 so both valves 2 and 3 are closed-off.

[0080] The compression stroke now takes place and the figure 3 shows the position of the components during this compression stroke.

[0081] During this compression stroke the piston 15 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 38 so the air or the mixture of fuel and air is compressed.

[0082] The moment the piston 15 reaches its top dead end position or a bit earlier the ignition takes place and sparks jump over between the contacts 31 and 32.

[0083] Because of the explosion the piston 15 gets pushed down in the direction indicated by the arrow 37 and the working stroke takes place as shown in the figure 4.

[0084] Because of the large number of ignition poles or pairs of contacts 31-32, several sparks are created at the same time so the ignition is ensured and very fast. The combustion time will be very short so the developed power will increase.

[0085] During this working or expansion stroke the cam 22 does not make any contact and the inlet valve 2 and outlet valve 3 are still closed-off.

[0086] Just before the cam 22 makes contact with the thickened end 20 it makes contact with the bent end of the lever 28 which gets pushed down so that the thickened end 24 also gets pushed down. Because only the inner valve 2 gets pushed down and the outer valve 3 stays stationary the embouchure of the pressure conduct 18 opens with a big ring-shaped aperture as shown in the figure 5.

[0087] The combustion gasses can now be pushed through the said aperture by the piston 15 which moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 38.

[0088] Because the valve arrangement creates, both during the suction of the gas mixture and the exhaust of the combustion gasses, relatively large passages, the pressure and filling losses are minimal. Actuating the valve stems with only one camshaft and only one cam per cylinder makes the construction relatively simple.

[0089] The inner and the outer do not necessarily have be the outlet and inlet valve. The opposite is possible if the way the valves are driven is adapted.

[0090] The drive arrangement is only shown as an example. The cam shaft can also act differently on the valve shafts.

[0091] In stead of a cam shaft also other displacement mechanisms like hydraulic actuators can be used.

[0092] The said described valve arrangement can also be applied to injection engines, where only air will be sucked through the suction conduct 19, and especially to diesel engines where the ignition arrangement is of course left out.

[0093] The number of valves surrounding each other is not limited to two. Inside this inner valve there can be a third valve. Also multiple of these valve arrangements can be located next to each other.

[0094] The invention can also be applied to other piston mechanisms such as piston pumps. In this case there of course also no ignition arrangement.

Claims

1. Valve arrangement containing at least two valves (2 and 3) with a body (7,4) and a seat (8,6), characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) are located inside of each other, whereby the outer valve (3) contains a hollow body (4) with a passage (5), whereby a part of this body (4) forms the seat (8) for the body (7) of the inner valve (2) located inside the body (4).

2. Valve arrangement according to claim 1, characterised in that the hollow body (4) is funnel-shaped.

3. Valve arrangement according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) are concentric.

4. Valve arrangement according to either one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) are connected to one and the same conduct (18).

5. Valve arrangement according to either one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) are connected to two different conducts (18 and 19), whereby the one valve (2) can close-off the one conduct (18) and the other valve (3) can close-off the other conduct (19) and whereby the passage (5) of the hollow body (4) of the outer valve (3), which can close-off one of the conducts (19), is a part of the other conduct (18) and can be closed-off by the inner valve (2).

6. Valve arrangement according to claim 5, characterised in that the hollow body (4) always stays in contact with the part of the other conduct (18)connected to it.

7. Valve arrangement according to the claim 5 or 6, characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) are actuated by a displacement mechanism that can raise their bodies (7 and 4) from their seats (8 and 6).

8. Valve arrangement according to either one of the claims 5 to 7, characterised in that it is a part of a piston mechanism containing at least one cylinder (14), with a movable piston (14) connected to a crank-shaft (17) through a connecting piston rod (16), whereby at least two conducts (18 and 19) are connected to one end of the cylinder, and more specific a pressure conduct (18) and a suction conduct (19) end inside the cylinder (14), whereby the one valve (3) of the valve arrangement is the inlet valve in the suction conduct (19) and the other valve (2) is the outlet valve in the pressure conduct (18).

9. Valve arrangement according to claim 8, characterised in that the outer valve (3) has a diameter which is approximately equal to the diameter of the cylinder (14) while the inner valve (2) has a diameter which is approximately equal to the end of the passage (5) in the outer valve (3) that connects to the inside of the cylinder (14).

10. Valve arrangement according to claim 8 or 9, characterised in that the inner valve (2) is the outlet valve and the outer valve (3) the inlet valve.

11. Valve arrangement according to claims 7 and 8, characterised in that the displacement mechanism is capable of pushing both valves (2 and 3) down, so that the outer valve (3) is open and the passage (5) in the outer valve (3) is closed-off, as well as pushing only the inner valve (2) separately down so that the passage (5) is open.

12. Valve arrangement according to claim 11, characterised in that the inner valve (2) contains a stem (9) connected to its body (7), while the body (4) of the outer valve is connected to a hollow stem (11) where the stem (9) of the inner valve (2) runs through, and where the displacement mechanism co-operates with these stems (9 and 11).

13. Valve arrangement according to claim 11 or 12, characterised in that the displacement mechanism is a cam shaft (23) containing one cam (22) per cylinder (14).

14. Valve arrangement according to claims 12 and 13, characterised in that the displacement mechanism contains lever (28) pivotably attached to the cylinder (14) and movable by the cam (22), whereby the cam (22) directly actuates the stem (11) of one of the valves (2 or 3), for instance the outer valve (3), and actuates with the intermediary of a lever (28), the stem (9) of the other valve, for instance the inner valve (2).

15. Valve arrangement according to either one of claims 8 to 14, characterised in that the piston mechanism is a piston pump.

16. Valve arrangement according to either one of claims 8 to 14, characterised in that the piston mechanism is an explosion motor.

17. Piston mechanism containing at least one cylinder (14), with a movable piston connected to a crank-shaft (17) through a connecting-rod (16), whereby at least two conducts (18 and 19) end inside the cylinder (14) on one end of the cylinder (14), more particularly a pressure conduct (18) and a suction conduct (19) connected to the inside of the cylinder (14) through apertures which are separately closable by a valve arrangement containing an inlet valve (3) in the suction conduct (19) and an outlet valve (2) in the pressure conduct (18), which both contain a body (7, 4) co-operating with a seat (8, 6) and co-operating with a displacement mechanism (22-23), characterised in that the valves (2 and 3) of the valve arrangement are located inside each other, whereby the outer valve (3) contains a hollow body (4) of which a part contains the seat (8) for inner located body (7) of the inner valve (2) and this outer valve (3), which can close-off one of the conducts (19), contains a passage (5) which is a part of the other conduct (18) and can be closed-off by the inner valve (2).

18. Piston mechanism according to claim 17, characterised in that it is an explosion motor containing an ignition with at the inside of cylinder (14) at least one ignition pole containing two co-operating contacts (31 and 32) between which an electrical tension can applied.

19. Piston mechanism according to claim 18, characterised in that the ignition pole contains a contact (31) on the head of the piston (15) and a co-operating contact (32) which can be located on one of the valves (2 and 3), preferably the inner valve (2), or also on the piston (15).

20. Piston mechanism according to claim 19, characterised in that the contact (31) located on the piston (15) is electrically insulated from the metal of the piston (15).

21. Piston mechanism according to one of the claims 18 to 20, characterised in that there are several ignition poles and thus several pairs of contacts (31,32).

Drawing