US 11,927,973 B2
Device for controlling the flow of a fluid
Laurie Cécile Marie Louboutin, Arpajon (FR)
Assigned to VERNET, Ollainville (FR)
Appl. No. 17/787,657
Filed by VERNET, Ollainville (FR)
PCT Filed Dec. 17, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/086823
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 21, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/123021, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 24, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 1914742 (FR), filed on Dec. 18, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0413524 A1, Dec. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. G05D 23/02 (2006.01); F16K 11/044 (2006.01); F16K 31/00 (2006.01)
CPC G05D 23/022 (2013.01) [F16K 11/044 (2013.01); F16K 31/002 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device for flow controlling a fluid, including:
a casing, which defines an axis and which delimits a chamber in which the fluid flows between an inlet and an outlet of the casing,
a slide valve which is mobile in the chamber along the axis between:
a closed position, in which the slide valve is pressed axially against a fixed seat of the casing so as to prevent the fluid, admitted into the chamber through the inlet, from leaving the chamber through the outlet, and
an open position, in which the slide valve is axially separated from the seat so as to let the fluid, admitted into the chamber through the inlet, leave the chamber through the outlet,
a thermomechanical actuator, which is designed to drive the slide valve between the closed and open positions depending on a temperature of the fluid in the chamber and which includes:
a thermostatic element, which includes both a piston, which is connected to the casing in such a way that, in an operating configuration of the device, the piston occupies a fixed position according to the axis relative to the casing, and a body, which contains a thermally expandable material and which, together with this thermally expandable material, forms a heat-sensitive part of the thermomechanical actuator arranged in the chamber, the piston being mounted so as to be movable in the direction of the axis on the body in such a way that the piston is deployed relative to the body when the thermally expandable material expands, and
a return spring, which is axially interposed between the casing and the body so as to retract the piston relative to the body upon contraction of the thermally expandable material, and
hysteresis-inducing arrangements which define a first temperature, as well as a second temperature which is lower than the first temperature, the hysteresis-inducing arrangements being designed so that:
the thermomechanical actuator drives the slide valve from the open position to the closed position when the temperature of the fluid in the chamber rises above the first temperature, and
the thermomechanical actuator drives the slide valve from the closed position to the open position when the temperature of the fluid in the chamber falls below the second temperature,
and wherein the hysteresis-inducing arrangements are integrated with the slide valve and the thermomechanical actuator and comprise mechanical connecting elements that are adapted to:
connect the slide valve and the body to each other for displacement according to the axis when the temperature of the fluid in the chamber is higher than the first temperature and when the temperature of the fluid in the chamber is lower than the second temperature, and
provide an axial clearance between the slide valve and the body, which decouples the slide valve and the body according to the axis when the temperature of the fluid in the chamber is between the first temperature and the second temperature.