US 12,282,345 B2
Electronically controlled regulator
Naoya Suenaga, Kanagawa-ken (JP); and Shutaro Aizawa, Kanagawa-ken (JP)
Assigned to Nikki Co., Ltd., (JP)
Filed by Nikki Co., Ltd., Kangawa-ken (JP)
Filed on May 26, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/202,824.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-088066 (JP), filed on May 30, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0384807 A1, Nov. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. G05D 16/20 (2006.01)
CPC G05D 16/202 (2013.01) 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An electronically controlled regulator comprising:
a pressure adjusting valve including a valve shaft that is coaxially provided with a valve body and capable of reciprocating in an axial direction, a valve seat having a seat surface with which the valve body is capable of coming into contact, and a discharge pressure adjusting mechanism that adjusts a discharge pressure of a gas fuel by changing a distance between the valve body and the valve seat by reciprocating the valve shaft, within a body in which an introduction port and a discharge port are provided, the regulator discharging the gas fuel introduced through the introduction port through the discharge port having a set pressure by reducing and adjusting a pressure with the pressure adjusting valve,
wherein the discharge pressure adjusting mechanism includes an electric motor and a valve shaft moving structure that operates by driving of the electric motor and moves the valve shaft in the axial direction to change the distance between the valve body and the valve seat, and the pressure adjusting valve is opened or closed on a basis of a value of a pressure sensor that is arranged in series or in parallel with the discharge port and detects the pressure of the gas fuel that has passed through the pressure adjusting valve so that the pressure of the gas fuel that has passed through the pressure adjusting valve maintains the set pressure while the valve shaft moving structure is operated with the electric motor,
wherein the valve shaft moving structure is a feed screw provided by a combination of a trapezoidal male screw disposed on an outer peripheral surface of a motion shaft having a columnar shape coaxially attached to the valve shaft and arranged movably in an axial direction and non-rotatably, and a trapezoidal female screw disposed on an inner peripheral surface of a cylindrical member externally fitted to the motion shaft and meshing with the trapezoidal male screw,
wherein the valve shaft is moved while operating in the axial direction without rotating the trapezoidal male screw by driving the electric motor to rotate the trapezoidal female screw, and
wherein one or both of the trapezoidal male screw and the trapezoidal female screw are composed of self-lubricating resin.