Patent Application
20160061340
The present invention relates to a gas valve and more particularly to a pneumatic valve for pressure regulation of an air mattress.
Taiwan Patent No. M241551 discloses a relief valve, which has flow guide grooves formed on the conical body and a curved spring disposed in the connector, wherein the flow guide grooves may increase the gap between the conical body and the connector, and the curved spring may be oscillated and tilted by an angle by high pressure gas. The two structural designs are used to reduce collision frequency of gas molecules and reduce noise.
In addition, Taiwan Patent No. M426690 discloses a pressure regulation valve containing a connection tube received therein with a ball and a spring. The spring has a middle section with a diameter greater than two ends to reduce the gap between the spring and the inner wall of the connection tube, thereby reducing oscillation of the spring and inhibiting noise. The spherical ball allows stable passage of gas through the inlet to perform pressure regulation and to prevent unstable gas pressure within the pressure equipment.
Although various designs have been proposed to reduce noise, they are not satisfactory at least in some aspects.
A primary objective of this invention is to provide a pneumatic valve with reduced noise during operation.
To achieve the aforesaid objective, this invention provides a pneumatic valve comprising a gas passage tube, a plug member, an elastic member and an adjustment member, wherein the gas passage tube is connected with the adjustment member and has a gas inlet and at least one first opening, the first opening being arranged between the gas inlet and the adjustment member; the plug member is disposed in the gas passage tube and has a blocking portion, the blocking portion having a first end proximal to the gas inlet and a second end distal from the gas inlet, the first end and the second end being located at two different sides of the first opening respectively; and the elastic member is arranged between the plug member and the adjustment member.
This invention further provides a pneumatic valve comprising a gas passage tube, a plug member, an elastic member and an adjustment member, wherein the gas passage tube is connected with the adjustment member and has a gas inlet and at least one first opening, the first opening being arranged between the gas inlet and the adjustment member; the plug member is disposed in the gas passage tube and has a blocking portion, the blocking portion having a first end proximal to the gas inlet and a second end distal from the gas inlet; and wherein the plug member is switchable between a deflation state and a non-deflation state in such a way that the plug member has a portion with the greatest width arranged between the first opening and the elastic member in both states.
Moreover, this invention provides an air mattress assembly comprising: an air mattress body comprising a plurality of air tubes; at least one pneumatic valve recited above in gas communication with at least one of the air tubes; and a manipulation unit having a rotary knob configured for controlling pressure regulation of the air mattress body, the rotary knob being operably linked to the adjustment member of the pneumatic valve to allow adjustment of a force imposed by the elastic member on the plug member.
Using the structural design of the plug member and the positional relationship between the plug member and the first opening, as described above, in the presence of high pressure gas, the first end of the blocking portion of the plug member is pushed and moved inwardly, such that the high pressure gas passing through the gas inlet may enter the gas passage tube from the gap formed between the blocking portion of the plug member and the inner wall of the gas passage tube and leave the valve from the first opening. Since the second end of the blocking portion of the plug member is arranged at one side of the first opening opposite to the gas inlet, it occupies a part of, if not all, the space of the passage defined in the gas passage tube, and high pressure gas is prevented from passing through the second end of the blocking portion of the plug member and forming turbulence or oscillating the elastic member and the adjustment member, thereby reducing the noise caused by oscillation of the components as well as the noise caused by gas turbulence.
A main feature of this invention lies in that, in both the deflation state and the non-deflation or ordinary state, at one side of the first opening opposite to the gas inlet, the passage defined in the gas passage tube is substantially blocked or occupied by the plug member, thereby inhibiting gas passage therethrough and noise resulted therefrom.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as defined in the claims.
A more complete understanding of the subject matter can be derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in conjunction with the following figures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar elements throughout the figures.
In order to further explain the concepts and principles behind this invention, the operational states and structural configuration of various embodiments are described with the accompanying drawings. However, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description.
To more concisely describe the size and spatial relationship between different components, the term “width” is defined hereinafter as the maximum length of a cross-section obtained from a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the gas passage tube 10. Generally, “width” and “cross-section” are synonyms to each other and interchangeably used. For a component with a cylindrical or similar shape, the width of the component or a part thereof refers to the diameter of its cross-section.
The gas passage tube 10 has a hollow tubular structure similar to a syringe. It defines an accommodation space therein for receiving other components, such as the plug member 20 and the elastic member 30. Thread 17 is formed on the inner wall at one end for corresponding connection with the adjustment member 40. Depending on the need for installation or use, the gas passage tube 10 may be optionally provided with a securing ring 10c, on which mounting holes 10d are formed to allow the gas passage tube 10 to be mounted by screws in a use environment or connected and operated with other components in the use environment. As illustrated in
The plug member 20 is disposed in the gas passage tube 10, such as with one end pushed by the elastic member 30 and therefore situated at a border between the first space and the second space. The plug member 20 has a blocking portion 21 for sealing the first space. In the presence of high pressure gas, the blocking portion 21 is pushed and moved toward the elastic member 30, such that high pressure gas can pass through the gap between the blocking portion 21 and the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10 and then be discharged from the first opening 12. To seal the first space, the blocking portion 21 may have a bullet-like structure as shown in
The elastic member 30 may be an elongated spring structure, with one end abutting against the plug member 20 and the other end abutting against the adjustment member 40. In one embodiment, two ends of the elastic member 30 are respectively fittingly and tightly sleeved on the connection portion 22 of the plug member 20 and the connection portion 43 of the adjustment member 40. The elastic member 30 is disposed in the gas passage tube 10, such as in the accommodation space defined by the second tubular section 10b. The elastic member 30 serves to elastically push the plug member 20, such that the plug member 20 can tightly seal the gas channel in the gas passage tube 10, preventing gas from being discharged from the opening on the gas passage tube 10. According to the above-mentioned structural design, only when the pressure of the high pressure gas is greater than the elastic pushing force of the elastic member 30, will the plug member 20 be pushed and moved toward the elastic member 30, thereby allowing gas to pass through the gap between the plug member 20 and the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10 and leave from the first openings 12. In one embodiment, the middle section 31 of the elastic member 30 may have a width greater than that of other sections, such that the gap between the elastic member 30 and the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10 may be narrowed to minimize the oscillation of the elastic member 30 and reduce the noise resulted therefrom.
The adjustment member 40 is generally connected with the terminal of the gas passage tube 10, serving to abut and support the elastic member 30 and make the elastic member 30 press against the plug member 20. The adjustment member 40 may have a thread 41, an engagement section 42 and a connection portion 43. The thread 41 is engageable with the thread 17 of the gas passage tube 10 correspondingly, to enable users to rotatably adjust the engagement tightness or depth between the adjustment member 40 and the gas passage tube 10, so as to adjust the elastic force of the elastic member 30 on the plug member 20. The connection portion 43 may have a shape and a size similar to the connection portion 22 of the plug member 20 and may also be fittingly and tightly sleeved by the elastic member 30. A plurality of teeth are formed on the engagement section 42 to mesh and operably link to external components, by which users may adjust the relative relationship between the adjustment member 40 and the gas passage tube 10 so as to modify the pushing force of the elastic member 30 against the plug member 20.
The advantageous features, structural designs and operational configurations of this invention are further elaborated below by referring to the cross-sectional views of one embodiment of this invention.
As described above, the gas passage tube 10 may define therein the first space 14 and the second space 15, wherein the first space 14 serves as the gas channel for introducing gas from the gas inlet 11 into the gas passage tube 10, and the second space 15 serves as the accommodation space for receiving the components. In this embodiment, the first space 14 is a gas channel gradually expanded from the gas inlet 11 inwardly, which serves as a flow guide to allow the high pressure gas to gently and smoothly push the plug member 20 to inwardly compress the elastic member 30, thereby providing a gentle and moderate gas deflation effect, avoiding abrupt gas deflation, and prolonging the service life of the components such as the plug member 20, the elastic member 30, etc.
In this embodiment, the blocking portion 21 of the plug member 20 has a first end 21a and a second end 21b, wherein the first end 21a has gas-modulating means, such as a flat surface, a concave surface or a convex surface. When the high pressure gas enters the gas passage tube 10 from the gas inlet 11, the gas-modulating means enables a substantial part of the high pressure gas to act on the plug member 20 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first end 21a, thereby making the gas act on the plug member 20 with a normal force greater than a shear stress. As an example, the gas-modulating means may be implemented by configuring the first end 21a as a blunt end, such as the flat plane shown in
In this embodiment, the size of each component may be designed as described below, wherein the term “width” is defined as recited above as the maximum length of a cross-section obtained from a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the gas passage tube 10. For a circular cross-section, the width represents its diameter.
One side of the first space 14 close to the gas inlet 11 has a width less than that of the other side, and the first end 21a of the blocking portion 21 has a width slightly less than that of one side of the first space 14 distal from the gas inlet 11, such that the blocking portion 21 may partially extend into the first space 14. The second end 21b of the blocking portion 21 has a width greater than other portions of the blocking portion 21 and substantially equal to or slightly less than the inner diameter of the corresponding portion of the gas passage tube 10, such that there is nearly no gap between the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10 and the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21, which may reduce the noise caused by the collision between the plug member 20 and the gas passage tube 10 due to oscillation on one hand, and on the other hand prevent the high pressure gas from passing through the plug member 20 and generating noise due to turbulence formation or oscillation of the elastic member 30. In addition, in this embodiment, the first end 21a and the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21 are respectively arranged at different sides of the first opening 12. In other words, as illustrate in
The inner diameters or widths of two end portions of the elastic member 30 are both slightly less than those of the connection portion 22 of the plug member 20 and the connection portion 43 of the adjustment member 40. Therefore, by stretching the elastic member 30 and sleeving it on the connection portion 22 and the connection portion 43, the elastic member 30 may be fittingly and tightly combined with the plug member 20 and the adjustment member 40, so as to prevent the noise caused by oscillation of these components and firmly secure the elastic member 30 even after repeated use. In addition, the middle section 31 of the elastic member 30 has a width substantially equal to or slightly less than the inner diameter of the corresponding portion of the gas passage tube 10, such that there is nearly no gap between the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10 and the middle section 31 of the elastic member 30, thereby reducing the noise caused by the collision between the elastic member 30 and the gas passage tube 10 due to oscillation. However, in view of the friction between the components during operation, the width of the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21 and the width of the middle section 31 of the elastic member 30 may be slightly less than the inner diameter of the corresponding portions of the gas passage tube 10 so as to prevent friction between the components or unsmooth operation and prolong the service life of the components.
In this embodiment, the gas passage tube 10 is configured thereon with two first openings 12, which are arranged symmetrically about the longitudinal direction of the gas passage tube 10, such that the gas may be deflated from both first openings 12 by the substantially same flow rate. In addition, in this embodiment, because the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21 has a width greater than that of the first end 21a and there is nearly no or minimal gap between the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21 and the inner wall of the gas passage tube 10, most of the gas will change the direction after impacting the first end 21a of the blocking portion 21 and then leave from the first openings 12. However, on rare occasions, there may be a small amount of gas passing through the second end 21b of the blocking portion 21. In this situation, if too much high pressure gas accumulates in the space above the plug member 20, a pneumatic pressure will be formed in the space which downwardly pushes the plug member 20 and results in a poor deflation effect. In this regard, the gas passage tube 10 can be further configured with second openings 13 as the minor gas relief holes on the tubular wall above the first openings 12, so as to discharge the gas not deflated from the first openings 12 and passing through the blocking portion 21. In this embodiment, the quantity and size of the second openings 13 are not particularly limited, but two second openings 13 may be adopted; in addition, the second openings 13 may also be arranged symmetrically about the longitudinal direction of the gas passage tube 10.
The use environment of the pneumatic valve 1 according to one embodiment of this invention is illustrated below. As shown in
The above detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the subject matter or the application and uses of such embodiments. As used herein, the term “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as exemplary is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations.
Moreover, while at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary one or more embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claimed subject matter in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient guide for implementing the described one or more embodiments. Also, various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope defined by the claims, which include known equivalents and foreseeable equivalents at the time of filing this patent application.
