Solenoid valve

• US 5,996,965 A
• Filed: 10/23/1998
• Issued: 12/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Firma A.U.K. Muller GmbH & Co. KG
• Original Assignee: Firma A.U.K. Muller GmbH & Co. KG
• Inventors: Denkena, Karl Heinz, Eichholz, Heinz-Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, KEVIN L
• Application Number:
  US09/178,105
• Time in Patent Office: 410 Days
• Field of Search: 251/30.02, 251/30.03, 251/30.04, 251/30.05, 251/129.17
• US Class Current: 251/30.05
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 31/402 acting on a diaphragm

Abstract

A solenoid valve especially intended for wet-room fittings. It has a housing with an intake and an outlet sealed off from each other and prevented from communicating while the valve is closed by a body that rests on a seat. The housing is essentially flower-pot shaped and has a threaded section at the open end positioned concentric and coaxial to the intake and outlet, which are in turn rotationally symmetric and face the open end such that the incoming flow is opposite the outgoing flow.

Claims

1. A solenoid valve for use in wet-room fittings, comprising:

a housing with an intake and an outlet sealed off from each other and prevented from communicating while the valve is closed by a body that rests on a seat, wherein the body of the valve includes a membrane and a counterpressure chamber is positioned on the side of the membrane facing away from the valve seat and communicates with the valve intake by way of a channel and with the valve outlet by way of a nozzle of a pilot valve actuated by a magnetic plunger of a bistable electromagnet, wherein the valve housing is essentially shaped like a flowerpot open at one end and having a threaded section in the vicinity of that end, wherein the intake and outlet are each rotationally symmetrical and positioned mutually concentric at the open end of the flowerpot, wherein the outlet is positioned centrally and is annularly surrounded by the intake, with the incoming flow opposing the outgoing flow, and wherein the membrane, the seat, and the threaded section are concentric with the outlet, with the intake and the outlet each having a connection, the outlet connection extending axially farther out to a prescribed length than the intake connection does, both connections having seals.

2. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a lower housing half and an upper housing half that fit tight together, cannot rotate relative to each other, and are sealed off from each other by an O-ring.

3. The solenoid valve as in claim 2, wherein the upper housing half is cap-shaped and has a hexagonal section at the closed end, and in that a printed-circuit board with connecting lines or contacts is secured and embedded water-tight in the upper housing half.

4. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the bistable electromagnet has a pulse output less than one watt.

5. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the valve is installable in any desired position.

6. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the outside diameter of the housing is less than 35 mm.

7. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the seat is funnel-shaped.

8. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, wherein the volumetric flow per hour is greater than 1.2 m³ at a pressure difference of 1 bar.

9. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, further comprising a fine-mesh filter in its intake.

10. The solenoid valve as in claim 1, further comprising flow controls in its outlet.

11. A plumbing fitting comprising a tubular component with a water-discharge pipe at one end and a water-entry pipe at the other, wherein a plug accommodating a bore is positioned in the vicinity of the water-entry pipe, the bore having an expanded section at the upper edge and an accommodation for a liquid-conveyance port resting on its base and wherein a solenoid valve as recited in claim 1 is installed in the plug with its intake connection accommodated in the expanded section and its outlet connection in the accommodation, the valve intake communicating with the water-entry pipe and the valve outlet with the water-discharge pipe by way of the liquid-conveyance port and liquid-conveyance lines.