Valve assembly

• US 7,967,028 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2008
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin AW Company Limited (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Jinno, Tomoya, Suzuki, Akitomo, Shimizu, Tetsuya, Ishikawa, Kazunori, Yamaguchi, Masamichi, Tsuchida, Kenichi, Nishio, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Fox; John
• Application Number:
  US12/292,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20090140190A1
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 137/625.65, 137/625.69, 137/884
• US Class Current: 137/884
• CPC Class Codes: F16K 27/003 Housing formed from a plurality of the same valve elements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/87885 Sectional block structure

Abstract

A valve assembly includes a plurality of solenoid valves, each solenoid valve having a pressure-regulating valve portion formed by a sleeve having a plurality of valve-side ports and a spool for opening and closing the valve-side ports, and a solenoid portion having a plunger for driving the spool and a coil for electromagnetically driving the plunger; and a valve body having a plurality of insertion holes into which the solenoid valves are inserted, and having ports that are connected to the plurality of valve-side ports in a state in which the solenoid valves are mounted.

Claims

1. A valve assembly, comprising:

a plurality of solenoid valves, each solenoid valve having a pressure-regulating valve portion formed by a sleeve having a plurality of valve-side ports and a spool for opening and closing the valve-side ports, and a solenoid portion having a plunger for driving the spool and a coil for electromagnetically driving the plunger; and

a valve body having a plurality of insertion holes into which the solenoid valves are inserted, and having ports that are connected to the plurality of valve-side ports in a state in which the solenoid valves are mounted, wherein;

the solenoid valves are opposedly inserted into the insertion holes of the valve body such that diameters of adjacent solenoid portions at least partially overlap each other in a horizontal or up-down direction and adjacent sleeves are fixed to the valve body by an assembly pin that is inserted into a fixing hole formed in the valve body.

2. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein, as the assembly pin that is inserted into the fixing hole, a single assembly pin is used to assemble two of the solenoid valves.

3. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein, as the assembly pin that is inserted into the fixing hole, a plurality of assembly pins are used to assemble two of the solenoid valves.

4. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein a fitting groove into which the assembly pin is inserted is formed in a sleeve of a solenoid valve of the plurality of solenoid valves as two grooves extending at any angle there between except in parallel with each other.

5. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein two fitting grooves into which the assembly pin is insertable are formed on a solenoid portion side and on an opposite side to a solenoid portion in a sleeve of a solenoid valve of the plurality of solenoid valves.

6. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein an opening end of an insertion hole of the plurality of insertion holes of the valve body is formed in an opposing face extending substantially perpendicularly to an insertion direction of the assembly pin into the fixing hole from the opening end to a predetermined depth.

7. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein a planar displacement between two of the solenoid valves having respective central axes located one above the other is set to a distance equal to at most one third of a radius of a solenoid valve of the two of the solenoid valves having a large diameter.

8. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein the insertion holes of the valve body mount a part or an entire sleeve of a solenoid valve of the plurality of solenoid valves therein.

9. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein each insertion hole of the plurality of insertion holes is either partially opened or formed in a completely closed state except an insertion port of an insertion hole.

10. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein the assembly pin has a cylindrical shape, tapered with a cylindrical shape or a prismatic shape.

11. The valve assembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing hole in the valve body is formed in a vertical direction or with a predetermined angle.