Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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COMBINED PRESSURE REGULATOR AND VALVE
ASSEMBLY FOR CONTROLLING FUEL GAS FLOW
TO PLURAL BURNERS
BACKGROUNDOFTHE~NVENTION
The present invention relates to the control of fuel gas flow to a plurality of bumers
and particularly to fuel gas bumers employed for cooking appliances. The present invention
relates to controlling fuel gas flow to top bumers and oven bumers employed in domestic
5 cooking appliances.
Heretofore, in the design and m~nllf~cture of household cooking appliances such as -
cooktops and ranges, it has been the practice to provide a fuel gas pressure regulator in the
gas line connection to the appliance with an upstream manual shut offvalve for redllnd~ncy.
In a typical household range or cooktop, individual electrically operated valves have been
10 employed for controlling gas flow to each of the burners in connection with an ignitor for
igniting the fuel/air mixture em~n~ting from the burner. However, the complexity of the fuel
line arrangement and the number of line connections required to install the shut off valve,
regulator and individual bumer valves in the appliance has proven to be cumbersome and quite
costly in high volume production of household appliances in the competitive marketplace for
15 such appliances.
Thus it has been desired to find a way or means of simplifying the tubing or conduit
connections between the various valves and the bumers and to reduce the cost of the bumer
in~t~ tion in a cooking appliance.
SUMMARYOFTHEnNVENTION
2 0 It is an object of the present invention to provide a single unitary controller including
the functions of manual shut offvalve, pressure regulator and electrically operated control
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valves for controlling flow of fuel gas from a source to plural outlets adapted for connection
to individual fuel gas burners.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a single controller for fuel gas
combining the functions of manual shut off valve, pressure regulator and electrically operated
5 individual burner valves and which is simple in construction, easy to assemble during
m~nllf~cturing and minim~l in cost.
The present invention provides a unitary controller including a pressure regulator,
manual shut offvalve and plural electrically operated control valves for controlling fuel gas
flow from an inlet adapted for connection to a source of fuel gas and plural outlets adapted
10 individually for connection to separate fuel gas burners.
The controller of the present invention has a housing shell with an inlet adapted for
connection to a source of fuel gas with a regulator body received in the shell and having a
passage sealed over the shell inlet with a manual shut offvalve disposed in the passage which
communicates with a valving chamber to which flow is controlled by a regulator poppet
15 connected to a pressure responsive diaphragm for regulating fuel flow to the valving chamber.
The valving chamber and pressure responsive member are sealed by the housing shell cover;
and, the valving chamber has an outlet communicating with the interior of the housing shell.
Plural electrically operated valve actuators are attached to the undersurface of the cover plate
and are each operative upon electrical energization to move a poppet with respect to an
2 0 individual outlet port of controller for permitting fuel gas flow to a selected burner.
The present invention thus provides a single controller combining the functions of a
manual shut offvalve, pressure regulator and a plurality of electrically operated individual
burner control valves in an arrangement which is simple in construction, easy to assemble and
low in m~ f~chlring cost.
25 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAVVINGS
FIG. 1 is a plan view of the controller of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an axonometric view of the assembled controller of FIG. l;
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FIG. 3 is a section view taken along section indicating line 3-3 of FIG. 1,
FIG. 4 is a section view taken along section indicating line 4-4 of FIG. I;
FIG. 5 is a section view taken along section indicating line 5-5 of FIG. l; and,FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the controller of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, the controller assembly indicated generally at 10 has a
housing shell 12 which is covered by a cover plate 14 which is sealed by a resilient gasket or
resilient seal 16 received in a cupped flange 18 formed about the periphery ofthe shell 12; and,
the cover 14 is retained by folding over the edges ofthe flange 18 as shown in dashed outline
1 0 in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5.
An inlet port 20 is formed in the side wall of shell 12; and, is a suitable inlet fitting 22
attached to the exterior thereof by any suitable expedient, as for example welding or brazing
and which may have internal threads 24 for connection to a fuel gas supply conduit (not
shown).
A pressure regulator body 26 is received in the interior of shell 12 and has an inlet 28
formed therein which has an annular resilient seal 31 disposed over the inlet for sealing same
about the port 20 on the inner surface of the wall of shell 12.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5, the inlet 28 communicates with a first valving chamber 30
formed in the body 26 which has an outlet port 32 formed in the bottom thereof which
2 0 communicates with a transfer passage 34 formed in the bottom of the body 26.The transfer passage 34 communicates with a second or regulator port 38 formed in
the bottom of a record or regulator valving chamber or cavity 40 which has a plurality of
outlets 42 which communicate with the interior ofthe shell 12.
Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, a pressure responsive diaphragm 44 is disposed to close
2 5 the cavity 40 and form the upper wall thereof. The diaphragm has a peripheral bead or rim 46
sealed about the upper rim or periphery 48 of the cavity 40 by being compressed by the
undersurface of the cover plate 14.
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Attached to the upper surface of the diaphragm 44 is a backing plate 50 to which is
centrally attached and sealed through the diaphragm a valve operating rod S2 which extends
downwardly through the regulator valve port 38 into the transfer passage 34 and has attached
to the lower end thereof a resilient poppet 54. Upon upward movement of the diaphragm 44
5 by a sufficient amount the poppet 54 is operable to seat on the rim of port 38 and block flow
from transfer passage 34 to cavity 40. A preload spring 129 has one lower end registered
against the backing plate 50 with its upper end registered against the cover 14. A conversion
spring 56 has one lower end registered against the backing plate 50. The threaded fitting 58 as
shown in FIG. 5, is covered with a protective cover 59.
In operation, plug 58 is adjusted to provide the desired compressed length ofthespring 129 provides a preload which is established sufficient to move the diaphragm
downwardly to cause poppet 54 to be unseated at a desired pressure in cavity 40. Thereafter,
variations in the pressure and chamber 40 will cause the diaphragm to either decrease the
opening between the poppet 54 and port 38 with increasing pressure, or with decreasing
15 pressure, allow the diaphragm to drop under the urging of spring 129. The maximum opening
of the poppet 54 with respect to port 38 is limited by stops 62 provided in the chamber 40
against which the undersurface of the diaphragm is registered when the pressure in chamber 40
drops below a predetermined minimllm
Referring to FIG. 5, the manual shut offvalve poppet 64 is attached to the end of an
2 0 operating rod 66 which extends upwardly through an aperture in the cover 14 and has the
upper end thereof pivotaily connected to a lift type tab actuator 68 by a pin 70.
In operation, when actuator 68 is lifted to the position shown in dashed outline in FIG.
2, the poppet 64 is lifted from contact with the rim of port 32 and the valve is in the open
position. When the actuator is pivoted to the position shown in solid outline in FIG. 2, the
2 5 poppet 64 is lowered to seat against the rim of port 32 and the shut offvalve is in the closed
or "OFF" position as shown in FIG. 5.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, the cover plate 14 has at least two and preferably three
spaced outlet ports 72, 74, 76 formed therein attached to each of which is attached to an
outlet fitting denoted respectively 78, 80, 82, which are secured by any suitable expedient such
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as welding or brazing. In the presently preferred practice, outlet fittin_ 78 is adapted for
connection to a conduit supplying one or more top burners such as to a top burner manifold.
Outlet 80 is preferably connected to an oven "Broil" burner; whereas, outlet 82 is adapted for
connection to a conduit supplying an oven "Bake" burner.
Referring to FIG. 6, a portion of diaphragm rim 46 extends outwardly as denoted by
reference numeral 47 and is configured to seal over the top of the body cap 30 by virtue of the
pressure of the undersurface of cover plate 14.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, a pair of electrically operated valve actuators indicated
generally at 84, 86 are disposed on the undersurface of cover plate 14 for providing a valving
function ofthe outlet ports 74, 76. Valve actuators 84, 86 include a mounting block
respectively 88, 90 which in the present practice are formed of insulating material such as a
ceramic. The blocks 88, 90 are attached to the cover 14 by conductive rivets such as denoted
typically by reference numeral 92 which pass through correspondingly disposed apertures
respectively 94, 96 and 98, 100 formed in the cover plate 14. The rivets extend upwardly
through insulator pads respectively 102, 104 provided on the exterior of cover plate 14 and
through electrical connector terminals 106, 108 and 110, 112 situated on the pads 102, 104.
It will be understood that each of the rivets is riveted over one of the connector terminals 106,
108, 110, 112 for retaining the assembly ofthe block, pad and terminals onto the cover plate
14.
2 0 Each of the blocks 88, 90 has attached thereto a bimetal arm respectively 114, 116
about which is wrapped a wire heating coil 118, 120 which has its ends connected respectively
to one of the rivets 92 mounting the blocks to the cover plate. Thus, the coil 118 has its ends
electrically connected respectively to the terminals 106, 108 and coil 120 has its ends
connected to terminals 110, 112.
Each of the bimetal arms 114, 116 has an extension mounted to the end thereof
denoted respectively 122, 124 which extensions may also be of bimetal construction and
oppositely disposed with respect to arms 114, 116 for ambient temperature compensation in a
manner well known in the art.
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Each of the extensions 122, 124 has attached to the free end thereof a resilientelastomeric poppet denoted respectively by reference numerals 126, 128. It will be
understood that the valve actuators 84, 86 are so disposed that poppet 126 closes against the
undersurface of port 74 in the cover; and, poppet 128 closes against the undersurface of port
5 76 in the cover plate.
In the de-energized state, that is with no current flowing through coils 118, 120, the
poppets 126, 128 are biased to a closed position against their respective outlet ports. Upon
enel~SiGa~ion of either of the coils 118, 120, the corresponding poppet is moved away from the
outlet port and permitting flow through one of the ports 74, 76.
1 0 It will be understood that the outlet port 72 in the cover plate is continuously open
with respect to the interior of shell 12; and, opening of the manual shut offvalve poppet 64
results in fuel gas flow through port 72. Typically, port 72 is adapted to be connected to a
manifold for top burners each of which has its own shut offvalve.
The present invention thus provides a unique and novel combination manual shut-off
15 valve pressure regulator and plural electrically operated valves for controlling flow to selected
fuel gas burners.
The present invention provides a simplified construction for the combination controller
wherein the pressure regulator is partially formed by the cover plate; and, the outlets and valve
operators are connected to the cover plate as a sub-assembly simplifying m~nuf~cturing and
2 0 providing for minim~l cost.
Although the present invention has hereinabove been described with respect to the
illustrated embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is capable of modification and
variation and is limited only by the following claims.
