"Regulating valve for a gas cooking appliance and gas cooking appliance

incorporating said regulating valve"

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to regulating valves for a gas cooking appliance and to gas cooking appliances incorporating said regulating valves.

PRIOR ART Regulating valves for gas cooking appliances are known to comprise a rotating disc with a plurality of connecting holes, such that rotation of the rotating disc allows regulating the gas flow of the valve between an inlet conduit and an outlet conduit of said valve through said connecting holes. US20040182456A1 describes a gas flow regulating device comprising a body with an inlet conduit through which gas is supplied, an outlet conduit, an inner cavity fluidically communicated with the inlet conduit, and a rotating disc arranged in the inner cavity of the body of the device, the rotating disc comprising a plurality of connecting holes for regulating gas flow between the inner cavity and the outlet conduit by means of rotation of the rotating disc. The connecting holes overlap with an outlet hole of the outlet conduit, the rotating disc being movable along an angular path comprising an intermediate zone in which in all the angular positions the outlet hole overlaps with more than one connecting hole of the rotating disc, and the rotating disc comprising a main series of connecting holes increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a regulating valve for a gas cooking appliance, and a gas cooking appliance incorporating said regulating valve, as defined in the claims.

The regulating valve of the invention comprises a valve body with an inlet conduit through which gas is supplied, at least one outlet conduit, an inner cavity fluidically communicated with the inlet conduit, and a rotating disc arranged in the inner cavity of the body of the device. The rotating disc comprises a plurality of connecting holes for regulating gas flow between the inner cavity and the outlet conduit by means of rotation of the rotating disc, the connecting holes overlapping with an outlet hole of the outlet conduit. The rotating disc is movable along an angular path comprising an intermediate zone in which in all the angular positions the outlet hole overlaps with more than one connecting hole of the rotating disc, and comprises a main series of connecting holes increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow. The rotating disc of the regulating valve comprises between successive holes of the main series of connecting holes, and after each hole of said main series, a first intercalated hole, the size of each intercalated hole being smaller than the size of the preceding contiguous hole of the main series. The rotating disc comprises a second intercalated hole between each first intercalated hole and the subsequent hole of the main series, the size of each second intercalated hole being larger than the size of the preceding contiguous first intercalated hole.

Holes increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow are usually used in rotating discs of regulating valves of the prior art, which can give rise to surges in gas flow transition between discrete gas flow positions (the subsequent hole with which the outlet hole overlaps always has a size larger than the preceding hole with which it no longer overlaps). This translates into a non-linearity in gas flow between discrete gas flow regulating positions, and the user will feel that the gas appliance has poor quality and precision. In the rotating disc of the valve of the invention, holes with smaller sizes are intercalated in the main series of connecting holes increasing in size, and second intercalated holes with larger sizes than the size of the preceding contiguous intercalated holes are intercalated between each intercalated hole and the subsequent hole of the main series, whereby more linear transitions of the gas flow are obtained, giving rise to a more linear regulation of the flow in both directions for increasing and reducing gas flow. These and other advantages and features of the invention will become evident in view of the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows a section view of one embodiment of the regulating valve of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a plan view of the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 .

Figures 3a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 adapted for butane gas, the valve being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions.

Figures 4a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 adapted for propane gas, the valve being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions.

Figures 5a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 adapted for natural gas, the valve being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions. Figure 6 shows a detailed view of the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 with an overlap position of the connecting holes with respect to the outlet hole of the inner cavity of the valve when the gas flow is changed.

Figure 7 shows a diagram linking the gas flow rate regulated by the rotating disc of the valve of Figure 1 for butane, propane and natural gases, with respect to the change in the angular position of the rotating disc.

Figure 8 shows a schematic view of a gas appliance with regulating valves according to the invention. DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Figure 1 shows a section view of one embodiment of the regulating valve 100 of the invention, and Figure 2 shows a plan view of the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 . The regulating valve 100 is intended for regulating gas flow to a burner of a gas cooking appliance, said valve 100 being fluidically communicated with the burner. The regulating valve 100 comprises a valve body 10 with an inlet conduit 1 1 through which gas is supplied and an outlet conduit 12 for said gas. The valve 100 comprises an inner cavity 13 which is fluidically communicated with the inlet conduit 1 1 , said inner cavity 13 comprising an outlet hole 15 fluidically communicating with the outlet conduit 12. The valve 100 comprises a rotating disc 20 which in turn comprises a surface 21 which, as shown in Figure 1 , is the lower surface of the rotating disc 20, which is in contact with a contact surface 14 of the inner cavity 13 of the valve body 10. The inner cavity 13 of the valve 100 is formed in this embodiment of the valve 100 in a void of the valve body 10, a series of protuberances forming the contact surface 14 being arranged at the bottom of said void, the outlet hole 15 of the inner cavity 13 comprising an elastomeric seal which allows fluidically isolating the rotating disc 20 of the outlet conduit 12, in the contact between the surface 21 of the rotating disc 20 when it is supported in the outlet hole 15.

The rotating disc 20 is capable of rotating with respect to the contact surface 14 of the inner cavity 13, maintaining the leak-tightness between the surface 21 of the rotating disc 20 and the contact surface 14 of the inner cavity 13. The rotating disc 20 comprises a plurality of connecting holes 30 which allow regulating the gas flow between the inner cavity 13 and the outlet conduit 12 of the valve body 10 by means of the rotation of the rotating disc 20. This regulation of the gas flow takes place when the connecting holes 30 and the outlet hole 15 of the inner cavity 13 are arranged in fluidic communication. Furthermore, the regulating valve 100 comprises operating means 40 which are connected to the rotating disc 20 for rotating said rotating disc 20. The rotating disc 20 is movable along an angular path comprising an intermediate zone in which in all the angular positions the outlet hole 15 overlaps with more than one connecting hole of the rotating disc 20. The rotating disc 20 comprises a main series 31 i,...,31 _n of connecting holes 30 increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow, and comprises between successive holes of the main series 31 i,...,31 _n and after each hole of said main series 31 i,...,31 _n an intercalated hole, the size of each intercalated hole being smaller than the size of the preceding contiguous hole of the main series 31 i,...,31 _n . Linear regulation of the gas flow along the entire angular path is thereby obtained.

This distribution of the connecting holes 30 allows easily adapting the valve 100 of the invention to different types of combustible gases without changing or modifying the rotating disc 20, but by simply repositioning it with respect to a reference position which is usually the minimum position. In fact, the valve 100 shown in the drawings is adapted for supplying different types of gases.

In this embodiment of the valve 100, said valve 100 allows supplying a first type of gas such as natural gas NG, and a second and third type of gas both derived from liquefied gas LPG, such as propane and butane, respectively. To adapt the valve 100 to the corresponding gas supply, as will be explained in detail below, the rotating disc 20 is arranged in a different angular position for each supply gas when the operating means 40 are arranged in a reference position of the valve 100. In this embodiment of the regulating valve 100, the operating means 40 comprise an actuating shaft 41 that can be rotated along an angular path, defining the angular path of the rotating disc 20. The rotating disc 20 is attached to a coupling shaft 42 which is coupled to the actuating shaft 41 of the operating means 40 by attachment means 48, which is a screw in this embodiment of the valve 100.

The angular path of the rotating disc 20 corresponds with the path of the gas flow leaving the valve 100, between an OFF position, which corresponds with a position without any gas flow, and a minimum gas flow position MIN, a maximum gas flow MAX and an intermediate gas flow INTERMEDIATE being located between these ends. The regulating valve comprises a cover 60 which is attached to the valve body 10 in this embodiment by means of two screws, an inner cavity 13 being formed inside the valve 100. The cover 60 comprises a hole 63 going through it, the coupling shaft 42 of the rotating disc 20 being housed in said hole 63 of the cover 60, going through it. The rotating disc 20 is previously coupled to the coupling shaft 42, a flat area of the outer surface of the coupling shaft 42 being coupled in a semicircular hole 23 of the rotating disc 20. Therefore, when assembling the rotating disc 20 in the valve 100, said rotating disc 20 is housed in the inner cavity 13, the surface 21 thereof being supported on the contact surface 14 of the inner cavity 13, and the coupling shaft 42 is housed in the hole 63 of the cover 60, an upper end 44 of the coupling shaft 42 being shown on the outside of the valve 100, through the hole 63 of the cover 60.

The gas flow regulation in the regulating valve 100 is regulated, as already explained, by means of the connecting holes 30 overlapping with the outlet hole 15 of the outlet conduit 12. The rotating disc 20 is movable along an angular path comprising an intermediate zone in which in all the angular positions the outlet hole 15 overlaps with more than one connecting hole of the rotating disc 20, as will be described below. In this embodiment, the rotating disc 20 comprises a main series 311-315 of five connecting holes increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow in the angular path, arranged in an angular path B which is smaller than or the same as the angular path of the rotating disc 20 of the regulating valve 100. The first four holes of the main series 311-315 are circular, and the fifth hole is elongated and has a much larger dimension than the preceding ones. The rotating disc 20 comprises between successive holes of the main series 311-315, and after each hole of said main series 311-315, an intercalated hole, the size of each intercalated hole being smaller than the size of the preceding contiguous hole of the main series 311- 315. These intercalated holes form a second series 32i-32 ₄ of four connecting holes also increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow.

In this embodiment, the rotating disc 20 of the regulating valve 100 comprises a second intercalated hole between each intercalated hole of the second series 32i- 32 ₄ of connecting holes and the subsequent hole of the main series 311-315, the size of each second intercalated hole being larger than the size of the preceding contiguous intercalated hole of the second series 32i-32 ₄ . These second intercalated holes form a third series 33i-33 ₄ of four connecting holes increasing in size in the direction of increasing gas flow. A total of thirteen connecting holes are therefore defined in this embodiment of the rotating disc 20 of the regulating valve 100, this number of holes being able to vary depending on the capacity of the regulating valve 100. The higher the capability, the larger the dimension of the valve will be, the larger the dimension of the rotating disc will be, and the larger the number of connecting holes there will be. In this embodiment of the regulating valve 100, the connecting holes of the rotating disc 20 of the main series 311-315, of the second series 32i-32 ₄ , and of the third series 33i-33 ₄ are arranged in one and the same radial position in the angular path B, such that they form a single row. Other arrangements of the connecting holes 30 (not shown in the drawings) are possible, for example, with each series of connecting holes 30 arranged in a different radial position, such that each series forms a different row, or with two of the series arranged in one and the same radial position and the remaining series arranged in another different radial position, always defining between all the series of connecting holes 30 an angular path which is the same as or smaller than the angular path of the rotating disc 20 of the regulating valve 100.

This embodiment of the valve 100 is adapted for supplying a first type of gas such as natural gas, a second type of gas such as propane, and a third type of gas such as butane, and the rotating disc 20 is arranged in a different angular position for each supply gas for adapting to the corresponding gas supply when the operating means 40 are arranged in a reference position of the valve 100. Figures 3a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 adapted for butane gas, the valve 100 being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions. Figures 4a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 adapted for propane gas, the valve also being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions, and Figures 5a-d show a plan view of the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 adapted for natural gas, the valve being arranged in MIN, INTERMEDIATE, MAX and OFF gas flow regulating positions.

As explained, the rotating disc 20 is movable along an angular path comprising an intermediate zone in which in all the angular positions the outlet hole 15 overlaps with more than one connecting hole 30 of the rotating disc 20. In this embodiment of the regulating valve 100, in which there are three intercalated series 311-315, 32i-32 ₄ and 33i-33 ₄ , there are at least three connecting holes overlapping with the outlet hole 15 in the intermediate zone at all times, and as the overlap with respect to a connecting hole becomes less, the outlet hole 15 gradually overlaps with a new connecting hole, obtaining a linear regulation as a result of the size ratio existing between successive holes. In other words, in the angular path corresponding to the intermediate zone there are positions of the rotating disc 20 in which the outlet hole 15 overlaps with three complete connecting holes of the rotating disc 20, and there are positions of transition in which one connecting hole moves away from the outlet hole 15 and another connecting hole starts to overlap with said outlet hole 15. As shown in Figure 3b for butane gas, in Figure 4b for propane gas, and in Figure 5b for natural gas, there are discrete positions in which the intermediate gas flow INTERMEDIATE is obtained by three consecutive connecting holes, corresponding to each of the main series 311-315, second series 32i-32 ₄ , and third series 33i-33 ₄ of connecting holes, overlapping with the outlet hole 15. The transition between successive discrete positions in which the outlet hole 15 overlaps with three complete holes is carried out by means of progressively overlapping with hole arranged thereafter in the direction of rotation and progressively lessening the overlap with the first of the three holes.

There is an initial zone in the angular path of the rotating disc 20 in which a minimum gas flow position MIN for each of the supply gases is defined. Since the rotating disc 20 is arranged in a different angular position for each type of gas, in the case of butane gas and as shown in Figure 3a, the outlet hole 15 only overlaps with the first hole 311 of the main series 311-315. In the case of propane gas and as shown in Figure 4a, the outlet hole 15 overlaps with the first hole 311 of the main series 311- 315 and with the intercalated hole 32i of the second series 32i-32 ₄ arranged after said first hole 311. In the case of natural gas and as shown in Figure 5a, the outlet hole 15 overlaps with the intercalated hole 32i of the second series 32i-32 ₄ arranged after the first hole 311 of the main series 311-315, with the first of the second intercalated holes 33i of the third series 33i-33 ₄ , and with the second hole 312 of the main series 311-3I 5.

After the intermediate zone of the angular path of the rotating disc 20, in the direction of increasing gas flow, there is an end zone for gas flow regulation in which a maximum gas flow position MAX for each of the supply gases is defined. In the case of butane gas and as shown in Figure 3c, the outlet hole 15 overlaps with three consecutive connecting holes, corresponding to the fourth hole 31 ₄ of the main series 31 1-315, to the fourth one of the intercalated holes 32 ₄ of the second series 32i-32 ₄ , and to the fourth one of the second intercalated holes 33 ₄ of the third series 33i-33 ₄ of connecting holes. In the case of propane gas and as shown in Figure 4c, the outlet hole 15 overlaps with the fourth one of the intercalated holes 32 ₄ of the second series 32i-31 ₄ , with the fourth one of the second intercalated holes 33 ₄ of the third series 33i-33 ₄ , and partially overlaps with the fifth hole 31 s of the main series 31 1-315. In the case of natural gas and as shown in Figure 5c, the outlet hole 15 only overlaps with the fifth hole 31 s of the main series 31 1-315.

Furthermore, the angular path of the rotating disc 20 comprises at an end opposite the minimum gas flow position MIN, an OFF position without any gas flow, in which the outlet hole 15 does not overlap with any of the connecting holes for all the supply gases, as shown in Figures 3d, 4d, and 5d.

Therefore, along the angular path of the rotating disc 20, between the minimum gas flow position MIN and the maximum gas flow position MAX, a series of discrete gas flow positions are defined by means of, in this embodiment of the regulating valve 100, three consecutive connecting holes overlapping with the outlet hole 15. The connecting holes are arranged along the angular path of the rotating disc 20, such that it allows defining a large number of discrete gas flow positions. Having more or less connecting holes will depend on the dimension of the rotating disc 20, and this dimension of the rotating disc 20 will in turn depend on the type of regulating valve and on the heat output of the burner fed by said valve.

Figure 6 shows a detailed view of the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 , with the connecting holes in an overlap position with respect to the outlet hole 15 of the inner cavity 13 of the valve 100 when the gas flow is changed. When the rotating disc 20, and therefore the regulating valve 100, is in a discrete gas flow position, for example an intermediate gas flow position INTERMEDIATE with a butane gas supply, holes 312, 322, 332 overlap with the outlet hole 15. If the rotating disc 20 is rotated in the direction for reducing the gas flow to the subsequent discrete position in which it will overlap with the connecting holes 33i , 312, 322, it will go through an intermediate transition phase in which the connecting hole 332 is moving away from overlapping with the outlet hole 15, and at the same time the connecting hole 33i is starting to overlap with said outlet hole 15. Linearity and progressiveness of the outlet gas flow in the regulating valve 100 is thereby obtained since, for example, in the example described above the hole 332 that moves away from the overlap has a size larger than hole 33i that starts to overlap, and the difference in gas flow between discrete positions occurs temporarily in a linear and progressive manner, one hole starting the overlap and another hole moving away from the overlap at the same time, without sudden flow surges.

This progressiveness and linearity of the gas flow leaving the regulating valve 100 is reproduced for the different supply gases, and this is done without replacing or modifying the rotating disc 20. Figure 7 shows a diagram linking the gas flow rate in liters/hour regulated by the rotating disc 20 of the valve 100 of Figure 1 for butane, propane and natural gases, with respect to the change in angular position of the rotating disc 20 caused by rotation of the actuating shaft 41 of the regulating valve 100, and it can be seen in said diagram that linearity and progressiveness is the response of the valve 100 for the different discrete gas flow positions in their different angular positions.

Although discrete connecting holes 30 are shown in the drawings, the invention also covers those embodiments in which the holes can be attached to one another forming a single connection opening, or even those embodiments in which some holes can be attached to one another and others cannot.

The invention also relates to a gas cooking appliance 200 incorporating at least one regulating valve 100 according to the invention. By way of illustration, Figure 8 shows a schematic depiction of a gas cooking appliance 200 with four burners 300, each with its respective regulating valve 100. The gas cooking appliance 200 of

Figure 8 also comprises an ON-OFF cutoff valve 400 at the gas supply inlet.

Although in this embodiment the regulating valves 100 are manually operated, in other embodiments, not shown in the drawings, the regulating valves 100 can be controlled by a control device, or they can be controlled both by a control device and manually.

The gas cooking appliance can be, for example, a gas cooktop, a gas cooker, a gas oven or a grill.