Pressure relief vavle

#The invention relates to a pressure-reducing valve having a valve housing, in the housing interior of which is provided a valve carrier which has at least one through-flow channel, and having a pot-shaped valve body which is guided displaceably from an open position into a closed position in opposition to a restoring force, in which closed position the valve body abuts by way of the circumferential edge of its pot shape in such a manner against a valve seat, which is provided on the valve carrier, that the valve body closes at least one channel opening of the at least one through-flow channel, wherein at least one retaining sleeve is arranged on the valve carrier or on the valve body, wherein a stop, which interacts with a counter stop on the retaining pin in such a manner that in the open position of the pressure-reducing valve, the stop and the counter stop delimit the sliding distance of the valve body relative to the valve carrier, is provided on the retaining sleeve, and wherein the valve carrier has a valve carrier portion, on which is provided an annular seal by way of which the valve body portion abuts sealingly against the housing inside circumference of the valve housing.

#Sanitary showers, which comprise a shower head with a large-format shower area which supports a large number of comparatively small shower openings, are increasingly popular. A shower, which is formed from a plurality of fine threadlike individual streams, can be created by means of such showers. A disadvantage, however, is that the shower openings, which have a comparatively small internal cross section, can easily close as a result of limescale and dirt deposits. As the number of closed shower openings increases, there is a heightened risk that the water flowing into the shower head builds up a pressure there which can cause the shower head to deform and ultimately break. Pressure-reducing valves, which limit the water pressure in the pipe portion located downstream of the pressure-reducing valve to a fixed maximum value, have already been created in order not to allow the water pressure to increase in such a manner that at least individual flow-conducting components are likely to burst.

#Thus, a pressure-reducing valve of the type named in the introduction, which is insertable into a water pipe, has already been disclosed in EP 1 482 389 B1. The disclosed pressure-reducing valve comprises a valve housing, in the housing interior of which is provided a pot-shaped valve body. The disclosed pressure-reducing valve has a valve carrier in which at least one through-flow channel is provided. The pot-shaped valve body is guided displaceably under the pressure of the traversing medium from an open position into a closed position in opposition to a restoring force, in which closed position the valve body abuts by way of the circumferential edge of its pot shape in such a manner against a valve seat, which is provided on the valve carrier, that the valve body closes at least one channel outlet of the at least one through-flow channel. If the water pressure in the pipe portion located upstream of the pressure-reducing valve exceeds a certain water pressure, the valve body is slid and pressed in such a manner over the valve carrier that the at least one channel opening of the at least one through-flow channel is increasingly closed. In this case, a restoring force, which is applied by a compression spring or by a gas cushion enclosed in the valve body, acts on the valve body. The design of the disclosed pressure-reducing valve has many parts and is complex. Due to the restoring element required as restoring force, there is the risk of the valve carrier and the valve body being pressed apart from one another and the disclosed pressure-reducing valve disintegrating into its component parts. As a result, the mounting of the disclosed pressure-reducing valve is made even more difficult.

#The figures are as follows:

#FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a pressure-reducing valve with a valve housing, in the housing interior of which a pot-shaped valve body is provided, and with a valve carrier, the valve body being situated here in an open position of the pressure-reducing valve,

#FIG. 2 shows the pressure-reducing valve from FIG. 1 with the valve body and the valve carrier in an intermediation position,

#A pressure-reducing valve 1, which is traversed in the direction of the arrow Pf1 and which is insertable, for example, in a water pipe in order to limit the water pressure in the pipe portion located downstream of the pressure-reducing valve to a fixed maximum value, is shown in FIGS. 1 to 8. The pressure-reducing valve 1 has a valve housing 2 which can be inserted or interposed in a fluid pipe. A pot-shaped valve body 3 is provided in the housing interior of the valve housing 2. The pressure-reducing valve 1 has a valve carrier 4 in which at least one through-flow channel 5 is provided. The flow path F is indicated with a dashed line in FIGS. 1 and 2. If the pipe cross section in the pipe portion located downstream is constricted and the water pressure rises there increasingly, the displaceably guided valve body 3 is moved under the pressure of the traversing medium from an open position shown in FIG. 1 into a closed position shown in FIG. 3 in opposition to the resetting force of at least one restoring element, in which closed position the valve body 3 abuts by way of the circumferential edge 6 of its pot form in such a manner against a valve seat 7, which is provided on the valve carrier 4, that the valve body 3 closes at least one channel opening 8 of the at least one though-flow channel 5. As the valve body 3, when the water pressure rises in the pipe portion located upstream of the pressure-reducing valve 1, is pressed increasingly in the direction of the valve carrier 4 in opposition to the restoring force of the at least one restoring element and the pressure loss consequently increases at the channel opening 8 which is becoming smaller as a result, the pressure of the fluid in the pipe portion located downstream of the pressure-reducing valve is limited to a fixed maximum value.

#It can be seen particularly well in FIGS. 6 and 7 that a central retaining sleeve 9 is provided on the inside of the end face of the pot bottom of the valve body 3, into which retaining sleeve a retaining pin 10, which is arranged on the valve carrier 4, protrudes. A stop 11 is provided on the inside circumference of the retaining sleeve 9, said stop 11 interacts in such a manner with a counter stop 12 on the outside circumference of the retaining pin 10 that in the open position of the pressure-reducing valve 1 the stop 11 and the counter stop 12 limit the sliding distance of the valve body 3 relative to the valve carrier 4. As the stop 11 and the counter stop 12 which interacts therewith limit the sliding distance of the valve body 3 relative to the valve carrier 4 into the open position, the pressure-reducing valve 1 shown here is prevented from falling apart inadvertently during storage, transport or mounting. The valve carrier 4, valve body 3 and the restoring element that is active between them consequently form in practice, together with the associated annular seals 18, 19, one insertion unit which only has to be inserted into the valve housing 2 to complete the pressure-reducing valve 1 according to the invention. The mounting of the pressure-reducing valve 1 shown here is made considerably easier as a result.

#It can be seen in FIGS. 4 to 7 that the at least one restoring element is realized here as a helical compression spring 13. In this case, the helical compression spring 13, which serves as a restoring element, engages around the retaining pin 10 and the retaining sleeve 9. The retaining pin 10 and the retaining sleeve 9 are aligned coaxially with respect to one another and to the valve housing longitudinal axis. It can be seen in FIG. 7 that the stop 11 is arranged on the free end face region of the retaining sleeve 9. In order to be able to dimension the sliding distance of the valve body, which is guided displaceably on the valve carrier 4, so that is it is sufficiently long, the counter stop 12 is also arranged on the free end face region of the retaining pin 10. In order not to impair the functioning of the pressure-reducing valve 1, even if the valve body 3 and the valve carrier 4 are twisted relative to one another, the stop 11 and the counter stop 12 are realized in each case as a circumferential annular flange or annular bead on the circumference.