Thermostat valve and method for operating a thermostat valve

A device, comprising:

• a thermostat valve attached to an internal combustion engine, the thermostat valve including:
• a housing with a plurality of cooling liquid connections;
• a hollow valve element which is mounted rotatably in the housing;
• and
• a means for driving the hollow valve element rotationally by a drive force,
• wherein
• the valve element has a plurality of openings on an outer face of the valve element and configured to be brought into and out of alignment selectively with one or more of the plurality of cooling liquid connections of the housing for the throughflow of cooling liquid by way of rotation of the valve element,
• adjacently with respect to one of the plurality of openings, the outer face of the valve element has a depression or a cutout,
• the valve element is rotatable to assume a connecting position, a closed position, and an intermediate position between the connecting position and the closed position, in the connecting position, a relevant opening of the plurality of openings is in alignment with a relevant cooling liquid connection of the plurality of cooling liquid connections of the housing and a cooling liquid flow is possible between an interior of the valve element and the relevant cooling liquid connection,
• in the closed position, the relevant opening is not in alignment with the relevant cooling liquid connection of the housing and a cooling liquid flow is not possible between the interior of the valve element and the relevant cooling liquid connection,
• in the intermediate position, the relevant opening is not in alignment with the relevant cooling liquid connection of the housing but a cooling liquid flow is possible between the interior of the valve element and the relevant cooling liquid connection through the depression or the cutout,
• the intermediate position is defined by a movable stop element which is biased into a blocked position and against which an actuating section of the valve element is stopped when the drive force does not exceed a limit force, the stop element being biased via elasticity,
• the stop element is moveable via countering of the elasticity to counter to its bias by the actuating section of the valve element when the drive force exceeds the limit force, into a released position, in which the actuating section of the valve element is moveable past the stop element in order to leave the intermediate position, and
• the actuating section is formed at a portion of a shaft that, with respect to a length of the shaft, is located further from rather than closer to the housing, wherein the shaft mounts the valve element rotationally.