Valve arrangement
AssigneeSchaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
InventorsJacob Bugeja, Nathanael Biester
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a valve arrangement is disclosed. The valve arrangement includes a housing defining a chamber, and the housing includes a plurality of ports. A first valve assembly includes a first valve body arranged and a second valve assembly includes a second valve body. A gear arrangement is configured to drive the first valve body in a first rotational direction and is configured to drive the second valve body in a second rotational direction, and the second rotational direction is opposite from the first rotational direction.
Claims18
A valve arrangement comprising:
- a housing defining at least one chamber, the housing including a plurality of ports;
- a first valve assembly including a first valve body arranged within the at least one chamber;
- a second valve assembly including a second valve body arranged within the at least one chamber;
- and a gear arrangement directly engaging both:
- gear teeth integrally formed on the first valve body, and gear teeth integrally formed on the second valve body, the gear arrangement being configured to drive the first valve body in a first rotational direction and configured to drive the second valve body in a second rotational direction, and the second rotational direction is opposite from the first rotational direction.
A valve arrangement comprising:
- a housing defining a chamber, the housing including a plurality of ports connected to the chamber;
- a first valve assembly including a first valve body and a sun gear formed on the first valve body;
- a second valve assembly including a second valve body and a ring gear formed on the housing;
- a plurality of planet gears arranged between the ring gear and the sun gear such that teeth of the planet gears engage both the ring gear and the sun gear, each planet gear of the plurality of planet gears arranged on a respective gear retainer of a plurality of planetary gear retainers, wherein each planet gear of the plurality of planet gears includes both a first set of teeth and a second set of teeth, the first set of teeth being a different size than the second set of teeth, and the first set of teeth engage the ring gear and the second set of teeth engage the sun gear.
A method of selectively providing flows through a housing, the method comprising:
- providing a valve arrangement including:
- a housing defining a chamber, the housing including a plurality of ports;
- a first valve assembly including a first valve body and a sun gear, the first valve body including a first shaft extending outside of the at least one chamber;
- a second valve assembly including a second valve body and a ring gear, the second valve body including a second shaft extending outside of the at least one chamber;
- an input shaft connected to at least one of the first valve assembly or the second valve assembly;
- and
- a gear arrangement arranged between the first valve body and the second valve body;
- and
- rotating the input shaft to provide a driving input to the gear arrangement, such that the first valve body rotates in an opposite direction from the second valve body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.