# US 10,871,316 B2 · Valve, expansion valve, and stepping control method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,871,316 B2 - Document ID: US10871316B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/151,700 - Filed: 2018-10-04 - Published: 2020-02-06 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2018-08-01 - Assignees: Chicony Power Technology Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Chicony Power Technology Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Shih-Nan Huang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10871316B2 ## CPC - F25B 41/35: by rotary motors, e.g. by stepping motors - F25B 2347/00: Details for preventing or removing deposits or corrosion - F25B 2400/01: Heaters - F25B 2500/04: Clogging - F25B 2600/2513: Expansion valves - Y02B 30/70: Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating - F25B: REFRIGERATION MACHINES, PLANTS OR SYSTEMS; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS - Y02B: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS ## Abstract Disclosed is a valve, an expansion valve and their stepping control methods. The valve includes a valve body, a limiting unit, and a heating unit installed in the limiting unit. The valve body has an actuation space, and a first through hole and a second through hole communicated with the actuation space, and the actuation space further contains a valve seat disposed between the first and second through holes, and the limiting unit is installed in the actuation space, and a variable spacing is defined between the limiting unit and the valve seat. When the variable spacing is reduced, the heating unit heats up the interior of the limiting unit for heating to prevent ice buildups, so as to maintain a flowing state of the variable spacing. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An expansion valve, comprising: a valve body, is hollow and has an actuation space and a containing space, a first through hole and a second through hole are respectively communicated with the actuation space being defined on the valve body, and a valve seat being arranged in the actuation space and between the first through hole and the second through hole; a driver, installed in the containing space; a valve stem, installed in the containing space and transmissively connected to the driver; a limiting valve, installed in the actuation space and driven by valve stem, wherein the limiting valve has a recessed space formed therein; a controller, configured to control the driver, and valve stem is driven by the driver to shift the limiting valve in the actuation space relatively toward the valve seat; and a heating piece, installed in the recessed space of the limiting valve; wherein the valve stem includes a screw and a screw sleeve, the screw sleeve is disposed in the actuation space and connected to the limiting valve, the screw is extended from the containing space toward the limiting valve into the screw sleeve and engaged with the screw sleeve; wherein the screw has a wire hole extending along the axial direction thereof, the heating piece is electrically connected to a wire, and the wire is electrically connected to the controller through the wire hole; wherein the screw has a sealing plug disposed at an end of the wire hole and the wire is surrounded the sealing plug. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, wherein the containing space is divided into a first space and a second space, the driver is disposed in the first space, and the valve stem is disposed in the second space. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The expansion valve of claim 2, further comprising a partition installed between the first space and the second space, and the driver is installed on the partition and thereby fixed in the first space. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, wherein the driver has a drive gear engaged with the valve stem. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The expansion valve of claim 4, further comprising a retarder installed between the driver and the valve stem. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, wherein the valve body has a support element, and the support element comprises a through hole; and the screw passes through the through hole and is limited inside the valve body by the support element. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The expansion valve of claim 6, wherein the support element is a bearing. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, further comprising a protective layer disposed between the screw sleeve and an inner wall of the actuation space. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, wherein the wire has a curved section between the heating piece to the controller. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, further comprises a variable spacing disposed between the limiting valve and the valve seat and driven by the valve stem for adjustment, and the heating piece heats up the interior of the limiting valve to maintain the variable spacing to be passable. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The valve of claim 10, wherein the driver is a stepper motor which receives a control signal to adjust the variable spacing. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The valve of claim 10, wherein the driver is a differential pressure structure which receives a differential pressure signal to adjust the variable spacing. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The valve of claim 10, wherein the driver is a knob structure which is turned manually to adjust the variable spacing. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The expansion valve of claim 1, wherein the wire has a protective tube disposed adjacent to the junction of the heating piece.