Rotary valve

A rotary valve comprising:

• a housing including a plurality of supply ports to which fluid is supplied and a plurality of discharge ports from which fluid is sent;
• a plurality of rotors housed in the housing so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis, and each configured to rotate to cause the fluid from the plurality of supply ports to flow into a corresponding one of the plurality of discharge ports;
• a linkage mechanism configured to cause the plurality of rotors to rotate in conjunction with each other;
• and
• an electric actuator configured to drive and rotate the plurality of rotors, wherein
• the plurality of rotors includes a drive rotor to which a driving rotational force of the electric actuator is transmitted and a driven rotor to which the driving rotational force is transmitted from the drive rotor via the linkage mechanism,
• the linkage mechanism includes a contact portion formed in the drive rotor and a contacted portion formed in the driven rotor, and is configured to select between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode by selecting a rotational direction of the drive rotor, the transmission mode being a mode in which the contact portion is in contact with the contacted portion so as to transmit the driving rotational force to the driven rotor, and the non-transmission mode being a mode in which the contact portion is separated from the contacted portion so as not to transmit the driving rotational force to the driven rotor
• the plurality of supply ports includes a first supply port and a second supply port, and the plurality of discharge ports includes a first discharge port, a second discharge port, and a third discharge port, and
• by driving and rotating the drive rotor by the electric actuator, the rotary valve is switched to
• a first position in which the first supply port and the first discharge port communicate with each other and the second supply port and the second discharge port communicate with each other,
• a second position in which the first supply port and the third discharge port communicate with each other and the second supply port and the second discharge port communicate with each other,
• a third position in which the first supply port and the second supply port communicate with the third discharge port and the first supply port and the first discharge port communicate with each other, and
• a fourth position in which the entire first supply port and the entire second supply port communicate with the third discharge port.

A rotary valve comprising:

• a housing including a plurality of supply ports to which fluid is supplied and a plurality of discharge ports from which fluid is sent;
• a plurality of rotors housed in the housing so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis, and each configured to rotate to cause the fluid from the plurality of supply ports to flow into a corresponding one of the plurality of discharge ports;
• a linkage mechanism configured to cause the plurality of rotors to rotate in conjunction with each other;
• and
• an electric actuator configured to drive and rotate the plurality of rotors, wherein
• the plurality of rotors includes a drive rotor to which a driving rotational force of the electric actuator is transmitted and a driven rotor to which the driving rotational force is transmitted from the drive rotor via the linkage mechanism,
• the linkage mechanism includes a contact portion formed in the drive rotor and a contacted portion formed in the driven rotor, and is configured to select between a transmission mode and a non-transmission mode by selecting a rotational direction of the drive rotor, the transmission mode being a mode in which the contact portion is in contact with the contacted portion so as to transmit the driving rotational force to the driven rotor, and the non-transmission mode being a mode in which the contact portion is separated from the contacted portion so as not to transmit the driving rotational force to the driven rotor,
• the single drive rotor and the single driven rotor are housed in the housing,
• the housing includes two of the supply ports and two of the discharge ports that correspond to the drive rotor and the driven rotor, and further includes an intermediate discharge port at an intermediate position between the drive rotor and the driven rotor, and
• either or both of the drive rotor and the driven rotor is configured to be set as desired to a communicating attitude in which the fluid supplied to a corresponding one of the supply ports is sent to the discharge port and a blocking attitude in which the fluid supplied to the corresponding supply port is sent to the intermediate discharge port without being sent to the discharge port.