Valves including thermally sprayed sealing components

#The present invention relates generally to valves and particularly to water valves for use with faucets. More particularly, the invention relates to faucet valves incorporating a valve stem having a coated sealing surface.

#Conventional valves are rising or non-rising. In conventional nonrising valves, a valve disk rotates relative to a fixed disk that is urged into contact with the disk by a spring. The use of a spring requires extra inventory and an additional step during the assembly process. A valve assembly that eliminates the spring and the rotating valve disk would provide a material and labor advantage to a manufacturer. In addition to a valve assembly which eliminates the requirement of a spring and rotating valve disk, a valve assembly which offers an alternative to physically or chemically vapor depositing low friction coatings on its sealing components would be desirable.

#By way of comparison, U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,355 relates to seal elements formed by compression molding and sintering a powdered hard material and binder composition. The sintered sealing disk can be covered with a thin layer of a silicon carbide, metallic carbide, metallic nitride or carbon having a cubic crystallographic lattice structure applied by physical or chemical vapor deposition. The suggested advantage of this method appears to be a semi-finished product that can be of varying sometimes complicated configurations.

#FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of a valve assembly including thermally sprayed sealing components according to the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the valve stem for use in the valve assembly of FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 is a section view taken along the longitudinal axis of the valve assembly of FIG. 1.

#A preferred valve assembly 10 according to the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1-2. The valve assembly 10 includes a valve stem 12, a valve disk 14, a sealing disk 16, an insert 18, a bonnet 20, a pair of O-ring seals 22, 24, a washer 26 and a bonnet hold down nut 28. The valve assembly 10 is configured to be inserted into the outlet of an end body 30, as illustrated in FIG. 5. It should be noted that while a preferred valve assembly is described, the concept of thermally sprayed valve disks as described herein, is not specifically limited to the valve assembly described.

#The stem 12 includes a splined first end 32 and a second end 34. The second end 34 includes a lip 36 that extends radially beyond the circumference of the stem 12. A pair of stopping members 38, 38A extends axially from the lip 36 toward the first end 32 and are disposed diametrically on the stem 12. A bow tie shaped projection 40, as shown most clearly in FIG. 2, extends downwardly from the second end 34. The projection 40 includes a first pair of intersecting orthogonal walls 42A, 42B and a second pair of intersecting orthogonal walls 42C, 42D to define openings 44A and 44B, respectively. Occurring along the projection 40 is a sealing surface 46 which may include a low friction material as will be discussed in greater detail below.

#The valve disk 14 is a bow tie shaped disk which includes a pair of substantially triangular shaped orifices 56, 56A. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the valve disk 14 seats over the bow tie shaped sealing disk 16 in a stacked relationship within the bow tie shaped recess 54 of the insert 18, the sealing disk 16 also having a pair of substantially triangular shaped openings 50, 50A. Prior to applying and tightening, the nut 28, a portion of the valve disk 14 including the sealing surface 48 projects above the planar surface 60 of the insert 18. Upon tightening the nut 28, the valve disk 14 is forced downwardly, thereby compressing the sealing disk 16 until the sealing surface 48 is level with the planar surface 60 of the insert. Thus, by forming the sealing disk from a material such as an elastomer, the sealing disk 16 advantageously provides a biasing function and a sealing function, thereby eliminating the need for a conventional biasing spring.