Valve
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsRobert Peliks, Nam Suh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A valve is constructed to strike a balance between providing relatively high sealing yet low friction as components of the valve move. The valve includes a port and an actuator movable relative to the port. A member is disposed between the port and the actuator. The actuator acts on the member so that it can intermittently seal the port as it moves. The member and the actuator have a substantially low friction interface, whereas the seal member and the port have a substantially high sealing interface. The valve can be used in an engine, such as a rotary valve in an internal combustion engine.
Claims76
A valve comprising:
- a housing having a port;
- an actuator movable relative to the housing;
- and
- a flexible member disposed between the housing and the actuator, the actuator acting on the flexible member so that the flexible member intermittently seals the port as the actuator moves.
A rotary valve comprising:
- a housing having a port;
- a rotor rotatable relative to the housing;
- and
- a seal member disposed between the housing and the rotor and adapted to seal the port, the seal member and the rotor having a substantially low friction interface and the seal member and the port having a substantially high sealing interface.
26-47. (canceled)
A rotary valve comprising:
- a housing having a port, the port defining a valve seat;
- a rotor rotatable relative to the housing;
- a member disposed between the housing and the rotor, a first interface defined by the valve seat and the member;
- and
- a second interface defined by the member and the rotor;
- wherein the first interface provides a seal to intermittently seal the port as the rotor rotates and wherein the second interface provides a low friction surface to increase rotatability of the rotor relative to the housing.
49-70. (canceled)
A rotary valve comprising:
- a housing having a cone-shaped surface;
- a port extending through the cone-shaped surface;
- a rotor rotatable relative to the housing and shaped to cooperate with the cone-shaped surface of the housing;
- and
- a sealing/sliding interface disposed between the housing and the rotor and adapted to conform to the cone-shaped surface of the housing, with the sealing/sliding interface intermittently sealing the port as the rotor slidingly rotates over the interface.
72-90. (canceled)
An engine comprising:
- a cylinder block having at least one cylinder;
- a cylinder head coupled to the cylinder block and covering an open end of the at least one cylinder, the cylinder head having a port communicating with the cylinder;
- and
- a rotary valve cooperating with the port to intermittently seal the port, with said rotary valve comprising a rotor rotatable relative to the port, a member disposed between the rotor and the port, with the rotor acting on the member to intermittently seal the port as the rotor rotates.
A valve comprising:
- a housing having a housing surface and a port extending to the housing surface;
- a valve seat on the housing surface disposed about the port;
- a flexible membrane constructed and arranged to maintain rolling contact with the housing surface, such that the valve is closed when a portion of the flexible membrane is rolled into contact with the valve seat and such that the valve is opened when the portion of the flexible member is rolled from the valve seat;
- and
- an actuator adapted to move the flexible member in rolling contact with the housing surface.
A valve comprising:
- a housing having a port;
- an actuator movable relative to the housing;
- and
- a flexible member having a hole, the flexible member being disposed between the housing and the actuator, the actuator acting on the flexible member to move the hole in the flexible member into and out of alignment with the port of the housing so that the flexible member intermittently seals the port as the actuator moves.
134-137. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.