In-line incremetally adjustable electronic expansion valve

A refrigerant expansion valve comprising:

• a motor, said motor being a bi-directional motor having a rotatable drive shaft;
• a housing, said housing defining a plurality of apertures in said valve;
• a plate mounted for rotary motion within said valve, said plate defining a plurality of apertures;
• and
• an actuator, said actuator disposed in said valve for linear movement in a plane generally coincident with the plane of said plate and being operably coupled to both said rotatable drive shaft of said motor and to said plate, rotation of said motor drive shaft causing said actuator to move linearly within said valve in a plane generally coincident with the plane of said plate, said linear movement of said drive shaft causing rotary motion of said plate, the degree of registry of said apertures in said plate with respect to said apertures in said valve being determinative of the amount of refrigerant flow through said valve;
• and
• means for isolating said drive shaft of said motor from refrigerant flowing through said valve.

A refrigeration system comprising:

• a compressor;
• a condenser connected for flow to said compressor;
• an evaporator connected for flow to said compressor;
• and
• refrigerant metering means, disposed in flow communication with said condenser and said evaporator, said metering means including a motor, a rotating member defining a plurality of apertures, a fixed member defining a plurality of apertures and an actuator operably coupling said motor and said rotating member, said actuator first translating rotary motion of said motor to linear motion and then translating said linear motion to rotary motion of said plate, the degree to which said apertures in said rotating member are in registry with said apertures in said fixed member being determinative of the amount of refrigerant flow through said valve, said refrigerant metering means including means for limiting the movement of said actuator such that the actuator is prevented from rotating said rotating member to an extent which puts said apertures of said rotating member in full registry with said apertures of said fixed member thereby limiting the amount of refrigerant flow through said metering means to an amount which is less than the amount which would occur if said apertures of said fixed and rotating members were in full registry.