US 5,690,135 AGranted

Diverter valve with shutoff feature

AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation

InventorJohn M. Dehais

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Abstract

A diverter valve with a shutoff feature for usage in an aircraft environmental control system is disclosed. The valve has a housing that includes an inlet connected with a source of air, and first and second outlets spaced 90.degree. apart. The first outlet is connected with the ECS refrigeration pack, while the second outlet, which is at a 90.degree. angle with respect to both the inlet and the first outlet, is connected with a bypass line that bypasses the refrigeration pack and is connected with a heater inside the ECS. A gate internal to the valve housing is rotatable over a 90.degree. range of motion to connect the air from the source to either solely the first outlet, to both the first and second outlets, to solely the second outlet, or to neither the first nor second outlets, depending upon a desired temperature of the air provided to the cockpit or cabin of the aircraft.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An environmental control system, comprising:

a. a source of air;
b. a refrigeration package for selectively cooling the air from the source of air;
c. a bypass line for transporting a selective portion of the air from the source of air around the refrigeration package;
d. a valve for selectively connecting, depending upon a position of a movable valve element in a sequence of a plurality of positions, wherein the valve element is in the form of a gate rotatable over an angular range of motion having a maximum range of 90.degree., the air from the source of air solely to the refrigeration pack when the valve element is in a first position in the sequence of positions, to both the refrigeration pack and the bypass line when the valve element is in a second position in the sequence of positions, to solely the bypass line when the valve element is in a third position in the sequence of positions, and to neither the refrigeration pack nor the bypass line when the valve element is in a fourth position in the sequence of positions;
and
e. a controller for monitoring an output temperature of air from the environmental control system and for controlling the position of the movable valve element in response thereto.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.