Motorized diverter valve
OwnerRobert A. Livernash, Robert J. Cooper +1inventors
InventorsRobert A. Livernash, Robert J. Cooper, Manuel Gamez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A diverter valve for diverting fluid flow between an inlet and an outlet selected from among several outlets is disclosed. The diverter valve disclosed is useful for distributing fluids in laundry applications, especially automatic clothes washers and the like. It includes a body, a valve member, a motor to operate the valve, an actuable switch, a cam mechanism to de-energize the motor upon movement to a position, and a housing for the device.
Claims17
A motorized diverter valve assembly comprising:
- (a) a body defining an inlet and a plurality of outlets communicating with a valving chamber;
- (b) a valve member disposed in said valving chamber for rotary movement with respect to said body, said valve member moveable between a plurality of discrete positions and operable in each of said positions to effect fluid communication exclusively between said inlet and a different one of said outlets;
- (c) motor means associated with said body operable upon selective energization to effect movement of said valve to a selected one of said positions;
- (d) switch means associated with each of said outlets and operable upon connection to a source of power and upon rotation of said valve member to a desired one of said outlets by said motor means to energize and de-energize said motor means;
- (e) cam means operable upon movement of said valve member to one of said discrete positions to actuate said switch means and de-energize said motor means;
- and,
- (f) a removable housing attached to said body and including said motor means and switch means.
A method of making a motorized diverter valve assembly having a body with an inlet and plural outlets comprising:
- (a) disposing a rotatable valve member in a valving chamber in the body communicating with the inlet and outlets and closing said chamber with a cover and journalling a cam for rotation on said cover;
- (b) disposing a plurality of cam actuated switches on a circuit board and disposing the board in a housing;
- (c) disposing a motorized drive for said cam on said housing;
- (d) attaching said housing to said body over said cover and engaging said motorized drive with said cam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.