Drain valve actuators and methods of controlling drain valves
AssigneeMolon Motor & Coil Corporation
InventorStoyan S. Staev
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A valve actuator operates a valve, such as a drain valve of an industrial washing machine. The valve actuator has a permanent magnet DC motor which drives a gear train which rotatably drives an output shaft. The output shaft is engaged with the drain valve and moves the drain valve to open and closed positions as desired. The valve actuator also has a controller which controls operation of the valve actuator. The controller provides power to the motor only when needed to open and close the drain valve. The controller does not provide power to the motor when the drain valve is in the open and closed positions.
Claims4
A valve actuator comprising:
- a housing;
- an electric motor mounted to the housing and having a motor shaft;
- a rotatable output shaft extending through a wall of the housing;
- a gear train within the housing and operatively connected to the motor shaft and to the output shaft;
- and
- a controller for providing selective electrical operational power to the motor only when needed, the controller comprising:
- an output signal which drives the motor which drives the gear train which rotates the output shaft from a first position to a second position,
- a reverse output signal having a reverse polarity which reversely drives the motor which reversely drives the gear train which reversely rotates the output shaft from the second position to the first position,
- positive temperature coefficient thermostat which reduces without stopping the output signal to the motor when the output shaft is in the second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.