Thermal valve

A valve, comprising:

• a housing defining an interior and including a valve seat and a structure fixedly disposed remote from the valve seat;
• a valve head to open and close the valve seat, fluid being permitted to flow into the interior when the valve seat is open;
• an elastic system anchored on the structure and coupled to the valve head, the elastic system including a biasing element and an elastic element formed of memory metal alloy disposed to contact fluid permitted to flow into the interior,
• the biasing element and the elastic element being configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat open position when a fluid temperature is within a lower range, and
• the biasing element and the elastic element being further configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat closed position in opposition to the biasing element when the fluid temperature is within an upper range;
• and
• further comprising a pressure relief element anchored on the structure and interposed between the structure and the elastic element.

A heat exchange apparatus, comprising:

• a heat exchange unit;
• a housing defining an interior and an entrance to the heat exchange unit, the housing including a valve seat and a structure fixedly disposed remote from the valve seat;
• a valve head to open and close the valve seat, fluid being permitted to flow into the interior when the valve seat is open and being forced to flow through the entrance when the valve is closed;
• and
• an elastic system anchored on the structure and coupled to the valve head, the elastic system including a biasing element and an elastic element anchored on the structure with the biasing element disposed substantially concentrically within the elastic element, the elastic element being formed of memory metal alloy disposed to contact fluid permitted to flow into the interior,
• the biasing element and the elastic element being configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat open position when a fluid temperature is below a lower limit, and
• the biasing element and the elastic element being further configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat closed position in opposition to the biasing element when the fluid temperature is above an upper limit.

A valve, comprising:

• a housing defining an interior and including a valve seat and a structure fixedly disposed remote from the valve seat;
• a valve head to open and close the valve seat, fluid being permitted to flow into the interior when the valve seat is open;
• and
• an elastic system anchored on the structure and coupled to the valve head, the elastic system including a biasing element and an elastic element anchored on the structure with the biasing element disposed substantially concentrically within the elastic element, the elastic element being formed of memory metal alloy disposed to contact fluid permitted to flow into the interior,
• the biasing element and the elastic element being configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat close position when the fluid temperature is below a lower limit, and
• the biasing element and the elastic element being configured to cooperatively move the valve head toward a valve seat open position when the fluid temperature is above an upper limit.