Valve assembly for controlling simultaneously more than one fluid flow, and having stable qualities under load

Mcnutt, W. C.

Odell, H. G.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

REPLY TO 
ATTN OF: 
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
WASIIINGTON. D C .  20546 
11 5, 1971 
TO : USI/Scien t i f ic  & Technical Information Div is ion  
At ten t ion :  M i s s  Winnie M, Morgan 
FROM: GP/Qffice of A s s i s t a n t  General 
Counsel f o r  Pa ten t  Matters 
SUBJECT: Announcement of NASA-Owned 
U . S ,  P a t e n t s  i n  STAR 
I n  accordance wi th  t h e  procedures contained i n  t h e  Code GP 
t o  Code US1 memorandum on t h i s  s u b j e c t ,  da ted  June 8, 1970, 
t h e  a t t a c h e d  NASA-owned U , S .  p a t e n t  i s  being forwarded f o r  
a b s t r a c t i n g  and announcement i n  NASA STAR. 
The fol lowing information i s  provided: 
U,S, Pa ten t  No, 
Corporate Source 
Supplementary 
Corporate Source 
NASA Pa ten t  C a s e  No,: S-05890 
Please note  t h a t  t h i s  p a t e n t  covers  an  inven t ion  made by an 
employee of a NASA c o n t r a c t o r .  Pursuant t o  Sec t ion  305(a) of 
t h e  Nat iona l  Aeronaut ics  and Space A c t ,  t h e  name of t h e  
Adminis t ra tor  of NASA appears  on t h e  f i r s t  page of t h e  p a t e n t ;  
however, t h e  name of t h e  a c t u a l  i nven to r  (au thor )  appears  a t  
t h e  heading of Column No. 1 of t h e  S p e c i f i c a t i o n ,  fol lowing the  
words ' I .  w i t h  r e s p e c t  t o  an inven t ion  o f ,  . I '  
Gayle Parker  
Enclosure: 
Copy of Pa ten t  
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19710013715 2020-03-17T03:02:13+00:00Z
ec. 3,1968 J A M E S  E. W E B B  94 1 
ADMINISTRATOR OF T H E  N A T I O N A L  A E R O N A U T I C S  
A N D  S P A C E  A D M I N I S T R A T I O N  
DUAL LATCHING SOLENOID VALVE 
Filed June 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 
/5 
ec. 3, J A M E S  E. WEBB 
ADMINISTRATOR OF THE N A T I O N A L  A E R O N A U T I C S  
A N D  SPACE A D M I N I S T R A T I O N  
DUAL LATCHING SOLENOID VALVE 
Filed June 28, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 
accelerations, or shock loads. Structurally, the preferred 
embodiment of the present invention comprises a body 
having two parallel chambers therein, each chamber hav- 
ing an inlet and an outlet so that each form a separate 
ably mounted in each chamber so that the valves will nor- 
mally block flow through the outlets of the chambers. An 
operating rod is pivotally mounted in the body and ex- 
tends perpendicularly across both of the chambers. A 
fork-like means is provided on each end of the rod which 
cooperates with the valves in the chambers so that the 
flow of more than one fluid, said assembly having sePa- rotated. 
rate valve means which are movable between open and Connected to the rod at its midpoint is a balanced 
closed positions by a rocker arm which in turn is actuated 1B rocker arm which extends perpendicular to the axis of the 
by electrical solenoids. Releasable, latching means which rod. Solenoid are located near the outer ends of the 
are independent of the solenoid means are provided in the rocker arm which, when alternately actuated, will rotate 
in one of its said positions whenever the rocker arm moves chamber. permanent are positioned in the body 
20 so that they will cooperate with the rocker arm to hold the valve means to that position. 
it in a latched vosition whenever the ends of the arm are 
Aero- 
nallaCf4 and Administration with rewect to an 5 flow path through the body. A spring biased valve is slid- invention of William C. MeNutt and Hugh 6.OdelI 
Filed June 28,1967, Ser. No. 650,166 
9 Claims. (CI. 137-554) 
A Valve assembly for simultaneously the valves will be moved back and forth whenever the rod is 
assembly which Securely latch each Of the the arm and hence the rod to operate the valves in each 
Background of the invention 
is capable of simultaneously controlling the flow of more 
than one fluid, and one which is extremely stable under 
vibration, acceleration, and shock loads. 
In certain applications such as spaceflight, the use of 
fuel cells as a source of electrical power is now a reality. 25 
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device in which energy 
derived from a continuously supplied Chemical reaction 
is cooverted directly into electrical energy. A typical ex- 
ample of such a cell is one where two reactants-fuel 
(hydrogen) and an oxidizer (oxygen) are combined in <!O along line 3-3 of LlG. 2; and 
the presence of a special ion-exchange membrane wherein 
the energy derived from the resultant reaction (formation 
of water) is converted directly into electrical energy. In 
spaceflight applications both the fuel cells and their re- Description of the preferred embodiment 
actants are located at a point remote from the cabin sec- 45 Referring more particularly to the figures, especially 
tion of the spacecraft. Accordingly, the valves used to  FIG. 1, valve assembly 10 comprises a body 11 having 
turn on or off the flow of the reactants must be capable two separate valve units 12, 13 which are parallel and 
of being remotely controlled, and must be synchronized spaced from each other. For all practical purposes the two 
so that both reactants are either on or off at the Same valve units are identical, so for the sake of brevity, like 
time. 50 parts in each unit will be identified by the same numeral. 
Electrically operated solenoid valves per se, which are Each valve unit comprises a chamber 14 having an inlet 
normally used in remote operations, were found to be in- 15 and an outlet 16. A valve mandrel 17 is slidably 
adequate for the above described application due to the mounted in the chamber 14, said mandrel terminating at 
fact that these valves cannot normally be latched in an one end in ball 18. Ball 18 cooperates with seat 18 on 
open or a closed position without electrical power being 55 outlet 16 to open or close valve units 12, 13. Located near 
continuously supplied to the solenoid. Since the electrical the other end of mandrel 14 is flange m. Spring 21 is 
supply aboard a spacecraft is severely limited, the use of positioned between flange 20 and guide member 22 which 
such valves is undesirable. Further, regular solenoid is held in place by threaded retainer 23 (see FIG. 4 ) .  
valves are sometimes affected by the vibrations, accelera- Spring 21 normally biases ball 18 onto seat 19, A. filter 
tion, and/or shock loads. These forces, which are present eo 24 may be provided, if desired, in each of the valve units 
in spacecraft operations, tend to cause accidental unseat- to entrap any foreign matter that may be present in the 
ing of these valves. Manually operated valves are imprac- Aowstreams. 
tical for space applications due to the difficulty in operat- Pivotally mounted in body 11 and extending perpen- 
ing the valves from a remote station. dixlarly to valve units 12, 13 and is an operating rod 25. 
65 Pork-like elements 26, 27 are fixedly secured to the re- 
spective ends of rod 25. Each fork cooperates with the Summary 
The present invention provides a solenoid-operated flanges 17a, 17b on its respective mandrel 17 so that 
valve assembly which is capable of controlling the flow when shaft 25 is rotated counterclockwise as viewed 
of more than one fluid, and which can be latched in either in FIG. 1, each mandrel will be moved against springs 
an open or a &sed position without using continuous 70 21 to unseat ball 18 and allow flow through the valve 
electrical power. The invention provides a highly stable units. 
valve assembly which is virtually unaffected by vibrations, 
power to  the solenoids is cut off when the valves have 
moved from one position to  the other. 
ne actual construction, operation, and the apparent 
advantages of the invention will be better by 
referring to the drawings in which like numerals identify 
like parts and in which: 
Brief description of the drawings 
The present invention relates to a valve assembly which 30 
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the valve assembly in 
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the invention; 
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the invention taken 
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the invention taken 
accordance with the present invention; 
along line 4-4 of FIG. 2. 
Fixedly secured to the midpoint of rod 
3.414,012 
namically balanced rocker m 30 which can be com- 
prised entirely of magnetic material, or can be of light- 
weight material (aluminum) with magnetic material a t  
either end. It is easily seen that whenever arm 30 is 
rocked, rod 25 will rotate. Arm 30 has openings 31, 32 
near its respective ends through which pass rods 33, 
34. These rods are attached to, or are formed integral 
with, armatures 35, 36, respectively, of solenoids 37, 38. 
Mounted on each of rods 33, 34 (see FIG. 3 )  are re- 
tainers 39, 40 which are held in a spaced relationship 
by springs 41. As can clearly be seen in FIG. 3, re- 
tainers 39 will bear on the underside of rocker arm 
30 to provide a driving connection between rods 33, 34 
and arm 30, for a purpose explained below. Solenoids 
37, 38 contain springs 42, 43, respectively, which nor- 
mally bias armatures 35, 36 toward an extended posi- 
tion whenever said solenoids are inactuated. 
Permanent magnets 49, 50 are positioned in body 11 
adjacent and below the respective ends of arm 30 so 
that whenever an end of arm 30 is moved into con- 
tact with its respective magnet, the magnet will tend 
to “latch” the arm in that position. Also positioned be- 
low the respective ends of arm 30 and adapted to be 
engaged thereby are electrical switches 51, 52. These 
switches can be any type of standard electrical switch, 
e.g. push-type, contact, etc. In the embodiment shown, 
they are disclosed as push-type switches, and since they 
are identical, they will be described simultaneously with 
the first numerals mentioned referring to switch 51 and 
the second numerals referring to switch 52, respectively. 
The switches (see FIG. 1 )  have an inlet contact fi3, 54 
and two separate outlet contacts 55, 96 and 57, 58, respec- 
tively. A conductor 59, 4@ is pivotally mounted to inlet 
contact 53, 54 and is normally biased upward to make 
contact with outlet contact 55, 56 by a spring or the 
like (not shown). A plunger 41, 62 is provided in the 
switch which is adapted to be engaged by an end of 
arm 30 to move conductor 59, 60 downward against 
its bias to make contact with outlet contact 57, 58 when- 
ever said one end of arm 30 is moved downward. 
Inlet contacts 53, 54 of switches 51, 52 are con- 
nected to outlet contacts 63, 64 of switch 65 by lines 
66, 67, respectively. A movable conductor 68 is pivotally 
connected to inlet 69 which in turn is connected to a 
power source such as a battery 70. Outlet contact 57 of 
switch 51 is connected to first indicator means 71, e.g. 
light bulb or the like, by line 72. Outlet 58 of switch 
52 is connected to a second indicator means 73 by 
line 74. Outlet contact 55 of switch 51 is connected to 
solenoid 38 by line 75, and outlet contact 56 is con- 
nected to solenoid 37 by line 74. A ground line 77 is 
connected to both solenoids 37, 38 to complete an elec- 
trical circuit. 
tion of valve assembly 10 is 2s follows. With 
in the position shown in FIG. 1, valve units 
0th in a closed position, that is, the balls 18 
of units 12, 13 are biased onto seats 19 of each unit, 
preventing flow through the units. In this position, arm 
30 is held in a latched condition by magnet 50. To open 
these units simultaneously, conductor 68 of switch 65 
is switched to contact 63 which allows current to travel 
along line 46, through conductor 59, line 75 to solenoid 
38. This causes armature 36 to  move upward in solenoid 
38 which in turn causes upper retainer 39 on rod 34 to  
engage the under side of arm 35. Continued upward move- 
ment of armature 34 disengages arm 30 from magnet 50 
and rotates the arm and hence the operating shaft 25. 
The counterclockwise rotation of shaft 25 will also ro- 
e forks 26, 27 which move the mandrels 17 in units 
, 13 against the bias of springs 21 to open said units. 
Solenoid 38 continues to operate until the other end of 
arm 30 is engaged by magnet 49. As the arm moves 
to this position it will contact the plunger 61 of switch 
51 which moves conductor 59 from contact 55 to con- 
tact 57. This cuts off power to solenoid 38, and spring 
4 
43 will return armature 36 to a down position. No power 
is necessary to hold the valve assembly in an open posi- 
tion since rnzgnet 49 will hold both arm 30 and rod 
25 against any accidental rotation. Current will now be 
tj supplied though line 66, contacts 53, 57, line 72 to 
indicator means 71 which now lights up to show that as- 
sembly is in an open position. It is noted that as the 
right side of arm 30 moves up, the spring (not shown) 
in switch 52 will move conductor 60 up to contact 54 
10 so that when it is desired to close the assembly, conductor 
68 of power switch 65 is switched from contact 63 to 
contact 64. Current will now actuate solenoid 37 to move 
armature 35 upward, and upper retainer 39 will move 
arm 30 up to disengage arm 30 from magnet 49. Arm 
15 38 will he returned to the position shown in FIG. 1 
which will depress switch 52 to cut off power to the 
solenoid 37 and will light up indicator means 73 which 
now indicates the assembly to be in a closed position. 
From the above disclosure it is seen that the invention 
20 provides a highly stable valve assembly which can simul- 
taneously control the flow of more than one fluid. It 
should be recognized that by rotating one of the valve 
units 180” about an axis perpendicular to the shaft 25 
whereby it is mounted with its valve mandrel 17 directed 
25 oppositely from the valve mandrel of the other valve 
urd, it would he possible to close one unit and open 
the other simultaneously. Also, by extending rod 25 and 
providing additional parallel valve units in body P 
could be possible to control more than two flows simul- 
Although a particular embodiment of the subject inven- 
tion has been illustrated and described, the disclosure 
is intended to cover all changes and modifications therein 
which do not constitute departure from the spirit and 
What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters 
1. A valve assembly comprising: 
a body having at  least two spaced and parallel cham- 
bers, each chamber having an inlet and an outlet 
and defining a separate flow path through the body; 
at least a pair of mandrels, one slidably mounted in 
each of said chambers, each of said mandrels having 
a valve means at one end thereof adapted to seat 
with its respective outlet when said valve assembly 
is in a closed position, and movable away from said 
outlet when said assembly is in an open position; 
means in each chamber to normally bias said valve 
means to a closed position; 
an operating rod pivotally mounted in said body and 
extending askew of said chambers; 
at least a pair of fork-like elements, one affuted to each 
respective end of said operating rod, said elements 
being operably connected to a respective mandrel 
whereby rotation of said rod will move said valve 
means from one position to the other; 
a rocker arm perpendicularly secured to said operating 
rod, said rocker arm being of magnetic material at 
its ends; 
a pair of electrically-actuated solenoids, one near either 
end of said rocker arm; 
means to couple said ends of said rocker arm to their 
respective solenoid, whereby actuation of one sole- 
noid will cause said rocker arm to rotate in one 
direction, and actuation of said other solenoid will 
cause said arm to rotate in the opposite ‘direction; 
and 
a pair of permanent magnets, one located near either 
end of said rocker arm whereby said magnets will 
engage and latch their respective ends of said arm 
whenever said arm is moved into contact therewith. 
2. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 1 including: 
switch means mounted in said body and cooperable 
with said rocker arm for deactuating said solenoids 
30 taneously. 
35 scope of the invention. 
Patent is: 
40 
45 
60 
55 
60 
65 
i5 
3,414,012 
whenever said rocker arm has been moved from one 
position to the other. 
3. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 2 including: 
indicator means actuated by said switch means for in- 
dicating when said valve means is in the open or 5 
6. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 4 wherein 
a pair of electrically actuated solenoid means, one lo- 
means connecting each of said solenoid means to its 
said actuator means comprises: 
cated near each end of said rocker arm; and 
the closed position. 
4. A valve assembly comprising: 
a body having a plurality of spaced and parallel cham- 
bers, each chamber having an inlet and an outlet and 
defining a separate flow path through the body; 
a valve means mounted in each of said chambers 
adapted to  seat with said outlet when in a closed posi- 
tion and movable away from said outlet when in an 
open position; 
means in each chamber to normally bias said valve 
means to a closed position; 
a rocker arm; 
operating means connecting said rocker arm to each 
of said valve means whereby rotation of said rocker 
arm will move said valve means from one position 
to the other; 
actuator means in said body located at either end of 
said rocker arm and adapted to alternately engage 
said ends of said rocker arm to impart rotational 
latch means in said body cooperative with said rocker 
arm to latch said valve means in an open or closed 
position whenever said valve means is moved to that 
respective position. 
5. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 4 wherein said 
operating means comprises: 
an operating rod attached to the rocker arm and pivot- 
ally mounted in said body, said rod extending askew 
to each of said chambers; and 
fork-like elements connected to said rod at  selected 
intervals, each element being operably connected to 
a respective valve means. 
movement to said arm; and 
respective end of said rocker arm whereby alternately 
actuating said solenoids, said rocker arm will be re- 
spectively rotated in opposite directions. 
7. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 6 including: 
switch means mounted in said body and cooperable 
with said rocker arm for deactuating said solenoid 
means whenever said valve means have been moved 
from one of its positions to the other of its positions. 
8. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 7 including: 
indicator means actuated by said switch means for in- 
dicating when said valve means are in an open or a 
closed position. 
9. A valve assembly as set forth in claim 7 wherein 
said ends of said rocker arm are of magnetic material, 
20 and wherein said latch means comprise: 
a pair of permanent magnets mounted in said body, one 
located near each end of said arm whereby said 
magnets will engage and latch their respective ends 
of said arm whenever said arm is moved into contact 
15 
25 therewith. 
References Cited 
UNITED STATES PATENTS 
2,505,710 411950 Hayden __-_______ 137-625.68 
3o 2,528,898 1111950 McIlvaine _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  137-554 
2,708,948 511955 Segerstad _ _ _ - _ _ _ _  137-625.61 
3,117,585 111964 Gerwig et al. _-___ 137-625.61 
3,128,678 411964 Jones ---------- 251-137 XR 
3,176,516 411965 Guenther _-______ 251-138 XR 
HENRY T. KLINKSIEK, Piirncwy Examiner. 3 .i 


Dual latching solenoid valve Patent

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