Pneumatic Actuator With Solenoid Operated Control Valves

The present invention relates generally to a two position, straight line motion actuator and more particularly to a fast acting actuator which utilizes pneumatic energy against a piston to perform fast transit times between the two positions. The invention utilizes a pair of control valves to gate high pressure air to the piston and air pressure to hold the valves in their closed positions until a solenoid is energized to open one of the valves. Stored pneumatic gases accelerate the piston rapidly from one position to the other position. During movement of the piston from one position to the other, intermediate pressure air fills a chamber applying an opposing force on the piston to slow the piston.

This actuator finds particular utility in opening and closing the gas exchange, i.e., intake or exhaust, valves of an otherwise conventional internal combustion engine. Due to its fast acting trait, the valves may be moved between full open and full closed positions almost immediately rather than gradually as is characteristic of cam actuated valves.

The actuator mechanism may find numerous other applications such as in compressor valving and valving in other hydraulic or pneumatic devices, or as a fast acting control valve for fluidic actuators or mechanical actuators where fast controlled action is required such as moving items in a production line environment.

Internal combustion engine valves are almost universally of a poppet type which are spring loaded toward a valve-closed position and opened against that spring bias by a cam on a rotating cam shaft with the cam shaft being synchronized with the engine crankshaft to achieve opening and closing at fixed preferred times in the engine cycle. This fixed timing is a compromise between the timing best suited for high engine speed and the timing best suited to lower speeds or engine idling speed.

The prior art has recognized numerous advantages which might be achieved by replacing such cam actuated valve arrangements with other types of valve opening mechanism which could be controlled in their opening and closing as a function of engine speed as well as engine crankshaft angular position or other engine parameters.

In copending application Ser. No. 021, 195 entitled ELECTROMAGNETIC VALVE ACTUATOR, filed Mar. 3, 1987 in the name of William E. Richeson and assigned to the assignee of the present application, there is disclosed a valve actuator which has permanent magnet latching at the open and closed positions. Electromagnetic repulsion may be employed to cause the valve to move from one position to the other. Several damping and energy recovery schemes are also included.

In copending application Ser. No. 07/153,257, entitled PNEUMATIC ELECTRONIC VALVE ACTUATOR, filed Feb. 8, 1988 in the names of William E. Richeson and Frederick L. Erickson and assigned to the assignee of the present application there is disclosed a somewhat similar valve actuating device which employs a release type mechanism rather than a repulsion scheme as in the previously identified copending application. The disclosed device in this application is a truly pneumatically powered valve with high pressure air supply and control valving to use the air for both damping and as the primary motive force. This copending application also discloses different operating modes including delayed intake valve closure and a six stroke cycle mode of operation.

In copending application Ser. No. 07/153,155 filed Feb. 8, 1988 in the names of William E. Richeson and Frederick L. Erickson, assigned to the assignee of the present application and entitled PNEUMATICALLY POWERED VALVE ACTUATOR there is disclosed a valve actuating device generally similar in overall operation to the present invention. One feature of this application is that control valves and latching plates have been separated from the primary working piston to provide both lower latching forces and reduced mass resulting in faster operating speeds. This high speed of operation results in a somewhat energy inefficient device.

The present application and copending application Ser. No. 07/209,279 entitled PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR WITH PERMANENT MAGNET CONTROL VALVE LATCHING, filed in the names of William E. Richeson and Frederick L. Erickson, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and filed on even date herewith address, among other things, improvements in operating efficiency over the above noted devices.

Other related applications all assigned to the assignee of the present invention and filed in the name of William E. Richeson on Feb. 8, 1988 are Ser. No. 07/153,262 entitled POTENTIAL-MAGNETIC ENERGY DRIVEN VALVE MECHANISM where energy is stored from one valve motion to power the next, and Ser. No. 07/153,154 entitled REPULSION ACTUATED POTENTIAL ENERGY DRIVEN VALVE MECHANISM wherein a spring (or pneumatic equivalent) functions both as a damping device and as an energy storage device ready to supply part of the accelerating force to aid the next transition from one position to the other. The entire disclosures of all five of these copending applications are specifically incorporated herein by reference.

In the present invention, like Ser. No. 153,155, the power or working piston which moves the engine valve between open and closed positions is separated from the latching components and certain control valving structures so that the mass to be moved is materially reduced allowing very rapid operation. Latching and release forces are also reduced. Those valving components which have been separated from the main piston need not travel the full length of the piston stroke, leading to some improvement in efficiency.

Among the several objects of the present invention may be noted the provision of a bistable fluid powered actuating device characterized by fast transition times and improved efficiency; the provision of a pneumatically driven actuating device which is tolerant of variations in air pressure and other operating parameters; the provision of an electronically controlled pneumatically powered valve actuating device having improved and controllable damping features; the provision of an electronically controlled pneumatically powered valve actuating device having asymmetrical damping features; the provision of a valve actuating device where a modest sacrifice in operating speed yields a significant increase in efficiency; the provision of a valve actuating device having solenoid actuated, air latched control valves; and the provision of improvements in a pneumatically powered valve actuator where the control valves within the actuator cooperate with, but operate separately from the main working piston. These as well as other objects and advantageous features of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In general, a bistable electronically controlled fluid powered transducer has an armature including an air powered piston which is reciprocable along an axis between first and second positions along with a control valve reciprocable along the same axis between open and closed positions. A pneumatic latching arrangement functions to hold the control valve in the closed position while an electromagnetic arrangement may be energized to temporarily override the effect of the latching arrangement to release the control valve to move from the closed position to the open position. Energization of the electromagnetic arrangement causes movement of the control valve in one direction along the axis first forming a sealed chamber including a portion of the armature and thereafter allowing fluid from a high pressure source to enter the closed chamber and drive the armature in the opposite direction from the first position to the second position along the axis. The distance between the first and second positions of the armature is typically greater than the distance between the open and closed positions of the valve.

Also in general and in one form of the invention, a pneumatically powered valve actuator includes a valve actuator housing with a piston reciprocable inside the housing along an axis. The piston has a pair of oppositely facing primary working surfaces. A pair of air control valves are reciprocable along the same axis relative to both the housing and the piston between open and closed positions. A coil is electrically energized to selectively open one of the air control valves to supply pressurized air to one of the primary working surfaces causing the piston to move. Each of the air control valves includes an air pressure responsive surface which maintains the control valve closed and there may be an air vent located about midway between the extreme positions of piston reciprocation for dumping expanded air from the one primary working surface and removing the accelerating force from the piston. The air vent also functions to introduce air at a selectable intermediate pressure to be captured and compressed by the opposite primary working surface of the piston to slow piston motion as it nears one of the extreme positions. The intermediate pressure may differ depending on the direction of piston motion. The air vent supplies intermediate pressure air to one primary working surface of the piston to temporarily hold the piston in one of its extreme positions pending the next opening of an air control valve.

FIG. 1 is a view in cross-section showing the pneumatically powered actuator of the present invention with the power piston latched in its leftmost position as it would normally be when the corresponding engine valve is closed;

FIG. 2-8 are views in cross-section similar to FIG. 1, but illustrating component motion and functions as the piston progresses rightwardly to its extreme rightward or valve open position; and

FIGS. 9-13 are views similar to FIG. 1, but illustrating certain modifications of the actuator.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

The exemplifications set out herein illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention in one form thereof and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure or the scope of the invention in any manner.

The valve actuator is illustrated sequentially in FIGS. 1-8 to illustrate various component locations and functions in moving a poppet valve or other component (not shown) from a closed to an open position. Motion in the opposite direction will be clearly understood from the symmetry of the components. Generally speaking, a pneumatically powered valve actuator is shown having a valve actuator housing 19 and a piston 13 reciprocable within the housing along the axis of the shaft or stem 11. the piston 13 has a pair of oppositely facing primary working surfaces 38 and 40, a pressurized air source 39, a pair of air control valves 15 and 17 reciprocable along the axis relative to both the housing 19 and the piston 13 between open and closed positions. A magnetic attraction or magnetic repulsion arrangement for selectively opening one of the air control valves to supply pressurized air from the air source to one of said primary working surfaces causes the piston to move. A pneumatic arrangement including intermediate air pressure source 43 decelerates the piston near the extremities of its reciprocation. Coil springs 135 and 137 may optionally be included to bias each air control valve to continuously urge the respective air valve away from the piston and toward an open position. The actuator includes a shaft or stem 11 which may form a part of or connect to an internal combustion engine poppet valve. The actuator also includes a low mass reciprocable piston 13, and a pair of reciprocating or sliding control valve members 15 and 17 enclosed within a housing 19. The control valve members 15 and 17 are latched in a closed position by high pressure air from air source 39 operating on control valve faces 21 and 23 and may be dislodged from their respective latched positions by energization of coils 25 and 27. The control valve members or shuttle valves 15 and 17 cooperate with both the piston 13 and the housing 19 to achieve the various porting functions during operation. The housing 19 has a high pressure inlet port 39, a low pressure outlet port 41 and an intermediate pressure port 43. The low pressure may be about atmospheric pressure while the intermediate pressure is about 10 psi. above atmospheric pressure and the high pressure is on the order of 100 psi. gauge pressure.

FIG. 1 shows an initial state with piston 13 in the extreme leftward position and with the air control valve 15 latched closed. In this state, the annular abutment end surface 29 is inserted into an annular slot in the housing 19 and seals against an o-ring 31. This seals the pressure in cavity 33 and prevents the application of any moving force to the main piston 13. In this position, the main piston 13 is being urged to the left (latched) by the pressure in cavity or chamber 35 which is greater than the pressure in chamber or cavity 37. In the position illustrated, annular opening 45 is in its final open position after having rapidly released compressed air from cavity 37 at the end of a previous leftward piston stroke.

When current flows in coil 25 attracting ferromagnetic plate 47 in opposition to and overpowering the air pressure force on face 21, control valve moves toward the left.

In FIG. 2, the shuttle valve 15 has moved toward the left, for example, 0.05 in. while piston 13 has moved toward the right about one-half that distance. The air valve 15 has opened because of the attractive force of coil 25 which has temporarily overpowered the air pressure holding force on face 21. Notice that like the abovementioned copending PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR WITH PERMANENT MAGNET CONTROL VALVE LATCHING and unlike the abovementioned Ser. No. 153,155 application, the communication between cavity 51 and the low pressure outlet port 41 has not been interrupted by movement of the valve 15. This communication is maintained at all times by way of a series of openings 54 in control valve 15. It should also be noted that, about the same time as the valve clears the slot containing o-ring 31, the edge of air valve 15 has overlapped the piston 13 at 53 closing annular opening 45 of FIG. 1 creating a closed chamber 37 to assure rapid pressurization and maximum acceleration of the piston 13.

FIG. 3 shows the opening of the air valve 15 to about 0.10 in. and movement of the piston 13 about 0.150 in. to the right.

In FIG. 2, the high pressure air had been supplied to the cavity 37 and to the face 38 of piston 13 driving that piston toward the right. That high pressure air supply by way of cavity 37 to piston face 38 is cut off in FIG. 3 by the edge of piston 13 passing the annular abutment 55 of the housing 19. Piston 13 continues to accelerate, however, due to the expansion energy of the high pressure air in cavity 37. The right edge of piston 13 is about to cut off communication at 57 between the port 43 and chamber 35. Disk 47 is nearing the leftward extreme of its travel and is compressing air in the gap 61. This offers a damping or slowing effort to reduce the end approach velocity and consequently reduce any impact of the air valve components with the stationary structure. The annular surface 62 which is shown as a portion of a right circular cylinder may be undercut (concave) or tapered (a conical surface) to restrict air flow more near one or both extremes of the travel of plate 47 to enhance damping without restricting motion intermediate the ends if desired.

The piston 13 is continuing to accelerate toward the right in FIG. 4 and the air valve 15 has reached its maximum leftward open displacement. The valve will tend to remain in this position for a short time. In FIG. 4, the main piston 13 has just closed off communication between chamber 35 and medium pressure port 43 and further rightward motion of the main piston will compress the air trapped in chamber 35 so that the piston will be slowed and stopped by the time it has reached its extreme right hand position.

In FIG. 5, the air valve 15 is still in its extreme leftward position. The air valve is designed to close at about the same time as the main piston arrives at its furthest right hand location. Also, in FIG. 5, the piston is continuing to compress the air in cavity 35 slowing its motion.

In FIG. 6, the air valve 15 is beginning to return to its closed position. The high air pressure force on surface 21 is causing the valve 15 to move back toward the closed position. Further rightward movement of the piston as depicted in FIG. 5, uncovers the partial annular slot 67 leading to intermediate pressure port 43 so that the high pressure air in chamber 37 has blown down to the intermediate pressure of port 43. In FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the continued piston motion and corresponding buildup of pressure in cavity 35 slows or damps rightward piston motion. In FIG. 6, an annular opening is just beginning to form at 69 between the abutting corners of the piston 13 and air valve 17. This annular opening vents the high pressure air from chamber 35 by way of conduit 83 to the low pressure port 41 just as the piston nears its right hand resting position to help prevent any rebound of the piston back toward the left.

It will be understood from the symmetry of the valve actuator that the behavior of the air control valves 15 and 17 in this venting or blow-down is, as are many of the other features, substantially the same near each of the opposite extremes of the piston travel. In each case, the air control valve, piston and a fixed portion of the housing cooperate to vent the damping air from the piston at the last possible moment while these same components cooperate at the beginning of a stroke to supply air to power the piston for a much longer portion of the stroke. Conduits 16 and 83, however, differ in size to provide a built in differential in the damping characteristics with conduit restricting air flow during blow down more than conduit 16 to provide greater damping in leftward motion than in rightward motion.

The damping of the piston motion near its right extremity is adjustable by controlling the intermediate pressure level at port 43 to effectively control the density of the air initially entrapped in chamber 35. If this intermediate pressure is too high, the piston will rebound due to the high pressure of the compressed air in chamber 35. If this pressure is too low, the piston will approach its end position too fast and may mechanically rebound due to metallic deflection or mechanical spring back. With the correct pressure, the piston will gently come to rest in its right hand position. A further final damping of piston motion may be provided during the last few thousandths of an inch of travel by a small hydraulic damper including a fluid medium filled cavity 73 and a small piston 75 fastened to and moving with the main piston 13. Near either end of the main piston travel, the small piston 75 enters a shallow annular restricted area 77 displacing the fluid therefrom and bringing the main piston to rest. Fluid, such as oil, may be supplied to the damping cavity 73 by way of inlet 85.

In FIG. 7, the air valve 15 is about midway along its return to its closed position. Final damping is almost complete as the pressure in chamber 35 is being relieved through the annular opening at 69 and through the opening 81 and channel 83 to the low pressure port 41 so that the pressure throughout chamber 35 is reduced to nearly atmospheric pressure. Note that valves 15 and 17 include a number of apertures such as 54 and 81 in their respective web portions allowing free air flow between chambers such as 35 and 83. In FIG. 7, the piston 13 is reaching a very low velocity, the damping is almost complete and the final damping by the small fluid piston 75 is underway.

The main piston 13 has reached its righthand extreme in FIG. 8 and air valve 15 has closed. The supply of high pressure air from the source 39 to chamber 37 and the surface 38 of piston 13 has long since been interrupted by piston edge 105 passing housing edge 55 as best seen in FIG. 3. The piston 13 is held or latched in the position shown by the intermediate pressure in chamber 37 from source 43 acting on piston face 38.

In FIG. 1, which corresponds to a valve-closed condition, there is a slight gap between the piston face 38 and the valve housing while in FIG. 8 with the valve open, no such gap is seen. This gap provides for somewhat greater potential travel of the piston 13 than needed to close the engine valve insuring complete closure despite differential temperature expansions and similar problems which might otherwise result in the engine valve not completely closing. It should also be noted in following the sequence of FIGS. 1-8 that due to the length of the annular valving surface 107 of piston 13 between the edges 105 and 109, the chamber 63 is never in communication with the high pressure source chamber 33. Chamber 63 is maintained at the outlet pressure of port 41 at all times contrary to the similar chamber in the aforementioned Ser. No. 153,155.

In FIG. 9, the intermediate pressure port 43 has been omitted. Ports 41 and 113 are at the same (typically atmospheric) pressure. Thus, there is no pressure differential across piston 13 to hold or latch that piston at its extremes of motion. By fabricating piston 13 of a ferromagnetic material, the pressure latching feature is replaced by permanent magnets such as 115 and 117 which hold the piston in one of the extreme positions and are designed with a narrow air gap so that their holding force falls off rapidly as the piston moves away from them. The advantage of the scheme of FIG. 9 is that the difference between the pressure at the port 39 and port 113 is greater so that a greater expansion ratio and, hence, greater efficiency are achieved. The difference in pressure between ports 113 and 41, which is the piston latching pressure, is reduced or zero, thus the magnetic latching is employed.

FIG. 10 illustrates two modifications, one of which is suggested by the discussion of FIG. 9 and the other of which is suggested by a somewhat similar structure in copending PNEUMATIC ACTUATOR WITH PERMANENT MAGNET CONTROL VALVE LATCHING. In FIG. 10, an adjustable pressure regulator 119, for example, of the type in which the spring force on a spring loaded pressure relief valve may be varied, allows the pressure differential between ports 41 and 121 to be selected so that the best expansion ratio without need to resort to the magnetic latches of FIG. 9 may be used. An adjustable needle valve 123 in effect controls the throttling in passageway 83 (see FIG. 7) and therefore also differentially controls damping of piston motion.

In FIG. 11, the separation between working faces 123 and 125 of the piston 13 has been significantly increased. A pair of adjustable pressure regulators 127 and 129 similar to the pressure regulator 119 in FIG. 9 have been introduced to effectively provide two different intermediate pressure conduits 131 and 133, each independently setting the initial pressure for piston damping in a corresponding direction. Regulator 129 controls rightward motion damping while regulator 127 controls damping during motion to the left. Thus, differential control of damping is now determined by the initial pressure when such damping commences.

A comparison with FIG. 1 reveals, in FIG. 12, a pair of coil springs 135 and 137 nested in oppositely facing annular slots in piston 13. Spring 135 is compressed urging the piston 13 and control valve 15 away from one another while spring 137 is unstressed in the position shown. The force of the spring 135 will reduce the force required to be exerted by solenoid 25 in opening the valve 15, but may increase the required pressure differential for latching the piston in the position shown.

FIG. 13 combines the concepts of FIG. 12 with electromagnetic repulsion techniques of the type disclosed in the abovementioned copending application Ser. No. 021,195 entitled ELECTROMAGNETIC VALVE ACTUATOR to open control valve 15. Briefly, coil 139 is energized to induce a current in a nonmagnetic conductive plate 141 and the two currents cause opposing magnetic fields which repel the plate 141. As compared to FIG. 12, this arrangement consumes greater energy, but is capable of much faster operation.

Little has been said about the internal combustion engine environment in which this invention finds great utility. That environment may be much the same as disclosed in the abovementioned copending applications and the literature cited therein to which reference may be had for details of features such as electronic controls and air pressure sources. In this preferred environment, the mass of the actuating piston and its associated coupled engine valve is greatly reduced as compared to the prior devices. While the engine valve and piston move about 0.45 inches between fully open and fully closed positions, the control valves move only about 0.125 inches, therefor requiring less energy to operate. The air passageways in the present invention are generally large annular openings with little or no associated throttling losses.

From the foregoing, it is now apparent that a novel electronically controlled, pneumatically powered actuator has been disclosed meeting the objects and advantageous features set out hereinbefore as well as others, and that numerous modifications as to the precise shapes, configurations and details may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope thereof as set out by the claims which follow.