Taco, Inc.

Attilio G Giordani

Richard A Genga, Jr

Richard A Genga

An wet-rotor hydronic heating/cooling circulator in which a check valve is positioned at the inlet eye of the pump impeller, where it can easily be serviced by removing the circulator motor and impeller. The check valve is preferably in the form of a valve subassembly that is removably inserted into an opening at the eye.

Circulator pump check valve

A valve body including a first body member and a second body member adjacent the first body member, with the first and second body members defining a through-passage. A ball valve element having a bore therethrough is disposed within the valve body. A ball seat is interposed between the first and second body members. The ball seat is positioned to sealingly engage the ball valve element when the ball valve element is in the closed position to prevent fluid from passing by the ball valve element. The ball seat is resiliently biased against the first body member and against the ball valve element by a single biasing member positioned to provide both a fluid seal and a resilient bias between the ball seat and the first body member.

Actuator and zone valve

A zone valve for a hydronic system (either heating or cooling) in which a motor-driven actuator rotates a ball valve through approximately 90.degree., between closed and opened positions. The ball valve provides lower flow resistance than that of conventional heat-motor and motorized zone valves, allowing the use of lower rated pumps, and allowing a single size valve to serve most applications. A restoring torque is provided by a tension spring so configured that it provides sufficient restoring torque to overcome the frictional torque of the ball valve. The restoring torque is kept from building up during rotation by configuring the spring in such a manner that its force varies inversely with the effective moment arm. The restoring torque varies by no more than 20% (preferably no more than 10%) during rotation of the ball valve. This assures that enough torque is always available to restore the valve to its closed (or open, in a normally open case) position, after the motor is de-energized, but that there is not too much torque for the motor to overcome when it moves the valve into the open position.

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East Greenwich, RI, United States of America

Attilio G Giordani