EP1938013A1

EP1938013A1 - Plug-in connection for pipes and tubes with a tube engaging ring

Info

Publication number: EP1938013A1
Application number: EP06706225A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Harald Hartmann
Original assignee: Henn GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Henn GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 2005-10-21
Filing date: 2006-01-13
Publication date: 2008-07-02
Also published as: US20090102181A1; BRPI0617668A2; CN101292109A; JP2009511842A; DE102005050490A1; WO2007045281A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a plug-in connection for pipes and tubes, said connection comprising a tubular connecting piece (1) and a tubular plug (20) which can be respectively connected to a pipe and/or a tube with a front side thereof and can be inserted into each in a sealing manner with the other front side thereof and engaged together in a secure, axially form-fitting manner. The connecting piece (1) comprises a tube engaging ring (3) on the tube (2) thereof, which forms an engaging groove (7) in which a catch spring (24) of the plug (20) at least partially engages, the tube engaging ring (3) being embodied as a part which is separate from the connecting piece (1) and secured thereon in a form-fitting manner with little play, or fixed thereto in a form-fitting or frictionally engaged manner without play. It is advantageous that the plug-in connection can be produced in an essentially simple manner and can also be subjected to an essentially higher axial load.

Description

Plug connection on pipes and hoses with a pipe locking ring

The invention relates to a connector on pipes and hoses according to the preamble of claim 1. Such connectors have become known from a large number of patents by the same applicant, to which reference is hereby made. The function of the connector is described several times there.

The plug connection is used for locking and sealing connection between a socket and a plug.

In the parlance of the present invention, the nozzle is always attached to a pipe, while the plug is attached to a hose. However, the invention is not restricted to this. The reverse can also be provided for the plug to be fastened to the tube and the socket to the hose. For the sake of simpler description, however, only the first-mentioned embodiment is assumed.

An application example of the present invention relates, for example, to the fact that a cooler is present in a land, air or water vehicle, on which a tubular connecting piece is molded. On the front side of this connector, a pluggable, sealing snap-in connection must now be made to a hose attached there.

This hose is in turn connected at its opposite end to a plug which there engages in a snap-in connection with a tube, at the free end of which a nozzle is in turn arranged.

At the opposite end of the tube there is in turn a connection piece which interacts with a plug of a hose, and the opposite end of this hose is provided with a plug which enters into a sealing locking connection with a connection piece, which is fastened to a pipe which the Feed to a turbocharger. In the course of this connection between a cooler and a turbocharger, a total of four different plug connections are provided.

As stated at the beginning, these plug connections are described in a large number of patents by the same applicant. Reference is made in full to the content of the disclosure there.

In the exemplary embodiment described, gaseous media are conducted at a temperature of approximately 130 to 200 "Celsius and a pressure of 5 bar. However, the invention is not limited to this. The invention relates to all pluggable and latching pipe connections, be it for the liquid line, for the gas line or for the management of powdered or granular substances.

The problem with such latching plug connections, to which high sealing requirements are placed, is that the latching device on the connector side is difficult to assemble.

It is described in the applicant's older patents that the connector-side latching device is connected directly to the tube of the connector by being welded there or being molded in one piece from the tube. However, there is the disadvantage of a relatively high production cost.

When designing the locking device (locking ring) from the material of the connecting piece, various compromises must be made. There is e.g. B. the disadvantage that you can not form very sharp radii, which affects the locking effect of the pluggable locking connection. This does not result in very high pull-out forces.

Certain things cannot be formed at all, such as B. a cam that serves to prevent rotation of the latching connection. Such a cam must be molded on subsequently using the welding, joining or adhesive method, which is associated with considerable effort. After the cam is used to prevent rotation and this is consequently subjected to a rotating load, there is a risk that the cam will be sheared off with such a - subsequent - connection.

The invention is therefore based on the object of developing the connector-side latching device of a latching plug-in connection in such a way that it can be manufactured in a substantially simpler, more resilient manner and provided with improved pull-out forces.

To achieve the object, the invention is characterized in that the tubular locking ring is designed as a part separate from the connecting piece and is secured to it in a form-fitting manner with little play, or else it is fixed in a form-fitting and frictional manner without play.

In particular, a separate pipe locking ring is attached to the outer circumference of a connector that is unprepared.

With the given technical teaching there is the essential advantage that it has now been recognized for the first time that the latching function can actually be separated from the sealing function of the connecting piece, and this finding has led to the fact that a separate pipe locking ring is now provided which is fitted with a suitable one Fastening method is mechanically stable on the outer circumference of the nozzle.

This has the advantage that the nozzle only has to be machined to a small extent, because its sealing surface, which forms the sealing connection to the opposite connector, remains completely unprocessed and unaffected.

Only in the axial direction behind the sealing surface, the separate tubular locking ring according to the invention is now attached to the outer circumference of the connecting piece with suitable fastening means.

Such an attachment does not have to be sealing, because the sealing surface in front achieves the actual sealing effect. Therefore, a mechanical one is sufficient To enable a strong connection between the pipe locking ring according to the invention and the outer circumference of the connecting piece.

In a first, preferred embodiment it is provided that the tubular locking ring is connected to the connecting piece by a press connection. For this purpose, an expanding tool is used from the inner circumference of the connecting piece, which produces a radially outwardly directed press groove, which engages in an associated holding groove in the region of the tubular locking ring and thus holds it mechanically stable on the outer circumference.

In a second preferred embodiment it can be provided that the tubular locking ring is attached to the outer circumference of the connecting piece by an adhesive process or a welding process.

In a third embodiment it can be provided that the tubular locking ring is pressed into the circumference of the connecting piece by corresponding pressing tools acting from the outside and directed radially inwards.

In a fourth embodiment it is provided that projections are worked out of the material of the connecting piece, which cooperate with assigned projections and / or recesses of the locking ring and thus fix it in a dimensionally stable (form-fitting) manner on the outer circumference.

All embodiments have in common that only a positive connection between the tubular locking ring and the outer circumference of the connecting piece is required, but this does not have to have a sealing effect.

The invention is not otherwise restricted to a deformable connecting piece consisting of a metal material. In another embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the connection piece consists of a plastic material and that the tubular locking ring according to the invention (which may also consist of a plastic and / or a metal material) is inserted into the injection molding tool for producing the connection piece and in one piece the material of the plastic nozzle is molded. This one-piece material connection only refers to when the tubular locking ring also consists of a plastic material.

If it consists of a metal material and the socket is made of a plastic material, it is sufficient to encapsulate the pipe locking ring in a suitable manner with the plastic material of the pipe socket.

With the given technical teaching of all embodiments, there is the significant advantage that, due to the separate attachment of a tubular locking ring, it is now possible for the first time to implement a locking ramp with the smallest possible radius at the tip, this small radius leading into the locking groove that follows . This results in very high pull-out forces that were not achievable in the prior art.

Another advantage is that a very smooth and flat locking ramp can only be achieved due to the separate design of the tubular locking ring, which is associated with the advantage that only small insertion forces are given with good centering of the entire locking device.

In a preferred embodiment, it is provided that the tubular locking ring is formed in two parts and consists of a locking ring and a locking ring which adjoins it in one piece.

This has the advantage that two different functions are placed in the pipe locking ring. The front locking ring is used for the snap-in connection with the plug, while the rear locking ring serves to center the snap-in connection, as an axial stop limitation and as mechanical protection for the entire plug-in connection to prevent foreign substances from entering the locking area.

The further advantage of the invention is that it is no longer necessary - as was required in the prior art - to connect a complete latching device to a connecting piece by means of a joint connection. So it gets on Joints are omitted, which must also absorb the entire sealing pressure of the pipe connection.

Due to the fact that the tubular locking ring according to the invention is arranged on the outer circumference of the connecting piece separately from the sealing arrangement, it is sufficient to take up only the mechanical strength for the locking connection there.

With the given technical teaching there is the further advantage that, regardless of the pipe wall thickness and the material of the connection piece, pipe locking rings can subsequently be attached to the outer circumference of any connection piece.

A pipe ring ring made of metal can even be pressed onto a socket made of plastic, as long as this socket is plastically cold deformable and has a low springback.

Another advantage is that the separate tubular locking ring according to the invention can have a much higher strength than the material of the connecting piece, which as a rule has to be easily deformable and soft.

This results in good locking values with high wear resistance of the locking connection.

As a last advantage, it should be mentioned that it is now easily possible to form the anti-rotation device in the form of a nook on the tubular locking ring, which previously involved considerable additional work.

It is now sufficient to form a corresponding cam from the material of the tubular locking ring, which can be done in different ways.

In a first embodiment, it can be provided that the cam consists of a sheet metal material which is pressed out of the remaining sheet metal material of the tubular locking ring by a flanging tool. Likewise, the nook can be formed from pressed-out tabs of the tubular locking ring, and finally the cam can also be used as a separate part in associated recesses on the tubular locking ring delimited by tabs.

It is important in all embodiments that to produce the sealing effect it is now sufficient to calibrate the pipe of the connecting piece only on its front end face to a defined outside diameter, because only this outside diameter acts as the sealing diameter for the plug connection.

All of the surfaces of the nozzle that follow behind this no longer need to be calibrated to a precisely defined outer diameter.

The subject matter of the present invention results not only from the subject matter of the individual patent claims, but also from the combination of the individual patent claims with one another.

All of the information and features disclosed in the documents, including the summary, in particular the spatial configuration shown in the drawings, are claimed to be essential to the invention, insofar as they are new to the prior art, individually or in combination.

In the following, the invention is explained in more detail with the aid of drawings that illustrate only one embodiment. Further features and advantages of the invention which are essential to the invention emerge from the drawings and their description.

Show it:

Figure A: Representation of a nozzle with a locking device according to the prior art

Figure 1: a nozzle with a Rohrrästring according to the invention in a perspective view Figure 2: a section through the nozzle of Figure 1

Figure 3: a section through the connector

FIG. 4: a perspective half-section through the plug and socket according to FIGS. 2 and 3

Figure 5: the representation of Figure 4 in the assembled state

FIG. 6: a section through the arrangement according to FIG. 5

A nozzle, as it belongs to the prior art, can be explained with reference to FIG. There, the connection piece 1a consists of a tube 2a, on which a tubular locking ring 3a is integrally formed. This tubular locking ring 3a is produced by shaping the relatively soft material of the tube 2a. It can also be a die casting or injection molding process that was used to manufacture the entire arrangement.

The critical aspect of this arrangement is that one also tries to connect a cam 4a for the anti-rotation device with the material of the socket 1a in order to obtain a heavy-duty anti-rotation device.

It is obvious that this involves a very large manufacturing effort.

If the entire connection piece 1a with the tubular locking ring 3a had been produced by reshaping with a flanging tool, it would not be possible to connect the cam 4a in one piece with this material. It would then have to be connected to the material as a separate part in some way, which is associated with strength problems.

This is where the invention comes in, which according to FIG. a separate pipe locking ring 3 is applied to the outer circumference of the pipe 2 of the connector 1.

For this purpose, the invention provides that a circumferential pressing groove 5 is provided in the inner circumference of the tube 2, which forms an outwardly directed, radially widening bead, which engages in the inner circumference of the tubular locking ring 3 and thus secured against displacement, rotation and firmly with connects the outer circumference of the tube 2.

The advantage of this measure is that all machining operations can now be carried out on the separate tubular locking ring 3 before it is installed. For example, it is provided that the cam 4 is molded directly onto the material of the tubular locking ring 3 because the entire tubular locking ring 3 consists of a bent sheet metal material. The cam 4 is then directly bent out of the sheet material and shaped.

It is also important in this illustration that the locking device (consisting of the tube locking ring 3) is completely separate from the sealing surface 6 of the tube 2, so that the tube locking ring 3 no longer performs sealing tasks. As a result, it can be manufactured particularly inexpensively, but also with a high load capacity.

2 shows further details of the invention.

According to the invention, it is provided that the tubular locking ring 3 is formed in two parts, namely consists of a front locking ring 13 and a rear locking ring 12.

The terms “front” and “rear” always refer to the direction of insertion (arrow direction 28) of a plug 20 (see FIG. 3) which can be plugged onto the socket 1 and locked there.

The invention is not limited to the two-part design of a tubular locking ring 3. In another embodiment it can also be provided that only the locking ring 13 is present and the rear locking ring 12 is missing. It is important that the front locking ring 13 forms a locking groove 7, which can be formed with very sharp edges (small radius 11) because the tubular locking ring 3 can be drawn from a heavy-duty sheet metal material.

The locking groove 7a according to the prior art, however, was associated with large radii, which was associated with low pull-out forces.

It is also important that a relatively flat locking ramp 9 can now be created, which enables a particularly low insertion force, with this locking ramp 9 with its radially inner part only on a contact surface

10 rests on the outer circumference of the tube 2.

The locking ramp 9 now goes into the previously mentioned, relatively sharp-edged radius

11 over, which leads into the locking groove 7.

A catch spring 24 of the plug 20 now engages in the bottom of the catch groove 7, which will be described in more detail with reference to the following figures.

Following the locking groove 7, the locking ring 12 is integrally formed with a material, which has an axial ring surface 14 with a perpendicular thereto, i.e. radially adjoining stop flange 15 forms.

The annular surface 14 serves to center the entire plug connection, and the stop flange 15 serves to secure foreign objects from entering the latching area, in particular in the area of the latching groove 7.

At the front end of the connector 1, a run-in slope 8 is arranged in a known manner to facilitate insertion into the connector 20 according to FIG. 3.

The plug 20 consists essentially of an inner part 21 and an outer part 22 connected in one piece with the material, the two materials consisting of an inexpensive sheet metal material which is highly stressable. In the area of the inner part 21 there are slots 25 distributed uniformly around the circumference, through which the bent ends of a catch spring 24 engage, which, for. B. distributed in three places on the circumference in the associated locking groove 7 on the nozzle 1.

In the area of the inner part 21, an enlarged groove is provided, into which a lip seal 23 is inserted.

This lip seal 23 interacts with the previously described sealing surface 6 on the nozzle 1.

A semicircular, wing-like plastic cover 26 is provided on the outer part 22 in order to cover the detent spring 24 from the outside.

A hose receiving space 27 is formed between the inner part 21 and the outer part 22, into which a hose (not shown) is inserted.

However, the invention is not limited to the formation of a hose receiving space 27 for receiving a hose. It can also be provided that a hose is molded directly onto the entire plug 20.

It can also be provided that the entire plug 20 is molded onto a tube.

In the area of the outer part 22 there is also an anti-rotation recess 29 which interacts with an associated cam 4 on the connector 1 in order to enable the connector to be prevented from rotating.

FIG. 4 shows the two parts 1, 20 according to FIGS. 2 and 3 shortly before the plug connection is made. It can be seen that the detent spring 24 extends with bent ends through the associated slots 25 of the plug 20 and engages in a latching manner at different points in the detent groove 7 of the connector 1. To solve the latching connection, it is sufficient to grasp the latching spring at an end projecting beyond the outer part 22 and to lift it off so as to disengage the spring ends of the latching spring 24 from the latching groove 7 of the connector 1.

The same relationships are shown in Figure 5, where the snap-in connection is shown partially cut away.

It can be clearly seen that the lip seal 23 rests in the area of the sealing surface 6 of the tube 2 of the connector 1 and that the two-part tube locking ring 3, consisting of the locking ring 13 and the locking ring 12, only takes on the locking function.

The same features can also be seen in FIG. 6, which shows the sectional view through FIG. 5.

One can clearly see the separation of the sealing function from the locking function and the fact that the tube locking ring 3 is fixed on the outer circumference of the tube 2 of the connector 1 by means of a radially outwardly directed press groove 5.

The press groove 5 engages in the material of the pipe locking ring 3 in front of the locking groove 7, specifically in the area of the locking ramp 9.

Drawing legend

1 spigot 1a

2 pipe 2a

3 pipe locking ring 3a

4 cam 4a

5 press groove

6 sealing surface

7 locking groove 7a

8 run-in slopes

9 locking ramp

10 contact surface

11 radius

12 locking ring

13 locking ring

14 ring surface

15 stop flange

16 -

17 -

18 -

19 -

20 plugs

21 inner part

22 outer part

23 lip seal

24 detent spring

25 slot

26 plastic cover

27 hose receiving space

28 direction of arrow

29 Anti-rotation recess

Claims

1. Plug connection on pipes and hoses, with a tubular connector (1) and a tubular connector (20), which can be connected with their one end face to a tube and / or a hose and which can be plugged into one another and axially with their other end face can be positively locked together, the connector (1) on its tube (2) having a tube locking ring (3) which forms a locking groove (7) into which a locking spring (24) of the plug (20) engages at least partially, characterized in that the

Pipe locking ring (3) is designed as a separate part from the connecting piece (1) and is secured to it in a form-fitting manner with little play, or else it is fixed in a play-free and frictional manner without play.

2. Connector according to claim 1, characterized in that the

Pipe locking ring (3) is located on the outer circumference of the pipe (2) of the connector (1).

3. Plug connection according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the sealing surface (6) of the connector (1) closer to its connector side

End face lies as its locking groove (7) of the locking ring (3) and the locking spring

(24) of the plug (20) is closer to its face end face than its seal (23).

4. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the seal between the socket (1) and the plug (20) via an annular seal (23) of the plug (20), which is located on a sealing surface (6 ) of the connector (1) sealingly and the sealing surface (6) of the connector (1) has a purely cylindrical shape and no radial indentations and / or bulges.

5. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the latching connection between the latching spring (24) of the plug (20) and the latching groove (7) of the tubular locking ring (3) of the connecting piece (1) is either non-sealing or sealing for the entire connector.

6. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the tubular locking ring (3) on the socket (1) by means of at least one radially outward and / or radially inward extending projection / recess of the socket (1) secured or fixed is.

7. Plug connection according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one radial projection / recess is formed as at least one circumferential continuous or interrupted press groove (5) in the socket (1).

8. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the tubular locking ring (3) by means of gluing and / or welding / soldering on the connection piece (1) is firmly bonded.

9. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the connecting piece (1), the tubular locking ring (3) and the plug (20) are made of metal and / or plastic.

10. Plug connection according to claim 9, characterized in that the socket (1) is made of plastic and the tubular locking ring (3) is made as a separate part made of metal and / or plastic and is injected and / or injected onto the socket (1) is.

11. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that for the insertion of the connector (1) and the

Plug (20) of the locking ring (3) of the connector (1) has a relatively flat locking ramp (9), which is followed by a relatively small radius (11) which leads over an approximately radially extending wall section into the locking groove (7).

12. Plug connection according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that in the radially inner side of the locking ramp (9) of the at least one radial projection / recess, in particular the press groove

(7), intervening positively and frictionally.

13. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the tubular locking ring (3) is formed in two parts and consists of a locking ring (13) close to the plug and a connecting ring (12) which is in particular made of one piece and which is connected to the material, wherein the locking ring (13) for snap-in connection with the plug

(20) is used, while the locking ring (12) serves to center the latching connection and as an axial limit stop.

14. Plug connection according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that an anti-rotation device in the form of a nooke (4) is present on the tubular locking ring (3), to prevent the relative rotation movement between the connecting piece (1) and the plug (20).

15. Plug connection according to claim 14, characterized in that the cam (4) from the material of the tubular locking ring (3) by cold forming, e.g.

Flanging or pressing out rags is made.