JP2005090622A - Pipe joint - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pipe joint enabling a reduction in cost, weight, and pipe installation space by removing a sight glass from a pipe. <P>SOLUTION: This pipe joint 1 connectable to a charge valve 3 comprises a casing 9 in which a flow passage 7 communicable with the charge port 3A of the charge valve 3 is formed. A visible part 67 capable of viewing a fluid flowing in the flow passage 7 is installed in the casing 9. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pipe joint that is used when a refrigerant is sealed in an air conditioner of an automobile, and more particularly, to a pipe joint that can reduce cost, weight, and pipe space by removing sight glass from a pipe. .

  When the refrigerant is sealed in the air conditioner of the automobile, a pipe joint is connected to a charge valve fixed to the pipe so that the refrigerant is sealed (for example, see Patent Document 1). After sealing, the fitting is removed from the charge valve and used again or when performing another sealing operation. Moreover, a sight glass (for example, refer to Patent Document 2) is attached to the pipe, and the inside of the pipe is made visible through the sight glass, so that an operator can check the state of refrigerant filling.

However, since the sight glass is not used except for the refrigerant filling operation, it is not necessary to always attach it to the pipe. Rather, the installation of such sight glass increases the cost, the weight of the vehicle body, and the pipe. There was a problem of increasing the space, and there was a strong demand for improvement.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-218052 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-294677

  An object of the present invention is to provide a pipe joint in which the sight glass is removed from the pipe and the cost, weight, and pipe space can be reduced.

  The present invention that achieves the above object is a pipe joint that can be connected to a charge valve, and has a housing in which a flow passage that can communicate with a charge port of the charge valve is provided. It is characterized in that a visible portion capable of seeing the fluid flowing inside is provided.

  According to the above-described configuration, the operator can check the fluid sealing state from the visible portion, and thus it is not necessary to provide a sight glass in the pipe as in the prior art. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problems of an increase in cost, an increase in the weight of the vehicle body, and an increase in piping space due to the sight glass.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3 show an embodiment of a pipe joint of the present invention, where 1 is a pipe joint, 3 is a charge valve for charging refrigerant connecting the pipe joint 1, and the charge valve 3 is as shown in FIG. It is fixed to the refrigerant pipe 5.

  The pipe joint 1 has a cylindrical metal housing 9 provided with a flow path 7 through which a liquid refrigerant flows. The flow path 7 can communicate with the charge port 3 </ b> A of the charge valve 3 when the pipe joint 1 is connected to the charge valve 3.

  The housing 9 includes a cylindrical first housing 11 that can be connected to the charge valve 3, and a second housing 13 that is screwed into the first housing 11. Two annular grooves 17 and 19 are formed on the inner peripheral surface 15 of the first housing 11 facing the flow path 7 at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1). , 19 are provided with O-rings 21 for sealing.

  Through holes 25 are formed at predetermined intervals along the circumferential direction in the wall portion 23 of the first casing 11 on the connection side from the annular groove 19, and the pipe joint 1 is connected to the charge valve 3 in each through hole 25. A locking ball 27 for locking to the inner wall 15 is accommodated so as to be able to protrude and retract from the inner peripheral surface 15.

  An annular wide notch 33 that opens to the end surface 31 is formed on the connection-side outer peripheral surface 29 of the first housing 11, and a through hole 25 is open to the bottom surface 35 of the notch 33. On the outer peripheral side of the notch portion 33, an annular sleeve 39 provided with an annular convex portion 37 for holding the locking ball 27 in the protruding state on the inner peripheral side is slidably disposed. The sleeve 39 is constantly urged toward the connecting side by a spring 41 disposed on the inside thereof, and is in contact with the stop ring 43.

  In this state, the convex portion 37 faces the through hole 25, and the locking ball 27 is maintained in the protruding state. By moving the sleeve 39 to the anti-connection side, the convex portion 37 moves from a position facing the through hole 25, and the locking ball 27 can be immersed in the through hole 25.

  A cylindrical interior body 45 that opens the charge valve 3 when the pipe joint 1 is connected to the charge valve 3 is provided in the flow path 7A of the first housing 11. The anti-connection side end portion 47 of the interior body 45 is caulked and fixed to a bridge body 49 disposed at the anti-connection side end of the first housing 11 so as to cross the flow path 7A. The outer peripheral surface 30 on the anti-connection side of the first housing 11 is formed in a threaded portion to which the second housing 13 is screwed, and the bridge body 49 is formed by screwing the second housing 13 into the first housing 11. It is fixed to the first housing 11.

  A central portion of the inner body 45 is formed in an annular projecting portion 51, and a valve body 53 for opening and closing the flow path 7 </ b> A is provided on the outer peripheral side of the projecting portion 51. The valve body 53 is formed in a cylindrical shape, the anti-connection side portion 55 protrudes to the inner peripheral side, the inner inclined surface 57 abuts on the inclined surface 59 of the protruding portion 51, and closes the flow path 7A.

  A spring 61 is disposed between the valve body 53 and the bridge body 49, and the valve body 53 is constantly urged toward the connection side, and the inner inclined surface 57 of the valve body 53 is always in contact with the inclined surface 59 of the projecting portion 51. I try to contact them. An O-ring 65 for sealing is disposed in an annular groove formed in the inclined surface 59, and the O-ring 65 disposed in the O-ring 65 and the annular groove 17 contacts and seals the valve body 53.

  The second housing 13 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a main body 69 provided with a visible portion 67 that can see the liquid refrigerant flowing in the flow path 7, and a cylindrical refrigerant inlet 71 that extends from the main body 69. It consists of and. The connection side inner peripheral surface 70 of the main body 69 is formed as a screw part and is screwed into the screw part of the first housing 11.

  The visible portion 67 includes a ring-shaped metal frame 73 and a transparent body 75 made of a transparent glass body fused to the inner peripheral side of the metal frame 73, and a level difference communicating with the flow path 7 of the main body 69. A metal frame 73 is attached to the large-diameter opening 79 of the hole 77 through a sealing O-ring 80 by caulking and fixing, and the liquid refrigerant flowing through the flow path 7 is visible through the transparent body 75 and the hole 77. It can be done.

  By configuring the visible portion 67 in this manner, the visible portion 67 can be made compact and firmly fixed to the second housing 13, so that high pressure resistance is secured and problems such as leakage easily occur. And high reliability can be obtained.

  As a matter of course, in the visible portion 67, instead of the above configuration, the transparent body 75 may be directly fixed to the second housing 13 with a metal fitting, and the second housing without the visible portion 67 and the hole 77 being provided. You may comprise the whole body 13 from transparent resin.

  The flow path 7B of the second housing 13 includes a main body flow path section (intermediate flow path section) 7B1 in the main body section 69 and an inlet flow path section 7B2 in the refrigerant inlet section 71, and the visible section 67 is the main body flow path. It faces the part 7B1. The diameter of the inlet channel portion 7B2 is smaller than the diameter of the main body channel portion 7B1, so that the liquid refrigerant pumped from the refrigerant supply means (not shown) is liquid when flowing from the inlet channel portion 7B2 into the main body channel portion 7B1. Since the pressure of the refrigerant decreases, some of them evaporate and bubbles are generated and bubbles are mixed in the refrigerant, and it is easy to confirm that the refrigerant is filled by observing the movement of the bubbles Therefore, visibility can be improved.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the configuration for generating bubbles has the same diameter as the flow path 7B of the second housing 13, while a throttle part 81 is provided in the flow path 7 </ b> B. You may make it provide the visible part 67 facing the flow path 7B.

  The above-described pipe joint 1 moves the sleeve 39 to the anti-connection side, and is externally inserted into the charge valve 3 in a state where the locking ball 27 can be immersed in the through hole 25. At the time of insertion, the connection side end of the interior body 45 pushes the valve-opening protrusion 3B of the charge valve 3 to open the charge valve 3, while the connection side end surface 3D of the housing 3C of the charge valve 3 is the valve body 53. The pipe joint 1 is opened by moving the valve body 53 to the left side of the figure in contact with the valve. With the locking ball 27 engaged with the annular groove 3E of the housing 3C, the sleeve 39 is returned to the state shown in FIG. 1 so that the locking ball 27 is locked to the annular groove 3E and the pipe joint 1 is charged. It is connected and fixed to the valve 3.

  Conventionally, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 5, the sight glass 83 is attached to the refrigerant pipe 5, but in the present invention described above, the liquid refrigerant flowing in the flow path 7 can be seen in the housing 9 of the pipe joint 1. Since the visible part 67 is provided, the operator can check the liquid refrigerant sealing state from the visible part 67. Therefore, the sight glass 83 is removed from the refrigerant pipe 5, thereby reducing the cost, weight, and pipe space.

  Further, the transparent body 75 made of a glass body is fused to the metal frame 73 to form the visible portion 67, and the metal frame 73 is attached to the housing 9 by caulking and fixing. Since it can be firmly fixed to 9, high pressure resistance can be ensured and reliability can be improved.

  Further, the diameter of the flow channel 7 is made smaller at the inlet flow channel portion 7B than the main body flow channel portion 7B1 facing the visible portion 67, or a throttle portion 81 is provided in the flow channel 7 so that the By providing the visible portion 67 facing the downstream flow path, the refrigerant in which bubbles are mixed can be seen from the visible portion 67, so that the refrigerant is filled by observing the movement of the bubbles. Can be easily confirmed and visibility can be improved.

  In particular, the present invention can be preferably used as a pipe joint used when enclosing a liquid refrigerant in an automobile air conditioner. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the pipe joint used when enclosing a fluid that requires confirmation of the enclosing state is used. Any of them can be applied.

It is a half section front view of the pipe joint and charge valve of the present invention. It is a top view of the pipe joint of the present invention. It is a left view of the pipe joint of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows the other example of the structure which generate | occur | produces a bubble. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the refrigerant | coolant piping which attached the charge valve.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fitting 3 Charge valve 3A Charge port 5 Refrigerant piping
7, 7A, 7B Channel 7B1 Body channel (intermediate channel)
7B2 Inlet channel part 9 Case
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 1st housing | casing 13 2nd housing | casing 67 Visible part 69 Main body part 71 Refrigerant inlet part 73 Metal frame 75 Transparent body 81 Restriction part 83 Sight glass

Claims (6)

  A pipe joint that can be connected to a charge valve, and has a housing in which a flow path that can communicate with a charge port of the charge valve is provided, and a visible flow in which the fluid flowing in the flow path is visible in the housing. Pipe joint with a section.   The pipe joint according to claim 1, wherein the visible portion has a transparent body capable of viewing the fluid flowing in the flow path.   The pipe joint according to claim 2, wherein the transparent body is made of a transparent glass body, and the visible body is formed by fusing the glass body to a metal frame.   The pipe joint according to claim 3, wherein the casing is made of metal, and the metal frame of the visible portion is attached to the casing by caulking and fixing.   The fluid is a liquid refrigerant, the channel has an inlet channel and an intermediate channel following the inlet channel, and the diameter of the inlet channel is smaller than the diameter of the intermediate channel. The pipe joint according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the visible part is provided facing the intermediate flow path part. 5. The fluid according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the fluid is a liquid refrigerant, and a restricting portion is provided in the flow path so as to face the flow path on the downstream side of the restricting portion. Pipe fittings.

Images