JP2602112Y2 - Pipe fitting cap - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cap attached to a joint of an inlet / outlet pipe of an evaporator or the like mounted on a vehicle air conditioner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In some cases, a joint of an inlet / outlet pipe such as an evaporator is pulled out from a vehicle room side to an engine room side through a floor board separating a vehicle room and an engine room. In order to prevent dust, dirt, moisture and the like from entering the portion, the joint portion is covered with a cap made of rubber or vinyl chloride, and a grommet provided on the floor board is inserted in this state.

Conventionally, a cap for closing a pipe joint of this type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. 63-121894. This will be described with reference to FIG. Outer cylinder D covering screw forming surface C
And an inner cylinder E that is folded back from the outer cylinder D and fits inside the opening of the pipe joint B, and one end of the inner cylinder E is closed to seal the opening.

[0004] As shown in FIG.
Is constituted only by an outer cylinder D whose one end is closed, and the cap A covers the thread forming surface C of the pipe joint B.

[0005]

However, since each of the above caps is configured to cover only the thread forming surface C of the pipe joint B, when inserting the grommet into the grommet, the grommet is fixed to the hexagon of the pipe joint B. If the insulator G is hooked on the portion F or the pipe G is provided in front of the pipe joint B, there is a possibility that the insulator G may be hooked upon insertion into the grommet.
There is a possibility that the grommet may be damaged, the insulator G may be turned up or shifted.

Further, in the conventional cap, the cap itself expands and contracts due to a change in the outside air temperature, and the holding force of the cap for holding the joint portion changes. Or harm.

Therefore, in the present invention, the pipe joint fitted with the cap can be smoothly inserted into the grommet, and a predetermined holding force can be secured even if the cap itself expands and contracts due to a temperature change. It is an object to provide a pipe joint cap.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, the present invention relates to this invention.
Pipe fittings are used for cooling units in automotive air conditioners.
Attached to the entrance pipe of the evaporator installed in the
Floor that separates the engine room and cabin of the car
Engine lug through grommet mounted on board
Smell removed after being pulled out
A cap body covering the joint of the pipe joint provided at the end of the entrance / exit pipe, and a cap body provided on the cap body.
And a skirt portion covering an insulator provided on the outer periphery of the inlet / outlet pipe following the hexagonal portion provided at the base of the joint portion of the pipe joint and the pipe joint, the cap body and the skirt portion. With a flexible member
The cap body has an outer peripheral surface formed of the scar.
It is formed in a tapered shape that gradually spreads toward the
The holding rib that presses the outer peripheral surface of the joint to the inner surface
And the bottom of the pipe is
An annular convex portion to be inserted into the end opening is formed, and the skirt portion is formed.
The slit is formed in the vertical direction.

[0009]

Therefore, according to the invention of this, the hexagonal portion of the pipe fitting, and since the insulator is covered with the skirt portion of the cap, even in the case of inserting the joint portion grommet, the grommet is pipe fittings and cap a guide There is no risk of being caught on the hexagonal part or insulator of the
In addition, the outer peripheral surface of the cap body may have a tapered shape that gradually spreads toward the skirt portion, or the skirt portion may have a tapered shape .
Since slit is provided, the cap itself possibility is rather name that was flexible caught in Gros <br/> Met, path to the engine room side
It will protrude with the ip joint.

[0010] Further, since the holding rib formed on the inner surface of the cap body is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the joint portion of the pipe joint, in order to obtain such a structure, the holding rib portion of the cap body must be joined. The outer peripheral portion, which spreads somewhat along the outer peripheral surface of the cap body and does not form the rib of the cap body, is accompanied by elastic deformation that narrows inward. For this reason, even if the cap itself expands and contracts due to a change in temperature, the expansion and contraction can be absorbed by the elastic deformation of the cap body, so that the above-mentioned problem can be achieved.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, for example, a cooling unit 1 of an automotive air conditioner arranged on the vehicle compartment side has an evaporator (not shown) arranged in a storage case 2, and entrance and exit pipes 3 and 4 of the evaporator are connected to the storage case. 2 is pulled out from the side wall. These entrance and exit pipes 3 and 4 are provided on a floor board 7 for partitioning an engine room 5 and a passenger compartment 6.
It is drawn out to the engine room side via a grommet 8 attached to the engine room, and is connected to a refrigerant pipe such as a compressor in the engine room.

The grommet 8 is formed of synthetic rubber or the like, and is engaged with the periphery of the hole 9 of the floor board 7.
Pipe 3 on the refrigerant outflow side with a large diameter leading to the evaporator
And through holes 10 and 11 through which the small-diameter refrigerant inflow pipe 4 is inserted.
13 is inserted.

Since all the entrance and exit pipes 3 and 4 have substantially the same construction, only one of the entrance and exit pipes 3 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pipe joint 14 is provided at the tip of the entrance / exit pipe 3.
An insulator 15 is provided at a portion before the pipe joint 14 in order to reduce heat exchange on the surface of the inlet / outlet pipe. The pipe joint 14 includes a joint 16 having an external thread formed on an outer peripheral surface thereof, and a hexagonal portion 17 formed at the base of the joint 16. The joint 16 is formed by a flange 18 formed at the tip of the pipe. The hexagonal portion 17 is formed in a hexagonal nut shape bulging radially from the joint 16. Also, insulator 1
5 has a diameter substantially equal to the size of the hexagonal portion 16.

The cap 12 is a flexible one formed by injection-molding a synthetic resin such as polyethylene. The cap 12 has a slippery surface. As shown in FIGS. Body 2 covering joint 16 of
And a skirt portion 21 covering the hexagonal portion 17 of the pipe joint 14 and the insulator 15 provided on the outer periphery of the pipe.

The cap body 20 is provided with a rod 22 extending from the center of the tip portion in the axial direction of the cap.
At the tip of this rod 22, a handle 2 whose diameter gradually increases
In this embodiment, the handle 23 is formed in a hemispherical shape, so that the cap 12 can be easily attached to and detached from the pipe joint 14.

On the outer peripheral surface of the cap body 20, a tapered portion 2 gradually expanding toward the skirt portion 21 is formed.
4 are formed. The tapered portion 24 has a tip end diameter (L1) formed in the through hole 10 formed in the grommet 8.
Of the through hole 10 (L2).
The cap 12 can be easily inserted into the cap.

On the inner peripheral surface of the cap body 20, four holding ribs 25 bulging inward are formed at equal intervals.
The four holding ribs 25 have contact surfaces 25a extending in parallel along the axial direction of the cap 12, and are symmetrically opposed to the axial center of the cap 12 with an interval smaller than the outer diameter of the joint. To form two sets of holding means. Further, an annular projection 27 is formed on the bottom 26 of the cap 12 so as to be inserted into the opening at the tip of the entrance / exit pipe 3.

On the other hand, the skirt portion 21 has a slit 28 cut out from the opening end to the middle of the opening.
The openings are formed at equal intervals, and the vicinity of the opening end is formed so as to gradually curl outward. The return portion 29 formed so as to warp is larger than any of the outer diameters of the joining portion 16, the hexagonal portion 17, and the insulator 15 of the entrance / exit pipe 3, and when the cap 12 is inserted into the tip of the entrance / exit pipe 3. The opening end of the skirt portion 21 is not caught by the hexagonal portion 17 or the like.

In the above-described configuration, considering the case where the entrance / exit pipe 3 is pulled out from the cabin side to the engine room side via the grommet 8 of the floor board 7, first, the tip of the entrance / exit pipe 3 is covered so as to cover the cap 12. , Push it in. Then, since the open end of the skirt portion 21 is greatly expanded, the cap 12 is smoothly fitted on the outer peripheral surfaces of the joint portion 16, the hexagonal portion 17, and the insulator 15 (FIG. 5). In the process, the joint 16 of the entrance / exit pipe 3 is inserted into the cap body 20 so as to push and expand the holding rib 25, and the peripheral surface of the cap body 20 excluding the holding rib 25, that is, the holding rib 25 and the holding rib 25. The curved wall between them is elastically deformed into a flat shape (FIG. 6), and the cap 12 is firmly fixed to the joint 16 by the elasticity due to the deformation. When the cap 12 is completely pushed in, the tip of the joining portion 16 is
2 is in contact with the bottom 26 of the inlet / outlet pipe 3.
Of the entrance / exit pipe 3 is hermetically sealed.

When the inlet / outlet pipe 3 is inserted into the through hole 10 of the grommet 8 with the cap 12 attached, the tip of the tapered portion 24 is formed smaller than the through hole 10. Initially, the grommet 8 is inserted into the through hole 10 without any resistance. As the grommet 8 is inserted, the middle of the tapered portion 24 comes into contact with the peripheral edge of the through hole of the grommet 8, but the tapered portion itself is formed in a tapered shape that gradually expands toward the skirt portion 21. Grommet 8
The cap 12 is smoothly inserted into the through-hole 10 while pushing and the grommet 8 reaches the skirt portion 21 of the cap 12. The skirt portion 21 is expanded so as to warp at the opening end, but since that portion has a shape that is easily elastically deformed, even when the inlet / outlet pipe 3 is further pulled out, a force is applied in the insertion direction to bring the inlet / outlet pipe 3 into place. If the grommet 8 is moved, the skirt portion 21 slides on the inner surface of the through hole of the grommet 8 and comes out quickly.

When a refrigerant pipe (not shown) is connected to the pipe joint 14 of the inlet / outlet pipe 3 in the engine room, the cap 12 is pulled out by holding the handle 23 by hand, and the refrigerant is inserted into the joint 16 of the pipe joint 14. What is necessary is just to screw the pipe joint of a pipe.

[0024]

As mentioned [devised the effect described above, according to the idea of this,
A skirt part covering the hexagonal part of the pipe joint and the insulator following the pipe joint is provided on the cap body, and the outer peripheral surface of the cap body gradually widens toward the skirt part, so the pipe joint with this cap attached is grommeted The pipe joint can be smoothly inserted into the grommet by using the cap as a guide . Also, face the outer peripheral surface of the cap body toward the skirt.
It can be tapered or skirt that gradually spreads
Since the slit is provided in the part, the cap itself is also flexible.
To the engine room without the risk of getting caught in the grommet
It will protrude with the pipe joint. .

In addition, a clamping rib is provided on the inner surface of the cap body, and an outer peripheral portion of the cap body on which the clamping rib is not formed is elastically deformed to attach the cap to the joint of the pipe joint. Even if the cap itself expands and contracts due to fluctuations, the expansion and contraction can be absorbed and a predetermined holding force can be secured. Furthermore,
The annular protrusion at the bottom of the cap opens at the tip of the entrance pipe.
The inlet and outlet pipes are hermetically sealed because they fit into the mouth.
It is what is done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a use state of a pipe joint cap according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a cap and a pipe joint.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe joint cap according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view of the pipe joint cap according to the present invention as viewed from an open end.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which the cap according to the present invention is attached to a pipe joint.

6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a conventional pipe joint cap.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a conventional pipe joint cap.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3, 4 entrance / exit pipe 12, 13 cap 14 pipe joint 15 insulator 16 joint 17 hexagon 20 cap body 21 skirt 24 taper 25 clamping rib

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-63-12463 (JP, A) JP-A-58-35091 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65D 59/02 F16L 55/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A cooling unit for a vehicle air conditioner.
Attached to the entrance pipe of the evaporator installed inside
Floor that separates the engine room and cabin of the car
Engine lug through grommet mounted on board
Smell removed after being pulled out
A cap body that covers the joint of the pipe joint provided at the end of the entrance / exit pipe, and a handle provided on the cap body.
A hand and a skirt portion covering an insulator provided on the outer periphery of the inlet / outlet pipe following the hexagonal portion provided at the base of the joint portion of the pipe joint and the pipe joint, and the cap body and the skirt portion. Shaped with flexible members
The outer periphery of the cap body is the skirt.
Formed in a tapered shape that gradually spreads
The holding rib that presses the outer peripheral surface of the joint to the surface
And the bottom of the pipe
An annular convex portion to be inserted into the opening is formed, and the skirt is
A pipe joint cap characterized in that a slit is formed in a vertical direction .