JP3648859B2 - Pipe coupling device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pipe connection device for connecting pipes, and is useful, for example, for joining pipes that supply or lead hot water to a heater core of an automobile air conditioner.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The present inventors previously provided a flange portion in the first pipe as a pipe coupling device, and provided a cylindrical portion so as to cover the flange portion in the second pipe engaged therewith, and this cylindrical portion. A device has been proposed in which a slit for caulking is formed and a part of the cylindrical portion is caulked using this slit to fix the pipe (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-66392). In this device, the first pipe and the second pipe can be firmly coupled by simply caulking and deforming a part of the cylindrical portion without requiring a special coupling material.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention further improves the pipe coupling device previously proposed by the present inventors, and is capable of satisfactorily holding between the first pipe and the second pipe during caulking formation of the cylindrical portion. The purpose is to make the work easier. Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to enable a stable and reliable caulking coupling force to be maintained at all times regardless of the tolerances that are naturally required in manufacturing the first pipe and the second pipe.
[0004]
In addition, in the present invention, an O-ring is interposed between the flange portion of the first pipe and the diameter-enlarged portion of the second pipe, so that the O-ring can be easily inserted. Objective.
Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible for an O-ring to hold its position well in a state where it is caulked and joined.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, in the pipe coupling device according to claim 1 of the present invention, the first pipe is connected to the caulking slit formed in the cylindrical portion of the second pipe, and the first pipe is connected to the caulking slit. In the case of two pipes, a through hole is formed on the tip side. Further, an engagement protrusion extending toward the inner side of the caulking slit, that is, the inner side of the second pipe is provided on the side of the through hole in the caulking slit.
[0006]
According to the invention of claim 2 , the tip enlarged portion that opens in a bell mouth shape toward the outside is formed at the tip of the second pipe cylindrical portion.
Furthermore, according to invention of Claim 3 , the diameter expansion part of 2nd piping is a 1st bottom part, the small cylindrical part connected to the said 1st bottom part, the said small cylindrical part, and a cylindrical part, And a second bottom portion in contact with the first flange portion of the flange portion of the first pipe.
[0007]
Result of the structure described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when causing the cylindrical portion is caulked deformed by Rukoto passed through the holding jig than through holes, the flange portion and the O-ring of the first pipe that This can be done while keeping the position firmly held. Therefore, the caulking deformation operation of the cylindrical portion of the second pipe can be performed reliably.
Furthermore, by forming the engaging protrusion on crimping slit, the engagement projection comes into contact with the flange portion of the first pipe in a state of being caulked coupling. That is , the entire side surface of the caulking slit does not come into contact with the flange portion, but comes into contact with the flange portion intensively by the engaging projection. As a result, variation in the coupled state is prevented, and the caulking strength can be increased.
[0008]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the tip enlarged portion on the bell mouth is formed at the tip of the cylindrical portion, the O-ring comes into contact with the tip of the cylindrical portion when assembling the first pipe and the second pipe. There is no risk of the O-ring being damaged by the tip of the cylindrical portion. As a result, not only the assembly to the first pipe having the O-ring is facilitated, but also the sealing performance of the O-ring is not impaired and the sealing performance is improved.
[0009]
Furthermore, according to invention of Claim 3, the diameter expansion part of 2nd piping is formed from the 1st bottom part, a small cylindrical part, and the 2nd bottom part which touches the 1st collar part of the flange part of 1st piping. since the, it becomes the O-ring is held between the first bottom and the small cylindrical portion of the first flange portion and the larger diameter portion of the flange portion of the first pipe, compressing the O-ring during caulking However, the O-ring does not partially jump out, and as a result, the caulking work is performed more reliably and easily.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a first pipe, and a flange portion 110 is formed in the vicinity of the tip 101 thereof. The first pipe is made of an aluminum alloy, and the flange portion 110 is integrally formed from the pipe by stringing. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 200 denotes a second pipe, and a cylindrical portion 210 whose inner diameter is slightly larger than the outer shape of the flange portion 110 is integrally formed at the tip thereof. That is, the enlarged diameter portion 201 is formed by bulging at the end of the second pipe 200 so that the cylindrical portion 210 is integrally formed. The O-ring 300 is sandwiched between the flange portion 110 of the first pipe 100 and the diameter enlarged portion 201 of the second pipe 200.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a view showing the tip 101 of the first pipe 100. As shown in the figure, the flange 110 has a first flange 111 extending outward in the radial direction, and the first pipe from the first flange. 100 includes a receding portion 112 that recedes toward the side opposite to the tip 101 and a second flange 113 that extends further outward in the radial direction from the receding portion.
[0012]
Moreover, the diameter enlarged part 201 of the 2nd piping 200 becomes a shape corresponding to the flange part 110 of the 1st piping 100, as shown in FIG. Ie, skip the first bottom 201 a of the second extending radially outward from the pipe 200, and then the small cylindrical portion 202 is formed bent at the tip end of the second pipe 200, further the small cylindrical portion 202 A second bottom portion 203 is formed again radially outward from the tip.
[0013]
The cylindrical portion 210 of the second pipe is formed with four caulking slits 211 at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The slit 211 has a width of about 1 mm and a length of about 60 ° in the circumferential direction. Further, a through hole 212 is continuously formed in the central portion of the slit 211. The through-hole 212 is for passing a flange holder in a caulking process described later, and its width is about 2 to 3 mm. Engaging protrusions 213 and 214 are formed on both sides of the through hole 212 on the surface of the slit 211 on the front end side of the second pipe 200.
[0014]
Further, a tip enlarged portion 220 is formed in a bell mouth shape at the tip of the cylindrical portion 210.
FIG. 4 is a front view as viewed from the front end side of FIG. 3, and a bell mouth-like enlarged portion 220 is formed at the front end with a relatively large width.
Next, the connection work of the first pipe and the second pipe having the above configuration will be described.
[0015]
First, the O-ring 300 is inserted from the tip 101 of the first pipe 100. The O-ring 300 is brought into contact with the first flange portion 111 of the flange portion 110.
In this state, the first pipe 100 to which the O-ring 300 is attached is inserted into the second pipe 200 from the tip enlarged portion 220 side. At this time, since the tip enlarged portion 220 has a bell mouth shape, even if the tip portion contacts the O-ring 300, the O-ring 300 is not damaged by the tip portion. Rather, the first pipe 100 is well centered along the bell mouth shape of the tip enlarged portion 220, and the center axis can coincide. In this state, the O-ring 300 is compressed by pressing the first pipe 100 and the second pipe 200 so as to narrow the distance between them. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the O-ring 300 is sandwiched between the first flange portion 111 of the flange portion 110 and the first bottom portion 201 a and the small cylindrical portion 202 of the second pipe 200. It is possible to reliably prevent 300 from protruding from the flange portion 110. In this state, a coupling auxiliary jig (not shown) is inserted from the through hole 212. By inserting this jig, the flange portion 110 can be further pressed to the diameter enlarged portion 201 side of the second pipe 200 , and in this case, the O-ring 300 protrudes from the flange portion 110 for the reasons described above. There is no. The cylindrical portion 210 is caulked and deformed by a caulking jig (not shown) along the jig.
[0016]
FIG. 7 shows a state after the caulking deformation, and the cylindrical portion is bent and deformed substantially in a V shape along the caulking slit 211. The cylindrical part bent and deformed thereafter engages with the flange part 110 of the first pipe. In particular, at this time, the engagement with the flange portion 110 is concentrated by the engagement protrusions 213 and 214 in the slit 211. In other words, the force generated in the direction in which the piping is pulled away by the compression reaction force of the O-ring 300 or other external force is received by the engagement protrusions 213 and 214.
[0017]
Therefore, the points that receive the load concentrate on the entire side wall of the slit 211 as a result, and as a result, rattling between the first pipe 100 and the second pipe 200 can be prevented and the coupling strength can be increased.
FIG. 8 shows an example of the use of the pipes combined in the above process. In this example, the second pipe 200 is a hot water inlet pipe for the heater core inlet tank and an outlet tank hot water outlet pipe for the air conditioner. In FIG. 8, 400 is an inlet tank, 401 is an outlet tank, and both tanks are separated by a partition 406. On the other hand, 402 is a lower tank. A plurality of tubes 404 are arranged between the tanks, and the hot water flowing from the inlet tank flows to the lower tank 402 via the tubes 404. Thereafter, it flows into the outlet tank 401 from the lower tank 402 through the tube 404. Further, fins 405 are disposed between the tubes 404, and heat exchange between warm water and air flowing through the tubes 404 is promoted by the fins 405. In this example, the first pipe 100 is used as a pipe for introducing and deriving engine coolant from an automobile engine (not shown).
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a coupling device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view showing a first pipe shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view showing a second pipe shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view partially showing a coupling state of the coupling device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the coupling state of the coupling device shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an example of use of the coupling device of the present invention.
100 1st piping 110 Flange part 200 2nd piping 201 Diameter expansion part 210 Cylindrical part 211 Slit 212 Through hole 213.214 Engagement protrusion 220 Tip expansion part

Claims (3)

A pipe coupling device for coupling a first pipe having a flange near the end and a second pipe having a cylindrical portion having an inner diameter larger than the outer shape of the flange near the end by a predetermined amount,
A plurality of caulking slits are formed in a circumferential direction in the cylindrical portion of the second pipe at a predetermined amount apart from the flange portion in the combined state,
An engagement hole is formed on the side surface of the caulking slit so as to continue to the caulking slit and further extend toward the first pipe side, and protrudes toward the inner side of the caulking slit on the side of the through hole. Forming protrusions,
Further, the second pipe has a diameter enlarged part that enlarges the diameter from the second pipe to the cylindrical part, and an O-ring is provided between the diameter enlarged part of the second pipe and the flange part of the first pipe. Intervene,
In a state where the cylindrical portion is caulked inward with the caulking slit as a boundary, the engagement protrusion engages with a flange portion of the first pipe . 2. The pipe coupling device according to claim 1, wherein the first pipe-side opening end portion of the cylindrical portion has a tip enlarged portion whose diameter increases outward. 3. The flange portion of the first pipe includes a first flange portion that extends toward the outer peripheral side from the first pipe, a retreat portion that retreats from the first flange portion to the side opposite to the tip of the first pipe, A second flange extending further outward in the radial direction from the receding portion,
The diameter-enlarging portion of the second pipe is provided between a first bottom portion, a small cylindrical portion connected to the first bottom portion, and between the small cylindrical portion and the cylindrical portion, A second bottom portion in contact with the flange portion, wherein the O-ring is between the first flange portion of the flange portion of the first pipe and the first bottom portion and the small cylindrical portion of the diameter-enlarged portion of the second pipe. The pipe coupling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pipe coupling device is held.

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